The day of the protest dawned clear, bright and sunny. There was a cold wind blowing in off the Pacific but meteorologists expected it to die down by noonish, to be replaced by a short rain squall around four or five PM. Temperatures were hovering around fifty degrees in the morning and would probably climb to about sixty before the day was done... almost perfect temperatures for large crowds of people. It was almost like the heavens themselves were bestowing their blessing on the events of the day, by granting such fine weather. It was five AM and the protest was just beginning to form up. It was only a few isolated groups initially... ten or fifteen people would mosey out of a hotel or breakfast resteraunt and slowly walk down the uncharacteristically silent streets of the city, heading for the bay and beach areas. As time wore on the isolated groups converged like droplets of mecury into gangs of people, which slowly grew into parties and eventually hosts. By the time six AM rolled around there were already fifteen thousand people waiting on the beach by the commercial harbor, with hundreds more arriving by the minute. These were the die hards, the people who had given their lives for the peace protest, the people who had been initally recruited by Kisaka to form the underground resistance movement to the EA government. Each wore an armband with the flag of Orb embellished on it to denote their seperateness from the casual supporters and well wishers who would form the majority of the march.
It was to this group that Kira, Lacus, Athrun, Cagalli and the others deployed themselves. Lacus and Cagalli kept mostly out of sight as much as possible... it was still a secret to all but the most senior leaders that they were present in Orb at all and no one wanted to ruin the surprise. Keeping out of sight wasn't too difficult for Cagalli... she just wore one of Kisaka's big coats over her pressed and polished military uniform, with an old beret pulled down low to cover her hair and shield her eyes. Lacus was harder to conceal, dressed as she was in violet, white, pink and gold, with a golden hair ornament shaped like a crysanthemum blossom. It was impossible to conceal her long and bright pink hair under any sort of hat, so they just kept her in the middle of the group, shielding her from easy view with their bodies and trusting to the darkness to muddle any chance sightings. It seemed to work well enough... they marched out of the subway tunnel and down the city streets past several military observation posts, who were looking steadily more alert as the trickles of people grew into streams and then rivers, but they were not accosted or bothered in any way.
It was a fortunate thing that they weren't since they were decidedly heavily armed for a group of peace protesters. Although everyone prayed there would be no violence that day, no one felt like trusting Cervantes and the government to play by the rules anymore, not after the killings they'd already discovered. Kisaka wore a standard issue service pistol with several extra clips of ammunition on his belt underneath the coat he was using to hide his Orb military uniform. Murrue Ramius and Andrew Waltfeld were similarly equipped and dressed in the uniforms of an EA Captain and Commander respectively, though Waltfeld wore a tiger striped armband on his one arm. Athrun had also taken a sidearm as well as a combat knife strapped to his leg under his pants; he was dressed in black jeans, sturdy boots and a long sleeved button down green shirt, over which he wore his leather biker's jacket. Cagalli had a gun as well, leaving Kira, who was dressed in blue jeans and white shirt with a red windbreaker, Lacus and Erica Simmons as the only ones without a deadly weapon of some sort.
TEMPEST had come out loaded for bear. They'd studied the pictures of the bloodstained and shot torn rooms with the professional concern of trained experts and they had unanimously concluded the murders were not the work of police or other civilian trained forces, or even the work of regular military forces. The shots, though profuse, were too neat, too tightly grouped for random fire like what grunt soldiers usually used. No, the murders were the work of extremely well trained, motivated and utterly merciless killers, special forces to the bone. Whoever they were... and Alkire was willing to lay money that they would be coming from EFSOU, they weren't kidding around and so TEMPEST took it upon themselves to be just as serious, if need be. Alkire carried his assault rifle with plenty of extra ammo for the weapon, two pistols, and six assorted grenades ranging from tear gas and smoke to high explosive incendiary, as well as two knives for backup. Victor wore his saber and pistol and had a sub machine gun "lost" out of a Orb SWAT armory slung over his shoulder, plus a large bag of plastic explosives, remote detonators and preshaped demo charges of various sizes. James was forced to carry his beloved .50 caliber machine gun in a oversized guitar case, as there was no way to conceal it under clothing. Also wedged into the guitar case was a short barreled 40mm automatic grenade launcher with an eight grenade magazine, James wore his twin machine pistols underneath his windbreaker and also had a knife on his leg. Raine had left her sniper rifle on the Archangel, though she had kept the scope, with its range finding and nightvision capabilities, with her. Instead she carried a sub gun of the same stamp as Victors, plus her twin pistols, a knife, plenty of ammo and two medical kits. All the members of TEMPEST wore heavy body armor under their coats and had nightvision goggles with integral gasmasks in backbacks on their backs.
It was Vlad however that had drawn everyone's attention when girding himself for any possible confrontations. He'd stripped himself down to a pair of worn black fatigue pants and short sleeved shirt, leaving his arms uncovered except by his trenchcoat sleeves. He had a silenced pistol on one hip and a special holster for four throwing knives on the other. Two combat knives were worn on his back, while an automatic shotgun with a sawed off barrel was slung across his shoulders. Those weapons made Vlad look deadly... but then he opened a special padded case about the size of a personal pan pizza box and gently, almost reverently removed three garottes... one chrome steel and shiny with diamond dusted wire, another matte black with a black painted chain instead of a wire and the last dark wood with an oiled silk string. He tucked the first two into interior pockets of his trenchcoat and kept the third one tucked into the back of his belt. A bag of chalk dust, a flask of lubricant, a leather wallet full of lockpicks of both the normal and computerized variety, and a large spool of 150 lb fishing line also went into various pockets around his person. Vlad walked with his hands in his pockets to avoid giving away their mechanical nature... he alone was completely sure that the protest would not end peacably, given his extensive experience in how Blue Cosmos operated. His eyes never stopped roving, never stopped studying the environment and the people in it.
By seven AM things were really starting to shape up as the international crowds started to wake up and get ready for what promised to be one of the most exciting days in their lives. News crews from a hundred stations ran to their vans, doing last minute checks of data feeds and camera operability. Five thousand uniformed police from all across Orb took to the streets, clearing traffic and standing off in pairs at nearly every intersection, bracing themselves and the city for the onslaught of the marchers. Joining the police were hundreds of SWAT team members deploying to several different staging areas in case of the breakout of rioting... a foregone conclusion in the minds of many authirty figures. Held in reserve outside the city limits were three divisions of EA infantry, the most capable troops left among those recovering from Carpentaria. Fifteen thousand battle shocked and uneasy soldiers stood with wavering wills, hoping they would not be called in to control the crowds. Also in reserve, though known only to the upper echelons of the Orb Protectorate command staff, were fifty Strike Crusaders in case things got far out of control... though they were truly a last ditch force, because to deploy Mobile Suits into the heart of an occupied city against unarmed people would be nothing short of a massacre. Cray Thresher also sat in the cockpit of the Merciless, eagerly awaiting the signal from Cervantes.
At seven thirty AM there were already eight million people milling around in barely organized hordes at the various staging areas. The parade marchers could not all start in the same place... there were too many of them. Instead they would all start from different staging areas, starting with the people on the beach at eight in the morning and followed every thirty minutes afterwards by another group. There were five staging areas, each hosting about four million people. It would go down in history books as one of the most amazing examples of communication and crowd organization in the last few centuries. The people gathered with their signs and slogans and bands playing rebellious music, but not a single looting took place, not a single person became violent and there were no tense confrontations... whenever a parade of marchers were stopped or blocked by police they would almost instantly divert down one of a dozen alternative paths marked out by the event planners. It was truly a sight beyond description... the air filled with songs and chants and the ever present rumble of millions of feet moving at the same time drowning out the feeble sounds of the city, which was almost completely shut down. Traffic could not progress through streets blocked sidewalk to sidewalk with walls of people and most officeworkers found themselves unable to work as a seemingly unending tide of humanity flowed by beneath their windows. In fact, many of those same officeworkers found themselves almost irresitably drawn out of their offices and into those crowds, swelling the already massive numbers.
