Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Story:

Phase Nine – Ambushed

Yzak snapped off the safety of his gun and held it up, the flashlight held on top of the barrel as he swept the area. Dearka covered his back, pointing his gun and flashlight behind them just in case someone decided to ambush them here in the deep metallic confines of the PLANTs. This was the heart and blood vessels of the PLANTs, or at least this particular PLANT – Martius Eight.

This was actually his first time into the core of the PLANTs, but he had studied the layout and memorized it like the back of his hand, just in case anything went wrong. He and Dearka were supposed to meet up with their contact and a new member of their group. As far as he was concerned, both their contact and the new member could go to hell – he didn't trust anyone on a mission like this, except for his best friend, Dearka.

He turned a corner and crept forward, eyes narrowed. They were almost to the meeting place and it seemed no one was there.

"You sure this is the right place?" he whispered back to the blond-haired man.

"Positive," Dearka replied, "the map and coordinates say we're at the right spot."

"Then how come-"

"Fancy meeting you here," a deep voice suddenly startled him and he pointed his gun at the shadows as someone emerged into the dimming florescent lights that blanketed the whole area.

Yzak admired his own skill at keep his face passive as he saw who it was. He had never expected him to come here, but then again…he was formerly of OMNI and was Black Ops, so it was kind of fitting to meet the man here and to have at least some back-up. But…he had thought Keiji Yamato gave up the military life. This had to be a personal vendetta, and sometimes that meant trouble with the people he usually worked with. He seriously hoped the man would keep his personal issue with Patrick Zala locked tight, or else things would get messy once they were on the inside.

"Mister-"

Yzak roughly jabbed Dearka in the stomach to silence him, realizing that he hadn't had any formal training. Who knew what enemies might be listening in on their seemingly innocent conversation?

"And you are?"

"Watashi wa Mouri Takeru desu," Keiji introduced himself in flawless Japanese before switching over to the common language of both the PLANTs and Earth, "I can say for a fact that I didn't expect to run into you two here. Diana told me that you were going to be shopping upside. You decide to take a trip into the sewers?"

"Of course," Yzak snorted, recognizing the code words, "there's always something more interesting down here than up there."

"Yeah, I would expect that. How goes the dock business?"

"Same old, same old," Dearka finally picked up on their bantering, "it's just a hazard, so we're sneaking out to kill some time."

"Won't you be missed?"

"Nah," an easy-going grin lit up the blond-haired man's face, "they've got our tracks covered. You wanna help us?"

"That's what I'm here for. Though I don't think I'm that good at rummaging through the sludge that's down here."

"No one's good at rummaging through the sludge that's here," a new voice spoke up and they all turned to see a young man step out, dressed in a loose fitting flightsuit which was covered by a white lab coat.

Immediately, Yzak tensed and pointed his gun at the newcomer along with Dearka and Keiji. "Who are you?" he demanded in a sharp voice.

"Whoa, whoa…no need for the guns," the young man said, "sheesh…I'm Fitz Maedo, one of Doctor Pageter's assistants."

"That doesn't mean squat boy. What's your purpose," Keiji stepped up, pointing a gun straight at the young man's face and Yzak watched as the man blinked, going cross-eyed at the sight of the barrel of the gun pointed at his nose.

"Run through the gauntlet and give your tour of the newest facility. We have a lot to show you and I think you'll find everything to your satisfaction before you return to your normal jobs," the man said the code words all in one breath.

"Dear god, he's a newbie isn't he?" Dearka muttered none-too-loudly.

Yzak agreed silently. Whoever this kid was, he was most definitely their contact, but…he was also a newbie at this whole infiltrating/spying business. He lowered his gun fractionally, keeping his finger just near the trigger. He still didn't trust the whole scenario and judging by the others, neither did they. There was still something fishy about all of this…and it wasn't the faint odor permeating through the metallic cavern. Things were moving too fast.

"Um…can you please put the guns down? I…dunno if this is normal, but-"

A sudden gunshot rang out, making Yzak duck and look around by instinct as to where the bullet might have came from. There was a stuttering gasp from Fitz Maedo and he turned around just in time to see the young assistant fall to the ground, a bullet hole in hit middle of his head, blood pouring out of it.

