Revenge of The Lost

Act One: Found (Ch 1-19)

Act Two: The Results (Ch 20-45)

Act Three: The Real Threat (Ch 46-71)

Act Four: Brave New World (Ch 72-128)

Act Five: Finale (Coming Soon)

ACT ONE: FOUND

Narrator: At the tail end of After Colony 197, the people have still maintained peace following the events of the Mariemaia war. With this peace, new technology spreads making travel between the Earth and Colonies faster and cheaper. At this time, several of our pilots and young future leaders are growing up, wondering how long this peace will last, and watching for future threats.

However, the only threat that seems to have reared it’s ugly head, is small. A personal threat, more or less.

"Duo?"

Duo wasn't shy about staring at the window of their old junkyard. The normally frolicking version of him wasn't anywhere in sight. It happened. While Duo was often a good buddy, when things struck him the wrong way, he had no problem taking someone down. At the moment, he was definitely being rubbed the wrong way. He knew Hilde Schbeiker, the one talking to him right now. He knew her well. They'd known each other for some time now, ever since the first War that placed The Great Destroyer Deathscythe off the map. He knew her hangouts and her friends. She never tried hiding anything from him. He was good at reading people, and Hilde was a good person.

He watched her rub her lip softly. She didn't really know what to say.

"You don't have to say anything," Duo said, realizing his anger might be looking like it was towards her. It wasn't, not at all. "I'm looking for any details, Hilde."

She shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't? I mean, I haven't. I'm not." She was confused. "When I didn't get my period at first, I was scared. I didn't want to tell you about that kind of thing." She rubbed her arm, unsure of herself. "I was hoping maybe I just caught something and that's what held it up. After all, I mean, it's not like I . . ." She just stared into his eyes, with hope. Hoping he understood so she didn't have to say it.

"Got it." He did. "Well? Well, well, well." He tugged on his ponytail lightly as he took off his cap. It was time to unwind some, at least in appearance, for her. "The junkyard wasn't the greatest way to start, but I've seen much worse." He twirled his cap in his hand, trying to loosen her up. "We'll be fine." Yeah. "Everything will be just fine, no worries. Duo is on the job, I promise." He shoved his hat back on. "You just think up some names-"

"I don't know the dad's genes, space could be dangerous," Hilde said. "I don't know what to do. I don't even know how this is happening or why or . . ."

Or who, which was the biggest focus Duo was trying to keep his happy smile from landing on. "For now, let's just call it immaculate." Yeah. "Then when we do find out who the dad is, then we'll kill him." His expression didn't change as he said those words. Firm, compassionate, but truth. He would kill him. Whoever thought it would be a great idea to get his best friend pregnant behind his back, and hers, was going to pay. He believed Hilde, that she didn't know how or who. Probably a hospital. The thing about the war, was that while the world kept going, some people couldn't make that turn as easy.

As The God of Death, Duo took more than one life. He fought in a war, he took thousands of lives of thousands of men in mecha suits. He'd seen some people who wanted to be avenged come after him before. Sometimes to take his life, to take something he wanted, and even once to hurt Hilde. Just because she was his friend. Most likely, Hilde's problem had more to do with him, than herself. "I'll make some calls, we'll find a way to go to Earth, hang out 'til the new little guy or gal pops out and we'll come back home." Then the dad's genes wouldn't matter. She shook her head, but he wasn't giving her that edge. "I don't want to hear how I shouldn't be involved or anything like that."

"Duo. It isn't your fault. I mean? Maybe it was someone who didn't like you again." She had to admit it, there was no denying it was that.

"They did it to try and drive me away," Duo confronted her. "We both know it. You're a good girl, Hilde, and you've got no boyfriend hanging around lately. Straight up, you don't have to say anything. Why would I leave my partner on Earth to raise a baby while I live the good life up here in the Junkyard? Besides, it'd be boring just being me."

"I hate to ask it," Hilde said, coming around. "I'm responsible enough to know that I . . . I can't handle this on my own."

"I'll make some calls. We'll head down to Earth. Everything will be hunky dory, Duo promises so." He winked at her and snapped his finger. The best positive action he could send. "Start packing. I'll start calling. Oh, and send me anything on the stay at the hospital within the last few months."

Once she left to her room, Duo immediately reached for his phone. He dialed a familiar number and was reward with a friendly familiar voice. Too bad his voice wouldn't be half as friendly. "I've got a problem, Quatre. I need to send myself down to Earth, and I need to send someone else to Hell."

"Uh? Duo?" The timidness of his friend could be heard through the phone call. "What's wrong? Why do you need to leave to Earth?" When he finished explaining, even Quatre's timidness had almost been unrecognizable. "That's so wrong!" Simple yet powerful, that was Quatre. "I'll be sure to help you get to Earth. Let me call Trowa, he should know Earth the best. I'll get you some money too."

"Fine, I'm gonna need it." Duo wouldn't turn down the money. "When this is over and it's safe, we'll come back to our business again and I'll work on paying you back."

"You don't have to, but knowing you, I know you won't let the debt stand," Quatre said over the phone. "We'll work on something afterwards, okay? We better get you and your friend down to Earth before something serious happens. If you can't place the father's family, even being up there pregnant is risky."

"Yeah, in the meantime, I need to track that hospital and find out what happened," Duo said. "Any assist would be appreciated."

"I'm on it, Duo, I promise. I'm really sorry, Duo."

"Hey, don't apologize to me. It's Hilde that got stuck dealing with the consequences of the past." Duo hung up the phone. Someone hurt his friend. Whether artificially or not, it didn't matter. Maybe the dad was even a legit donor who wasn't even to blame. But someone had been. Someone hurt her. Someone gave her something that she wasn't ready for or asking for.

That someone would pay.

Earth, One Week Later

"Normally, I don't like to see Trowa interacting too much with . . . the past," Catherine admitted as she conversed with Hilde. "I couldn't let this slide by without helping though." She tried to put on a big, bright smile. "Trowa and I are more than happy to help you. We can't do much from here, the circus isn't like a hotel, but we can gather supplies and help how we can."

"Yeah." Hilde didn't say much to Catherine. She seemed like a nice friend to Duo's friend, but there really wasn't much at all she could do. Heck, she knew the only reason they were there is because Duo wanted to see Trowa. He wanted to get everyone involved, because he wanted to find whoever had put her in that predicament. In his mind, it made sense. Find the person responsible, make them pay, and no one else could hurt her again. Maybe so, maybe it was just one person who did it and nothing else would happen ever again. But? It just didn't feel right. It was one strange way to ever get revenge.

Hilde knew the risks she faced staying with Duo. Both of their pasts, they weren't pristine. Duo's though, his was like a hurricane compared to the wind she stirred. Still, she had put her life on the line more than once. She wasn't going to end a friendship just because someone had a beef against Duo and wanted to use her. She was trained to deal with whatever had come her way. In fact, she was even better than in the war. Once Duo realized that the past wasn't going to always give them a peaceful life, he willingly wanted to train her in some of the ways he'd been trained so that she'd be safe.

This wasn't done in a fight though. This was done over some surgery table, probably when she was getting her tonsils out that kept making her so sick. Done without her knowledge. By the doctor? By a member of staff? How? None of it comforted her, none of it. Yet, still. Duo didn't back down, he was helping and staying with her. She wasn't going to abandon him either. Even if the whole reason it happened was some petty revenge against Duo. It might even be against her. Either way? They'd get through it.

Staring at this girl in the frilly cute circus outfit really didn't help much though. Still, she'd be polite. Make eye contact. Smile. Then wait for Duo to come back.

Trowa's dressing room

"No cameras at all?" Trowa asked concerned from his own computer. He was still in costume for the next act, but at soon as Duo came, he had to see him. Quatre had contacted him earlier. They'd been trying to find some kind of footage of what happened. The day of a surgery that Duo's friend had would be the best day for something to happen. As higher up as Quatre may be in the colonies though, and no matter how good their hacking skills?

Someone had erased the entire surgery footage. The entire hospital's footage for that day was now gone. Someone knew Duo would look into it.

"What good is getting the drop on me if you don't leave yourself some prints for me to find you?" Duo complained. "Someone dumb enough to get away with this should be that ignorant." Duo sat down in the extra chair. "Quatre is trying to get footage from the colony itself since the hospital footage is gone. Anyone going in that day that has no appointment or no job."