Lacus and Cagalli and the others walked with the crowd from the beach, hidden in its midst. At least for a little while, before yet more protesters, doing their part from their homes and offices across Orb, managed to hack into the public announcing network of the city, turning all the gigantic building-side video screens into staticky voids for about fifteen minutes while they worked to set up a live broadcasting line. City officials and military staff first started to realize things were completely beyond their control at this point, and panic started to set in. Things did not improve when the static cleared. Because when the static cleared was when the songs started. And not just ay songs, but songs sung by an instantly recognizable world celebrity, who appeared via live video feed on every pulic television screen in the city all at once. Several side feeds were also sent to different international news stations... one even went to a PLANT channel. The reaction was a little bit like a hydrogen bomb exploding. There was a cry of recognition so loud it could be heard two miles out at sea clearly. That same cry would echo around the world and outer space as the various news stations started playing the feed as well. "LACUS CLYNE... LACUS... MISS LACUS... MISS CLYNE..." the words may have been different, but the reaction was the same... surprise, simple joy and amazement.
This reaction was not shared by the people in charge of the EA government in Orb. Cervantes had been relaxing after a long, nail biting strategy session with a tall beer... which he promptly spat all over his desk and the confidential papers on it when the news feed came in on almost every channel simultaneously. Choking and coughing in constrenation he picked up the phone and dropped it three times in rage and haste before he could get it to his face long enough to bellow orders. "TRACE THAT SIGNAL! I WANT HER HEAD ON A PLATE!" he shouted. A stammered response came over the line and he went red as a tomato. "I DON'T CARE IF SHE'S GARLANDED WITH NEWBORN BABES, MUCH LESS HOW MANY PEOPLE SHE'S AROUND... SHE'S THE ENEMY AND SHE HAS TO DIE! SEND IN THE INFANTRY... NOW!" On the outskirts of the city the infantry divisions received the word they'd been dreading since early that morning and mounted up, climbing into trucks and mechanized transports, clambering aboard tanks and missile jeeps to hang off the sides and just plain old marching in, weapons at the ready.
The troop's advance faltered almost the very instant it started though... the soldiers could not help but hear Lacus's song and feel the emotions she was weaving into the words. Most all would describe it later as just a sort of feeling... not quite definable, but something that just reminded them of comrades lost, of friends killed, of loves sundered... all by the war they fought in. By the time the soldiers reached the crowds most of them just stood aside, unable to grapple with their gnawing consciences, unable to reconcile their orders to hunt and kill with the feelings of comraderie, friendship and understanding that seemed to swirl out of each song. Those few who hard hard enough hearts or disciplined enough minds to ignore the butterflies in their stomachs and twitches in their nerves pushed in vain at the crowds who seemed to form an impassable wall of flesh, not actively resistant to the soldiers but impossible to pass through by sheer mass of numbers. Even when guns were leveled and orders barked through megaphones the people did not disperse... largely because they couldn't... there was no room to disperse to. Realizing this and unable to open fire on helpless civilians, especially women and children, the soldiers could only stand in frustration and watch the crowds move past, becoming trapped and isolated like islands in the sea.
To Kira and the others walking in direct proximity to Lacus it was like wading through a flood of their happiest memories of friendship, love and togetherness. There wasn't a dry eye within a hundred meters but no one faltered or fell behind... instead the songs seemed to impart a wild, unquenchable energy of their own that even speeded up the pace of the marching and had many hundreds and soon thousands of people singing or humming along, many unconsciously. Soldiers who heard the song in person, not over the televison or radio almost uniformly fell back... that or joined the crowd and marched with them, not against them. It wasn't that the words were particularly meaningfull, many a person would say... Lacus just sang the same songs from her old records... but there was something about the WAY she sang them that day that struck through to the heart of even the most stone cold killer among them. You could not be human and not be touched by the care and concern and love Lacus was pouring out... even Cervantes found something stirring deep within his long forgotten soul when he listened to the songs while waiting for progress reports that never came. He ruthlessly quashed the feelings, but they were there.
Zacharis Frost's reaction was unique amongst all the people who heard the songs that day. Whereas for most people they had a myriad of effects, raising feelings of friendship, unity and contentment, Frost experienced a uniform effect... nearly physical agony. His insane mind had no defenses against Lacus's Newtype power, he was even more open than Kira or Ysak were. No matter how much he covered his ears and screamed and shouted denials he could not drown out the sounds... not words but sounds... that battered him like waves, sinking deep within him like dagger blades digging at his flesh, trying to awaken feelings and emotions that had been burned out of his mind by the Doc long ago. He felt like his mind was being entangled with razor wire and slowly pulled as a single piece out through his eyesockets. He staggered about, slamming into things, tripping over himself and beating his hands and head against the walls and floor in mindless attempts at escape... for once his resilience worked against him... despite his excruitiation, he found the blessed release of unconsciousness to be unattainable. No matter where he went or how far he fled he couldn't escape the songs... they were playing from every radio, every TV, out of every public intercomm... no matter how many he smashed his augmented hearing kept picking up the sounds again, offering him no relief.
Cray was less affected... he too was vulnerable to the siren call of Lacus's power, but unlike Frost he still retained a modicrum of those emotions Lacus's song called on. Repressed, restrained and mostly forgotten they may have been, but they had not been burned out of his mind and personality. His thoughts focused on his past... without even realizing it he thought about his father and mother and sister, people whom had long been thought to be removed from his mind by memory wipes. He thought about Amy Sihov, BCPU 5, his and Frost's erstwhile lover, still lying brain dead in some Swiss hospital. He thought briefly about each and every girl he had ever slept with... but most of all he thought about the Doc. He was suffused with the good feelings that pleasing the Doc had always brought on to him... so much so that he started unconsciously humming along to Lacus's songs just because of the pleasurable feelings he got. Explosions and blood sprayed and danced across his vision as his eyes slowly closed and he drifted into a sort of memory trance, not quite awake but not fully asleep, still humming, reliving his life one moment at a time in full, unadulterated enjoyment of every moment.
Asmodeus waited in one of the palace audience chambers, along with the officers and senior enlisted members of the Hellhounds. He too listened to the music... listened to it, analyzed it, considered it... and let it pass him by. He might have felt the beginnings of a few tugs on his emotions but he brutally clamped down, thinking about multiplication tables and tactical briefings of the past in order to focus his mind. He looked around with eyes clear of the effects that seemed to be afflicting his soldiers, who were glancing about uneasily, goosebumps visible on their flesh as they grappled, each in their own way, with the feelings stirred in them by the music. The only solider able to meet Asmodeus's icy gaze was Cyprus Finch, who looked and acted as stolid as he always did. The two men shared a brief moment of companionship, just by the fact that they were the only two not feeling friendly or united at all.
Up in the PLANTS Noah Borander had been interrupted in the middle of working on the revised version of one of his simpler AI control programs... one that dealt with the basic aerial and terrestrial movements of a mobile suit... by exclaimations and shouting audible even through the sound shielding common to his father's labs. Annoyed, he'd finally given up trying to ignore the continued sounds, which sounded suspiciously like some form of music and closed down the computer before heading out into the halls to find out just what in the name of hell was happening. It didn't take him long to figure it out... almost the instant he stepped outside the sound shielded room and heard the plaintative notes of Lacus's song he was entranced. It wasn't the words themselves... those were identical to many he had heard before, playing on various music programs around the BoranderCorp labs, offices and assorted buildings. But there was something beyond the words... part of them yet not... almost like the words were being used as a sort of transport medium. His mind was thrilling in time to the rise and fall of the cadences and stanzas and his emotions were oscillating wildly... at least until he clamped down on his mind and forced himself to remain open but analytical. He'd never imagined there were others like him... people who could influence the minds of the people around them just by wanting to. At once he felt happy to find another like him and jealous... he liked being unique and she was a threat to his power. He made up his mind then and there... Lacus Clyne would either be his to own... or destroyed by his hand.
