Gundam 00 Innovation
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam 00 or its characters. However, my original characters belong solely to me.
A/N: Just want to give a big thanks to Strike Destiny for my first review! I really enjoy reviews as they usually provide me information on how I should continue the story and what I should do to improve my writing.
Chapter 2: False Intelligence
"Setsuna, Qan(T) is ready to go," Ian reported as the pilot entered the hangar.
"Thanks, Ian," he said rather curtly, but the old-time engineer knew he really appreciated his work. Setsuna climbed up his new Gundam, eying it carefully only to be relieved that it was in prime condition. He settled in his seat as he felt himself being lifted off the ground and he fumbled around with the controls. It had been a while since he last sortied.
"Qan(T) is ready to sortie," Feldt's voice rang through the speakers.
"Setsuna, remember the plan," Sumeragi prompted. "You will station yourself on the Western border of Greece, by Albania. As soon as spot any type of hostility towards Greece, you will intervene immediately, understand?"
"Roger," he said, mentally readying himself for the mission.
"That's not fair," Lockon's voice piped in. "How come I have to be stationed so far away from the main action?"
"It would be dangerous to have all of you in such proximity to Greece," she replied. "This is an ambush. If all three of you arrived at Greece and even one of you were detected, this whole plan would be a failure. For you, staying near the Eastern outskirts of Germany would be best."
"Zabanya is ready to sortie," Feldt chimed again. "Siren will be ready in 60."
"Thalassa," Sumeragi called and shocked the newbie initially. "This will be your first real mission. Do you remember your instructions?"
"Yes, Sumeragi-san," she said while making herself familiar with the controls. "I am to deploy near the Eastern border of Greece and I will only act after Setsuna's permission."
"Did you hear that, Setsuna?" Sumeragi reminded him. "After making your move, give orders to Thalassa. Since this is her first mission, make sure to watch out for her, okay?" As much as he disliked having a newbie drag him down, he couldn't refuse.
"Roger that," he said and sealed his helmet with its dark screen. "Qan(T), Setsuna F. Seiei, moving out!" The radiant Gundam projected itself into the air, sparkling with its dual GN Drives.
"Zabanya, Lockon Stratos, going to snipe the targets!" The firearm-specialist Gundam soon flew out and headed towards its destination.
"Siren, Thalassa Skye, launching!" The light and graceful mobile suit emerged from its cavern and glided through the sky.
"Thalassa Skye, follow me. Don't fall behind," Setsuna ordered callously.
"Roger."
"Ohhhh, Matthieu! Isn't this necklace just so lovely?"
The couple stopped before the jewelry shop and the girl refused to move. With her hands against the glass, she leaned down further and watched the gorgeous trinket sparkle in the showcase lights. The young man gulped as he stared down at the accumulating number of shopping bags he was holding. He knew what she was going to do next.
"Come here, Matthieu! Look, look!" she exclaimed, cheeks flushing. "See how it shimmers like that? Wow, it's so beautiful…" And then came her special weapon: the puppy eyes. It caused the lad's chest to hurt just to look at them.
If looks could kill, I would've been dead a long time ago…, he thought as he tried to avoid her direct gaze. Matthieu knew he should've felt overjoyed to be dating one of the most beautiful girls, but to be honest, he wasn't too happy. He watched her as she swept her silky red hair behind her shoulder and lowered her long lashes. She perfected the heartbreaking stance by slightly pouting her perfect pink lips. Oh God… not again. He understood the drill. Without any more hesitation, he walked the two of them into the shop and he approached the jeweler.
"Excuse me, Madame," Matthieu called. "How much is that heart-shaped diamond necklace in the front?" The lady glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh, you mean our latest Jeanette-Adelia model?" she said with a warm smile. "That would be 450 Euros, Monsieur."
"450?!" the poor young man cried and quickly glanced over to his date, hoping she had not heard. He really didn't have the money to buy that necklace. He had already spent around 200 Euros just buying all the pretty clothing and accessories she had strolled upon in one day.
"Is that your girlfriend?" the jeweler asked, seeing that the he was shocked at the price. "She would really appreciate something like that."
"E- eeehh, she's not really my girlfriend," Matthieu nervously laughed. "She just agreed to go on a date with me is all."
"Ohhhh, I see," she replied. "Then you should impress her so you two can go on another date." She clasped her hands together in a business-like way and smiled sanguinely. Then, someone called her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll be right back." And she hurried away to another counter. Matthieu used this moment as a breather. He knew he couldn't afford that necklace and so he turned around with his head hung in shame.
"Fantine," he said, lowering his voice. He couldn't look at her. He knew she was going to be mad. "I'm really sorry, but I can't afford that necklace." He squeezed his eyes, ready for whatever punishment that was to come.
