Author's note (2nd February 2011)

1. As you can see, normally my AN will at the bottom of the page. However, for this chapter, I'm putting it on the top because I want to ask a question. Now, remember that poll I did few months back? This story progressed to this stage because of that poll. However, it will reach a critical junction soon with me finally having to really choose the pairing so as not to make it wishy washy. Yet, it's rather difficult to choose as I've finally settled on both pairings' respective endings so I really can go any way I want. So, here's the thing. I'm thinking of forking this story into two parallel stories, one being KL and the other being KF. The stories would share some similarities but yet have their respective differences. So, it's not just a matter of me substituting Flay for Lacus and Voila! a Kira x Flay story. Before I make my final decision though, I would like to know how many people will:

1) Read the Kira x Lacus pairing exclusively;

2) Read the Kira x Flay pairing exclusively; and

3) Read both stories. (of course, if I write both stories simultaneously, there are certain tradeoffs that have to occur, such as a slightly slower update or one story may end up being faster than the other)

You can either mention your preference in reviews, PM me or email me at noshmono at gmail dot com. Thanks and a Happy New Year

1

Eight years ago,

It was the easiest work he and his handpicked team had performed. Being military veterans turned mercenaries, they follow the money trail, doing works such as escorting or providing security. Sometimes, when the opportunity arise, they would engage in slightly 'greyer' activities such as smuggling firearms or even performing piracy or executing assassination since the potential rewards remunerate the risks taken.

So, when the contract was offered for a kidnapping of the daughter of a fledgling politician, it was business as usual for them to accept it, especially the rewards being offered was very high, far higher than the amount of ransom that could be demanded from the would be victim's parents. With the prepayment already banked in, the group began their operation by keeping surveillance on the family. Once the pattern had been established, the operation was executed with military precision.

On the determined day, they waited for the daughter to return home after her kindergarten was over, being picked by the family driver and nanny in a car. The group waited until the car turned into a rather isolated corner before shooting the tires and forcing the vehicle to stop. Immediately, two fully armored operatives moved in toward the driver and fired armor piercing rounds at the driver, killing him instantly. They then unlocked the car and another two opened the back door, one shooting the arm of the nanny to force her to release the child while the other took away the crying kid away.

They then told the still bleeding nanny to remind the child's parents to keep quiet and wait for instructions if they really want to see their daughter again.

The whole plan only took fifteen minutes, including the transit time.

The threat was simply a farce, in order to trick the parents into not taking any action. By the time they realized that they had been had, their daughter would be long gone and the group already melding into the shadow of obscurity.

So at that point of time, they were waiting for their target's pickup; with the critical part already over, they could afford to relax their guard slightly, evidence with some of them doing their own thing.

"Where's Walt?" the leader asked his team member who was cleaning her gun.

"Jerking off, probably to the Pinky's photo. Said that the kid is too cute," she said before blowing at her gun.

The man scoffed and brought out a cigarette to light. Even though Walt was as dependable as any member of the team, he had his own peculiarities which everyone else was willing to ignore as they too had their own dark secrets. After all, as long as the missions were successful, who cares what they did in their past times.

However, since the mission that time involved a young girl, it was determined that the man, a convicted pedophile on the run from police, would be kept away from their hostage. The request had specifically mentioned that the girl was to be handed 'undamaged' meaning if they let Walt had his fun with her, the mission pay would be low and the rest would rather kill him than let that happen. Besides, with all the money they were about to receive, he could buy all the children he ever wanted. But a forbidden apple would always look more tantalizing if its prohibition was even greater. That was the reason why the woman was stationed as a guard at the door.

"How's the girl?" he asked.

"Still crying for her mommy and daddy but otherwise okay."

"That's good to hear," a slightly raspy voice from the doorway said just before a whizzing sound followed by the sound of metal being embedded in flesh.

The leader instinctively jumped away from the door, and with his Coordinator reflex quickly withdrew a gun with his right hand and a knife with his left. He saw through his peripheral vision that his subordinate had already been killed, a knife protruding from her neck. "You're not going away with this," he growled.

"I already have," the person said from behind him before grabbing his neck in head lock and stabbing his back.

