Hello everyone, R-0 here with this next chapter.
I have now decided to implement a little review response section at the start of each chapter. As you can guess, this is where I will address certain points made by reviewers. Those who I don't address will be those who I normally discuss these points with via PMs (you know who you are).
edboy4926: I am happy to see that you enjoyed the initial chapter. Regarding their relationship, I won't give out any spoilers, but I will say that the photo will play a key role in it.
worldwanderer2.0: I am happy that you share my thoughts and feelings on the matter regarding KiraXCagalli. When I was watching them, their chemistry felt natural and not forced at all and I could see that they cared for each other a great deal. Indeed, she is infinitely superior to the other two. I won't spoil what Cagalli will be piloting, that's something you will have to wait to see. You seemed to have misunderstood the basis of this fanfic, it is not a re-write of canon so elements from sidestories are not really going to be included. Don't get me wrong, I like the Astray series of Mobile Suits, but this story pretty much follows the canon to a T. I appreciate the suggestion but, and I say this in the nicest way possible, if I require help from the audience, I will ask.
thedarkpokemaster, Don 77, Narusaku fan 100: I am going to address these at once as all three of you made the same point regarding Flay. I am not going to lie and say that I like Flay because I don't, I hate her character. Despite this, I will try to not bash on Flay as I respect the empathetic nature of her character, she's one of the few characters in the Cosmic Era that I find believable. Her role in this fic, however, will be relatively minimal as her sub-plot revolved around Kira which is not going to happen in this fic. I will try and do what I can with her character, however, I cannot promise a lot.
Fireminer: Believe me; I would LOVE to erase Lacus from existence. But, as I stated, this is not a re-write and focuses only on the changes brought on by Cagalli's joining the Archangel early. There is only one other noticeable change that is going to occur that I shall not spoil. Also, as much as it pains me to say this, she does have use in SEED. It was only Destiny where I thought that she should have just pissed off as her sheer presence made things worse. As I have stated, Flay's role in this fanfic will be much less in comparison to the Original Series.
popcaga: I am pleased for you.
code R.R: I am happy that you have an interest in my fic.
Anyway, let's begin the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not Own Gundam SEED or its respective materials.
Chapter 2: Asset Gained
The Remaining civilians were still evacuating Heliopolis as the destruction continued. The remaining Moebius Mobile Armours were being mopped up by the pilot named Matthew while the pilot named Miguel Aiman was dealing with the remaining ground forces comprised of Infantry, Jeeps and Missile Trucks.
"A Level 8 Evacuation order has been issued for all of Heliopolis." The voice over the Colony's intercom called, "Residents are to make their to the closest shelter at once."
Among the remaining evacuating civilians who were unfortunate enough not to make to a Lifepod was Kira's entourage of friends. Sai Argyle, Toelle Koenig, KuzzeyBuskirk and Miriallia Haw who were seeking in desperation for some sort of safe place amid this chaos.
"What's going on?" A random civilian cried.
"Where are the shelters?!"
"Can't go! Try this route!"
As the four friends ran in a certain direction, they were immediately halted as an explosion resounded in front of them, a large cloud of smoke pillowing from it. This also paused several other nearby civilians also evacuating.
From the explosion, the grey coloured GAT-X105 Strike and GAT-X303 Aegis burst through the clouds. This caused the surrounding civilians to gasp in shock at the site of even more Mobile Suits than just the GINNs.
"There are more?!" One civilian exclaimed, confusing these prototypes as ZAFT weaponry (Technically, 4 out of 5 of these Mobile Suits are ZAFT's property now).
The Aegis landed next to Miguel's GINN. It responded by having its monoeye turning towards the new Mobile Suit.
"Athrun!" Miguel called to his fellow soldier, clearly joyous at their reunion.
"Rusty failed." Athrun stated. Miguel looked towards the other machine with surprise.
"What?" He said.
"An officer of the Earth Forces has boarded the other machine." Athrun explained to his comrade. He continues to watch as the Strike crudely lands on the ground and lumbers forward as if in an intoxicated state. Kira's friends as well as other civilians quickly run out of the way of this machine as it continues to shamble around.
Murrue continues to try and operate the Strike as efficiently as she can but to no avail as it continues to move around in the same manner. Kira is planted on her right side while Cagalli is on her left.
"Can't you move this thing any better than that?!" Cagalli exclaimed, "The thing's walking around like its drunk or something."
"I'm not the Strike's designated pilot!" Murrue exclaims. Luckily, she manages to use the Strike's scanners and several smaller screens appear on the main monitor. These images comprise of Miguel's GINN, Athrun's Aegis, the surrounding area that has been radically destroyed and…
"Sai! Tolle! Kuzzey!"Kira exclaims at the sight of his fleeing friends, leaning over Murrue and Cagalli to get a better look at them. Unfortunately, his moment of joy is short lived as Miguel suddenly lets off a burst of bullets from his Heavy Assault Machine Gun which don't hit the Strike. However, they do hit the ground right next to it, causing the Mobile Suit to stagger. During this moment, Miguel mounts his Machine Gun on the GINN's back skirt and brandishes its Heavy Sword. The GINN's monoeye moves to regard the Aegis behind it.
