Chapter Text
The secret facility deep beneath the Celestial Being compound hummed with containment fields and monitoring equipment. Banks of sensors recorded every microscopic change in the massive object they surrounded - an object that, by all rights, shouldn't exist.
Ribbons Almark stood before the reinforced observation window, his artificial purple eyes reflecting the eerie glow of the containment field. Beyond the barrier lay what appeared to be a partial head unit of a mobile suit - but on a scale that defied conventional engineering. Even the mighty Gundams they had constructed for their coming intervention were dwarfed by comparison.
"Impossible," he muttered, reviewing the latest analysis data. "We created all the Gundams. Every single one. So what..." he gestured at the massive head, "...is this?"
The discovery had nearly derailed their careful plans. Their scouts had found it during a routine survey of potential resource sites - a massive metallic structure partially buried in the earth, its surface seeming to pulse with unnatural life. Initial attempts to recover it had gone disastrously wrong when several recovery team members fell ill with an unknown infection. That's when they discovered the nanomachines.
"Status report," he commanded, not turning from the window.
"Containment fields holding at maximum," a technician responded. "The DG cells, as we're calling them, continue to show aggressive propagation attempts but cannot penetrate our quantum barrier technology."
Ribbons nodded slowly. The nanomachines were unlike anything their advanced technology had encountered - not simply mechanical, but appearing to carry some form of biological component. More disturbingly, they seemed to possess a kind of malevolent intelligence, actively seeking to infect and transform anything they touched.
"And the size analysis?"
"Confirmed, sir. Based on the head unit's proportions, the complete mobile suit would have stood approximately 120 meters tall. But that's not the most concerning part..."
Ribbons finally turned, his expression questioning.
"The technology... it's both more and less advanced than ours. The basic engineering appears almost primitive in some ways, and yet..." The technician gestured to a microscope display showing the DG cells in action. "These nanomachines demonstrate capabilities we can barely comprehend. They don't just transform matter - they evolve it."
"Devil Gundam," Ribbons said softly, testing the name they'd found encoded in the unit's partially intact data systems. "A rather melodramatic designation. Though perhaps..." he watched as a test sample was completely consumed by the aggressive nanomachines, "...not entirely inappropriate."
Their plans had been perfect - use the Gundams to force humanity to confront its own violent nature through armed intervention. Guide the species toward evolution and innovation through controlled conflict. But this... this was innovation of an entirely different kind.
"Sir?" the technician ventured carefully. "Should we inform the rest of Celestial Being? This discovery could impact the entire intervention plan..."
"No," Ribbons decided instantly. "This remains classified at the highest level. The plan proceeds as scheduled." His eyes narrowed as he studied the massive head. "Though perhaps with some... adjustments."
The containment field pulsed with power as the DG cells launched another attempt to break free. But beneath their malevolent activity, Ribbons sensed something else - a purpose, a drive toward evolution that resonated uncomfortably with his own plans for humanity.
"What are you?" he whispered to the sealed monstrosity. "And more importantly... what am I going to do with you?"
The Devil Gundam's partially exposed circuits seemed to pulse in response, as if even in this dormant, fragmentary state, it was plotting its own path toward humanity's "evolution." One that might align with or completely derail Celestial Being's carefully laid plans.
Ribbons smiled thinly. Innovation was coming, one way or another. The only question was: Which path would it follow? The careful manipulation he had planned? Or something far more primal and destructive?
Either way, humanity's future had just become considerably more complicated. Behind him, the Devil Gundam's exposed eye socket flickered with an impossible light, as if something deep within was watching, waiting, evolving...