2022-09-29: At the Bottom of the Gravity Well: Ideals
- Cast: Banagher Links, Leina Ashta, Suberoa Zinnerman
- Where: Pacific Ocean - The Skies Over Torrington Base
- Date: U.C. 0096 09 29
- Summary: The Earth Zeon Remnants have made their move, striking out at Torrington Base. As the violence escalates beyond mission parameters, a young man stands up for what he believes against the man who's coming more and more to think of him as a son.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
The Garencieres is in high atmosphere on the Torrington Base shore; high enough to be out of the line of fire, but close enough to listen in on the communications on the old Zeon frequency as the Earth Remnant begin their attack and watch the fighting as it starts.
Jade beam fire lances down upon a GM from a '79-era rotorcoptor, ripping its arm clean off at the shoulder, functionally disabling the Federation mobile suit. From within the air transport, Yonem Kirks, leader of the Zeon Remnant, coordinates the strike, laying down covering fire with his Zaku's beam sniper rifle. "Loni, avoid the city!"
The AMA-X7 Shamblo stalks out of the shoreline towards the base, its vermillion, curved-sloping armour glistening with seawater that quickly evaporates from the heat of its armour. Its pilot is a familiar face to the crew of the Garencieres - a dark-skinned, dark-blue haired young woman about Banagher's age, one Loni Garvey. "It's the quickest way to the base!" She spits into the comm. "Have you forgotten what the Federation did to us!?"
Kirks holds authority, voice stern. "We want to avoid unnecessary casualties! Skirt around, that's an order."
Loni sighs in frustration, but: "Understood."
Then - the sensitive aboard the Garencieres feel it - Something changes in Loni's mental state.
Kirks is, apparently, not a Newtype, but her silence over an open line is a clue all of its own. "Loni?"
The girl is staring, blankly, in her cockpit as the Shamblo stands motionless, psycoframe burning red behind her. Then - the dorsal armour of the Shamblo opens up, deploying a fusilade of projectiles into the air that snap open to reveal helicoptering drones. The long, articulated head of the mobile armour rears up and turns, as if the machine itself is surveying the battlefield. Then the drones open out to reveal mirrors, and particle launchers on the machine's shoulders fire scattering beams up towards the drones, bouncing off the mirrors and causing a rainfall of devastation on the city.
Skyscrapers, landmarks, evacuation bunkers - demolished in an instant. Kirks, watching, can only whisper "A runaway psycommu... Is it really that bloodthirsty?" into the comms.
On the Garencieres bridge, Zinnerman, Flaste and Gilboa are watching the grim scene unfold. The mood darkens as all three of the men set their jaws. They knew going in that this was going to get messy.
It's become so a lot faster than they even dreaded it would.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"--and that's why I'm hoping you'll come along." Banagher says, quietly. One hand holds Leina's as they talk, sitting at the Unicorn's feet the day before the mission to Torrington. Worry is clear in the young man's eyes. Despite his trust in the Captain, Banagher has a sinking feeling about this plan. Maybe it's Leina's own concerns bleeding through their connection, but either way... "I -- don't want Unicorn to go berserk and wind up hurting someone."
Now sitting together in the Gundam's cockpit, Banagher and Leina helplessly look down at the destruction beneath them. "It -- wasn't supposed to be like this!" Visibly shaking, Banagher takes his helmet off. "This is... a slaughter. Nothing but a slaughter!"
It wasn't just the army of mobile suits destroying each other. That girl in the Shamblo was in need. Something was wrong, direly wrong. Banagher can't imagine a world where someone would want to kill so many innocent people. All Banagher can think of is to turn to Zinnerman, trusting in the older man's judgement and kindness. Their moments together in the desert flash through his mind.
"I'll be right back, I promise. I know her, that girl in there -- I know I can reach her! We'll put a stop to this!" Grabbing Leina's hand, Banagher has a determined look in his eyes. "The Captain will know what to do. Stay in here and keep the cockpit closed. No one will be able to get in."
Racing through the hallways, Banagher makes his way to the Bridge. "Captain! What's going on?!" He catches his breath for a moment. "I'm going out in the Unicorn. If I can break the Box's seal, there'll be no reason for anyone to keep fighting!"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina doesn't like this. She hasn't ever since Banagher told her the plan. It might be the quickest way to get the next Coordinate but, is it really the best way? She doesn't think so.
However, in the end, while she didn't validate his decision, she still already knows her answer even before he asks.
"I'll come." She says to him quietly, "I planned to come even before you asked."
If it happens again, she doesn't want him to be alone.
