Warning: This chapter has alcohol usage in it. It is used in humor, and the characters are of legal age (by ORB standards). NO ONE SHOULD DRINK UNDER THE LEGAL AGE!
Chapter 11: A Night Out on the Town Pt. 2
Two cars sped down the winding highway leading into Onogoro City, the capital of Orb. Its passengers were chatting away in the car. As of now all of them had changed outfits to fit the occasion. Town being a less formal restaurant, but nonetheless upscale required a dress shirt and jacket but no tie. As for the girls there was not really a difference, just classier clothing. Town was not far from the palace and the group arrived in front of the Chambers Hotel within fifteen minutes. At once attendants opened the doors for the celebrities. To the public's eye Athrun was Alex Dino, bodyguard to Cagalli Yula Attha. The chauffeurs drove the Maybachs away as the group made their way inside with Kira and Lacus in the lead. Kira turned heads as he walked through the lobby towards the restaurant, especially female ones winning him evil glares from their boyfriends.
"Hi, the reservation is under Kira Yamato." Said Kira to the manager who happened to be at the reception podium at the time. The man simply smiled and walked away to get a waiter to escort them to their table.
"Hello, I'm Dale. I'll be your waiter tonight. Is there anything I can get you right now?" introduced Dale.
Soon everyone replied with a drink. Everyone stayed on the non-alcoholic side of beverages knowing that since the Orb drinking age was 18, there would be a lot of alcohol once they arrived at Tao. Once that task was completed, Dale supplied everyone with a verbal list of the specials and left them to decide. Upon deciding Dale returned to the kitchen to relay their orders. The evening wore on with dinner as everyone conversed in a lighthearted atmosphere while dining on their meals. By the time they had finished with their dessert and had moved on to tea and coffee, three hours had come and gone, but in Onogoro the night was still beginning.
"So, Kira tell us about your crew. I believe we met all your commanders today, however, I'm most interested in the commander that piloted the Strike." mentioned Yzak leaning back into his chair feeling lethargic as he looked Kira in the eye.
"Well, I've got to say Alex is an amazing pilot. He lived on Junius Eight and was recruited into the special corps at eighteen and was there until the end of the war, which was about four years. What I know about his past is that he attended a New England boarding school in the US until it became highly intolerant of the coordinators, which was the year he graduated. He returned to the PLANTs and was drafted into ZAFT and was immediately transferred to special ops. That's basically it, he's kind of closed off to the rest of the world, although I do get the feeling he opened up after he met the others." responded Kira in a longwinded impromptu speech about his leading commander.
"Wow that's pretty amazing, I didn't think that coordinators were allowed into the US after CE 65." added Miriallia quite sincerely amazed that Alex could enter the US with its relations with both the Pacific and Atlantic Alliance.
"Well, from what I hear he's from an extremely influential family on the PLANTs. I respect his privacy, so I've never tried to pry further into his past." replied Kira nonchalantly.
"You know, he sounds like a distant cousin of mine. I had heard that a distant cousin of mine had attended school on Earth in the US. I should probably ask him about it." said Lacus as she joined in on the conversation that was quickly drawing the others at the table away from there mini-conversations.
"I'm very sorry to interrupt Mr. Yamato, but there is a call for you and your check." interrupted Dale as he handed Kira a wireless handset.
Phone Call:
Man: Mr. Yamato we need to speak in private. Please step away from the table.
Kira: Who is this?
Man: My name is not important at this point, but I am the one who sent out the commission that you declined.
Kira: I have no interest in your proposition whatsoever.
Man: Really, if you don't then watch the news tomorrow. Perhaps it will alert you to the fact that the woman you so affectionately call Lacus Clyne is not really who she claims to be. Good night.
Kira: Wait!
End Call
"Who was that?" asked Dearka as Kira returned to the table with a puzzled yet disturbed look on his face.
"No idea, never got his name and it was coming from a public location. Probably just some weirdo who wants to creep us out." replied Kira quickly without looking up as he dropped his black credit card on the check as Dale removed it from the table.
"What did he say?" asked Lacus looking seriously concerned at Kira's behavior. Kira paused before returning a cryptic answer.
"Nothing of consequence. Come on you guys lets head on over to Tao, I don't want Alex's friend to have to wait for us." continued Kira as he got up and grabbed his jacket. The others could sense his disturbance on the subject and did not question him on the subject any further. Lacus still had a worried expression upon her face as they left the restaurant, but pushed it aside in anticipation for the night ahead.
The car ride to Tao was short, but when they arrived they could easily see why it was the popular club in Onogoro. What they did not realize was that there was a black car silently following them as they drove towards the club. The Maybachs drove around to the back of the building letting its passengers off at the VIP entrance. Cagalli enthusiastically climbed over Athrun and literally bounced out of the car. Ahead of them the door opened and out stepped a dark-skinned, tallish man in his mid-twenties to greet them.
"Hi, Alan Finch, nice to meet you. Let's get you guys inside before you freeze. Oh, yeah, Kira, Alex needs to talk to you and he's inside already. I think he's catching up with some friends right now." Stated Alan as he introduced himself to the eight people standing before him now dressed to go clubbing.
"Thanks, Alan. How've you been? I hear you and Emily are getting along pretty well." smiled Kira as he shook Alan's hand in greeting.