"Holy…" Dearka started before footsteps made all of them turn towards one end of the hall, guns drawn and pointed with steady grips.

"Don't shoot! I'm an ally!" a girl came out, holding what looked like a sniper rifle, hands raised. She extended her arm out and dropped the rifle to show that she was disarming herself, but Yzak still didn't trust her.

"Who the hell are you?" Keiji asked in a cold voice, a voice that the white-haired man had never heard him use before. He realized that he had dropped the father-like persona and exchanged it for one that he used back in his OMNI Black-Ops days.

"Riley Onoko, your real contact," the teenaged girl said, "this man here was a decoy. A spy."

Just as she said the word "spy" a muffled explosion was heard and Riley grinned a bit cheekily, "He was going to lead you guys into a trap. I just disabled that trap."

Keiji frowned at her words. He still didn't trust this girl that was standing in front her him. Sure she was a crack shot at a sniper rifle, and he assessed that she had to be a Coordinator to be so proficient at sniping people. But…still… He lowered his piece and stepped forward in large strides before grabbing her wrists and lowering them. He twisted her around, ignoring the hiss of pain as he quickly searched her for other weapons.

"Watch it old man," Riley snapped at him, but he ignored her. He drew out a handgun from the back of her belt of the clothing she wore and released her. She stumbled slightly towards Yzak and Dearka who had lowered their pieces, but were still defensive.

"What the hell? Don't you trust me?"

"Military folk don't carry their guns in their waistband. You're liable to shoot off something important," Keiji tossed the gun to Yzak who caught it and pocketed it neatly on his belt.

"I didn't say I was military did I?" Riley turned her fiery green eyes on him and glared at him through her spiky red bangs. "I'm Doctor Madison Francis' assistant."

"How do you know how to use a sniper rifle?" Dearka asked.

"When we assistants were brought in to help with the scientists, we were given basic training. The instructor saw that I had a talent for picking up small details and gave me a sniper rifle to practice with in my spare time. Captain Misali said I was good," Riley grinned slightly, "but still, it was easy fooling them."

"Misali?" Keiji nearly flinched at the mention of his former teammate, but kept it mostly under control, "Quinn Misali?"

"The one and only. He was a big shot back in OMNI Black-Ops and when Patrick Zala recruited him; during his spare time he was here teaching the recruits to defend ourselves in case something happened and the base was discovered."

"You sound like you know a lot about the inside dealings," Yzak commented, "Maybe we should shoot you just to be sure you're not the real spy."

"Fine then," Riley shrugged, "shoot me if you want. But you can't get in without my help. Besides, you're gonna land your mother in a bind if you shoot me, Yzak Joule."

Keiji raised an eyebrow and saw that Yzak had a surprised expression on his face. Inwardly, he was slightly disappointed in the two Coordinators' training for infiltration missions. He would have expected someone like Yzak not to balk at his given name or even show any signs of recognition, but his first assessment of the white-haired young man was wrong.

"You think I'm Yzak Joule?"

Okay…maybe he was wrong about the fiery white-haired man.

"Why not? You have white hair and that scar," Riley frowned.

"Anyone can look like Yzak Joule. All you have to do is find his file in ZAFT and then replicate the image using make-up enhancers and whatnot," Yzak replied.

"You're Yzak Joule, or rather you've been given the name of Sergei Romanov and you are Phillip Churchill, Dearka Elsman. And you," Riley turned around to face him, "Takeru Mouri I presume?"

"You presume correctly young lady," Keiji replied neutrally.

"Then I should tell you that the last time I saw your son, he was doing well, but they would be starting the experiments soon, if not already."

Keiji felt his heart seize up and skip a few beats at the indirect mention of Kira. Experimentation? The deep seeded anger he had tried to hold in check behind his mental barriers started to crack. How dare Zala touch his son! How dare he use him for experiments! That boy had enough to deal with and now… He hadn't realized his anger was visible until the muscles in his right hand started to hurt from being curled too tightly. He forcibly relaxed his muscles and took a few deep calming breaths. He reminded himself that he couldn't take any chances on losing his cool. His personal vendetta against Patrick Zala would be secondary to rescuing and finding Kira. Taking out Zala was Yzak and Dearka's job – his priority was to find his son.

