Since I've had a few people request it, I've decided to move up the showing of Art's RdaC. I wasn't planning on showing it at all but people wanna see it so here it is. I hope I don't disappoint anyone but most of the armaments are simply taken and updated from already existing weapons.
Also, just so everyone is fully aware: Artemis is very intelligent and very much obsessed with machines. So saying, she is responsible for most of the mobile suits and such that appear in this story. She will either be the designer, the builder, or just someone who improved on someone else's design, but nevertheless she will have had a hand with EVERYTHING. I'm just saying that clearly so I don't get any flames that complain about how she's involved too much.
And I'm bumping up Akira's age a bit. No matter how much I wish it, Kira is not that good and Akira is too young so saying he is now thirteen instead of ten.
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
Kira looked at Art quietly, rubbing his temples to dissipate the impending headache. She was giving him 'The Face' and that stupid question was getting on his nerves.
She's spent WAY too much time around Lacus…
"Art I-" She put more effort into her quivering bottom lip, causing it to shake sporadically along with the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. He grimaced and looked away, hiding his face in his hand. "Lacus is so going to kill me for this…alright! ALRIGHT! Go ahead but if she comes after me-!" he warned. Instantly 'The Face' vanished only to be replaced with a look of pure delight. Only she could go from hot to cold so damn fast.
"YES! Don't worry Kira. I'll have back up you know," she said, reaching a hand up and pressing down on a special watch on her wrist. The floor began to shake lightly as one of the ceiling plates moved as a very large suit was lowered down into the largest amount of space left in Art's special hangar.
It was an all black with red detail Calamity of course but with some heavy modifications. First and foremost, there was no shield. Moving from the ground up, there were large thruster vents on both the inside and the outside of the legs, helping to support the extra weight. On the chest was the MGX-2235 Callidus beam cannon also with hidden slots on the side for other beam weapons and two MMI-GAU30 20.5mm CIWS mounted in the chest. Under the guards on the shoulders were two 120cm high-energy beam cannons taken from the METEORs. The backpack was larger than that of the original Calamity but was also modified with two sets of wings. Inside the wings were the M200 Balaena plasma beam cannons and added onto the pack was also a pair of Type 73F modified high-energy beam cannons along with a seven guided mobile beam turret system. Borrowed from the Raider, there was also a Zorn 300mm cannon on the mouth with two MMI-M20Z 30mm dual machine guns mounted in the head.
Kira could see the young girl almost bouncing with anticipation. But he couldn't blame her all that much. He almost never let her out at all, much less in the most destructive suit ever built.
"You're taking Akira out as well." She paused her bouncing to look at him with curious blue eyes.
"In what might I ask? There's no way in hell he's ready for the Freedom, not that I'd let him use it anyway, but you've yet to assign him a suit." Kira frowned a bit. She was right; he had been putting that off for some time. But nevertheless, the boy was ready.
"Is the Out Frame ready?" She stared up at the ceiling, tilting her head to the side a bit. He watched her and silently wondered if she had gone insane again.
"Actually, yes. Don't remember when I did finish it. It coulda been between my repairs on Calamity-01 or right before Cagalli'sStrike Aile or even…"
"Art…" he said with a slight warning. She shook herself and grinned sheepishly.
"Right anyway, it is ready along with the three backpacks. You want me to set up a specific one for this?"
"Yeah, use the Force one. I just want him to get some battle experience. The Freedom is mostly a close-combat suit with exceptional maneuvering capabilities so using that would be best," he murmured, thinking out loud. She scoffed.
"You don't think I know that? I practically built the bloody thing!" He waved her off, walking away.
"Yeah, yeah. Just get everything ready, ya?" She scowled behind his back but bit her tongue. He was letting her out anyway. She grinned widely.
This is going to be so much fun! I gotta meet with Richards to remake the battle plans…ooh…she shivered with anticipation, looking up at her unit.
