Mobile Suit GUNDAM Crusades
Chapter 1 - Meteor Child Awakens
"Still trying to keep up with me Azrael? You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me." Nate said as he threw a stiff left jab followed by a roundhouse kick to his opponent.
"If you insist." Azrael replied as he blocked his opponent's attacks with relative ease.
The two combatants both held their ground against one another but it seemed Nate would have the upper hand as he tossed Azrael to the ground. But as he was about to lay the finishing blow, Azrael reacted quickly and kicked his opponent's legs out from under him. Before Nate realized what had happened, he found himself back first on the ground with Azrael sitting on top of him, his fist just inches away from Nate's face.
"Good! Alright that's enough for today." The Instructor said after his best students had finished their fight.
Azrael gave Nate a quick smirk as he helped his fellow student up from the ground. They had been waiting for this chance to test their fighting skills against one another and they were both satisfied at the progress they had made over the past few years.
"Congrats Azrael. But if I was more ready for this, I would have taken you down." Nate said as they left Master Gotara's Karate Gym.
"Yeah right. You sure gave me a workout, but I can tell from your tired expression that you were giving it your all." Azrael responded confidently.
"Whatever. So did you want to check out what's happening at the Forum?" Nate asked.
"Normally I would but I promised my mom that I would help her unpack some of the stuff at the new house." Azrael said.
"Oh yeah, you mean the house that's in the Alpha 3 expansion. It sucks you won't be living so close to us anymore." Nate said in a disappointed tone.
"Yeah but with my dad's new job being so close to there and my mom being the person who likes a less crowded area, I guess it's just better this way. And besides, it's not that far away when you think about it. Neo Alpha may be a large space dome, but it's only a few expansions away." Azrael said, trying to cheer his disheartened friend up.
"Yeah I guess your right. Oh well same time tomorrow then?" Nate asked.
"You know it." Azrael said.
And with that, Azrael made his way to the Neo Alpha high school.
"You're late!" the impatient Elijah scoffed
"Only by one minute, c'mon Elijah, you knew I had to take my test against Nate today." Azrael replied with sincerity.
"Yeah I guess" he sighed "So how did you do?"
"Let's just say it was a real close call." Azrael said, thinking back to the trip maneuver that clinched him the match. "So how was your day?"
"It was okay, nothing happened." Elijah said in a very unsure tone.
Sensing that something was bothering him, Azrael looked in his rear view mirror and saw what the problem was just by looking at his brother's face.
"Okay who was it this time?" Azrael asked.
"What are you talking about?" Elijah said with a hint of nervousness.
Azrael sighed at the thought of his brother thinking he could pull a fast one him. "Elijah, you have got to stop picking fights at school."
"He was the one who started it!" Elijah said defensively
"Uh-huh, that's the same thing you said about the other 5 kids you beat up. Look Elijah, I can't keep covering this up all the time." Azrael said
"Huh? What do you mean covering up?" Elijah asked puzzled
"C'mon Elijah, if mom ever found out you were beating up kids at school, she would think that you were learning this stuff from me, which you and I both know is probably true, and not to mention the fact that she would be more disappointed with you than Dad or me ever could be." Azrael said
"Really, well thanks, I guess." Elijah said in a very quiet tone
"Don't mention it. Literally." Azrael added
Meanwhile, Nate was making his way back to his house in the Neo Alpha residential area, still contemplating about how he could have handled his fight against Azrael better, but then he just decided that Azrael got lucky and that he would get him next time.
"Mom I'm home." Nate said as he walked through the front door.
"Hi Nate." Fey replied. "So how did it go with Azrael today?"
"Oh, it was a close match." Nate said "The instructor was pleased with our fight and suggested that we do a demonstration for the Neo Alpha High School."
"Wow that's great. So where's Azrael now? You guys are usually at the forum and your never home this early." Fey said puzzled
"Azrael's helping his mom with the unpacking at their new house." Nate replied
"Oh that's right, so how come you didn't go with him?" Fey asked
"I just figured he would've wanted me to stay out of the way while they got settled into their new place." Nate said in the same disappointed tone that he gave Azrael earlier.