Aboard the Archangel Dearka and Miriallia lounged in one of the ready rooms off the port hangar, where the Grand Buster, freshly repaired and fully rearmed... in all senses of the word... waited in case it was needed. Ysak and Katie were in the starboard ready room, Katie having seen no reason to stay on the bridge when she could act as communication officer nearly as well by using a portable computer linked to the main ship's systems. Dearka and Mirillia were less affected by Lacus's song than most, both being Stumps and far removed from the source of the transmission. Still, they found themselves inching closer and closer together quite without realizing it until Miriallia was nearly sitting on Dearka's lap. She looked at him and shook her head slightly at the somewhat befuddled expression on his face... they both knew what was happening, since they'd felt something like it at Chanel's funeral but it was still pretty hard to accept as a fact and not a dream... but they had no choice but to accept it, given how it was affecting them. "I just want to say this for posterity... Lacus Clyne officially creeps me out now!" Dearka declared suddenly. Miriallia slapped him on the arm in reproof but couldn't help but agree inside, even as she started to hum along to the music... her friend certainly seemed changed from just a day earlier, now that Mir was listening to her on the radio.
Ysak was having a predictably hard time dealing with the music... if he could have he would have shut the radio off, but Katie wouldn't let him, telling him that it was good for his character to deal with the images, memories and feelings the singing conjured up. He sat hunched over in his chair, eyes staring at the floor, desperately trying not to smile or feel cheerful despite how the songs were making him twitch and hum in time to the words. For Katie it was easier... she just blocked out the parts of her mind that were receptive to Lacus's power wavelengths... no shield she could construct was strong enough to keep Lacus's power out, not when she was like this, so instead she'd intentionally blinded herself, so to speak... deafened herself might be a better way of putting it. She still heard the words, but they were just words... enjoyable in and of themselves, but no more so than any other song. She sat across the room from Ysak, computer in her lap, trying desperately not to laugh out loud as he started and stopped humming every few seconds as he fought against the inevitable. His efforts to control himself were doomed to failure, but Ysak being Ysak, that didn't stop him from trying with all his might. Grinning wickedly at last, Katie could not help but mess with him a little. Soundlessly she stood up and walked over behind him while he concentrated on blocking out the entire world. He was so focused on controlling himself he did not notice her until she slipped her hands under his shirt and started massaging his chest and sides.
"S-stop... t-that... that doesn't... doesn't help!" he stammered. Of course it doesn't help. I'm not trying to help you... well, maybe I am, just like Dearka does. I'm just getting you to lighten up a little. Smile... be happy... you can't win against Lacus today. Just enjoy it... as far as mental manipulation goes, this is about as benign as it gets. Just relax... live in the moment my love, Ysak-y.
"I'll relax when you get out of my head." Ysak mumbled irritably. Should I stay in your shirt though? Your mouth says no, but your mind says yes? "You're impossible!" Ysak complained, trying to tense up angrily and failing utterly. Now now... don't get like that... you're going to have to get used to me being in your head... especially if you ever want to get used to being in me... comprende? "G-godamnit! Don't say things like that! Even in my head! Especially in my head!" Why? Nothing to be embarassed about... every living animal has sex... its a fact of life. "Maybe so, but they don't all talk about it!" So talking about it is what makes you uncomfortable? "You know it is!" You're so cute, Ysak-y. "What? What do you mean by that?" You're a guy, you wouldn't understand.
Back on the streets of Orb, things were looking up for the peace protest. The military response had been pushed aside with ease and not a single shot fired. The police were falling back, too few in number to even begin to contain the crowds, much less stop the path of their marches. Already the lead elements of the protesters were entering the government sectors, pushing past the hastily erected barricades of Y beams and police cars, eventually sweeping them aside like a hand pushing a mound of dirt. Lacus took a short break from singing to drink and refresh herself... she'd been going almost nonstop for more than three hours, walking and singing at the same time.
"You really are amazing, you know that?" Kira said, moving over to take her arm in his... unaware until he looked up that the image was now being televised across the entire Earth and most of space. Well, I guess that tears it... no more keeping the relationship between me and Lacus a secret. An uncommonly mischevieous mood suddenly swung over him. In for a dime... in for a dozen... this should cause a rating spike. Without warning he leaned in close to Lacus and kissed her full on the mouth. She was surprised at first but certainly not unhappy and she quickly leaned back into him, both of them stopping walking for a few moments.
"That was nice. Unexpected but nice. You should do that more often." Lacus told Kira, once they both came up for air. It wasn't until she heard the clapping and whistling that she looked ahead again and noticed that the camera was still rolling film. "Oooh... I guess we just went public, didn't we?"
"Just a little." Waltfeld commented jovially, coming up behind them. "My name is Andrew Waltfeld. I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Every Male Single Coordinator Between 14 and 19 Now Hates My Guts." he whispered to Kira.
"Oh come now, its not that bad..." Lacus protested.
"Yeah, it is." Athrun countered. "You would not believe how many jealous people I had to deal with back when we were engaged... I overheard mechanics several times talking about how easy it would be to just "botch" some maintenance on my mobile suit so they would have a chance at you." He looked sidelong at Kira and smiled widely. "Your days are numbered, my friend."
"Might as well make the best of them then." Kira replied, unfazed, going back for another long kiss, this time ending it by picking Lacus up and carrying her in his arms, to much adulation from the people around them... so much so that it brought a real blush to Lacus's cheeks.
"Something's gotten in to you today, Kira. Not that I mind..." she commented in a satisfied voice, throwing her arms around his neck. "My fan base will never be the same, I fear. You really are being cruel to all my young male fans, Kira." she did a little teasing of her own, smiling and waving into the camera, blowing a kiss.
"What do you think would happen if I did something like that after you gave your speech?" Athrun asked Cagalli, jerking a thumb at Lacus and Kira's antics. Cagalli looked over at her little brother and smiled.
"I'd imagine you'd be shot by a sniper before you could come back for the second kiss. Assuming you weren't though, you'd probably be torn limb from limb the moment you stepped off the stage. Not that I'm discouraging you from doing it... it would make me very happy actually." she replied thoughtfully.
"Me getting shot in the head or torn limb from limb would make you happy? Geezh, no more birthday gifts for you."
"You know me... I've never really had much use for you, Athrun."
"I can go away if you'd like?"
"If you move one step farther away from me I will shoot you in the kneecap myself and drag you with me for the rest of the day, bleeding in horrible agony."
"When you put it like that... I guess I'll stick around for a little while at least." he said with a smile that she returned brightly.
"Seriously though, I think it might send exactly the sort of message you and I discussed last night if you would do something like that after I give my speech. By that point in time the crowd should be in an uproar anyway and I can't imagine it getting much worse for a few kisses and a hug." Cagalli told him, weaving her steps slightly so they bumped into each other and stayed wedged tight... in disguise she could get as close as she wanted.
"Heads up lover-kids!" Alkire called back to them. "We're entering the government district now. Just another mile or two until the main event." He turned aside to Raine and jerked his thumb at Kira and Lacus. "God, can you imagine the hate mail he's going to get?"
"There are certainly more than a few young teens sitting around with crushed dreams right now." Raine replied with a chuckle. "Good for them." she said, meaning Kira and Lacus. She continued to look around carefully, just like every other member of TEMPEST was. "And so far, so good for us... knock on wood."
"I must say, I'm surprised." Victor cut in. "I wasn't expecting us to reach the government district without a serious confrontation of some sort. Everything has gone off without a hitch... if I didn't know better I'd say we were walking into a trap... but no trap is big enough to contain this many people." he swept his arm at the horde around them. "I wonder what Cervantes is up to? He absolutely cannot let this get much further if he wants to retain any sort of control over Orb."
"Maybe he gave up." James interjected.
