In the mess hall of the Archangel, a tense standoff was underway between our crew and Garcia, the commander of Artemis, along with his entourage. Garcia, scheming to swipe our Mobile Suits, was demanding we hand over the pilots and technicians to unlock the security protocols Kira had installed.
What should I do? Reveal myself? No, if I did that, I'd just be captured and forced to work under this incompetent fool. I could wait for ZAFT to attack like in the original story... but wait. The original story. The only reason ZAFT could attack was that the "Umbrella of Artemis" wasn't deployed. If I could replicate that condition...
A plan formed in my mind. But to execute it, I needed to be somewhere away from prying eyes... Garcia. Yes, I could use him.
"I'm the Mobile Suit pilot. What about it?"
All eyes shifted to me. Seeing the naked greed in Garcia's eyes, I let a sneer curl the corner of my lip.
"Hmph. Then you'll come with us."
"I'll pass. My employer is the captain of the Archangel, not some incompetent lowlife like you. If you want to give me orders, tell Murrue to give them to me directly. ...That is, if you can."
It was a blatant provocation, and Garcia danced to my tune perfectly. His face turned beet red, and he swung a fist at me.
"You scumbag!"
I slipped my head to the side, dodging the clumsy punch. I grabbed his fully extended arm and, using the momentum of his swing combined with a shoulder throw, slammed him into the floor. Of course, I wasn't kind enough to go easy on a man like him. I didn't pull the throw; instead, I used my enhanced physical abilities to accelerate his body, driving him into the deck plates with bone-rattling force.
"Guahhh!"
Garcia hit the floor back-first, the air forced from his lungs. Before his men could react, I planted my right boot squarely on his face.
"Guh... gugggh..."
"You! What are you doing to the Commander!?"
The aide lunged at me, but I simply applied a little more pressure with my right leg.
"Gaaaaaahhhhh!"
Garcia's scream echoed through the mess hall, freezing the aide in his tracks. I looked at him, widening my smirk.
"There, there. Good dog, loyal to your master."
"You... do you think you can do this in Artemis and get away with it!?"
"Really? I was just preventing the theft of another nation's military secrets. Like this."
I ground my heel into Garcia's face again.
"Axel! ...Please, stop."
"Neumann. ...You know as well as I do that if we don't do something, they're going to steal the machines."
"I know! But look around you!"
The soldiers guarding the mess hall had their rifles trained on me. If it were just me, I could handle it, but the room was full of refugees. Neumann was worried about collateral damage.
"Brother, I'm begging you too," Murdoch added.
With Murdoch pleading as well, I sighed and raised my hands.
"OK, OK. I get it. I surrender."
Hearing this, the aide ordered the guards to restrain me. However...
"Whoops!"
Just as they were about to drag me away, my right leg—which was still on Garcia's face—"accidentally" slipped. Purely by chance, of course, I put my full weight into it, slamming the back of his head against the floor. Garcia went limp, out cold.
"You bastard!"
The aide looked ready to strike me, but the moment our eyes met, he froze, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"T-Take him to the brig! Solitary confinement!"
"Sir!"
The guards pointed their guns at me with trembling hands. I didn't resist and let them escort me out. Behind me, I could hear the aide shouting, demanding to find the other pilot... knowing Kira, he'd turn himself in before letting anyone else suffer.
Everything was proceeding according to calculation.
They took me via launch from the Archangel to the main Artemis asteroid base and threw me into a cell. I scanned the room. One surveillance camera, but it had plenty of blind spots. Well, it was a standard brig, not a high-security holding cell for super-criminals, so I couldn't blame them.
"Now then..."
First, I sat down in a spot just barely visible on the camera and leaned against the wall. Then, accessing my Dimensional Warehouse from a blind spot, I summoned a Slime. I directed it to melt a hole, about 0.1mm in diameter, through the wall behind me.
Perfect. Luck was on my side; this cell was near the outer hull. The other side was the vacuum of space. I extended the slime like a thin filament, probing the surface of the asteroid.
"Found it."
It only took a few minutes. I located the emitters that generated the light-wave defense belt—the "Umbrella." Since they were made of metal, the Slime could detect them even in a vacuum. Better yet, the Umbrella was currently active, which meant the emitters were energized and easy to track. A Laurasia-class ship must still be lurking nearby.
"Next..."
Using the first emitter as a reference point, I expanded the search and located eight more.
"Alright."
I took a deep breath. From here on, speed was critical. Any delay, and I'd be caught in the destruction of Artemis myself.
"SP Boost!"
I activated my Ace Bonus, SP Boost, enhancing the Slime's capabilities. Instantly, the slime lashed out like razor-sharp whips, simultaneously destroying all nine beam emitters.
The alarms began to blare throughout Artemis. They were impressively efficient when it didn't matter.
With a hostile ship nearby, Artemis's vaunted absolute defense had just vanished. For the soldiers here, it was a nightmare scenario. I could hear shouting and panicked orders from the corridor outside.
I retracted the slime into the Dimensional Warehouse and plugged the tiny hole in the wall with some bedding. It wouldn't hold forever, but it would do for now. Several minutes passed. The soldiers were panicking, but there was no impact, no explosion. Had the Laurasia retreated?