Trowa glanced over to his friend. That posture. The words Duo said were positive but his position was one of defeat. He even had his head bent down so he could see nothing but his dark baseball cap. Being a former Gundam pilot, Trowa knew how he felt. The war was over, but the revenge and the consequences would continue with them for the rest of their lives. "Are you really staying with the woman on Earth and going back with her with the child? Back to the Junkyard?"

Duo lifted his head, looking out from beneath his cap. "I don't know who it is, but the last thing I'm going to give them? Is the impression they defeated me. I don't care if it grows up calling me Uncle Duo, I'm not leaving Hilde with my mess."

Trowa had to do it. He knew Duo was in a mood, but simple reasoning shouldn't be forgotten. "Are you sure it was revenge against you?"

"It could be revenge against her," Duo said, sinking his face away behind the cap again. "Me or her, it doesn't matter, it's not ruining our lives."

Trowa was quiet for just a little longer. Usually he was the more quiet one, but Duo wasn't giving up information or being half as communicative as he usually had been. He usually spoke over half the time. Now, if Trowa didn't question, move the conversation, he just sat there. It wasn't like with Quatre. This silence felt . . . strange. "Boyfriend?"

"I know her better than anyone, and she knows me better than anyone," Duo answered Trowa. "I know when Hilde has a boyfriend, and even when she hides it. She wasn't in a relationship, Trowa."

Trowa gave a slight nod.

"The doctor has a great reputation, all videos show nothing where he's been less than professional. I hate people who think they know everything, but he's legit. I even scoped him out myself, including his nurses." He crossed his arms. "There's a place I won't be invited back to anytime soon. Fine by me."

So general force was probably ruled out.

"Someone went in while she wasn't even conscious, and messed with her." Duo's voice was sharp. "They won't get away with it. I don't care if their own brother fell by my hand in the war."

They would fall by Duo's. The God of Death would strike. Trowa couldn't blame Duo. Dealing with revenge was never easy, but when someone used the ones you dared to care for in the plot? The whole justice and peace ideals sometimes moved away. "There should be peace in the colonies and on Earth. Even the Gundams are gone, Duo."

"Deathscythe died out in the sun, but it still lives on someplace else." Duo looked straight at Trowa. For a moment, Trowa swore he almost saw the vision of the Gundam Deathscythe in Duo's eyes.

Trowa looked back toward the computer. Whoever did it had enough power to keep their resources from being discovered. "Losing one more life after the countless you took won't help."

"Oh yeah?" Duo pulled himself up. "Nice sisterly friend you got, Trowa. What if while you were practicing one day, she walked in and gave you the same news? I know revenge against one does nothing." He stood up. "It doesn't change how much you personally want it."

Catherine. Suddenly becoming pregnant at her age? In the Circus. "I assume I would be angry," Trowa agreed. "If it was revenge though, I would have to remember that. That somehow, during the war, I struck someone first. They were getting what they felt they had the right to get."

"No one had the right to do that!" Duo lashed out. "Yeah, I know. I know." He looked out from his dressing room tent and into the stars above. "Whether I take someone's life away or not, it doesn't make me feel better or solve the situation. Its pointless bloodshed and we've been through it all. Patched up what we could. Revenge shouldn't even be gracing my lips." He looked back toward Trowa. "It's fresh, this wound, and it doesn't heal. They made it a living wound for her." He straightened up. "And if they are sick enough to go after my friend for revenge in this way, instead of facing me head on, then how do I know this is far enough for them?"

Trowa made no motion. He understood. Not only the fresh feeling of the torn wound they ripped open inside of Duo. They also tore into the fear that without finding them, they might do something more to Hilde. "Your weakness and your strength is the same. Did you teach her how to fight better?"

"Plenty," Duo said, still staring outside. "There's no way any doctor is working on her without me present in the room anymore. With her fighting skills, and my presence as back up, this'll be the end of it." He seemed to take a longer breath. "The God of Death really wants to lose it, Trowa. If this person who does this to her, messes with her again? There's no peace contract or law on any colony or Earth that'll stop me."

There. Duo was getting better again. "If we find them, they will face the justice system."

"Fine, but if they hurt her again?" Duo started to walk off. "They will face my justice system."

Trowa watched one of the few people he could consider a friend, walk off.

"The anger he feels in not doing anything," Quatre said as he approached Trowa's dressing room tent. "The betrayal. It must have felt so . . . different. Enough to set his ideals back to the war." Quatre looked toward Trowa. "I knew he'd be okay, even he knew killing would solve nothing." Quatre looked back outward. "Still, Trowa. It's worrying. Why would anyone choose revenge in that way? It doesn't feel right."

"That is what worries him," Trowa said. It didn't make sense. Not really. Even coming after his friend to kill her would make more sense than getting her pregnant. It felt like a frustration move, but too much planning must have gone into it to be simply frustration. It felt like there was something more to it.

Hilde looked over Catherine's shoulder while she listened politely, until she saw Duo coming back into their tent. "Duo."

"Hey there, Hilde." He strolled over. "So we are going to be shacking up in a decent hotel tonight, if that isn't a problem? Won't be forever, though, promise. Not living on the road, just needed to talk to Trowa." He looked toward Catherine. "Hi there again."

"A hotel is fine by me," she agreed.

"Great. You want room service or to go pick up a pizza?" Duo asked.

"Pizza." Definitely. Some normality back in their lives. She'd always wanted to visit Earth, but wow. She could feel how different it all had been. The situation. The people. All she wanted to do was find a place to hunker down and have a good old-fashioned pizza.

"Awesome." Duo held his hand out toward Catherine. "Later."

Hilde waved politely too but moved right behind Duo. A pizza. "We should get some soda, and maybe watch something too." That'd hit the spot.

"Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind, Hild."

Trowa came into the room with Quatre right before they disappeared.

"What do you think?" Quatre asked Trowa. "We should keep people in the loop, but this is probably an isolated problem. Then again?"

"We don't know the plan," Trowa said.

"It's their individual lives and we aren't at war," Quatre said. "What are the chances this was someone that was brilliant but not all there? That just happened to see a good opportunity to make Hilde Schbeiker pay for her role? Or for being friends with Duo?" Quatre backed out of the tent. "I don't know. This isn't how someone takes revenge. This isn't foul play with someone accidentally getting caught. Duo harassed everyone on duty and the doctor, even stalking them. I barely got them to calm down enough to not take action. He came to stay with me after that until we got to Earth." He looked back toward Trowa. "I didn't sense anything wrong from any of them. Whatever happened, it was deliberate." He sighed. "I'm almost a hundred percent certain someone artificially inseminated her before her surgery."

Trowa looked toward him.

"Latest technology, still in research, but one time is all it will take with it," Quatre pointed out to Trowa. "I looked into everything for Duo. It would take someone brilliant enough to have access to that advancement. There was no one on the staff with those credentials."

Which didn't make sense. Trowa nodded. "Telling someone takes two seconds."

"Two seconds to inform allies. Two seconds to ruin their privacy." Quatre was torn in the decision. He didn't want people harassing Duo or his friend anymore than necessary. They were trying to move on, get used to whatever happened, and keep going. "What do you think, Trowa?"

"I think we should ask Duo," Trowa answered. "Did you inform Heero and Wufei?"

"In the beginning. Any help piecing this together was appreciated," Quatre said. "Neither could do much. Both were just as confused. Wufei says it's probably someone with a vendetta to hurt Duo, but doesn't want to take a life." It made a little sense. This certainly was hurting Duo and no life had been taken. "Heero said something similar. A soldier that didn't want to kill, but couldn't stop thinking of revenge." He shrugged. "I don't know. Anyone's theories are just that at this point." Only guesses. Only theories.

Nothing personally helped Duo or his friend.

"I can't imagine it's easy," Quatre said, staring out into the stars. It was something lovely about Earth, all the beautiful stars. "Knowing your past mistakes made something like this happen to your best friend?" He looked back toward Trowa. "I would not want to be in his shoes."

Narrator: After Colony 197. After the destruction of the Long Colony in AC 195, some relatives to the originals have kept the tradition going. Their biggest threat to their new chance of survival is the Zhang Colony, whose clan has lived by similar principles, but was never any competition to the Long Colony before. They have never directly competed against each other but are not considered friends either. To visit the Zhang Colony, is not an easy task.

Zhang Colony

Mei-Lin Wang held her ground. She was adorned in a ceremonial robe for the occasion. While she looked beautiful and gentle, she was a woman who was not fond of the position she had been placed in. For honor, she accepted it. Accepted it as her destiny, she could not go against custom. However, something had happened in that custom, and her future husband would not hear her out. She had sent news and letters, trying to tell him she needed to contact him. Li Zhang though was not fond of the clan marriage anymore than her. He wished nothing to do with her until the last minute.

