Breaking through the final defensive line of Jachin Due Fortress went surprisingly smoothly. Reid had brought both the Freedom Meteor and Justice Meteor Mobile Suits, which proved exceptionally effective at clearing out enemy forces when operating at full firepower.
Moreover, Reid hadn't encountered Creuset piloting the Providence from the direction of the East Asian Republic fleet. Whether Creuset was deliberately avoiding him or simply not stationed in his sector remained unclear.
But Reid wasn't in the mood to hunt down Creuset as an optional boss. There were still several opponents on the battlefield capable of challenging him, and as long as the battle continued, he'd eventually cross paths with them.
Once the surface of Jachin Due Fortress before him had been cleared, Reid blasted a hole through it with the Destroyer Beam Cannon, exposing the internal passageways.
Now, Reid needed a local guide—and since they might encounter urban combat, he decided to bring both Xia sisters along. Over the comms, he said,
"Athrun, I've opened a path into the fortress. You're coming with me. Kira, you and Flay hold the line outside and guard our Mobile Suits—no problem, right?"
Neither Athrun nor Kira had any objections.
Athrun knew this battle would inevitably bring him face-to-face with his father. It was the best opportunity to demonstrate his resolve to Patrick Zala.
As for Kira, he understood Athrun's position—and he didn't mind staying behind with Flay to defend the perimeter. After all, Flay was still his goddess in his heart.
Thus, Reid, accompanied by the Xia sisters and Athrun, rushed through the breach and disembarked from their Mobile Suits. Following Athrun's lead, they headed straight for Jachin Due's command center.
Reid essentially carved his way through the fortress. ZAFT's resistance was fiercer than he'd anticipated.
But to save time, Reid handed Athrun a Lunatitanium Riot Shield to protect him from stray bullets. Meanwhile, relying on his Lunatitanium Bulletproof Vest to deflect pistol and rifle rounds, he charged forward almost heedless of enemy fire.
Athrun didn't question where Reid had pulled the riot shield from—he probably assumed it had been retrieved from their Mobile Suits—and simply raised it as they advanced.
Since Genesis had only fired once at this point, when Athrun arrived at Jachin Due's command room, he wasn't greeted by the sight of an elderly Zala riddled with bullet holes, bleeding profusely as he floated in zero gravity.
Even the black-clad aide who, in the original timeline, had been shot by Patrick Zala before retaliating and killing him, was still alive. In fact, when Reid's group burst in, this aide and another black-clad officer raised their guns to shield Patrick Zala.
Unfortunately, fate remained unchanged for this man. Reid had no intention of sparing either aide.
As far as Reid was concerned, not killing Patrick Zala on the spot was already the greatest concession he could make out of respect for Athrun.
Thus, the two black-clad aides were swiftly eliminated—each taken down with a single shot from the Xia sisters. Their dying return fire merely bounced harmlessly off the Lunatitanium Bulletproof Vests.
The remaining guards lasted less than five minutes against the Xia sisters before being completely wiped out.
Now, inside Jachin Due's command room, every remaining PLANT soldier except Patrick Zala had raised their hands in surrender.
Seeing the situation, Reid allowed the Xia sisters to continue holding their guns as a deterrent while he stepped out from behind Athrun's riot shield, advancing directly toward the muzzle of Patrick Zala's pistol.
Patrick Zala didn't hesitate in the slightest, firing several shots at Reid as soon as he emerged from cover.
However, relying on his Newtype perception to gauge Patrick Zala's timing of attack and the movement of his wrist, Reid calmly predicted the bullet trajectories. With effortless sidesteps, he dodged every single shot.
After emptying his magazine, Patrick Zala threw the gun at Reid's helmet and bent down to grab the sidearm of his fallen adjutant for another attack.
Reacting swiftly, Reid kicked Patrick Zala away and then pointed his own pistol at the man's head, coldly stating:
"Patrick Zala, our fight is over. You've lost."