And with that, Fey quickly knew what the problem was. "You're going to miss him being so close to us right?"
"Well…" Nate hesitated "I guess maybe a little bit."
"Nate, he's been your best friend ever since you two were little." Fey told him "Of course you are going to miss him, even though he'll still see you. Just not as often."
"Sure…" Nate said quietly.
Noticing how disappointed her son was at the thought of leaving his best friend behind, she decided to cheer him up. "Do you want to help him out?" Fey asked.
"What do you mean?" Nate asked
"I'll arrange it with Violet so you can go over there and help him with the unpacking, I'm sure he would enjoy your company wouldn't you agree." Fey said
"Really!" Nate found it hard to contain his excitement but he tried to cover it up quickly "Oh I mean, yeah if he wants me to."
As soon as Fey gave the OK, Nate was out the door, in his car and on his way to the new Dartessius Residence. "Ha ha" Fey snickered, "Those two are quite the pair. I'm going to miss having Azrael and Nate so close."
"Are you sure that this is completely necessary." The nervous Talquest asked his master.
"Yes if we are to ensure our victory over the Crusaders of Blue Earth, than this is the only way." The stalwart Agon Zartem explained to his minion.
"But how are we going to gain possession of their new mobile suits?" Talquest asked with much doubt in his heart.
"Do not worry about that." Zartem replied "Once our agents have infiltrated the Neo Earth space dome, it will be a simple matter of them assuming the identities of the original Crusader mobile suit pilots.
"But what are we supposed to once we are in possession of the mobile suits?" Talquest asked again. "Once they become ours, they won't stay ours for long if we try to bring them back to our ship. We'd have Crusaders on us in 5 minutes."
"(Sigh)…Walk with me Talquest." Zartem said as the two decided to talk about this issue somewhere more private.
As they made their way around the battleship, BASTION, Zartem's plans for the mobile suits were becoming clearer to his small minded peon.
"To answer your question from earlier Talquest…" Zartem began, "The Crusader's new mobile suits will not only be a boon to our already advanced mobile suits but they will prove to be a political advantage in the long run as well."
"So you intend to use them to hurt the reputation of the Crusaders and this will allow for more Neo Zetans to join the fray against them."
"Close…" Zartem said "Try a whole neutral space dome turning towards the NZFF."
"But how can you turn a whole space dome against the Crusader- oh…" Talquest said as he finally put together all the pieces of Zartem's plan.
"Now your catching on." Zartem said confidant that his protégé now understood what was going on. "Trust me my boy once this plan goes into action, the Crusaders will regret ever messing with the Neo Zetan Freedom Fighters."
"Nate, glad you could make it." Azrael said
"No problem man." Nate replied as he pulled his car into the driveway. "Wow, this place is huge!"
"Yeah it's certainly a step up from the other place." Azrael replied
Just then the rest of the Dartessius family came outside to greet the familiar visitor after a long day of unpacking.
"Ah Nate, your just in time for some of my home made lemonade." Violet said to her former neighbor.
"Thanks Mrs. Dartessius." Nate replied as he reached for a glass of the refreshing liquid.
"Hey Mom." Azrael started "Would it be alright if Nate and I went to the forum instead of unpacking?"
"Well…" Violet hesitated "You did promise to help with the unpacking, but I guess you can go for a little bit but only if you bring Elijah with you too."
"Alright, c'mon Elijah let's go." Azrael said as the trio went to Nate's car.
Just as Nate was pulling out of the driveway, Tezra stepped out to see what all the commotion was.
"So where are the boys headed?" Tezra asked
"Just to the forum, they'll be back later sweetie." Violet replied as she gave her beloved husband a kiss on the cheek. "Those two are sure lucky to have a friend like Nate."
"Yeah…" Tezra started and then thought about that fateful day on the operating table of the meteor shard test. "If only Azrael knew how deep their friendship really goes."
"Now Tezra, you know why we can't tell him that." Violet said knowing what her husband was thinking about. "If Azrael or Nate were to know about what happened that day then they might have a hard time dealing with it."
