"Huh? That's strange, shouldn't the Aegis have taken off by now? And didn't Kira go to see Cagalli off?"
Xia Chuan's puzzled voice came through Lu Tianming's ears - ever since Murrue boarded the mobile suit, Lu Tianming had been using the cockpit headset for private communication with Xia Chuan.
Lu Tianming found it strange too. Could Athrun have been killed by that earlier machine cannon barrage? Was the Aegis preserved after all?
But before he could ponder further - the Aegis beside him provided the answer.
The mobile suit lying flat on the fixed frame pushed aside the restraints of the mechanical devices and gradually sat up - its gray PS Armor also transformed into a striking bright red as the power was activated.
It seemed - Athrun hadn't perished, but the process of seizing the Aegis had just been slightly slower...
However, the rising Aegis didn't depart as Lu Tianming had expected - instead, it turned its gaze toward a certain direction.
Following the Aegis' line of sight, Lu Tianming saw that standing on the ground where it was looking were Kira and his small group fleeing from the disaster.
"BuCUE! Athrun's Kira Sensor has activated! He's staring intently at Kira, definitely planning to use the Aegis to knock Kira down and capture him to make him work hard as a star!"
Xia Chuan exclaimed strangely upon also spotting Kira. It seemed Athrun wouldn't leave easily after seeing Kira.
"Tianming, the Aegis pilot probably intends to take those civilians as hostages, stop him quickly!"
Murrue's anxious voice also sounded - though her perspective was slightly different, seemingly interpreting the Aegis' glance as searching for hostages, thinking the opponent planned to use civilian safety to threaten them into abandoning the Strike.
Lu Tianming nodded slightly, pushing the control sticks with both hands while stepping on the pedals - conveying the message for action to Xia Chuan through his movements.
——————————————
At this moment, inside the Aegis.
Though Athrun Zala's eyes were fixed on Kira, what filled his heart wasn't the joy of reunion after long separation, but... another feeling, a sense of relief at having found an answer.
Earlier when he boarded the mobile suit to debug the OS, he had tried to contact his comrade Miguel who had come with him - only to hear the other's tense and troubled roar when being locked on by the Strike.
At that moment, Athrun was completely bewildered - he had never imagined that Miguel piloting the GINN would encounter trouble.
Coordinators inherently possessed physical superiority over Naturals when dealing with them... this was even more true when piloting MS. These complex machines could almost only be operated by their kind of naturally gifted people.
And their Creuset Team - were elites among Coordinators. Athrun couldn't believe that Miguel, as a member of the Creuset Team, would face danger while piloting an MS.
After all, if Miguel and his GINN were deployed on the battlefield, even if the Federation forces dispatched several battleships, they might not necessarily be able to intercept him.
However, when he witnessed the Strike's flawlessly executed combo attacks, his inner emotions transformed from bewilderment to shock.
That uppercut, spinning kick, and thrown dagger... were these really movements an MS could perform?
The fluidity of those movements was almost identical to a real person. What kind of MS could possess such performance capabilities... and what kind of legendary pilot could actually unleash such astonishing skills, executing combos like that?
Could Naturals really accomplish such things?
However, this question—found its answer the moment he saw Kira.
So that's it... So that's it.
They must have exploited Kira's kindness, either coercing or manipulating him into using his abilities! Otherwise, Naturals alone would never be capable of such feats.
Only Kira, only his exceptionally brilliant friend among Coordinators, could achieve something like this.
—No, I can't let Kira stay here any longer.
Almost instantly, this thought surged in Athrun's heart. Instinctively, he pushed the control stick, maneuvering the Aegis toward Kira, attempting to stop him and bring him back to ZAFT—the place he believed Coordinators truly belonged.
But as soon as the Aegis moved, the white Strike Gundam swiftly stepped in, blocking his path to Kira. One hand swatted away the Aegis's outstretched arm, while the other pressed an Armor Schneider against the Aegis's cockpit, halting any further action.
The sequence was incredibly fast—so fast that Athrun only realized the opponent had closed in after the Aegis's arm was pushed aside.
"Abandon your mobile suit and surrender immediately."
Lu Tianming's stern voice transmitted through the comms, its cold tone imposing an invisible pressure on Athrun.
"Tch."
Athrun clicked his tongue in frustration, but his elite pilot instincts kicked in. Instead of abandoning the mobile suit as Lu Tianming demanded, he decided to gamble.
He fired the Vulcan Cannons at the Strike's face to create a distraction, swiftly reversed the Aegis to create distance, and fired the Beam Rifle at the factory to prevent pursuit... Athrun held his breath, executing these three actions in rapid succession, fearing that any hesitation would allow the white Gundam pilot to chase him down and shoot him out of the sky.
"Hah... He didn't pursue?"
After creating distance, Athrun glanced sideways and saw the white Gundam hadn't given chase. He let out a relieved sigh, leaning back in his seat—switching to autopilot, he guided the Aegis Gundam back to the ship to report.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Lu Tianming also exhaled deeply as he watched the Aegis hastily retreat.
Though he had appeared calm and decisive earlier, even demanding surrender... it was all an act. His goal was to give Athrun—who was still unfamiliar with his mobile suit's capabilities—the illusion that he could be captured at any moment.
Clearly, with a teammate shot down earlier and Lu Tianming's unexpectedly agile maneuvers, the combined factors had successfully driven Athrun to retreat without a fight.
"...You did well, Tianming."
Murrue also breathed a sigh of relief as the Aegis withdrew, her chest rising and falling gently beneath her tight work suit.
Gazing in the direction the Aegis had fled, she remarked with some regret:
"It's a shame we couldn't capture the Aegis."
"We couldn't have captured it... or rather, we're lucky we weren't taken by the Aegis ourselves."
Lu Tianming responded with a bitter smile.
Murrue nodded in understanding... After all, without its Striker Pack equipped, the Strike's battery life and firepower couldn't compare to the other Gundams.
The Strike Gundam's energy reserves were already critically low after the previous battle. Had Lu Tianming not genuinely intimidated the opponent earlier, relying on the Aegis' superior performance—whether through firepower suppression or simply draining their energy—would have easily rendered them defenseless and turned them into spoils of war.
At this thought, Murrue's gaze toward Lu Tianming held a trace of astonishment.
He appeared to be barely in his early twenties, yet possessed such composure... More importantly, he demonstrated MS piloting skills that could be described as transcendent.
Was he... truly a Natural?
Just as Murrue intended to inquire about this, Lu Tianming's question interrupted her:
"Miss Murrue, how do you plan to handle those civilians?"