The Minerva docked back in the ZAFT African Territory. ZAFT sent out a retrieval fleet to get the debris. Arthur was speaking with both Lunamaria and Shinn. The two were in the medic ward.
"So you're saying neither of you pressed the ejection button?" Arthur was in dismay. The two shook their heads while being looked over. "And neither of you had time to brace yourself for the impact from the high-beam rifle?"
"No," Shinn felt beaten mentally. He was doing so well against the red ZAKU that he thought things were going well. To be taken down by the one he thought wasn't going to be a challenge crushed his ego. "I told Lunamaria to not worry about that one. And yet it took us both down."
Arthur pitied them. Two ace pilots, taken down easily since they were slightly distracted. It was lucky the two were ejected when they did. He had grown fond of them along with the rest of the crew. "Another team has been sent out from base to retrieve the debris of both of your GUNDAMs. However, we don't know if they would be able to repair them back to their original glory. It's looking like both of them will be used for parts or scrap. Don't beat yourselves up too badly for this. However, don't let it go either. They have beaten us twice now. Using tactics we're unfamiliar with. We usually don't fight against those who are relentless like this. We've fought against boosted men and extended types. However, they may fight until their deaths in some sort of desperation. There was no desperation here. Their goal is to destroy. We must not let keep destroying. Rest up." Arthur left them.
Shinn fell back onto the hospital bed. He placed an arm over his eyes. It brought back memories of Stella. "Do. Do you think it's another extended human?"
"I don't know honestly," Lunamaria pulled her knees up while resting her arms on them. She was still going over the last memory of the beam coming towards her. She had never thought about ejecting herself from a battle. That wasn't like her.
Arthur relayed this information back to Declan. The two were in the commander's quarters. Declan didn't like how this was turning out. He had just gotten off a video call with high-ranking General underneath the Chairman of National Defense. He got up to walk around. Arthur excused himself to handle the rest of the duties.
Declan kept thinking about the battle. It wasn't like any battle. The enemy waited. They didn't want to fire first. They were waiting for ZAFT to strike first. He was mulling over how things went down.
In PLANTs, Lacus ran to her chess board after she heard the news about the skirmish. The board looked the same. Lacus asked the board to play the last chess play. Two white pawns had come close to the black queen and king. The black queen stood between the king and the two white pawns. Both white pawns fell. The black queen and king moved back to their spots before the pawns had come over to them. The white pawns got back up and were moved back to their original spots.
Mr. Pink came rolling around. "Ejected! Ejected!"
Lacus looked at the ball as it started to flap. "Yes. They were ejected. They were very lucky." She headed back to her office. Mr. Pink followed behind her.
It had taken a week for Selena to get back under Ra's control. Her ZAKU was fixed. Diana was used as a body double. The mechanics and engineers showed Ra how they fixed the machine. Diana sat down in the pilot chair with the new pilot suit, harnessed in. She sat still while metal bands came out of the chair, locking her in place. It locked in her place at the torso and her thighs. He wanted her to be able to still fight but not leave when she gets over stimulated. The crew expressed that it may get stuck if there was any severe repeated damage since it was still a prototype. Ra did not care about that. He knew that Selena would never allow it to come to that.
The day of the ceremony, Ra had been waiting for this. It was one of his goals in life. The ceremony had taken place in a special hanger that had both ZAKUs. A custom catwalk was made. The hanger had gold and red fabric draped around the back with the golden bird emblem hanging in the middle. Only three people were allowed in the ceremony. The two participants and the one who commenced the wedding vows.
After the ceremony, Ra placed a white cape with a hood over Selena. He picked her up to walk over to his personal house. He placed let her stand in his room. He took off her cape.