"Yeah your probably right." Tezra said "Azrael hasn't been acting abnormally has he?"
"No he seems perfectly alright." Violet replied "Other than curing his disease, I don't think the meteor shard has had any effect on him."
"Yes that's the part that scares me." Tezra said as if he was troubled by the matter
"What do you mean Tezra?" Violet asked wondering why Azrael being perfectly normal was such a bad thing.
"It's just that when I went on the Terrestrial Rescue mission all those years ago, I came in direct contact with the meteor and I became hit with the full power of it. For that brief moment I became God-like. But with Azrael, it seems like he needs the shard just to stay alive and act normal. Even though the disease inside of him was cured, it seems like if someone were to remove the shard, he wouldn't be able to survive without it." Tezra explained.
"But why would someone want to do that to our son?" Violet asked with a very worried look on her face.
"Because if someone were to find out about him, they would most likely try to take it from him. Remember that meteor shard insertion has been banned throughout the space domes as a result of Dr. Gerdera's previous experiments." Tezra said as he pulled out the meteor piece that was given to him by that very man. "And that's also why I don't want to expose any of this to Elijah, he doesn't need to know what this rock is capable of doing to him."
"But if this war continues, you may have to explain it to him sooner or later. You know that don't you Tezra?" Violet told him
As he put the shard back in his pocket, the former Journey commander muttered "I only hope that sooner or later aren't my only options. I would much prefer never."
"Man these Neo Earthlings are stupid." Said a cocky NZFF pilot to his 2 incognito partners
"Quiet down Renik, we are not out of the woods yet." The eldest and leader of the three replied
The three NZFF pilots made their way to the secret weapons lab with their stolen uniforms as their only protection from the Crusaders' watchful eyes.
"This isn't going to work, eventually they are going to know what happened Vagun." The final pilot said.
"By the time they figure that out, we'll be long gone from here and in possession of their newest mobile suits." Vagun said "Just make sure that you two don't act too suspicious while we are in there."
As they made their way to the outer chamber of the weapons lab, the NZFF pilots prepared the key cards they received while dealing with the previous owners of their Neo Earth pilot suits.
"Card key identification please." The electronic voice blurted out through the card identifier.
One by one, they all swiped their stolen cards through the machine.
"Thank you gentlemen, please proceed." The voice continued.
Just then the doors opened to reveal an elevator leading to the main lab. The pilots stepped in and planned their next move.
"What do you expect us to do once we're in there Vagun, just walk right up to them and take the mobile suits." The final pilot protested
"I wish you would stop worrying Cecil." Vagun started as they made their way down. "The hard part is over now so we don't need to wear these ridiculous uniforms anymore."
"Yeah because once we are in the lab it will be a piece of cake." The cocky Renik said "Not a Crusader guard in sight down there. We'll simply take them by force."
"But once they figure out we're down there, they'll sound the alarm and send everything they've got at us." Cecil explained still unsure of the plan
"And if you remember your assigned machine's activation code, we'll be long gone by the time they can do anything about us." Vagun replied as he took off his disguise revealing his red and black NZFF colors.
Soon the pilots were at the bottom level of the lab where the mobile suits were stationed. As they exited two lab scientists approached them.
"Hey! You guys aren't allowed in h…ahhhh!" before he could finish, Cecil took out the scientist with extreme accuracy using his high power machine gun.
The NZFF pilots made their attacks swift and without mercy taking out important targets to ensure that the mobile suits remained within their grasp. "Cecil you open the gate while Renik and I take our assigned machines. Then once we are ready, follow in your mobile suit." Vagun ordered
"Yes sir!" Cecil replied as he made his move for the gate controls
"Alright take the mobile suit Renik!" Vagun ordered his other teammate
"Roger!" Renik replied
Renik was extremely quick with the mobile suit as he had easily memorized the machine's activation code. As Renik boarded his mobile suit, Crusader guards started pouring into the lab
"There they are! Get them!" A Crusader ordered to the rest of his team.
