Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 141
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.
Suddenly, the entire mansion shook as a dozen fighter jets, their engines at full afterburner, screamed over the huge house.
"So much for peace." Kira sighed. "Lexi, where are they going?"
"According to their radio transmissions, it's only a drill." Lexi answered. "Nothing to worry about."
Kira looked slightly sick and had to lean on Murrue for support. After a moment the front door opened, and Athrun, Meyrin, Shinn and Luna entered. Lunamaria was giving Shinn a significant look, one which kept him cowed until the group got into the kitchen had started drinking the cappuccino Lexi had made. After about ten minutes, Cagalli and Lacus joined them.
"Is Yzak going to join us?" Lacus asked.
"He said he'd be coming, but that he'd take care of his own costume." Shinn replied.
Within three hours, they were ready. Most of them had simply decided to merge with their Gundams. Lexi, however, had displayed a level of daring far greater than anyone expected, even of her. She had adopted the costume of a Valkyrie from ancient Norse mythology. The holographic beauty was wearing a somewhat unrealistic, but completely jaw-dropping chainmail and leather bikini outfit, with knee high fur mountaineering boots, thick brown leather wristbands with polished brass studs and a mantle of fake wolf fur. She wore a short sword at each hip and a horned helmet on her head.
Everyone was gathered around, comparing and adjusting their costumes, when Yzak came down the stairs, already dressed. People turned to congratulate him on his costume, but instead everyone just stared in shock. Yzak was no medieval knight or explorer. He wasn't flashily dressed or scantily clad. He just wore his red elite Celestial Being uniform, with full dress honors, including medals, campaign ribbons and other decorations, all of which he had actually earned. His service pistol rode on his left hip.
"You can't be serious." Shinn said warily, eyeing the pistol, which, knowing Yzak, was certainly loaded.
"You can't show up in a Celestial Being uniform! People will freak out! And especially not armed!" Athrun declared.
"There aren't supposed to be any Celestial Being forces in Switzerland. Showing up like that to a party at a high profile person's estate could cause great political damage." Lacus said in a serious voice.
"So go change! With luck we can whip something up for you in the next hour or so before we have to leave." Cagalli ordered.
"No...I don't think I will." Yzak said calmly. He sat down on the couch in a relaxed manner. "You see, like Ms. Clyne just pointed out, there aren't any Celestial Being forces in Switzerland. Not a single soldier, and certainly not after the assumed destruction of the Excalibur. So if I show up like this, people will just assume it's a costume. Maybe not a very politically correct one, but a costume nonetheless. As for my gun, it's strictly for show. I left it unloaded. It's no more dangerous than those absurd swords you have armed yourselves with...less so actually, since you can still swing those hard enough to hurt."
"That...makes sense. Sort of." Mayu allowed.
"Besides, a really smart girl once told us that we should stop hiding from what we are. We can't go through life pretending we are something we aren't just to avoid causing others discomfort." Kira said, nodding at Cagalli.
"So we should just let him dress that way, and deal with the consequences, whatever they may be, when they arrive?" Lacus asked.
"Exactly. A Celestial Being soldier is what Yzak is. If other people choose to see it as a disguise, well so much the better. If not, then Yzak shouldn't have to hide who he is because it will upset them. Besides, we'll all be there to get through it together." Kira replied. Lacus leaned against his armored form, taking comfort in his close presence.
A moment later, Asuka and Misato rushed down the stairs. The purple-haired woman was dressed in her Nerv uniform, while the redhead had donned her plug suit.
"We should get going." Yzak said, as Asuka and Misato entered the living room.
"Yeah. Rebecca's mansion is a good ways away. And it never hurts to be early." Shinn said. He then offered Luna his arm. "Shall we go, then?"
"The guests will be here soon." Rebecca's eternally cold and bitchy voice echoed down to Rey from the balcony of the main banquet hall. "Please make sure that your people are in their positions. I can't tell you how much of an inconvenience this whole thing is. Why you have to lure them here to kill her is beyond me." She continued. "I'm going to finish getting ready. Maybe I'll be able to have a little fun with the other guests while you and your brutes do what you do. Oh yes...once you're done, send Zacharis to me. I will make good use of him." Rebecca finished, her voice trailing off as she walked away.