"Now, let's see if this will work," Ra pushed a button on a control device to inject Selena with a serum that would increase in her hormones. He leaned towards to kiss her. Selena didn't move. He could see her eyes dilating. Once he kissed her, he felt her kissing him back. He continued to kiss her while removing clothing. He removed his ceremonial cape. He removed her veil next. Ra rotated between taking off his garments and her garments. He placed her on the bed. This time she was reciprocating his affection. He finally took off the mask. He felt her lips trailing his neck. Ra felt as if nothing could bring him down from this bliss. As he thought that, he felt the sharpness of her teeth on his jugular vein. He flinched back as she bit down. Ra clicked a button on the side of his night stand while his other hand held pressure to his neck.
The button created a magnetism where Selena was stuck to the bed. He headed off to the bathroom. Ra saw blood was starting to pump out in tune with his heart through the bite marks. "Ha!" He let out while fumbling for a first aid kit. He cleaned up his neck before wrapping gauze around it. He stared at himself in the mirror before heading back to his bedroom.
Selena was in a daze; her arms were laying around her. She was in a white satin slip. Ra pushed a few more buttons to tranquilize her. He sat down beside her. "I did not want it to come to this." He looked over to her. Ra pushed her hair out of her face. "You are mine, no one else's. You belong to me. You are destined to be mine. Why can't you see that?" He leaned down to kiss her. "I won't go farther than this, don't worry. I want you willingly. That's all I have ever wanted. You to be willingly mine. For now, I will settle on making sure everyone knows that you belong to me." He started to leave marks on her neck and other noticeable places on her body.
The next day, he brought her back to the compound, for a refresh on the conditioning. One of the doctors noticed the bandage around his neck.
"This?" Ra placed a hand on his neck. "Is the mark of a very passionate night." The crew around him turned and blushed. "As you can see, I made sure she had some as well."
After a light conditioning, Ra had her dressed in a long white skirt with silver and gold embroidery on the sides and the bottom. It went up to her waist. She had on a white satin blouse that was collared and cuffed. She wore a bolero type of jacket over it with the same embroidery. They pulled her hair up into a twist updo. Ra grabbed her arm, leading her to another part of the compound. Her heels clicked as they walked together.
There were stares as they headed through the compound to get to a highly restricted area. Ra let the workers know it was alright. He had a handle on her. The two headed to a prized area. Ra stopped in front of a window.
"Do you see?" He moved her to see the area. "Those tubes glistening in gold are our children. They are almost four months along." He pointed her in a different direction. "Those over there, you have children too but that's more experimental. Along with the rest. Those were due to my predecessors wishes. I cannot be here without him, so I must follow his wish." He pulled her closer. "My wish is similar to one of his." He whispered into her ear. "I want us to create the best genetics. I want us to rule the universe as Gods." Ra brought Selena back to the room he let her rest in.
As he came out of the door, a subordinate was waiting for him. The subordinate relayed about how the wedding ceremony video was ready for his approval. Ra left to go over it. The subordinate updated him on the engagement video that would be ready to sent off.
Selena poured herself a glass of water. The light flickered on and off for a while before staying on. Selena placed the water pitcher back down. Her lips grew into a smirk. 100%. She thought to herself. The lights were in Morse code. There were no cameras in her room to rest in. Only a camera outside to watch the door. There were no light switches in the rooms. The room was made in a way to be inaccessible to her. She took a sip of water tilting it down her mouth, letting it run down her clothes. She dropped the glass when it was empty. Selena picked up the pitcher, pouring it like there was a glass there, letting it run on the table, spilling onto the floor. She headed to the bathroom, to continuously grabbing the paper towels, crunching them up and then dropping them into the waste basket until it was empty. She went to the toilet paper roll next. She placed one end into toilet and continued to unroll it, until the whole role was emptied into the toilet. Selena then flushed the toilet, creating a blockage where it overfilled. She went back to living area. There was no kitchen or sink there. She started to dishevel the living area before she headed to the bedroom next.