As she walked toward him, he said nothing. That was fine, she would talk. "You refused to look at any of my letters."

"I've no need to hear of my wife's letters," he answered. "You'll soon be telling me things face to face."

"Then hear this 'face to face'. I am not your wife yet," she reminded him. "I have been mistreated without my knowledge. I assume it was during my surgery. As my future husband, you should look into it." She shuffled. "Also, there was a dead body found at my house this morning. Once again, I asked for your counsel about it." However, he would do nothing. Nothing of either one. She already knew all she needed to know about him. If it wasn't for her integrity, she would go through with the marriage and say nothing. However, the body would sooner or later be discovered. Why risk dishonor for something out of her hands?

"Mistreated how?" Concern in his voice? "What do you mean a body?"

"I have never taken with any man, yet I am pregnant. The doctor has confirmed it."

"The body, Mei-Lin? What about the body?"

"It's still in my room."

Ah. As Mei-Lin suspected, there was a large ruckus. Blame started to fall between the family lines. Instead of being beside her, it was as she predicted. Her future husband now condemned her. It was only his associates that held him back from casting a stronger judgment since she was pregnant. Several slurs were shouted at her. How dare she as the next in line betray her future husband. How dare she kill an innocent man.

It was not her though. This, no one believed.

She was held, now sentenced. The prison area was simple and her food would be just with some concerned additions added inside for her benefit. However? Once the child was born, it would be taken away, and she would face the true extent of her punishment. Mei-Lin sat in silence. Used somehow against her will, conception unexplained, and now on a controversial death row, after nine months.

She spent another week inside her tormented situation until an outsider came to aid her. Mei-Lin watched her through the old-fashioned bars that were becoming her home. She knew of this woman, however her stature was now lower. She held her head up high and did not bend as she came in. Dressed like she were attending some casual Earth meeting on TV, she strolled in.

"Mei-Lin Wang. My name is Relena Dorlain." She came closer. "I am trying to remove you from this situation. The Earth and the Colonies have been working for more peaceful means to disastrous situations. However-"

"The Zhang clan is an outside colony to your usual," Mei-Lin interrupted her. "They will not bend on their beliefs."

"This is true, however, religion and politics must associate with the Earth and Colonies in all forms. No one is putting you on a death sentence for becoming pregnant before you were wed," Relena insisted. "However, the body found in your home has made that harder. It has taken time to make progress within your colony on these issues, but it's almost done."

Almost done? "Can you free me?" she asked. "Can you prove foul play?"

"I need details. What do you remember? I need trust and honesty," Relena Dorlain demanded. "No matter how cruel it may sound to your colony."

"It does not sound cruel. It sounds absurd." Mei-Lin moved from her bars. "I went in for a surgery. I looked for proof, but no one would give me it. I tried to tell my husband-to-be. Neither of us had been excited about the marriage. I planned on telling him the day I saw him then. Our marriage day. That is when I woke up with the dead man in my room."

"Is that the honest truth?" Relena Dorlain asked her. "You don't know the man who was murdered in your room? We have looked into this excuse and there are no records of you being at a doctor, or any recordings of what happened in that room."

"I have an appointment card." That made no difference to anyone though. It was just a piece of paper that showed she would be there to see the doctor. Not that she had been there, and that was quite small next to the insurmountable charge of killing a man.

"We do have that in our possession." She heard the sigh of the Dorlain woman. "As times have advanced, this has happened on more than one occasion. The opposition to marriage through different means of control," Relena Dorlain pointed out. "The identity of the man in your room. He was another interested in you?"

Ah. She was trying to make Mei-Lin confess about the father. That she killed the child's father. "I have done nothing wrong. I did nothing against my former husband's will, nor do I know the man who was lying in there dead. He was not another lover. If he was another option for marriage, my family would know those details. Not I."

"I have managed to work with other colonies over the years, as had the person before in my position," Relena confirmed. "One of many duties, but an important one, that I will not relent upon. Often." She paused. "A written confession of the events, fully disclosed, containing all legal and illegal events, with an official departure that removes them from the colony has been accepted so far."

Admit she was at fault and be banished from her colony. Admit she was unfaithful with the man that was dead, and that she tried to kill him to hide the secret on her wedding day. "I would write what you ask, if I could, but I have nothing more to say." There was nothing else to give.

"Mei-Lin Wang, I do not think you understand the position you are in." Now, the Dorlain woman was surely getting upset. She moved closer, her posture rigid. "The Earth and the colonies together are working to save your life in a colony that often runs in its own sense of justice. You need to be honest. Without honesty? Without a fully disclosed written confession?" Troubled. Relena Dorlain looked beside her, then straight at her. "I cannot stop them all. Without a confession, what I can do is limited for you. Please. Who is it that you loved and where is he?"

"It's confession or death." Mei-Lin moved as close to the bars as she could. "Do I save myself by saying I slept with another, killed him to try and hide that secret? If so, this child would be shunned. If I stay true to myself, have the child, and accept death gracefully? Their life would be better. Honor or life."

Relena's eyes . . . changed. The hard stance of Relena Dorlain softened toward her. "I would try to keep you from execution, but you are right. You would live the rest of your life behind bars." The eyes of Relena bore into Mei-Lin like she was searching for something. There was nothing though. "But? If there really is no one else, you don't know that man in your room, and you have been telling the truth?" She realized it now and backed away. "Mei-Lin. I?" She paced slightly. "No one believes this. I didn't believe it either, everyone has confessed that nothing has happened. Your doctors, his assistants, everyone." She moved back to the bars. "I will do everything I can to try and save you. I will pull all my power towards this case personally. At the very least, pull you from the colony to a place of safety for your condition. I am so sorry." Mei-Lin watched her walk off.

There was silence once again in her area. Honor or death. That was her decision.

Dorothy Catalonia's Home

Dorothy watched as Relena came toward her lovely outdoor table. "Good morning, Relena. How are you?" As always, Relena didn't share much about any of those trivialties. She needed help with something else. "What may I help you with?"

"What do you know of the Zhang colony?" Relena sat down at the table. "I am trying to keep peace, but they want to execute a woman."

Execution. That would surely be causing Relena stress. Political was tough to deal with, but for religion? "What is it she has done?"

"She was pregnant with another man's child," Relena said, "while she was promised to another." Stress and anger. "The morning of the wedding when she would confess, there was a man found dead in her home."

"Oh. I would have said she knew what she was getting into before you said the last part." Dear oh dear. "A man dead in her home? Have you tried a confession?"

"She didn't do anything." Relena shook her head, looking out toward the beautiful view. "This isn't the first case I've worked with in this way. Once I've guaranteed their lives, I have almost always got a written confession of the truth." She crossed her legs. "I can't get that because I believe she has told it. I believe someone did this on purpose to her. All of it."

"Foul play? Unusual for this." Dorothy sipped on her tea. Normally she offered her tea, but it was iced tea. She'd just had her own tonsillectomy. Once Relena left, she would head back inside again. "Did someone want her husband? Who was next in line?"

"Someone named Mei-Hua." Relena didn't look well herself. "I need to find a way to prove someone else was in the wrong, or an innocent woman is going to die."

"I would speak to this Mei-Hua. It's all I can offer." Dorothy watched Relena stand back up. Huh. Usually she was less abrupt than that.

"Yes, you're right. I will look into that angle. There just aren't many left to expose." She walked off, deep in thought.

Poor Relena. Always trying to save the world. When she herself was clearly sick.

"Let me see in your throat, Relena," her family doctor said as he came over to see her personally.

"I shouldn't be here. I have important work to get done." Unfortunately, health didn't care. Relena kept burning up with fevers, on and off for days. She tried to ignore it to keep going, but eventually she had to take action before it got worse. "What is it, Doctor? Is it the same thing again?"

He seemed to be quieter than usual. "Yes. I recommend a tonsillectomy. It won't take long and you'll be better in a few days." He started to write it down in his memo pad.

"Are you okay, Doctor?" He didn't look so well. Was it only her tonsils? Were they only one side of a potential problem? The constant fever and being tired, was it really all just from tonsils?

"Here is an ear, eye, nose, throat specialist." Her doctor handed her the paper. "Go see them as quickly as you can. Get this taken care of before you are in a bed for days due to running fevers."

