This was where it would end.
Three miles below Liberty Island, New York, a new future was dawning-- one entirely different from anything Quirinus or Reed Rivers had planned. Wrapped in weathered bandages marked with his now-familiar sigil-- an eye over a human hand. Half-mumbled formulas mingled with blood pressure readings as he hurriedly finished the cryo-conditioning for the last of the captives-- one Sebastian Rittenbach. Not particularly useful anymore, but good to have out of the picture for the final phase.
Rittenbach slid into a containment tube that was then flooded with oxygenated colloid. Over the next few minutes, a series of timed energy pulses would slow his heart rate, freeze his metabolism, and shut down all higher functions of his brain until Jacquio felt a need for his unique talents. Captured just outside of the Statue, he was brought in by one of the Lane children-- the cybernetic 'Innovators' his friends in the colonies had developed under his direction and funding. Their designs were too advanced to have come from human minds, and for good reason: they hadn't.
The bandages covering his overworked jaw began to loosen, wearing at the sides and tearing enough to expose his pale incisors, chipped and over-sized for a weak-willed herbivore Oldtype like himself. The children remained in the atrium, guarding the entrance to what they soon realized was a prehistoric labyrinth far beyond their understanding. Even with their artificially super-evolved thought processes, the machine children could not process the concept of such advanced technology existing before their time. Superficial readings from the captured catamaran mothership docked outside picked up enormous amounts of GN particles streaming out of this subterranean city from the moment they unearthed it in battle.
GN particles...in a structure that was by all accounts several hundred years old.
"Com...Computer, date."
The whirring of liquid-cooled drives housed in large groups within the walls no longer bothered him-- ever since he re-discovered the hidden city the machines had worked overtime to restore the flight systems to their original working order. The activation sequence kept him from launching the whole of the structure out of the island and back into the sunlight, but today that would change. Today, after months of pushing pieces around, after stealing lives from some and returning life to others, he had finally collected the ones he needed:
Edward Balentine, rogue G-Fighter. The prime candidate for collection from the start, his heart would drive the machines that slept beneath Lady Liberty for a millennium.Meirah Lente, tortured Newtype visionary. A more-than-suitable replacement for the deceased Curon Hifor, her DG-tainted psychic imprint would direct the guidance systems of the flying city.
Jorn Thorberg, misguided Coordinator of human malice. With Geoffrey Falcon lost to the DG infection, Thorberg's mind became the prime candidate to calculate the city's ascent patterns.
"Date: July Twenty-Seventh, Space Era Sixty-Seven."
"Begin audio log. I am Jacquio, essence of the remainder. The Bio Gundam's release, while unintentional, has created conditions too convenient to ignore. The Earth militaries have crumbled thanks in part to my manipulation of the surprisingly efficient Delta Glipheptin infection. While it was certainly not my intention to...hurgh...to bring such destruction about upon the people of Earth, it is a necessary evil that has not only enabled me to once again access the heart of the flying city, but has emboldened me to make the required sacrifices to lift her out of this earthly prison."
Sebastian's chamber filled with a glowing green substance, and almost immediately the pulses began to steal away what life remained in his body.
"For the sake of my continued...um, service...to the remainder, I have transferred my duties and essence to one Benjamin Neelix. The human bodies grow harder to control...but these bandages can't hold together on their own."
"Metabolic deceleration complete."
"Good. Good. Send him to the hold with the others. Prepare specimens One, Two, and Three for genetic convergence."
The Battle of Manhattan had, like so many other conflicts in this war, ended with no clear victor. The UNION troops outlasted the Federal loyalists for the most part-- led by Thor Jornberg and an impostor posing as General Quirinus, they pushed the enemy back across the shattered gates and destroyed their flagship, the Morning Glory. Unfortunately, the UTF had not been the only enemy on the field that day-- a militia calling itself the Death Army, comprised of DG-addicted soldiers, assassins, and defectors from space, launched its first major initiative on Liberty Island. Their aim was to capture the UNION's largest mobile command center, a catamaran mothership that housed several mobile suits and relayed instructions to other arms of the military. After usurping control of their most prized prototypes, the Death Army succeeded in capturing both the craft and the island it was stationed on shortly before midnight of the twenty-fifth. Only a small pocket of UNION resistance remained, hiding in the city and led by Thorberg and his 0 Gundam.
Jacquio and his new followers watched from the island as they launched a final advance, oblivious to the infection that had already spread amongst the dead. The 0 Gundam and a handful of Aries then faced a resurrected Death Army, comprised of every man, woman, and child to have died in the battle that morning. Jornberg himself faced the unstable Alfimi Elwren once again in deadly combat, forcing a decisive conclusion that echoed her murder of Geoffrey Falcon all those months ago. She survived, losing the Arche Gundam, and vanished somewhere above the Liberty Island park. She was of no consequence, and Jacquio had precious little time to waste on saving the lives of sociopaths.
There was a spark of resistance left, however, gathering outside of Manhattan's great walls. Native survivors escaped, joining with militias coming over from neighboring regions. Fearful and overpowered, the pros of surrendering were soon beginning to greatly outweigh those of fighting back. They had no mobile suits, no heavy weapons to bombard the massive Army patrolling the heart of the city...and they had no leader. They camped twenty miles from the gates, using their limited equipment to shield themselves from detection while attempting to cobble together a plan. But twelve hours ago it all changed. Twelve hours ago a transmission coming out of New Jersey instilled in them a new vigor, a new confidence in their chances. Twelve hours ago Cole Burns returned to New York, flying the last surviving Javelin and waving a banner the whole of humanity could get behind.
"God damn it, let's get those bastards out of our city already, huh?"
