Episode 12: Assassination In Ragna

"Is this what they meant when they everything comes full circle?"

Kazumi wondered. Wynn D Fanchon, there's no way he could forget about her. Although it appears that what people said about him is wrong. It looks like not every squad he ever worked with ended up wiped out with him being the only survivor, although in this case it's not necessarily a good thing. To think that the squad he personally destroyed would be the one to have a survivor, it's in a sense ironic.

"So you still remember me, Captain. I was afraid that you had forgotten about me, about us, your subordinates you personally killed."

Mikumo's eyes narrowed at Wynn's words. She quickly glanced at Kazumi who is frowning. He is obviously not happy with this development. Although what Wynn said is also interesting. Mikumo decided to ask Kazumi what she was talking about later but for now, she can't let her guard down. Like Kazumi said, Wynn is someone with cybernetic implant and a formidable opponent. She has to be careful or she would be captured… like with Roid.

The air between them is tense. Kazumi did not even dare blink and kept her gun trained on Wynn and so does Mikumo. Wynn herself is not really in a good position. Kazumi is a great shot even outside his VF and Mikumo is at least competent with a gun if her previous shot was anything to go by. The singer must also have good reflex and agility from what she saw in Walkure's deployment records. Wynn thought about how to deal with this situation.

She was reckless, facing them head on. But she can't help it. She wanted to kill Kazumi with her own two hands. He who betrayed her and her comrades, he who betrayed what they stood for. Harvamal was not wrong. Besides, if she eliminates Kazumi, capturing Mikumo Guynemer will be much easier. So a plan formed in Wynn's mind.

With the speed granted by her implant, Wynn reach for the knife sheathed on her hip and threw it at blinding speed. Mikumo was surprised and so was Kazumi. He got in between Mikumo and the knife, catching it with his bare hand. Kazumi winced in pain as the blade cut into his skin. Wynn smirked. She had expected him to do that.

Wynn rushed forward and drew her second knife. She slashed it down at Kazumi. The ace pilot managed to dodge. She followed up with a kick and Kazumi dodged again by bending his body backward. He tried to shoot Wynn with his gun but she noticed his hand that is holding the gun moving. Kazumi pulled the trigger. Wynn had already shifted her body by then and the bullet missed her. She grabbed his hand and twisted it. Kazumi dropped his gun and again winced in pain but that did not stop him.

Shifting the knife in his bloodied grip and grabbing it by the handle, Kazumi thrust the knife at Wynn. The woman blocked it with her hand. The blade went through her palm but she didn't care. She would've twisted Kazumi's arm further if not for Kazumi forcefully twisting his arm back since her grip loosened due to being stabbed although his strength is still surprising. He went up to her. He headbutted her and then kneed her then follow up with a punch from his now free hand that sent Wynn sprawling on the ground. Wynn had not expected that.

Even if she's not as heavily modified as the other members of the Thanatos squadron, Wynn had not expect Kazumi to overpower or headbutt her. After all, you don't compete physically with people known to have implant. Again she forgot how unbelievable her old captain can be sometimes.

"Not bad Kazumi."

Mikumo walk up to them. She's honestly impressed that Kazumi could directly fight an implant soldier, an elite one, in direct combat. It's definitely not easy. She's starting to understand why he's her bodyguard. He even look as if he's just warming up and his bleeding palm is not even concerning him. Kazumi merely shrugs.

"Now then, let's get this over with."

Mikumo tossed him his gun that he dropped earlier and once again pointed it at Wynn who had just gotten up. Not wasting any time, Kazumi shot Wynn thrice on her left knee. Thanatos 4 fall limp onto the concrete road wincing as she lost the use of one of her legs.

"So, you're part of Thanatos now huh."

Wynn did not answer. She glares at Kazumi hatefully. If looks could kill, Kazumi would be six feet under by now. Kazumi's expression suddenly changed from casual to ice cold as he shoot Wynn again, twice, this time on her right shoulder and bicep.

Kazumi walk closer with gun trained on Wynn's forehead. Wynn try to fight back, suddenly jumping with all the strength provided by her remaining leg. A hidden blade shot out from her sleeve, a built-in hidden blade. But Kazumi did not try to evade. Mikumo herself shot Wynn's hand and then twice on her stomach while Kazumi got behind her and pin her down.

"Always the passionate one. You always let your emotion get the better of you."

Kazumi shook his head in disappointment. It's a trait his old subordinate had apparently failed to discard. Her emotion frequently dictates her action. It makes her easy to read and subdue. She did learn a few new tricks but her core remains the same.

"Kazumi, bind her and we'll take her to Elysion for questioning."

Mikumo told him. Kazumi was about to get a rope to tie Wynn when he noticed something in the distance. His eyes widened and he immediately tackled Mikumo to the ground.

"Mikumo get down!"

Just as Kazumi tackled her, a loud bang was heard from the distance and Mikumo felt pain. Kazumi was almost too late. Mikumo's left side was shot. Fortunately Kazumi managed to tackle her in time to prevent a fatal hit. But Mikumo is bleeding and he has to close the wound.

Forgetting about Wynn entirely, Kazumi scoop Mikumo from the ground and carry her quickly towards Macross Elysion. Taking out a grenade from inside his jacket, Kazumi throw it to the ground and a bright flash of light appear to blind anyone nearby. Using the buildings as cover, Kazumi ran with all his strength.

