Gundam SEED: Arbiter Forces

By: Shadow Chaser

An Alternate Universe to Entropy Rising

Story:

Phase Fourteen – Escape

Cagalli half-walked, half-ran down the darkened corridors of Morganroete, her feet taking her to the mobile suit area where she kept her Strike Rouge. She was telling herself that she wasn't escaping from her problems, but a part of her felt like she should stay and reason with the council. For the first time in a while, she didn't know what to do. All she knew was that she had to get into space and reassure herself that it was nothing more than a dream.

But then why was she running to the Strike Rouge?

She stopped and rested against one of the walls, her left hand curled into a fist. "Kso!" she cursed in Japanese as she squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. How did those fools in the Senate believe the lies Patrick Zala had spewed out? Were they so dense as not to remember what had happened two years ago? Did they not remember that Zala had been the one to built Genesis, clone or no clone, and fire the damned weapon at the moon and nearly at the Earth? Did they not realize that he was the one who was behind the Genesis on Junius 7 and at Mendel?

Heaving a deep sigh she continued on to her mobile suit. She knew that if she stayed in Orb then the investigation would get worst and she would be branded a traitor. She knew that her place was in space right now, where the Archangel, Babylon, and perhaps the Eternal if she was lucky to get away from PLANT was. She had to show the world with her presence amongst those ships that they are no threat.

Tapping a few buttons on a control panel, the doors to the next room hissed open and the lights went on, illuminating the Strike Rouge in a giant hanger bay. She glanced up at her mobile suit and narrowed her eyes. Words were no more use to her…she had to act.

"Princess Cagalli!" a few of the technicians who had been in the hanger looked at her in surprise before bowing to her slightly.

"Is my suit space worthy?" she asked, wondering how she was going to get enough power to past the Earth's gravitational force.

"With its own power pack no," one of the technicians came over to her before briefly whispering in her ear, "we are with you Princess. Not everyone in Orb thinks you are traitor. We Orb people are outraged at the accusations Zala throws at us."

"Thank you," she nodded, "so, tell me how can I go?"

"We've recently completed the specs to a booster pack that we were going to try on a few of the Astrays, but your need is far greater at the moment," the technician replied, "we can couple it to the Strike Rouge, but it would only give you enough power to get into space."

"Sir! Ma'am!" one of the other technicians suddenly ran over, "word is the Archangel and Babylon has disabled the fleet at Mendel and are now on the run. Heading is unknown. The rest of the ships have been detained at their ports. No word from the Eternal."

"Thank you," Cagalli said before the technician returned to what he was doing. She turned to the head technician and tilted her head, "So finding them would be another problem."

"Yes ma'am," the head technician bowed his head, "I'm sorry ma'am."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" a new voice interrupted them and Cagalli turned, puzzled as to who the woman walking towards them was. She wore the rank of a Lieutenant in the LF Fleet, but Cagalli couldn't place her.

"Lieutenant Leah Andrews, Princess," the woman stuck her hand out, "I am the current captain of the Kusanagi in light of the previous captain's departure."

Cagalli shook hands with Leah, wondering if the woman was in league with Quinn. She knew that the crew of the Kusanagi was tight, many of them adoring Quinn Misali. Still, she found it a bit too convenient for the woman to be right here at this moment.

"I know you don't trust me and are probably wondering why now? When it seems so convenient at the moment, but let me try to assure you that I mean you no harm. I mean to take you to the hiding spot of the Babylon and the Archangel," Leah said.

"And bring both ZAFT and OMNI down upon the LF?" Cagalli replied, a bit sarcastically.

"Princess, believe me when I say this, Captain Misali's abrupt betrayal tore at us. We couldn't fire on him because he was our captain and for him to do such a thing made us realize that if he was willing to do something like that then why not have the rest of the crew betray and turn the Kusanagi over to Patrick Zala's forces. When we returned to Orb, you had subjected us to searches for betrayal and we took that in stride. We too were shocked and knew that it had to be done. We hold no regrets for your actions and if I were you, I would have done the same thing," Leah emphasized her point.

"But please, believe me when I say this. No matter where the Archangel and Babylon hide, they will eventually be found. I offer you my ship and its personnel for one last mission for the sake of peace. After we take you to the ships, you may do whatever you want with us. We will not hesitate if you kill us or tell us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of peace."

