Yzak left the Pilot's lounge after Dearka, and Rusty stopped him mainly because Athrun himself said Nicol died saving him, and he is indeed the one responsible for Nicol's death. As he was leaving, Yzak just said that the one who truly killed Nicol was the Strike's Pilot, and he would kill him next time they fight to avenge Nicol. After Yzak and the other left, Athrun was still in the lounge, sadly thinking about Nicol while touching his uniform in the locker when sheets of music score fell from the locker, which caused him to remember more things about Nicol. He started crying while holding Nicol's uniform, thinking how it should have been him who died and not Nicol, and making up his mind to kill Kira for sure the next time they meet.
On the Archangel, as soon as the Strike entered the dock and Kira got down, he was surrounded by the happy Maintenance crew who congratulated him for finally taking down one of the G project MS stolen by the ZAFT. But Kira, who was filled with guilt and shock, was immediately irritated and shouted at them, saying He just killed a person, what is there to be happy about? To which Murdock said, " Didn't you kill others before? Is there any difference?" That made Kira feel even guiltier. By this time, Mu, who had just arrived and seen Kira shouting, also asked the crew to move aside and give Kira some space and rest, asking if they couldn't see how exhausted he was. After this, Mu went after Kira to talk to him, telling him the crew considered him one of them. They didn't mean to make him upset, and then told Kira about how it would be them who died if he hadn't killed, and they were not murderer but soldiers, and told Kira to get a grip and that they were in a battle if he is like this it will cost him his life for which Kira replied that he knows and left.
SOME TIME BACK DURING THE BATTLE
As soon as Kira switched to the Sword Striker Pack, Alex, who was floating on a custom Guul with Mirage System, came to a stop on the small island on which the Aegis and Strike were about to fight, waited in the air, and watched as Kira and Athrun fought each other. By the time Athrun was pushed down, Alex, knowing the time to act was close, jumped off the Custom Guul while controlling it through remote programming, having it maintain the Mirage while his Custom Blitz with his Mirage System was on, slowly landed, avoiding any sound and vibrations, and waited for Nicol to show himself when attacking the Strike.
And just as expected, he saw Nicol running towards the Strike. As luck would have it, Nicol was in front of his MS only a little further while aiming to attack the Strike. Alex quickly activated the thruster while floating faster than Nicol's running charge. He reached beside Nicol's MS and attached the smoke bomb to the right arm. Luckily, his Mirage System was improved to be able to be used at high speed and also maintained when its claw weapon is used. As soon as the Smoke bomb activated, Alex proceeded to get behind Nicol, as even though his MS Mirage System is improved, it cannot hide the damage on Nicol's Ms so he can only attack from behind and also with great precision, as a little mistake can kill Nicol or make it impossible to retrieve him from the MS. Just when Nicol was close to the Strike Alex activated the Sonic Heat Claw and attacked from behind and by joining the whole claw to create a large single penetrating gap from behind without hitting the battery or any part that could cause high damage. By using his understanding of the Blitz's Structure he successfully pulled of the attack with out causing a blast or damage to Nicol and just as Nicol told to Athrun to live Alex activated the Ablation gel before Nicol combat suit gets damaged by his claw once the ablation gel covered Nicol and Alex was sure it could be maintained before getting Nicol out of the cockpit of his MS. Alex immediately retrieved Nicol in an instant and once he had Nicol in his hands and noticing Strike's attack on Nicol's Blitz. Alex deactivated the claw to make sure that the ablation gel wasn't completely gone and wouldn't injure Nicol. Alex also swiftly left Nicol's Blitz range so as not to be affected by the blast and be exposed. Alex, hiding Nicol in his Claw and with his Mirage system active, had his custom Guul pick him up and left the battle zone while watching everything from the air for some time before retreating to his transport plane, which is parked on a different island.
Alex, who returned to the transport plan slowly, placed Nicol on the ground before the plane while also piloting the custom Blitz into the MS dock in the plane, got down from the MS, and came to Nicol, who had completely gotten out of the Ablation gel and took off the helmet around him were Eric and Steve with guns in hand to prevent Nicol from attacking them or trying to kill himself because of unnecessary misunderstanding.
Nicol, who was now free from the ablation gel, noticed his situation and, instead of fear, he was quite calm and told them that if they kidnapped him with any intention to use him against plants, they should just give up, as he'd rather be dead than be the one responsible for causing any problems or damage to the plants. Alex who got down from the MS then introduced himself to Nicol and how their family and the Zala family get along well also told Nicol that he would have died in that situation but was alive now because he saved Nicol also asked him to not reveal that he is alive and follow them for a few months as a favor for saving his life and Alex promised he would involve Nicol in any battle against ZAFT. Alex also told Nicol that he being alive will be informed to his parents through a secure channel. As for the Blitz, Nicol was watching while they were talking. Alex also explained that the Ashford group stole all the 5 G project MS data from Heliopolis, along with the battleship data of the one they chased so far.
When Nicol heard the details, he was so shocked that he couldn't believe it for a while, asking how it was possible. Alex, who saw Nicol's reaction, felt sorry for him.
Alex said, " Nicol, you don't seriously think the EA only made those 5 MS with their resources and that they don't have the battle data of the Archangel and the Strike, do you?"
Alex explained how the EA also has some more hidden bases testing the MS in earth and how the Archangel's data had also been copied by the 8th Fleet and the EA definitely has the data the reason they where chasing it all over was simply because Creuset was using this ship to attack as many place it traveled where ZAFT can be deployed to spread the war. When Nicol heard that, he couldn't believe it and said that Creuset would never do such a thing, but Alex replied to it with a file he copied from the Mendal when he went there to install the long-range transmission antenna. As for the originals, he left them there as is for Creuset to be the one to reveal his maniac personality to Mu and Kira later.
When Nicol went through the file, he didn't know what to think for a while. Being kind, he felt sorry for Creuset's suffering while also thinking he would not allow Creuset to spread the war if that was really his thinking, and stop at all costs. Alex told Nicol that he couldn't change anything by himself; more importantly, at this stage, when both sides of the war think they aren't at a disadvantage. Even if he could stop the war by compromise, it would only be for a brief period, and the war would eventually start again as long as one side is not defeated properly or until both sides are so damaged that they can't continue even if they want to.
Alex also told Nicol he would allow him to return to plants in a few months as long as he was with him and would help him when fighting against EA once. Nicol agreed on the condition that he can talk to his parents himself and asked how he would fight against EA if they give him this Blitz, to which Alex said that he would indeed be providing Nicol an MS but not this one. As for Nicol meeting his parents, Alex decided he needed to talk to Patrick to use this situation to the best for both himself and Patrick Zala.
Author Notes: Another chapter will be uploaded in a few hours.