"We're gonna make hell aren't we Darc? (Pronounced as dark)" Her only response was the sudden lighting of its eyes and a slight nod of the head.
Boredom was something that never needed to be in the same sentence as Art.
If she is with Kira, she'll be fine…doesn't matter really. I can't go back to ORB anyway, thought Athrun as he stared out of the glass window into the hangar. He could feel the Minerva shaking underneath his feet and assumed that they were finally launching. He barely aware of Shinn and Stellar sitting on the couch, dressed in pilot suits, the same as himself. Rey, Sting, and Auel were probably off doing something that they did. Athrun didn't take the time to get to know the other pilots.
Thank you Artemis and you too Kira…although I'm pretty sure even if he hadn't given his permission, she still would have gone off anyway…He snorted at the thought. He remembered when he first met her.
FLASHBACK
A fourteen (A/N: I'm guessing here) year-old Athrun Zala tugged on the collar of his jacket nervously as he rung the doorbell on the extravagant mansion. It would be the first time he met his fiancé in person. He was barely noticing the pink, purple and blue flowers planted on the sides of the porch when the door flew open. He opened his mouth to say a greeting but clamped it shut when he realized no one was there.
"Down here!" shouted a small female voice that carried a deep undercurrent of attitude in it. He did as he was told; the military training already shaping his mind into the obedient soldier. Barely coming to his waist was a rather small eight year-old with burgundy hair and aquamarine eyes. More surprising than her height was her attire, something he had only seen mechanics wear. She seemed vaguely familiar.
"Don't I know you?" he asked bluntly. She blinked at him and tilted her head to the side.
"You're Zala's boy aren't you?" she returned.
"Um…yes?" he ventured cautiously. The girl nodded to herself prior to launching a fist at his stomach. Even with his training, he was still caught unawares and gasped tightly as the wind was forcefully ejected from his lungs.
"YOU DAMN JERK! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S ALWAYS CRASHING THE ZAKUs! DO YOU KNOW HOW BORING IT IS FIXING THOSE DAY AFTER DAY! I DON'T LIKE WASTING MY TIME ON EASY SHIT!" she exploded. Athrun threw out a hand and steadied himself on the doorframe.
"What?" he returned intelligently. The little girl in front of him continued fuming and already had another fist cocked to fly when a heavenly voice spiraled down the stairs to them.
"Artie! Stop hitting random people!" she chided. Instantly, the brash eight year-old dropped her fist and started to look and act her age.
"But Lacus-" The pink pop princess shook her head, her simple blue sundress gliding around her feet as she walked towards them. Athrun could already feel the breath he had tried so hard to take in suddenly leave again. This was his fiancé?
"No buts Artemis. Now apologize and go back to the base before I ban you from it." He could tell the ultimatum didn't sit well with the young girl but nevertheless she turned to him, apologized and disappeared but not before a swift kick that was uncomfortably close to his family jewels.
END FLASHBACK
He smiled ruefully, absently rubbing his stomach where she had hit him and let out a low chuckle. Shinn looked up curiously at him.
"What's so funny?" he asked. Athrun didn't turn.
"The past," was his cryptic reply. He then ignored the look the young boy shot him.
"CONDITION RED ISSUED. CONDITION RED ISSUED. ALL PILOTS SHOULD STAND BY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE UNITS. ALL PILOTS SHOULD STAND BY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE UNITS."
All three looked up and dashed to the elevator without a word. Stellar pushed the button to take them to the hangar.
"Stellar, maybe you should stay behind. We're primarily over water. The Gaia would be useless," said Shinn. She turned her deep purple eyes on him, already tearing up. Athrun so wanted to snort in contempt but kept it to himself.
"You can easily support Rey and Luna, they will probably need the help," he interjected when he saw Shinn's already weak will snapping in the face of his girlfriend's tears. The boy in question threw him a sour look but nodded anyway.
"He's right Stellar. I'm going to be counting on you to protect Rey and Luna; they can't protect the ship all by themselves." She beamed at him and nodded eagerly.