Rey sneered and checked the action of his silenced pistol, which was tucked inside his suit coat. For the party he was masquerading as James Bond, the famous British super-spy from several centuries ago. Though, of course, his weapon was no costume fake. The plan was good, he reminded himself. 'Though I really hate working with Rebecca. She's an evil and twisted little bitch, that's for sure. Though I never knew before now what a nympho she was. She calls Zacharis to her quarters twice a night at least, and often more than that. What does she see in that monster? What has he got that I don't?' Rey asked himself, finally getting down to the root of his anger. He was pissed that Rebecca, just about the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen, was having Zacharis Frost plow her belly twice a night or more, but she would barely even give him, Rey Za Burrel, the time of day. Rey wondered viciously if Muruta Azrael knew what a whore his little girl really was.
Rey shook his head and went on his rounds, making sure everyone was in place for the mission. Several hundred students from Rebecca's school had been invited, to serve as cover for the real guests, those being Lacus Clyne and her party. The students would be separated into several groups after some dancing and dining, and sent out to the grounds for games. However, the games of Lacus and her friends would take place in the estate forest, and would be of a decidedly fatal persuasion. Killing both Lacus and all her friends didn't bother Rey. Those who befriended a Coordinator were nearly as bad as the Coordinator itself, in his mind. They deserved to die, if for no other reason than to serve as an example to those who would pursue their folly.
Twenty of the more fanatical and proficient Blue Cosmos soldiers had arrived earlier in the day. Each was dressed as an angel for the party and would nominally serve to give the guests directions to bathrooms, carry coats and to provide similar assistance if needed. However, each was armed with a silenced pistol at all times, and there was a large stash of submachine guns out in the woods, just waiting to be used. They would make sure the targets did not leave or otherwise get missed by Rey Za Burrel, Zacharis and Amy Sihov.
Next Rey took an electric golf cart out to the clearing in the woods where the killing would take place. It was far enough away from everything else that any noise could be explained away as fireworks or animals. Amy was in costume at the center of the clearing, stirring a pot of greenish sludge. She was garbed as a wicked witch, with a long warty nosepiece and sallow, greenish skin. A wig provided stringy white hair, while tattered black clothing and peaked hat completed the look. The stare she gave him made Rey feel decidedly nervous as he got out of the cart.
"What's in the pot?" He asked, deciding not to be humorous.
"Melted plastic, sewage, a few freshly killed animals from Zacharis, some water." She replied. Rey shivered slightly.
"He's been killing animals again?" He asked, slightly disturbed.
"Wrings their necks or skins them alive usually. Sometimes he just bites their heads off, or twists off a limb and watches them bleed to death." Amy reported, which didn't make Rey feel better.
"Why hasn't he killed Rebecca yet then?" Rey Shinnd, only realizing afterwards he had been thinking out loud.
"She chains him to the bed and screws the hate out of him. She gets beaten bloody during the process, but he always climaxes before he can get his arms around her neck. Even Zacharis isn't any more capable after sex than any other male." Amy Shinnd with a shrug. "That gives her time to get away and off him, and gives him enough time to get rational again. Or less crazy anyway. That's the only way to do it with him. You gotta go fast, hard and heavy, or else he'll get your neck in his grasp and it's all over. He doesn't really care if you're dead or alive, after all. I know." Amy commented. Rey believed her. She had been Zacharis's lover before the transformation upgrades, and even for a little while afterwards. She knew him better than the scientists did.
"Just make sure you're ready when the time comes. With any luck, the mine in the bottom of that witch brew will take most of them out or disable them so Zacharis and I can finish them off." Rey ordered. Amy sketched a salute with no real feeling behind it. She started to stare at him like he was a freshly bleeding side of beef, so he touched her kill switch just obviously enough to get her to get back to her absent minded stirring of the sludge. Rey climbed back into the cart and sped off again, glad to put her behind him but dreading his next meeting even more. Rey drove to the front drive area of the manor. Zacharis Frost, in full Grim Reaper regalia, stood like a blot of dark madness against the pale wood of the double doors that lead into the main hall of the manor.