Patrick Zala's eyes burned red as he glared at Reid and growled:
"Reid Isaac, do you really think this is how you win the war? That killing me alone will stop the Coordinators from resisting?"
To this, Reid replied indifferently:
"You're raising the stakes too high, Patrick Zala. Both of us know the truth. The personal grudge between us outweighs everything else. Even if I wanted to live in peace, you'd come after me.
So right now, I'm only talking about the fight between you and me. And you lost."
Patrick Zala burst into loud, mocking laughter upon hearing Reid declare victory:
"Hahaha! Reid Isaac, how ironic that I considered someone with such narrow goals as my rival. Just fighting me? Then take this life if you want it. You've already taken what I cherished most anyway."
Unfazed by the taunts, Reid—now the victor—found Patrick Zala's behavior clownish. He asked:
"So, these are your final words to me? You'll face judgment next, and I won't be visiting you in prison."
At this, Patrick Zala's expression twisted further. He roared:
"Judgment? By Naturals? Reid Isaac, are you trying to humiliate me?"
Seeing his agitation, Reid responded just as he had during their first encounter at the Star Palace Colony Satellite:
"You're still hung up on 'Naturals.' I told you from the beginning—Naturals, Coordinators, we're all human. No one is inherently superior.
Besides, I was born without genetic modification. As the one who defeated you, would you still feel humiliated if I judged you?"
Patrick Zala fell briefly silent before looking up and saying:
"You'd better kill me right here."
He meant it sincerely—he had no desire to be paraded and tried publicly. Moreover, death didn't necessarily mean the end of his cause.
At this point, Athrun could no longer hold back. He rushed forward, gripping Patrick Zala's shoulders:
"Father! Why can't you see reason even now?"
Patrick Zala studied Athrun's face—so much like his mother Lenore's. The thought of his wife solidified his resolve. Breaking free from Athrun's grasp, he stood up and declared:
"Athrun, I don't know what kind of bewitching words that Lacus girl has poured into your ears to make you think the war should end now."
"But as your father, I can teach you one final lesson - when a war ends with your own side as the loser, it becomes utterly meaningless."
With those words, Patrick Zala roughly shoved Athrun aside and lunged toward the Genesis control panel, intending to fire the most devastating attack now that the reflector had been replaced.
Meanwhile, Reid Isaac, being someone with cheat-like foresight, had already anticipated this move. The moment Patrick pushed Athrun, Reid fired multiple shots at the Genesis console, completely destroying it.
By the time Patrick reached the control panel, all he found was a smoking, sparking wreck.
This seemed to trigger something in Patrick. With death in his eyes, he rolled to pick up a pistol from his deceased subordinate's hand.
Reid initially thought Patrick intended to make one last desperate struggle, so he prepared to teach him a painful lesson by breaking his arm to subdue him.
But to Reid's surprise, Patrick's death wish wasn't about fighting back - instead, he raised the gun and shot himself straight through the heart.
This was the Gundam universe, not some fantasy world. Without any miraculous intervention, the bullet pierced his heart, and just like in the original story, Patrick collapsed in a spray of blood.
Athrun immediately rushed forward to catch his falling father, crying out in anguish:
"Father! Why did it have to come to this?!"
In his final moments, Patrick murmured one last phrase:
"Reid Isaac... I still won."
The words left Athrun utterly confused - until the next second when he understood why his father claimed victory.
The main screen in Jachin Due Fortress's command center suddenly turned red, displaying a fifteen-minute countdown alongside the Genesis logo, accompanied by an announcement:
"Warning! Jachin Due Fortress will self-destruct. All personnel must evacuate immediately. Warning! Jachin Due Fortress will self-destruct. All personnel must evacuate immediately."
Athrun quickly pulled open Patrick's coat and discovered he'd been wearing a heart rate monitor.
At only 48 years old - and as a Coordinator whose genetic modifications should prevent middle-aged chronic heart conditions - Patrick should have had no need for such precise cardiac monitoring equipment. Any heart issues would have been acute with direct causes.