"Then I'll capture that machine!" Miguel declares, "You go ahead and leave here with that one." His GINN's eye turns back towards the Strike and starts to advance on it. Athrun opens his mouth to say something but stops himself and a pensive look graces his features.
"Kira?"Athrun thinks to himself, "No! It can't be! There's no way he could've been there."
He removes himself from his thoughts and lowers the Operating Keyboard and begins to look through the OS.
Meanwhile, Miguel's GINN continues to advance on the Lumbering, slow Strike, its three passengers look on in worry as it continues to advance on them.
The GINN goes for a slash on the Mobile Suit, however, misses as it dodges to the right to evade the attack. The GINN hovers there for a few moments as the sudden movement causes Kira and Cagalli to jerk around on the spot. This causes them to unfortunately fall into Murrue's field of vision and bang their heads together.
"OW!" Cagalli yells, rubbing her forehead to nurse the wound, "do you want to watch where you're going?! That hurt like a truck!"
"S-sorry" Kira apologises, also rubbing his head.
"Stay back!" Murrue shouts down to the two of them, "do you two want to die?"
"S-sorry…" Kira apologises again. Both he and Cagalli get back up to move to back to the side to Murrue, but then see the GINN charging for them, holding its Heavy Sword in a Two-Handed fashion. Both Kira and Cagalli yell in terror at the sight.
The GINN jumps into the air, ready to do a leaping slash. Murrue quickly reacts and hits the gold button on the console with large red letters saying "PHASE SHIFT" appearing above it. In that moment, the Strike's dull paint scheme is instead replaced with a bright red, blue and white colour scheme across the body. The Strike raises its arms to block the oncoming attack from the GINN. The Heavy Sword does nothing as it clashes with the arm, merely causing sparks to erupt from the clash. Kira, Cagalli and Athrun regard this with surprise.
"What?!" Miguel exclaims, clearly confused as to why his Sword did not simply cut through the Strike's arms like butter as it done to countless Moebius Mobile Armours.
"This Mobile Suit…" Kira trails, startled as Murrue lets out a cry of pain.
Miguel's GINN boosts away as the Strike lowers its Guard.
"What's going on?! What's with that's Mobile Suits armour?!" He asks confusedly. Athrun appears on his communicator screen.
"They're equipped with Phase Shift Armour." Athrun responds as the GINN lands back on the ground. "Once activated, a GINN's sabre is useless against it!"
Miguel looks back towards the Aegis as a Crimson Colour scheme engulfs the Mobile Suit. A pair of Missiles immediately come careening towards the Aegis who responds by letting off a volley of its head mounted CIWS, easily shredding the missiles apart. The Aegis then continues its volley of bullets by shreading apart the Missile Truck which had dared attack it.
"You get out of here!" Miguel commands Athrun, clearly not wanting to risk their trophy. "There's no reason for you to stick around!"
Athrun looks back towards the Strike Gundam. A memory of Kira as a little boy surfaces before he looks away with an aggravated expression. The Aegis boosters breathe into life as it flies away. Murrue, Kira and Cagalli watch as it does. Unfortunately, that moment is short lived as the Strike's alarm beeps into life, alerting the three to the charging GINN.
"Watch out!" Cagalli yells.
Murrue responds to the GINN's charge by using its own CIWS to attack the GINN. Unfortunately, all of the shots miss the Mobile Suit by a large margin. This is something which Kira picks up on.
"This Mobile Suit isn't even…"
Miguel lets out a scoff of amusement, "Superior armour alone won't save you!" He yells as he slashes at the Strike who dodges the blow. Miguel quickly spins around to target the Strike again with another slash. The Strike's three occupants brace for the impact as Miguel slashes across the Strike's chest, causing the Mobile Suit to stagger backwards. Miguel follows this combo up with another charge. "You ain't got any movement!" is what he yells as connects with the Strike again in a downwards slash, striking the Mobile Suit on the shoulder. This blow is too much for the Strike as it flies backwards and straight into the building behind , Cagalli and Murrue all let out a grunt of pain from being jerked around so much.
Several nearby civilians are running away from the battle including Kira's entourage of friends. Something that he picks up when the left view-screen zooms in on him despite Cagalli partially blocking the image.
"A Natural piloting a Mobile Suit?" Miguel exclaims, "don't make me laugh!" He shouts with a cocky tone. He advances on the Strike again, sword at the ready, as the Mobile Suit backs away like a scared puppy.
It's in this moment that Kira realises how close he is to his friends and, as the GINN's sword thrusts towards them, he quickly dives for the controls and quickly makes the Strike duck beneath the oncoming slash and ram into the enemy Mobile Suit, causing the machine to careen backwards as Miguel yells out in surprise as his GINN smashes onto the ground away from the Strike.
Kira's friends look on in surprise at the retaliation as he checks to make sure that they are safe. Meanwhile, Cagalli and Murrue look at the boy in surprise.
