Thanks for the reviews! I didn't expect so many people to like this story. It took so long for me to update since I HATED this chapter when I first made it, so I remade it.
Chapter 2 ver.2: The monstrous mercenary!
"Here's the plan." Athrun used a stick to point out places in the dirt.
"Alright, first, Yzak, Dearka, and Kira will have to fight the guards off. Then, Cagalli will destroy the deactivated Ginns with bombs, but they go off five minutes right after they're placed. So that means that Lacus and I will fight off the remaining soldiers that come using some of my gadgets with Cagalli. After that, we'll have to get the heck out of there. If everything goes as planned, there will be no threat in Sector C. Okay, Yzak, Dearka, Kira, you're up."
"Hey Zala-" Athrun hastily cut Yzak off by putting his hand over his mouth. "Uh, Zala is just my nickname, not my last name"
But luckily, Kira was paying no attention to them. He was looking at the guards. There were so many of them, and each had a gun and beam sword. It was pretty frightening to think that he would be facing them unarmed. All he had was a set of spare armor that Athrun had given him. He paled just from the thought. Lacus saw his expression and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right, Kira?"
"I-I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous…"
"You still don't have to do this, you know."
"Yes I do. I have to help rid this place of these monsters, even if I don't like it."
"Wow, he's really selfless… and cute."
"Hey Yamato, cut the chit-chat and let's go!" Yzak demanded.
"…Right, uh, Yzak, was it?"
"Let's go!" Yzak demanded in an annoyed tone.
"Alright." The trio of Kira, Dearka and Yzak darted towards the heavily guarded area. Kira glanced at them to see that they weren't perturbed by the vast number of guards and their weapons. He figured that they would be like that, since they were the main fighters of the group. Kira felt embarrassed, since he was so scared and was working with the best fighters of the group who weren't scared at all. He wondered why Athrun has so much trust and faith in him, that is, until Dearka snapped him out of his thoughts. "Hey Kira, we're here! Is anybody home in there?"
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. So how are we going to fight them?"
Yzak scoffed at his question. "Athrun says that we have to use hand to hand combat because he thinks that our fighting is too rough with weapons and will kill our enemy. He says "we're peace keepers, not fighters." But I think that's a load of crap. How are we even going to keep peace if the enemy just wakes up from being unconscious later and does the same thing again? Wait a minute… they've stopped moving. Let's get 'em!"
The three teens jumped down from their positions, and got the element of surprise on the unsuspecting guards. Kira lost all traces of fear in his body once again. He had no idea what it was, but something makes almost every thought but fighting go away. He delivered a kick to the back of the head to the guard he landed nearest. And to his surprise, Dearka and Yzak were plowing through them with rapid punches and kicks. Kira threw a punch to the face to one guy in front of him, and flipped backwards to get behind one guard who was behind him. He delivered a swift chop to the neck, before he hit the ground unconscious. Yzak activated his communication watch. "All right Cagalli, It's all yours."
"Finally! I've got the bomb, and Athrun and Lacus are heading over here now. You two should head to the next Ginn."
"Okay. Yzak out." He turned to face Kira and Dearka. "Head for the next Ginn."
The two of them nodded and ran to the next while Cagalli, Athrun, and Lacus prepared for their move at the unguarded Ginn. As Kira ran, his emotions of fear still gone, he thought that this was pretty simple. The guards were knuckleheads and couldn't fight, and Athrun, Cagalli, and Lacus would be fine against the rest.
Cagalli planted the bomb in the lower torso of the Ginn, and prepared her electricity gun for battle, while Athrun and Lacus used blade blockers for defense and offense.
Cagalli, Athrun, and Lacus easily handled the soldiers that came, and went to the place where Kira, Dearka, and Yzak were. They quickly observed that Kira was pinned to the leg of a Ginn, and was struggling to break free of his grasp. Lacus threw one of the Blade Blockers to knock the guard out, and Kira was free, gasping for air.
"Thanks, Lacus. That's two times I owe you."
"Well, technically only one because you saved me back at the laboratory."