Then she wouldn't be able to help anyone. "I will." If anything was wrong too, she would schedule for the soonest surgery she could. The world didn't wait for her to get better, she needed to stay up with the world. Even if she was in pain in her mouth, she could still travel.

Noin picked up her phone, seeing the restricted number. Most numbers could be identified on her signals. "Noin here."

"Hello, this is Quatre Raberba Winner."

"Oh, Quatre." One of the previous Gundam pilots. He wouldn't be calling her for no reason at all. "Is there something you need?"

"Just, touching base," Quatre said. "I called Lady Une too. Duo, the previous pilot of Deathscythe. There's some suspected foul play, probably not related to anything, but we're just being cautious."

"Caution is always a smart idea," Noin said. She placed her phone on speaker and turned to her memo pad on it. "What's the caution?"

"Duo's friend, she got pregnant, but she didn't do anything. They both suspect foul play from a doctor when she had surgery."

Noin looked at the memo area on her phone. What should she even put? "He sure she's just not telling him a lie?"

"We looked at it all. The footage disappeared. She's his best friend and he trusts her. He's now on Earth, with her. He's staying until after it's born and it's safe to go back to their colony."

Noin scratched her head. "How long ago? Did this just happen?"

"Well? Duo wanted a week with his friend on Earth, just in case you did want to drop by and ask questions," Quatre said.

"Oh." She wrote down Duo's Friend Got Pregnant in Surgery Supposedly on her memo and left it at that. "I can see how you didn't jump to tell us."

"I know, but it doesn't feel like its right. Like it's over? This just, it doesn't say . . . you hurt someone I love and so this is what you get? Do you understand what I mean?"

"Very true." Noin agreed. "I've got it down. Most likely, it's . . ." This friend probably had too much fun and was lying her butt off. "It doesn't seem like it's nothing to do much with us, but I'll inform the others. Thanks."

Narrator: In After Colony 190, a young ten-year-old named No Name, was introduced to Middie Une, with all of his allies being killed by this spy. He let Middie Une go, and she tried to go into a different direction with her life, away from spying. Now in After Colony, 197, Kharma has reared it's ugly head against her. 

Hospital. Earth.

It took every cent she had, and more she didn't. Middie Une watched the nurse give her the okay to go in the back. She had needed the surgery for months now, but money wasn't a luxury she had. Unfortunately, things like going to work with the fevers also weren't working. Her boss forced her to come and get something worked out. She ended up selling everything she could and a man she worked with loaned her the rest. Afterwards, she would have to work overtime to pay him back, but right now? She couldn't keep her hours. She was getting fevers more and more. It felt like she could barely even swallow or eat half the time, and now she was starting to have trouble with her breathing at night.

Her breathing. It was absurd that tonsils could be the cause of so much misery. She walked toward the room.

After today, she could recover, and then no more worries of missing work. Just worries about how she was going to pay back that money fast enough and still survive her own rent. I may have to get desperate enough to find another way. She would try though. She would try the good girl way.

On the outside, she looked like a good girl. With her blonde hair and beautiful big eyes with a wide smile. Anyone would think that. She'd performed unspeakable acts in war though, becoming a spy with those qualities. Trust and innocence. Only a disguise, and the man who lent her the money knew it. Expected it. For her to be a bad girl, to pay that money off.

She wouldn't quickly pick that role up. She didn't like it, it wasn't a favorite. But, it was one she could play and play well when she had to.

Narrator: In a peaceful world where soldiers have finally found a sense of peace, it's those that had no choice in a loved one's participation, that is the greatest threat right now. While it has been a simple bubbling underneath since AC 183, this bubbling turned to boiling in AC 195. Now, in AC 197, a group that has had several groups participating within it, has added one more group. This union will create a sense of ultimate revenge against the ones who stole the lives of their loved ones: The once famous gundam pilots.

A Secret Old Military Base

"When it's all done, they'll all get it. They'll all understand." The leader Crystalia looked toward her other members. "Every one of them will understand."

"Crystalia?" One of her subjects asked aloud. "Some of them are too close to the targets. Word is, Duo Maxwell already knows. He didn't drop her like everyone assumed would happen. He even came to Earth. She will be watched extra close. What will we do?"

"We stick with the plan," Crystalia said. "He'll break."

"I can understand . . ." One of the women in the group started to speak up. That woman was called Jewel. A codename, no one used their real names. She had been the one to take part in the event of Hilde Schbeiker. Her purpose, she had known it. Understood it. She wanted it, but Jewel had found out that the ones being used in the plan had not even taken a single life. Three of the women in the plan? Hilde was responsible for things, yes, she killed and committed atrocities. Middie Une was the worse, she was a known spy, getting others who had trusted her killed. Those were good individuals to use, but three out of five? "This is about justice, Crystalia," she said. "Why are we picking three innocent women?"

"Dorothy Catalonia instigated war. She loved war, it's a known fact," Crystalia said. "If she had a chance to see war or be in it, she would have taken a life without qualms. Even her descendents, it was destiny she would be a bad person."

That wasn't a strong enough reason. She never took lives. "Mei-Lin Wang?"

" . . ."

"Her situation, and her close name. Is that really it?" That wasn't good enough. "Who added the death of someone too? That wasn't us, was it?"

"In order to get things done, we've had to ally with another group," Crystalia was slower in the explaining. "Their presence have influenced some mechanics, but the message is still the same."

"An innocent man is dead, she is being hunted for that, how is that the same message?" Jewel pushed on. "This group has lost its way choosing these women. There was no reason, and the former Queen of Earth?"

Crystalia smirked at her. She smirked? "She is a good leader, who has always been there for everyone. She wants to make everyone happy, and make up for everything that she can. Call her a sacrificial lamb, she'll willingly do it."

"That's not fair," Jewel continued to yell. "These choices, they are by the other group! Who is influencing our group?"

Crystalia walked closer to her. "Honestly? When I said we had to ally with another group? I was talking to the group, not you. You are part of the other small group."

What? More than Jewel started to complain.

"Easy, ladies," Crystalia tried to calm them down. "Every single one of you could be implicated right now in all of this." She looked straight at Jewel. "One phone call and Duo Maxwell would be at your door, ready to murder you and everything you hold dear."

Everyone started to go stark quiet. "Used," Jewel whispered. "We were used."

"The world is about being used. The world is about a lot of pain. It's time for the ones who brought this suffering into the world, to bear that pain." Crystalia looked toward the crowd. "Our groups are similar. Not exactly the same, no, but the mission hasn't changed. The man who died? Deserved death. Classified reasons and Mei-Lin will be freed of those charges. She'll be fine." Crystallia pointed at Jewel. "Do you want to destroy all of the work we've all pushed together for?"

"For the lives of . . . three innocents." Jewel stared at Crystalia.

"The rewards are still the same, and it's not like the Mei-Lin woman was well liked."

"Not well-liked, enjoyed war, and sacrificial lamb is not what I signed up for!" Jewel declared. "This was not my group's purpose!" This was not her group. Her group was small. Simple. This meeting, there were thousands of women there.

"Women involved in the war, in all ways, were involved in this. If you expected everything to be absolutely peaceful, it's you who needs to check back into reality," Crystalia reminded her. "So the last three weren't that bad. They were involved. They weren't on the side lines. No." She had to correct herself. "Well? Mei-Lin Wang was an exception, but not many would fit."

"It wasn't about how any fit. Really. Was it?" Jewel looked around again. Only a few confused faces, most seemed to be quite aware of it.

"How they fit was just as important to our group as to how guilty they were, if not more so," Crystalia answered again. "Now? Unless we need to accidentally send some video to the temporary address of one Duo Maxwell, I suggest you sit back and relax. You are still getting your reward, as long as you stay allegiant." She looked toward the crowd. "Anyone else in the smaller group? You've all done something. Not one person here can walk away with only a small slap on the wrist. We all have our lives, and our own goals. We work with each other, and at the end, you get your rewards. Fair and square."

She couldn't do that. Jewel couldn't disobey, The God of Death would come after her with a passion. Her and everyone she had left. Again. No. "Why use us?" Her group had been so small and intimate. Why bother at all?

"Technology isn't always an easy thing to get to." Crystalia turned away and spoke to the crowd at large again.

This wasn't what Jewel had stood for, but it was what she had caused. Created. She was staying quiet while three innocent women suffered. One even being jailed and framed, simply because of her relative positioning to the former Meilan wife. How did all of the others fit then? Were they going after the guilty, or just the ones that had fit the best as counterparts to ruining the former gundam pilots? Were any of them as guilty as she had been led to believe? After all.