"You're a…" Murrue trails.
"I knew it!" Cagalli yells.
"There are still people around here!" Kira complains while accessing the Mobile Suit's systems via the console, "If you're going to operate this thing, then put it to some good use!"
The GINN begins to get back on its feet as Miguel grunts in annoyance as the machine slowly lumbers back up. Meanwhile, Kira has accessed the Strike's OS and regards it with annoyance.
"This is ridiculous!" He remrarks, "how do you expect to operate a Mobile Suit as complicated as this with an this kind of OS!"
"It can't be helped! The OS was never completed!" Murrue explains.
Miguel eventually manages to get his GINN back up straight and looks towards the Strike, anger gracing his features.
"Why you…!" He grinds through his teeth in annoyance.
Kira quickly turns towards Murrue at the sight of the GINN righting itself.
"Please move!" She regards him with a confused look, "Hurry!" he asserts himself. She quickly moves out of the pilot chair and into the position Kira was previously, with some shifting here and there, as he grabs hold of the Operating Keyboard and sets to work on the OS. Murrue regards him with a look again as he continues his work, his eyes moving incredibly quickly as he processes the information.
"This kid…" she thinks.
"Hey, Kira!In front!"Cagalli alerts him as the GINN assaults him again with its sword drawn. He quickly ceases his work and utilizes the Vulcans. This causes the GINN to slow down and stagger from the volley, eventually making a full stop.
"What?!" Miguel yells with confusion. He quickly recovers and slashes at the Strike. It easily evades the slash and punches the GINN in the face, flinging it backwards into a building as Miguel yells out in 's friends continue to watch the onslaught.
"Take the calibrations and reset the Zero Moment Point and CPG" Kira mutters to himself as he continues work on the Strike's OS, "The connect the Control Module directly to the Molecular Ion Pump and reconstruct the neural linkage network!" He continues to mutter, "Renew meta-active field, reactivate feed forward controls, convey function! Adjust Coriolis deviation, connect to motion routines!System online, initiate bootstrap!"
Miguel gets back up once again, "What's happened to that guy? He's suddenly moving better!" He wonders with confusion. He gives up on his Heavy Sword and mounts it back on his Left Skirt and re-equips his Machine Gun. He lets off a burst off automatic fire which connect to the Strike. While the Strike is unharmed, the shockwaves can be felt in the cockpit as its occupants grunt in pain. Kira quickly boosts into the air in order to evade the oncoming shots from the GINN. Miguel gives chase into the air and continues to let off bursts of Machine Gun fire at the Strike.
"Weapons!"Kira mutters in relief as he finds the file titled "OFFENSIVE" which reads only two weapons: The Vulcans and…
"Armour Schneider?"Kira mutters, "that's it?!"
He wastes no time and quickly draws the two Assault Knives from the Strike's left and right skirt. Miguel's GINN lands and continues to rain fire on the Strike as the Strike lands back on the ground and continues to evade the bullets.
"You damn pest!" Miguel yells in annoyance.
"Not here!" Kira exclaims as he boosts the Strike directly towards the GINN when, all of a sudden…
The Strike veers to the left and tumbles over behind some buildings. This action confuses Miguel as he momentarily pauses from his firing to regard what just happened.
"What the hell's going on?!" He wonders, "is this bastard trying to confuse me or something?!"
Little does he know what actually happened. Out of nowhere, Cagalli suddenly grabbed hold of one of the Control Sticks and roughly yanked it in one direction, sending the Strike careening behind sufficient cover. Kira quickly regains himself as he looks at Cagalli with confusion and anger, the same as Murrue.
"What did you do that for, Cagalli?!" He asks her with an aggressive tone.
"You idiot!" she yells, "don't you know that all Military Weapons have a Self Destruct in them?!" He looks at her with confusion before turning in the other direction and looking at Murrue who seems to have had a look of realisation.
"She's right… Then…"
"You would have gotten way too close to that thing to use those knives and put yourself in range of that!" Cagalli explains her actions, "ZAFT are willing to spare a cheap GINN if it means damaging a threat like this!"
"She's right." Murrue confirms. "So what do we do?"
Kira sits there for a few moments before he has a look of realisation.
"Miss, are the schematics for the Strike on the computer?" Kira asks Murrue.
"Of course they are."
"And the Self-destruct mechanisms location is also there?"
"Yes… But what are you getting at?" She inquires.
"It's a gamble, but if the Mechanism on the GINN is located in a similar position to this Mobile Suit, I may be able to disable it." He explains.
"WHAT?!"Cagalli yells, "that's a big-ass chance to take!"
"It's all we got!"
Kira quickly moves from behind the buildings as a burst of bullets pass clean through the building. Kira is, once again, face to face with Miguel's GINN.
"Thought you could try and confuse me, Natural?!" Miguel yells, "I'm gonna kick your ass, now!" He aims his Machine Gun at the Mobile Suit and pulls the trigger, unfortunately; only the clicking sound can be heard.
"Dammit, I'm out of ammo!"