"I would never do such a thing," Cagalli narrowed her eyes, a bit angry at the woman for insinuating that she was going to order the deaths of a crew.

"Princess, Orb was my home. I grew up here. I knew the sacrifices that your father made during the war two years ago. Captain Kisaka and your father didn't tell you this for your own safety, but I was part of the Orb Black Ops to guard the safety of your life."

Cagalli's eyes widened with surprise. She had heard rumors of Orb having their own Black Operations, but they were just rumors. Ledonil didn't really mention it, only in passing, but now as she looked at Leah, she realized she had seen the woman before; only a bit different. First off, her hair wasn't long and black, it had been a vibrant blue and she always kept it short. Andrews had been part of her security detail when she was younger and only gave her name as Hoshi for the shooting star that was tattooed on the inside of her left wrist. She had suddenly left her detail after only two weeks on the job, but she remembered the blue hair and tattoo.

"Hoshi?" she asked tentatively and Leah smiled broadly before turning over her left wrist and there was the small shooting star, still as bright as ever.

"Now do you trust me?"

"How do you know where the Archangel and Babylon are?"

"Ledonil has a way of getting messages to the rest of the former Black Ops team. On my own life, I will protect you and get you to your destination safely," Leah bowed her head.

"Then I accept," Cagalli replied formally.

Athrun twisted the Justice around and slashed downward with his double beamed saber, cutting the GuAIZ in half. He wasted no time and cut down two other GINNs who were aiming for him before ducking behind a debris pile to avoid being shot at by three other GINNs.

Farther away, the Eternal was battling it out against two Laurasia and Nazca-class that had pursued them into the debris field. There had originally been four ships that were pursuing them, but two of them had been destroyed by the debris field. The Eternal was a fast ship and was excellent at maneuvering inside of the debris field, unlike the slower Laurasia and Nazca-class ships.

They initially outran many of the ZAFT patrol ships and only happened upon this one who had been conducting their own investigation into the Genesis on Junius 7. Though Athrun felt a bit sorry for killing the pilots of the mobile suits who were just only acting on orders, he still knew that many of them had been swayed by Zala's words.

What appalled him the most was why they had been swayed. It was easy for many to barely remember what happened two years ago and to accept lies all over again. People alone were intelligent enough, but group them all together and the relative IQ went down as a whole.

He popped out of his hiding place and charged at a group of five GINNs. Twisting his beam saber around he decapitated one in the head while bashing another with his shield before skewing him. Both suits exploded, but Athrun was beyond them already, tackling the three other GINNs. He cut them from the waist and the three exploded.

"Eternal, what's your status?" he called over the comm. as he flew towards the pink-painted ship.

Just as he said the words, he saw the Eternal fire its beam cannons and hit the Nazca-class ship dead on. The ship sputtered for a few seconds before it exploded, sending debris flying everywhere. Athrun raised his shield to protect his own suit while he made a beeline towards the Eternal. He noticed Griever's mobile suit, the Ragnarok heading towards the last enemy warship, intent on taking it out.

Deactivating his beam sabers, he took out his beam rifle again and fired a few shots, hitting two GuAIZ who were trying to fire upon the Eternal. They exploded and he turned to see Griever's beam anti-ship sword and slice right through the bridge of the Laurasia-class ship. He backed away and the ship exploded moments later.

"That's the last of them," Griever's face popped up in a small communication square on the upper right hand corner of his main screen. The black-silver-painted Ragnarok flew towards him as the Eternal opened its docking bay to let them in.

"We're all right over here. Head back to the ship," Bartfield's face appeared on his left hand corner screen. "We've gotten a tight beam transmission during the battle on the whereabouts of the Archangel and Babylon and are headed there."

"Where are they?" Athrun asked, curious.

"At the remnants of Heliopolis," Bartfield replied.

Keiji Yamato tapped a few buttons on the keyboard in front of the computer he had been working on. His role as Riley Onoko's assistant, she had provided him the log-in and password to all things pertaining to Kira and the experiments that were conducted. He had browsed through the initial information and nearly threw up whatever lunch he had. A dark anger had clouded his mind ever since. Zala that bastard and Dr. Madison Francis the bitch, what they did to Kira…

After Riley had gotten them in they had each been assigned different position within Zala's group. He stayed with Riley, partially to keep an eye on her (he still didn't trust her completely), partially to get all the scientific information on Kira for his wife. Yzak had been assigned to guard detail for Zala and since he had dyed his white hair completely black, he looked very different so hopefully Zala didn't recognize him. Dearka was assigned another guard station, and Riley had made it so he was in the control room, watching the cameras.