-=-=-
Strapped into the passenger seat of the Unicorn. Her expression grave as they see the state of the city. Until that moment it isn't, she doesn't have to see it, to understand implicitly what it means, but she sees it too, even as he says it's a slaughter...
"No." A sotto voce, a whisper.
'Puru! There are kids down there! Give Leina back and we'll play together! Somewhere else!'
"No." She repeats, a hollow echo, in the same cadence. It's not the same scenario. It's not a child's tantrum, however, it is someone losing themselves within technology that can kill with a thought... again.
'You're just lying to me now!'
'It's not a lie! Using mobile suits here is dangerous!'
Her breathing picks up, as she remembers her battle aura flaring, that moment she went out of control. And the funnels...
'You're hurting them! Killing them!'
'It's you who's making me do these things!'
Tamping down on that sensation, Leina takes deep breaths, even as she reaches that inevitable conclusion.
'Stop! Stop! Please stop! Puru please! If your selfishness gets people killed! My brother will despise you for it!'
"It's going to get worse." She tells Banagher shakily, "She's lost control."
As Banagher grabs her hand, she finds her voice, her resolve, "You can reach her." She tells him firmly, "I know you can." She knows, because... because she was there when it was done, once before.
"You're sure about this?" She meets his amber eyes with her green ones. This is a battle that Zinnerman is a part of, that he's directing. She doesn't know if this will go the way Banagher feels it will, despite how close he is to the Captain, but after a moment's hesitation, "If anything goes wrong... I'll be ready."
And so... she waits, the cool steel, the weight of a handgun resting in her lap. Her gaze distant, as she tries to sift through the slaughter in the distance... trying to draw herself out of memory, focusing on Banagher instead. "It's going to get worse." She repeats, steeling herself, as she performs some mental exercises, to calm herself as best as she can.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
Even as the Shamblo rampages, Yonem Kirks is a tireless professional. That jade beam lances down again and again, dividing its attention between mobile suit targets and other materiel, ripping apart tank and fighter jet alike.
Zinnerman was expecting a confrontation. "Settle down, Banagher. You go out there now, the base's flak cannons will rip the Unicorn apart. Wait until we've 'mopped up'."
Is that the old anger talking? Zinnerman maintains a stoic facade. There's no way Banagher will take well to this unkind description of the rampage, but the old man cuts him off. "This is an operation. My feelings aren't relevant to the mission."
Inside, his stomach curls. He can see the defiance already there in the boy's eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"I believe in the Captain." Banagher says, with a forced smile, trying to give off a little more confidence than he feels. "And I believe in us."
Banagher can feel the echoes of Leina's distress even as he runs to the bridge. He had to make this fast. He had to get back to her and put a stop to this -- both for the sake of the people below, and Leina herself. If only she didn't have to watch the slaughter playing out beneath them with the Unicorn's cameras! Ms. Mass really wouldn't forgive him for this one.
He has to push away the fear and pain of the battlefield and get through to Zinnerman. Banagher takes a breath, shaking his head.
...and then the Captain speaks. Banagher's eyes go wide with shock, then horror, and then narrow in anger. "What do you mean, 'mopped up?! Innocent people are dying out there! Don't you care?"
This isn't the man he's grown so close to. What's come over the Captain? Banagher can't understand, and looks away. Flaste and Gilboa don't meet his gaze. He couldn't waste time if the Captain wouldn't listen. Every moment he hesitated on the ship meant more lives lost. Gritting his teeth, Banagher moves to leave the bridge and make his way back to the Unicorn.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
As Banagher moves, Zinnerman draws his gun, aiming it at the boy. The storm on his shoulders swirls. "Stay put. I didn't tie you up and force you to come here, and I warned you that battle plans don't go smooth. If you didn't expect something like this to happen on an operation to seize enemy territory, you have a serious lack of imagination. This is war, Banagher. This is the way it is."
He maintains a steely gaze, hand tight on the grip of his pistol. Would he really pull the trigger? He stopped one of his subordinates from firing on Banagher, not so long ago on Industrial Seven.
If he focuses on going through the motions of keeping a subordinate in his place, he doesn't have to think about what's going on down there.
He's never pulled a gun on any of his crew before.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
As Zinnerman points the gun at Banagher, he feels a sharp spike of fear in his heart. He'd taken a stray shot for the Captain before, aboard a Federation vessel. Would the man really shoot him now? Banagher looks terribly young in this moment, his golden eyes wide and frightened.
A vision of Audrey comes to him, standing on a bridge just like this, staring defiantly into the barrel of a gun. A gun held by a man much more likely to pull the trigger. If she could do it, then Banagher could do. He closes his eyes, letting anger overtake his sense of fear. "Attacking innocent civilians? Decimating fleeing people?" His eyes open again, accusing and angry. "How can you even blame this on war?!"