"Stellar protect!" she chirped. Athrun fought the other urge to cringe.
Am I glad that Cagalli is NOTHING like that; if she were…she'd be happily married to Yuna. The name of the man who tried to wed his wife was thought in a mocking and disdainful tone.
"Athrun?" The three looked over at the screen conveniently located on the left wall. It was Captain Gladys.
"Is it the Earth Alliance?"
"Yes. What will you do?"
"Huh?"
"Since we are both members of FAITH, I have no right or authority to give you orders." Shinn and Stellar looked at him, one suspiciously, the other vague.
"I will launch as well. Although you can't order me, I am also a crew member of this ship and therefore will protect it to the best of my abilities." She smiled at him, noticing Shinn relax behind his back.
"Very well. In that case, I ask that you take command of the mobile suits after you launch. Is that acceptable?" He nodded as the elevator reached the hangar.
"I understand." And the screen went blank. He sighed a bit before looking at the others. "Well then, let's go."
"Impulse, Saviour, Chaos, Abyss, please launch. The ZAKUs and the Gaia are on standby until further orders."
"Standby for launch."
Athrun relaxed easily into the familiar launch sequence and catapulted into the open blue sky. Then he frowned, watching and waiting for the Impulse to finish. Sting and Auel were already in the sky and sea respectively.
Truly, if they're going to make a rip-off Strike, the least they could do would be to make the conversions a bit faster. I'd hate to see him in a serious dogfight where he can't take off time to get the legs and chest.
"Alright, let's move out. We've got thirty Windoms to take care of and a flagship that's no where to be found. Let's not make a need for the others to appear, yeah?" He received three affirmatives and led them off to engage the enemy. Shinn didn't hesitate and immediately overtook them all, shooting his beam rifle at everything that moved.
"Shinn wait! Damnit! Fine, leave the Windoms to him. Auel, assist Shinn. No matter how good he thinks he is, he can't handle them all. Sting, you take the Raider Full Spec. I'll take the Sword Calamity. Understand?"
"Sure sure. Like shooting fish in a barrel!" shouted Auel, beams already shooting out of the water. Sting shrugged.
"Why not?" Athrun smirked a little before changing modes and barrel rolling around the lasers that would have ended his new military career. He turned back around, returning fire but missing all the same.
"He's good…"
Shinn continued shooting blindly for the most part, hitting each target only by the corrections of the computer.
"Tch! All you have is numbers!" he shouted, downing two more. He noticed a purple Windom out the corner of his eye and being cocky, fired on it. The pilot of the suit was obviously intelligent, diving into the clouds as cover before firing back. Shinn was forced into the defensive. "Damn he's fast!" He continued dodging before mimicking the Windom and diving under the clouds. The purple Windom followed after him along with two units. The Impulse cruised close to the ocean, moving erratically to reduce the chance of getting hit. He shot up into the air, more beams following his every move. He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where to start, blocking beams with his shield every now and then. Athrun noticed his trouble with an eye roll.
Cocky idiot…"Auel! Shinn needs some cover fire!" he shouted, one strike from the SC getting a bit too close for his own comfort.
"Yeah, yeah! Hold your shorts!" The Abyss launched out of the water, punching its jets to hover and began blasting not unlike how Shinn was doing. Except Auel didn't miss half as much. Athrun dodged his own enemy in the Sword Calamity. The pilot was obviously skilled, albeit a bit slow. Shinn finally got frustrated enough and decided to take his fight to the Windom, using his sword but naturally he missed.
"Oh ho! So the little ace has teeth now?" taunted the enemy pilot. But he soon shut his mouth as anti-air missile raked across his left side. "What! Damn it where have all the allied units gone?"
"They've been shot down sir and I'm having problems ridding myself of this damn red one!" shouted the pilot of the Sword Calamity.
"Damn! Elijah, Kazahana! Fall back and prepare to rendezvous!" He pulled back on the controls and sped away, leaving a very confused Shinn in his wake.