Ra came back to pick her back up. He was back into high spirits. The Earth Alliance had fully agreed to helping him. They approved of the latest skirmish between ZAFT and Ra's forces. Things were moving into places where they should. As he was walking back, a subordinate had informed him that the Coordinator extremists also agreed to ally with him after they saw the skirmish too. He was feeling untouchable. Ra opened the door to find a mess inside the room. He saw everything had been knocked over or disheveled. He saw Selena was standing with her back to him near the farthest wall. He walked over to her, catching a glimpse into a bathroom that had a toilet over filling. He grabbed Selena to see her outfit was in disarray. Her blouse has half tucked in. Her makeup was smeared. She had the same glossy eyes of being under his control. He frowned. He took her by the arm, dragging her out of the room. She followed behind him. A subordinate was walking by.
"You there," Ra called out to him. The man stopped. "Get someone to fix this room up again." Ra continued to bring her back to the reconditioning room. He gave her to the group of doctors who saw him earlier that day. "There's something wrong with her reconditioning. She's performing normal tasks but not stopping as you can see by her disheveled look. Fix her."
"Sir!" A subordinate came running to him. "Earth Alliance wants to speak with you at once."
"Fix her," Ra ordered. He left to follow the other member. "I thought we already agreed to follow me?" He asked while walking away.
"Yes, but they say that conquering the Moon isn't something they could do when they are under the peace treaty," the crew member spoke up.
"Do I have to hold their hands too?!" Ra snarled.
The medical crew took Selena into the room. One nurse took Selena into a special room to clean her up before putting her into the usual conditioning garment. The nurse placed Selena back onto the table.
"I'm sorry," the nurse muttered as she hooked up Selena up to the monitors. She left the room to enter the safe room adjacent to them.
The doctor in charge of the conditioning let out a sigh as he primed the machine. "Reconditioning starting in 3-2-1." He pushed the button. Their faces reflected the flashing from the screens.
Halfway through the reconditioning, lights started to flicker around the compound. Sai and the rest were instructed to find out the problem. Power outages were starting to emerge besides the light problems. The power went out during Selena's reconditioning. The power didn't come on. The screens were black. The communications were down.
Canard could sense something was up when the lights flickered in his room. He headed to the door, to listen in on more information. The power didn't go out in Ra's area. It also didn't go out where the children were at either.
The nurse left the safe room with a soldier to check on Selena. The two opened the door. It was pitch black inside. The soldier turned on a flashlight on his tranquilizer gun. He shown the light into the center of the room where the table was at. It was empty. The nurse gulped. She stood to the side while the soldier moved the flashlight as he slowly entered. When he entered the room, Selena took him out. He dropped to the floor in one swift motion. Selena took the darts out of the gun, she struck the nurse, and headed out. The nurse dropped to the slight prick of the needle. The alarms could not be raised due to the power outages.
She locked the medic crew in the safe room. She turned to see no one was after her. She headed down a hallway that started to flicker and lose power. She climbed into the air duct system. The lights came back on. Alarms were sounding off in several other areas. Ra was still held up speaking with Earth Alliance. Their area was not compromised.
The power outage struck Canard's room and similar rooms. His door slid open. He stood up, knocked out the guards, and started to run away. Others were trying to do the same but were getting subdued. He dodged the guards, getting away as fast as he could. His curiosity got the better of him.
"Where is that weapon of mass destruction they tried to rewire?" Canard spoke out loud to himself. Almost like a sign, he heard the sound of doors unlocking. "Huh?" He didn't think about it much but determined to followed the weird unlocking of doors.
The power went out in the two boys room. They sat straight up.
"Do you think this is it?" The long brown haired one asked the other.
The other one nodded. "She's coming."
"How-how can you tell?" The brown haired boy came over to him. "It could be something else."
"No," The boy with light green hair shook his head. "I feel it with my gut. This is her doing, but I don't know how she'll get us out of here."
"You trust her though, right?" The brown haired boy got off the bed to put on a robe. The two were still heavily bandaged up. They wore pants but not shirts. The light green haired boy nodded.
The two waited in anticipation but they didn't have to wait long as the door opened up with Selena dragging two bodies behind her. The two flinched.
"Don't worry," she spoke with an innocent voice so sweetly that it creeped them out as her jaw did not move and she kept coming towards them. The door shut behind her. "I've come to take you with me. Are we still wanting to leave?"