"Yeah… it was nothing"
As the small group headed to the last Ginn, a startlingly menacing, loud voice boomed at them. "Stop right there."
Kira looked up to see a man dressed in mostly white, but the most distinguishing things he wore were his long cape, and unsurprisingly white, mysterious mask placed in front of his eyes and nose. Kira looked at him suspiciously as he coolly walked in front of their path. He eyed the others, who were getting into fighting stances. Athrun looked the most determined out of the group. This guy was apparently bad news. The man looked at the group, a smirk plastered across his face. Actually, he was mostly looking at Athrun.
"I see we meet again, Gundam Force. Athrun, how come you aren't glad to see me? We're so close, we're practically related."
"Cut the crap, Creuset! If I was related to you, I'd commit suicide," Athrun spat in retaliation.
The man just kept his same expression as he continued to stare Athrun down. Then, out of no where, he sped towards them, spun and did a split kick, knocking both Kira and Cagalli down. Kira's eyes were wide open with shock; never before had he ever seen anyone or anything move that fast. He hadn't even seen him move, and the next thing he knew, his face was in the dirt.
Athrun hurried over to Cagalli to make sure she was alright. She nodded, but to her horror, Creuset was right behind Athrun with a long, golden knife. "Athrun, behind you!"
Luckily, Dearka landed a jab to the masked man's face in mid sprint, stopping him in his tracks. He rapidly landed punches and kicks to the extremely quick man. Yzak came up from behind and landed a hard blow to his back, making him stumble back to Dearka. The blonde haired teen quickly caught him in his arms, while Yzak grabbed the knife from Rau's hand.
"You know, if you hadn't done those things to Athrun and I, maybe I'd make this quick and painless, but I guess that won't be happening. Say goodbye, Creuset!" The silver haired teen exclaimed.
"Words are only words, Yzak. Do you really think that I am afraid of you weaklings?"
The mysterious man sharply kicked Dearka in between the legs with his heel, and knocked him out of the way. He ran towards Yzak in an attempt to get his weapon back. He used a strong kick to stomach, but surprisingly, Yzak just barely caught it in time. But, he wasn't off the hook just yet. Creuset just smirked at the opportunity. He spun all the way around on the leg Yzak had for a hard heel kick to Yzak's cheek, making blood fly out of his mouth, eyes wide like everyone else, except for Athrun. He knew he had plenty of surprises, and took this chance to strike. "Cagalli, Kira, Lacus, let's get him all at once!"
The three of them nodded and charged towards him full of determination. The three of them attacked him with Kira, Lacus, and Athrun in the front, while Cagalli attacked from the back. At the last second, Rau jumped and kicked through the middle, which happened to be Kira. As Creuset flew forwards, he was out of range for Cagalli's punch, and dodged Athrun and Lacus' attacks.
"You just don't get it, do you? I am the Ultimate Coordinator! I can take all of you out with my hands tied behind my back!"
"Well then, why don't we test that," said Athrun. He pulled out the device that carried electric ropes, and threw one at Creuset, making his hands literally tied behind his back, but with an added bonus of electrocution.
"Nice try, Zala, but you'll have to do better than that!" Creuset endured the shock, and snapped the rope into pieces. But suddenly, a watch that Creuset was wearing started to flash red. He looked surprised at the signal and lifted his head up again to face the group.
"Another day, Athrun Zala, another day." Creuset threw a blinding smoke bomb, and when the smoke cleared, he was long gone.
Kira got back on his feet, still in shock at what that man could do. Athrun approached him looking unfathomed from the experience. "I'm sorry you had to fight that battle. That was Rau Le Creuset, a mercenary working for my fa- I mean Patrick Zala. He's caused us a lot of trouble in the past."
Yzak scowled at the memory, tracing where his scar is. "Yeah, a lot of trouble."
"Why is he after you?" Kira pondered.
"We've caused an equal amount of trouble for Patrick Zala, also. He was hired after we raided a group of soldiers' weapons and equipment and used it against them," Athrun replied.