Though it seemed a little too convenient for Keiji's tastes, he had to admit, Riley was good to her word so far. It had been four days since he had seen his son with such a feral look on his face and he still didn't believe such a look could exist. It had also been six hours since Patrick's announcement and Keiji had passed on a coded message to change the plan he, Yzak, and Dearka had come up with. With this new development, they had get Kira out of Zala's clutches before anymore damage could be done.

What was mentioned on occasion by Riley was an Operation Helio that had taken effect in two phases, before and after Zala's speech. There were no notes on the Operation, but Keiji knew that it had been bad and Kira was probably part of it. He typed in a few more commands and checked around him to make sure that no one was looking at what he was doing.

He was in the labs two hours before the start of his shift and the night guards had asked what he was doing here and he gave them the reason that Riley had assignments for him that he wanted completed before Dr. Madison came in for the day. They had taken the bait and the security cameras that had been placed in the room he was in had been disabled, the video showing just a loop – all thanks to Dearka's careful manning of the guard station.

He hoped Yzak was fairing well with his part of the mission. Yzak was supposed to assassinate Zala before the whole base woke up and started their daily routine. Then just as the base was waking up they were going to make their escape. Dearka had assured him that Kira was still in his room, unconscious and fed with an intravenous line.

Keiji glanced at the clock on the computer and noted that he was running a bit behind schedule. He hadn't expected so many files and it was why it was taking so long to copy everything to disk. Finally the computer beeped quietly at him telling him the copy had finished. He popped the disk out and inserted another disk before typing in a few commands.

The computer shut itself down and Keiji took out the other disk. He knew he had been considered by Zala when he was first hired to be almost-Coordinator like for his abilities and he had been tested to see if his genes had been altered, but Keiji knew that it was only his natural talents that made him the envy of all. He didn't need his genes altered and Zala was a fool not to see that. Well, Zala was also a fool for not completely researching his whole background for that first hire.

He had given Zala a special gift…and it either required the time or needed to be turned on to work. Hiding a smile behind a cough, he headed out of the room, waving a goodbye to the other scientists in the room. Turning down a hall, he headed towards the commissary which was close to the guard station Dearka was stationed in. It was time to put their plan into action.

Knocking on the door to the guard station he poked his head in and saw Dearka manning one of the stations, chatting with another guard, looking totally at ease within his position. He had to admit, he had his doubts about the two young Coordinators, but they had proven his doubts to be wrong.

"Something we can do for you?" one of the guards asked and Keiji caught Dearka flicking a gaze towards him. He tilted his head subtly before making it look like he was looking around.

"No, just wondering if Dr. Madison stopped in yet," he said. He had found it from Riley that Madison had made it a habit to stop in the guard station to check on the cameras that were monitoring Kira every day.

"Nope. Think she's still in the commissary," one of the guards replied.

"All right. When she does stop in, just tell her that Takeru Mouri stopped in, all right? I'm headed to the prisoner's cell to check on him and make sure his sedatives are still in for today's experiments," Keiji said before catching a small nod from Dearka who understood the coded words.

"Right sir," the guard nodded in acknowledgment and Keiji stepped out before heading down a series of halls towards Kira's cell-room. There were hardly any guards in sight, but cameras covered the halls. He knew that Dearka was now relaying information to Yzak and also providing a loop feed to the cameras surrounding Kira's cell.

He stopped in front of the door to Kira's room and looked around briefly before punching in the code he had memorized four days ago. The door hissed open and Keiji stepped in. He hoped that the cameras Dearka had been manning were on loop feed and prayed that there weren't any hidden cameras that they didn't know about. He walked over to his son's bed and knelt down, placing a hand on his forehead.

His son's skin felt very warm and Keiji narrowed his eyes. Was Kira running a fever? He touched his son's cheek and it too felt warm and the skin looked a little flushed. Oh Kira…what did they do to you? Keiji's heart nearly broke at seeing his son lying on the bed, eyes closed…so vulnerable. It was also then that he realized his son wasn't really unconscious, but awake and was looking at him through narrow slit eyes. He blinked in surprise, wondering where he picked up such a skill before a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Even if he was running a fever, Kira still knew never to give up and to stay strong.