"Yes," the green haired boy was confident.
"Good," Selena dropped the two bodies. It was unconscious soldiers she had taken out. "Where their clothes. Fill your pockets with things you desire."
As the two swapped clothes, Selena took gauze from the drawers and started to wrap it around her body. The three finished up where Selena was covered in gauze, similar to them. The two boys were wearing guard outfits. She took one of the unconscious guards and brought him to one of the beds. She tied him in with extra gauze, and tied a gag round his mouth along. She placed the blanket over him. She did that to the second body. The two boys filled their pockets with gauze.
"Good, now we need to cover your hair," she helped them hide their hair and their face. She grabbed one of the robes and pair of slippers. "Ready? Follow me."
Selena led them out. It was still pitch black. The two started to follow her. They were halfway down the hallway when Selena stopped. She could hear a frequency that the other two could pick up on but didn't know what it was for. The frequency turned on an off in Morse Code. Selena turned around, walked past the two and stood between them. The two kept silent as they tried to watch her.
Lights shown on Canard who slid into a stop as he almost ran into the three. He looked around before the lights went out.
"Looks like we have another who wants to join us," Selena spoke again in that sweet innocent voice.
"Wh-who are you?" Canard flinched back. He felt a threatening presence from that woman. "I just wanted to find the weapon they rewired."
"Hoping to use it for your own?" Selena asked.
"You could say that," Canard didn't like this feeling. A sweet angelic voice but an aura radiating off of her like she could kill with one strike. "I just wanted to take it away from them and flee."
"Mhm," Selena thought. "Then come with us. My limit is two without help. Hopefully you can pull your own weight."
Canard was taken aback. "You're leaving?! I don't think it's possible to escape from here."
Selena let out a chuckle. "Who do you think is doing this then?" She turned around, walking away from him.
"This-this is you?!" Canard couldn't believe it. She didn't have any electronics. She was just a person in a hospital ward, bandaged up. How could this person possibly wreaking chaos throughout the compound.
"Let's go. We're wasting time." The two followed her. Canard could shake the feeling of needing to follow the group even though he felt how dangerous she was
"I'm coming," Canard resolved. He couldn't let this opportunity go.
Over where Miriallia and Jess were, 8 had sent out a warning to the two. Jess was in the cockpit while trying to clean things up.
"What do you mean we need to leave?" Jess looked up to the screen.
If we keep staying here, our position will be compromised. Tell Miss Haw that she needs to gather supplies and that we will meet her at these coordinates. 8 explained. Please gather up the campsite. We only have a small window before we need to leave this place.
Jess didn't want to argue. If 8 said go, he meant it. Even though they had different opinions on some things, he trusted 8. Jess relayed to Miriallia about 8's warning. She understood. Luckily, she was out on a perimeter check with her motorcycle. She grabbed all the cameras while Jess packed up the campsite as fast as he could.
Jess let 8 do the piloting as he tried to organize the inside with all the campsite stuff. He wished for Setona in times like these.
Back at the compound, the four escaped with no one noticing. They were a few miles into the South American forest, when Ra was finally finished with his video chat. There were no more power outages. Doors that were open were back to close. Things went back to normal. Ra headed back down to the conditioning area, hoping to have Selena fixed so he could try another night as he was still wanting a honeymoon with her.
He came to the conditioning room to see guards everywhere. His anger started to boil. "What happened?!" He barked off. The guards flinched. They relayed what had happened. "And no one thought to retrieve me throughout all of this!?"
"S-s-sir, you had a very important call," the soldier stammered out. "W-w-we couldn't get ahold of you. The doors locked on us. The communications were down. Power outages. We couldn't get to you."
"And what was the damned technical group doing?" Ra headed off to the medical room adjacent to the conditioning room. "Why did I hire them if they couldn't fix these types of things!?" The medical crew were horrified as Ra was standing over them. "Tell me everything that happened. Don't leave anything out. While the rest of you, start a search. See what is all is missing. See who is missing. She cannot have gone far!"