"Quickly, Miss! You need to direct me to the schematics!" He looks at Murrue only to see that she has fallen unconscious from blood loss. What makes this even worse is that the LOW POWER warning suddenly beeps into life as the Strike, once again, becomes a dull grey.
"Dammit!" Kira regards the girl to his other side. "Cagalli, I need your help!"
"What with?"
"Since he's out of ammo, he's going to charge us again with the sword. When he does, simply squeeze this trigger," He taps his finger on one of the triggers on the Joystick," and don't let go! You'll keep shooting vulcans at him hopefully long enough for me to find the schematic."
"Ok…"
"You got that?!"
"I said I did, alright?!"
"Ok." He detached his hands from the controls and began scouring through the Strike's OS in search of the fabled schematics while Cagalli was at the ready.
"Alright, to hell with this!" Miguel yells in frustration as he throws his Machine Gun away, which lands in another nearby ruined building, and pulls out his Heavy Sword, "Your armour's gotta drop soon enough!" He ignites his boosters ready to charge at the Strike. Luckily, Cagalli's at the ready as she begins to pepper the GINN with Vulcan rounds which cause it to not be able to boost forwards and instead only stagger on its feet towards the unmoving Strike.
Closer…
"Kira, any second now! This bastard's relentless!"
Closer…
"I'm in the right area, now where is that file?!"
Closer…
"Oh shit!" Cagalli yells, " Kira, I'm out!"
Miguel does not waste the opportunity as the Strike's onslaught of bullets ceases and charges at the Strike with thrusters fully ignited.
"You're mine natural!" Miguel yells.
"KIRA!"
A screen appears on the Mobile Suit's computer with what looks to be the details of the Strike's body. Kira quickly glances over it, looking for the Mechanism.
"I got it!"
As the GINN is about to slice clean through the Strike's cockpit in a downward motion, its arms holding the sword behind it, Kira quickly grabs hold of the controls and runs one of the Knives into the GINN's neck, completely immobilising it while running the other knife through the top right part of the GINN's chest. The GINN hovers there lifeless for a few seconds until the GINN's hands suddenly slacken and let go of the Heavy Sword, the large object clanging on the ground behind it. The arms numbly fall to its side like piece of jelly. Its monoeye dimming.
"Hydro not responding." Miguel mutters, "Multi-drive system offline!" He quickly releases his belt restraints and pulls the lever to his right to activate the Self-Destruct. The timer appears on screen, as normal, and Miguel quickly pops the hatch and boosts away with his Thruster Pack. He quickly turns back expecting to see the disabled GINN explode and looks to see that… nothing has happened… The GINN still stands their like a lifeless doll.
"What the hell?!" He yells in annoyance, "why didn't the self-destruct work?! Is it broke or something?!" He then has a look of realisation,"Le Creuset'sgonna have my ass when he finds out that I let one of our GINNs fall into their hands!" He clutches his hand into a fist in annoyance before quickly flying away. As he flies away, one thought leaves his mind.
"I'll get you for this embarassment, Natural! If it's the last thing I do!"
Meanwhile, Cagalli and Kira both breathe a sigh of relief at not being victim to a self-destructing Mobile Suit. Their breaths exhausted and ragged after the intense battle.
"It… worked…" Cagalli managed to say.
"Yeah… it did…" Kira agreed, he looked at Cagalli and smiled a little, "thanks for the help."
She smiles in response, "don't mention it."
Meanwhile…
Several shards an assorted objects were floating around in dark, desolate corridor. This was corridor was littered not only with these objects, but with the corpses of Alliance Personnel drifting through it, their blood also floating in the air as small bubbles.
Ensign Natarle Badgiruel had just woken from unconsciousness after drifting into one of the nearby walls, rousing her from sleep. Unfortunately, she was treated to the rather gruesome sight of one of her deceased comrades dirtied and bloodied. As she drifts back to the ground, she covers her mouth as if appalled by the sight. However, she immediately snaps out of it and glances around, one thought crossing through her mind which she gives thought to:
"The Ship… The Archangel, where is it?"
She quickly pushes the corpse away from her and heads into the opposite direction, looking for the aforementioned ship.
Meanwhile…
The battle outside of the Colony was still raging as the Marseille-III Class was under brutal assault by Olor's GINN who, in this moment, had managed to disable the Transport Ship's engines right as it was careening straight towards Heliopolis. Olor simply flies away as he knows that he has already bested this ship.
"I can't steer it!" The Marseille's pilot yells in terror, desperately trying to make any sort of manoeuvre possible that could prevent their inevitable fate. Unfortunately, it ultimately accomplishes nothing as its Captain cries out in terror as the ship collides with the side of the Colony, bending its front at an impossible angle before exploding. In this moment, Olor's GINN is intercepted by Mu La Flaga and his Moebius Zero, who lets out a growl of frustration.