"Oh, that's fine," the pretty lass answered. At this, the young man looked up, shocked. "I wasn't expecting you to buy it anyway…" Suddenly, a revelation hit Matthieu. He reflected back onto the beginning of the date.
Now that I think about it, she never did ask me to buy anything…, he thoughts and frowned at his weakness. I simply acted on impulse and bought anything she really liked… He sighed, knowing that he was going to pay dearly for this date by working overtime in the local café. But he was a little happier now. At least he knew that Fantine wasn't going to expect him to buy anything else for the rest of the day.
The air was full of tension in the Ptolemaios. Half of the day had passed, and there were still no signs of aggression. Worried, Sumeragi contacted her old friend of the European division.
"Commander Mannequin," she called. "Have the Peacekeepers detected anything yet?"
"Our troops have been deployed in the surrounding areas as well as in Greece," Kati answered. "However, we haven't received any new information at the moment. Everything seems normal."
That's so strange, Sumeragi thought. Are they waiting for something? I had predicted that they would attack early in the morning to throw the people off-guard. She felt troubled by this false tranquility, almost as if she were waiting… waiting for something horrible to happen. She shivered at the thought and tried to brush it away, but regardless of her efforts, her past managed to catch up with her again. Setsuna… Lockon… Thalassa… please be okay…
"Geez, what's taking her so long?" Matthieu wondered out loud as he waited impatiently outside of the dressing room. Being very bored, he began to feel a little mischievous. He glanced at the many shopping bags that rested next to his legs. Although he had bought a lot of things for her, he hadn't really looked carefully at them. And so, his curiosity drove him to fish through her bags.
Out of the first bag came a large, pink sweater. He hadn't noticed before, but the size was labeled a "Large" which greatly confused Matthieu. Last time I checked, Fantine didn't wear a Large size… In another bag, he pulled out a colorful hat and scarf. Although he could imagine the lass wearing such accessories, their style was quite outdated and looked as if they would be better suited for elders. Next was some yarn. Then was a very bulky coat. And the rest of things that followed were simply odd. What is all this… junk? He wondered. But his thoughts were cut short when he heard the door of the dressing room open.
"Soooo, how is it?" Fantine asked as she came forward with a lovely white dress. Matthieu suddenly stopped midway of stuffing her products back in the bags and lifted his head to admire the beauty before him. The dress was frilly and decorated with ribbons, something a doll would wear. The dress matched her whole look beautifully, complementing her pale complexion and bringing out her bright blue eyes. She looked so delicate and innocent in it, that he felt a nosebleed coming on.
"It's… gorgeous," he breathed, unable to say any more. However, her smile suddenly flipped itself as she saw his hand reaching into one of her bags.
"Are you looking through my stuff?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh!" he gasped as he realized his fatal mistake. "I- I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I just want-"
"Oh, whatever, it's fine," she said, turning slightly away. Although Matthieu felt guilty for having invaded her privacy, his curiosity got the better of him.
"Sorry for asking, but…" he started as he pulled out the sweater, "who are these clothes and random household items for?" There was silence as Fantine thought about her answer.
"They're for… my grandparents," she finally confessed. She blushed a bit out of embarrassment.
"Oh, I see," Matthieu murmured, mentally hitting himself for being such jerk. He had misunderstood her this whole time. However, one thing still bothered him. "But why so much stuff?"
"Tomorrow's my grandparents' anniversary," Fantine answered, but a little sadly. "Half of those are Mama and Papa's presents." Before he could understand what she meant, there was suddenly a large sound.
BOOM!
The whole room began to shake tumultuously and Fantine lost her balance. Matthieu attempted to break her fall, but a nearby standing mirror fell and crushed him with its weight. The room continued to shake, the windows shattered, and clothes and furniture flew uncontrollably. Fantine slid and hit her head on the sharp corner of doorway, knocking her unconscious.
Lockon was startled when he heard a strange noise. He looked to his right, and to his horror, saw smoke. An explosion?! But that's not Greece! He mentally derided himself that he had been as careless as to miss something like that, but he flew towards the smoke as quickly as possible.
"Setsuna! Thalassa!" he shouted into his speakers. "There's been an attack!" He couldn't tell exactly where it was, but he quickly tried to search for the source using the technology of his Gundam. "It's in France!"
"WHAT?!" Setsuna yelled back, astounded. He was suddenly conflicted. Was the attack in France what they were waiting for? Or was this simply a distraction from the real thing that was supposed to happen in Greece?