Just then Renik activated the mobile suit's vulcan machine guns located on it's head
"Go Trisect Gundam!" Renik yelled as the guns on the mobile suit's head mowed down the impending Crusader guards.
Vagun was next to activate his mobile suit. "Hmmm… The CGX-98 Vanguard Gundam, interesting machine." He said as he scrolled through his weapons list.
As Vagun and Renik made their way out with their acquired Gundams, Cecil made a move for the last one. The base was on full alert now and he knew he had to try and steal the final machine. As Cecil was about to punch in the activation code, Crusader guards were closing in. After typing in the code, Cecil was ready to activate the last Gundam.
"C'mon Cecil! Hurry!" Vagun ordered through the Gundam's Comm-system.
"Close the gate! Don't let the last one escape." A high ranking Crusader ordered.
Seeing that he would be trapped if the Crusaders got a hold of the gate controls, Cecil activated his machine and fired a missile from one of his leg-mounted missile launchers. He watched in amazement as the missile contacted with the area containing the gate controls, taking out the controls and all the Crusaders within the area.
"Wow, now I see why they call this one the Barrage Gundam." Cecil said as he scrolled through his weapons list.
"Cecil what's taking you so long, we have to get out of here now!" Vagun ordered impatiently
"Right!" Cecil replied as he started to operate the mobile suits legs. Crusaders in the area tried to take the mobile suit down with machine gun fire, but as expected the Barrage Gundam was unaffected by such small scale weapons.
"Fire afterburners!" Vagun ordered as his mobile suit's afterburner jets were heating up.
The other two pilots did the same and within minutes, the stolen mobile suits were within striking distance of escaping the space dome through the docking bay. But it seemed the pilots would have to test their mobile suits sooner than expected as 4 CGD-30 VULCANs and one CGD-30C Commander Type VULCAN stood between them and the space dome's orbit.
"Halt! If you do not surrender your mobile suits, then we will have to take them back by force! You have 10 seconds to comply." The Crusader in the Commander type VULCAN warned to the stolen Gundam pilots.
"Alright team, attack formation Y!" Vagun ordered to his teammates.
"Roger!" Cecil and Renik replied
Just then, the pilots formed a defensive position with the Barrage in the back and the Vanguard and Trisect in front guarding Barrage's left and right flanks.
"Let's see what these machines can do!" Renik said
Renik scrolled through his list of weapons and found the one he was looking for. Then the Trisect pulled out what appeared to be a spear like weapon that charged up like a beam saber on both sides.
Vagun's machine, the Vanguard Gundam had 2 large gauss rifles that were mounted on the machines broad shoulders as well as 2 laser wrist blades for melee attacks.
And finally Cecil's newly acquired mobile suit the Barrage Gundam was basically a large artillery mobile suit, complete with 6 missile pods located on various parts of the machine and a heavy laser cannon that was mounted on the chest plate.
"Alright men, we'll have to take them down." The Crusader commander ordered to his pilots.
The VULANs were a mass production model, with standard machine gun and beam saber weapons. The Commander unit was equipped with a beam rifle instead of a machine gun and is a bit faster than it's mass production counterpart. Even though these machines were outdated, they still posed a threat to the NZFF's plan.
The Crusaders struck first by bombarding the 3 mobile suits with machine gun and beam rifle fire. Trisect stepped forward and twirled it's spear around to deflect the incoming bullets while the Vanguard used his leg mounted anti-beam SMART charges to protect the trio against the beam rifle. Then Cecil used the Barrage Gundam's afterburners to fly up over the anti-beam and spear shield and barrage the helpless and tightly clustered Crusaders with a volley of missiles and heavy laser fire. The four VULCANs were destroyed but the Commander Type managed to escape and made an attempt to destroy the Barrage Gundam in midair. But this proved to be a fruitless attack as the Vanguard fired his Gauss rifles and hit the unsuspecting mobile suit causing him to lose control of his machine. Then Trisect flew up and used his beam spear to cut right through the mobile suit's lower body in mid-air thus causing the machine to explode.