"Kira?" he asked in a quiet voice, "how are you feeling?"

His son's eyes opened wider and Keiji reeled back at the anger in them. He had never seen such angry eyes on his son and it surprised him.

"Who are you?" Kira asked.

Keiji hadn't changed his appearance at all when he took on the mission to find his son and kill Patrick Zala. What had made him such a great OMNI Black Ops officer was his ability to just blend in with any crowd and to look absolutely ordinary. He rarely needed to change his appearance and he had counted on the fact that Zala and Dr. Madison wouldn't recognize him since he only met them once or twice and that was years ago.

"Kira, don't you recognize your own father?" he asked.

His son's eyes narrowed as he searched his features; and after a few minutes the angry look faded away and was replaced by one of tearful relief and joy.

"Dad!" Kira half-sobbed in relief before Keiji embraced him tightly. He could feel the tears soaking into his shoulder as his son cried, but he patted him on the back. "It's all right, Kira. I'm here, don't worry," he whispered over and over again.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I-I thought you were-" Kira's muffled apologies came through and Keiji shook his head.

"It's all right, son. You don't need to apologize. I'm here to get you out," he interrupted him before releasing him, but held onto him at shoulder's length. "We're leaving right now, all right?"

"H-How!" Kira's eyes were still wide with surprise and he hastily scrubbed at the tears.

"Yzak and Dearka are also here," he said, giving him a small smile.

"But…I thought Yzak hated me…I killed one of his friends," Kira looked away as if remembering a conversation of sorts.

"They're actually on a separate mission, but our objectives are still the same. They're assigned to take out Patrick Zala. I'm only here for you," Keiji explained before letting go of his son's shoulders, "can you stand up? You seem to be running a fever."

"I feel a bit dizzy," his son admitted, but shrugged, "I can stand up. Anything to escape this hell hole."

"Then let's go," Keiji rescued carried his son up, "Dearka's got the cameras on a loop so we should be fine."

They walked to the door and as soon as he tapped the door to open the barrel of a gun greeted his face. Beyond that was the figure of Dr. Madison Francis holding the gun, "Going somewhere Takeru Mouri, or should I say, Keiji Yamato?"

Kira felt dizzy, lethargic, and most of all annoyed. He knew he had been running a mid-grade fever since he had been knocked out, but he couldn't remember the reason why he had been knocked out. The last thing he remembered was him talking to Richard in an interrogation room. He had gotten so pissed at the man, but he couldn't remember what had happened afterwards. He knew that he had somehow gone into seed-mode outside of the cockpit; he could feel the residual effects of his berserker rage, but for what reason he couldn't fathom. He also remembered having dreams of sorts…dreams that left him confused.

He just wanted out of here and the last person he had expected to show up and rescue him was now trapped by that damned Doctor and a gun. He knew he could kick the gun out of her hand in a split second, but his body wouldn't cooperate with him. He felt so tired and so feverish that his equilibrium was thrown off completely. He was so glad that his father was supporting half of his weight even though he said he could stand on his own. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep away his pain and fever knowing that his father was here to protect him.

The annoyance grew and anger started to seep in. A part of him knew that the anger was bad. It was going to trigger something bad so he tried to tamp down on it, but it still leaked through.

"Going somewhere Takeru Mouri, or should I say, Keiji Yamato?" Dr. Madison asked, in a sickly sweet voice, gun pointed in their faces.

"Hmph," his father smiled, "I've only met you once yet you remember me. How many years ago was it Madison?"

Kira was surprised that his father had addressed the doctor in such a familiar fashion. His father rarely talked about his past and though he knew that he was in Black Ops with OMNI years ago, it was still a surprise.

"Twenty years ago," Madison smiled, all teeth, "twenty years ago since we've met."

"Yeah…you were Quinn's bitch weren't you? Still are since he's working for Zala?"

Madison flinched, "Shut up Keiji. You wouldn't know anything about what's between Quinn and I."

"Yeah, whatever," his father replied in an-almost casual tone.

Kira knew that there had to be some history between his father and the doctor, but he couldn't really do anything at the moment with Madison pointing her gun at them. He just settled for glaring at the doctor as his annoyance grew along with his anger.

"So are you going to shoot us or just let us pass, because if you aren't going to shoot, we have somewhere to be," Keiji asked in a pissed tone.