The stab was deliberately not aimed at vital points but instead inflictedg heavy bleeding. Only after the leader had lost quite substantial blood was he released and he promptly fell on his back on the ground. "You…" the weakened man croaked. "How do you… get… here?"

A masked person slowly came into view. The mask was ivory white and featureless except two red stars around for eyes and a red frown around the mouth area; the person looked haunting. Somehow the mask looked familiar but the injured man couldn't recall, being in that state. "Through the back door, and don't bother calling out for the rest, you're the last one. I let you die slowly instead of killing you immediately just like I did with them because I want you to know that you made a small mistake in taking the girl,"

It was then the dying man recognized the mask. "You're Arkheion,"

"Yes. I'm Arkheion."

"So you're her… keeper," the man manage to gurgle as his blood had spread inside his body as well.,

"No, no, no. You get it wrong. I'm working under those who employed you, and you know what? I'm going to save the girl and bring her home, not because I'm her keeper or I'm kind but because I want them to think that she has the potential to be like me. They will waste their time trying to get her again and again only to realize later, much later, that she was not what they were searching for. Oh, she is gifted, but not gifted enough to be my replacement."

"You are a monster… "

"Monster?" The voice was teasing. "Maybe. But if I am a monster, what would that make your kind, hmm?"

However, Akheion's prey wasn't answering, having exhaled his final breath.

"My childhood? It's pretty normal," Lacus said to Kira. The two were walking along the hangar, Kira having joined her when she came in to distribute food to everyone there. "Well, nothing interesting happened so maybe that's why I'm trying to find some excitement."

"I remember you saying that you like to see circus."

"Strangely, I find watching clowns performing calms me down,"

Kira gave her a strange look.

"Really," she insisted. "I myself wasn't sure when that started but when I see them performing, I somehow feel that they can make things right again. Strange, isn't it?"

"Well, everyone has his or her own stories, I guess. Wait, let me guess, you're at the park where I met you because you were bored?"

"Something like that."

"You sound like one of those bored princess in those fairy tales."

Lacus giggled. "Certainly sounds that way,"

Meanwhile the two walking about the place was observed by Murdoch who was wiping off sweat his face with a dirtied towel. "Well, Clyne is sure fitting in nicely, I'm glad Murrue had upgraded her clearance status so she can come here."

"Hmm?" Shinn replied, his face being buried inside a portable game console with earphones in his ears.

"Were you listening to me, brat?" the older man growled.

"Of course! Of course! You're saying about the need to modify Spitfires power lines to minimize power wastage. In my opinion I think it would be better if the corresponding power capacitors are changed to D32A-Blue."

"Damn you. If not for the fact that what you're saying is probably true, I would have kicked you into the gutter.

"Of course, loud and clear: after you change them to 32s, I'll carry out the tuning afterwards to stabilize the energy wave strata."

Murdoch snorted. "Looks like someone else is fitting in as well." When he first saw Asuka, the young pilot seemed to be a poster boy for someone who hated the world with a passion. However, he was proven wrong. The 'boy' was simply content to living in his own two-dimensional world. Yet, when the situation called for it, Shinn could be depended upon.

Murdoch wasn't the only one who watching the couple as a pair of smoky eyes gazed uneasily at them from the top of an opened mobile suit cockpit. Flay wasn't sure why she was feeling uneasy but she had a sudden impulse to jump down from the cockpit and went to the two of them so that she could find out what they were talking about. However, that was an irrational action on her part yet she could barely suppress herself moving from her position.

"That's something you wouldn't see often," Arthur Trine commented as he watched the main screen at Minerva's bridge showing a drop pod descending from orbit. Drop pods have been utilized by ZAFT to great effect in the earlier part of the war, allowing rapid mobilization of its troops to invade Earth as well as having the psychological 'shock and awe' on its enemies. The tactic wasn't limited to offensive maneuvers; ZAFT used the tactic to quickly build a military base in the Gulf of Carpentaria of the Oceania Union by dropping pre-assembled building modules on the site.