"He doesn't give up." Vlad refuted. "The man is driven to succeed by desires we normal people cannot even comprehend. He's not going to take this lying down... the farther we progress the worse the reaction is going to be, when it comes."
"That was really uplifting, Vlad. Thanks." Alkire said with heavy sarcasm.
"This will end in tears... an ocean of tears..." Vlad replied, mostly to himself.
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In the Orb Palace, things were hectic. Most of the native Orbites had "mysteriously disappeared" or "called in sick", having decided to join in with the protesters, many of whom were friends, family and neighbors. The EA personnel were rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off... there was no way they could have been prepared for a public event of this magnitude. It seemed like the entire population of Orb was marching on the capital in a cohesive movement, demanding change and reform. People were sweating bullets left, right and center and no one had any idea what to do. Senior management was paralyzed, each trying to find some way of delegating blame or responsibility for the problem, well aware that a lot of people were going to lose their ASS because of this debacle, if not their heads. Cervantes, still locked in his office was staring at his TV screen with horror on his face. Bad enough was seeing both Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato alive and well... and disgustingly intimate... but worse he could even hear the protesters now... through his window as they marched ever closer.
"Get me the mobile suits! Where are my Strike Crusaders?" he demanded into a phone. There was nothing but silence on the line for several minutes. Finally a shaky voice replied.
"Th-this is Second Lieutenant Morgan... how may I help you, sir or ma'am?"
"You can help me by putting me in contact with your fucking commanding officer!" Cervantes yelled into the phone.
"The CO is busy right now, sir." Morgan replied nervously.
"Then get me whoever the fuck is in charge of the Strike Crusaders I ordered prepped for crowd control!" Cervantes demanded, not bothering to reign in his anger.
"I'm sorry sir, but the entire command staff is unavailable. The mobile suits are inoperable right now... mechanical problems, I'm told." Lieutenant Morgan winced as he said it, knowing full well how unlikely it was that fifty mobile suits would all fail at once. He didn't blame the pilots... any man or woman who took a mobile suit in against civilian protesters was asking for war crime charges. He was resentful of his CO for making him take the call, but he understood the reasoning... he could play stupid and delay the order indefinitely, the CO could not.
"Inoperable... unavailable... MECHANICAL PROBLEMS!?" Cervantes screamed. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON OVER THERE? YOU TELL THOSE PILOTS TO GET IN THEIR MACHINES AND GET OVER HERE OR ELSE!"
"Or else what, sir?" Morgan tried to remain polite, rubbing his sore ear.
"You don't want to find out, Lieutenant... just get them over here... now." Cervantes's voice went dead cold and calm. With an evil look on his face he hung up the phone before dialling another number. "Asmodeus? I..." Cervantes trailed off as the disaster playing itself out on his TV screen suddenly became far more hellish than it had only minutes ago. "What the hell is that? A stage? And who the hell is... no... no..." Cervantes dropped the phone in shock and clutched the TV so hard he cracked the screen under his fingers. "This can't be happening..." Cervantes watched in hopeless dread as a slim female figure, clad in a high ranking Orb military uniform, slowly mounted the steps of the hastily constructed stage, microphone already in hand. The girl had golden yellow hair cut in a wild half tangle and as the camera zoomed in on her face he found himself staring into two yellow-brown eyes, like those of a hunting cat. "Cagalli Yula Attha..."
It was like looking out at the Pacific ocean itself... except that this ocean was by far louder and less peaceful. All she could see was people for as far as she could see in any direction... people and buildings poking up out of the mass of people... she could not see the ground anywhere. Now is not the time to get stage fright, Cagalli. You have nothing to worry about. All these people adore you, no matter what they've been told. And Kisaka is right behind me. And so is Athrun. Nothing can go wrong. She held the microphone to her lips. "Orb... can you hear me? My name is Cagalli Yula Attha..."
"Sir? Sir? Mr. Zunnichi? Cervantes!?" Asmodeus called into the phone, his eyes wide as he stared at the same scene his boss was staring at. This is bad. This very bad. That crowd is going to go insane... is going insane. Kudos to whoever planned that little trick. "Are you there, sir?"
"Y-yes I am." Cervantes replied, wrenching his eyes away from the screen that showed the doom of all his plans and ambitions in Orb. Now he was regretting sparing Cagalli Yula Attha the flames of scandal during his speech to the Orb public back whe he'd taken control of Orb... he'd kept her image in the minds of the people pristine and now she was going to use that image to destroy his works. His mouth started twitching and a mad gleam came into his eyes. The bitch wouldn't get away with it. He wouldn't accept defeat lying down. No... if his dreams were going to die... so would hers! "Kill her. Kill her and all of her friends. Now. Do it now, Asmodeus! Send out the hounds of hell and KILL THAT BITCH!"
"B-but sir!" Asmodeus eyed the jubilant crowd as he tried to respond to that insanity. "It would be pure suicidal madness to send armed soldiers into that crowd!" the various Hellhound officers perked up at hearing that, various twisted expressions on their faces showing how they felt about the orders their boss was apparently receiving. "Even the Hellhounds wouldn't get ten feet before being torn to shreds if they went into that mob armed!" Asmodeus protested.
"Has Zunnichi gone totally off his rocker?" Thomas Glory whispered to Cyprus. "Ten feet... hell, we wouldn't get two feet if we tried to kill Yula Attha right now. You couldn't get me into the crowd with a weapon in hand if you put a knife to my back!" Cyprus did not reply verbally, but nodded his agreement... surrounded by hundreds of thousands if not millions of loyal unto the death citizens, Cagalli Yula Attha was about as safe as she could possibly be while remaining in Orb. It would take twenty or thirty thousand soldiers with a mountain of ammo and the balls to fire at women, children and helpless civilians to break up the crowd enough to get at her... and no such force existed, certainly not on Orb and likely not in all of the EA.
"I'll worry about the crowd!" Cervantes said wickedly, grinning from ear to ear. "You just worry about killing Yula Attha, Clyne and the rest of that clique. I want you to take care of it personally, Asmodeus. No screw ups... I want their hearts on a silver platter, do you understand?" He did not bother to wait for a reply, he hung up briefly before dialing in another number. "Cray... this is Cervantes. I need you to take care of a little infestation problem I'm having... bring the Merciless." he hung up again and thought for a moment. His grin stretched wider... that would be one way of ensuring his revenge was taken care of. He dialled a third number, which rang almost ten times before finally being answered. "Zacharis... how are you feeling? Theres a job you could do for me, I promise you'll enjoy it. Meet up with Asmodeus and the Hellhounds... yes, you can take as much time with her as you like as long as you bring me back proof of death. Make it painful for me, Zacharis." Cervantes hung up for the last time and then went over to his window. He could not see the stage from there, but he imagined what it would soon look like. The thought pleased him.
Asmodeus slowly hung up the phone, a grim look on his face. Frowning, he spun to face the assembled officers and senior enlisted gathered in front of him, all watching him with total interest. Asmodeus licked his lips as he made up his mind as to what he was going to say. Finally he just decided to get it over with. "We've been ordered to kill Cagalli Yula Attha, Lacus Clyne and any close supporters they may have." he said heavily. "The time frame for this mission is immediate." Asmodeus paused again, weighing his words. "Every man and woman here knows that to set foot into that crowd bearing a weapon is a death sentence. Mr. Zunnichi has told me that he will take care of the crowd... how he did not divulge. Once the crowd has dispersed enough to render it feasible, we will deploy in full assault order to complete the mission objectives. Are there any questions?"
"Could we not just use sniper fire to take her down? I make it about a half mile or so from this building to her location, give or take a few hundred feet. Even allowing for the crossbreeze, thats still not too difficult of a shot to take." Lieutenant Howard of Delta team said carefully.