"Who says I'm going to shoot you? I'm only here until the guards arrive…and by the way, your man in the station trying to loop the cameras, uh-uh, not working, Keiji," Madison smiled as the sound of booted feet got louder and louder.

Kira sensed that his father wanted to try something to escape, but rescue carrying him prevented him to do so and so he eased his own body weight off of his father, ignoring the questioning look his father gave him before stepping to the side. Immediately, a wave of dizziness made him sway slightly, but he put all of his focus on keeping himself up right. He stood close to his father just in case flying bullets came his way.

"Are you actually contemplating trying something Keiji?" Madison asked, "your son doesn't look to good does he?"

Kira could feel the anger that had been gnawing at him grow larger and larger and his annoyance also rose. He was tired and sick. He wanted nothing more than to escape from this hell hole and he wanted that gun out of his face! When he blinked his eyes he was mildly surprised to see tendrils all around him. Except there was no red haze of anger…there was just only simple clarity and the will to do so. He didn't know what part of him knew so, but he knew that this was different than all other times he had the tendrils to work with.

The tendrils and something inside of him just told him to push the gun aside. That's all. Just push the gun aside and everything will be fine. He can return to normal and watch everything unfold.

Kira didn't know whether or not to listen to its instructions, but a part of him knew that this wasn't that bad. It wasn't evil like the other times. It was different. So he focused his gaze on the gun in Dr. Madison's hand and saw the weave around the gun. He reached out with his mind and pushed away the gun and with the next blink of eye, the tendrils were gone and time seemed to speed up.

He didn't realize it, but when he saw the tendrils, he had felt no dizziness from the fever, no pain from anything…just perfect clarity. Now his vision back to normal, he could feel the pounding effects of his fever and the pain that had suddenly crept up from all of the time he had been imprisoned. He realized that the perfect clarity had a detrimental effect on his body and everything washed over him.

Kira collapsed to the ground, unconscious, just as his father leapt into action.

Keiji saw Madison's gun move to his left and wasted no time charging into action. He quickly leapt towards her as she realized what had happened, but it was too late for her to bring the gun back on him. He slapped her gun arm aside and grabbed onto it, before putting his other hand on its barrel and quickly turned her wrist inward.

Her hand, twisted by the force accidentally pulled the trigger and Madison's eyes widened as a bullet tore through her rib cage and she collapsed to the ground just as Keiji pulled the gun out of her loosened grip, breaking her index finger in the process.

He pointed the gun at her fallen form, eyes narrowed. "You should have shot me when you had the chance."

"Keiji, don't-"

He didn't let her finish her sentence as he shot a bullet in her skull, killing her instantly. "That was for my first mission all those years ago. I should have killed you back then. And also for what you did to my son."

Keiji turned around and noticed that Kira had collapsed to the ground and from the looks of it, during the time he was disarming Dr. Madison. He breathed a quick sigh of relief that his son hadn't seen him murder a woman in cold blood. He didn't know what Kira would make of it, seeing his father in true colors, not Black Ops, but an assassin.

A bitter taste rose in his mouth and Keiji quickly swallowed against the bile threatening to pour out. He realized he was shaking mildly and knew that he hadn't killed a person in cold blood since he married Kanoko. Steeling himself to keep steady, he thumbed the safety of the gun on and stuck it in his belt in his back before kneeling down next to Kira, brushing his bangs away.

Kira's breath was shallow and he was pale and sweaty, his face more flushed than minutes ago. Keiji realized that his son's fever had gone up and he needed medication fast in order to stabilize the fever. He reached down and scooped his son up, draping him over his right shoulder, keeping his left hand free to use the gun. Being ambidextrous had its uses he admitted as he pulled the gun out of his belt and thumbed the safety off.

The sounds of the guards were getting closer and Keiji knew that he didn't have much time. The plan had been messed up and an alarm was about to be sounded. He remembered Riley telling them that the facility had shuttle bays and where to find them. Thumbing on a private comlink he had with Dearka and Yzak had spoke into it. "Code Riley, repeat, Code Riley."

That was the signal that they needed to meet in the shuttle bay and get the hell out of there. He hoped Yzak had accomplished his mission, but didn't dwell on it as he ducked into a hall and started running towards the shuttle bay, hugging the walls as much as he could with his son draped over his shoulder.