Zacharis's costume consisted of a voluminous robe of heavy black cloth, complete with hood, that he wore draped entirely around himself. The hood was so expansive it covered his entire face in deep shadow, except if you shone light directly into his face. Not that that would help much, since his entire face and upper neck was covered by a bone white skull mask that looked disturbingly lifelike but was actually just a prop, to Rey's relief. With Zacharis's dark eyes, it was usually impossible to tell where he was looking while in his costume, but Rey could feel the others gaze on him as he climbed the steps towards Frost. The culmination of Frost's outfit was his scythe, which was made of hard oak stained black as night by Frost's own hand. The blade was made of military grade titanium-steel, sharpened by lasers to a molecule thin edge and had been hand forged by Frost himself as well. Rey had seen Frost chop down an oak tree one foot in diameter with a single swing of his homemade weapon. Of course, Frost also carried a large caliber revolver under his robe somewhere. It wasn't loaded yet, and wouldn't be until the time was right, or else Frost would invariably use it on somebody.
"You know what to do?" Rey asked once he reached Frost's position.
"I greet the guests. Welcome them to the costume party. Tell them to go inside. Kill Lacus Clyne when the time comes. It's simple." Zacharis responded dryly.
"We're also killing her companions, anyone who is near her when she arrives. Make sure you remember that, Frost. None can escape. They all have to die." Rey commanded.
"They all will die." Frost promised, his voice turning to that of a bloodthirsty beast. "I will chop theem, slice them, gash theem, and cut them...all into tiny little pieces. Then..." Rey held up a hand to stop Frost. He didn't want to know what Frost would do with minced up bodies.
"Once we're done with the mission, Ms. Azrael has requested your presence." Rey Shinnd distantly.
"She likes what I do to her, doesn't she? You think she's disgusting for what she does with me." Frost noted, his voice changing inflection again, becoming analytical. "You're jealous of me, Rey. You want me to kill her, choke her, destroy her, because it is I who she cries out to, not you. Maybe I'll get my arms around her tonight. Then you won't have to be jealous any more."
"Shut up, Zacharis." Rey snarled, feeling uncomfortable. He took out Zacharis's kill switch. Being a new and untested form of Biological CPU, Zacharis Frost had a pair of bombs implanted in his chest and another head, these bombs were rigged to detonate if Rey activated the killswitch, alternitively, the bombs would go off if Frost killed Rey. "Just shut up, or I'll push this button."
"Would you, really?" Frost asked. Rey decided not to answer and stalked inside, shivering in a cold sweat. As he did so, the guests began to arrive.
Kira quickly and skillfully pulled his Mercedes Benz Sprinter passenger van to the curb in front of the Azrael mansion and killed the engine. Kira himself, along with Asuka, Cagalli, Hope, Lacus, Lexi, Misato, Murrue, Mayu, Shiho, Dearka, Shinn, Luna, Athrun and Meyrin quickly piled out of the van and walked towards the entrance to Rebecca Azrael's estate.
"This place is huge!" Miriallia noted as they stood in front of the large house. Athrun just shrugged and Cagalli didn't seem all that impressed either. But considering that their parents were both former heads of state, it was a good bet that this wasn't all that impressive to them, or at the very least, wasn't something new to them. Dearka was suitably awed, just like she was though. She wondered about that for a moment, since Dearka's father was a PLANT councilman too, but then she remembered that Dearka had been practically disowned from his family after he joined the military. Probably not a happy memory.
Kira stared in false amazement at the size of the house which he now stood in front of. It must have had at least sixty rooms divided among three floors. The property looked to be at least a few square miles in size, with its own lake, small forest and plenty of open grassland. A small convoy of hybrid golf carts were ferrying arriving guests from the finely wrought iron gates up the long winding driveway to the manor itself.
"Was it just me or did was that guy staring at me the entire time he was checking our invitations?" Lacus asked as she and Kira hurried inside.
"Oh, he was staring all right. And I know why." Kira replied.
"Really, why?" Lacus asked, curious.
"Because I have the most beautiful girl in the world as my date." Kira told her. Lacus felt her cheeks heat up and felt her heart flutter most pleasurably in her chest.
"Why, Mr. Yamato, sometimes you say the most romantic things." She demurred.