"Don't be an idiot." Cyprus said cuttingly. "If a sniper bullet were to strike her down now, she would become far more powerful than any of us could possibly imagine. As a living, breathing person, Caglli Yula Attha is easily the most politically powerful person in all of Orb right now. As a martyr her image would bestride the entire world and near space. Not to mention not a single EA aligned person in this government district would ever leave it alive after she fell. If you really want to see what twenty million enraged citizens can do to a few thousand soldiers and staff members with their bare hands, by all means, open fire. Just give me some warning so I can try and make a break for it first."
"Lieutenant Finch makes a strong point." Lieutenant Davisson, of Bravo team said. "To kill her now, in full view of pretty much the entire world would only create problems, not solve them."
"I don't see how Mr. Zunnichi plans on shifting that crowd..." Sgt-Major Glory said speculatively. "It would take an armored division to get within shouting distance of that stage, and only then by driving over the people themselves."
"All right, people, that's enough questions." Asmodeus said sourly. "I'm not any more happy about this mission than you are. But it remains a fact that we have been given orders by a superior officer and so we must figure a way to carry them out. Let's just assume for the moment... hypothetically speaking, how would we execute the mission if the crowd was dispersed?"
"She's bound to have guards... Kisaka among others. Isn't she supposed to be heavily involved with young Zala?" Howard said with a frown.
"She's also related to Kira Hibiki." Davisson pointed out. "There's one dude I wouldn't want to cheese off... you guys seen what he did to that combined arms regiment down in Panama? Holy shit!"
"He's not so tough outside of his mobile suit." Asmodeus said with a slight smile. "In fact he refuses to use weapons, other than his mobile suit. I wouldn't worry so much about her friends and family... instead I would daresay she is likely protected by those TEMPEST people I briefed you on."
"We get to go up against Vlad the Strangler? Lucky us!" the talkative sergeant from Charlie team said sarcastically. "I don't know about you guys, but I've met him before and he is one stone cold bastard of a killer."
"There is one of him and fifty three of us... Vladimir is good but he is not that good. Nobody is that good. Not even the Lieutenant." Asmodeus cracked another smile. He became serious again. "I need a plan, people, get hot!"
"If I had to do this..." Cyrpus said slowly. "I would send a blitz charge at her postion... teams Alpha and Bravo, right up the middle. Charlie and Delta would swing out wide... classic pincer tactics... once they see us they will likely retreat, being outnumbered and outgunned. They'll head for the ground, for a place to hide. Unless we are very lucky and they are very slow, they will reach their hidey hole. We will have to go in after them. It will be intense, up close, personal and bloody fighting... exactly the sort of mission we've trained for."
"Casualty estimations?" Davisson asked, deferring to his legendary counterpart. Cyprus pursed his lips and shrugged.
"Too many variables to say for sure. Given the nature of the target and her likely protection, I'd say anywhere from twenty to forty percent casualties suffered." there were aghast noises from every other person in the room but Asmodeus.
"Twenty to forty percent! Thats obscene! Even the most dangerous missions against ZAFT held bases during the last war were only estimated at ten to fifteen percent casualties and were usually far lower than that!" Howard protested.
"You think Robert Jones doesn't know that? You think Andre doesn't know that? These people were trained almost the same way we were. They know us... ZAFT does not. That right there bumps the casualties up pretty high!" Glory said, defending his bosses opinion. There came a sudden knock on the door. Everyone quieted and looked askance at the entrance... who would be knocking on this particular door, to this particular room, which wasn't even officially occupied? Guns came out, held casually in hand as the door slowly opened. When the figure in the doorway became visible, the guns did not go away, but were clenched tighter.
"Hello Helldogs... are you ready to see what Hell is really about?" Zacharis Frost asked with a nasty smirk as he looked into the room.
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On the impromptu stage Cagalli was having trouble getting started... every time she started to say something, even asking for the crowd to quiet down, raucous cheering and celebration would rise up to drown her out. She'd known she was going to be a hit ever since she first planned to make an appearance, but this was overwhelming. She could not hear Athrun behind her whispering encouragement, the crowd was so loud. She tried holding up her hands for silence, but it just didn't work. She resigned herself to just waiting for the crowd to get tired of cheering her. It took longer than she had expected... people were still cheering twenty minutes after she'd gotten on the stage and introduced herself, but things were finally starting to calm down. Well, if nothing else I guess I don't have to worry about embarassing myself in front of this crowd... i could do a juggling act and they'd cheer until they were hoarse. Finally, at long last, the crowd had quieted to the point where talking was feasible.
"Thank you so much, my fellow citizens!" Cagalli said, waving to the crowd. She hurried on before they could get loud again. "I've made my appearance today because I have something important to say to all of you... and by extension to the rest of the world as well." she waved at the news camera's this time. "But before I do that, I have here in my hands a short list of the reasonable demands the people of Orb have almost unanimously voted to give to the Earth Alliance occupation forces... though you all know them by heart, I'm going to read them aloud to ensure that no one can mistake our purpose here today!" Cagalli looked over towards the Orb Palace in the near distance. I hope you're watching this, Cervantes Zunnichi. Payback, as they say, is a bitch.
"The first demand of the people of Orb, if acknowledged and acted upon, would likely solve all the subsequent problems that solutions have been requested for as well. We want Cervantes Zunnichi and his pro-Blue Cosmos goons out of our nation! We are tired of the persecution of Orb citizens merely because of the circumstances of their birth. We are tired of the injustice perpetuated by Blue Cosmos on any political group with differing views and the will to speak up in protest... to wit the vandalism, harrassment, assaults, threats and even deadly attacks perpetuated upon hundreds if not thousands of peacable Orb citizens by sanctioned members of that group. They will leave not later than five days from receiving this official notice and will never step foot in Orb again. The people of Orb have even raised a public fund to pay for the moving and travel expenses of the indicated people, to expedite their emigration from our nation. That is the first demand." Cagalli read loudly and clearly from the sheet of paper in her hands.
"Not bloody likely..." Cervantes said through gritted teeth. "Once you accept Blue Cosmos into your home, Blue Cosmos does not leave unless the home is destroyed and no longer useful. I'd make a counter offer but she won't be around long enough to accept." He looked at his watch and did some calculations in his head... the raucous crowd had played right into his hands, delaying Yula Attha's no doubt fiery speech that would send them all into a near religious frenzy by more than twenty minutes now. Cray would be arriving within the next two or three minutes, having had to fly across the nation from the Merciless's staging point.
"The second demand from the people of Orb is the recinding of the completely unlawful and unreasonable War Taxes statute that was forced through parliament shortly after the Earth Alliance's so called "Relief Fleet" arrived. The people of Orb do not support a ten percent increase of property, sales and income taxes, especially to pay for a war they no longer feel they can support, morally, ethically or financially. Again, the Earth Alliance government has five days from this notice to enact the requested change." Cagalli continued.
"And what will you do if we don't?" Cervantes said to himself. "Come break our bones with sticks and stones? It is only your words that can hurt me, Yula Attha, not your people." He checked his watch again... any minute now.
"The third demand from the people of Orb is the immediate cessation of all forced conscription programs. Not only unethical and unfair, but completely unlawful under the Constitution of Orb, these programs have sent tens of thousands of our citizens off to fight for the military forces of foriegn nations for a cause that few of them believe in. It would be bad enough if our citizens were being press ganged into joining our own military, but sending them off to fight as foriegn soldiers is completely beyond the pale. The recruitment programs must stop by the end of this day, today!" Cagalli was really getting into these demands... they were setting her speech up admirably, hitting a lot of her major points. The crowd could feel that she was building to something bigger than just the demands and remained in a hushed silence.
"Aww... boo hoo, our people actually have to fight along with everyone else in this world wide war? I'm so sorry." Cervantes muttered angrily. "Why don't you people just sit out the war... no one will hate you for it... no, not at all... we all like fighting and dying for you while you sit at home and watch... bastards." He punched the wall with one hand. "How about you people try dying for a change... die for your cause, it doesn't matter to me... just die!" he looked up in the sky and saw the large dot that had to be the Merciless slowly descending from the clouds above. "Took him long enough!"