Now Jewel had heavy guilt on her, weighing her down. Her silence would let a killer go free. She was guilty.

She was guilty. No better than the one she hurt.

Guilty.

She didn't deserve anything.

Guilty.

Duo Maxwell and Hilde Schbeiker's Temporary Residence

6:30 PM

"I just want to lie around all night long, my feet are killing me," Hilde said as she opened the door to their little apartment. The lights came on illuminating the room. It wasn't a large place, but a decent one. It had what they needed. A bathroom with a decent shower, a kitchen, a TV, and their definite assortment of games they collected. "When people want their food, they want it now."

"At least you aren't in the back with the fryer," Duo said as he hung his hat on the small nook behind the front door as he closed it. "That was hot. I'd rather be doing the back and forth. Game or TV? And who gets which?"

"Ooh, I was on level two reaching level three . . ." She budged. "I'm too tired to concentrate on the game. Fridays are a big pain. At least we get Saturday off. I'll catch up then."

"Yeah, TV then. I'm not in the mood either." Maybe a good show was on. "We have the crockpot from last night for supper or order out?"

"Oh, it's Friday. We can live a little. Crockpot Saturday," Hilde said as she took off her shoes and curled up on the couch with her socks.

Duo did the same thing. "I don't know whose is worse. Yours or mine."

She wrinkled her nose as a slight tease as she grabbed the remote and turned it on. They both propped their feet up to watch the TV. "Oh, mail. Duo, it was your day today."

"I just spent the whole minute getting comfy, Hilde-Babe." But he got up and walked his socked feet over toward the mail slot. "Let's see." He bent over toward it to see the offerings. "Coupons? Furniture. Pass." Like they had anymore room or wanted anymore? The couch was fine and a table to eat at. Anything else would clutter the small place up. "More coupons. Food. Buy more food to get more food kind. Pass." Bills at all? "No bills."

"Then no problems," Hilde said from the couch.

Duo continued to come over, bringing the rest of the junkmail. It's like they had a sign outside that said 'insert junkmail here'. "Ooh, a letter. Addressed to little me?" Duo looked at Hilde. "Good or bad you think?"

"Is it ever good?" Hilde questioned him.

Duo ripped it open. "Well, you never know? Maybe someone's writing to greet us to the neighborhood? Or maybe Trowa decided to write a letter saying how much he appreciates us being here on Earth?" Yeah, no, it wouldn't be that. It was always bad. "What do you think the level of bad is?"

"Three?" Hilde hazarded a guess.

"Mach four? Maybe just a two." Duo started to read it, then looked away. He stared at Hilde, his expression different. "It's a ten." A full blown ten. He read one line of it and already knew. Hilde came closer as he revealed the letter to both of them.

A woman code-named Jewel, just revealed when and how Hilde had become pregnant. She also revealed a ton of other things that were, frankly? "We need to call the guys." As he said that, he quickly gripped her hand gently. "You okay?" Hilde was staring ahead at the TV now. "BFF's forever. Hell of a necklace between us."

"That's not funny, Duo!" Hilde was losing it as she got off the couch, jerking his hand away. She sought solace over by the window, resting her hands on its sill. She didn't say much else. Duo didn't know what to say either. After a few minutes, she spoke again. "Obligatory just turned mandatory. This is. This."

"This doesn't change anything," Duo said to her. "Still pregnant. Still on Earth. Still going back." He tried to loosen up and relax. "Just instead of Uncle Duo it's . . . Papa Duo. Or Father? Nah, not Father, not Father . . . Dad Duo?" His brain felt scrambled. Even working out that little bit of the piece of the puzzle. What he should let it call it? That should be on the lowest end of concern too. "We're okay."

"It was just me," Hilde said, staring out the window. She was looking at the stars, like they would somehow take her away. Maybe back to their colony. To life before it started to change again. "It was just me wrapped up in this huge mess, and now it's you. You got dragged down, by that-that- Girl!" She went over to the letter, grabbed it and shoot it violently. "This Jewel!" She slammed it back down again.

"Yeah. I'm used to getting screwed over." Still. "It's okay, Hilde," he encouraged her. "This Jewel did the right thing." Oh yeah, he wasn't happy. How did anyone even have that on him? And who? But. Hilde was his concern right now.

"She was a stupid girl. Stupid. Stupid girl." Hilde pointed to the letter, half crying, like she could zap it away. "Stupid code name. You can't go after her."

"Yeah." He knew that. It was clear from the letter she was scared Duo would come after her again. That again meant he probably had taken out a family member. It wasn't right what she did, and he definitely wasn't going out of his way to find her and tell her she had nothing to fear. But he wasn't going out of his way to deal with her either. "Everyone makes stupid mistakes." He glanced back at Hilde. "I didn't grow up with a Dad, Hilde. I'll probably still end up being Uncle Duo." She nodded her head, understanding. "I'll try." There wasn't much more he could say. "You know I have to contact the others?" She nodded again. "Why don't you find something on the TV you want? Order something even, your choice. When I get back in, we'll watch it. I'll still order out for food too. What is it you want, Hilde?" He'd do the ordering for the food before he came back.

Once the other guys found out. They would want to get every scrap out of him they could, but all he really had was a crummy letter to scan them.

Now? Whose life did he ruin first tonight?

Heero's Apartment

Heero glanced from his computer down to his phone next to him. Seeing it was Duo's number, he went back to typing. He could deal with that later. Duo was probably looking for more information about what happened with his friend. Heero was busy trying to find out about another rebel group making the rounds on Earth. Even though the war had been over, the groups continued to pop up. So many still couldn't see that fighting was pointless. Even he had sent away his Gundam. Everyone had. He heard the low tone chirp again. A second ringing. Maybe it was important.

He picked it up with one hand but continued to have his eyes on his computer. He would invest in a hands free unit if he had people calling him all the time. Thankfully, he didn't. "Duo, what is it?"

"Whatever you're doing, set it aside, Heero. I got news."

Duo's news wasn't really going to throw Heero off his own goal of trying to track down the rebel group before their information disappeared. "Did you track down who hurt your friend?" Nothing so far. Damn. This group was good. Normally these new groups could be hacked in time before information went away.

"It's not about me. It's about you, Heero."

Hm. About him? "I am about to track down a leader to a rebel group I've been trying to find for two months. Is it important enough to stop that?"

"Yeah, but if you are doing that, I can call back I guess?"

"Do that." Heero hung up. Come on. "Crystalia." That code name. Did he finally find the leader?

Quatre Raberba Winner's Residence with the Maguanacs.

Quatre took a quick sip of tea as he continued to look at some information Noin was sharing with him. Since he was being cooperative with her, she was being cooperative back. It really wasn't anything big, but sometimes it was the little things that snuck by that were important. He heard his phone ring softly. He reached over to the side of his recliner he had been relaxing in as he studied the data. Glancing at the phone, he saw it was Duo's number. "Hello, Duo," he greeted him. "How are you doing?"

"Been better," he responded.

Ooh. That sound. "Did you find out who hurt your friend?" Quatre asked. Hopefully Duo kept it together and didn't go after them yet. The authorities could take care of it.

"Yeah, her name was Jewel," he answered. "Code name. Listen? I kind of need you to come meet me or at least get to a visual prompter. This should be done face to face, and I'll scan the letter to you too."

That sounded bad. "Okay." He wasn't near Duo at the moment at all, and without the use of a quick ride in a Gundam, it would take time to reach him. "I'll contact you via a prompter in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and headed downstairs to the bigger computer base area. He was thinking about going back up to the colonies again soon since, whether he was on Earth or in the colonies, he was about the same amount of help. He reached a visual prompter, called up Duo on it and saw his face.

The cheery-eyed man didn't look so cheery eyed. "Quatre. I got some news for you. You better brace yourself. First of all? I've been sitting here, thinking about this whole thing," he said. "Did you give all kinds of things for samples to your doctor? You know, the one in charge of the Gundam?"

"Oh? Yes, he checked everything thoroughly," Quatre said.

"Yeah. Yeah." Duo was repeating himself. "Alright? Well, hard news is never easy to hear. I'm guessing since me and Hilde learned it this way, you probably should too. I'm scanning something to you."

Quatre looked at the scanner next to the visual prompter. It was getting something on it. He read on down the line of the letter as it was scanned, bit by bit, suddenly starting to feel . . . weak. "No. Oh, no, no, no, no!" He couldn't keep looking and looked back at the visual prompter. "Are you serious, Duo?"