"This is just an act of vengeance!" Banagher moves just an inch forward, expression turning beseeching. "That first time we met, back at Industrial 7, you chose not to shoot me! I know you. This is eating you up inside." He leans forward again, as though reaching the Captain physically would convince him of the truth of Banagher's words. "So make them stop! If this is your idea of war -- why did you say all that in the desert? Why did you save Miss Marida?"
Banagher takes a few steps forward, now at the exit of the Bridge. He steps over it, getting as close to Zinnerman as he can. "She doesn't call you Master becuase she's a Cyber-Newtype. It's because you saved her! Like you did me! It's because you touched her heart, just like you touched mine!"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The moment she feels Banagher's anger surge, she knows what happened. "An old soldier." She says to herself, just as quietly, keeping her eyes closed.
She can't feel the specifics without that connection to Zinnerman, but she understands implicitly that it is not going as Banagher hoped.
"Banagher..."
He doesn't hear her words, but he might feel like even from afar, a sensation like she's consoling him. She hopes that his belief is well-founded, she wants to believe in the man who regards Marida as a daughter, that he's a good man...
... but she also knows he's a man who is still letting her fight for Neo-Zeon, despite the wrongs committed against her by Glemy Toto.
The moment she feels that spike of fear, she finds herself performing a chamber check. She's never fired a gun at a person before.
She hopes today won't break that trend.
However, she doesn't leave the Unicorn, despite wanting to. While she knows she only wants to believe in Zinnerman... she also knows that she believes in Banagher.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
As Banagher calls Zinnerman out, calls this violence an act of vengeance, the old man's lips quirk and his teeth grit. The boy steps forwards, and the storm breaks. "Shut the hell up!"
Zinnerman doesn't shoot - he lunges, left arm shooting forward to grab Banagher by the collar of his pilot suit, the big man lifting the boy up and swinging him with a crash into one of the storage cupboards beside the captain's chair.
"That's really what you think was happening?" Rage surges within him as he stands over the boy. How dare he be right. "I won you over because I thought it would make my job easier. I was concerned about your wellbeing because you're the pilot of that goddamn key to the Box!"
He grabs his command console and turns it to face Banagher, showing the boy his own view of the horrors being waged upon Torrington City. "You don't think this is war, huh? Open your eyes and take a good, long look. This is war. There's no principles, no dignity, no goddamn honour. Just people killing, and people dying. It's as simple as that!"
He hasn't yelled like this in a long time. He's kept this anger bottled up for seventeen years. He leans in to get face-to-face with the boy. "And what's wrong with a little vengeance, anyway? This war of ours is far from over!"
Gilboa and Flaste remain in their seats, staring fixedly at their screens.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher is taken entirely by surprise, the larger man effortlessly slamming him into the cupboard. "Aaah! Nnh--!" The Captain hurled him with enough force to leave a Banagher-sized dent in the cabinets. He raises his head once he catches his breath, glowering at Zinnerman.
Every word out of the man's mouth hurts more than being slammed into the wall did -- his eyes sting with tears. Before he can get back to his feet, Zinnerman has swung the screen down in front of his face. Banagher can't help but stare in horror at the Captain's console, frozen in place. A Federation mobile suit effortlessly destroys an old Zeon model. An apartment building is obliterated by the Shamblo. Suffering. Hatred.
The Captain sweeps his console away, drawing near Banagher again. But those last words.. he can't let that stand! "Your thinking... that's how the Federation soldiers rationalized burning down that Zeon town!"
The vision is still fresh in Banagher's mind. It's the same -- the same as that night. Fire, screams, innocents dying and begging for their lives. He couldn't see the details, but he knows without a doubt the agony is the same. But... it's a low blow, bringing up that night to the Captain. Banagher knows it, seeing the Captain's face twitch in fury once the words leave his mouth. The man couldn't even talk about it in the desert, and now he's thrown it in Zinnerman's face in the middle of a heated fight.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
'That's how the Federation soldiers rationalised burning down the Zeon town!' Zinnerman growls and slams Banagher's head against the cabinet, placing the barrel of the pistol to his head.
He sees the flames too.
He has been seeing them for seventeen years.
On the battlefield, a warehouse breaks open, a heavily-customised Federation suit - a Byarlant? - bursts into the sky, turning in midair over a squadron of ancient Zeon suits, laying down a hail of fire while upside down that rips the four Remnant attackers to shreds. One pilot manages to cry out "Sieg Ze - " before his suit's fireball consumes it and him.