However, the tactic had been rendered quite ineffective by the redeployment of Alliance's Ballistic Missile Defense System. According to what he knew, the upgraded system could target a reentry pod and fire an interceptor missile at its critical phase of reentry, the time when it was most vulnerable, as demonstrated by a failed special operation mission to invade Washington D.C. to capture Whitehouse and hold the Atlantic Federation's president hostage in order to force it to a negotiation table. Since then, reentry through drop pods would only be allowed when ZAFT have full airspace and suborbital superiority or it was necessary to do so.

The pod disintegrated, revealing a single DINN and some equipment pods.

The bridge's door opened and Talia walked in. "IFF signature?" she asked Meyrin's replacement.

"Profile match."

"Guide the pilot in." She then turned to address Arthur, "Prepare a retrieval team to get the pods."

"Yes, ma'am," The second in command of Minerva replied.

"Another Strike?" Athrun commented as he pointed at the reddish mobile suit on Meyrin's portable tablet computer. The two of them were taking a break carrying out modification to Aegis. However, he still didn't understand why the rest of the repair personnel seemed to have something else going on and left the two of them together nor understand the looks they gave Nicol when he approached them.

Meyrin looked at him and then at Nicol in response. "Don't the two of you know about it?"

Nicol chuckled awkwardly. "Well to be honest, we're not involved with the mobile suits' development at all."

A hand rested on Nicol's shoulder and Dearka's head peered over it, having just joined the three of them. "And when the five of us were assigned to them, we don't bother to learn about their history." When he saw the younger Hawke sister was about to say something, he added, "You don't have to learn about the history of a refrigerator in order to use it, right?"

Meyrin stopped and sighed; the statement was a bit flawed in the context of their discussion but the logic behind it still stood. She tapped on the keyboard and the diagram expanded. "ZGMF-X001 Proto Strike, or conversely known in the development circle as Strike Rouge."

"Strike Rouge?" Athrun asked.

"Unlike the popular belief, Duel is not the test bed for other prototypes. It had been designed for close combat or specifically as a ship killer. As you all know, while Buster and Aegis are equipped with longer ranged and more powerful weapons, there were various countermeasures that could be deployed to nullify their effectiveness. For example, projectiles could be shot down by CIWS while anti beam mine could be launched to nullify beam cannons. Out of all prototypes, Duel had the least mass fully equipped; while Strike had the least dry mass, it had only two Armor Schneider combat knives for offensive use." Because of that, she continued, on paper Duel had the best maneuverability in space. That advantage allowed it to quickly move in to destroy Alliance space vessels with its beam sabers and Yzak used that very same advantage to destroy more ships than the rest of the team members combined.

Dearka noticed that Meyrin didn't say anything about its performance on Earth. He knew the facts, though. It maneuvered slightly better than the rest, excluding Strike with its Striker pack attached, something that Yzak failed to notice until one particular DINN pilot beat that fact into him. Then again, he and everyone else was pretty much the same including Athrun who only realized about it earlier thanks to Meyrin's help.

"Wait." Nicol interrupted. "If you're saying that Duel isn't the test bed..."

Meyrin nodded. "The development of all prototypes was based on Strike, or specifically Strike Rouge."

"How come I don't know about that?" Dearka uttered.

"Don't have to learn about the history of a refrigerator…" came the gentle rebuke, much to his embarrassment.

"The color's a bit pink," Athrun observed.

"Good observation. That's because the Phase Shift armor technology wasn't perfected yet at that time so the full protection against projectile was only around the cockpit area. Had the armor work perfectly, the color scheme would have been similar to Aegis. And before you ask further, the armor's color selection wasn't decided by its test pilot."

"Who's the pilot?" Dearka asked, his curiosity aroused despite the earlier comment about not needing to learn about the development of his mobile suit.

"This," Meyrin said as a picture of the pilot appeared, "is Strike Rouge's test pilot, Elaine Bakhtiar."

"Um… that's a picture of you," the dark skinned blonde remarked. "Are you pulling our legs?"

"Every time I show her picture to anyone, I get somewhat the same comment. The differences are a lot so I don't see why people keep saying that she is me," Meyrin said exasperatedly before enlarging the picture of the pilot. "Look closely."

Dearka rubbed his chin as he drank the view. "Well, you're right. The two of you are different. You're cute in an eye-pleasing kind of way but this one is blazing hot!"