"Dead serious. Got it in the mail today," Duo said.

"But, I mean? It can't be confirmed, it's just a letter." Quatre was trying to keep his senses together.

"Yeah? A letter that said how and what tech they used to get Hilde pregnant, Quatre," Duo said. "She even added the place it could be found in. She won't go any deeper than that. Only reason I know is 'cause she turned against her masters I guess. I'm not going after her, but I bet her teammates will when they find out about this. She better run for cover." Duo continued to stare at him through the visual prompter. "Hey? That scan is done by now. You can't ignore it forever, Quatre."

But? "That woman, Jewel?" Quatre tried to keep the tremble out of his voice, but he had no idea how to handle this. Not this. "She said they 'fit' in somehow with us? I? I-I don't know anyone really."

Duo stroked his hair on the visual prompter. "It means someone we connected with. Someone we helped, sort of. She doesn't know yet, Quat, it's okay. Give it a little while if you need to. It takes time for them to pick it up."

Quatre looked to the base of the visual prompter. Odd. He felt like he was about to see the dead body of someone he knew, even though this wasn't death. It was life. It was life created between him and a woman that he didn't know yet. Not until he turned his head.

Just a few more seconds. A few more seconds to live in the bliss of not knowing. Although, even that wasn't really bliss. He knew, he just didn't know who. Knowing he couldn't keep it away forever, he turned to look at the scan.

He looked back at Duo. "It was the shortest conversations."

"Meaningful. They want it to be meaningful," Duo said on the visual prompter. "The short conversations must have been meaningful."

"To who?" Them? He stared at the scan again. "I don't know the other two names. Middie Une and Mei-Lin Wang?" The ones carrying Trowa and Wufei's unborn. "Duo? What do I?"

"I don't know," Duo said. "I'm calling up you guys, gonna go eat some pizza and chill with Hilde. I guess, just go on living?"

"Yeah, but I can't just go march over to Catalonia's with pizza and watch something!" He flipped out a little, his hands tightening against the base of the visual prompter. "I'll call you later, Duo."

"Take your time, Quat-"

He shut it off. He hung there, leaning against the counter that held the prompter. He took his time with his breathing. He had grown used to war, and never knew when someone he loved would end up getting crushed by someone. But this? This was different. "I am responsible for a life." With a woman he barely even knew. "I have to pull it together." Quatre's responsibility lied on Dorothy Catalonia, and telling her.

For half an hour he leaned against that counter, thinking. Would he leave it with her? Would that be too dangerous? Wouldn't that be wrong? Didn't a child deserve it's father? Would she be able to have it safely with the Winner's space genes? "The reason all my sisters and I were artificially born." Ooh.

The Winner clan basically started in the colonies, and according to his father, they were all still genetically dispositioned not to . . . "Okay, but she's not in the colonies, she's on Earth. So that would?" If it were that simple, couldn't his mother have had him and his sisters naturally on Earth instead of artificially?

Duo was wrong. He didn't have much time to reveal what was going on. At this rate? There was a good chance. "Testing, we'll need testing, to figure it out." Should she have it and come live in the estate in the colonies with him? If she survived? Would she agree to that? Should they stay on Earth? Should they go to the colonies? Having this child could practically terminate her life, no one could do it that way with the Winner genes. Everything was artificial.

Was this their plan the whole time? Quatre just didn't know enough about his own families corrupted genes. The Winner family never talked about it much. Wait, the baby has the genes, not her! He just put that together after this long? Oh. He really wasn't doing well.

"Master Quatre." Rasid came down. "You've been gone some time from your spot. I was worried."

Quatre didn't move much. Just gestured to the scan on screen.

"Master Quatre, is that true?!"

"According to the source." Quatre felt himself getting propped off the counter. That was probably a better idea. "Thanks, Rasid."

"Come. Come upstairs, you need to relax now, Master Quatre," Rasid said as they both slowly went back upstairs.

The Circus

Trowa moved toward his computer area in his tent again. He'd just finished his last act for the night, but he got the message, vibrating, that Duo tried to contact him. He only texted him one thing. Visual prompter.

"Trowa, are you going to bed soon?" Catherine asked from the side. "Did you want to catch a late supper?"

"Not right now, Cathy." He set up the visual prompter and turned it on. He saw Duo on the screen. "Duo."

"Hey, Trowa. So, I gave Quatre the news too. He took it about as well as I expected." Duo stared right at him. "I'm sending you a scan of a letter that I got. It's about you. It's about all us former Gundam pilots."

"Oh, I don't like the way he is acting," Catherine said, admittedly a little worried.

"Send the scan, Duo," Trowa insisted.

"Fine, but before I do? Go back to how you used to steel yourself against real bad news," Duo warned him.

What did Duo have? Trowa nodded. He watched as an image started to show up little by little. The sender was someone named Jewel. She was responsible for what happened to Hilde. She also knew about . . .

Catherine literally yelled as she started to read the scan. She turned away, unable to see the rest. Trowa didn't want to either. He looked back at the visual prompter. "So I'm going to be a father?"

"It seems so, yeah," Duo answered. "You know the woman in question?"

Trowa hadn't looked at the woman in question yet. "Why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Duo answered. "That Jewel said her goals were different. That her group had been taken over and she doesn't know their intentions." He sighed. "So look and tell me how you know her. Were all supposed to know them somehow."

"Fit." Yes, Trowa saw that word.

"Trowa?" Catherine looked at him, full of compassion and worry. "Are you okay?"

Trowa nodded, although he didn't really know. He didn't know what the next step would even be, except to see who he'd been assigned. Who this rebel group thought fit him.

"Whatever you do, don't warn the doctors," Duo said to him. "There's only one person who had that much on me, and it sounds like on Quatre."

The doctors? Were they involved? Was everything stolen by this group? Trowa looked at the scan.

"So you know her?" Duo asked.

"Trowa?" Catherine asked too. "Trowa, do you know her?"

"That." That is who they picked? Trowa looked back at the visual prompter. This wouldn't be taken well by Catherine at all. "She was a spy who got my allies killed when I was younger." As predicted, he heard his sister losing it. She even ran out of the dressing room.

"Aw, Man, a spy?" Duo asked. "That's the worse so far. A spy is carrying your child, Trowa. Sorry."

"What do I do?" Trowa asked Duo.

"Come to terms with it. Go see her. Hope she turned a new leaf?" Duo recommended. "Good luck, Trowa."

That was it. That was all Duo could offer. "Nothing else?"

"Nothing else," Duo shook his head. "Time for you to deal in your way. I've still got to talk to Heero and Wufei. Over and out."

Middie Une. The spy. The spy that had been his age, that he had let go.

He typed into the computer. That name. He never thought he'd have to type it out. With his skill, it didn't take long. She was days away from the Circus location. That was probably a good thing. He himself didn't know how to handle everything yet. Speaking of which, he looked back at the list. Quatre and Dorothy Catalonia. That wasn't good on his friend either. Alone time was called for. To contemplate. To understand what it all meant.

"If she's evil, take it."

Trowa looked outside his tent. His sister had come back to say it. "Catherine."

"If she was a spy and she was evil, then she'd be a terrible mother anyhow!" Catherine begged him. "Trowa."

Catherine hated war so much. It had taken her whole family away. This wouldn't be easy on her.

A0206- The Long Clan's Colony

Wufei was pulling on some of the slack Heero had extended his way. They had been trying to pull in on this rebel group on Earth and Hero just got the codename of the leader. They were getting closer. As he made headway though, he heard his phone go off. He looked at who it had been. Duo? He didn't have anything to contribute to his cause. He heard it ring a second time though so he picked it up. "Wufei."

"Visual prompter. Face to face. Not saying anything else."

Vague. He moved over slightly to dial Duo over the visual prompter. He could see Duo's face in front of him. "What is it?"

"I'm sending you a scan," Duo said. "I did this for Quatre and Trowa. I think it's fair we all learn the same way. The fairest thing I can do. It's about you, so pay attention."

Wufei moved his gaze toward the scanning computer. He started to watch it come in. A rebel known as Jewel? "This has to do with the rebel group I am chasing down." Interesting. No, not interesting. "Is this letter real?"

"Everything matched up for Hilde," Duo answered. "You know the woman? Were all supposed to 'fit'. That's the wording."

Wufei stared at the name. He tried to think about it, but clearly. "I don't know this woman, or she made a low enough impression I never kept her name in my memory."

"Oh? Weird," Duo answered back. "Anyhow? Good to see you taking it well. A little unexpected."