"Ha, not even worth bragging about." Renik said confidently
"Alright, let's stick with the plan shall we." Vagun started "Now that we are in possession of these mobile suits we will proceed with the rest of General Zartem's orders. All hands, set a course for the expansion dome, Alpha 3."
"Well now that was fun." Nate said as they left the forum.
"At least its better than unpacking." Azrael added.
"You know it!" Elijah added. "So what are we going to do next Nate?"
"Azrael I do believe this is your call." Nate said
"Well I guess I did promise to help with the unpacking didn't I?" Azrael said fully aware that he left in kind of a hurry. "We'd better head back."
"Aww come on Azrael, I'm sure mom and dad don't need our help." Elijah said
"We'll do this another time Elijah." Nate said backing his friend's decision
"Oh alright." Elijah said with a hint of disappointment.
And with that the trio made their way to the Alpha 3 expansion dome via Nate's vehicle and within minutes they were at the Neo Alpha-Alpha 3 border. As they were crossing into the expansion dome, they felt an extremely violent tremor that echoed through the ground.
"What's that?" Elijah asked his older brother
"I don't know, but I think it has something to do with that." Azrael replied as he pointed to a large cloud of smoke billowing in the distance.
"Azrael, isn't that near your house?" Nate said
"Oh no!" Azrael replied taking a closer look at the smoke cloud. "Hurry Nate step on it, mom and dad could be in danger."
"You got it." Nate said as he sped up the car.
"This just doesn't seem right Vagun! Why do we have to kill innocent civilians." Cecil protested
"Listen kid, I was at the battles of Neo Epsilon and Neo Gamma while you were still in diapers and I know that sometimes innocent lives have to die so that the cause will live on. So don't lecture me on what's right or wrong and just do your job." Vagun replied impatiently as he fired his gauss rifle at a nearby building
"But I…uh…" Cecil started to say while realizing that he couldn't really argue with his superior "Yes sir."
And with that the 3 stolen Gundams began to wreak havoc on the expansion dome laying waste to anything that crossed their path.
Meanwhile, Nate, Azrael and Elijah were close enough to see what was actually happening.
"Mobile suits! What are they doing here? Is the NZFF attacking us?" Nate asked
"Wait a minute." Azrael said examining the machines further "Those mobile suits belong to the Crusaders of Blue Earth!"
"What?" Elijah asked with extreme disbelief. "Why in the world would they be attacking us, aren't we on good terms with the Crusaders?"
"Apparently not, remember our dome declared itself independent because of the past actions of both the NZFF and the Crusaders." Azrael replied.
"I just hope mom and dad are far from here by now." Elijah said
"Me too Elijah." Azrael said "Me too."
As they made their way towards the Dartessius home, the trio noticed people fleeing from their homes in fear of the havoc that was taking place.
As the Gundams were hitting civilian targets and minor defenses with relative ease, 5 more mobile suits showed up inside the expansion dome.
"Ah, so the ZARTEMAs finally decided to show up. I was beginning to worry." Vagun said.
"Alright, now we can have some fun." Renik chuckled.
Cecil, who was still unaware of what was really going on, tried to warn the ZARTEMA pilots about whom was piloting these Crusader mobile suits. "Attention NZFF mobile suits, this is Private Cecil Gains of th-"
"You fool!" Vagun interrupted. "Neo Alpha spies could be listening in. Don't you remember what the plan was?"
"What do you mean?" Cecil asked
"Argh! I'm surrounded by imbeciles!" Vagun retorted "The plan was to take these 3 mobile suits and start destroying the expansion dome. Then when our forces arrive, they will attempt to take us out to make it look like they are trying to defend Neo Alpha from the Crusaders. So you see, we are really just setting up Neo Alpha to join our cause by making the Crusaders look bad.
"Alright…I understand." Cecil replied.
"Remember, only damage the ZARTEMA's, don't destroy them." Renik added "We don't want to be killing any of our own pilots."
"Alright Renik, you and I will use close range weapons only! Cecil you will bombard the enemy just as before, only this time concentrate your fire on the ground in front of the mobile suits instead of aiming for them." Vagun ordered.
"Roger!" the team replied.