"I see… I heard about Patrick Zala having a son who escaped from a military academy with two other students. Do you know anything about that? But it may just be a rumor."
"Oh yeah, it's just a rumor," Athrun nervously replied.
"Oh. Well, I also heard that the same thing happened to Siegel Clyne's daughter. That must also just be a rumor." Kira looked to the ground, a little uneasy at the question he wanted answered.
"So, uh, do you think you could use one more member for the team?"
"What! You actually want to join?" Athrun acted as if no one had ever even thought about that subject before.
"Well, yeah… It seems like it would be a great experience, and your reasons behind fighting are the same that I would have if I fought in big battles. I really want to help you guys out."
"Alright then, welcome to the team!"
Kira's face brightened, as he would now be able to make a difference in the battle between West Earth and East Earth.
Dearka got Kira into a friendly headlock and gave him a noogie. "So Kira, you seem like you'd be a fighter. How about you work with Yzak and me? It looks like you could kick some major butt."
Athrun pulled Kira out of his Dearka's grip, disagreeing with him. "Nah, Kira seems like the gadget-making kind of guy, right Kira? Maybe we can fix the glitch in the blade blockers that won't allow the titanium filled nucleus to accept the negative energy flow that stimulates a reaction that allows metal to resist searing heats like beams but coming very fast, but it seems like the matrix that guides the stimulants can't take the shock and screws the entire process up. Or maybe the wires aren't plugged in…"
Cagalli then pulled Kira away from Athrun, convinced that he was in to marksmanship.
"I know you love to use firearms, right Kira? Don't all guys?"
"You know Cagalli, you're the only one in the group who is allowed to use any form of gun, and you're a girl." Dearka stated.
"What are you saying, Dearka?"
"Me? I'm not saying anything, except that it's kind of a coincidence that you happen to look like a guy-"
"Dearka, you're dead!" Cagalli chased after Dearka, rifle in hand, like a madman- I mean madwoman.
Kira gazed at them, sweatdropped and confused.
"Uh Athrun, does this happed a lot?"
"You bet. Them always fighting makes this long journey a little more, well, normal. It would be pretty serious and never enjoyable without the normal things that we still are used to, eh Nicol." Athrun stopped his sentence in its tracks realizing what he just said.
Yzak and Lacus immediately looked up at Athrun looking slight upset with him. Cagalli stopped chasing Dearka and both wore the same expression as Yzak and Lacus.
"Uh, so, we should probably set up camp now, since it's getting kind of late," He quickly said, trying to change the subject. Athrun looked at each of their expressions, and sighed in defeat. The jig was up.
……………………………………………………………………………..
"Athrun, how could you do this! The second we enter East Earth, Kira's LIFE will be on the line!" Cagalli could not believe what Athrun was doing.
"I know, Cagalli. I don't know what I was thinking. But you guys have to under stand, he was my best friend.
Yzak then walked over to them, which consisted of everyone but Kira, who was asleep in one of the tents.
"We understand perfectly, Zala, but I don't think that you do! Do you know how much your father wants us dead? Cagalli is exactly right! This is our friend we're talking about!"
Athrun had enough of this. He wished that they could be in his shoes and understand how he felt. "He was like a brother to me, my best friend. Kira fits so easily into the categories of him."
Lacus felt anger rising in her, who was on everyone else's side. "Athrun, Kira isn't going to risk his life for you or any of us just because you're feeling lonely! Kira cannot replace Nicol!"
These words struck Athrun hard. "Kira wanted to join. Alright, I'll admit that under normal circumstances I wouldn't have let him join. I'll let him go in the morning. But right now, I think we should get some rest."
They agreed and headed to their tents. Kira and Athrun shared a tent, so when Athrun came in, Kira pretended to be asleep.
He had heard the whole conversation. Right then, Kira felt terrible. He had messed up their friendship, he was doomed when they got to East Earth, and he knew now that Athrun was really the son of Patrick Zala.
Kira ultimately decided not to tell anyone about any of this.
This was pretty confusing, I know. But it'll be cleared up eventually.