Wufei didn't say much. He would naturally have had a child in his life with Nataku at some point. If she had lived. Wait. "Mei-Lin." Familiar in sound to the name his wife had been born with. It was not the name she preferred though, and it was not the name he had called her after that day. She had been Nataku. Wufei moved to his free computer and started to type in her name.

"Ooh, that was a hell of a grunt," Duo said from the visual prompter. "You suddenly remember her? You okay, Wufei?"

"I don't know the woman!" Wufei declared as he stared at what his computer displayed. "They just made it her because . . ." Because of her situation. The Zhang colony was similar to the Long colony, yet they never crossed paths. "She was jailed not long ago for finding a dead man in her home, and announcing she was pregnant at her marriage ceremony." Marriage. The name. That was it. They connected him to this strange woman for nothing but this?

"Wufei? You okay?"

"It's not Nataku," Wufei said. "It would have been better if I had known her."

"Um?" Duo sounded confused. "Right. You work it out on your own. I got one last call to make."

"Okay, look at what you've been up to." Heero was finally making some headway. When serious things started, it was the best time to catch slip-ups. The rebels were starting to advance, to move plans. He had finally located the missing suits they must have had. Now, what were they trying to accomplish? There was a man who'd been kidnapped by them, but nothing else telling. According to this new data, this Crystalia had started the group a long time ago. It wasn't just a rebel faction that started, it had been around for over a decade and a half. No wonder it was so good at covering its tracks.

Heero heard his phone chirp again. Duo's news. It was supposed to be important, he'd better take it. He picked up the phone and answered it.

"Not so busy now there, Hot Shot?" Duo asked him. "This is serious, Heero. I went ahead and told everyone else so you could get done what needed to get done. I need to get this done though, so I can finally go in and live my life for the night."

"I'm listening," Heero said, slightly typing on the computer. What had they been doing?

"Visual prompter. This is a face-to face thing as I scan you a thing, thing. After that, you deal with it however you want."

Fine. Heero scooted over the visual prompter. Duo's face was on it.

"Alright, Heero. Prepare yourself."

"I am always prepared." He could handle anything that he had to deal with.

"Okay then. I'm sending you a scan now, of a letter someone sent me tonight. After this? You might consider giving her a call."

Giving who a call? Heero watched the scan come through. It was from a woman named Jewel. He knew that coding, that was the group he was finding information on right now. Her group had been taken over. She had been responsible for Hilde's pregnancy. So, his friend hadn't been lying to him.

Heero looked back at Duo. His eyes were a little wider now. "Is this real?"

"Everything matched up for me," Duo said. "Might want to ask Relena if she had surgery not too long ago."

Heero looked back at the scan again. He looked back at Duo. "This isn't what that group does."

He turned off the visual prompter.

He sat.

He thought.

He leaned back in his chair and stared at his computer. At the name of the rebel group he'd been following.

Revenge of The Lost.

Zhang Colony

"Mei-Lin."

Mei-Lin looked up toward Li, her husband to-be from her prison bars. He wouldn't come to greet her for anything. She watched as the cage was unlocked.

"Someone sent us proof of your innocence, all around." There was true concern now from his eyes. "You were correct, and you stayed true to your beliefs this entire time." He bent his head slightly. "The Zhang and Wang family is proud of you, every one of us."

She looked toward him. She was freed? "What proof was found?"

"Everything, Mei-Lin," he said. "Everything. From the man in your home being killed while you were sleeping, to the footage of the hospital. We were sent everything anonymously." Finally, he broke a smile toward her. "You will make a fine wife, your integrity remained high throughout this whole ordeal." He hugged her. "Everything will be fine. You will still be my wife. Another date is being set as we speak. I will raise the child as if it were mine since the father is unknown. It will be a proud Zhang."

She nodded and hugged him back. A strange action she wasn't used to with him, but one she would have to get used to.

"Everything is settled from last time, the marriage should not take long," he assured her. "Maybe even as little as tomorrow, to get rid of this awful sting that had to happen. No one understands why this happened, I'm sorry."

Mei-Lin nodded. She had no idea either, but as long as she could be welcomed by the colony again, she would be happy. Except? "Relena Dorlain," she said to Li. "She wanted me off of the colony, since I couldn't identify the father."

"Only the people of Earth concern themselves with that nonsense. It's doubtful that there will be trouble," Li assured her. "You will give birth naturally here. It's better to be at home for this change in our lives."

A slight nod. She wasn't so sure about that, but she would not be able to leave on her own. Most likely, it would be fine. Most families didn't have problems in space anymore. Few rarely did. "Does anyone know why?" Why it happened?

"Not yet," Li said. "We will handle it as the time comes. If the Zhang find who is responsible? We will make them pay. I make this promise to you."

Such respect now for his future wife. She could have used it earlier. A proper Zhang, but not a proper man who would defend his wife first, when push came to shove.

She would remember that.

Author's Note: I'm not messing up Relena's last name. She is going by Dorlain currently, but not everyone is going by her own designations, used to her being known as Peacecraft.

Not for anything. Dorothy lied in her bed, taking her medicine. She'd been sucking on cold bars and jello, trying to get through it all. Not much longer and it should be over. She heard her phone ring and answered it, barely, with her usual charm. Trying to. "Ah, Miss Relena. How may I help you today?"

"I'm sorry, Dorothy. I didn't think about your surgery when I asked to meet you, and then I just walked off," she apologized. "I wasn't feeling well, but it was no excuse. I am afraid I might have the same problem you did."

"Uh. How unfortunate, Miss Relena." That's why she was calling. "It's quite a simple surgery."

"I find it strange," Relena admitted. "Strange that we both have this problem."

"Perhaps there is something around the Earth that is changing our health?" Dorothy reasoned. Oh, she should not be talking, but it wasn't like her to just ignore those whose presence she enjoyed. Relena did not come by every day. Dermail was gone. There wasn't . . . "I'd give anything to watch a good fight right now." Oops? Her medicine got to her, that had been out loud. "I apologize." Normally she would say something longer, but she was hitting her extent. She needed to heal before being anymore social.

"You aren't feeling yourself. I understand," Relena apologized. "Let me know when you are feeling better, Dorothy."

Dorothy gave a light mutter of a yes before hanging up. She sucked on another ice cold bar, but now her head was turning too. It was rather strange they both had this problem at about the same time. Was it becoming more prevalent of a problem? Or was there something changing on Earth that was changing mankind more as a species? Her humidifier was still running, but the air was so dry. It still felt so dry. That was the thing about Earth, the temperature always fluctuated. In the colonies, it remained the same most times. Then her phone rang again, but this time, just a text.

My surgery will be in the colonies. I think it's easier to breathe out there to heal and my current business issues are colony related. I didn't know you were still feeling so terrible. If you can get through one grueling day, I invite you to come.

To the colonies? Dorothy hadn't been out there in ages. It was so beautiful out there. Relena was always so brilliant and charming, no doubt she knew which colony to go to. Not all colonies were made equal. There was one in particular that held extra humidity. Smaller, more intimate. It was like walking around in a humidifier. It was good for those who needed one. Extra services were performed in it since it often attracted the more sickly to it's beautiful self. Highly expensive, but . . .

One grueling trip out to the colonies. Even when she steps out, it should feel her with relief like a humidifier. She texted her back with a tease of bringing extra ice cream and ice chips. One day. The damage she still felt on her was grueling, even after the surgery. She should have been healed by now. Proper healing. Better surveillance and doctors. In the past, she may have been able to get out there with her grandfather. Not much anymore, but Relena still traveled back and forth.

The invite was probably just to share in the misery. Maybe. Or maybe Relena Peacecraft was becoming a little like her. Wanting to find a real friend out in the real world, it was so hard to come by.

Or more likely she wanted some kind of information on someone or some group she once knew. That was always more likely. Either way, she didn't care.

She got the reply back and smiled. Relena had ordered the tickets. She would go a day later, but she ordered Dorothy her virtual tickets for tomorrow, first thing in the morning.

To the beauty of the colonies. Already, she was starting to feel better.

Relena's Home

Relena knew how Dorothy felt about holding a conversation. She was certainly coming down with another fever. She needed to go to bed. She felt around herself, but couldn't find her phone. "No, not this now." Oh, she sounded so terrible. She looked around the area, thinking she set it down somewhere. Maybe she dropped it? She went backwards some, but her fever made it so hard. She eventually found it, lying on the floor where she had a conversation with Dorothy. She picked it up. There, now it was time to go relax. Thank goodness that surgery was scheduled soon.

