Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Ep. 2: Cursed Mobile Suit

Rouji Chante has his Haro scan for information on the Aerial and finds no match for its Permet code, but it does resemble a machine from the Ochs Earth Corporation. Shaddiq comments that if it’s a witch’s mobile suit, they can’t leave it alone. Suletta is shocked to hear that Miorine is now her fiance, but Miorine explains that her only goal is to get to Earth. Students are amazed that Guel lost the duel, but the stream is suddenly cut off when three Demi Garrisons land in the Tactical Testing Sector to take Suletta into custody on suspicion of using a Gundam. Miorine demands that they lower their weapons, but the pilots respond that Delling’s rules take precedence over everything. An interrogator asks Suletta background questions about her father being dead and her mother assigned to Lagrange 1, and she responds that she already answered all that. He then asks if she acknowledges piloting a Gundam and adds that suits using the GUND Format are prohibited by the Cathedra Agreement, but Suletta answers that she doesn’t know what that means. He also asks if she’s a member of the Vanadis Institute, but she says nothing. Top members of the Benerit Group watch the interrogation live and pull up the information on the Aerial, which is registered to the Shin Sei Development Corporation. Vim angrily states that Suletta must be a witch because a bunch of miners at Mercury couldn’t have built a Gundam. Vim wants them to void the duel results, confiscate the Aerial and send Suletta back to Mercury, which Sarius notes would make Guel the Holder again. Delling calls the leadership group and tells them to summon the Shin Sei representative to an inquiry. Students at the school gossip about the duel results being voided due to Suletta cheating. A staff member gives Nika a new notebook since Suletta took hers, and Nika clarifies that she gave it to Suletta because she was in trouble. The staff member then notes that’s against regulations, and when Nika asks about Suletta’s return, he answers that Earthians like her should mind her own business. Shaddiq and Elan talk about a witch trial being held at the main office, and Elan wonders if Suletta is a witch. Shaddiq teasingly asks if Elan is in love, but he answers that he’ll never fall in love. Miorine prepares to fix the damage to her hydroponics pods and is approached by Lauda, Felsi and Petra. Lauda explains that Guel is absent today and asked them to help with repairs, and Miorine assumes he was summoned for losing that duel. Felsi comments that it’s better than having a parent who’s aloof from their child like Delling. She also says that Miorine left Suletta out to dry after fighting for her, and Miorine answers that she’ll tell Suletta not to interfere when she returns. Felsi laughs and explains that Suletta is going to be expelled and her suit scrapped. Miorine threatens to kill them if they touch her tomatoes before storming off. Nika has lunch with Chuatury “Chuchu” Panlunch and Martin, who reads off info about Shin Sei, which is ranked D within the Benerit Group and 151st place out of 157 in sales. Nika is impressed they made a mobile suit, but Chuchu and Martin note that you’re only as good as the rank of the company backing you. Chuchu complains about Spacians holding them down, and two Spacian students come over and demand they move to another table. Miorine asks for permission to see Suletta and is told only Delling can grant permission. Miorine then receives a message from Delling stating that he’s unenrolling her from the school to find her a new fiance. Miorine is enraged that her father has once again decided things for her without even talking to her. Miorine atoms off to the bathroom and is watched from nearby by a woman in sunglasses. The woman knocks on Miorine’s stall door and states the rendezvous coordinates for her escape. The woman asks Miorine if she still wants to escape and says she can wait for 30 minutes. Miorine hesitates momentarily and then says she wants to get out of the school.

Miorine and the woman take off in a shuttle and leave the school. Rajan informs Delling that Miorine shook her escort detail and escaped again. Delling tells Rajan to have the immigration authorities conduct a search since he knows Miorine is heading for Earth. He then asks about the inquiry, and Rajan reports that the representative from Shin Sei has arrived. Vim slaps Guel in the face and yells at him for losing a duel while piloting one of the company’s mobile suits. Vim explains that he’ll have the results voided but warns Guel not to embarrass him again. He’s then informed that Lady Prospera Mercury, the Shin Sei representative, has come to see him. Vim tells the masked woman that if she wants him to speak on her behalf to Delling that he won’t, but she counters that he’s the one who should be asking her for a favor. Suletta sleeps in her holding cell and is brought a food tray by Elan, and she starts crying while eating. She asks why he’d do this, and he answers that he’s interested in her. The inquiry opens with Delling asking Lady Prospera if she’s a witch, which she denies. She also denies being connected to the Vanadis Institute and having developed a Gundam, stating that Aerial uses newly developed drone technology. Shaddiq pulls up data showing that Aerial’s Permet influx values exceeded the standards during the duel, which is characteristic of the GUND Format. Prospera asks if a data storm was detected, and he answers that it wasn’t. She adds that the control system uses a conventional Permet link and therefore complies with the Benerit Group’s technology provisions. An executive says that alone doesn’t prove the Aerial isn’t a Gundam, and Prospera counters that they can’t prove that it is. Zarius counters that Prospera is using the lack of evidence as an excuse, and he asks if she’s trying to insist that black is white. Prospera asks them to trust Shin Sei as a member of the Benerit Group, but Vim is suspicious because of how she’s dressed. She takes off her jacket and detaches her cybernetic right arm, which she tosses over to Vim. She explains that she lost her arm and face to Mercury’s magnetic field. She says that despite the harsh conditions on the planet, their drone technology will let them mine Permet without putting people in danger. She asks the Group to support her company and continue development of the Aerial. Delling declares that the suit is a Gundam, and when she asks why, he answers because he said so. When no one objects, Delling declares that the Aerial will be scrapped and Suletta expelled. Miorine enters the chamber and approaches the podium, saying she wants to give Delling a piece of her mind for changing the rules after the fact. Aboard the shuttle, the pilot comments about how they were supposed to take Miorine to Earth, but the woman explains that they have to honor the client’s request, and that it wouldn’t hurt to be owed a favor by Delling’s daughter. Delling declares that only people who lead the top companies in the Group are allowed to be in this room, and that Miorine is just a student with no authority. Miorine angrily states that Delling just looks down on her and controls her life without explaining anything, but he responds that consultation and explanation aren’t necessary. Delling states that he decides and she obeys, and that she has no right to speak out against him. Miorine asks if he thinks he’s a king, and he answers that he is because he has power and the powerless should just shut their mouths and obey. Rajan grabs Miorine by the arm, and she repeats Suletta’s saying about gaining two by moving forward. Miorine challenges Delling to a duel with the condition that he acknowledge Suletta as her fiancé if she wins. She demands that Delling take responsibility as an adult, and Vim suggests that they see what the Aerial can do. Delling asks for an explanation, and Vim notes that other mobile suit manufacturers have made gains recently, so the Aerial could help them recover market share. Prospera adds that school dueling would be a good test of the Aerial’s abilities. Later, Miorine visits Suletta in her cell and tells her she has to win a duel or face expulsion and the destruction of the Aerial. In space, a combat test of the Darilbalde ends with it evading two Dilanzas and slicing them apart.