Keiji knew he was half way there when he rounded into a hall with three guards. "Wrong way," he commented softly to himself as the guards turned around and shouted at him. Firing his gun with uncanny precision, he killed two of them before the third one sounded the alarm. His third bullet pierced the guard in the navel and he dropped dead, blood pooling around his head in a morbid halo effect.

Rushing past them, he turned right down another hall and fired a few random shots at the guards over there, making them duck before they retaliated. He ducked into another hall and placed Kira gently on the ground before grabbing another clip he had hidden in his uniform and slammed the new one in. Glancing quickly to make sure his son was out of harm's way, he peeked out of the corner of the wall he had slid up to before ducking back as bullets pelted his area.

As soon as the bullets stopped, he peeked back out and fired a few shots, hitting a couple of the soldiers that were stationed between him and the door to the hanger bay. He ducked back and waited as bullets once again pelted the wall he was hiding behind. Suddenly the sound of booted feet over the din of machine guns firing behind him made him turn just in time to see four soldiers in a squad of six go down in a spray of fire. They had been trying to corner him, but two people now stood over the bodies, their faces obscured by their helmets.

"Looks like you needed help getting out of here Akuma," Riley took off her helmet and grinned at him while the person next to her also took off his helmet to reveal none other than Dearka who had a grim smile on his face.

"Thanks," Keiji shrugged before turning back to peek out of the corner and fired a few shots, just as Riley dashed across to the other side of the hall and ducked behind her own corner. She waited a couple of seconds before firing her gun, hitting a few more soldiers.

"Here, you might need this," Dearka suddenly said and Keiji turned around to see his son sitting up, eyes still glazed with fever and pain, but he looked coherent enough for now. Dearka had handed him a gun to which he took and nodded his thanks.

"No offense, Kira, but when Athrun sees you like this, he's going to have a shit fit," Dearka grinned crookedly at Kira.

The small chuckle of laughter from his son's mouth was like music to Keiji's ears as he quirked a smile before turning back to the matter at hand. "Where's Yzak?"

"I don't know. Last I saw him he was still with Zala," Dearka replied grimly.

"You think he could have been captured?" Keiji didn't know if they should wait for the white-haired man.

"Nah. If he was, he'd sooner try to escape than anything. Yzak's real good at this stuff. He's been doing it for the past two years so he should be fine," Dearka replied.

Keiji didn't say anything as he didn't want to dash the hopes of the young man. He knew that the two were best friends, but even so, he himself had over twenty years experience and there were times he had come close to being captured. Coordinator or not, missions like these were very high risk and even for a Coordinator, it wasn't just the skill, but also a combination of luck.

He peeked back out and fired three more rounds, pleased that all three connected with three different guards, taking out the last of the guards that had surrounded the door. "Let's go," he turned to Dearka and Kira, "Kira, grab on to my shoulder." He knelt down and helped his son up who was still swaying on his feet and rescued carried him as both Dearka and Riley took point.

They quickly entered the hanger bay when suddenly the door hissed shut behind them and a click was heard…the door locking. Keiji immediately knew something was wrong as soon as Riley spun around, gun pointed at them.

"What the…" Dearka was caught off guard.

"Don't even think of moving another step," Riley smiled maliciously at them, gun pointed straight at Keiji's face, "I have five snipers, all trained by Quinn Misali with their guns pointed at you. If you make one move, they'll fire. And that includes you too, Kira Yamato."

Keiji glanced down at his son and saw that his eyes had been turning into that same uncontrollable fury he had seen four days ago, but they returned to normal as soon as Riley spoke. He glanced up and saw the glint of sniper rifles above them in the catwalks of the hanger bay and realized Riley had not been bluffing…

"So that's why you knew my codename back in OMNI Ops," he commented softly, "no one knew that and Quinn sure as hell didn't tell anyone."

"Oh the only person he told was his family, me, his daughter," Riley smirked, "and like my father, I have no intention of betraying Patrick Zala."

Assassination wasn't Yzak's forte, but infiltration was and he could sense that something was wrong.

Right before Riley had taken them into the facility where she had assured them that it was the main hideout of Patrick Zala, she had given them their specific assignments. Apparently, she had gotten the information from both Lacus and his mother about their skills. He had been assigned to guard Patrick Zala, but also had to completely dye his hair to black so Zala wouldn't recognize him.