"Pretty well I have to say, now let's go inside before you guys attract a crowd." Said Alan as he ushered the group into the club.
"Wow, Kira I have to admit that having connections has its perks." grinned Athrun as he clapped Kira on the back and proceeded to follow Cagalli down the hall as Kira departed with Alan to the main club to converse with Alex.
"So, what's the big deal?" asked Kira upon reaching Alex's table.
"Did you get phone call at the restaurant by any chance?" asked Alex, his eyes silently hoping that the same man who had contacted the Eternal had not issued the same threat to Kira.
"I did, why?" replied Kira. Alex just grimaced and felt like slamming his head against the table. That was when another person, a young woman Alex's age reached over and touched his hand.
"Damn, we've got to watch out. It seems that they're out to get Ms. Clyne whether it's through framing her or by assassination," grimaced Alex before looking over to his left realizing that he had not yet introduced his companion. "Sorry, this is Kelly, an old classmate of mine. She's here in Orb on business," continued Alex before taking a sip of his drink.
"Nice to meet you Kelly. Well, I won't keep you from your class reunion any longer. I'll go join the others. Don't get drunk you're at a higher level so you're in a better position to spot danger than I am," warned Kira before getting up to leave.
"Don't worry commander. I don't think there's enough alcohol in twenty of these to make anybody drunk. Go on and have fun," replied Alex before returning to his conversation with Kelly.
Main club
When Kira arrived in the main area of the club Cagalli and Dearka were already embroiled in a contest to see who could drink as many shots before passing out despite Athrun's avid attempts to dissuade them from this activity.
"Cagalli, please, this is going to look really bad in the papers if you're drunk, there are enough people that already think you're too young to be governing Orb," pleaded Athrun desperately although his word did not even seem to phase Cagalli who was still drinking and on her forty-sixth shot.
"Cagalli! Look at yourself, you look like an out-of-control teenager who's never had alcohol before. You have a responsibility to all the people of Orb to maintain an appearance to the rest of the world as their representative. I brought us here to enjoy ourselves, not to have you make fools of yourselves in front of a club full of people!" yelled Kira, shocking Cagalli out of an almost drunken stupor.
"Sorry Kira. I should've thought of that first before jumping headlong into this," apologized Cagalli sheepishly while looking at her feet.
"It's okay, but I don't think you should drink anymore tonight or for the next week for that matter," replied Kira while nodding his approval and turning to Lacus. "May I have this dance my lady?"
Lacus giggled softly before replying, "Of course, lead the way, Kira." With that said Kira and Lacus began dancing like there was no tomorrow on the dance floor. Soon they were followed Dearka and Miriallia who were then followed by Athrun and Cagalli. Soon even Karissa had convinced the stoic Yzak to dance with her even though he had protested that he was perfectly happy sipping a beer at the bar.
The couples were happily dancing as Kira's men had replaced the usual bouncers at the doors, both front and back. The DJ who was throwing out his usual mix suddenly left his station as Alan took over decided to play Alex's dance play-list which had been created several years ago. This was when the dancing really took off. Soon almost every person was on the dance floor creating a palpable heavy aura of body heat and sweat. The dancing kept going until the mix ended and the group decided to return to the bar to cool off. Lacus, who was not used to the type of dancing that went on in the clubs learned quickly from Kira who was definitely more experienced in the field.
"All right, listen up everybody! Here's a slow dance for all those couples out there. Have fun! Here's Find the Way," yelled Alan over the mike before departing from the station and letting the DJ resume his usual job. No one else seemed to notice that while making this announcement that Finch looking specifically in Kira's direction.
"One last dance, Lacus?" asked Kira signaling to the dance floor. Lacus simply nodded and they proceeded to the dance floor.
No one noticed as three people knocked out the guards at the back door running towards the upper floors. Not even Alex noticed as they silently rushed past the second floor and proceeded to the VIP lounge. Suddenly there was a gleam from above caused by movement of the slowly circling lights, sparking Kira's attention. Then came a gunshot, then screams, followed by ensuing chaos. A bullet had struck the floor missing Lacus by a hair's breadth because Kira had been spinning Lacus at that moment. Within seconds there were guns out as the Wings of Freedom rushed the third floor only to find an abandoned sniper rifle, a standard ZAFT issue field gun.
"What the hell happened!" demanded Alex as he purposely strode into the center of the third floor. "How did they get past the security?"
"Hey, Alex they knocked out the two guys at the back door. They probably came in through there and then came to the third floor from there," yelled Gordon from the first floor.
Kira and his group arrived on the third floor only to arrive at the explanation that the perpetrators had entered the building, failed their mission and escaped through the window.
"Cagalli, can you call the cars to come? We need to get back to the palace. I think ZAFT is somehow involved with this. The question is, why would they try and kill one of their own?" asked Athrun as he shifted his attention from the gun, which he instantly recognized to Cagalli.
"Sure," responded Cagalli before leaving the commotion of the third floor to call the cars.
Little did they know that the peace that they had known for barely a year was coming to an end…
Author's Notes
Sorry for not updating, school's just taking over my life. Thanks to all of you who did review the last chapter. Hopefully someone will review this one. This story's going to start moving faster now so hopefully you can expect some faster updates this time!
GATX-105b