"She was known as 'The Red Cometh'."

"The Red Comet?" Nicol asked.

"No, 'The Red Cometh' as in 'Hey look! The Red cometh and she's blazing hot' kind of Red Cometh."

"You're kidding me," Athrun said.

"Well, that's according to the story, at least. You know, legends always grew out of people making the heroes, and heroines, larger than life. Someone who managed to defeat an injured buffalo may end up defeating a ferocious mountain lion in the proses written about his heroic deed."

"Just like how the one that got away becomes bigger and bigger with subsequent retelling," Dearka added.

"Similar in nature."

"So what happened to Strike Rouge?" Nicol asked

"According to the files…"

"Speaking of red hot, look!" Dearka interrupted, while gesturing to Lunamaria walking toward the group. "Another Red cometh,"

"Sis?" Meyrin asked when she was closed enough.

The older sister thumbed in the direction as a DINN landed at left platform. "A new pilot 'dropped' on us so I'm here to see the person."

Talia set down the dossier and stared the masked man standing in front of her table. Normally, concealing one's identity was only limited to special intelligence purposes where one's real identity was one of the secrets to be protected at all costs so hearing someone use it while serving on a normal military vessel was strange. Therefore, there was another reason why the man did it and she wondered why. After all, no one would go around wearing a masquerade mask, making him look like an idiot. Besides, wearing any normal face, cover which includes a mask, would impede vision and that was something to avoid in any fight. "Are you a half-brother of any French King or Voltaire's fashion sense is vogue right now?"

"Sorry for my impudence." The man removed his half face mask and saluted. "I'm Rey Za Burrel. "

The Minerva captain saluted back from her seat. "You look familiar to someone I've worked with."

"Commande Creuset was my relative," Rey answered. "A long distance uncle, if you will."

"He's a rather capable leader and would have progressed even further if not for his health problem put an end to his rather brilliant career. Have a seat."

"Thank you."

"So I presume you're a FAITH member as well?" Talia continued her questioning once Rey was seated.

The man brought out the FAITH badge out of his pocket to show her before putting it away.

It was a simple gesture but very meaningful: even though Rey was on similar level with her, he put away the rank and instead submitted to her command. However, that wasn't enough for her because just putting it away meant he could use it any time he want and she would be damn if he were to jeopardize her own mission. "You do know that I simply kick you out by the virtue of my position?"

"It would be rude to assume otherwise," the man admitted. Even though the two of them were at the same rank, Talia also held the position as Minerva's captain and thus could overrule him in regards to any matters pertaining to the ship's operation. Since, she was only answerable to ZAFT's High Council, it would be hard to overrule any of her decision. "I'm here seeking a boon…"

"Let's skip with all that poppycock and malarkey. What's your real mission?"

"I can only say that part of it is to help you destroy Prometheus, the white prototype you have been fighting."

"Prometheus… I see." The fact that Rey mentioned the name as it was the real name of the so-called white prototype revealed the fact that he knew more than he let. "Because it's one of ours? Or is it because we're to cover the dark skeleton in our closet?"

Rey took a deep breath. "I'm not supposed to tell you this but the knowledge about Prometheus being our mobile suit to select few." When he noticed that Talia was about to say something, he held up his hand to stop her. "However, all members of the council have been briefed about its danger, which includes the nuclear engine it is carrying."

Talia put her thumb under the chin while staring at the man. From the statement, she already understood how the council members were manipulated into giving approval for a full military assault against the Archangel and the white prototype Rey referred to as Prometheus. There was no need to reveal the truth to them in the first place except the fact that the mobile suit was nuclear powered. That was enough to influence their decision as ZAFT and PLANTs wouldn't want the war to escalate even further. Even if the mobile suit was Alliance's, they would try to find a way to destroy it. "You do know that even with their approval, this is quite a delicate matter to solve."

"I understand, which is why I'm here to offer you my help. Also, there has been a… recent development that will help us in this matter." The man brought out a small envelope from his breast pocket. "Before I forget, this is addressed to you directly by Council," he said as he handed over the envelope"

Talia opened the envelope and read its content slowly. "By the order of the Council…" she lowered it and then stared at him. "You know about this?"