"The fourth demand from the people of Orb is the restoration of Orb control to the parliamentary, judicial and executive branches of the government. We are tired of being puppets for corrupt officials who pass laws to suit themselves and their home nations, such as favorable trade agreements, customs toll reductions for certain goods and pay raises for the officials themselves. If Orb is to be governed, it should rightfully be by lawfully elected citizens of Orb, not appointed foriegn occupiers who do not have the interests of Orb or it's people at heart. An open election, without favoritism or censure must be held within five days from now to elect a new, rightful governing body for Orb." Cagalli knew that was a spiky ball to swallow for the EA... good, she hoped a few of them choked to death on it. Only one more demand to go and then it's time to rip this party wide open. She was just about to continue when a commotion suddenly broke out behind her, where her friends were standing.
"Kira!" Lacus cried out, forewarned of the impending danger posed by the Mobile Suit that was descending almost unnoticed from the clouds above. Instead of singing, but not wanting to utterly release her hard won control of her Newtype abilities, Lacus had instead spent her time while Cagali spoke practicing the mind scan trick Katie had shown her a while ago. It was really hard to get much of a sense for the crowd, so tightly packed were they that all their images just blurred into a sea of multicolored lights, like a billion broken rainbows fallen to earth. Her detection range was already up to about a quarter mile... longer than Katie's was, though her mindvision was less accurate than Katie's... she could not discern Actives from Latents or Stumps... which was a funny word, almost derogatory in some ways, but she was learning to use it a little bit. Despite this, she had no trouble whatesoever identifying Cray when he entered her sphere of detection from above. She wasn't quite sure what his mind looked like to her... she'd cut herself off from the ability before she could get a good look, thankfully... it wasn't anything she wanted to remember. "Cray... above us!"
Kira spun and looked up, as did Athrun, Kisaka, Waltfeld and pretty much everyone else who'd heard Lacus's shout. There was no mistaking the Merciless... no other mobile suit any of them had ever seen was that big or carried that many weapons. The mobile suit was about three hundred meters up and descending rapidly, headed for a landing directly on the stage. "No... he can't mean to...!" Kisaka cried in anguish.
"Look at the size of that thing! It's a monster!" Dr. Simmons shouted, half frightened, half admiring. It was her first time seeing one of the new EA Gundams up close and personal... rather too up close now that she came to think of it, since it was growing uncomfortably larger by the second. She was impressed... of course without access to its design blueprints she could only guess at its capabilities, but to her the giant purple, black and silver machine almost seemed to embody the very essence of total war, with its massive weapons and oversized figure.
Kira wasted no time on words, he just grabbed Lacus by the wrist and ran for the side of the stage, followed closely by Waltfeld and Murrue. Outside of the Liberty there was absolutely nothing he could do against Cray and the Merciless... the best and only thing he could do was safeguard Lacus by getting her as far away as possible from the soon to be unleashed carnage. They had discussed emergency plans with Dr. Simmons and Kisaka early that morning... if ever a situation were to arise that would endanger their lives, they were to break and run for the nearest subway station. They were all provided with glow in the dark maps that would lead them back to the safe house they'd spent the night before at.
Athrun wasted no time either. Cagalli was still finishing up the fourth of five demands and had not yet looked up or realized the impending danger. The crowd was also mostly unaware, still focused intently on their young leader, though here and there an pointing arm was outflung towards the sky along with a cry of panic or outrage. There was no time to be polite... Athrun ran up behind Cagalli just as she was turning back to figure out what all the noise was about and picked her up bodily in his arms, throwing them both forward and off the stage in a half jump-half dive. Kisaka was right at his heels, pulling Dr. Simmons along like a kite on a string. TEMPEST stayed together, moving after Kira and Lacus in a group, trying to watch both the crowd and the sky for danger. The Merciless dropped out of the sky like a meteor and landed directly on the stage, crushing the improvised structure under its feet and striking the ground hard enough to send out a small tremor that knocke people to the ground for a dozen meters in every direction. By now the entire crowd was shouting, gesticulating and beginning to shudder as some people tried to flee while others stood their ground and shook their fists angrily at the Earth Alliance war machine that had dropped out of the sky.
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"He cannot be serious!" Sgt-Major Glory shouted, looking out the main door of the Orb Palace, behind which the Alpha and Bravo teams of the Hellhounds, along with Asmodeus sark and Zacharis Frost, were prestaging themselves, waiting for the crowd to disperse enough to deploy their attack.
"Think about the name of that mobile suit... Mr. Zunnichi does not make jokes." Asmodeus said coldly, peering under the man's massive arm at the scene. "The Merciless..."
"But if he attacks the crowd it will be a slaughter the likes of which the world hasn't seen since the death camps of the Nazi's and Russians!" Glory protested. "Tens of thousands are going to be trampled to death in the panic, not even considering the damage done by the weapons! We're in the middle of a fully occupied city... unleashing the Merciless is the act of a man who is either utterly soulless or completely insane!"
"It is not your place to question the why's or wherefores of Cervantes's strategies, Sergeant-Major." Asmodeus fixed the much bigger man with his icy gaze. "You are a soldier... the sanity or ethics of your superiors is not your concern at this time. Just concentrate on the mission and if you have concerns afterwards you can address them to me."
"Concentrate on the mission!? While hundreds of thousands if not millions of innocent civilians are massacred in front of my eyes while exercising their lawfully granted right to express themselves peacefully!?" Glory retorted, incredulous. "I'll admit, sir, I'm not a very nice man. I kill people for a living... some of them don't really deserve their fates, like those protest planners we ganked. I can live with that... I don't think I can live with just standing idly by and watching millions of people killed because our boss has had what looks like a panic attack!"
"If it really upsets you so much, by all means, go out and do your best to stop it." Asmodeus said pointedly. He looked at the quad tube surface to surface missile launcher slung over Glory's back, next to the six barrel 5mm gatling gun. "I think you may need to get some bigger guns though." Asmodeus himself was armed with his rapier, a knife, his custom pistol and a pump action 12 gauge shotgun taken from the palace armory. Like all of his subordinates he wore distinctive dark and light grey urban camouflage combat armor, with the randomly arrange orange splotches that distinguished a Hellhound uniform from any other military uniform. Glory did not move, though he did shoot Asmodeus a disgusted scowl. "It doesn't particularly please me either, Glory, but I am first and foremost a soldier, secondly a Hellhound and thirdly a member of Blue Cosmos, just like you. In none of those job descriptions is humanity or pity one of the assumed qualities. Soldier up and deal with it."
Glory only backed down when Cyprus put a hand on his big friend's shoulder and led him back over to where the rest of team Alpha was doing their third or fourth personal weapons and equipment check. "Sir, you can't tell me you're going along with this madness!?" Glory whispered urgently. Cyprus shook his head. "We should do something to stop this!" Glory watched his friend's eyes... the liquid grey eyes the color of unpainted steel armor that were far more eloquent than most people were speaking out loud. He watched them flicker ever so briefly towards Asmodeus and Bravo team, then lingered for a second or two on Zacharis Frost, who was lounging in a chair a bit further back into the foyer, apparently uninterested in them all, before the gaze finally returned to Glory. "It's not the time or the place, is it?" Glory asked, realizing he'd been pushing the boundary more than he should have. Cyprus nodded agreement.
"Later... now we're Hellhounds, breathing flames at our "master's" command." Cyprus whispered back. "We cannot save those people... we can prevent something like this from ever happening again though... as long as Sai lives, we have hope."
"Aye, sir." Glory acknowledged before turning back to the men of their squad. There was Corporals Ramierez and Dekameron, the scouts... Corporals Bass and Mr. Lily, snipers... PFC's Khan, Gomer, Finley and Wayard, all members of the tactical team... Sergeant Hawley the intel spook and comm man... Sergeant Quentin the demolitionist and PFC Argrave the driver. Plus Sergeant-Major Thomas Glory and Lieutenant Cyprus Finch. Glory gazed at them with pride... tried and true soldiers, each of them men he had served with for more than three years now. They were like family to him and he to they, though no one would ever admit it. If he was to go into a battle he did not believe in, there was no better company to do it in. Though the men had already checked themselves multiple times, Glory inspected them again, having nothing better to do to occupy his time or his mind.
