Update: Tweaked/rewritten December 2020.
To Play God
It was just Wrath and seven other SIN-ED members on the shuttle when they landed at Mendel. Wrath's craft only had one remaining space suit, so he left them on the shuttle and met his four other companions to figure out what they were going to do next.
Phoebe docked their shuttle nearby and they all managed to scrounge up some spacesuits of their own. Technically, Mendel was people-friendly—especially since they sealed all of the docking hangars—but there was always that chance because they weren't exactly in the same area as they had been the last time they had camped out in space.
Mendel was a mess. They had landed on the other side of the satellite, but the rubble was much the same. The only real difference, however, was that they seemed to be in a more scientific-based area than the high-class neighborhoods they were chilling in nearly half a year before. The dock they used was positioned next to a research facility, and thanks to some pissed off antics by FS, was now open to the general public—at least whomever would want to venture in. He had his experience from Januarias 4 to thank him for such hacking skills, but whatever he had done was on the scale of brilliance because not even SIN-ED could get into that side of the satellite before. Given, he had needed Stray's help to get some machinery working to move the rubble so the shuttles could land safely, but it was good teamwork nonetheless.
The complex took up about five acres and the biggest facility stood about four stories high, the crumbling walls looking less than sturdy as the floors went up. The other small buildings around the taller one were small with only one or two stories, the whole place looking like a ghost town with the glass lying on the ground and some of the doors thrown open at awkward angles.
"How did I not know this was here? I thought I asked you guys to search the whole satellite?" FS asked, his eyes narrowing at the rest of the team. He took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his forehead, his hand moving slowly from his hairline down to his chin. Given the temperature, he shouldn't have been sweating. It was cold in the colony now that the climate control had been disengaged and the temperature was probably stable at -2 degrees Celsius or so. The others took their helmets off as well when they reached the main door to the biggest building—most likely feeling just as claustrophobic. Their breath made small mist clouds in front of their faces and Melanie even shivered.
"The area was sealed off and it's not like you gave us a lot of time to find an alternate route in the first place," Phoebe explained, Melanie helping her kneel down so she could see the hinge on the metal doors. It looked as if something had jammed the double doors against one another, making them a bit hard to move. "It's almost as if this was a separate part of the satellite altogether."
Not really paying attention to her excuses, FS pushed her aside and used the piece of rubble in his hand to bash at the metal. His desperate decision echoed throughout the area, making more than a few of the Sins nervous. They weren't completely sure ZAFT had abandoned the satellite and all of that noise would alert them for sure. That kind of carelessness was something the Lust twins or even Wrath would do, so why was FS the one banging a clump of cement against the steel frames and not them? The doors rattled and moaned in response to the abuse. One side had been bent enough that FS could reach in and pull the two apart. They didn't give right away. Wrath—being the less injured of the five—stepped in to help, but FS pushed him out of the way.
"Pride, just let me help!" Wrath hissed, but Stray was the one to get his attention.
Putting a hand on his shoulder, the Sin pulled him backwards slowly. "Revelin."
FS slapped the hand away and stared at his friend. The curses coming out of his mouth and the rude hand gestures proved he was pissed, but his sweat-ridden forehead and frantic eyes confirmed there was something else going on behind that stare. His pupils dilated and shrunk almost as quickly as his breath left his lungs. They darted from Stray, to the Lust girls, to Wrath, and then back to Stray before they made the same path again.
Stray felt a lump growing in his throat as he watched his friend. Did he miss something? Could losing SIN-ED really have affected him this much? "R-Revelin, calm down." He swallowed. Did he finally— "No," he said out loud, putting both hands on FS's shoulders and shaking them firmly. "Revelin, what's wrong?"
FS's breathing slowed back to normal and his eyes settled back down onto his comrade, a couple of blinks bringing his commanding stare back to his face instead of the scared underling. But his pupils still moved abnormally, giving away his true emotions even though his voice sounded like his usual, composed self. "Wrong you ask? Jaeger, SIN-ED's lying in a bloody heap floating space and, to top it all off, this door won't fuckin' open!"
"It's just a door. No need to get worked up."
"Just—here." Wrath squeezed past FS and pulled on the open door. Melanie helped Phoebe back to her feet and slid her arm over her shoulders. They both shared a look; one Stray didn't miss. His pulse sped. Something had gone wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Wrath had the door open within the next couple of minutes, Melanie almost having to step in when two people—injured or no—were looking better than one.
"About time," FS muttered. "If ZAFT is still keeping tags on this place, they probably won't be able to find us in this damned building." He walked inside first and the others obediently followed. "We might even be able to contact some survivors—at least more than what you managed to round up, Wrath."
"Survivors?" Melanie asked.
"From SIN-ED"
"Ah," Wrath replied and followed FS into one of the research offices. Stray saw him exchange a look with the Lust twins as he passed and bit his lip.
What the hell was going on?
Eclipse groaned and turned over, her muddy hair plastered against the layer of salt and dirt already on her cheek. A sharp pain shot up from her right hand to her shoulder. She didn't even remember rolling over let alone lying on her injured wrist and arm. As she scrambled onto her back her neck cramped, her ankle turned wrong when she shifted, and she bit her swollen tongue.
It was definitely a bad morning.
"Ah, fuck."
Instead of just turning her head, she had to twist her body entirely to look over at her soon-to-be hospital roomie. Namarra was on her back as well, her wrist tight on her left elbow and trying to rub away the pain that was there. Her contorted face and constant cursing was a good indication she was having just as bad of a morning. Eclipse couldn't withhold a chuckle however, hearing the Natural's curses come out in a mumbled gurgle because of the cut across her neck. She sounded like there was a wad of saliva wedged deep into her throat and she just felt like swashing it back and forth instead of spitting it out.
Namarra heard the laugh and immediately reached for a nearby stick to throw it. Or attempted to anyway. Having no force behind the toss, the stick just bounced on the ground roughly five centimeters or so from her hands. "Shut up," she managed instead, letting her body go limp on the ground once more.
Eclipse was about to start laughing full force when her stomach and chest caved in pain. At some point in time, they should probably move. Hah, when?
"I'm hungry," Namarra complained, forcing herself into a sitting position.
"And I'm thirsty. You'd think, after all that rain, we'd have enough of that water stuff."
Namarra laughed once—more out of mockery than anything—but Eclipse was in too much pain to let it bother her too much. "More like we shouldn't need baths, but I smell like a sweat-soaked jock and sock bag while you look like a three-year-old's mud pie."
"Then what do you propose?" Eclipse asked, shifting herself into a sitting position as well. "The waterfall you happened to cliff dive off of is about a mile to the East."
"More or less," she agreed, locking eyes with the redhead. Even though Eclipse hadn't known Namarra for long, she still recognized that look. They were both thinking the same thing, neither of them wanted to do it, they didn't have a choice, and they would be bitching at each other the whole time.
Great, one of those looks.
Eclipse sighed. "How good's your memory?" she asked, her voice strained as her muscles screamed while she hoisted herself to her feet.
"Better than yours, I'm sure," she scoffed, pushing on the tree behind her to get to her feet as well. Eclipse rolled her eyes, knowing she walked right into that comment. Keeping her opinions to herself, however, she took a couple ginger steps towards her new teammate. Namarra met her halfway and they just stood looking at each other. Ironically, they were already out of breath, both trying to hide their exhaustion, but both failing at the same time. Namarra's neck wound looked nasty, the brown and dark red blood had crusted around the wound, the scabs looking more like dried bug exoskeletons than any healthy blood clot. Red streaks were smeared all the way down past her collarbone, and—given the stain—some blood had even soaked into her bikini top. There was a nice bruise around her left eye and on her right cheekbone, but neither of them swelled up enough to hinder her sight. Her bottom lip was a bit puffy from a cut there, but still nothing looked serious. Even the cut at her hairline on her forehead looked to be shallow.
"You look—"
"—like shit," Namarra finished for her, bringing up a very bruised right hand and wrist to point at the redhead. "Damn, what paper shredder did you fall into?"