"Can't we do anything about this difference in power?!" He exclaims as he deploys his Gunbarrels to take down Olor's machine who still encircles the Mobile Armour and continuously lets off shots with his Machine Gun. Unfortunately, Mu manages to land a well placed shot which directly hits the Machine Gun, destroying it outright. Olor quickly draws his Heavy Sword, ready to charge at the Moebius Zero. Unfortunately, Mu manages to land another lucky hit and blasts the GINN in the shoulder, causing its entire arm (and weapon) to be blown off. Olor quickly dashes away in the hopes of escaping the fight.
Onboard the Nazca-Class Destroyer codenamed Vessalius, Rau Le Creuset and Captain Fredrik Ades were watching the battle until the Communications Officer piped up.
"Olor's Suit has been heavily damaged," he informed the two men, "he's making an emergency return!"
"Firefighting unit, to B deck!" He commands over the tannoy.
"Olor's been hit?!" Ades queries with an incredulous tone, "in a battle like this?"
"There appears to be a rather annoying bug flying around." Le Creuset interjects.
"Huh?" Ades asks, turning towards Le Creuset in confusion for a moment before another message turns back around in alert.
"Laser beacon from Miguel Aiman received!" The Communication Officer yells out, "It's an emergency!"
"If it is working well enough to cause Miguel to lose his unit…" Le Creuset trails. He gets out of chair and prepares to leave the bridge, "all the more reason why we cannot ignore this last one." He states.
Back in Heliopolis…
Natarle has found her way into one of the Control Rooms, all of the area was as black as sin as shards of the Colony floated around her.
"Anybody!" She cries out, "is there anybody there?!" She halts for a moment as a tattered and torn Captain's hat floats directly in front of her. She grabs it and squeezes it harshly as tears begin to pour out of her eyes.
"Damn!" She chokes out between her sobs, "Aren't there any survivors?!"
A banging from one of the bulkheads beneath her alerts her as the door is kicked open and the Alliance Soldier of Arnold Neumann who is holding a flashlight.
"Ensign Badgiruel," he addresses her with relief as he shines his light on her, "I'm glad your okay!"
Back outside…
Three flares, two green and one red, had just been launched indicating for the remaining ZAFT pilots to retreat back to the Gamow and Vessalius. This is exactly what they do as the remaining GINNs retreat as Mu La Flaga watches.
"They're retreating?" He exclaims, "but there's still something…" He narrows his eyes, "what is it?" He quickly engages his thrusters and takes off in another direction.
Meanwhile, Le Creuset is closing in on him in his ZGMF-515 CGUE.
"Do you sense me, the way that I sense you?" He wonders out loud, "Some unlucky karma, don't you think, Mu la Flaga?"
Back inside the Colony with the Strike…
Murrue Ramius manages to finally awaken after falling unconscious from blood loss. Kira and his male entourage of friends were investigating the Mobile Suit with vested interest. Cagalli was stood with her back against one of the shelter's poles with a brooding expression while Miriallia was sat next to Murrue's now awakening form.
The Strike was knelt down in front of the shelter that Murrue was lying underneath. The disabled GINN was lying, on its back, directly behind the Strike with it's recovered Heavy Machine Gun and Heavy Sword lying on either side of it.
There was an awkward moment when Kira introduced Cagalli to his friends as they all made the same mistake of believing she was a boy, a fact that clearly insulted her as she gave them the same violent retort she had done with Kira.
With a somewhat pained moan, Murrue managed to open her eyes and greeted to the sight of Miriallia who returned her look with a cheerful smile.
"I see you're awake." She looks towards Kira to call him over, "Kira!"
As Kira walks towards her, Murrue holds her head in pain.
"Oh, you'd better stay still for now." He assures her. They both share a silent look as Kira looks guiltily at the ground.
"I'm sorry," he apologises, "I kinda got carried away during that fight and didn't focus on escaping." Miriallia quickly returned after walking away for a few moments with a canteen in her hand.
"Care for some water?" She asked Murrue as she gestured the canteen towards her.
"Thank you." Kira helps her up so that she can take a long gulp of water until something catches her attention.
"This is awesome, the so-called Gundam!"
This statement alerts Murrue as she ceases her drinking and looks towards Kira's friends who are investigating the Mobile Suit.
"Does it move, or doesn't it?"
"Guy's stop playing with it!" Sai yells up to Toelle and Kuzzey who were currently interacting with the cockpit. Tolle quickly clambered back out.
"Why'd it turn Grey?" Kuzzey wondered.
"Maybe it's main battery ran out or something?" Tolle answered.
"Get away from that machine!" Murrue yells out at them. They all turn towards her and are shocked when a bullet clangs next to them on the Strike's chest, causing them to duck their heads in fear. Murrue continues to hold up her sidearm as she stands up on starts to walk towards them.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Kira cries out as he runs to her side in an effort to stop her, "Please stop this!"
"Those are the guys who carried you out while you where unconscious!" Kira explains. Unforunately, his attempt at defusing the situation seems to fail as she turns around and aims her gun on him.
"I'm grateful to you for saving my life." She explains, "but that thing is a top Military Secret! It's not something that civilians should be touching thoughtlessly!"
Suddenly, Cagalli walks in front of Kira and puts a protective arm in front of him. Murrue hesitates for a moment before focusing her gun on Cagalli.