"Experiments?" Dearka asked in a neutral voice.

"Yes, don't you know about your friend?" Riley looked at all of them in surprise, "I thought since you guys went to that colony, you would have realized what he was."

"Never mind that," Keiji cut in front of her, waving whatever she was going to say away, "I ask again, how can we trust you?"

"You don't," Riley replied, "You just keep me around until you find what you need then get rid of me. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?"

"We're not that barbaric," Dearka muttered.

"At least one of you is a gentleman," Riley grinned at the blond-haired man who just shrugged. "Anyways, if you really want to see for yourself that I'm telling you the truth about an ambush, just follow me. You can hold me hostage if you want, but it's just around that corner over there." She pointed towards the area she had came from and Keiji gestured for Yzak to go while Dearka covered his back and he kept an eye on the girl.

Yzak crept forward, still as cautious as ever and peeked around the corner before turning back around. "She's right. Three bodies, one of which carried a sniper rifle and two carrying machine guns. They're wearing nearly the same outfit as Maedo over there."

"That still doesn't prove anything," Keiji said as he lowered his rifle, but glared at the girl pointedly, "if you're pulling a fast one, you'll have a bullet through your head before you can even blink."

"I understand," the girl said in a grave voice, "if you'll follow me, someone's bound to come looking soon and I don't want to stay here another minute." She walked past Yzak and picked up a pack that she had left by the bodies before gesturing for them to follow her.

Yzak followed behind her, careful to keep the gun trained on her at all times, though not really at her center mass, but near it so if she made any funny moves, she would have one hell of a wound to deal with. Dearka went after him, covering their sides while Keiji brought up their backs. He still didn't like any of this…there was something off about it. But if Riley was right, then she was their best bet of finding Zala and ultimately, finding Kira.

He knew that the primary objective of Yzak and Dearka's mission was to either capture or kill Patrick Zala, but Keiji didn't really care for that. All he wanted to do was find his son and take him away from Zala's clutches.

Kira had been lying on his bed for hours now, so long that he had lost track of the time, not that there was any to keep time in the beginning. But he knew he had been lying on his bed for hours and still no one came to his room. In the beginning, he had wondered if they were all afraid of what had happened. He certainly saw the surprised and shocked expression Dr. Madison's face when he lashed out against the three men, and a certain arrogance had grew in him. If they were afraid of him, maybe they would leave him alone.

But as time went on, he began to worry. Why weren't they coming for him? Why did he have the same sharpness as when he did when he first used something in him to lash out? How did he do it? Was it some type of drug? If so, was he going to die from it? Were they just waiting to see if he would keel over?

He was also curious about the power in him. What had Richard said? For him to move the ball? But telekinesis was impossible. It was something out of a science-fiction movie, out of the fantasy and imaginations of those who wanted to make the impossible possible in their own little fantasy world. It wasn't seed-mode that did this, it was something more, something else…

Kira wasn't too sure how to touch the power that he had, but he figured it was probably close to his seed-mode so he decided to look within himself and search for it. But even so, he needed and object to focus on. He looked around and saw near the end of his bed a small table that held a tray and cup. The cup would be his focus. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind to touch the foreign feeling. It was a bit hard to grasp now, but when he had been angry at Dr. Madison, the thing was a lot easier to reach out for.

He managed to hold onto it and suddenly felt something change within him, filling him with a new awareness. Even though his eyes were still closed, he though his hearing sharpened and the fabric of the bed and the clothes he was wearing felt different. It was as if every one of his senses had caught fire and were burning all sorts of information into him. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked.

The wispy fiber-like things floating in the air were back again, except they were a lot fainter than what he had seen the first time. He wanted to reach out with a hand and touch them, but a part of him told him not to and instead told him to reach out mentally. To reach out with his mental image and hand and touch the fiber-like things.