Eclipse laughed. "Probably the same one that spit you out. Now, what foot or leg hurts the most?" Namarra pointed down at her right foot where Eclipse poked her heel. "Okay, my right one isn't doing too well either, so we'll have to make sure my left foot is stepping when your right foot does and vise versa. We'll be able to hold each other's weight that way."
"Seems like too much work."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Damn."
"My sentiments exactly. Now, let's get this over with." Weaving an arm behind each other's backs, Eclipse put her right hand just under Namarra's right armpit and the Natural did much the same, slipping her left hand just under the redhead's left armpit. For the most part, they were the same height, which made walking a bit easier, but as soon as they put their arms around each other, they tensed.
"This is awkward," Eclipse admitted first, trying not to turn her head to talk to Namarra directly.
"And again, we agree on something, so let's just not think about it and get some food."
Eclipse nodded and they took some slow first steps. Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly and when their legs got to moving more, the muscles loosened. Maybe it wasn't going to be too bad after all.
"I guess we are in an agreeing mood this morning," Eclipse said.
"Huh?"
"You do smell like a jock and sock bag."
Namarra frowned; Eclipse could hear it in her voice. "If I wouldn't go down with you, I'd so trip you right now."
"Hm, definitely an agreeable morning."
They made it to the waterfall by noon and, luckily, they found the pool at the bottom without having to jump down the falls. In their condition, they wouldn't make it out again. "How about you fish and I'll build the fire."
"Why do I have to fish?" Namarra complained, leaning up against a tree for support.
"Because you can actually grip a fishing pole," Eclipse replied, holding up one bandaged hand and swollen knuckles on the other. Namarra held up her own hands for inspection and cursed when she knew she lost the fight.
"I can grip, but barely pull one in." She pointed to her wrist.
"You'll figure it out," the redhead replied and smiled before heading back into the woods to find some kindling and logs.
Their survival skills were better than they had thought. Even though the wood was mostly wet, Eclipse actually felt good enough to make a few trips to find dry kindling. For a while there—after attempting to grasp her knife and make some sparks by striking it against a stone—she had gotten desperate enough to call the Stealth and order it to shoot at the wood, but a fire sparked to life before she could do anything drastic. Sure, the attack probably would have blown away her and put a nice puncture hole in the Earth, but she had wanted nothing more than to cause more destruction. So, two socks—she had thought they would make better kindling than bandages—and three wood trips later, she had a good fire roaring. Namarra did well fishing and with four fish, albeit small ones, now on sticks near a fire, the two could clean up a bit.
There was a small side pool that some rushing water and fallen rocks had managed to block off from the strong current near the waterfall. It was hardly the hot springs, but it was relatively warm and they could at least clean off all the dirt and grime. That was more important than anything. Neither was shy, so it wasn't the matter of bathing in the same pool, more like both being vulnerable in front of the person who had tried to kill her not a day ago.
They both side glanced at each other and held the awkward stare for a while. Eventually, Eclipse sighed and reached behind to her lower back, just behind the waistline of her shorts. The knife was sharp—so she had two nice gashes to add to her repertoire—and the dried blood plastered the flathead to the small of her back. She had started keeping the knife there since she had come to Orb. Ironic really since that was the one place she was safe. She had yet to find a proper sheath, but her body had calloused well.
Pulling out the flathead, she grabbed the hole at the top with her thumb and index finger, swinging the blade back and forth. "There, last one, I promise."
"I knew you were holding out on me. Impressive, especially since you kept your Berserker from using the weapon." Moving her hand, she reached into much the same spot and produced a similar blade. Hers, however, was black with a crimson tint, much like her hair. Spinning it once, she threw it into the ground at Eclipse's feet. "I take it we're both satisfied?"
Eclipse shrugged and they both stripped down, getting into the water with more than a few curses as the water leaked into their cuts. The pain subsided soon, becoming nothing more than a dull ache slowly slipping away thanks to the soothing water.
"You mind if I ask you a question?" Eclipse wondered and Namarra looked up from scrubbing some dirt from her shoulder, but never argued. "Why exactly did the guys go insane like that?"
"They're not insane," the Natural corrected, sounding a bit annoyed with the accusation. "Their medication just," she paused, "changed."
"Medication?"
"They're Extendeds. I'm sure you've heard of them."
Eclipse nodded, remembering what FS and Stray had told her a long time ago back at Mendel. The drugs would eat away at their minds. Suddenly, it all made sense. "Do you know why there was a sudden change?"
She shrugged. "After one of my sessions, Azrael made some kind of brilliant exclamation and the guys were being put into pod machines instead of just given pills. The first time wasn't so bad, but after a couple of weeks they didn't even recognize me. Those pods were a new but untested model, apparently, and yet they can do all that? They can make them do…" She trailed off and Eclipse let her go silent, watching her reach around to trace the bruises on her back. She had already said more than the redhead had ever anticipated. "I'm not like them, if you were wondering. Well, not completely."
"I wasn't gonna ask."
"I know, but I guess you deserve to understand. I know I told you before I was on drugs, but that's really only for the tests they run on me. When I was training I was on some for about a year, or so, and I was put into a similar machine, but I've never had such…" she paused searching for the right word. "Side effects."
Eclipse thought about that for a second, splashing her face with water. She had also been given medication for about a year during her training on Januarias 4. She should have expected their lives to have been so similar, but it still surprised her a little. "Tests because you're a Berserker, right?"
"I'm guessing you've had similar treatment?"
She nodded. "Do you know why we're so special?"
"Aside from our very powerful alter egos?" Namarra shrugged. "I'm thinking we know about the same amount of information."
"Not much then, huh?" Eclipse sighed. "When this is all over, we'll find out more, agreed?"
They locked stared and eventually nodded. "Finally, allies then?"
"Only seems appropriate."
They fell silent after that, finishing their bath in a comfortable quiet that both appreciated. Only when they were both stepping out of the water to pull their fish away from the fire did Eclipse speak again. "Can I ask you another question?"
"Only if I can return the honor."
Eclipse shrugged, wringing out her short hair as best she could while she stared at the flames. "Fine." Namarra flicked her hand, telling her to go on with it. "Why did you freak out when Lust mentioned," she paused, stopping herself before she said the word, "your brother's name?"
The Natural froze, her hands in the middle of twisting the water out of her own locks. She took deep breaths, quick ones at first, but soon they slowed as she gained some control. "I don't know; it's really as simple as that. I just hear his name and I can't concentrate—I can barely function, and I just lose all sense of control." Her voice rose towards the end of the statement, her hands twisting her hair into tighter knots than the strands could probably handle.
Eclipse's muscles tensed as she watched her, not sure if the subject alone was enough to trigger the fit. Remembering what had happened last time, she didn't think she was well enough to fend off the attack. Actually, the tensing was too painful, so she relaxed when Namarra had started to do the same. "You don't have to explain any more," Eclipse replied.
Her eyes turned upwards towards her, shifting slowly down again once they made contact. "Thanks."
The redhead also wanted to ask about the song she had sung the night before, but she held back, not sure of it was linked to Namarra's brother or not. Remembering the lyrics, it probably was and she really didn't want Namarra to freak out around a small communal bath of all things. "Now, you owe me two questions," Eclipse said. "Ask away."
The Natural cocked an eyebrow and started wiping off the water on her arms so she could dry off quicker next to the flames. "Alright, why did you go to Orb?"
"Because that's where I used to live and, after all the tests they were doing on me, I was basically kicked out of the ZAFT military."
"So, you returned home?"
Eclipse shrugged. "In a manner of speaking."
"You the prodigal daughter?"
"I don't like to consider myself that."
"I can see why. Parents avid supporters of total pacifism and you a ZAFT pilot—oh, and a Berserker to boot."
"You seem to know a lot about me," Eclipse said, a bit agitated by the interrogation. Yes, she walked into it, but at least she had backed off when she had noticed Namarra's discomfort. Maybe she was just growing soft over the months.
"You're not famous, but you're pretty damn close."
"And I know nothing about you."
"Isn't that how this stuff always tends to work out?"
