Inside the cockpit, the boy realized that his sharp words had failed to drive Cagalli away. He sighed, turned on the GINN's main camera, and began checking the damage caused earlier by two Armor Piercer from the Assault.
"Hey, you are not a mercenary, are you? You almost threw up just now, no mercenary is like that. What are you really after? If this kind of thing falls into the hands of someone ambitious."
"Main camera is OK, auxiliary camera is temporarily down. Hilde, I am going to keep working, be careful down there." Ignoring Cagalli's probing, Siegfried slowly adjusted after closing the hatch and getting through the worst of the discomfort.
Below, after checking several transport ships that were still intact, Hilde finally found a suitable model. She checked the fuel and supplies, then waved for the GINN to clear the area, and the two of them finished loading the intact Energy Pack.
"All right, I will go open the gate in a moment, and after we leave this area I will move over from the GINN. Hilde, keep the transport steady."
"As for you, Cagalli, right. Are you going back to find a shelter yourself, or should I knock you out and leave you here." Seeing that he would soon be free of this stubborn girl, a dangerous edge crept into Siegfried's smile.
"Knock me out, then. Otherwise I am not leaving." Cagalli answered without hesitation, and that response made Siegfried feel terrible all over. Knocking her out had only been a threat, and leaving the future prime minister of Orb in an uncertain life or death situation was something he could not do, no matter how little he cared about the story.
"Are you an animal, making choices by instinct? Staying here is no different from waiting to die." Completely fed up, Siegfried leaned in close and unloaded a furious scolding right in her face.
"So you will not leave me behind." This time, Cagalli just looked at Siegfried seriously. She did not shout, but the firmness in her eyes made him question whether calling it animal instinct was praise or insult.
"Hilde, what do we do if someone refuses to leave?" Pressing his built-in earpiece, Siegfried could not handle this stubborn case and had to ask for help. Because it involved their secret, he used Haro for the call.
"We cannot take her with us. The secret of Mendel cannot be known, and she must return to Orb. She cannot stay with us."
"She will not go. Not going, not going. Can I just tie her up and call the Alliance to pick her up?"
"It is too dangerous here. The colony will collapse soon, and if she is caught in it, she will die for sure."
Before they could reach a decision, violent explosions echoed again inside the colony after a brief calm. The space they had just cleared showed signs of being blocked once more.
"We cannot wait. Hilde, you go out first. I will dump this idiot with the Alliance and then catch up. Keep in touch with Haro, watch out for ZAFT warships outside, and do not get dragged into the collapse."
He silently calculated the timing, guessing that the explosion was the Archangel breaking through. There should still be a short calm before GINNs with siege equipment entered, and with the Moebius damaged and the Assault regrouping, the Archangel landing for resupply, it seemed safe enough to drop Cagalli far away and leave quickly.
"Hilde, give me Haro. First time piloting a GINN, I might need it."
"Hilde?"
When no answer came, Siegfried asked again, puzzled. He saw Hilde hesitate while looking at Haro in her hand, then react a moment later.
"I can give it to you, but be careful of Haro."
"Why would I need to be careful with this thing. That is strange." Not taking her warning seriously, the GINN reached out and took Haro. With the control tower badly damaged, Siegfried found the manual gate, grateful again that they had seized a mobile suit. As the gate slowly opened, Hilde's transport ship was ready to depart.
Looking at the scene before him, Siegfried felt an unspoken worry. For three years he and Hilde had lived side by side, and although he knew she was stronger than him in both skill and ability, separating their actions like this still weighed on him.
"Hilde, say something to me."
"What?"
"Something like granting me power."
"What kind of line is that?"
"Tifa said it to Garrod."
"I have no memory of that."
"Such a strange woman."
As gravity shifted, the steel vehicles piloted by Hilde and Siegfried both floated up. He took one last look at the transport ship's back, breathed in, and found he had nothing else to say, so he waved with the GINN's arm.
When the transport ship was completely out of sight, the GINN turned back toward the colony interior. Out of habit, he closed the gate behind him.
"All right, next is you, troublemaker. In a bit you will go quietly to the Alliance side, and do not try anything funny. I mean it."
Sensing Siegfried's mood shift, Cagalli did not argue back. After a short silence, though, that so called instinct of hers resurfaced.
"Hey, is that girl important to you?"
"That is obvious."
"You like her."
"What? Use that rusty brain of yours. We clearly look like siblings."
"She is taller than you."
"You."
During this brief time together, Siegfried realized something important. As long as he stayed calm, talking normally with this simple minded woman was not that unbearable, and arguing with someone Cagalli's age brought no benefit. The cockpit was cramped, and most of Cagalli was pressed against his chest, and it was a good thing he was not fully grown yet, or it would have been even worse.
"So you can actually talk normally."
"Why do you have to get this kind of weapon? The Alliance and PLANT have been fighting for so long, weapons only bring misfortune to others." In the next second, Siegfried realized he had been too optimistic, as Cagalli quickly returned to her familiar self righteous angle.
He muttered to himself that it was coming, and sure enough it was a classic Cagalli question. He did not want to answer something so foolish, but the GINN happened to pass the hotel where he had once stayed. Unlike his memories, it was now a pile of burned ruins, and with Hilde already gone, the sight and the questioning finally set off the feelings he had been holding back.
"What do you mean weapons only bring misfortune? Did Heliopolis have weapons? Did the civilians down there have weapons? If you idiots from Orb had not insisted on developing mobile suits in a civilian colony, today, right now, right here under our feet, there would still be laughter."