Chapter 308: A Changed Fate (2)
Tolle refused with a serious expression. "I won't interfere in their fight. If something happens to Lowe, that just means his luck ran out. When that happens, you can go save him yourselves."
"How can you say that?! Wuu… please, I'm begging you, help me… I don't want anything to happen to Lowe… wuu…"
Tolle decisively shut off the communicator and moved away from the junk dealer battleship. He had no interest in reasoning with a woman who wouldn't stop crying.
Whether it was a man or a woman, once someone started crying, they stopped listening to reason altogether. Saying anything more would just be a waste of time.
Tolle flew over to where Gina and Lowe were. The two of them were still fighting while shouting at each other nonstop.
With Tolle's involvement, this already one-sided battle became even more inevitable. After all, Lowe's helpers had already been driven off by him.
Seeing the Astray Gundam Red Frame getting beaten into a miserable state, Tolle felt that Lowe was probably finished. But if Lowe died here, then many of the Red Frame's later units would never appear, and Tolle wouldn't be able to obtain their data either.
So Tolle piloted the Astray Gundam Gold Frame, waved the Tactical Arms II in his hand, and said, "Gina, why are you being so slow over there? I already finished my side. I even secured some spoils of war. That way, when we run into them again next time, we can give them another surprise gift. Isn't that great?"
Gina snorted unhappily. "Tch. You should call me 'brother,' you know? Otherwise I'll go complain to the Sahaku family and tell them you're not loyal to just my sister.
I don't really care myself, but if those old geezers in the Sahaku family find out, you know what kind of consequences that'll bring, right?
And I was just playing with him. If I actually wanted him dead, he'd have died countless times already."
Tolle never expected Gina to threaten him with tattling. When they got back, he really would have to reeducate him properly. But for now, he could only placate him a bit. "Alright, Brother Gina. I think the Red Frame's sword looks pretty good. Why don't you take it as a spoil of war too?
Next time you run into the Red Frame again, you can use that very sword against it. That's when it really gets fun."
Gina's heart stirred at that, and he decided to follow Tolle's example and seize the Astray Gundam Red Frame's weapon as a trophy.
Off to the side, Lowe said angrily, "Hey! Don't just pretend I don't exist! You're actually discussing taking my Kiku-Ichimonji as loot. That's way too much!"
With Lowe's protest, Gina became even more excited. He increased the intensity of his attacks and sneered at Lowe. "Hahahaha! The weak don't have the right to argue with the strong. I've already shown mercy by not killing you.
What, would you only be satisfied if I killed you? Weren't you just preaching at me about not killing indiscriminately? What's wrong—changing your tune now?"
When his life was on the line, Lowe was completely stumped by Gina's rapid-fire questions and didn't know how to respond.
That was when Gina seized the opening. He controlled the Astray Gundam Gold Frame Amatsu Gina, aiming its two rear-mounted Disaster White Spears at the Red Frame's arms and stabbing forward.
In an instant, one of its arms was severed. Gina immediately pressed the advantage, using the Disaster Living Katana from the backpack to clamp down tightly on the Astray Gundam Red Frame's head, continuously draining its energy.
Finally, with a violent squeeze, he tore the head clean off.
Gina excitedly maneuvered his Astray Gundam Gold Frame Amatsu Gina, holding the Red Frame's head in his left hand and the Kiku-Ichimonji in his right, laughing wildly.
"Lowe, you lost! I'll let you off this time. I hope next time you can bring me some more interesting spoils of war. Hahahahaha…!"
Gina ignored the crippled Astray Gundam Red Frame drifting in space and, carrying his trophies, headed back toward the Orbital Elevator with Tolle.
On the way, they encountered Murrue, who had come out to meet them aboard the Huayan. After returning to the Huayan's hangar, Murrue rushed over immediately.
Seeing the Astray Gundam Red Frame's head and the two weapons lying on the hangar floor, the worry weighing on her heart finally eased.
Even so, she scolded Gina sternly. "Gina, what did you go and do this time? Don't you know this is a critical period right now? You actually went and provoked ZAFT.
If you end up drawing ZAFT's attention and they attack the Orbital Elevator, you'll become Orb's sinner."
"Sis, I was very clean about it. I definitely didn't leave any loose ends. I sent out interference signals before ZAFT could report anything, and the entire unit was wiped out by Tolle and me. There's absolutely no problem."
Seeing Murrue angry, Gina immediately backed down, shrinking his neck and speaking in a small voice. "Sis, Tolle went too. Why aren't you scolding him? He was involved as well."
Three drops of sweat appeared on Tolle's head. He hadn't expected Gina to sell him out so quickly.
Seriously—weren't you the one who dragged me along in the first place? How did this turn into my fault?
Murrue's expression grew even fiercer as she faced Gina, snarling, "Gina! If you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot. You even dragged Tolle along and corrupted him.
What, next time you go messing around, are you planning to take him with you again? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Gina was so frightened he looked like a startled quail, shaking his head frantically as he replied, "Don't worry, Sis! I would never drag my future brother-in-law into that kind of thing. Even if he held a knife to my neck, I wouldn't agree. Don't worry—absolutely not!"
"That's good. Now go and reflect properly." After saying that, she had people drag Gina off to the pilot rest quarters and put him in confinement.
"Thank you, my dear. If it weren't for you this time, I probably would have lost this idiot brother of mine." Murrue then softened her expression, leaned against Tolle's chest, and said self-deprecatingly, "But the bad news is… the copy-person Gina might be gone now, right?"
Tolle couldn't help but marvel at how much of a natural-born actress Murrue was—she was on par with Lynn Minmay. But then another thought struck him. Could this be the result of Nami's brainwashing? Though that kind of adjustment shouldn't change someone's personality so drastically.
At that moment, Nami's voice popped up in Tolle's mind. "Master, you're wronging Nami. Nami really didn't excessively modify their personalities—only made a teeny tiny adjustment."
Alright, that settled it. It was probably that "teeny tiny" modification that caused this result. Still, Tolle comforted Nami anyway. "Nami, I don't blame you. I should praise you instead—you did a great job. I like this kind of adjustment!"
While chatting with Nami, Tolle didn't forget to hold Murrue tightly. He whispered into her ear, "My dear, this is only right. We're family now, after all. How could I just watch Gina go off to his death? No matter what, he's still my little brother-in-law."
At the same time, Tolle secretly commanded the neo DG Cells to apply the faintest level of brainwashing control to Gina—getting a bit of revenge for him daring to threaten with tattling earlier.