Rey shrugged. "I really don't. However, it's not really that difficult to guess its content, especially taking into account everything."

"I guess, you're right," Talia said as she switched on the main screen to watch a news broadcast. "Well, Rey, you're welcome onboard on one condition. You will not wear that mask as well any other face covering unless you're going to a masquerade ball. As you yourself implied just now, you're going to work together with other people onboard this ship and trust is very important here. I hope you understand where I'm going with this."

"Understood. However, I would like to request my assigned name to be maintained."

"Oh, you're referring to 'Arkheion'?" the Minerva captain asked while arching her eyebrows. Still, the documents presented were in order. "That's a fair concession so no problem."

"Thank you."

"Now then, let's see this 'development' you referred to," she said as she turned her attention toward the screen.

"Who's the man with tasteful clothing?" Tolle said to Mir who was sitting next to him as he thumbed at the main screen. It was showing a man with a golden hair, dressed in white suite giving a fiery speech.

"I think he's Senator Muruther Whitney, quite an influential person in Atlantic," Mir answered while le. "Heard that he's quite a philanthropist."

"Well, in a world like this, we need more people like him, aren't we, Lacus?"

"Er… yes."

"Hmm…. I'm impressed, Lacus." Flay's voice from above startled her. She turned toward the redhead to see the said person was smirking. "It looks like you have a long political career in front of you and you'll manage it quite well."

"Yeah?" Tolle said. "You got it right. At least she knows who is a good person and who is not. As I can see from my spot here, she can be at least civil to someone who actively plots her destruction."

"You're right," Flay said as her smile became wider. "Why, I would expect Lacus would be comfortable spending some time with the philanthropist rather than be in the same room with me."

"Of course. Muruther Whitney is not you!"

Meanwhile Lacus could only watch the exchange in silence even as she felt conflicted by her words. She knew that the senator wasn't really a good person and Flay knew that she knew; the redhead was chiding her for not revealing the truth about him. A prominent member of the Blue Cosmos terrorist organization, Muruther or referred to by his covert call name 'Azrael', was known in the intelligence as well as diplomatic circles as an extremist, believing that humanity should unite to vanquish its enemies, the Coordinators for the sake of a "blue and pure world". Apart from being a member of Blue Cosmos, he also had significant influence in Atlantic Federation due to his position as a Chief Executive Office and President of Atlantic National Defense Conglomerate, or known as ANDCo, the main weapon supplier to the Atlantic Federation; none of those facts were known to normal people; Theodore Whitney being the president of Green Earth Corporation, a biotechnology company interested in researching agricultural technology for the betterment of mankind.

So seeing the man giving droning about the sorry fate of the victims of an attack on a settlement in Washington D.C., which coincidentally had a large Coordinator population, and promising prompt aide to them predictably left Lacus with misgivings. Still, she had verbally agreed with Tolle's words even though she knew otherwise and Flay used that to flog her verbally. But in Lacus' opinion, Flay seemed to be a bit harsher than usual. Normally, the comments were merely sarcastic in nature but the ones she was hearing belied the sharp edges in them. It was quite strange. Did she do something wrong to offend the redhead.

Kira entered the room and Flay got up to approach him. The two of them began to talk albeit slowly so the details of their conversation wasn't audible even to Lacus.

"Honestly, I'm concerned for him," Tolle said as the two of them left the place. "I know I'm being biased but I can't help feel that she has some design on him."

"I know," Mir admitted. "Yet we have nothing to prove it."

"I don't understand what you are talking about," Lacus said. "I think she's all right."

Tolle threw up his hands. "You're too kind, Lacus. Maybe for your own good."

"You will lose out to her, you know," Mir added.

"Huh?"

"Kira," Tolle clarified. "You like him, don't you?"

"Eh?" Lacus uttered while blushing. "Um… I don't know what you're talking about. After all I only know him from childhood."

"We really believe you," Mir teased.

The Clyne heiress blushed some more.

"Before we proceed with our agenda today," a wizened looking man began, "I must congratulate you on your speech that day, Azrael."

Azrael scoffed. "I amazed myself by not vomiting when I talked about the 'suffering' the trash endured."