Meanwhile the commander of the ZARTEMA team was also playing a major role in this grand scheme of events.
"Alright men, those are our boys in there. Remember we are trying make sure that we look like we are defending this space dome so make sure that you don't destroy any civilian targets and once your mobile suit gets damaged, leave and get out of there quick. That's an order!"
"Yes sir!" the other ZARTEMA pilots replied.
The ZARTEMAs, like the Crusader's VULCANs, were a mass-produced, outdated mobile suit with standard weapons. But even while using these weapons, they still made a convincing attempt at defending the neutral dome.
"Take this!" Renik shouted as the Trisect shoulder tackled one of the ZARTEMAs to the ground
"Time for you guys to take your exit." Vagun said as he fired one gauss rifle, which blew a ZARTEMA's left arm off. Then he fired his other one and knocked the ZARTEMA down. Then the ZARTEMA pilot ejected the mobile suit and left.
Cecil was having trouble adjusting his aim though; he kept firing at the mobile suits when he was trying to simply hit the ground in front of him. "Come on, keep it together Cecil." He said to himself trying to keep a level head in the ensuing chaos.
"Dad!" Azrael shouted as he saw his father outside of the house. "What's going on around here?" and then he took a closer look around "Dad where's Mom?"
"I don't know, a minute ago she was right behind me. She must have got scared and froze or something." Tezra replied. "I'm going back in for her."
"What?" Azrael said "But what about you. It's too dangerous to stick around here."
"Look Azrael, just take Nate and your brother as far away from here as you possibly can. Your mother and I will be fine."
"But…Dad…I…alright." Azrael said as he made his way towards the car
"Wait Azrael!" Tezra shouted.
"What is it dad?" Azrael asked as if his father had forgotten something.
Then Tezra gripped the meteor piece in his hand and pulled it out of his pocket, giving it to his son. "Azrael, if something should happen to me in there…give this to your brother."
"What is it?" Azrael said puzzled.
"Please Azrael, just give to him." Tezra replied. "If this war continues, both you and Elijah will come to know what it is."
"Alright dad. I will." Azrael said "But you just make sure you come back to us safe."
And with that, Tezra ran back into the house to look for Violet while Azrael got back into the car.
"Drive Nate." Azrael said.
"But what about Mom and Dad?" Elijah asked
"They'll be fine, just go." Azrael ordered.
And as they made their way down the long driveway, Tezra was searching high and low for Violet, until he found her lying under a heavy board that was dislodged from the previous tremor. "Violet!" he screamed as he saw the trouble she was in.
"Tez…Tezra." Violet said softly as the board had severely damaged her spinal cord, having the pain made it difficult for her to speak. "Sweetie, I'm…dying."
"No, No!" Tezra shouted trying to hold back his tears. "Your going to be fine…I…I promise."
"No…I can tell by your expression…I won't make it. Please just…save yourself." Violet pleaded.
Tezra could see for himself that even if the board was removed, he wouldn't be able to move her in the condition she was in. "No I'm going to stay with you, no matter what happens, I won't leave you here."
"Oh honey…what about Elijah and Azrael?" Violet asked.
"They are old enough to know the truth now. I have good a feeling that they can take care of themselves, as long as Elijah has Azrael and Nate to watch over him, they will be just fine." Tezra replied softly. "No matter what happens darling, hold on to my hand and don't let go."
"I won't let go." Violet said as she gripped his hand as tightly as she possibly could.
It seemed as though the former Journey commander and his wife's fate were sealed for at that very moment, one of the Barrage Gundam's high powered missiles went astray from it's intended target and hit that very house, causing debris to go everywhere. Just as Nate was leaving the driveway, the trio had just witnessed what had happened.
"No! Mom! Dad!" Elijah screamed as he got out of the car and started running back towards the house.
Just then Nate grabbed Elijah to make sure that he didn't get hurt. "No Elijah, you can't go back there it's too dangerous."
"I have to do something, we can't just leave them there." Elijah cried
"No Elijah, it's too late…we can't save them now." Nate replied
"But…but…" Elijah broke down into tears as he realized that what Nate had said was true. There was no way that either of them could have survived that.