"This is a funny way to show gratitude." She comments, "Pointing a gun at the guy who not only saved your life, but prevented this thing from falling into ZAFT's hands!" She responds violently. Kira suddenly pushes her arm back down to her side and shakes his head at her.
"It's alright." He states.
"Like hell it is!" She responds hotly.
"She's only doing her job, can you let it go?" He asks.
Cagalli regards him for a few more seconds before sighing and dropping away from Kira a few paces as well as showing a less offensive stance.
"Fine…"
"Regardless if I should show my gratitude, what you were doing can be considered criminal!" Murrue states.
"Give me a break!" Tolle whispers, "it was Kira piloting it a moment ago!" His comment was met with Murrue turning her gun on his, causing him to gasp and raise his hands into the air. Murrue gestures the three boys over next to Miriallia, Kira and Cagalli.
"Stand over there." She commands. They don't hesitate in the slightest and immediately walk over to stand next to the others.
"Tell me your names."
"Sai Argyle."
"Kuzzey Buskirk."
"Tolle Koenig."
"Miriallia Haw."
"Cagalli."
"Your full name."
"What are you gonna do? Shoot a civilian girl because she didn't want to tell you her full name?"
Murrue pauses for a moment before focusing her sight on Kira, who stands there motionless for a few moments before answering.
"Kira Yamato."
"I'm Murrue Ramius." She declares, "An officer with the Earth Forces."
"I hate to say this, but I cannot allow you to leave."
"What?" They all say.
"Regardless of how it happened, you have still seen a military secret." Murrue explains to them, "Until I reach the proper authorities and it is determined how the situation shall be handled, you have no choice but to remain here with me at all times."
"You're kidding!" Sai complains.
"You gotta be kidding me." Tolle added, "Are you outta your mind, that's ridiculous."
"You will do as I say!" Murrue asserts.
"We're citizens of Heliopolis, we're neutral!" Sai exclaims, "We have nothing to do with the military!"
"He's right!" Kuzzey concurs, "besides, what are the Earth Forces even doing here on Heliopolis in the first place? That doesn't make sense in the first place!"
"Right!" Tolle agrees, "That's how all this happened to begin with!"
Their outbursts were silenced as Murrue let off a couple of Pistol shots into the air, as if to assert who has the other at gunpoint. She then aims her pistol back on the group of friends.
"Be quiet!" She demands, "you kids do not understand anything!"
"By declaring neutrality and saying you have nothing to do with this, you can distance yourself from the issue." She rehearses, "You don't seriously believe that, do you?"
"The Earth's most vital secret was here and you have seen it." She states, "that is the reality you face."
"That was pretty rough." Sai complains.
"It may be pretty rough" Murrue responds, "But we're at war. Between Earth and The PLANTS. Between Coordinators and Naturals."
"WHO WERE LIVING PEACEFULLY TOGETHER ON THIS COLONY!" A voice yelled out. Kira, his friends and Murrue all turned to see Cagalli staring at Murrue with an extremely angered expression.
"What…?" Murrue trails.
"It may be true that you, as Naturals, are fighting Coordinators." Cagalli begins, "but don't think that bullshit works on civilian Naturals and Coordinators! We have managed to live together for years without putting a bullet in each other's heads! Hell, you were SAVED by a Coordinator!"
"Cagalli-"
"I'm finished, Kira." Cagalli cuts him off, "I'll play the prisoner for now, but don't feed that sort of crap to Naturals and Coordinators who have managed to co-exist all this time. Just remember that your life was saved by one of your so called enemies."
"ORB may have managed to achieve some kind of stability, but the rest of the world isn't so lucky." Murrue simply says. As much as she does not want to say it out loud, she does believe that the basis for the war is stupid as she has easily managed to get along with a Coordinator no problem.
Back with Rau and Mu...
Rau is hiding behind some cover as he has spotted the enemy Mobile Armour slowly making its way inside Heliopolis. Mu can sense that there is some kind of familiar presence very close to him and instantly notices it when Rau's CGUE dives out of its hiding place and fires a few shots at his Mobile Armour. Mu quickly boosts forward to dodge the oncoming shots.
"Bastard!" Mu yells, "is that you, Rau Le Creuset?!"
He quickly deploys his Gunbarrels to attempt an assault on the CGUE. However, Rau easily dodges the attacks, continuing to fire on the inferior Mobile Armour.
"You're always getting in my way, Mu La Flaga!" Rau responds, "though we probably share the same opinion!"
He ceases his fire at the Mobile Armour and quickly turns and flies into the entrance into Heliopolis. Mu lets out a moan of frustration as he reconnects his Gunbarrels.
"He's gone into Heliopolis!"
Wasting no time, he ignites his boosters and gives chase.
Back with Natarle…
"The only survivors are the few of us aboard the ship during the explosion." Neumann informs Natarle as she sets foot on the Archangel's bridge, "but the few of us are factory workers" he adds at the last second.
"What's the present situation?" Natarle queries, "What happened to the ZAFT Vessels?"