Turning to stare at the cup, he narrowed his eyes curiously as he saw that the wispy tendrils were seemingly grasping onto the cup, yet they were also floating away at the same time. He reached out with his mind and tried to put the fibers that were floating away back towards the cup, before lifting the cup up to patch up the fibers that were floating there. He vaguely realized that he wasn't touching the cup at all and the cup was floating in mid air, held by his own mind.

All he saw was that the fiber-like tendrils were now meshed together and he stared at the cup, still held up by his mind. A thought occurred to him. If the mesh was there, could he do things with it? He remembered that he had touched the fiber-tendrils around the men and they had flown back into the wall like puppets suddenly pulled on their strings. What if he squeezed the mesh he had created?

The suddenly shattering of the glass cup startled him and he immediately retreated from his mind. With the next blink of his eyes, the room was back to normal, the fiber-tendrils gone and the tinkling of shattered glass echoing loudly in the room.

He stared at where his cup was and saw that there wasn't a cup anymore, just glass pieces that littered the tray and the table. Did he actually shatter the cup? But it couldn't be…it was only a thought, nothing more…

Kira suddenly felt very afraid. What was he? What did he do? Why? He was the Ultimate Coordinator…so did it mean that he was able to do things like this! If it meant that, then… Kira pulled his knees to his chest and hugged himself tightly. He wanted to go home, to be oblivious to everything. He didn't want to stay here…

Quinn Misali frowned to keep the shock from appearing on his face as he stared at the observation cameras that were in Kira's room. Did the boy just do what he thought he did! But that was impossible. He had only seen one person do such a thing and it was more of a teleportation then actual telekinesis. He had thought Griever was the only one who was able to access "special" powers after extensive programming and operations on his brain. But for Kira to do such a thing! Without the aide of any of the medication or operations!

No…

It just…wasn't…human…

It wasn't even Coordinator or Natural…it was…unnatural.

He was suddenly afraid.

Not of Kira. Even if the telekinesis was real and it was Kira doing something like that, it seemed natural for the kid; yet unnatural at the same time. He was afraid for Kira. He was afraid of what would happen to the kid when Zala found out. He was afraid that they would turn a kid like him into some kind of weapon like Griever. To be used as a human bomb.

He had vowed not to care about what happened to him, but he saw something in the security cameras when they were focused on the boy. There was something in his eyes when he was lifting the cup with his mind. It spoke of death and of vengeance against all those who had wronged him. And it was something that he was all too familiar with.

With a power like that, Kira had turned into something that Quinn knew in his heart that he wasn't. In the short time he had known Kira Yamato, he had seen that the boy was a reluctant fighter, but one who would fiercely protect those he loved. There was no love in those eyes when he lifted and shattered the cup.

There was only emptiness.

And for some odd reason, Quinn feared for Kira's life.

That was what the Ultimate Coordinator was.

A killer without remorse. An Arbiter.

Justice without reason.

A blue hued light lit up Patrick Zala's face as he stared at the news feed through his computer. The most currently report from Dr. Madison was pleasing and he was happy with the results. While he had seen the shocked and stuttering expression on the doctor's face, he had expected something like that to happen to Kira. After all, he had created and ordered the testing of the drugs on both Naturals and Coordinators that he held prison before leaving the results for Murata Azrael to pick up through a little manipulation by his part on Rau Le Creuset.

He knew of Rau's secret dealings with the former head of Blue Cosmos. It was just easier that way, to get rid of the Naturals once and for all. If it weren't for those stupid paranoid Coordinators and of Lacus Clyne and her father's ideals, then Coordinators would be the next generation to become the dominant species of humans there are – and pave way for the rebirth of a greater human race.

He had once respected Siegel Clyne. That was why he had Athrun betrothed to Lacus before all of this mess happened. After all, Lacus' mother told him that her daughter had the possibility of having altered genes in her. Combined with Athrun's genes, their child had the chance to become the Ultimate Coordinator. Of course, this was all after he had thought Kira had went missing from Colony Mendel.

A tap of a button dissolved the news feed and a single communication screen went up. The figure sitting in the chair was in shadow, but Zala knew who he was.