Meanwhile, Azrael was still in the car, staring blankly at the smoldering house, deeply in shock over what had happened. "No it's not possible, it's not true, they can't be…" he kept saying over and over again.
"Come on Elijah, we have to find an escape pod fast before the Crusaders destroy this whole expansion dome." Nate said as he pulled Elijah to his feet.
Once they were back in the car they made their way to whatever escape pod was available while avoiding the debris that was lying around from the intense battle.
"There's an escape pod." Nate said as they were heading towards it.
Once they got there, Azrael was still trying to recover from what he had witnessed when he noticed something. One of the ZARTEMAs had fallen near the area but it still looked as if it was still functional.
"Do you have anymore room for us in there?" Nate asked the man who was in charge of this escape pod through the intercom
"How many of you are there?" the man replied
"There are 3 of us." Nate said.
"Yeah alright but be quick about. We've already got injured aboard this pod and we don't need to have anymore."
"Come on Azrael get in." Nate said as he and Elijah were getting in. "We have to leave now."
As Azrael was making his way onto the lifepod, he still couldn't stop thinking about the ZARTEMA that was nearby. Then he pulled the meteor shard he was carrying and gave it to Nate. "Give this to Elijah."
"What is it?" Nate asked him.
"I'm not sure but just give it to him." Azrael replied as he stepped off the pod.
Just then Nate grabbed his arm. "Hey where do you think your going?" he asked.
"I'll be fine just give that thing to Elijah." Azrael replied impatiently
"Wait a second Azrael, Elijah has already lost both of his parents and I am not going to let him lose his only brother too." Nate said sternly
Then Azrael pushed Nate back into the pod and closed the door on him. He then went to the intercom to communicate with Nate one more time. "I know you don't understand Nate but this is something I have to do. Those Crusaders have to pay for what they did here today and I'm going to make sure that happens. Take care of Elijah for me ok."
And with that Azrael made his way to the ZARTEMA mobile suit that was lying near him. "I swear I'll get my revenge for what they did to you mom and dad. They won't live long enough to regret their fatal mistake!"
"Alright! That's the last of the ZARTEMAs." Renik said as he incapacitated the final machine.
"Good, now let's proceed with leveling the rest of this place." Vagun ordered
"Yes sir!" Renik and Cecil replied.
As they were destroying what was left of the meager Neo Alpha resistance, Cecil noticed another heat signature show up on his radar screen. "What the hell? Sir, it looks like one of the ZARTEMAs has reactivated."
"What?" Vagun asked puzzled "Oh damn that idiot, he must have forgotten to turn off his auto-drone switch off." Vagun said. "Take it out Renik."
"It'll be my pleasure sir." Renik replied as the Trisect charged up its spear.
As Renik made his way closer to what he believed to be a defecting mobile suit, the ZARTEMA pulled out it's beam saber and waited for the Gundam to get closer. The Trisect then took one mighty swing at the ZARTEMA but it missed as the ZARTEMA swiftly ducked and swung it's beam saber slicing off the Trisect Gundam's leg.
"Ahhh! What the hell?" Renik said as he tried to pull back.
Then the ZARTEMA charged after the wounded Trisect Gundam and used its beam saber to cut right through the cockpit of the mobile suit, killing Renik instantly. Then the ZARTEMA put away it's beam saber and took the Trisect's spear for his own use.
"Renik!" Cecil said through the comm-system trying to find out if he was alright.
Vagun knew better however, he knew that Renik was dead and he saw how he had died, but the question on his mind was why he had to die. He knew this plan inside and out and he knew that this machine was too powerful to be a drone. He also knew that if an NZFF pilot were using it, he wouldn't have attacked to try to destroy the Trisect Gundam. This left Vagun with one conclusion.
"Cecil, that's not a drone. Somebody is piloting that mobile suit and it's not one of ours." Vagun warned.
"How can you tell?" Cecil asked.