"I have no idea." Neumann responds, "We have our hands full just confirming things around us." He explains.
Natarle reaches the front console on the bridge and activates the Ship's primary power, causing the once dim bridge to illuminate with life. A screen detailing the Archangel's damage appears. Luckily, the majority of systems register as green while a minority are red.
"This Archangel is quite the ship," Natarle comment, "it'll take more than this to sink it."
"However, the harbour exit is blocked by a heap of rubble," Neumann informs Natarle, "we're completely trapped."
Natarle then interacts with Radio System in the hopes of establishing some kind of contact with others. Unforunately, a static-like screen still appears. Natarle gives a gasp of realisation.
"The airwaves are still jammed , but…" She begins to say, "Then this was a diversion? ZAFT's true target was Morgenroete?!" Nuemann gives a little gasp in response.
"Damn!" Natarle cries with desperation, "what's the situation over there?!"
"What happened to the G-Weapons?" She wonders, "this doesn't tell me a thing!" She holds her head down in an almost defeated like fashion.
"05…rike… here… Forces… respond…" They both gasp at the voice over the radio. They may have some hope after all.
Back at the Strike…
"X105 Strike here, Earth Forces, please respond!" Kira continues to call over the Radio Headset, desperately hoping that someone would reply, "Earth Forces, please respond!" His only reply was static, he responds to it with a solemn look.
The sound of two large supply truck then alert him as he gets out of the Mobile Suit to see Sai Argyle has arrived with the Vehicle that Murrue had sent him after. Cagalli was driving the other vehicle which was a large flatbed truck. Miriallia had decided to stay behind and watch Murrue. Sai quickly disembarks the vehicle and runs up to the group's position.
"The Number five trailer you asked for," He turned around to look back at the Vehicle, which Tolle and Kuzzey were stood next to, clearly exhausted "that's the one right?"
"Yes, thank you." Murrue responds.
"And?" He asks, "what do you want us to do after this?"
"Get the Striker Pack." Murrue answers, still holding her bandaged arm in pain, "Once that's done, Kira, try contacting them again one more time."
"Okay." says Kira as he walks towards the Mobile Suit to try his luck again. Cagalli disembarks the other truck and shouts over to Murrue.
"What's this one for?" She asks.
"You and the others need to fasten the GINN and its weapons onto the Flatbed. If the Colony vacuums, we'll lose it."
"How am I supposed to get a big thing like that on the truck?"
"Kira can help you." Murrue answers, "he'll carry the GINN and its weapons onto the Flatbed and all you need to do is fasten it down with controls."
Back with Mu and Rau…
Rau just flew out of cover and opened fire on the Moebius Zero. The Mobile Armour is able to dodge the oncoming bursts of fire from the CGUE. Mu lets out a groan of frustration.
"Why, in a place like this?!" He exclaims as he begins to fire shots of his Linear Gun, the yellow beam missing the White Mobile Suit as it strafes to the right and instead colliding with the hangar doors behind it, causing them to explode. Mu flies straight through it and is unfortunately greeted with more burst of Machine Gun fire from the CGUE as it flies backwards. Mu, once again dodges the shots and attempts to acquire a lock. Unforunately, the CGUE flies behind even more cover. Mu lets out a grunt of frustration at this.
"I'd be glad if you disappeared right about now, Mu!" Rau says as he boosts out of his hiding space and manages to land a direct hit on the Moebius Zero's top Gunbarrel, causing Mu to deploy them all and eject the damage one, less they cause a chain reaction. He retreats in an opposite direction as Rau gives chase.
On the Archangel…
"Launch the ship?" Nuemann asks incredulously, "that's impossible with the number of people we have!" He tries to reason.
"If you time to argue, spend it on finding a way to do it!" Natarle rebuts him, she learns forward while adopting a stern expression, "Morgenroete could still be under attack, you know!"
The door opens and the three Alliance Soldiers known as Jackie Tonomura, Romero Pal and Dalida Lolaha Chandra II as Natarle continues her speech.
"Are you suggesting we remain here and ignore what is happening there?" The three soldiers all enter the bridge.
"I brought them!" Jackie chirps up, alerting Natarle to their presence.
"Take your seat!" She commands, as she looks back to them, "Just do as the computer instructs you!"
"Yes ma'am!" They all reply as Romero and Dalida enter the two back-to-back seats behind her while Jackie goes to sit in the Co-Pilot's chair.
"Those ZAFT Vessels are still out there!" He contines to argue, "we're in no position to fight!"
"I know that!" She responds, turning back to him, "Prepare to fire Assault Cannons as we activate the ship!"
"You can do that, can't you, Chief Petty Officer?"
He looks at her for a moment before sitting in the pilot's chair and swivelling back around to face the front.
"Begin takeoff sequence!" She commands, "due to the urgency, we'll omit C-30 to L-21 from the process!"
"Main power, online!"
The countdown timer for takeoff starts for the Archangel as several status readings pop up on-screen.
"Output increase stable." Jackie declares, "450 seconds to required rating."