Eclipse sighed and turned her back to the fire. "If we're gonna start working together, I have to know more about you."
"Sounds fair." Namarra shrugged. "Help me find information about my brothers and then I'll tell you anything you want to know."
Great, more time sitting around with nothing answered, the redhead thought, almost ready to tell her she didn't want to do anything until she knew the truth. But what good would that do? Having Namarra her enemy again wasn't a good idea. "Fine."
Namarra smiled and turned around like her counterpart. About a minute passed as they both dried off, now feeling the warmth of the fire instead of the cool winds. It was warm out, but air drying was never a comfortable experience.
"Do you think they can really help me?" Namarra asked, breaking the silence and handing Eclipse two of the fish.
"You mean Orb, right?" The Natural nodded as she they both sat down. "I think they can do something. Are you sure you don't have any more information?"
Namarra grabbed the other two fish and squeezed one a couple of times to see how hot it was. "I do have more information—ouch!" She brought her fingers to her lips and narrowed her eyes at the cooked seafood. "Just nothing I can share right now."
"What do you mean 'can't share?'" Eclipse did much the same thing, sticking her tender finger onto her tongue.
"Or, more like, it wouldn't be of any use right now. I need a computer, some medical books, and another hacker plus yourself. We need to get into the Blue Cosmos database."
"I figured it'd come to that," Eclipse admitted, waving the fish around and hoping that would cool them off faster. She was hungry.
"You agreed."
"I know."
Namarra was about to say something else when she caught onto what Eclipse was doing and started laughing softly. "Y'know, with your luck those are gonna go flying and I refuse to get more for you."
"Meh, a risk worth taking." The waving actually worked and even Namarra started trying it when her stomach reminded her of her own hunger. One of her fish did fall off, but the Natural just picked it up off the ground and ate it anyway. Food was food.
In between chews, the CA earpiece shifted and the volume must have been adjusted because suddenly the Stealth's message alarm was blaring. It could have been damaged during the fight or after everything that was going on, but, either way, it had adjusted without her knowledge. The food fell out of Eclipse's mouth when it opened in a painful scream. The stick and last fish dropped from her hands and her finger went immediately to her ear, turning down the annoying alarm and reminding her to replace it with something a bit more musical and less deafening.
"What's wrong?" Namarra asked, her mouth propped opened for the next bit of food.
"Messages from my suit. A lot of messages."
"Messages? How do you know?"
"It's a long story. Short version, my brother built me a communication device." She held up an index finger and turned her head down at to the side. "Coffee Addict, read them to me starting with the first one received."
"Order acknowledged. First message sent at 1000 hours June 13th by a Lathan Rymyr." Eclipse looked up and judged the time. It was probably 26 hours past when the message was received. She cursed silently. "It reads: Sis, I need you to come back. Orb's been given an ultimatum by the Atlantic Federation. It's not good. What the hell are you doing?"
Eclipse cursed louder and looked up to meet Namarra's curious stare. She waited until she took a bite before she shared the news. "The Atlantic Federation gave Orb an ultimatum. Do you know anything about this?" The Natural shrugged and the Stealth started reading the next message.
"Message two sent at 1500 hours on June 13th by a Cagalli Yula Athha. It reads: Lexi, Orb might end up a battlefield! Where are you?"
Eclipse cringed after the message, just imagining her cousin screaming and freaking out on the other end of the line. Shit.
"Message three sent at 1615 hours on June 13th by a Lathan Rymyr. It reads: Lexi, Cags could really use her closest cousin at the moment. Hell, we could all use some of your bright personality so where are you?" She cringed again when the volume went up on the last three words. Her suit either needed more of an attitude adjustment than she had figured or Lathan was just that pissed. Namarra snorted on the other side of the fire, probably seeing the look, but Eclipse wasn't as amused. The next message was from Cagalli and then two more from Lathan. He didn't give much detail about what was going on, but hearing Cagalli's freak outs—even in an email—was enough to make her worry.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
"Do you know any more details?" Namarra asked, now onto checking her injuries. Her elbow seemed to be feeling worse right then—no doubt having cramped up over the night—but her neck wound looked to be the most severe. The only problem was neither of them had proper first aid equipment on hand. Everything was back in their machines.
Eclipse shook her head. "No, but we should probably get back to our mobile suits. We'll know more when we turn on the news reports."
"Hah, when you move, I'll move," she scoffed.
"Message seven," Coffee Addict continued, "sent at 1850 hours on June 13th, origin unknown. It reads: Eclipse, it's Athrun. I'm on Earth. Can we talk?"
That one surprised her a bit and Namarra must have noticed the look because her eyes narrowed in response. "Not good?"
"No, just surprised," Eclipse said, shaking her head and waiting for the last message. At least she hoped it was the last one. How the hell did she miss so many?
"Message eight sent at 0100 hours on June 14th, origin unknown. It reads: Eclipse, it's Yzak. You're not listed as a soldier anymore. What the hell is going on? Please tell me this is the Stealth and you're okay."
Another surprising email and even more shocking because both him and Athrun sent her a message within seven hours of each other. If only they knew.
"Last message sent at 0900 hours June 14th from a Lathan Rymyr. It reads: Damn it, Lexi! Twenty-four hours until we have to reply and you're still MIA! You'd better be dead, that's all I gotta say."
Eclipse sighed. "Coffee Addict, time and date?"
"1330 hours on June 14th."
"Alright, Addict, begin start up preparations. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Roger that." And the connection cut off. Eclipse cursed and then got to her feet. Well, tried. Her sprained ankle buckled and when she put down a hand to stop herself from falling completely, the many wounds across her knuckles screamed for attention.
"Shit."
"See, that's why I'll start moving when you do. So far, no good."
"Namarra, Orb's in some deep shit and we have to get back to our suits. Where's yours?"
"Middle of the island." She nudged her head backwards and to the right. "On good legs and feet, I'm thinking a half hour walk."
Eclipse rubbed her forehead, knowing neither of them had good legs or feet. "Addict, can you come to my position?"
"Negative. Autopilot system offline."
"It's what?" Eclipse half shouted, now angry her brother had wanted to do that tune up to her suit in the first place. Or was she the one to recommend it? She didn't even know anymore. Either way, they were forced to walk the distance after all. Coffee Addict repeated its response after Eclipse questioned it, but the redhead ignored the whole thing, saying a quick thank you halfway through. She really needed to talk to Lathan now, even if it was to get the outside data to fix her machine's operating system. So there were a bunch of things to talk to him about, but she was definitely going to start with Orb's agenda. She was getting the gist of the situation, but without a good briefing she couldn't just fly in. With the country in such a delicate position, she would probably get shot down before welcomed.
And she had Namarra with her.
"Shit."
"You need a new swear word."
"Thanks for the commentary. Get changed."
They had expected it to take a while to get back to their mobile suits, the girls going their separate ways when they had reached the "middle point" between the two machines. The Stealth was another kilometer or so away, but without Namarra's stabilizing shoulder it was going to be one hell of a walk. The day before, every tree and branch was a welcomed source of cover, but now, however, they were nothing more than annoying and hazardous obstacles. Yes, they had their moments where they were good at providing a perch for Eclipse's exhausted body, but those moments were rare. "Addict, how far am I from your position?" she asked, putting a hand against a tree trunk as she pulled herself up a hill. She probably could have looked up to see if she could see the machine, but she was forced to pay too much attention to where she was putting her hands and feet.
"Approximately 50 meters. Given your speed, I would say another hour or two until you are here."
"Cute," Eclipse muttered, taking a couple more painful minutes to reach the top of the hill and not appreciating the Stealth's witty comments. Putting all of her weight on her good, left ankle, she looked around for her suit. A giant, black mobile suit in broad daylight shouldn't be too hard to find. In theory anyway. Knowing the machine's rebellious streak, it probably activated the Colloid. Seeing her beloved killing machine sitting near the base of the hill, however, Eclipse smiled lightly and carefully began her trek down. Somehow managing to get to the machine without tumbling headfirst to the ground, the redhead stuck her foot in the zipcord and rode it to the cockpit. Once her body sank into the clean material, Eclipse couldn't help shivering. She still felt filthy even after the bath. Standing up, she walked back onto the cockpit door and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Some more dried blood flaked off and Eclipse sighed. Poking the top half of her body back inside, she reached down to one of the storage compartments and pulled out a long, black blanket. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she grabbed the keyboard and tried to catch Lathan in his office back in Orb. The other chat line she left open for Namarra. The two of them had decided to leave a frequency open so they could connect their suits.
