[Inori: Hmph, thought you could get past me?]
[Caught cheating on the spot]
[Master ✗, Husband ✓]
[Husband ✗, Wife ✓]
[AI-san watched the whole thing]
[This is already pretty fun]
[Too bad it isn't happening in person]
[It wouldn't be as fun in person. A remote livestream is way more entertaining]
[??? What are the people above talking about?]
[Mods! Mods!]
"The Archangel!"
When Kira heard that everyone from the Archangel had gone back, she breathed a sigh of relief. But then Inori said they had all been confined and that Blue Cosmos was controlling the Archangel, which was frightening.
Before Kira could ask anything else, Inori continued, "The situation is now urgent. The Emergency Protocol will activate."
"Wait, things haven't gotten that serious yet, have they?!" Kira asked.
But Inori shook her head. "Just now, the outer reconnaissance force detected signs of ZAFT."
At the same time, alarms began sounding aboard the Doolittle.
It was the call to battle stations.
And at the same time, Nicol could no longer worry about the danger of being discovered by the enemy and risked contacting Athrun anyway.
"Athrun, it looks like our forces have been discovered!"
"Lacus isn't aboard the Archangel. Lacus is in a safe location right now!" Athrun hurriedly said. "But there are still Coordinators aboard the Archangel, our compatriots… Huh?"
The communication cut off.
"Athrun!"
Nicol frowned.
Had Athrun been discovered?
No. Athrun's breathing was steady. He did not seem to be in that much danger.
"If that's the case…"
Nicol remembered Le Creuset's instructions before they set out.
The greatest threat was not the Doolittle, but the Archangel.
Then he would cover Athrun!
Taking advantage of the chaos ahead, Nicol reached the front of the Archangel's bridge, then made the Blitz reveal itself.
"B-Blitz?!"
The Blue Cosmos members controlling the Archangel had originally intended to disengage from the Doolittle first, then join the battle.
But the sudden appearance of the Blitz Gundam startled them.
That shock lasted only an instant.
Because the next moment, the Blitz's beam rifle punched straight through the Archangel's bridge.
"Boom!"
Amid the thunderous blast, the Archangel's bridge became a ruin.
"—What's going on?!"
Inside the Archangel, Cagalli had already run out of her room.
Because the ship's surveillance system had "disconnected," no one had noticed Cagalli's movements.
"Who's there?!"
Most of the Blue Cosmos members were on the bridge, but there were still guards posted outside the officers' quarters.
The moment the two of them saw Cagalli, they raised their guns.
"Out of my way!"
Cagalli was not especially strong, but that was when she was not wearing the P.A.R.A. Protective Suit.
With this suit on, Cagalli was incredibly formidable in combat. Most importantly, she did not have to fear bullets.
After taking care of the enemies in no time at all, Cagalli opened the door to the officers' quarters.
"Murrue-san!"
"Cagalli?!" Murrue had been deeply worried. Seeing Cagalli made her relax slightly, but she still asked, "What exactly happened?"
"I don't know. I heard you'd gone back to the Archangel earlier, and I was worried, so I wanted to sneak over and check on you. I have no idea what happened, but there was an explosion when I was halfway here. It felt like the entire Archangel was shaking."
"That impact just now came from the bridge!" Murrue said as she and Cagalli freed the others.
Using the computer in the officers' quarters, everyone quickly discovered that the Archangel's entire bridge was "offline."
"The Archangel's bridge… is gone?"
And that was indeed the case. The passage leading to the bridge had been sealed by emergency bulkheads; otherwise, everyone would have been sucked out into space.
"The bridge is gone?" Murrue still looked unable to believe it.
"Take control using the computer in the officers' quarters!" Natarle hurriedly said. "After the refit, the Archangel can be operated from these terminals!"
"Mm!"
Natarle's words helped Murrue regain her composure.
Even so, without the bridge's field of view, the Archangel could now only observe the outside world through cameras elsewhere on the ship, which was extremely inconvenient. And each officers' room had only one terminal.
So if they wanted to communicate with one another, they had to shout.
"A ZAFT attack? Now?! Neumann, can you control the Archangel's helm from your side?!"
Murrue hurriedly called out to Neumann across the way.
"I'm trying! Controlling the Archangel with a keyboard is ridiculous!"
Complaints aside, Neumann was still doing everything he could to control the Archangel.
"There are still Blue Cosmos people in the residential section. I'll clear them out!"
Mu took the weapons from the two unconscious people on the floor.
"Mm. Be careful!" Murrue nodded. "Natarle, help me confirm everyone else's situation!"
If everyone else had already returned, then they could disconnect from the Doolittle and make a run for it.
And now that the Archangel did not even have a bridge anymore, they had a perfectly good excuse!
"Okay!"
Controlling it with a keyboard was no easy task.
"Where's Kira?!" Cagalli asked.
"On the Doolittle. Use Plan B."
It was inconvenient for the others, but Inori and Kira were fine. The two of them had said earlier that even if they were taken away, it would not matter. They could escape on their own.
At that point, though, they would need the Strike to pick them up.
"I'm going to the hangar!"
Cagalli sprang into action too.
She might be bad at it, but at least she could get a Gundam moving. Her piloting was clumsy, but… as long as it moved, that was enough!
Cagalli's goal was to use the Strike to bring Kira and Inori back.
That was Plan B!
"Be careful. There are probably still enemies around the hangar!"
"Mm!"
Cagalli hurriedly ran out.
However, when Cagalli reached the Archangel's hangar, she froze—the Strike was not there.
"Damn it, they already took the Strike!"
Although the Strike had been "locked," that did not stop the Doolittle from physically transporting it away.
There was nothing in the Archangel's hangar, not even enemies.
"I suppose that counts as good news."
Mu arrived at the hangar at that moment too.
He wiped the blood from his elbow.
"Good thing we threw the Astray outside beforehand. Otherwise, Cagalli-san, your Astray would have been hauled away too." Most of the Blue Cosmos members aboard the Archangel had been wiped out on the bridge in one fell swoop, and the remaining stragglers had also been cleared out. That finally gave them a little room to breathe.
"But the Strike is gone! Blue Cosmos stole the Strike!" Cagalli was so anxious she was practically jumping up and down.
"The Strike is on the Doolittle right now. If it's those two girls, their odds might actually be better than Plan B's…"
Mu had not even finished speaking when he noticed Cagalli glaring at him resentfully.
"Uh, well, anyway, let's focus on what we can do first…"