Operation Gundam Capture (ガンダム鹵獲作戦 Gandamu Rokaku Sakusen?) is the 10th episode of Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
Plot[]
In Tokyo, Louise meets her mother for dinner and brings Saji along. Louise's mother says she doesn't remember inviting Saji and tells him to go home. In space, a group of Tierens disperse whenever Setsuna attempts to attack them, and he realizing they're stalling for time. As Sergei's squad approaches Allelujah, he orders them to use carbon nets to capture the Gundam Kyrios. Allelujah begins to scream in pain when Soma approaches, and Sergei recognizes his voice over the radio from the incident with the gravity block. He wonders if Allelujah is reacting to Soma and recalls what the scientist told him about someone with enhanced glial cells setting off Soma's crazed reaction earlier. The Tierens continue to play with Setsuna, and another group attack the Ptolemaios, but they're too close for Lockon to snipe. Sumeragi wonders how she could've been so careless. The captured Gundam Kyrios is loaded into the Laoho, and a group of soldiers attempt to get a tomographic scan of the cockpit's interior, but they can't get a clear image. Outside, the Tierens suddenly come under attack from Tieria. Tieria detects the Gundam Kyrios' signal from inside the Laoho and realizes it was captured. He takes up a firing position to shoot the ship and declares that Allelujah was also unfit to be a Gundam Meister. Soma then attacks Tieria, and her Taozi's speed allows her to fly circles around the Gundam Virtue. She closes in and fires several shots at point blank range, which are deflected by the GN field. Tieria then fires his cannon and destroys the Taozi's right leg. Sergei orders his pilots to assist Soma and capture the Gundam Virtue. Inside the Laoho, a soldier fires up a heat saw to cut open the Gundam Kyrios' cockpit. Allelujah wakes up, but suddenly the Hallelujah personality takes over. The Gundam Kyrios then breaks free and destroys the Laoho from within. Sergei realizes he's made an error in judgment, but he can't go back empty-handed, so he orders his men to capture the Gundam Virtue no matter what. The Tierens close in on Tieria and take advantage of the cool down time after he fires his bazooka. They fire out grappling lines to entangle the suit, as well as a fast-hardening gel that stops the joints. Tieria attempts to fire his bazooka, but Soma kicks it away. Two Tierens grab onto the cannons so that Tieria can't fire, and when he attempts to open his GN field spreaders, he finds that he can't because of the wires. Soma moves in to attack, and Tieria purges his armor, revealing the Gundam Nadleeh underneath. He then grabs his two cannons and immediately destroys six Tierens, which causes Sergei to order a retreat. Tieria is furious that he had to reveal the Gundam Nadleeh so early and begins to cry because the plans are being derailed.
Setsuna and Lockon manage to destroy nine Tierens, but the rest retreat when a signal flare is fired. Sumeragi tells the bridge crew not to relax because the battle is still on. Sergei laments that he wasted so many men and equipment on the mission and couldn't even capture a single Gundam. The Gundam Kyrios approaches from the front, and Hallelujah says that Soma messed with his quantum brainwaves too many times. He then says that she must be the same as him - a monster with a reinforced body and a messed up brain. Hallelujah hits Soma with several low power blasts from his beam machine gun, and she wonders if he's just toying with her. Ming then charges in and tells Sergei to retreat with Soma because they're both vital to Choubu's mission. He slams his Tieren into the Gundam Kyrios, but Hallelujah knocks him away and stabs his cockpit with the heat-inducing pincers of his shield. Soma wants to help Ming, but Sergei tells her to retreat. Hallelujah laughs at the fact that they abandoned their comrade and ran away. Ming tells Hallelujah that someday they'll receive retribution for disrupting the peace and order of the world. Hallelujah asks what kind of peace and order can come from a society that modifies humans to fight as soldiers. Hallelujah is angry that Soma got away, so he decides that he won't let Ming die easily. He activates the pincers' heat and begins to melt Ming alive inside the cockpit. Hallelujah laughs and asks Ming if he has any last words. Inside his head, Allelujah asks him to stop, and Hallelujah says that he's doing this because Allelujah is unable to. Hallelujah agrees to stop, but then he says he was kidding and proceeds to destroy the Tieren. Allelujah regains control and wonders why Hallelujah loves to kill people so much. He wonders if that's his own true nature, and if so, he's not a human being. The Ptolemaios closes in on the Gundam Nadleeh to begin retrieving it. Christina calls Allelujah and hears him crying. Sumeragi leaves the bridge and begins to cry because she made another big mistake. After watching the battle, Wang wonders why the Gundams are the perfect embodiment of Aeolia's ideas, but the Meisters themselves are so imperfect. Ribbons asks Alejandro if it's ok for him to do nothing, and Alejandro answers that he's just an observer who can see them through to the end, even if it's to a path of destruction.