Namarra jumped onto the line almost immediately. "Eclipse, is this you?"
"I read ya, Namarra. Do you know anything yet?" Flipping a few switches, she managed to bring the Natural's face up on the screen. The redhead sat down after that, knowing the whole experience was going to be so much easier with her sitting in the seat. Besides, the blanket was going to make things feel a little better.
"There's nothing for me, but I now remember the base pretty busy with preparations when I left. Ammo loading, mobile suit docking—the works really."
"And you never put two and two together?"
Namarra narrowed her eyes, Eclipse catching a glimpse of a dark green and black pilot suit as she stuffed it into a side cubby. "Are you kidding me? The world's in a fuckin' war and you're asking me why I didn't think twice about some missiles being pushed around at the base?"
"Damn it, Namarra, it was a simple question."
"No, it was an accusation and you—"
"Lexi, thank Helmaya, where are you? And you look like shit!" Lathan interrupted, his face appearing on the other screen. Namarra shared a few more frustrated curses, but soon grew silent as Lathan started his end of the bitch fight. "Y'know what? It doesn't matter. Can you get back to Orb?"
"How much time until we have to give them a final decision?"
"About 18 hours. If you come back now, I might be able to pull a few strings and get you back in here to stock up on ammo."
Eclipse glanced over at Namarra's screen, the Natural now pulling her long hair back into a bun. They locked stares for a moment—Namarra hearing what was going on—but she never said anything; simply shrugged.
"Lexi?"
"How many strings can you pull to get an EA pilot in with me?"
"What?"
"Plus her mobile suit?"
"Sis, you're insane!"
"We can say she's an Atlantic Federation liaison."
"And is she?" It took Eclipse a moment, but finally she shook her head. Namarra made some smartass remark, but the redhead didn't pay her any attention. With a mouth like that, putting the Natural in a diplomatic situation would be terrifying. Thousands of lives were on the line and with no real power in the Federation—well, everyone would be pissed. "Damn it, Lexi, this isn't a joke. With all this shit going on, you want to be funny?"
"She's an ally of ours and—I'm assuming—we both need some maintenance before this battle starts. You know we can be of some help."
"Wait," he held up a hand to the screen, "you think this'll end in a battle?"
"Lathan," Eclipse said, his name alone showing how naïve he was being. "Orb won't back down and I doubt the EA will let them."
"They're probably hoping for the fight," Namarra chimed in. "It looks like the guys are on one of those ships outside the border."
"Is that your friend talking?"
"Yes, she's an ally," Eclipse answered, running some scenarios through her head. If Namarra's comrades were on a fleet and they were as much of a threat as Eclipse figured, the Federation was definitely looking for a fight. "Lathan, we need in."
"No, just you."
"It has to be both. We need medical attention as well as ammunition."
"No."
She was going to shout back, but stopped herself. This wasn't her brother's fault and he probably had fewer contacts in Orb than she did. No matter how close their blood was to the government, they still had records. Sure, Eclipse could probably call up the same Orb smugglers who got her and the Zala team into the country before, but somehow that seemed like a really bad move considering the circumstances. Besides, Lathan had every right to be suspicious and want to protect his home country. She wasn't about to abuse their relationship and just bring Namarra back no matter what.
"Fine, we wait for the battle to start and we join in then."
"What?"
"We need more time to prepare and I have a feeling when we're ready, so will the EA." She turned to Namarra then and they locked stares again. She didn't want to give away her name until the Natural was ready to. "Give Lathan your mobile suit code and he'll make sure Orb knows you're an ally. You can do that much, right?" she asked, turning to her brother at the end. He looked a little offended, but nodded nonetheless.
Namarra paused, almost as if she was thinking the whole thing over again. Eclipse hoped that was why she was hesitating because the redhead didn't want to follow her skeptical side and believe Namarra was going to lie about her suit and give a false code so one of her comrades could sneak behind the Orb lines and slaughter everyone.
Damn, this was getting complicated.
"Namarra." There, she said her name that time and she could see Lathan scribbling on a pad of paper. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you right now. You wanted this." She didn't agree, but she didn't disagree either. They were both making one hell of a leap of faith, but with a battle looming, a risk was the only thing to take.
"My suit's GAT-X713 DECAY, code number 718417." She looked at Eclipse then, her eyes still showing she was wary of the redhead, but there was still some yearning for something. Trust?
Eclipse didn't know what was going to happen after the battle, but she knew she could at least keep her safe during it. They both still had separate missions—Namarra to save her teammates and Eclipse to protect Orb—but they could at least do it without worrying about friendly fire.
"Got it, Lexi. I'll do the best I can and I wish I could see you before the battle starts, but good luck. Don't die."
"Cliché as ever." She gave a small smile, but it faded as soon as she remembered the second thing she was going to bring up. "Oh, I do have another favor to ask." Lathan sighed, his eyes slowly blinking, as if his lids were covering up the eye roll. "I need the data for autopilot on the Stealth. It's offline apparently and I can't fix it without the proper information."
"Alright." He looked off to his right, Eclipse hearing the familiar sound of him typing on the keyboard. After a few more mouse clicks, he hit one key loudly. "Transferring."
"Thanks, bro. Send Cagalli my best." He did a mock salute and was gone. Eclipse sighed and leaned back in her seat, cringing when the cuts stung.
"I'm surprised he didn't say anything about those bruises."
"My brother and I seem to have some kind of unofficial pact where we don't pry into each other's lives unless the person initiates the conversation."
"Must be nice."
"With this job, it tends to be helpful."
"No, I mean to have a brother. Older, right?"
Eclipse nodded and she watched Namarra's eyes go down and to the side, a weak smile crooking up her lips. "I don't believe in pitying a person for losing someone close, but I do know what it's like to watch someone you love get killed. If you ever need to vent—"
"I won't."
"—you know how to reach me," Eclipse continued, ignoring how fast her partner went from feeling pathetic to being defensive. Sighing, she pulled up the Stealth's operating system and started making the adjustments. Some kind of auto movement might be nice in the coming battle, especially with her being so injured.
She did as much as she could and then started tending to her wounds, waiting for the Stealth to confirm and sync what she had just done before making some more adjustments. Leaning down, she reached into one of the lower compartments and pulled out her first aid kit. She was about halfway through wrapping her sprained ankle when Namarra cursed loudly. The redhead looked up at the screen and she cursed again.
"I just ran out of hydrogen peroxide."
"Geez, your wounds weren't that bad were they? To use a whole bottle?"
The Natural bit the side of a piece of tape and tore it in half. She wrapped it twice around her left bicep to make sure the bandage stayed secure. "I forgot to refill it, alright? I went out on a mission last week and poured half the bottle down some poor schmuck's throat."
Eclipse cocked an eyebrow, but didn't argue. Holding her own bottle up in front of the screen, she shook it a couple of times to measure the amount then propped her chin up on her free hand. "I have about half left."
"Well, good for you," she grumbled and bit off another bit of tape.
Eclipse shook the bottle again. "How much you need?"
"Why, you done?"
"No, but I only use as much as I need to use."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Yes or no, Namarra?" The Natural sighed, but soon ended up throwing a bloody rag at the screen. That was as close to a yes as Eclipse was going to get. "I'm bringing my suit over."
"Fine."
Eclipse was more than excited to see Namarra's machine. She may not get a chance to hear the full mobile suit ramble like she had for the Stealth, but any kind of visual would be greatly appreciated. And to see how advanced the Earth Forces had become with their technology was a tempting notion as well.