"Greetings Commander Zala. To what do I owe you this pleasure of communication?" the figure spoke slowly, not because like talking to a child, but because he had to. Any faster and the forever wounds he received from the Cyclops System installed at JOSH-A two years ago would rupture. He was the creator of the Cyclops System and one of the most brilliant people in existence. He was also the true head of Blue Cosmos.

"Phase Two has started of our operation, George," Patrick said. "Are your men and women ready?"

"Of course, Commander," the shadow replied.

"Then deploy them," he ordered.

"As you wish Commander. However, I do hope that you keep your word on Genesis and the assassinations. I would hate to resort to drastic measures, Commander Zala," the shadow said in a mildly pleasant voice.

"Canaver is dead. Clyne should be in the next few hours. Junius 7 couldn't be helped."

"Are you so sure, Commander? Do not make the same mistakes you did two years ago," the shadow admonished gently and Patrick curled his lip in disgust.

"Don't think of lecturing me George," he growled, "I can have you eliminated immediately."

"Oh I don't think you can right now, Commander. You see," the shadow spread his hands out, and a bit of skin appeared in the light. The skin of the hand was flaky, red, and there was puss forming all over its pock-marked craters. "I am too valuable at the moment."

Patrick didn't say anything as he watched the shadow's hands retreat back into the darkness.

"You will have your coup, Commander. In less than twenty-four hours, you will be Supreme Councilor once again and the people will love you," the shadow replied before terminating the conversation.

Patrick made a small noise of disgust before tapping a few more buttons. Three different communications screens came up. Two men and one woman appeared, all of them dressed in the white commander's uniform of ZAFT.

"Commander Zala," the three greeted. If any of them were surprised to see him, then they hid it well. They were loyal only to him and to his cause and their fleets under them were loyal to them.

"Being Operation Helio," he said.

"Aye sir," the three replied before their pictures winked out.

A few seconds later, there was a soft knock on the door and the door slid open. Quinn Misali stepped in and saluted to which Zala returned.

"Commander, you requested to see me?" Quinn asked.

Patrick eyed the Natural for a few seconds. Even though his distaste of Naturals was evident, he had to conclude that they were useful, having been predecessors to Coordinators. Some Naturals were just born smart, and some were born skilled – like Quinn. He had faith in the Natural Black Ops soldier, but he was as trustworthy as far as he can thrown him. After the betrayal of Keiji Yamato all those years ago, he had learned not to trust so much in his people. However, Quinn was useful, and he passed his ultimate test of trust when he betrayed those closest to him and brought Kira to him.

"I'm putting you in command of the Isis. Your support ships will be the Heracles and Thoreau. They are Alliance made ships and you will be deployed to support the Mendel defenses."

"Sir, won't the ZAFT ships stationed there be suspicious?"

"They won't," Zala smiled.

"But sir, we took out most of the defenses when we went after the Talon," Quinn said.

"Yes, you took out the Talon, but you didn't take out the defenses," Patrick replied, still smiling before reaching into a drawer by his desk and pulling out a small object. He slid it across his desk to Quinn who picked it up. "When the Archangel and her support ships arrive, you may talk with them. You will also activate this."

"What is it?" Quinn started at the small object.

"Our agents on board the Archangel will need that to complete their mission," he said.

"Agents!"

Patrick frowned. Was Quinn getting cold feet or having second thoughts about his loyalties? "If you incline to return back to your friends, then you'd better do so with a gun in your hand. I think they are willing to shoot your first before asking questions about your betrayal."

That snapped Quinn back into line. "There is no betrayal, Commander," he said in a firm voice, "I was already in your employ sir and continue to do so."

"Good," Patrick replied, "you are dismissed."

"Sir," Quinn saluted and left the room.

As soon as the door closed, he pushed a button and spoke into the comm. system, "Have Dr. Madison report to my office. I want an update on our patient."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for taking so long. I was a bit distracted with other projects and finals for school. Since I've been out for at least a month, things should start to go smoothly. This chapter comes on the heels of Episode 34 of SEED DESTINY. Good God that was a great episode and even though Shinn Asuka is blacklisted for "killing" Kira, its still good. KIRA! glomps Heh, Kira can't die because he's getting a new Gundam, the Strike Freedom. drools