"How many times do I have to say it? I'm Inori's manager, not some ZAFT spy."
Kira knew Blue Cosmos was inhuman, but she had not expected them to be this inhuman.
The moment this man named Sutherland met her, he immediately labeled her a ZAFT spy.
[I'm dying. Useless at fighting outsiders, experts at fighting their own]
[They can't catch actual spies, but they sure are good at branding everyone else a spy]
[If Kira were really a spy, not a single person here would still be alive]
[The Earth Alliance really is shameless. Orb is a neutral nation, and they still treat people from other countries this recklessly]
[You mean…]
[Stop, stop!]
[The supermods are about to get to work!]
[How do I put this? These people are from the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation, and it really does line up a little too well with the real world]
"Even if you aren't a spy, you count as an Earth Alliance soldier now," Sutherland said.
"Sorry, but I've already been discharged."
Not only had they forged enlistment papers for her, they had even forged discharge papers.
"You mean this?"
Sutherland waved a sheet of paper in his hand.
It was Kira's discharge certificate.
But Sutherland merely gave a cold laugh and tore the discharge certificate apart.
"The Archangel is powerful, but there is absolutely no way the Archangel could have fought four main ZAFT warships, four G units, and more than twenty GINNs, then destroyed three warships, wiped out every GINN, and heavily damaged the G units…"
Kira felt like something was off.
More than twenty GINNs?
…Were there really that many?
"Coordinator, if you refuse to talk, then we'll have no choice but to make you atone with your body. We'd also like to see whether truth serum designed for Coordinators produces especially remarkable results." Sutherland began threatening Kira.
"Colonel!"
Just then, another Earth Alliance soldier hurried over.
"Nani, there's another Coordinator?!"
Sutherland was stunned.
"Yes. The Archangel's crew was hiding something after all. If not for her testimony, we would never have known that the PLANT Chairman's daughter was actually aboard the Archangel…"
Hearing this, Sutherland burst out laughing.
"I see, I see. So this was how the Archangel 'defeated' those ZAFT forces. Not bad."
Flay had already woken up by then. After the medical staff subtly coaxed information out of her, she told them everything she knew.
That included the matter of Lacus Clyne.
Once he learned this, Sutherland suddenly understood. It was not that the Archangel was too powerful—ZAFT had simply been afraid to act for fear of harming Lacus.
"I was wondering why news of such severe losses could leak out at all. So they used one piece of bad news to cover up an even worse one. Hehehehe…"
Sutherland understood now.
ZAFT's losses were probably genuine.
But the truth was likely not that the Archangel possessed some special weapon. Rather, the Archangel had taken Lacus Clyne hostage.
Now he understood!
So that was it!
Still, Sutherland saw no problem with that. In his eyes, no method was too underhanded when it was used against Coordinators.
Coordinators were nothing but trash fit only for incineration.
"Go bring that Lacus Clyne here immediately!"
Sutherland issued the order at once.
"Well…" The other man looked troubled. "We already searched the Archangel from top to bottom, but we couldn't find anyone matching the description."
"What does that mean? Did she lie?" Sutherland frowned.
"Not exactly. The Archangel's crew was clearly hiding something, but after we pressed them, they all said that Lacus Clyne had been confined in the officers' quarters…"
That was what they said, but she was not there.
"Find her!"
Sutherland was excited.
This was an absolute windfall.
If Lacus Clyne could fall into Blue Cosmos's hands… nothing could possibly be more wonderful!
After convincing himself that he knew the "truth," Sutherland lost interest in Kira.
"Let's go. There's no point staying here anymore." The most urgent task was to find Lacus Clyne.
"What should we do with her?" one of his subordinates asked.
"She piloted the Strike, after all. See whether you can squeeze anything useful out of her. Once you're done, just dispose of her."
Disposal did not necessarily mean killing her.
The Atlantic Federation had also done things like train and brainwash Coordinators to fight other Coordinators.
The Atlantic Federation had always been exceptionally inhumane.
Meanwhile, Kira sighed. "Murrue-san… I'm really sorry."
Kira had not actually told Murrue and the others about her plan to lure ZAFT over.
Kira was a good person. In battle, she would dismember enemy mobile suits to disable them and avoid killing whenever possible.
But that did not mean Kira was truly incapable of killing.
She avoided killing because she usually had enough leeway to show mercy.
But when circumstances left her no other choice, she could abandon that nonlethal principle too.
She was kindhearted, not stupid.
And against people like Blue Cosmos, there was even less reason to talk about honor.
Kira had still felt somewhat uneasy before.
But after seeing Sutherland's vile true colors, much of the guilt weighing on Kira had lifted.
"Blue Cosmos has already become this brazen inside the Atlantic Federation…"
Here, Kira was more or less undergoing a "true Longchang Enlightenment" of her own.
And it was not only her. The rest of the Archangel's people had also been kept here.
Without question, the other side's target was the Archangel.
Their current objective was to capture Lacus, but that did not mean they would let the Archangel go.
They had already brought the Archangel's crew aboard the Doolittle. It was obvious they were up to no good.
"Power needs ideals to give it direction, and ideals need power to protect them. Beyond that, you also need the will and wisdom to make all of it a reality…"
Power and will alone were not enough.
You also needed the mind capable of turning your goal into reality…
As Kira murmured to herself, the scene switched back to the Archangel.
By now, a new group of personnel had entered the Archangel's bridge.
But when they tried to take control of the Archangel, they discovered something unexpected.
The Archangel completely refused to obey them.
None of the equipment could be controlled.
—The Archangel's systems had been locked.
And it was not just the Archangel.
The Strike Gundam was locked too.
The locking system ensured that anyone without authorization simply could not unlock it.
[ZAFT gets to Morgenröte, discovers every Gundam is locked and won't recognize them as authorized pilots, gets caught and executed. Series over]
[I knew somebody was going to make that joke]
[They should've done this ages ago]
[Amuro gets into the original Gundam and discovers he can't start it. Dies]
[If Gundams had locks, basically every series would end in episode one]
Seeing the danmaku, Inori said there was no need to thank her.
The locking service was free.
She had not charged them a cent.