"There's mobile suits here! There's been a huge explosion in Paris!" Lockon exclaimed, surprising both of his comrades. They had expected a potential bombing, but not a mobile suit invasion. The sniper zoomed in so that he could identify the enemy. As he expected, it was a white mobile suit with a cross embedded in its chest, meaning that it belonged to the White Knights. However, fortunately, it was not one of the newer models they had come up with. "They're definitely part of the White Knights!"
"We're coming!" Setsuna cried after finally believing that this was the real thing. "Thalassa, let's go."
"Roger," she replied with trust.
From afar, Lockon shot at the hovering mobile suit with his impressive long-range abilities. Unfortunately, the enemy's reaction was quick and his mobile suit managed to move in time. Zabanya shot a couple more times, using shorter-range firearms to emphasize speed over power. After a series of shots, the opponent remained standing, with only one arm removed.
"These guys are fast," Lockon hissed through gritted teeth. He switched his weapons and brought out a set of beam pistols. "You're not getting away!"
"FRANCE?!" Sumeragi gasped as she nearly fell over in her seat. She had not expected this at all. Our information was… wrong? She couldn't believe it.
"Zabanya is in combat with a White Knight mobile suit," Mileina reported. "Qan(T) and Siren will arrive in 600."
"Impossible!" the tactical forecaster cried as she pounded the arm of her chair with her fist. "They tricked us!"
"Enemy mobile suit is down!" Feldt announced. "Zabanya is moving in towards Paris." She suddenly gasped. "Lockon! Mobile suits sighted!"
"What?!" Lockon said and was then abruptly interrupted by a beam to his side. He scanned his surroundings and found himself enclosed by four white mobile suits. "How were they undetected until now?" But he had no time to think things through. He pulled out a new set of beam pistols and fired away, aiming for their weak spots. One of them got a lucky shot and hit a part of Zabanya's weapon container, damaging some useful weaponry. Lockon responded by shooting at the suit's chest area, and succeeded in knocking the head off and damaging the cockpit.
Seeing that he was being approached by too many mobile suits at once, Zabanya retreated and tried to shoot them from afar. But they were much faster than he had expected. Fortunately, he managed to shoot another enemy down, but two of these suits were still a little much for him to handle. These weren't ordinary suits after all. He was about to fire when suddenly, a flash of light appeared out of nowhere. Lockon looked up and beamed when he saw that the Qan(T) was here. He grinned a little when he saw the Siren attempt to hide behind the other Gundam.
"Miss Thalassa," Lockon teased, "if you want to be a Gundam Meister, you better be a little more gutsy!"
"Not impulsive, though," Setsuna said. "I wasn't the one who fired. She was. Thalassa, please don't do something brash like that again." The sniper chuckled, but quickly regained his composure to take care of the business on hand. "Lockon, we will take care of the mobile suits here. You go into the city to see if there are any more."
"Roger," he said as he descended lower in the sky. He hovered near the smoke and saw the rubble that lay beneath. "Oh God…" The damage done was enormous and he bit his lip when he saw the many dead bodies that lay on the streets. "How horrible…" Then, unexpectedly, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.
It was a mobile suit.
He fired without a second thought. But this time, it wasn't an ordinary White Knight, it was one of those new models that the Peacekeepers had been talking about. It was different in structure and around it was a radiant aura. However, to Lockon's surprise, the automaton retreated and flew off with high speed. He thought twice about chasing it, but found that making sure there were no other mobile suits nearby was more important. He turned only to find a barren street full of debris. But something… no, someone caught his attention. He zoomed in on his screen.
Kneeling on the ground and shaking was a young lady. Her bright red hair and pretty blue eyes looked so out of place among the wreckage around her. He could tell she was badly injured and zoomed up more to take a better look at her face. He flinched in shock.
"Anew…" he whispered. He imagined her lovely face again and recognized the similarities. The vibrant color of hair, the beautiful eyes, the soft facial features. But he shook his head to clear his mind. No… Anew is dead… she just reminds me of her… Having been preoccupied with the thought of his old lover, he had almost overlooked the fact that she was bleeding and looked badly injured. Completely losing all reason, he approached her and watched fear creep onto her face. He slowed down and felt hurt by how terrified and hopeless she looked.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Lockon said, trying to comfort the girl. His mind wasn't functioning properly. All of a sudden, nothing seemed to matter anymore. His identity, his mission, his pride. It was all gone. Just the thought of Anew sent a wave of sentiment crashing over him.
He extended his hand.
A/N: I didn't actually enjoy this chapter very much, probably because of the dragging caused by the Matthieu and Fantine scenes. Battle scenes are very difficult for me to write, so if anyone would be willing to give suggestions, I'd be more than happy to listen! So, please review and I'll be overjoyed! Thank you all for reading.