"Exactly my point," the man agreed.

Another man added his own opinion, "Even though it is unavoidable we must look empathetic to the space monsters misery so that we can use them to hunt down the traitors, I have to say that were I to be the one doing the speech, I wouldn't be able to pull it off."

"The only thing, I'm dissatisfied with the damage being inflicted," a woman said. "The team is supposed to kill more."

Azrael nodded. "Nevertheless, despite the small annoyance, we have achieved our goal. It's time to focus on our next step which is to shift the war from the current impasse to our favor while the space monsters are busy trying to avenge their kinds' killers by going after Archangel." With a practiced flourish honed by years of experience in business, he brought everyone's attention to the three mobile suits being displayed on the screen inside the room. "I present our crowning achievements, GAT-X370 Raider whose long range weapons can quickly vaporize the space monsters, GAT-X131, our unmatched predator in the sky and last but not least GAT-X252 Forbidden, the master of close range combat."

A presentation video that started, showing each mobile suit abilities and capabilities, capturing attention of everyone inside the room.

After the show had ended, there was a thunderous applause and Azrael took a bow.

"That was splendid," the old man said amidst murmurs of agreement. "However, there is the question of who will pilot them."

"Will we use those from 'Circus'?" another member asked, referring to the Combat Coordinator program where Coordinators were being brainwashed into working for Atlantic Federation and the only way to leave the organization was to win in handicapped fights.

"There's no need," Azrael replied. "We'll be using our people to fight against them,"

"But there's the fact that the space monsters would have advantage in regards to piloting them."

"Don't worry. With Halberton finally out of the picture, I know everyone will be willing to see the merits of continuing the Extended program."

"But," the woman added, "the main reason we shelved it is because they're not stable. Think of the political backlash it can have on us."

There were nods of agreement.

Azrael's expression was a calm one but that contrasted with the anger he felt. Damn those vultures! Thinking about their own political survival when the most important task that they have to focus on was the destruction, no, the eradication of those malignant tumors who dared call themselves as humans! So what if the rest of the world wouldn't agree with their methods? They were just gullible lambs waiting for their masters to lead them. That was where he, Azrael came in. He gave a glance around the meeting room to see that everyone was waiting for his answer. Perhaps he had miscalculated. Everyone else inside the room was waiting for him to lead them as well instead of being his partners. Very well, he'll do just that. "I wouldn't worry. The Extended program has progressed to the stage that the Biological CPUs would follow orders to the letter and will not go against us."

That statement was a bit of a stretch since the CPUs were prone to outbursts now and then but as long as they realized that he held the drugs they were addicted to, he knew that they would comply with the order. Of course, they would need to work out their aggression but that was the use of having the enemy, right?

"I think Azrael's pet project is going smoothly," a new voice added. "So, we should at least have a field trial before writing it off."

Azrael almost glared at the person but managed to prevent himself. Even though the new person had supported him, Azrael loathed the man almost as much as he hated the space monsters; the man was the one standing between him and his hegemony in Blue Cosmos. "Thank you, Djibril."

However, he was willing to bid for time, having learned that patience being utmost important in the field of politics and business.

"You're welcome. So, when can we have the field trial for the three mobile suits?"

"Soon."

Flay looked at the cup being set in front her and then the person setting it.

"Mind if I join you?" Lacus asked while smiling.

"Go ahead," the redhead said while stirring her coffee.

"What a coincidence, meeting you here." The Clyne heiress said while taking her seat.

"Really? Even though you have been staying away from the cafeteria while waiting for this moment?"

Lacus drank her tea. "Otherwise it will be hard to talk to you," she said while smiling pleasantly.

"You know that simply approaching me wouldn't matter because I will avoid you."

Yes, she knew that if she tried to approach the redhead, the latter would avoid her entirely or if Lacus went to her room, excused herself by saying that she was tired and needed some sleep. Even if she could be cornered, Flay would simply deflect any personal question that will be asked by steering the conversation to work related matters. So, the best time to catch her off guard was during meal time, specifically during break as there would be a lot of people during breakfast, lunch and dinner. "It get the job done, right?"