Zinnerman glances away to watch the explosion.
A crucial distraction.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher doesn't cry out this time, stunned when his head slams into metal. His ears ring. He doesn't even notice the gun to his head for a few moments -- but when he does, there's no fear. Audrey... she'd done this with grace and power. Banagher can't measure up to that standard, but he can still do something!
Zinnerman looks away, giving Banagher just enough time to grab the Captain's wrist. The other man is far stronger, but fury strengthens Banagher. Gritting his teeth, he inches the gun away from his head. His arm trembles with effort. "Even though -- people are sad. We live our lives trying to escape sadness! You told me that!"
Surging forward, Banagher slams his head into Zinnerman's face. It hurts, making the ringing in his ears a bit louder, but -- he doesn't care. The Captain loses his grip and stumbles backwards, and Banagher chases after him, taking him to the floor. "You know this is pointless!" He cries, punching Zinnerman as hard as he can. And again. And again. "What you're doing -- none of it is going to accomplish anything!"
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
That fire in the kid - Zinnerman remembers having it, once. He's caught off guard as Banagher pushes him backwards and headbutts him square between the eyes, forcing him to collapse onto the bridge deck between the seats of his subordinates. Before he can react, the boy is upon him, fists flying, voice cracking as he holds Zinnerman to account.
He reaches up to grab Banagher's shoulder, lifting him up and then kicking him in the chest to gain more clearance. "What would a kid like you know!?"
"My whole team - " he pulls himself up, still holding his gun, reaching up to rub the side of his face which is already swelling from Banagher's strikes with his free hand. " - We've been waiting for a moment like this for a long time. So long that I'm dying to be out there myself!" Some part of him really is. He has to make them bleed for what they did to Fee and Marie. For what they did to everyone's families.
Discarding his gun, he lunges towards Banagher to lift him up against the bulkhead of the bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The moment the fear sharpens, that she sees that vision second hand...
Leina looks up towards the hatch of the Unicorn. The surge of anger, the violence behind it... she wants to get up. She wants to leave the Unicorn. She wants to go to him.
However, she can tell even now that he believes in the man beneath all of those built up decades of pain. She doesn't stand up. She just rides the wave of anger from him, sieving it out from the psychic current of panic, fear, fury, and despair amongst the Federation and Zeonic forces. And as unobtrusively as possible, she has him feel the words from her.
'Banagher. I'm here.'
He can tell that she hasn't left the Unicorn. That she's not creeping up on them, despite it all. All the same, she still asks. She makes it his decision.
'Do you need me there?'
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
The breath is forced out of him as Banagher hits the wall once again. For a moment, he can't do anything but tremble. The Captain is coming closer again, fury so clear in his face, the young man can't do a thing to protect himself.
Banagher's hair has fallen in front of his eyes now, impressively somehow more unkempt than usual. "You don't have the right... Just because you've been through hell, doesn't mean you can force others into that hell!"
Lifted into the air so effortlessly -- just how strong is the Captain? Banagher struggles, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He can't grab a hold of anything to help himself, so far from the ground. Panic makes his movements jerky and uneven. Is -- Zinnerman really going to kill him?
Leina's voice touches Banagher's heart, warm and gentle. "Leina--" He chokes out, gritting his teeth. That's right. He can't give up on getting the Unicorn out there, no matter what the cost! All those people, and Leina -- they needed him! With a grunt, Banagher kicks the Captain between the legs, not feeling any sympathy in the heat of the moment.
Zinnerman falls down between Flaste and Gilboa's consoles again, and again, Banagher chases him. This time he stays on his feet, kicking the man in the face. "I'm -- coming back! We're going out there!" He shouts, hoping his words reach Leina. Anger drives him still, and he kicks Zinnerman more and more, not letting the other man get even a moment to collect himself.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
This kid isn't giving up, is he? This isn't going to end until one of them's unconscious. "Flaste! Gilboa! Get this kid off of me!"
Gilboa, the Garencieres' family man, is no stranger to child-wrangling, but... there is an unlikely spike of support for Banagher as Flaste leans back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. "Sorry, Captain, but we've got our hands full here. You'll have to deal with the kid yourself."
The second-in-command has spoken. Gilboa can't help but smirk a little as Zinnerman becomes incensed "you son of a - " his open jaw meets Banagher's heel at exactly the wrong moment and the lieutenant grunts in shock as his teeth slam together with a clack. His head drops back against the deck, conscious but stunned.
He lets out a long breath, struggling to get himself back to at least a sitting position.