All of the Hellhounds were armed with specialized urban warfare weapons designed and produced soley by a small subsidary of CWM. The weapon was the CWM-17 mk II "Gladius", and it consisted of a 4.26mm hypervelocity assault rifle with a shortened barrel and silencer/flash supressor that had a magazine of fifty caseless (being bullets encased in a small block of chemical propellant) rounds mounted over an 8 gauge pump action shotgun loaded with five solid slugs. The weapon came standard with an infared telescopic sight and a data jack that could plug into the helmets/gask masks the Hellhounds wore, linking the scope to their helmet optics, allowing them to zoom in to 50x magnification and look around corners just by sticking the gun around the corner or blinking a command. For backup each man carried a combat knife made by the same company that manufactured the Armor-Schnieder mobile suit warknife, as well as a 10mm "Raptor" pistol, just like the one Cyrpus had loaned to Sai. Also, each person carried several grenades, mostly concussion (flashbangs) or tear gas... fragmentary and HE being too prone to friendly fire accidents. The scouts also had 750,000 volt taser guns with a range of five meters for taking people alive. The finishing touch came in the form of their helmets, which had teflon coated inserts that transformed the combination gas masks/face shields/HUD's into masks with the visages of snarling dogs from the pits of hell, with glowing red camera optic eyes and shiny reflective teeth in slightly elongated snouts. Glory privately thought the helmets were a bit overboard for professional soldiers to be using, but they were undeniably useful for intimidation tactics. At the moment each man had their mask's up, resting on their heads.
After inspecting the troops, Glory inspected himself. He looked at his own weapon selection and sighed, knowing he'd have to change it out before long... a missile launcher and gatling gun would be more hindrance than help in up close and personal urban warfare. Almost regretfully he slung a Gladius over the same shoulder as the gatling gun, shifting the weapons around so the smaller gun was on the bottom. A sudden thought occured to him and he turned to the Lieutenant. "Sir... what about... that?" he jerked his head at Frost. "I've read about him but... I don't know. How does he fit into the plan?"
"You let me go first and pray I won't find the time to kill you too." Frost replied from across the room. Glory started, having thought that the small dark haired bio-weapon couldn't hear him from so far away... he'd barely been whispering. Frost patted the hilts of the six combat knives he had equipped himself with... all of his specialized weapons were locked up and currently unavailable... in the panic the scientists had forgotten to unlock the secure vault for him. "Just you all remember... if any one of you so much as takes a potshot at Pink, you will beg for death before I'm done with you."
"Pink?" Glory asked, unsure he'd heard that right.
"Lacus Clyne." Asmodeus clarified, still watching outside. Cray had yet to open fire, apparently just basking in the moment as the crowds struggled and surged around his feet. "I'll make it an order and a strong recommendation... you see pink hair, you stop firing. You've all been briefed on what Frost can do... I assure you, the reports do not exaggerate." Glory was about to reply when the sound of weapons discharge from outside made verbal communication impossible.
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"My, my, my... look at all the little targets!" Cray mused, scanning around and around. For almost three quarters of a mile in any direction he could not make out the ground for all the people standing shoulder to shoulder and front to back. It had been about two minutes since he'd landed and he was still basking in the hate and fear he could practically taste wafting up from the sea of people around him. The remains of the hastily built wooden stage crunched under his feet as he slowly shifted the Merciless's weight back and forth, like a child eagerly anticipating a gift. He leaned forward, a shark like grin on his face as the novelty of just standing there and looking fearsome began to wear thin. He needed blood and he needed a lot of it... to get him back into stride after his unexpected defeat in Panama. He caressed the triggers for his shoulder gatlings as he declined the torso downwards to bring the crowd fully within his aim. For an ever so brief instant the entire crowd went silent, as if praying that what they all knew was about to occur would not happen. If their prayer's reached the ears of any deity, that being must have been terribly busy elsewhere, because nothing prevented Cray from gleefully mashing down the triggers.
Forty 120mm high explosive shells sprayed out of the guns in the first second the triggers were hit, and an equal amount were fired in every subsequent second that Cray held down the triggers as he walked the path of high explosive death along a three hundred meter long and thirty meter wide run starting thirty meters in front of the Merciless and heading straight back. Each shell detonated in a flash of fire and concussion that hurled bodies... and small pieces of bodies twenty or more feet into the air, assuming it didn't just vaporize them completely. The first three seconds of the catastrophe saw more than twenty thousand people killed, packed in like sardines, unable to run or dodge the fire in any way. After Cray let up on his triggers there was almost a half minute of stunned silence as people around the world stared aghast at the devastation. Then the screaming started... a high pitched wail that could be heard for miles, the ululating fear shrieks of millions upon millions of people in sudden fear for their lives. The scale of the stampede was beyond belief as the ocean of humanity surged away from the Merciless, crushing and trampling thousands as the crowds all sought to flee the government district at the same time, though only a few thousand at a time could fit through the streets and buildings that surrounded the district.
Laughter boomed from the external speakers of the Merciless as it's torso swiveled back and forth, arms spread and seeking new targets. Cray used his multi-target system to denote four seperate targets on the ground, one for the gatlings, another for the chest beam cannons, the third for the anti-armor shotgun and the last for the hyper impluse cannons. Without a second thought, he cut loose again and again, puasing only long enough for his weapons to charge or reload. The gatlings scoured another hundred meter stretch of ground into a wasteland of corpses and craters, while the anti-armor shotgun rounds vaporized a section of crowd twenty meters square. Whenever a beam blast touched down people turned into instant ash or mist if they were lucky and were directly in the path of the beam... those who were unlucky were merely nearby and were instead flash burned instantly to the bone over ninety percent of their bodies, their clothes flaring up like matches as they danced in runnels of their own melting skin and fat. Perhaps most fortunate of all deaths was that suffered by those that were nearby when the twin hyper impulse beams touched down... they never felt a thing as a stretch of ground ten meters wide by five hundred long turned to a solid glass trench five meters deep in an instant, undermining the base of a forty story hotel that collapsed downwards, crushing hundreds beneath its crumbling masonry.
Cray took a long stride forward, chasing the largest concentration of people as they attempted to scatter and flee before him. "Explosions... I have to have more explosions!" he chanted under his breath. Noting the fall of the hotel he decided to raise his point of aim slightly. His next volley of gatling shells and anti-armor shotgun rounds blew out the lower portions of two more skyscrapers, sending thousands of tons of concrete and rubble tumbling to the ground in massive clouds of dust which quickly obscured that entire portion of the city. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel... I haven't had this much fun in months!" He turned, scanning from side to side, slowly marching after the largest concentration of people pouring down one of the main highways that led into the government district, fleeing like ants before an angry god. "You won't get away that easily... I feel like I'm in a Godzilla movie... playing the part of Godzilla... heh heh!"
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"I'm launching!" Ysak shouted the instant he saw the Merciless land. He stood up so quickly that Katie's fingernails left bloody scratches down his back and sides. He ignored the slight pain, the sight of one of the people he hated most in the world searing his heart with rage. He threw on his flight suit in a matter of seconds as Katie dived for her computer, tapping rapid commands and requests up to the bridge. There was a sensation of movement as the Archangel began to rise to the surface in order to launch the mobile suits.
"Damn it! Right in the middle of a crowded city!" Dearka swore as he hurried to zip up his own flight suit. "Even for Blue Cosmos, that's low! Those people are helpless! How could anyone condone such a thing?"