He didn't mind, after all, it was part of the job, but the fact that they were able to infiltrate Zala's hideout so easily and nearly on the first try worried him. He didn't voice his concerns, but he could also see it in the veteran Keiji Yamato. Though Yamato had a lot more experience than he did in the field of espionage and assassination, Yzak felt that he too had experience to compare with Yamato.

Even before they had the chance to report to their stations, there had been the alarm that a prisoner was escaping. While Yzak had little to no love for Kira Yamato, and was still angry that the boy had been the pilot of the Strike and had killed Nicol, he had to admit, when he saw Kira in his state, trying to fight off so many guards, he was very worried.

Just what the hell did they do to him in this place was beyond him, but also knew that Athrun and the others back in the LF were going to have heads roll when they found out. Still that was four days ago and Yzak knew that he was running out of time to kill Zala.

So far, the man had not recognized him, but it was nearly impossible to kill him at the moment with the other guards around. He had heard the code words Keiji had given them, a sign that things were getting bad and a few minutes later, the blaring of the general alarms. He tensed as did the other guards around before the order came to go pursue the escaping people. Yzak followed them, machine gun drawn before he quietly slipped out of the back of the ground and headed back to Zala's quarters.

He walked quietly, but quickly back towards Zala's quarters and stopped in front of the man's door. Having already been inside at least twice, he had memorized the layout and knew that Zala wouldn't head out to personally oversee the capture of the escapees. No, the man liked his comforts and preferred to stay as much as he could, out of harm's way.

Yzak keyed the door to open and stepped into the dimly lit office. He was very surprised to see Zala sitting there, unarmed, and staring at three lit screens.

"Hello Yzak," Zala glanced up from the screens and gestured him forward, "I was beginning to wonder if you weren't going to sneak in and assassinate me."

Yzak narrowed his eyes and lowered his gun slightly before cautiously stepping forward. He didn't know what kind of game the man was playing and wanted to take no chances. Ever instinct he had was screaming for him to kill him right now, but there was question he wanted to know and it seemed Zala was about to answer it.

"I let you in, all of you including Kira's father, because I wanted you to see what I was creating. I am trying to create a future, Yzak."

"Does that future include the tampering of Coordinators so they become psychotic killers?" Yzak asked.

"No, no, dear boy. No, nothing like that. I am trying to create a future where wars don't have to be fought. I wanted all of you to see that future in creation. And I want all of you to understand the true meaning of my Operation."

Zala paused for a few seconds before continuing, a smile on his face, "That future is now here." He tossed him a small disk to which Yzak caught it and stared at it. "That is the key to the future," Zala leaned back against his chair.

Yzak shifted his gun and pointed it at Zala's face, "Why should I believe you?"

"You must, Yzak, because," the clone moved a screen that showed the battle raging between his ships and the combined forces of OMNI and ZAFT at Colony Mendel. "Colony Mendel will move towards its final destination and the key to the future will be unleashed. You hold in your hand the power to stop the Colony from reaching its final destination. And even if you do kill me now, then the Colony will not stop. With that, you can stop it."

Yzak's eyes widened as he realized what Zala was saying and stared at the disk in his hand. He looked back at the man and saw the insanity in his eyes. There was no retribution for him, and he understood that he wasn't supposed to kill him. Zala would die, eventually, but it wouldn't be by his hand today. Someone else was meant to kill the psychopath.

He spun around and was about to leave before Zala spoke again.

"Oh Yzak, would you be so kind as to clean up a bit of a mess for me? Your friends are currently trapped by Riley Onoko in the hanger bay. I won't hinder your path, but she is a kind of a mess that I do need cleaned up before anything else."

Yzak snorted before heading out, running towards the hanger bay. He slipped the disk into the folds of his jacket before simultaneously taking out the sniper scope on the rifle he carried and attached it.

He would clean up this particular mess for Zala, but in the end, Yzak knew that the even bigger mess the man had created would have to be cleaned up by all of them.

The old adage, like father like daughter didn't really apply here, Keiji thought as he stared at Riley. He knew it the moment Riley had told them that she was betraying them. Sure she was Quinn's daughter, but she was nothing like her father. Quinn would have immediately killed them without even a warning, Riley was a bit flashier and he could only hazard a wild guess as to who was her mother and where did that personality come from.

"You know, she's dead," he tested her and saw her eyes grow with confusion before she smirked.