He was right about one thing - there's no dignity in a fight. He looks a mess.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Exhausted, Banagher staggers back, sitting on on the stairs up to the Captain's chair. "I don't get it." He mutters, hunching over. "I just -- I don't understand it."
Is he still broadcasting to Leina? Banagher doesn't know, but if she hears this, so be it. It needs to be said. "It's true." Banagher says, panting. "Life can be sad. It can also be filled with pain."
Banagher brings a hand over his heart, trying to ease some of the pain threatening to overtake him. "But even so. We can't close our hearts off because of it. Others' sadness? I don't want to forget that! It's because we have hearts that we can feel sadness!"
"And that's the reason--" Banagher leans forward, looking straight at Zinnerman. "I want to be a man who can acknowledge that sadness!" Tears sting at his eyes again. "The kind of man you are, Captain!"
It was too much. Banagher gets back to his feet and runs from the bridge, making his way back to Leina and the Unicorn. "I'm sorry. I didn't -- I didn't think it'd go like that." He wipes his eyes on the back of his sleeve. "I'm almost there."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Despite his apology, there's no chiding sense of 'I told you so'. She knew from the start what he was like. That some hard truths could not be conveyed to him just by her telling them.
Still she hoped, that despite one hard lesson after another being driven into him, that he'd keep that side of himself. That sincerity, that innocent desire not to kill anyone.
She wants to believe in a kinder world that allows for his point of view.
It sounds like you said what you needed to.
Leina stands up and prepares herself, getting ready to open the hatch the moment she feels him close. There's a feeling that's almost rueful, that he sends his way.
Sometimes words just aren't enough.
The moment he arrives, he'll find the hatch open for him, and her standing there a hand extended out towards him. Her smile towards him a contrast towards the grim, resolute look in her eyes. "I'm ready. Let's say what she needs to hear next."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
As Banagher yells at him, Zinnerman makes no move to rise from the ground. With his own crew clearly not supporting him, the fight's gone out of the man and suddenly he feels old. Old and tired.
All he can do is watch Banagher as he claims to want to become the kind of man... he is?
So twisted up by hatred and grief and the need for vengeance, Zinnerman doesn't understand what he means. All he can do is close his eyes and bow his head, and let Banagher go back to the Unicorn.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher's tears dry by the time he's back to the Unicorn, stepping in as Leina opens the hatch. He wraps his arms around her for a long moment, taking comfort in her presence. "Thank you, Leina. I'm so thankful you're here."
With a hand pressed to his screen, the Unicorn comes to life. Banagher calls the hangar, managing only a determined look as the young mechanic picks up. "Mister Tomura. Please launch the Unicorn Gundam."
Looking back to Leina, Banagher takes her hand in his once more before they head out. He looks like a mess -- bruised and sweaty before the battle has even really started for them. Leina won't mind.
As the Unicorn dangles outside the ship, Banagher takes a deep breath. The months of companionship and family he'd experienced here... nothing could wipe that away. Even his fight with the Captain pales in comparison to the warmth of the Garencieres. Those memories ground him, laying about his shoulders like a well-worn quilt against a storm. Nothing could take these memories away.
A smile comes to Banagher's face. He squeezes Leina's hand once, then puts his hands on the controls. "Captain. Everyone on the Garencieres, thanks for everything." One more deep breath. "Banagher Links! Unicorn Gundam! Here I go!"
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
Tomura blinks at Banagher's face. "Aren't you supposed to be on standby?" Still, though, he activates the launching crane, extending the Unicorn Gundam out over the battlefield, while radioing up to the bridge.
Below the Garencieres, the Shamblo continues its terrible advance, Loni blank-faced and heedless of Kirks's orders and attempts to rein her in.
"Are you guys sure about this? If I drop him now he'll be a sitting duck." Tomura fears for Banagher's safety, even now.
Flaste looks up to Zinnerman, seated in the captain's chair again, nursing his bruises and swellings with a damp cloth. The captain has his head in one hand, not looking at any of the displays, so Flaste speaks for him. "It's alright. We should let the kid do what he wants." He fixes his commanding officer with a stare, carefully measuring him. "Right, captain?"
Zinnerman is silent, for a long moment. This isn't going to work. Banagher is going to get shot down, the Shamblo's rampage will continue, and the Federation reinforcements will clean them all up, even after that Byarlant's done making a mess of the attack team. This has always been how it was going to end for them - in ignominous violence.
But even so...
Even so, deep down, part of him wants to believe in that boy.
"Hmph." It is but a grunt into the ship comms. But it is a sound of... some kind of approval, and a goodbye, all at once. He knows the kid will understand.