The walk didn't take too long and staring at her screens, the redhead found herself impressed by the machine kneeling down next to a rock face. Over its shoulders was a black cape, but it didn't move with the wind, making Eclipse think it was armor instead of thin material. Since it was attached to the shoulders and neck, it had to be for some kind of defense or even for stealth purposes like the Mirage Colloid was for her suit. The head and face was humanoid like the prototypes with red eyes, but the left side of the face was interesting. It might have had something to do with her alter ego, but the left half of the face was stripped of metal, the wiring exposed and looking like some kind of giant burn scar. Eclipse knew Namarra was more careful than to leave any part of her suit vulnerable—so the spot might have been covered by some kind of clear material—but the look gave the redhead an eerie feeling. The rest of the body was a combination of black, brown, and green, blending in with the background, but with the black cape-like armor covering most of its body it looked much like the Stealth. There was no weaponry in sight so Eclipse couldn't have been sure how armed the suit was—or gauge its power—but, knowing the Natural, there was something ready to do overkill damage on some puny tank hidden nearby.
Eclipse dropped the cockpit right in front of Namarra's open hatch, the two doors nearly touching. There was a gap of about one meter between them, probably symbolizing more than the girls wanted to admit. Walking out onto the hatch, the redhead tossed the bottle of disinfectant at the sitting Natural. "Finish it if you want. I think I'll be fine." Namarra muttered a quiet thanks and Eclipse sat back down in her machine. She was glad her comrade seemed to have a competent suit. It wasn't as if she had any doubts, but for a while there she was actually thinking Namarra had one of those mass-produced Strike Daggers. That would have been ridiculous.
After watching the Natural for a time, she brought up the Stealth's operating system, making a couple of adjustments to the controls. With as many injuries as she had—and most of them on her hands—she had to lower the resistance just a bit. Her muscles wouldn't be able to handle her original settings, but with looser controls, she hoped her stomach would be able to handle the quicker movements and that she wouldn't be turning 180 degrees instead of 90.
Somehow, she didn't think she could afford such a mistake in the coming fight.
Eclipse stared hard at the screens, every so often looking up and over at Namarra sitting in her machine. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, wishing she hadn't put on her pilot suit. With the time limit quickly approaching, she couldn't just be sitting around in a bikini top, but Orb's fine humidity was more sticky than comfortable. They had both tolerated it for the past half hour when Lathan sent Eclipse a message about how Orb was still going to stress their neutrality. That was to be expected and now the Atlantic Federation fleet was on the move. The Earth Forces weren't about to back off, especially not when Orb had a mass driver that could send them into space.
"Damn it, they should just get off their asses and build one themselves," Eclipse grumbled. "Namarra, any news from your end?"
The Natural shook her head. "I'm still getting the same message: Meet at these coordinates for further instructions. It's getting annoying."
"Have they moved yet?" Eclipse asked, meaning her comrades.
"No, they're still in the hangar."
"What ship?"
"One closest to the flag ship." They both cursed after that bit of information. If it wasn't going to be hard enough to convince them, they had to go through an entire fleet.
"So, how important are these three?"
"Lexi."
"I was just wondering—wait. Did you?"
"You know my name. It's only fair." Namarra smiled when Eclipse sighed. "Besides, I know it annoys you. Every time your brother mentioned it your right eyelid twitched. Yup," she continued, pointing to that side of her face, "just like that. So, I'm using it from now on. Just decided."
Decay's sensors went off first and then the Stealth's, the Atlantic Federation probably nice enough to give their AWOL pilots a heads up before they started their missile assault on a neutral country. Both pilots went for their helmets, Eclipse taking one extra second to enjoy the light wind blowing across her sweaty forehead. This humidity was definitely a bitch and even though the climate control was still functional inside the Stealth, the redhead couldn't help but wish for a place with a couple more days below 25 degrees Celsius.
"We're about 20 minutes out. I'm assuming your suit can fly?"
"Brilliant deduction, dumbass."
Eclipse brushed off the comment and closed the hatch. Now, she regretted her offer to be a verbal punching bag. "Then keep up with me and we won't have any problems, capiche?"
"Roger that." They took off then, the Stealth leading the way back to Onogoro Island. Namarra's suit kept up fairly well—having boosters on the back, both shoulders, and even the thighs for extra momentum and stability—only trailing behind when Eclipse set the HiMat wings at maximum thrust. Seventy-five percent output seemed to work well for the Natural so she kept the steady pace and hoped it wasn't putting too much of a strain on the Decay. The cape that had been covering the Decay when the redhead first saw the suit had folded over the cockpit, holes conveniently placed in the shoulders and the back so the Decay could fly around without damaging the defense mechanism. The boosters on the shoulders and legs gave more bulk to the suit, however, almost making it look un-proportioned, but it never seemed off balance. The Decay's agility seemed at par with the Stealth, actually, and seeing as Namarra had similar missions as Eclipse, it only seemed appropriate. Eclipse was going to ask about more specific schematics, but knew Namarra had other things on her mind.
Chaos was always a good word to describe a battlefield, but Eclipse never truly appreciated the term until she saw the pure power of it, rendering her home country to a junk heap after only 10 minutes or so of fighting. The Atlantic Federation had the upper hand even if it was only because of their numbers. Orb was putting up a good fight, matching shot for shot, but when one Orb machine was destroyed, only one took its place. For the Earth Forces, two took its spot.
"Damn, this is bad."
"For who?" Namarra countered and stopped next to the Stealth. They hovered there for a moment, Eclipse trying to access the whole situation and the Natural trying to contact her comrades. The redhead cursed again and brought up her list of weaponry. The Stealth was no where near ready for this.
"Fuck!"
"Lexi, I found 'em. I'm gonna try talking to them."
"Need help?"
"No, I can't have someone—let along another pilot and mobile suit—pissin' them off. I'll let you know if I need back up." Namarra ended the transmission after that and Eclipse sighed. Like she was going to ask for help. Punching a sequence on the keyboard, she brought up two more video screens besides her main camera. One was on the Earth Forces landing on the Izanagi shore—the Orb forces seemed to have that under control—and the other one was on Namarra's Decay. For a second she watched the mobile suit head to the Earth Forces fleet and she cursed. There was the eerie feeling it was not going to turn out well.
An alarm flared on the main screen. "Air drop above Onogoro shore," the Stealth announced and Eclipse bit her bottom lip. Things were definitely going to get interesting with all the injuries she had, but she couldn't just leave her birth home to burn, no matter how many bad memories she had there.
"Addict, we're going to intercept."
"Roger that," her suit replied and Eclipse pulled her machine over towards the island and the Orb tanks about to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Eclipse landed just after half a dozen Strike Daggers had already taken out a fair share of Orb tanks. On the way down, however, the redhead couldn't miss the opportunity to destroy a preoccupied enemy. Unsheathing the blade in her left foot, the Stealth sliced across a standing Strike Dagger and plunged the sword into its side. The blade sunk into the cockpit and was pulled downwards as Eclipse fell to the Earth, most likely making a messy display of the pilot once sitting behind the controls. The attack didn't slice far, however, the blade not sharp enough to tear through the improved armor on the Strike Daggers. It was a fatal attack nonetheless and Eclipse pulled the Stealth's leg backwards, dislodging the blade and focusing on the next kill long before the Dagger fell to the ground motionless.
Another enemy came up behind her. Placing the Stealth's foot firmly on the ground—and sheathing the blade—she dropped the sword in her right wrist and sliced the head from its shoulders, the metal thankfully not as thick around the neck. The pilot was blinded and definitely not happy since his next couple of attacks were nothing more than pissed off swings from a machine that had yet to gain any kind of visuals. The Stealth dodged each slice easily and only when the Strike Dagger started falling off balance did Eclipse take her chance to cut it from the game entirely. Kicking the suit in the side, she sent it a safe distance away before pulling out her only beam rifle and shooting once into its battery pack. It exploded as expected and Eclipse brought her buckler up to protect the cockpit from debris. Putting her rifle back at her hip, she turned and looked for the next opponent.
