Chapter 182: Arresting Gundam 1
After the meeting with the colony satellites ended, Lady received a soldier's report: "Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une, we've captured that thing. Please come to Barge, ma'am."
Saint Lady (short for Lady in her "saint mode") immediately switched from her saint persona back to her military persona upon hearing she needed to go to the Barge fortress.
Tolle, standing beside her, watched the seamless transformation with amazement—she didn't even need to change her hairstyle or glasses anymore.
Whether it was due to brainwashing or because Lady's split-personality tendencies had worsened, she could now switch between personas effortlessly without even changing outfits.
After arriving at Barge Fortress, Military Lady (short for her military mode) looked sternly at the soldier in the command center and asked, "Are you certain?"
Tolle glanced at the large monitor showing the HLV shuttle and said, "Oh~ there's no mistake. That's an HLV launched from Earth carrying a Gundam into space."
"That group of Gundams are villains who threaten the peace of the colony satellites. If we use them as symbols of evil, they'll be very useful," Lady said as she turned to Tolle. "I'll have to trouble you again, Darks. Take a Taurus out and capture it."
Tolle spread his hands helplessly—Lady was ordering him around again. "And what about the Gundam's pilot? Should I deal with him on the spot, or bring him back?"
"Bring him back first. We'll decide after seeing what he looks like." Lady glanced at Tolle, then, afraid of being misunderstood, added with a sly, sinister grin, "If he's ugly, let him live. If he looks like the kind of person who'd inspire sympathy—kill him.
Right now, anything that interferes with the people's consciousness reform doesn't deserve to exist."
Tolle crossed his arms and nodded with a look that said, I get it. "Mm, you're the boss. But really—if he's ugly, we're letting him live?"
Military Lady smirked. "Just kidding. Bring them all back. Worst case, we just keep him off-camera."
Then she leaned close to Tolle's ear, exhaling softly as she whispered, "I know you don't like this. Don't think your little gestures fool me."
Just then, a soldier reported, "Confirmed—it's an HLV shuttle launched from the Singapore Spaceport Base."
Tolle gave a mock bow. "All right, my dear Chief of Staff. Nothing gets past you. I'm heading out."
He dashed straight for the MS hangar, grumbling inwardly that he was no match for Lady. She had him completely wrapped around her finger. And worst of all, she was Treize's woman—he couldn't even make a move on her. He'd really brought trouble upon himself.
Tolle piloted his Taurus and approached the HLV shuttle. After scanning it with his instruments, he reported over the comms:
"Target confirmed. No energy readings. The fact it made it this far without resupply is a miracle in itself."
A nearby pilot in another space-type Leo joked, "Maybe it's unmanned."
"Doesn't matter whether it is or not. Orders are to retrieve the unit and tow it back to Colony C-102."
Tolle knew this particular HLV held Duo, that unlucky bastard. If the space Leos weren't careful, they'd be torn apart. So he warned the others:
"Space Leo squad, advance slowly and start towing operations. Be alert—there might be a Gundam inside. If things look bad, retreat immediately and leave it to us."
"Roger that!"
The Leo pilots carefully maneuvered closer to the HLV. Just as they were about to attach the tow cables, disaster struck—
A beam scythe slashed out, severing one Leo's arm. Luckily, Tolle's warning had them on guard, and the other Leos immediately pulled back.
The Deathscythe Gundam swung its beam scythe again, missing this time, then lunged forward to continue its attack.
Tolle actually admired Duo the most among the "Gundam Five," but their paths were incompatible—and he'd just saved those Leo pilots to win favor.
He couldn't let Duo kill them now. So Tolle opened fire on the Gundam's limbs with his beam rifle.
Under his command, several unmanned Taurus suits zipped around Deathscythe at high speed, peppering it with beam rifle fire, leaving Duo completely unable to fight back.
Except for the Wing Gundam, the other four were all designed for ground combat and didn't perform well in space—Deathscythe was no exception.
Unwilling to stay on the defensive, Duo fired his Buster Shield at Tolle, but Tolle dodged it easily.
With his only ranged weapon gone, Duo turned his Vulcan cannons and shoulder guns on the surrounding unmanned Tauruses.
But unlike Tolle, the unmanned Tauruses showed no mercy—they unleashed continuous volleys of beam rifle fire from all sides, forcing Deathscythe into a clumsy, helpless dance in open space.
No matter how much Duo wanted to fight back, Deathscythe's poor maneuverability in space left it a sitting duck—floating there, waiting to be slaughtered.
When Tolle judged that the situation was under control, he released the neo DG cells into Deathscythe's system to prevent Duo from self-destructing.
And since Duo had already vented his frustration with that last shield attack, Tolle raised his beam cannon, took aim at Deathscythe's right arm, and opened the comms:
"Hey, Gundam pilot—good thing I'm not an MD, or you'd be dead by now."
Then he fired. The beam cannon blast obliterated Deathscythe's right arm, along with its beam scythe.
Sure enough, Duo, realizing he had no chance, tried to self-destruct. But when he pressed the detonator, nothing happened—Deathscythe showed no signs of exploding.
Looking utterly defeated, Duo muttered to himself, "Just my luck—even the self-destruct system's busted. No… maybe that's actually good luck."
Tolle could tell Duo's attempt had failed.
He ordered two unmanned Tauruses to fire their tow cables, wrapping them around Deathscythe and hauling it back to Barge Fortress.
Once Deathscythe had been retrieved, OZ immediately held a press conference.
They announced that one of the Gundams responsible for numerous acts of destruction and threats to peace had been shot down by OZ's Taurus forces, and its pilot was now in custody.