"I have no idea who you're even talking about," Riley said, her voice full of confidence.

"Actually, I think you do," Keiji replied neutrally, and watched as she began to sweat with fear, "you may be Quinn's daughter, but I knew your father long before and knew all about his relationships and history."

"Yeah, well, you didn't know him well enough to figure out he was going to betray you at Mendel," she shot back, fear now lacing her voice.

"Good point," Keiji conceded, "but it's not going to get you out of it. She's dead. Your mother, that is."

"You don't even know who she is," Riley snapped, the grip on her gun wavering slightly, "my mother is in the commissary right now eating!"

"Ah, so your mother works here," Keiji let a small smile on his face, knowing full well what his words were doing to her, "so she is here after all."

"No she isn't!" Riley vehemently denied, "shut up! I'll kill you!"

"You should have done that long ago, Riley," Keiji narrowed his eyes, "because I killed her with my own hands." He had a feeling that Madison Francis was the girl's mother and when her eyes showed the fear, he knew instantly that his gut instinct was correct. It wasn't hard really, to put two and two together, considering he knew of Quinn's various tumultuous relationships with women.

But to admit everything right in front of his son…a horrible feeling was worming its way through his gut. He didn't want his son to know the true extent of his actions during his time in OMNI's Black Ops. He never wanted his son to know that fact in of itself, but here he had to save them and in order to do so, he had to play a very nasty mind game with Riley.

His eyes glanced up and he noticed that the glinting of sniper rifles in the areas above weren't in their position anymore. In fact they looked to be a bit skewed… There seemed to be only one more sniper rifle that was pointing straight at them…and though his face didn't show it, he realized who had made all of those rifles skewed.

"She's not-" Riley never got to finish her sentence as the crack of the lone sniper rifle rang through the air just as the same time she spun and her feet lifted off of the ground a bit, her face wide with surprise at her own body's random movement.

The bullet pierced her in the middle of her forehead and she dropped lifelessly to the ground, surprise etched all over her face. Keiji just stood there, utterly confused. Why would…?

"I had been aiming to disable," Yzak's voice came from where the sniper rifle had been and the formerly white-haired man was staring at them before leaping off of the area he was in and floated down towards them.

"She had to die," Kira's voice made him turn to see his son, his eyes wild and blazing with uncontrolled fury, his face a simple mask of impassivity. The alien eyes on his son made a shiver crawl up his spine. This couldn't be his son talking…it wasn't like him. It was too precise…too cold…too foreign. And he realized with terrifying clarity that somehow, his son had made Riley dance around like a puppet to face the bullet that had been a disabling shot.

"Who…are you?" Dearka asked, his gun not quite pointed at Kira.

Keiji watched in horrified fascination as his son's eyes receded from their uncontrollable look to one of confusion before his son collapsed to the ground, unconscious. He quickly picked up his son, marveling at how light he was, as the muffled sound of booted feet sounded from the other side of the door, telling them that more guards were on their way.

"Let's go," he ordered and the three of them dashed towards the shuttle. "We're you successful?" he called back to Yzak.

"No," the white-haired man replied and Keiji frowned.

"Why not!" he yelled back as he reached one of the shuttles and palmed it open.

"Unexpected complications, but I can assure you, he's the least of our worries at this moment," Yzak replied before moving past him to the cockpit, Dearka following him.

"This better be a good reason," Keiji muttered as he settled his son in one of the shuttle's seats, before moving off to find an emergency medical pack to bring his fever down. He still couldn't quite contain the shivers of uneasiness inside of him from what he had just witnessed.

"Oh it's good," Yzak heard his mutterings as he called back from the whine of the shuttle's engines, "Colony Mendel's going to be dropped on the Earth."

Minutes later, they escaped from the depths of Martius Eight.

Author's Notes:

Does anyone read this? Anyways, thank you so much for your patience in waiting for this chapter. I was about to divide it and post one per week, but decided to hold off and post this LONG chapter so you can read it without missing any beats. Very short Athrun and Cagalli parts, but pretty much we're starting on the home stretch. And yes, Kira is a bit messed up right now, but we'll see what his path takes. Next chapter might or might not be posted soon because I have classes and work starting soon! Thank you again and keep reviewing! Ah yes, any questions will be answered with an Author Q&A at the end of this story, so you may send them to me directly or on the reviews!