As usual, her enemies found her. There were four of them—one on each side of her like some deadly Compass Rose—beam sabers out and ready to run her through. How fun. She turned and faced the one in front of the burning Strike Dagger. She had to try and take them out one at a time, but with reinforced armor and so few beam weapons, it was going to be tough unless she had a little help. Some shells riddled the Dagger's armor, the Orb tanks coming to support her. More Orb forces distracted the machine to her left so she spun to the right and reached out to grab the Dagger's head. The sword under her left wrist flipped up at the same time, the blade cutting into the armor above the cockpit and slowly making its way to its head. With her right blade, she cut the beam saber from its startled hand. Spinning, her left hand clamped down on the head and she shoved the machine at the charging Strike Dagger behind her. The machine panicked when he saw his comrade flying at him and brought the beam saber up to block instead of his shield. Stabbing through the cockpit, he nicked the battery and the two machines exploded.
A sweat drop dripped from Eclipse's nose and into the cushion of her helmet after that series of attacks. Her hands burned with pain and the bandage on her exposed muscle had nearly been rubbed off under her suit, her grip almost too much for the tape to withstand. She coughed once and felt the air burn through her lungs as she breathed. The Berserker bitch fest had definitely come at the wrong time.
The Orb tanks keeping the two machines occupied behind her exploded, making her tired mind remember the other Strike Daggers. Spinning back to them, she emptied her CIWS bullets in their general direction. If they were going to stick with their original attack plan, they were going to be charging with their beam sabers out in front. The bullets did little to slow their charge, but it was enough to knock out one camera and scare the other pilot as three bullets shorted the saber in his hand. He dropped the weapon immediately and drew the beam rifle from his side. The one with the broken camera swung widely, but still on target. Eclipse had to bring the Stealth's right arm up to block and the beam went right through the sword sticking out of her wrist. The blade dropped to the ground and Eclipse ducked under the next swing. The mobile suit with the beam rifle shot at the same time, his attack going over the crouched Stealth.
Eclipse lunged forward and stabbed upwards with her left hand, driving the blade into the arm of the machine with the rifle. Sure the blade would stick, she pulled the suit forward over her machine. The other Strike Dagger—its cameras still out—swung blindly again, chopping downward at Eclipse's makeshift shield and slicing the suit in half from the waist down. Smirking, Eclipse pushed the remaining half onto the blinded Dagger and brought out her own beam rifle, silencing them with a shot each.
This would be so much more fun, she thought, prying her right fingers from the controls one at a time, if I wasn't half dead. She had a little time to catch her breath as the other Strike Daggers were taken care of by the Orb forces.
"Damn, that was impressive, pilot! Thanks for the help," remarked one Orb soldier over the radio. Eclipse just nodded even though they couldn't see her. Her injuries were coming back full force by then and she couldn't breathe let alone form any kind of verbal response. She hugged her hand to her chest and just concentrated on her breath as she watched the screens. Izanagi Island was being overrun and even though the three M1 Astray girls were putting up a good fight, they still had limited battle experience, especially in an all-out swarm battle like this was. Namarra was holding her own, which was good. She had met her comrades—or what she concluded to be the other three guys she had been travelling with in mobile suits—in the air and was flying around like some mosquito avoiding a fly swatter. One suit was teal with two cannons mounted on its shoulders and standing on what looked like an Earth Forces version of a Guul. But it was a black with some red attachments and looked way too bulky to merely be for transportation. The last suit was the largest of them all with a white body and three large green shields on its back and sides. At least they looked like shields. Since he was flying on his own, they were most likely boosters as well.
Eclipse couldn't hear much of the conversation, but it didn't look as if the Earth Forces' new mobile suits wanted to hurt her fellow Berserker, just annoy or even scare her. That meant Eclipse had a little more time to clean up things on Orb soil, but she didn't know how long she would be able to hold up. One more burning cough and breath meant all of the flying around and fighting wasn't doing well for her internal bruises.
"More units approaching from above," the Stealth announced, drawing the redhead back to her suit's grim predicament. Cursing, she let go of her hand and gripped her fingers one-by-one back on the controls.
Grabbing its rifle, the Stealth took aim and fired at two descending Strike Daggers. One enemy machine opened fire at the Stealth, but she avoided the shots easily and counterattacked. One shot went through a Strike Dagger's thigh and nicked the battery given the angle. The explosion caught a parachute of a nearby mobile suit and sent the machine falling hard onto the sand. Eclipse dodged a couple more shots from the other suits before aiming and shooting at that one through the cockpit before it could recuperate.
Turning away from the shore, she saw about a dozen more mobile suits about to land. Her grip twitched on the controls as she took a strained breath. Another sweat drop fell down her forehead and into her eyes. Reflexes took over at that point and she flicked her head to the side—to send the drop away—just in time to hear Namarra's conversation turn sour.
"Orga, listen to me—"
"Shut up, girl. Shani, why don't you do the honors? We'll get rid of the—"
"Orga! Why does he—"
"Shut up, Clotho!"
Eclipse glanced up at the screen and cursed. If things were about to get serious, she had to get over there and fast knowing how injured Namarra was. It was a good plan until she remembered how vulnerable the Orb forces would be if she took off. Even in her condition, she was better than no one. One Strike Dagger hit the ground and then lunged at the Stealth. Eclipse fired a shot through its left shoulder and dodged its panicked attack as it fell to the ground. A shot through the top of the cockpit silenced him.
The next couple of seconds were interesting. Instinctively, she had turned to stab the enemy coming at her back, but when she spun, the machine already had its head and upper left arm blown off. It staggered a couple of steps and then fell backwards, the two damaged areas sparking and smoldering from the attack. The Stealth traced the shots to a white and blue mobile suit hovering above her and off to the right. It looked a lot like the prototypes, but just shinier and taller according to the limited schematics the Stealth provided. Based on the HiMat wings and the priggish aura emitting from the cockpit, she figured it was Kira in the Freedom Gundam. She scowled but still kept things civil when she brought up a communication transmission.
"I suppose you're waiting for a thank you."
"Oh, it's you," the pilot replied, nothing in his tone indicating he was angry about seeing her, but his words showing he was sad about it. He really needed to stop pitying her.
She narrowed her eyes, letting him know she didn't appreciate his reaction. "Can I trust you not to fuck up here?"
He hesitated a moment before answering, most likely startled by her choice of words. "I will defend this country with my life, if that's what you mean."
How noble, she thought, but bit her tongue. She could quarrel with him later. "Normally, I pray for your death, but I need you alive right now. Don't let Orb burn."
"Roger that." He saluted on the other end of the communication and Eclipse returned a nod before cutting it off. She didn't trust the guy personally—hell, she didn't even like him—but she knew he was powerful and even though he seemed to be playing the tragic hero by only maiming the enemy mobile suits, his aim wasn't half bad. Taking a moment, she watched him fly off—followed by the recovered Strike—before pressing a couple buttons and initiating the Mirage Colloid. It probably wouldn't do much against such impressive opponents as Namarra's Extended comrades, but it might give her a surprise advantage.
Shani's suit—the Forbidden—swung his beam scythe high over Namarra, the Decay easily able to duck under the attack. At any other moment she may have mocked him for his poor piloting skills, but right then she was desperate to just get their attention. They had been blowing her off the entire time and the fact that Azrael was yelling at them probably didn't help matters, but if they had been their real selves, they would never have been in that situation to begin with. "Shani, stop—I'm not gonna fight you. I can help you!" Shani didn't reply verbally, merely swung once more over her head. Orga and Clotho had started flying towards the mainland, most likely eager to get to their real battle. She tried chasing after them, but Shani cut her off again. "Damn it, if you guys would just hear me out!"
The Calamity—Orga's suit—and Raider—Clotho's machine—combo slowed and turned back to the evading Decay. "Chicabo, listen," Clotho started, but faded out.
Namarra hesitated on the controls. Her muscles cramped as her foot let off the thruster. Leaning forward, she opened her mouth to talk and took her hand off the joystick. He had used her nickname.
There was a chance.
"Clotho—"
"Namarra!"
