But precisely because they usually acted so viciously, the sight of them in pain bothered Flay all the more. It was like seeing a kind of vulnerability that should not exist. Like seeing soft internal organs writhing beneath a thick shell. Their pain was too real, too primal, for her to simply pretend she had not seen it.
"...What am I thinking?"
Just as she was about to keep thinking about them, she shook her head hard, her red hair whipping across her shoulders as she forcibly cut off the thought.
What would thinking about those people accomplish? They were not close. All they sought from each other was the ability to act on the battlefield without holding one another back. Spending time and energy on people like that was a waste.
Besides, their side had already lost a mobile suit. That idiot Clotho Buer had become space junk along with his machine, leaving them at a disadvantage in mobile suit strength compared with the other factions. The man who did nothing but charge into enemy lines laughing madly had not even managed a scream before a DRAGOON beam pierced his cockpit.
The ZAFT faction had the Providence Gundam, which had treated Clotho like a child and killed him in an instant while wielding armaments seemingly developed from a cannon backpack, as well as the red machine they had fought the other day—the Justice Gundam.
Flay quickly reviewed the enemy machines' characteristics and tactical data in her mind. Both could be considered nuclear-powered. It would not be surprising if they had other machines equipped with equally cutting-edge technology. Those Coordinators were always creating disgusting new weapons.
The Orb faction was the same, with troublesome machines gathered under its banner. The Freedom Gundam and the Experimental Zaku—and while their performance lagged