Just as the thought crossed my mind—
BOOOOOM!
A violent explosion shook the entire asteroid, followed by a chain of secondary blasts.
Finally!
I moved to the door and delivered a solid kick. The heavy metal door blew off its hinges with a roar that rivaled the mobile suit bombardment outside. ...I decided to politely ignore the fact that several soldiers were now pinned underneath the door, unconscious. I did, however, gratefully relieve them of a rifle and some spare magazines.
I escaped the brig and made my way through the corridors. Footsteps approached from the side. Trouble? Artemis soldiers? Sorry, but I'd have to knock them out.
I ducked behind a large decorative plant, masking my presence. I gripped the stolen rifle by the barrel, ready to use the stock as a club. Come on, come on... Now!
I swung the rifle butt down at the first shadow to emerge—
"Axel!?"
The voice stopped my hand in mid-air. I looked closely. It was Mu. Behind him stood Murrue and Natarle. Which meant the person I had been about to pistol-whip was the blonde "Hawk of Endymion."
"...Glad to see you're safe."
"Yeah, though you almost made me 'unsafe' just now," Mu muttered with a wry smile.
"Axel-san, why are you in Artemis? You were supposed to be on the Archangel," Murrue asked, looking shocked.
I returned Mu's wry smile.
"Garcia came to the mess hall himself. Demanded the pilots and tech crew. Things got a little heated..."
"You fought him?"
"No, I didn't lay a hand on him. I used my foot. And he swung first. I dodged, stomped on his face, and got thrown in the brig."
"..."
Murrue and Natarle stared at me with flat, unamused eyes. Mu looked exasperated.
"Anyway, I'm glad everyone is okay. I don't know how ZAFT broke through the Umbrella, but we don't want to die with this fortress, do we?"
Obviously, I couldn't tell even these three that I had destroyed the generators with a summoned slime monster. Blaming it on ZAFT was the safest bet.
"...You're right. Axel is correct. Let's get back to the Archangel immediately."
I took point, knocking out the unfortunate Artemis soldiers who crossed our path, and we made it to a small launch to return to the ship. It was a short trip, but on the way, I saw the Strike equipped with the Sword Striker pack, clashing with the Duel, Buster, and Cigu.
"...Three against one. Even for Kira, that looks rough," I noted.
As Mu said, Kira hadn't lost yet, but the difference in numbers and experience was telling. The Strike was gradually being pushed back.
"My Blitz is locked down by Kira's code. I can't launch."
"Should I go?" Mu asked.
I shook my head silently.
"The Mobile Armor is at a disadvantage in this debris field. It's better to just get the hell out of here."
"Agreed. I think that's the best course of action," Natarle said.
Murrue nodded silently in agreement.
"Whoops, we're here," Mu said, piloting the launch into the Archangel's hangar.
We rushed to the bridge. The crew, acting on their own initiative, already had the engines hot. The ship was ready to move.
"We're breaking out! Tell Kira-kun not to stray too far from the ship!" Murrue ordered.
Natarle immediately followed up with tactical commands.
"Cover the Strike! But do not use heavy weaponry inside the harbor. Use Igelstellung and Hell Darts only! ...Fire!"
Small missiles and the CIWS vulcan cannons erupted from the Archangel. Since the enemy was fighting in the confined space of the harbor, they had almost no room to dodge. The Cigu, lacking Phase Shift armor, was particularly vulnerable; one hit could be fatal. The Duel and Buster moved forward to cover it, but that slowed their offensive against the Strike and the ship.
Murrue wasn't incompetent enough to miss that opening.
"We're exiting through the opposite port! Recall Kira-kun!"
"Kira! Kira, return! The Archangel is launching!" Miriallia's voice went out over the comms.
Hearing this, Kira used the explosions rocking the harbor as a smokescreen to retreat and successfully landed on the deck.
"Strike, landing confirmed!"
"Archangel, launching! Maximum battle speed!"
Using the chaos and explosions of the dying base as cover, the Archangel managed to escape Artemis.
Waiting in the mobile suit hangar with Mu and Murdoch, I watched Kira descend from the Strike. His expression was dark, his eyes hollow. ...Had Garcia called him a traitor or a monster, just like in the canon?
"Hey, Kid."
Kira didn't answer Mu's call. He walked past us in silence, not looking at anyone.
Name: Axel Almer
LV: 35
PP: 495
Melee: 246
Shooting: 264
Skill: 256
Defense: 253
Evade: 281
Hit: 303
SP: 422
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Consumes SP to boost unit performance)
Growth Type: Versatile / Special
Terrain Ratings:
Air: S
Land: S
Sea: B
Space: S
Spirit Commands:
Accel (SP 4)
Gain (SP 8)
Focus (SP 16)
Direct Hit (SP 30)
Awaken (SP 32)
Love (SP 48)
Skills:
EXP Up
SP Boost (SP Up Lv.9 & SP Recover & Focus)
Telekinesis LV.10
Attacker
Gunfight LV.9
In-Fight LV.9
Limit Break (Morale)
Geass (Gray)
???
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???
???
Shot Down Count: 256
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