CRACK!
Athrun's gloved hand exploded on Shinn's cheek, drawing the attention of everyone in the hangar. The raven-haired boy turned his head back around, glaring at his superior, not that he'd ever willingly admit it.
"I'd don't mind if you want to hit me, but I haven't done anything wrong!" Athrun gazed coldly down at him, his own emerald eyes flashing.
"How about running headlong into a battle that could have quickly turned around and bit you on the ass?"
"My actions saved those people and destroyed an enemy base! I'm a hero!" the young idiot proclaimed.
CRACK!
This time in the opposite direction. Athrun was seriously getting pissed. He, like Kira, did not like to resort to physical blows to get his point across. This was more of Art's method. But he had to agree; her way was working a lot better.
"Wars aren't about pretending to be heroes boy! Making decisions on your own are what get good people killed! Auel could have easily lost his position and died while trying to cover you! If you have power, understand it before you use it! It's because of people like you that I left ZAFT in the first place." With that last remark, he turned around and walked away, not looking at anyone. Sting released Stellar after he had gone. The somewhat distraught girl ran up to her boyfriend, trying to comfort his wounded pride. He refused to look at her, his head turned away in shame.
"That could have gone better," said Reed Wheeler, captain of the Serpent's Tail Laurasia-class frigate. He ran a rough hand through his blond buzz-cut, a bottle of some alcohol in the other. Gai glowered at him but Elijah beat him in replying.
"No shit. I could barely touch that red suit," grumbled the silver haired boy. Loretta laughed, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"But you did better, didn't you baby?"
"You know it," boasted Kazahana, the young brown haired, brown-eyed girl. Elijah scoffed.
"Barely, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that, I had the harder pilot!"
"Enough," said Gai irritably. (I really can't get a good look at them all so if you want to see what they look like, the link is at the bottom of the chapter.) "We had a job to do and we failed. How long will the repairs take?"
"A few days maximum," replied Lore. He scowled.
"That's not good. Roanoke will not be pleased." Reed snorted.
"When is that crazy man ever pleased?"
"He will be, once we sink the Minerva."
"Why don't you ask Hawk to help?" said Elijah. "He has no alliance and could easily be dispatched with the right amount of money."
"You may be right but I wanna hold that card for later."
"A Sword Calamity and a Raider Full-Spec you say? Sounds like the Serpent's Tail to me," said Akira absently as he reprogrammed the Out Frame (link at end of chapter for pic) so that it could be usable to him. It was one of a kind mix between the Strike and the Astray. It came with different backpacks although the one he was going to be using was much like the Aile but better. Art was sitting in front of him, leaning over the consol every now and then to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.
"Wonder what Gai's doin' workin' for them though. He's usually annoyingly independent. They must be giving him something big."
"Probably ORB. You know that's what he wants."
"Who knows? Have you finished the recalibration yet?" He scowled up at her.
"No one in or on this ship, dad included, can move as fast as you do with programming. Give me a minute damnit!" She smirked triumphantly at him.
"Aha! So you admit I'm better than you." He only raised an eyebrow at her.
"I never denied it. I know you're better, you know you're better, hell! The whole ship knows! Just because we don't acknowledge it doesn't mean we deny it." He looked up at her fiercely. Art tilted her head to the side, considering him. Akira shifted in the seat nervously. Art's eyes were a clear blue; one that shined even in little light thus it was somewhat creepy to have her stare at you for long periods of time. After a moment she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek, causing him to turn red instantly. He may have grown up under Kira and around her but that didn't make him any less nervous around girls. He looked at her confused.
"That's sweet Akira. Call me when you're finished. Me and your dad are probably going to visit the Archangel in a little while." She turned around and left before he could reply. He sat there stunned for a second more. A hand came up and touched the spot that she kissed in slight awe followed by a minor smile. Ruefully shaking his head, he got back to work, this time moving a bit aster than before.