The Natural heard Eclipse's scream, but didn't have enough time to fully react to Shani's swing and with her hand off the controls, she couldn't put up any kind of real defense. His scythe sliced through her suit's left thigh and down through her right knee, severing the limbs completely. She had managed to avoid more serious damage—with her left hand pulling the Decay up and away—but the body rattle and annoying sensors made her feel more like it had been a fatal blow. Her head bounced around in the cockpit and the more she tried to brace herself, the more it hurt. The Decay was working on stabilizing itself and trying to compensate for the missing limbs, but the suit wasn't as advanced as her other teammates' so the computer was slow and Namarra's body couldn't handle much more. She closed her eyes and tried to make her stomach calm down.
Shani's finishing swing was coming, the Natural could feel it. She opened her eyes just in time to see the Forbidden's scythe slashing across the front of her suit, the tip jamming into the right side of the cockpit. She heard the metal folding and cracking in response to the pressure and felt her muscles finally relax. If she had to be killed by someone, one of her comrades couldn't be too bad. And at least it would be quick.
Namarra had seen her share of weird things in her life, but Shani missing a close-ranged kill wasn't one of them. The tip of the scythe cut open the front of the cockpit, tearing out her screens and controls along with riddling her legs and arms with sparks from the severed equipment. The wires snagged on the jagged corners as they were torn away, making Namarra more than happy those wires didn't wrap themselves around one of her arms or fingers and pull it out of the suit.
Her mind calmed down once she realized she wasn't going to be slit in two, her eyes moving slowly upward to see the scythe being pushed away by—well—nothing. Sparks and the smell of burning metal came from about halfway down the curve of the weapon, but whatever was blocking the attack had managed to push the swing back enough to keep the Decay out of immediate danger. Looking away from the blade and over to the Forbidden, she saw his suit was only partially there. She could see the green top of its Geschmeidia Panzer, but nothing of his body. All she saw was a glossy reflection of herself and yet it wasn't her at the same time. Everything was distorted, but from far away she knew it looked nothing more than an invisible savior. It was Mirage Colloid, Namarra knew, but was it another machine?
"Lexi?"
The blade held out for a little bit longer against the scythe until it finally sliced through. The half fell harmlessly into the ocean, but the scythe had to finish its swing and the Natural knew there was only one way it could go. She braced herself as best she could, feeling the full weight of the invisible machine falling back against her own.
Shani's blade severed the Stealth's left arm, sending a reaction down the wiring to fry the systems for the Mirage Colloid. The machine appeared in the air and both females could just see the smirk curling up Shani's face. Another weakened enemy was just what he needed to brighten his day. He didn't attack right away—most likely his suit was too bulky to have a quick recovery—the Stealth and Decay having a little time to stabilize themselves and anticipate the Forbidden's next move.
"If he fires his Hresvelgr plasma cannon we're dead," Namarra said, biting her bottom lip as she pulled a shard of glass from her thigh. Cursing loudly, she quickly put pressure on the wound and threw the piece of glass out the gash in front of her.
"Then we should try to run." Eclipse was fairing just as well except her problems involved a certain bite wound on her wrist and some skin pulled away on the opposite hand. She had disinfected the areas as soon as her body let her move to her suit, but the throbbing pain was now up to both shoulders. She was lucky her hands were gripping the controls because she couldn't even feel her fingers.
"Yeah and he'd have us overrun in less than a minute."
The Stealth's screens started flashing red then and Eclipse looked at the Forbidden. He was going to fire the plasma. "Shit. Nam, cut your boosters." Eclipse never got a response, but she knew the Natural had heard. She may have limited visual, but her radios were fine.
The Forbidden fired and the Decay dropped just before he shot. The blast went over its head as well as the Stealth's when Eclipse went into a dive. Reaching out with her one good arm, she grabbed the Decay's right elbow and they took off into open water, away from the battlezone. The Stealth was slower with the added weight, but Shani's recovery time was even more sluggish after the blast than after his other attack. "Enemy suit not following," the Stealth announced and both female pilots released their breath.
"I'm gonna swing around to the rocky area on the far end of Onogoro Island. Let's just hope the fight hasn't gotten that far."
"Fine," Namarra replied and Eclipse left it at that. No doubt there were a lot of things running through that head of hers and the redhead didn't want to bother her. They were done with the fight for now.
Landing in a rocky area probably wasn't her brightest idea, but they needed cover and since they were both ready to black out, they also needed seclusion. "Addict, I've marked the landing point. Go there, hide the two suits then activate the distress signal."
"Roger that."
"Namarra?" she asked, but heard no response. Taking a couple of quick breaths, she felt her head fall backwards against the headrest as her vision grew white then, finally, black.
"This is it," FS muttered, the computer screen flickering as he watched the files being copied to a separate disk. "With this SIN-ED still prevails."
"What're you talking about, Pride? We just happen to stumble upon some unfinished research and you just assume it's legit? This is nothing but mindless rambles of a religious nutjob!" Melanie screamed, pointing a finger at the screen and waving her other arm around frantically. "This shit doesn't answer anything! Just tells us that religion and science are not meant to mix together!"
"Melanie's right, Pride," Phoebe added, sifting through some papers on a nearby desk. The computer screen was the only source of light in the room, but she could see the words on the papers just fine. Not like she needed reports to tell her the truth, however. "It's just a theory. We shouldn't put too much trust in it."
"No, it makes perfect sense! You haven't seen her; I know she's capable of this!"
"Of bringing about Judgment Day?" Phoebe asked. "Look, I've heard of the guy who did that research. He was trying to prove devils and angels existed in the world by using scientific evidence. Berserkers were believed to have survived in people's DNA, so he based his entire research off that lone fact. I'm sure his imagination went off from there."
"Then how do you explain Berserkers?" FS asked.
"This is fuckin' insane!" Wrath yelled, scattering the pieces of paper on the desk down and across the floor. "You mean to tell me that Lunar Eclipse, the damn redhead you two are so obsessed with is some kind of genetic devil sent to destroy all humanity? That's bullshit! I'm not about to stake my life on—"
"Why do you think everyone wants her, huh?" FS countered, his eyes glowing from the light of the computer screen. The sweat shimmering across his forehead added to the frantic twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Them trying to control her and—ah, fuck, why hadn't I realized it before? That's what Durandal and Roan were after; they were trying to copy her DNA. Can you imagine making more of her; trying to manifest that kind of power?"
Melanie slapped her hand down onto the desk near the computer. "Pride!"
"They could play God."
"Pride, enough!" The Lust girl brought her hand back to slap him across the face, but he proved to be the quicker. Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, his free hand grabbed the back of her head and he slammed it hard and down onto the end of the desk. Her forehead hit with a crack and she fell backwards onto the floor, unconscious.
"Melanie!" Phoebe screamed.
"Pride, what the fuck are you thinking?" Wrath shouted, taking a couple of steps towards FS. He left enough room for Phoebe to check on her sister, but still step in if something more was going to happen. "Let ZAFT believe in whatever the hell they want to. I'm not about to lose my mind and give into some bullshit!"
"Don't you see?" FS continued, waving his arms out to the side and nearly knocking the computer off the table. His hands caught it before it fell, his eyes going wide and his breath quickening when he realized what had almost happened. Licking his lips, he turned his head to the side to see Wrath, his hands never leaving the screen. "Roan saw it. The Berserker's the only one able to give us what we want. No, she may not be a true Berserker yet, but give her time. Soon she'll turn into the world's executioner and start slaughtering people for the fuckin' hell of it. Trust me, Judgment Day isn't instant like the great religions say. Hell no, it's slow and torturous and only the lucky ones die first."
"Pride—ugh! Damn it! Gluttony, say something!"
Stray turned his attention to Wrath, his eyes neutral as he stood there in the doorway. His arms crossed over his chest, he leaned against the doorframe and watched the events from a distance. After blinking once, his eyes slowly moved back over to FS where they lingered for some time. Stray had normally been the one to avoid confrontation within the organization, but he had never looked so detached; so dead to the whole conversation. The light from the computer screen caught his eyes and the brief flash of his tongue as it streaked across his bottom lip. FS stepped a little to the side and more light hit Stray's face just in time to see a sweat drop trickle from the hairline by his ear and down his neck. His stoic eyes flashed fear for a second before he rolled around the doorframe and out into the hallway.