"I don't know." Miriallia said in a small voice with a slight tremor... this was the city she had grown up in, until she was ten and her parents moved to Heliopolis. She watched in helpless fury as the Merciless lived up to its name once more, attacking the unarmed and peaceful protesters violently and without cease, mowing them down by the thousand as they struggled to flee. She felt physically sick at the sight and could not stop herself from retching up the lunch-snack she'd eaten a few hours earlier as she watched, along with most of the rest of the world and the PLANTS as bodies were pulped, burned, tossed and shattered by the Merciless's weapons in full living color on the TV screen. Dearka came over and put his arms around her comfortingly.
"You going to be okay?' he asked, concerned.
Miriallia shook her head. "No, I'm not going to be okay... I might know some of those people from when I grew up. I'm not going to be okay until we kill that son a bitch there on the screen!" she pointed vehemently at the Merciless.
"We'll do it good and proper this time, Mir." Dearka promised. "We took his measure at Panama and now he's got us all pissed at him. You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." she replied, giving him a solid kiss. "Let's go show them the meaning of hell on earth."
Ysak was already strapped in to the Duelist's cockpit and conducting his preflight checklist when dearka's voice at last crackled over the comm. Ysak's mouth was still smarting from the kiss Katie had given him on his way out the door and though he didn't know it, his eyes were tearing up slightly at the corners. "You ready, Ysak?" Dearka asked. Ysak smiled wickedly.
"What do you think? It is payback time and this time he doesn't have his friends to help him. His ass is mine."
"His ass is OURS." Miriallia corrected. "That's my home town he's destroying... if you want to kill him you're going to have to be spot on perfect, cause Dearka and I aren't going to quit until he's dead, dead, DEAD!" there was a short silence across the comm line, broken only by a slight ripple of static. "Geez, Mir, psycho much?" Ysak heard Dearka comment through Miriallia's comm channel. He himself was endeavoring to collect his agape jaw... he'd never suspected there was a side like this to Miriallia... she'd always seemed the calm, innocent and perpetually reserved person... how she was champing at the bit as much as he was, if not more so. "Don't give me that, Dearka. Think of it this way, how would you react if we were in Aprilus city right now? How calm would you be?"
"She's right." Ysak said shortly. He forced himself to calm down, to think with his mind, not his rage. He'd gone with rage last time and it had landed him in a hospital bed for a week... he was not eager to repeat the experience. "We should all be outraged. But we have to work together and keep control of ourselves too." the line was silent again.
"I am talking to Ysak right?" Dearka asked, his voice slightly surprised. "Mr. I Can Take Panama By Myself?"
"Shut up, Dearka. I've learned my lesson." Ysak retorted. "I let my anger get the better of me then and I only narrowly escaped death... thanks in large part to you and Miriallia. If we let our anger control how we fight this bastard, he's going to take us apart, because that's how he fights... we'd be playing his game. We have to have a plan... you and I have to work together, just like we did back when we'd just stolen the Duel and the Buster."
"Don't forget about me... I've got a whole ream of data on the Merciless... since this is now what... the third or fourth time we've fought it? I've been collecting combat data from everyone's Gundams after each fight and compiling it in my spare time" Miriallia spoke up. "I've got ammunition estimates for his guns, recharge times on his beam weapons, even his theoretical maximum flight speed and turning ratio. I've got detailed scans of his armor layout and strong guestimates on the locations for a lot of his vital systems."
"Excellent. Send me that data. You have maps of the city?" Ysak replied. Miriallia made a tsking sound... instead of answering him, one of his secondary screens just lit up with a street level layout of the entire city, with a glowing red dot denoting their enemy already highlighted on it.
"Don't be alarmed, Ysak... I'm slaving your sensors to the LRR and Vari-Camera Array on the Grand Buster." Miriallia said. "Now you can see what we see and vice versa... it should come in handy for city fighting." she continued as more of his secondary screens momentarily blanked out and then turned back on, now showing a much clearer and better defined picture of the surrounding area. "We're looking through the Archangel's sensors right now, but the quality should remain roughly the same after we launch."
"Grand Buster... Duelist... the Archangel has just surfaced. Opening hanger doors and deploying linear catapults. Stand by for launch." Katie's voice crackled over their speakers. Ysak immediately checked over his systems one last time, finding everything green. He stepped forward and let the hangar launch systems lock the Duelist's feet into the linear catapult. Dearka did similarly in the other hanger.
"Ysak Jule, in the Duelist... ready for launch."
"Dearka Elsman, the Grand Buster, armed and waiting." Sunlight spilled inside from the rapidly opening hangar doors and the sounds and smells of the sea rapidly filled the interior of the ship as it floated just above the surface of the water. With a hiss of hydraulics the linear catapult systems reached their final launch power. There was a brief pause.
"We've received word from Captain Ramius and Colonel Kisaka... they escaped from the government district before the Merciless began its attack. They've reached the subway system and are headed back to the safe house underground. Everyone is alive and safe. Message from Captain Vladimir Valkavich: Now is the time to be soldiers, not assassins. End of message. You may launch when ready." Katie told them.
"What the hell is Vlad talking about?" Dearka asked.
"Don't worry about it, he wasn't talking to you." Ysak replied. "Ysak Jule, Duelist, launching!" Be safe and come back to me! Katie's last goodbye echoed in his mind. "There's no where else I'd rather be." he whispered as the acceleration slammed him back into his seat.
"Dearka Elsman... Miriallia Haw, Grand Buster, taking off!" they were both slammed back by the acceleration as well... you got used to it. The two mobile suits, one blue and grey the other tan and green, soared off together towards the smoke and dust clouds rising from the otherwise peaceful city by the sea, like ancient heroes setting out to combat the monsters of the nether dark.
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Asmodeus snatched up the ringing phone and listened for a few seconds, a wolfish grin spreading across his features. He unconsciously nodded a few times. "Yes, thank you for the information, Staff Sergeant. I'll remember you for the future. Good work, keep it up. Captain Sark, out." he hung up the phone. "Our quarry has been spotted. True to Lieutenant Finch's estimation, they fled to a hidey hole. I've just received word from one of the isolated squads of infantry still dispersed through the city that a group of people escorting two young females perfectly matching the descriptions of Cagalli Yula Attha and Lacus Clyne were seen not three minutes ago entering a subway terminal. Maps of the subway system are being routed to your HUD's as we speak. The targets entered the system at the Nara Attha Memorial station here in the government district. Team's Alpha and Bravo will enter from that point, along with Frost and myself. Team Charlie will move six blocks north and enter from the Hameya station in the business district. Team Delta will do similarly six blocks south, at the Mall station. The trains themselves are being deactivated as we speak, so the fugitives should be on foot. Does everyone understand the mission parameters?"
"Seek and destroy." Lieutenant Howard said with a grin.
"Terminate with extreme prejudice." Lieutenant Davisson added.
"Survive to fight another day..." Glory whispered to Cyprus.
"All right, Hellhounds. Commo check!" Asmodeus ordered. "Check sat... check sat... check sat... sat here." came the four replies from the team leaders. "Masks!" Asmodeus called, reaching up with one hand to pull his helmet down over his face... his was unique in that his hound head had devil's horns on its head. With a near simultaneous "snap-click" fifty two other mask-helmets followed his example, locking into place over the faces of the elite team members. The sound of filtered breathing surussed throughout the room as Asmodeus looked around, his eyes adjusting to the slight red tint his goggle lenses lent everything. He looked over his men one last time... standing in ranks with weapons held tight, masks down they looked like an army of demons from the pits of hell, glowing red eyes baleful in hideously masked faces. His heart swelled with pride... truly it was a great honor to be a part of this group, much less its leader. The icon boxes for each squad turned from red to green on the HUD projected onto his left eye... all final systems checks were complete. He looked down at his sleeve, where the flexible LCD screen attached to his inner forearm flickered to life, showing detailed maps of the Orb subway system.
"Loose the dogs of war and let there be hell to pay for our foes!" Asmodeus cried.
"Loose the dogs!" they cried back at him as they hurried in ordered groups out the door and headed off at a lope towards their assigned positons. "Let there be hell to pay!"