The monitor's only possible purpose was as a trigger device - programmed to activate certain commands when Patrick's heart stopped beating.
Clearly, these commands were linked to both Genesis and Jachin Due's self-destruct sequence.
Athrun immediately accessed a nearby computer terminal and frantically input codes to check the situation, only to confirm the worst possible outcome.
Slamming his fist against the console, Athrun cursed:
"Damn it! The self-destruct sequence for Jachin Due Fortress is locked and can't be altered! As for Genesis, we've lost control due to console malfunctions. According to calculations, Genesis has already turned to target Earth, and its system is now linked with the fortress's self-destruct program. If the fortress explodes, Genesis will fire!!
Father! Even at this point, you still had to pull something like this! Why?!"
Upon hearing this, Reid glanced at the thoroughly deceased Patrick Zala and could only shake his head.
Installing heart monitors that trigger postmortem contingencies—this was such an overused trope among protagonists and villains alike, it had become downright cliché.
But Reid genuinely hadn't expected Patrick Zala to have installed one on himself. After all, in the original storyline, he definitely hadn't. Back then, his final words were ordering Athrun to fire Genesis, proving he believed Genesis still required manual control to launch.
The subsequent self-destruction of Jachin Due Fortress and its linked programming was actually due to a virus Creuset had planted in the base's systems beforehand, along with preset detonation timers. Athrun had simply arrived at the worst possible moment.
But now, it was clear Patrick Zala had anticipated this battle's potential failure. He'd left himself an insurance policy—linking the fortress's self-destruct system with Genesis's targeting and firing mechanisms.
His death would ensure that if enemies seized control of Genesis's console at Jachin Due, the fortress's explosion would render Genesis's final targeting and launch sequence beyond console control.
This was Patrick Zala's ultimate counterattack. That's why he claimed victory—because if Genesis wiped out the majority of Naturals, he would indeed have won.
Seeing that Genesis's Earth-targeting sequence was now unstoppable, with firing imminent in 15 minutes, Reid made a decisive call.
"Athrun, let's go. We need to find another way to stop Genesis. No time to linger here."
With that, Reid turned and left without hesitation.
Athrun immediately followed, and the Xia sisters naturally exited the command center as well, ignoring the panicked scramble of the remaining personnel.
As they moved through the corridors, Athrun urgently asked Reid, "Mr. Reid, what's your plan now? How do we destroy Genesis?"
Reid was already preparing to take a risk. Genesis's Phase Shift Armor shell was absurdly durable—even a direct nuclear hit might not guarantee destruction of the firing mechanism. (The Destroyer Beam Cannon's unit destructive power wasn't inferior to nuclear weapons.)
The Atlantic Federation's nuclear stockpile had been nearly exhausted during the assault on PLANT's homeland. Reid wasn't even sure how many warheads remained.
Thus, nukes could only be a backup plan—they couldn't stake everything on them.
"I have an alternative method to destroy Genesis," Reid replied. "There's one ultimate technique I possess that can unleash terrifying beam power—but it's not something to use lightly."
Athrun found this somewhat dubious. While attempting to hack Genesis's systems earlier, he'd seen just how formidable its Phase Shift Armor parameters were. "Actually," he offered, "I memorized the location of an internal transport channel entry point. For safety, I suggest I pilot Justice to breach through the vulnerable transport door. A nuclear self-detonation from Justice inside Genesis would be the most reliable approach."
Reid immediately vetoed the idea, saying this time there would be no Cagalli to bail him out—if Athrun self-destructed again, he'd really die inside. So he firmly rejected it:
"No, keep that as a backup plan. If my plan fails during execution, you can approach Queen Angelise and have her command the Mobile Dolls to carry the remaining Atlantic Federation nuclear warheads for your self-destruction strategy. But only if my plan fails first."
Hearing this, Athrun thought it seemed reasonable. He didn't truly want to die—living was preferable after all. The New Miserly Kingdom's Mobile Dolls would indeed make better self-destruct units.
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