(A/N: Just so everyone is clear. Art and Akira are not brother and sister. This will come to be important later in the story but Lacus' father adopted Artemis when she was still a baby. The whole history will come about shortly.)
A few hours later, Kira and Art launched in a Blitz and rendezvoused with the Archangel. Art happily hugged her sister and gave Cagalli a lighthearted jab. Andrew and Murrue watched with small smiles as Kira and Lacus embraced tenderly, content just to stay in one another's arms.
"So what have you guys been workin' on?" asked Art, spinning in Arnold's chair, making sure to stay well away from the steering wheel. Murrue rolled her eyes at the antics of the fifteen year-old.
She might have been the best mechanic the world over but she was still a child at times.
"Nothing really, just information gathering," she nodded towards the main screen which was covered with different reports from all over the globe. Lacus sat in one of the CIC chairs working with Kira peering over her shoulder. Occasionally, she'd turn around and give him a smile, not being one for extreme PDA. (A/N: I got suspended for that once. Like in the anime, they will be obvious but not blatantly so. Secrecy is the better part of not getting suspended ya know.)
"There's been nothing but depressing crap since the scraps landed," informed Andrew, sipping his coffee. "Wonder why there's never anything uplifting. I doubt everyone is this miserable."
"Something's not right here," chirped Art in a singsong voice.
"I agree, what happened to the war with PLANT? All we're getting is nonsense about how confused and unsettled the Earth Alliance is." Kira turned to observe her, thinking.
"Was it ever stable?" he replied. Cagalli shrugged.
"And PLANT is like this all the time…" added Lacus, pulling her earpiece away and taking over one of the smaller screens. She enlarged it and allowed audio to filter in. Three pairs of eyes simultaneously widened and Art's jaw dropped open.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" she shouted. Lacus didn't even chide her, as she understood what had brought the comment on.
There, on a now enlarged screen, was Lacus dancing, if you could call it that, on a supposedly live performance with an extremely revealing outfit and an annoyingly upbeat version of Quiet Night. The outfit itself looked like a one-piece bathing suit with a skirt that was below the hips verses on them. Said skirt also had a large cut going right down the middle, showing off even more of Lacus' legs.
Art looked from Lacus to the screen and back before looking at Kira. He had simply closed his eyes and turned back to the live Lacus, shaking his head.
"They all seem to be enjoying themselves," she remarked, drawing their attention.
"Are you okay with leaving things like this?" questioned Cagalli in surprise.
"Why bother? It's a bloody propaganda ploy. Lacus has always been their princess and if she says fight, who would argue? It's morale," growled Art before she got up and strode over to the other CIC console. Jackie leapt to his feet and out of the way as she sat down, her fingers flying over the keypad. "But I'll be damned if I don't find out the name of the witch that's impersonating my sister. Cagalli, hand me my bag." After it was in her hand, she reached in and pulled out a small laptop, plugging it into the console while at the same time grabbing a headset that was reminiscent of a virtual reality helmet. She tugged it on, lowered the visor and began typing away madly. Everyone remained silent as she worked, occasionally mumbling things under her breath. All of them pointed towards murder. With a triumphant cry, she leaned back satisfied and pressed a button, lifting the visor off her eyes.
"Art?"
"Everyone, meet Meer Campbell, our own personal Lacus impersonator." The screen again changed to a photo of a black haired girl with small eyes and a slightly prominent nose. "She had surgery done to make her look like Lacus. Apparently, she has a similar voice, which led to her initial choosing of being the impersonator."
"I can imagine why she allowed them to do that. Becoming your idol, it's a dream for many," said Murrue contemplatively.
"But there's more. She has been documented in showing slight mental disability, leading to schizophrenia eventually."
"So that means…?"