Flay sipped her drink. "I suppose you have points for trying, so let's hear it."

"Are you angry with me?"

Lacus got a stare at that question. "What makes you say that?"

"By your own admission just now, you're avoiding me. I would like to know whether I did anything to offend you."

"Would you mind if I say I hate you?"

"And I like you," Lacus admitted.

"That's one of the reasons why I don't like you"

"Why?"

The question went unanswered for a full minute. "Okay, I think it would be easier to explain through demonstration. Now, close your eyes and imagine a very cute puppy white fluffy white hair and droopy ears. Even its tiny barks are very cute."

"Okay," Lacus said with her eyes closed.

"Now, this puppy is always playful and likes being with you. Wherever you go, it follows obediently. It's also smart as well, being able to learn a trick easily. In short, the puppy is the most perfect companion you'll ever have."

"Hm…"

"Now, imagine you're playing fetch with the puppy and you threw a stick for it to fetch."

"Uhuh…"

"Then suddenly someone came along and kicked that puppy."

Lacus' eyes opened in shock, not expecting the twist in the instruction. "Why would that person do such a thing?"

"Because that person doesn't like the puppy." Flay pointed at Lacus. "To put it simply, that cute puppy is you and I'm that person."

"Is this because you don't like Coordinators?"

"Correct."

"You think a Coordinator is perfect, just like that puppy in the story and you have that urge to kick him or her."

"You got it right."

Lacus had a thoughtful look on her. "I understand."

"Glad to hear that."

"But how about Kira?"

"Huh?"

"You're rather close to him and I have yet to see you kick him."

There was no missing the slightly flabbergasted look on the redhead. "Er, that's because of work. Outside of work, I kept my distance."

"Oh, I see." Lacus' expression changed and she waved in a direction. "Kira!"

Flay quickly turned toward the direction she was motioning only to see that there was no one there. She turned back and saw that Lacus was sipping her tea, smiling faintly; it was a trick and she fell for it, disproving her earlier remark about the said man. The redhead let out a long sigh before drinking drank her coffee in silence.

As for Lacus, she wasn't really lying when she said that she rather liked the person in front of her, despite the person being a Blue Cosmos member and she was telling the truth when she said that Flay looked familiar. Of course, despite whatever Flay was trying to deny, the two of them were interested in the same man. In fact, that was probably the reason why Flay's attitude toward her changed a bit. "I'm jealous of you and Kira too," she admitted to the redhead seating in front of her.

Seconds later she was patting the redhead's back after the said person nearly choked on her coffee.

Anti-Coordinator quirk aside, Flay was a very interesting person.

The modified Aegis, astride its Guul unit joined the rest of the team. Athrun looked to his left and saw the newcomer's DINN along with a Guul unit carrying four second-generation attack drones. According to his initial impression of the mobile suit's masked pilot, the pilot seemed quite skilled at intermediate range engagement. Somehow, the man's fighting style had something to do with the drones that were fixed on the accompanying Guul.

According to Talia, Archangel had been labeled as an international terrorist group, including by PLANTs. Hence, there was no need to spare any effort to defeat it while having to fear repercussions from any nation. Also, because of the declaration, there was no need to fear the fact that the white mobile suit, whose name was finally known as Prometheus, powered by nuclear reactor being revealed. After all, terrorists wouldn't subscribe to any convention, including the one banning nuclear reactor being installed on mobile suit.

Athrun was a professional soldier who put his duty to PLANTs above everything else. However, that didn't mean he has to like it. After all, everyone onboard Minerva knew that Archangel wasn't the one behind the attack; Minerva was trailing the legged ship almost all the time so he could tell that it was impossible to launch an attack half a globe away. Besides, those onboard Archangel weren't terrorists. They were enemies, being the ones behind the attack on ZAFT's base but certainly not terrorists that bombed civilian centers.

Yet, he also understood the fact that the event was to ZAFT's advantage because it would have the chance to cover up the fact that one of its prototypes was nuclear powered, a secret that must be protected at all cost as millions of life, including his mother who was still kept captive in one of the colonies, were at stake. Still, Kira was onboard the ship and he wanted to find out the truth about what happened that caused his best friend to fight for the enemy.