"I guess I did learn something from hanging out with Athrun and Dearka then." Kira commented as they followed the straggling trail of guests into the dancing hall and banquet area. The room was huge, easily able to accommodate the hundred plus guests already there. About ten or so older men and women, dressed as angels, circulated throughout the crowd, carrying tReys of drinks and snacks. Kira and Lacus caught up with their friends and Kira managed to snag two glasses of what tasted like cherry flavored carbonated water.
"AND NOW...YOUR GRACIOUS HOST!" One of the angels announced in a stentorian voice. Descending down a wide staircase from an upper balcony was Rebecca Azrael. She was dressed in what could accurately be called a royal outfit, as her costume was that of a Queen from the Renaissance times. She had no escort, which had every unattached guy in the room drooling with glee. As she slowly stepped down the stairs the room went quieter and quieter, until, by the time she reached the floor, there was absolute silence.
"Well, what are you all standing around for?" Rebecca asked primly. "This is a party, after all. We're supposed to have fun." With those words loud music started playing from hidden speakers and the lights started dimming.
"She knows how to make an entrance." Shinn noted.
"Until she crashes through the back wall in a mobile suit and then climbs out holding an undisturbed iced drink, I'm not going to be impressed." Dearka shrugged. A chuckle came from behind them. Dearka, Shinn and Luna turned to see a man dressed in a high quality fashionable suit, with precisely trimmed hair and an artificially lined face. The young man held a martini glass in one hand.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Dearka asked.
"Shaken...not stirred." The man replied, as if speaking some sort of code phrase. Seeing they had no idea what he meant he sighed. "Have you really not heard of James Bond?"
"No." Shinn lied.
"He was a movie character from a few centuries ago. Spawned a whole series of spy-thrillers about his exploits." Rey Sark explained. "I'm Rey Sark. I'm in charge of the activities for this party." He introduced himself.
"I'm Dearka Elsman."
"I'm Shinn Asuka."
"Asuka? Of the Heliopolis Asuka's?" Rebecca asked curiously. She appeared from behind Rey like a monsoon of silk skirts and jewelry.
"Yes Ma'am. Though now my remaining family lives on Earth." Shinn replied politely, bowing in an elegant manner.
"Because of the horrid business during the war, yes. Please, will you come talk with me? It's so hard to find someone of similar class who has something real to talk about." Rebecca asked. Shinn looked doubtful until she slipped her arm through his, and then he started looking happy.
"I don't like her." Luna noted after Rebecca had left.
"She sounded so arrogant." Miriallia looked at Rey and touched her mouth in contrition. "I'm sorry, what a horrible thing to say about someone you work for."
Rey shrugged. "I don't mind. I often agree with you. And you are?" he asked.
"Miriallia Haw." She replied.
"Well, Miriallia...Dearka...Shinn...if you'll excuse me, I have some preparations work to be done before the games are operational." Rey said, leaving to circulate around his real target, Lacus Clyne. Rey didn't know who her boyfriend was, but he had certainly picked the wrong date tonight. In a few hours, he'd be dead and buried...or whatever it was that Frost did with his victims. Rey glanced around at those he assumed to be Lacus's friends, since they had arrived with her and were chatting amiably with her and her boyfriend.
A lot of the people in that group sounded reasonably familiar for some reason, but Rey couldn't figure out why, because their disguises, most of them being costumes of legendary mobile suits, were so complete that he couldn't get a look at their faces. Then there was one guy with a mean looking and livid scar across the middle of his face. Rey was startled for a brief moment, because scar-face was wearing a Celestial Being elite uniform. Rey shook his head. There were no Celestial Being soldiers in Switzerland and there was absolutely no way for them to enter the country without someone knowing. Rey shook his head again, because two of the girls were wearing uniforms from an ancient military organization known as Nerv, which had been under the command of the United Nations. Nearly a millenia earlier, after only fifteen years of existence, Nerv had been forcibly disbanded by the United Nations, and Nerv's entire staff had been executed for crimes against humanity. The woman with purple hair was wearing the uniform of a high-level officer, possibly a captain, while the red-head wore a crimson plug suit, the special suits worn by the pilots of the Evangelion Units. Rey just wondered where they had gotten their costumes, because, as far as he could tell, they were exact replicas of the real thing.