"Damn, Wynn was just a distraction? No, I should've expected that. Now Mikumo is hurt. I must get to Elysion quickly."

Kazumi ducked from another sniper fire he barely saw.

"K-Kazumi…"

Mikumo weakly call out his name. Although it's not fatal, she's losing blood and fast. They'll have to stop somewhere so he can close her wound. That was simply too close and it was all because he was careless. Kazumi seethed in frustration. It is not over yet.


It was supposed to be a perfect shot. Too bad that Kazumi noticed or Mikumo Guynemer would've died with a bullet to the heart earlier. The commander of Thanatos squadron sighs as she continue to follow Kazumi's movement through the scope of her sniper rifle while shooting at him.

Reiter assaulted them and as she thought, Reiter likely forgot about her objective and focus on taking down Kazumi. Not really unreasonable though because she suspect that as long as Kazumi is alive then capturing or killing Mikumo Guynemer will be difficult. It's simply that Reiter did it out of personal grudge instead of tactical thinking.

"Well, let's proceed to plan B. Gerald, how's Wynn doing?"

Mary asked through her communicator. From the other end Gerald who has arrived to Wynn's side and is currently helping her back up answered.

"She's alive at least, though she'll be out of commission for a while. That Shinomiya is good."

Of course he is. If he's not at least that good then he wouldn't survive very long in their line of business. By now she had lost sight of those two after the fourth shot. But even if her first shot did not kill Mikumo it did wound her and Kazumi have to close that wound before she bleeds out. Placing the sniper back into its case, Mary decided to go down there herself.

"Gerald, give her treatment first and then we'll go look for Shinomiya. Find me when you're done with her."

"Yes ma'am!"


Mikumo is feeling dizzy. She had lost a substantial amount of blood from the sniper wound. Right now they're hiding in a dark alley between several houses. Kazumi let Mikumo sat on top of a barrel and took out a first aid kit from his jacket. It's nothing much but it will do enough until they can get to Elysion.

"I don't know if you can consider it good news or not but the bullet went through you so we don't have to take it out."

"That's… lucky isn't it?"

Mikumo answered with labored breathing. It's actually the first time she had been injured like this. If it weren't for Kazumi, she would be dead for sure.

Kazumi lift up Mikumo's shirt enough to see the injury. He apply some disinfectant and then apply some pressure on the wound before covering it with bandage. It's done rather clumsily though. He's not very good at it and rarely practiced his first aid skill. When he's done, he proceeds to treat his own injury.

"Kazumi, are you alright?"

Mikumo asked.

"Yeah. I just need to deal with my palm. Catching a knife like that is not a really smart thing to do."

"No… no it's not. But thank you. You took it for me."

"Heh, it's nothing. It's part of my job description. Besides, I don't want to see you get hurt. Failed at that though, damn sniper."

Kazumi tried to play it off as nothing but Mikumo truly appreciate it. Then Mikumo remembered about something that the woman called Wynn mentioned.

"Kazumi, that woman mentioned that you killed your own subordinate."

"…that huh. It's a long story."

Kazumi had a distant look when she mentioned what Wynn said before. It's not one of his better memories. He thought all of them had been wiped out when he shot Wynn down back on Ouroboros. Her valkyrie was wrecked and although it didn't explode, the crash should've killed her. But Wynn is apparently tougher than she appear to be or just really lucky. He didn't bother to make sure that she's dead and now she's back. Not the worst ghost from his past but she will be an annoying one.

"It's a long story, one that I don't have the time to tell you right now. To summarize it though, I once led a special unit in a special force. Our commander went rogue though and I just can't agree with him. Unfortunately my subordinates are loyal to him so I decided to bail out. I killed them before defecting to the SMS group who are opposing them at that moment. Apparently I failed to put one of them down permanently. It would've been better if she stayed dead. That way they would've remained a good memory before all that happened."

Kazumi recounted. Come to think of it, that's also where his Bloodraven nickname came from; the blood of his comrades staining his hand and his own personal emblem of a raven, hence Bloodraven. After that he started flying black and red valkyrie and people think that his nickname came from his unit's color and emblem.

"I'll tell you about that some other time."

Mikumo nodded. Kazumi seem to have a much more colorful past than she thought. Mikumo is already feeling much better than before. She got down from the barrel. But her sudden movement caused her pain and she slipped. Kazumi try to catch her and they both ended up on the ground with Mikumo on top of Kazumi and their faces only inches away from each other. Both of them immediately went red from being so close to each other but neither looked away.

As Kazumi stare into the Mysterious Venus' red eyes, he finally took the time to appreciate her beauty from her fair skin to the long violet hair she's proud of. At first he would compare her to Sheryl Nome but Mikumo is different. Although they have the same fire in their eyes, there's just something about Mikumo that makes him enjoy being with her. He wants to get to know her more. That's why, he will make sure that she will live. So they can return to their normal days.

"Mikumo… come on, let's get up."

Kazumi help Mikumo stand up. As much as he wanted to stay close to her longer, they do have an assassin or two after them. For now getting to Elysion and evading the assassins should be their priority. Unknown to Kazumi, Mikumo also thought the same thing.

The two of them walk hand in hand as they navigate through the alley, Kazumi never once looking back, preferring to focus on the task at hand. If he did though, he would've seen the faint blush on Mikumo's cheek.

The night is still young and Elysion is still a distance away. It is not over yet.