"Some day, probably soon if this keeps up, she will really believe she is Lacus Clyne, fiancé to Athrun Zala." Cagalli didn't say a word, only clenching her fist. "And the worst part is, no one will argue that. The people who can tell the difference are mostly all right here." She snorted. "Although, how they believe that's Lacus is beyond me. No way in hell would you wear something like that…although Kira might appreciate it," she added with a grin. His face instantly colored while the original scowled at her sister.
"Not funny Artemis."
"Shittin' me!" she cried as they all laughed.
"How did you do that?" asked Cagalli, rubbing her head in confusion. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that ZAFT and PLANT's computers where some of the hardest to hack into.
"The hacking? Sis, there's a few things you always must remember about our resident mad scientist. One: Art's good like that. Two: She has inside connections to all major forms of government. And three?"
"I built the damn system." She nearly broke down laughing at their surprised faces. "You didn't know that? Yeah, back when dad was all cool and the council wasn't so corrupt, he realized my potential and had me make a computer system for the military to use. Suffice to say by the time I got done making the whole thing and working all the kinks out of it, Zala was already pushing for war. So I decided to leave myself a visual backdoor, hence the helmet. It lets me see into the actual mainframe for the visual reminders I left myself."
"You have connections everywhere?" she asked warily.
"Yes, that means yours too. Where the hell did you think I got the blueprints for the Astrays? Trinity got em for me before they were officially court-martialed. Don't worry Cagalli, I use my powers only for good and the betterment of my Calamity." All in the room shuddered at that; a better RDaC was a scary thought. She sighed. As pleasing as random destruction would be, it was back to work however. "Too bad we can't remove Meer yet. Its not time."
"Yes, we still need more information. Like who's really behind the 'Breaking the World' scheme," said Murrue.
"Probably Blue Cosmos. Junius Seven was PLANT territory, therefore since it landed, Naturals would naturally blame the easiest target, the Coordinators," said Andrew.
"Probably," agreed Murrue. "It would have been easy, to flee to the PLANTS, serve under Dullindal. He has been nothing but a great leader, based on his public actions."
"But going on his private ones, he can kiss my ass," sneered Art, going back to hacking.
"For once, I agree with Art. We can't trust him and only hope that Athrun does a better job."
"Speaking of Athrun, he's been assigned to FAITH." Cagalli pushed her head dangerously close to Art's as she worked. "Cagalli! Personal space! Invade Athrun's!" she growled. The ORB leader leaned back nervously.
"What about FAITH?" spoke Andrew sharply.
"Yeah, he's now a member, meaning he only answers to the Council and thus, Dullindal. He was even given a new experimental unit, the Saviour. Like the other new models, it can transform into a jet. They were also recently in a battle with the Earth Federation and Serpent's Tail." Kira blinked.
"Are you sure?" She scowled at him.
"What the hell do you take me for? And just for you I even ran it past Akira. He agrees. I'm going to assume that the Earth Alliance promised him ORB."
"Over my dead body!" shouted Cagalli. Art gave her a glance.
"Be careful, they might hold you to that. ZAFT is working hard to show the world how they are not the evil ones and that the EA is. Unfortunately, they've got the right of it. The EA is not making too many allies with their actions in West Eurasia."
"We don't know what to think," scowled Kira. "On one hand, we have the ideal leader who is going behind people's backs, deceiving them. On the other, we have the lesser of two evils. We need to stay out of it for the moment."
"What you doin' out here Shinn?" asked Athrun as he emerged on to the top deck of the Minerva. The boy looked at him from the corner of his eye.
"Nothing. Is it alright for a member of FAITH to be wasting their time like this? I thought you had a lot to do?" Athrun walked towards him and sighed.
"You really can't speak inoffensively can you? You remind me of Yzak."
"Commander Joule?" he asked in surprise.
"Yes, everyone knows we were once on the Le Kluzze team together. He hated me too." He stepped forward and leaned on the rail next to him. "So what's bothering you more? The fact that I came back and joined an elite military group or the fact that I hit you?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Neither, although no one in the world likes to be hit. But you once guarded Athha. THAT'S my problem. How am I to obey your orders? What you're doing makes no sense." Athrun shrugged.