"Because no other NZFF pilot that I know of would even come close to beating Renik, let alone killing him with an inferior machine. Whoever this guy is, he is obviously a very skilled pilot and a deadly weapon with a mobile suit." Vagun pointed out. He then opened his comm-channel to the ZARTEMA's but he kept his video link off to keep the mysterious pilot from recognizing his uniform. "Attention NZFF mobile suit, this is Lieutenant Fengar Edimont of the Crusaders of Blue Earth." He said keeping his real identity a secret. "Cease your actions and identify yourself or we will be forced to destroy you."
Then the pilot switched on his comm-system and responded. "You want to know who I am? Fine then listen good you scum because you won't live long enough to hear it again, my name is Azrael Dartessius."
"Dartessius, the same Dartessius that was part of the famous Terrestrial Rescue?" Vagun asked.
"No, because thanks to your actions here, he's dead. I am his son and now I've come for vengeance on all of the Crusaders for what you did to him!" Azrael shouted as he sent the ZARTEMA straight at the Vanguard Gundam.
The Vanguard Gundam charged its wrist beam sabers and fought furiously with the surprisingly powerful ZARTEMA unit. "How is he fighting so well? These are supposed to be top of the line mobile suits and we are having trouble dealing with this obsolete unit." Vagun said as broke away from the struggle to fire his gauss rifles at the ZARTEMA.
Azrael managed to shift out of the way just in time as the gauss rifle rounds contacted with a nearby building. Then he used the ZARTEMAs newly acquired spear to slash off one of the Vanguard's hands, thereby eliminating one of the wrist beams.
It was then that Vagun knew the truth about his opponent. The mobile suit's quick reflexes, the unbelievable force in his attacks and the suspecting fact of a Dartessius's lack of knowledge of piloting a machine of such power pointed to one thing.
"The meteor…" Vagun uttered as the ZARTEMA pierced the Vanguard's cockpit, killing another Crusader imposter.
Azrael then opened his channel to the final Gundam. "It's just you and me now…Crusader."
"Stop this Azrael, we are not your enemy." Cecil pleaded with the vengeful Azrael.
"It was your missile, wasn't it? It was you who killed them! You are a Crusader of Blue Earth and you took their lives without reason! Of course you are my enemy! But now thanks to your mistake, all of the Crusaders will now fall by my hand, this I swear!" Azrael proclaimed to the fake Crusader.
"He believes so strongly that it was the Crusaders who did this, it seems like he'd do anything to exact his revenge on them, and above all else, he doesn't suspect that we are NZFF pilots. I guess this plan really did work." Cecil said to himself.
"Die Crusader bastard!" Azrael shouted as he fired his afterburners straight at the Barrage Gundam.
"Your not going to get me that easily." Cecil said firing dozens of missiles at the lone ZARTEMA.
Azrael quickly reacted by using the jets to fly upward over most of the missiles. Some of the missiles followed but Azrael had no trouble with them as he took them out one by one with the ZARTEMA's machine gun.
"Okay let's see how you handle this." Cecil said using his heavy laser cannon to take out the rogue mobile suit.
"Damn, this one is going to be a little more tricky." Azrael said trying to keep away from the deadly laser fire. Then he started to fly closer towards his remaining enemy. But the Barrage Gundam still managed to hit his ZARTEMA with the cannon, damaging its left arm and destroying the Trisect spear.
"I gotcha now!" Cecil shouted as he fired one more cannon round to finish off the ZARTEMA.
Just then the ZARTEMA jumped right over the cannon blast and flipped over the Barrage Gundam. Then while inverted, the ZARTEMA pulled out its beam saber and dove straight at the Barrage, slicing it in two from the waist.
"He…He will be the greatest…Freedom Fighter…ever. Our deaths will be…worth at least that." Cecil whispered as the Barrage Gundam exploded from the extreme damage it took from Azrael's attack.
"It's over…" Azrael thought to himself as he stood the ZARTEMA upright. "I killed them all and yet I feel no sympathy, no remorse, for any of them. Damn those Crusaders, they will all pay for this."
And with that the only mobile suit left standing flew out of the smoldering expansion dome and headed towards the nearest NZFF ship located on it's radar screen, the BASTION.