"Gluttony!" Wrath and Phoebe shouted at the same time, but he was gone.
"That's it," FS continued, the other two shivering as if his whisper had brushed down their own necks. "That's how we get her help. We have to impress her; appeal to better nature."
"She's not a god!" Phoebe replied, setting her sister on the ground and grabbing FS by his collar. He must have been too occupied with his own thoughts to not have reacted. "She can't do anything on her own!"
"No, not yet, but if she's given more time—yes, if we put her back into an environment like she had on Januarias 4—she must have grown soft."
"Damn it, stop your blabbering!" Phoebe brought up her left forearm and put it at his neck, slamming him backwards onto the desk. His back bent back across the wood and his feet slipped on some of the papers when he tried to regain some ground. "I'm sick of hearing about that girl. If you wanted to fuck her, fine, all you had to do was ask us to grab her, but calling her a god? Now that's going too far! Those two Berserkers are nothing but—"
"Two? What d'ya mean two?"
She had failed to mention that little bit of information before.
Phoebe froze as she watched his red orange eyes shift from surprise to sadistic ecstasy. They glimmered in the light, shadows racing across the surface as if his own inner demons had finally broken out of their prison. His sanity had held on for a long time, but now and the devils inside of him were free and searching for some kind of desperate idea to cling onto. Looking into those eyes, Phoebe could have sworn she saw his lashes narrow in a way that made the whites of his eyes look like a toothy grin. Shivering, her heart skipped a beat and she barely heard him ask again, "What d'ya mean two?"
"The other assassin. You met her outside of Carpentaria." Her breath quickened when he didn't respond right away. "I-I didn't say anything before because—"
FS's mouth opened then, his eyes rolling backwards into his head as he laughed. "Fate; it has to be fate! There's two of them? And they were both chasing us? It's a sign."
"Dare I ask what you mean by a sign?" Wrath chimed in, his hand now lingering over the handgun at his waist.
"We were meant to bring humanity down on its knees. Now we have to prove it to them." He shook his head, another chuckle—more like a gurgle—escaping his lips. "I can't believe there's two of them." Wrath and Phoebe waited for him to calm down, the Lust girl still keeping a firm arm under his chin. She wasn't putting enough pressure to be blocking his windpipe, but it had to be uncomfortable. Yet there he was, squirming on the table as if someone had slipped a cockroach down the front of his pants.
Eventually his fit slowed, his breath returning to normal and his eyes opening to stare into Phoebe's. She matched the look, but soon had to buckle in pain when she felt his knee jam up between her legs. The hold loosened and FS reached over to grab the middle finger on her left hand. Bending it backwards and twisting her arm to the side, he kicked the back of her right knee and forced her down to the ground. Wrath's gun was up and aimed by the time she hit the floor, but he didn't pull the trigger.
FS turned to look at him, his head cocked to one side as a happy tear fell down his cheek. "Wrath, you are to head to Earth and hook up with Sloth. Lay low until I contact you again."
"And if you don't?" the Sin asked, his gun lowering. If he wasn't going to be near FS anymore, he wasn't going to kill him. Scared shitless, yes, but not enough to kill the person who gave him some sense of sadistic freedom.
FS smiled. "Then you gather up power and wait for the moment to start your own destiny."
"If we all lay low now, we could get SIN-ED up and running again soon. Isn't that what you want?"
FS shook his head and wiped a strand of hair from Phoebe's pain-filled face. "We have to act now. We'll do something so horrendous the Berserkers will have no choice but to be impressed and then we'll have them on our side. We'll work together to get rid of those deserving death."
"And then what?"
Chuckling, he let go of Phoebe's hand and pushed her to the ground with his foot. "Then we'll kill the Berserkers before they realize we deserve to die as well. My friends," he cooed, walking back to the computer and grabbing the disk with the information imprinted there. "We'll be gods."
Stray rubbed clammy fingers up and down his arms, trying to scratch off the goose bumps gathering there. Leaning back against the wall, his body jumped when he heard the computer crash to the floor and the side of his head bumped the doorframe, leaving a painful buzz muddling around with his terrified nerves. There had to have been some kind of signal he missed because there was no way FS could just drop into the lowest level of insanity without so much as a warning. He had thought he was paying attention, but maybe he had slacked off? Had he been careless? Was this really all because of SIN-ED?
A piece of paper crunched loudly to his left and he jumped again, his head whipping around to come face to face with his old friend. FS's lips were set in a straight line and his eyes cloudy as if in some distant memory, but even though his body was standing right there in front of him, Stray couldn't see any sense of recognition there. Another sweat drop tickled the side of his face and FS seemed to notice, the right side of his mouth twitching into a clumsy grin. He brought up his hand and set it firmly on Stray's shoulder. Cold; his hand was freezing. Even the comforting squeeze was more like daggers as his fingers pressed harder than they normally did, cutting into the tender areas around his shoulder.
"You're too tense," FS said, his lips forming the words sluggishly and the breath tumbling from his lips in a warm mist. The perspiration hit Stray's face and he withheld the urge to run away. "We'll get her back, just like you wanted."
Stray said the first thing that came to his mind, almost as if his survival instincts had kicked in. "Good."
The computer sparked from inside the room, illuminating FS's face for one second, but what Stray had seen was pleasure. His old friend liked his response.
A/N: I hate mobile suit battles.
Hey guys, I thought I'd get my rant out there first, but thank you for reading the chapter and for all the support. After all the free time I was bragging about, I thought I was going to finish this chapter rather quickly, but it turned out that I just kept putting it off and I got so frustrated with it at one point I almost let it go for a week or so. I'm so sorry! Some people have been messaging me about an update and I appreciate the thought, so thank you guys and I hope this wasn't a total let down.
Oh, I'd also like to say I'm sorry about the language. I know there are a lot of people out there who really don't mind seeing the f-bomb dropped in constantly—and we all know it's accurate given the age, the circumstance, and what not—but I'm not that big of a fan. I tried taking it out and putting in a different swear word, but nothing really worked as well. There are far more swear words in this chapter as well—and for that, I apologize. Maybe this frustrated me more than I thought it would. O.o
Yes, SIN-ED made a comeback and I think they're gonna be hanging around creepily for a while. Hm, we'll just have to see how things turn out! Aw, I kinda feel bad for Stray though. He's been though a lot of stuff lately and it sucks to see something like that happen.
I also have a question for you guys. A friend of mine suggested I start a forum for this story and the ones that come after it. I'm a bit on the fence about the idea. I think it's gonna be a bit difficult because I have to follow the canon so closely, but since my next story is of the in between time of SEED and Destiny, I'm interested to see what you guys think on it. Hm, well, let me know if it would be a good idea or not and I can set one up.
As always, a special thanks/shout out to my betas, Death-Scimitar, CSS Stravag, and Maderfole. Chapters are so much easier when they do all the hard work. All I have to do is put words down on the page. They're really the ones to make sure it even makes sense. :P
Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers. You guys have been active a lot lately and I really enjoy seeing that!
Corrections to the Narrative:
(Again, nothing this chapter.)
Questions/Gripes:
Soma Taozi: I hope this chapter answers a little bit about the Druggies. I'll be getting into more depth on them later, but Namarra was hinting as something when they were talking in the pool. As for my second story, yes, it will be taking place between SEED and Destiny. I am going to do my own thing on the in between time, so I can't spoil too much. I honestly don't know much about what happened in those two years, but by studying Destiny and the little hints they drop, I might be able to come up with something. Also, it was nice to hear from a new reviewer and I wish I could have responded to you personally instead of through the chapter, but thank you for your insights and for reading my story.
Thanks again, everyone and I'll try to have the next chapter come out sooner. There isn't much mobile suit fighting that I have planned so I won't get so frustrated with it all. :P
Strata