"I'll admit, from your point of view I don't make any sense. But then again, you're jaded against anything involving ORB and Cagalli so naturally you want to rebel. That's it, isn't it?" He leveled a piercing gaze at the younger boy.
"No…"
"You're simply biased. You said your family died at Onogoro?"
"No," he repeated. "They were killed."
"Yeah…you keep telling yourself that. No one knows what really happened. It was probably a stray shot. But what you pine over is the fact that you didn't have the power to save them." Shinn's eyes flashed. "Don't you think most of the PLANTs thought that when Bloody Valentine happened? I myself was already a pilot. I could have done something. But now…you have the power. And you make others cry. Just like how someone made you cry. If you go out, fighting for yourself, you will do nothing but be a destroyer. Is that all you really are? Shinn Asuka?" He left the boy there, drowning in his thoughts.
Tch, he's going to get one of us killed.
"Alright, here we go. As we all know, there's only one clear-cut path to the base in Gulnaham Ravine. Right up this pass. However, the Earth forces know that too. They've got a semi-mobile positron cannon that can defend from all sides, land, sea and air. On top of that, any type of beam weaponry we could use is obsolete due to their positron reflector. I know we already had a plan but Commander Yamato has decided to change up things a bit."
"As in?"
"Art's RdaC." The whole room went silent.
"They're gonna get creamed." Some laughed. Very few times had any of them seen the suit in action and even lesser times has the suit failed to meet its objective or left many behind.
"Yes, it thinks so too. Anyway, due to the presence of that Calamity, our former plan is scrapped and pushed back. Now serving as the distraction is the Calamity and Akira in the Out Frame. His own PR (Positron reflector) will be enough to block any attacks while Artemis gives him cover. Orga, you and Jeanne are going to be going with them straight up the middle. Clotho, you and Scott are going to come in from the sea and Shani, you're dropping from the sky. But only AFTER they have fired off the first positron blast and are occupied with the ground team. You unfortunately have no shield and therefore are at the most risk. While all of this is going on, Lowe and Aros are going to come in from behind them. Also, all the teams will be split. We need some to cover the guys as well. The EF commanders aren't stupid, nor are they young and prone to stupid mistakes. They're going to think something is wrong if we don't attack from all sides. Also, we need the all the Strike units and ten of the Murasames to go back up the Archangel. They're utterly defenseless right now."
"I'll get the teams ready," volunteered one of the males in the room.
"Alright. We're launching in a few hours, be ready by then."
"Scared Akira?" taunted Art as she climbed into her suit. The cockpit was designed specifically for her, it being a bit smaller than what most pilots would choose. The consoles surrounding her were also more technically advanced than with any of the others. His face popped up on her left, crimson eyes glowing fiercely.
"You wish."
"Actually I don't. You have to face the PC head on. This whole plan basically revolves around you." He remained quiet for a moment, absorbing her words.
"You're right. You got my back though?" She smiled at him.
"You know it. Where would I be if I didn't have my favorite idiot to bother?"
"Cut the chatter you two, we're launching," cut in Kira. They obliged and soon found themselves on land, the sides of the canyon going up around them.
"Showtime…"
And that's where I end it. My first cliffie! I'm so happy! Anyway, sorry for the wait but I've got a good idea for the next chapter. I had a really good time writing this one with the emergence of Meer. I had always pictured a more shocked reaction when I saw it in my head and hope I did the scene justice. I also gave a reason why Art is always easily hacking into places. I hope I didn't make Athrun too cynical but Shinn just really gets on my nerves. Till next time.
Pic of Serpent's Tail: http/en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Image: Serpenttail.jpg
Pic of Out Frame: http/en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ ZGMF-X12GundamAstrayOutFrame
Just take out the spaces. I'd suggest everyone search Wikipedia for all their info on Gundam Seed Destiny. They have a very large gallery with all the suits and pilots and factions and everything.