"That's too long!" Natarle complains, "what's the status of the conduits to Heliopolis?"
"They're unharmed!" Jackie lets out a gasp of surprise.
"Draw power from them!" Natarle continues to order, "Conduit online! Relay power to accumulator!"
"Confirming connection! Flow stable, twenty seconds to required rating!" The timer changed from 450 seconds to 20 seconds. The crew than began going through all systems.
"Life Support Systems satisfactory."
"CIC online"
"Weapon systems online. FCS contact."
"Magnetic field chamber and pellet dispenser idling stable."
"Holding external shock dampener at maximum output."
"Contact main power. Engine stable."
"All Archangel systems online. Preparations for takeoff complete!"
"Seal all airtight bulkheads!" Natarle commands, "All hands, be prepared for sudden impacts and damage to the ship."
"Proceed slowly. Archangel, take off!"
The ship's engines roar into life as the White Battleship slowly starts to move forward through the Debris-ridden hangar. The Archangel's Launch bay doors open as the "Lohengrin" Positron Blaster Cannon protrudes out and begins charging.
Rau and Mu…
Rau continues to evade to evade Mu's attempt at scoring a hit as he dodges every shot from the Moebius Zero's Gunbarrels and Linear Gun. He's quick enough to be able to approach the remaining Gunbarrel and crush it with his CGUE'S feet leaving Mu's only weapon being the single Linear Gun mounted on the Moebius Zero. Mu, once again, fires a couple of shots with his Linear Gun which are still unable to hit him.
Kira…
Kira quickly manoeuvres the Strike in front of the Supply truck with its back towards it. The top of the trailer pulls open to reveal it's content inside. A standard Power pack which appeared to mount on the back. A green shoulder pad comprised of a 120MM Anti-Ship Gun which looked like a Gatling Gun as well as two 350 MM Gun Launchers. Lastly (and most prominently), the "Agni" 320 MM Hyper Impule Beam Cannon. Kira climbed out of the cockpit of the Strike.
"Which is the power pack?" He queries Murrue loudly so that she can hear him.
"The Weapons and Power Pack are together in one unit!" She explains, "Mount the whole unit!"
Meanwhile, Mu is still desperately trying to evade the relentless CGUE.
"The evacuation orders are still in effect, I guess." Miriallia randomly says.
"I wonder if my father and the others evacuated safely." Sai wonders. Kuzzey lets out a long sigh.
"I wanna hurry up and go home!" He whines.
They are broken out of their reverie when a large explosion from the inside of one of the skyward Maintenance shafts occurs and alerts them. From the explosion, Rau's CGUE flies into Heliopolis followed closely by Mu's battered Moebius Zero. The CGUE's monoeye looks towards where the Strike is sitting.
"So that's it?" He thinks out loud. He also quickly notices the GINN tethered onto the Flatbed truck and concludes that that must be Miguel's disabled GINN.
"The last unit?" Mu also wonders.
Rau changes the direction of his CGUE and instead heads straight for the Strike. He gets very close before he has to fly away as Mu's Zero heads straight for him. He still kicks up dust as the wind causes Kira's friends to hold their hands up to block it.
"Mount the equipment!" Murrue yells as she runs towards them, hand on wound, "hurry!"
Mu keeps Rau's CGUE busy as he continues to fire at the machine with his Linear Gun. Rau also returns fire with his heavy Machine Gun. Kira quickly starts programming the Strike to successfully integrate with the Striker Pack.
Unfortunately, Rau manages to flank Mu, draws his Heavy Sword, and charges straight for him. Luckily, Mu manages to spot him, unfortunately, it is too late as, while he pivots his Mobile Armour upwards to get a shot, Rau quickly slices the Linear Gun in half, rendering the Moebius Zero defenceless.
"What?!" Mu cries as Rau smirks at his success. He does not proceed to finish him off and, instead, continues to charge at the inactive Strike.
"I'll sink you now while I have the chance!"
Kira lets out a cry of terror as the CGUE gets closer. Fortunately, the Striker pack is finally attached and Kira activated the Phase Shift armour, once again colouring the Mobile Suit. It quickly stands up, ready to face the enemy.
Archangel…
"Fire assault cannons as we reach maximum battle speed!" Natarle commands.
The "Lohengrin" Positron Cannons both breathe into life as an intense red beam erupts from both of them, blowing open the hangar doors.
"What?" Rau wonders as the large explosion distracts him from his prey, turning his CGUE to the massive explosion to take in the sight of the Archangel bursting through the explosion.
Kira hesitates as he also takes in the sight of the White Battleship that may have just saved their lives.
Well… that took a lot longer than I thought it would.
I really struggled to just write all of the canon scenes (especially the dialogue-centric ones), but do not worry, this will change in a few more episodes as it starts branching out.
So there was chapter 2. Some minor extra pieces of dialogue here and there as compliments of Cagalli, but I suppose the biggest change was the GINN only being disabled and not destroyed… I wonder what role that will play…
Oh well… You'll find out soon enough.
R-0 Out!