Heero's Colony

It only took one ring of his phone now. "Wufei."

"This isn't what they specialize in."

Neither of them were going to go into the details. Both of them had been tracking down the rebels in Revenge of The Lost. The crimes they committed were never to a particular calibre, but this whole thing didn't make sense at all.

"They didn't just decide on a whim, to do this, randomly," Wufei continued to speak. "Heero."

"I know." This wasn't supposed to be some shock or surprise. This whole father ordeal was part of something bigger. They used small advantages, tactics, and then came after their targets in an almost ruthless manner. "Hilde Schbeiker was confirmed, but can we believe that now?" Trickery was that group's style. He believed that Duo wouldn't lie. This woman that lived with Duo, most likely wouldn't go through all this for a lie. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility though.

"The one involving me," Wufei continued. "She is supposed to be pregnant. For all I know, she could be a part of RTL."

"Hm." That was possible. Whether it was real or not, RTL wanted them to do something. They were their target now. "Has anyone contacted the doctors?" They would be the only ones to make something like this happen, although even that was a long shot. "If they expect me to barge in on Relena Dorlain with this, they don't know me." This group? Chances of a lie were high. Yes, it could be true. Yes, Duo's friend could be pregnant, but it could also just be a ruse. They'd only been on Earth for a week. Even if it was real, it would take time to get any of the others confirmed.

"Duo doesn't want the doctors knowing. He thinks they are behind it. I hate RTL."

Their methods to win were never good. "What are they planning?"

"To irritate us. To distract us? Maybe we are getting closer than we thought to finding the leader."

"Yeah." Maybe they should involve the other pilots to track them down faster. As for the letter? It was most likely a complete plant. "The technology exists for what they've done, but it's not out for the general public. I've been looking into it closer. Unless RTL is a part of that technology group, this couldn't have been done."

"I am hoping you don't find a connection," Wufei said to him.

"Yeah. Me too." This wasn't a casual thing Heero could brush off if it had been. The pregnancy wouldn't be the trump card, it would be just a hard card used in their overall game. Most people who became targets of the group had their life changed disastrously by them. Many often survived, RTL didn't just kill off an enemy. They made them suffer. Over forty percent ended up taking their own lives with the brutal tactics they used. "Do you know Mei-Lin Wang, Wufei?"

"No," Wufei said. "However." He paused. "This will be a disaster between the Long and Zhang Colony if it were true."

"How disastrous?"

"War disastrous. I have to find out if this is true before I proceed with anything, Heero."

"Agreed." War. Yeah, that was something RTL would like. Simple cause and effects the victims did to themselves. "Any word on the other unknown women?"

"No. Trowa nor Quatre have called or checked back in. Duo did say this Middie Une was a spy that killed Trowa's allies once. We should inform them of RTL better before they fall into its trap."

"Good idea." Knowing someone like Quatre, he would go straight to the source with the intent of sharing the truth. He was too good. He better call him first. It was late on Earth, but hearing this, Quatre would be wide awake.

Maguanac Area

Quatre studied his clothes carefully for his trip tomorrow before he tried to get some rest. From where he was with the Maguanacs, it would be days before he could reach Dorothy Catalonia. Hmm There wasn't really anything for this kind of thing. He would go with his usual pressed shirt and vest. Showing up in a tuxedo wouldn't give the right impression, although he wanted to show how serious the situation had been. "Hello, Dorothy Catalonia," he practiced to himself. "Just by chance? I don't suppose you had surgery not too long ago? No, that would never work," he criticized himself. Records easily showed she had a tonsillectomy not more than two weeks ago.

Two weeks. She wouldn't feel any different. She couldn't confirm anything. "She probably drinks alcohol." Socially at least, it was reasonable. No, he couldn't put it off. If he had suspicions, she should be warned. He heard his phone go off and welcomed the interruption. "Quatre here."

"Quatre." Heero's voice. "Don't run off to tell Catalonia anything."

"Why, was it discovered to be a trick?" Hopeful.

"No, but the writer of the letter, code-named 'Jewel', is a part of Revenge of The Lost," Heero said. "RTL. A mysterious rebel group I've been tracking with Wufei. Don't go to Catalonia."

"So it could be fake?" His heart started to beat. "Why fake this?"

"The group isn't your typical fare. It doesn't often take POW's or kill. It is willing too, but it prefers other forms of torture to ending someone's life."

"A pacifist terrorist group?" Huh.

"Wufei and I will send you what we have on them," Heero said. "They are expecting you to make contact, Quatre. Don't. There is no proof of anything. Even if you told her-"

"She wouldn't know. She just had the surgery," Quatre finished. "I've studied it, Heero. It can take years to get a positive in artificial, but there is new tech." He probably already knew that. "What do you personally believe? Do you think they are or aren't?"

"Throwing this at us isn't their style, and it does nothing to make them feel satisfied," Heero said. "Wufei said if it were true, it could start a war between his colony and this Mei-Lin Wang's."

"Creating war ourselves." Quatre could start to see the truth. "I get it. I'll wait." It seemed like there was a good chance it was just a ruse, a ruse to get to them. A ruse to get them out.

He had to wait until he knew for sure.

Duo's Apartment

"It's two o' clock in the morning here," Duo complained as he left his bedroom for the small couch of his and Hilde's. "You wanted to wake me up to tell me that you think, that my friend, my best friend? Is lying to me for this RTL group?" No. No, he wasn't happy and Wufei better be getting the hint. "She wouldn't lie. I guarantee that, Wufei."

"Did you see anything that said she had been?" Wufei pushed. "Don't go out of your way to do anything for the woman."

"Hilde didn't lie." Ouch. "Take the news like a man, Wufei, and stop trying to find a crack. Figure it out yourself whether that Mei-Lin's is a lie, but Hilde's isn't. She isn't cruising around lying to me for a free trip to Earth." He'd known Hilde for years. The nerve!

"Heero and I are sending you information on the RTL group. Believe it or not, don't let the woman see it." He hung up.

Man. Wufei. Duo bet he and Heero told the others not to say a thing either. Not even suspicion? You know, maybe you shouldn't do this or that 'cause something might have happened to you? Geez.

"Duo." Hilde came out of her room. "You okay? You're yelling."

Ah. Well, the guys could do what they want. "Nothing, just previous pilots, being the previous idiots they are and were." He wouldn't turn his back on Hilde no matter what Wufei said. She wasn't a part of anything. Wufei was the one that should be doing something. "I'm heading back to bed, don't worry. I know, work tomorrow, first thing."

"First thing." She smiled giving him that glowing look he loved on her before she headed back to her room.

Knowing he should keep his promise, he headed back to bed.

Circus

Trowa was already in the middle of doing his own research now. While he should be sleeping, this wasn't a matter he could take lightly. Contacting Middie Une, of all people, was not something he relished in doing. He could ignore it, but that didn't feel right either. He never had anyone growing up. No one he remembered. Until Cathy, he had felt like no one cared for him at all. He was no-name. No one cared. He was worth nothing.

He didn't want anyone else feeling that way. His own blood? Causing pain for his own blood. He heard the phone next to him and answered it. "Trowa."

"I had a feeling you'd still be up too," Heero said. "I have some information on RTL. Revenge of The Lost. Wufei and I had been tracking them down when this all occurred."

"I am trying to find something about them," Trowa admitted. "I would appreciate any information."

"Sure, but don't go running after this woman," Heero warned him. "This group is based on trickery. There is no way to know if any of this is real yet. Even if Hilde Schbeiker is pregnant, it could be a smoke screen."

Oh. Trowa breathed a little relief. "I didn't plan on running right away, but I'm glad you said that."

"Yeah. RTL isn't the typical group. They do kill, but they don't do it often. Quatre said the phrase pacifist terrorist. While it's not exactly true, it's close. They try to find ways to punish the wicked in their mind, without killing them. Or? They have a tendency to commit suicide themselves."

Whoah. "Psychological warfare." That wasn't good news at all.

"Yeah. Don't mess around with them," Heero repeated.

"What about Relena Peacecraft?" Trowa asked. "I can't find anything on her medicals. Has she had surgery yet?"

"Her records tend to be more confidential, thanks to Zechs Merquise." Some resentment. "I'll find out, but that's as far as I'll go. For now, I'm more interested in bringing RTL down."

"I am right there with you," Trowa agreed. Maybe together all of the pilots could gather enough information to take down this radical group. Maybe this all was just a trick. The pinging sound of the small game Middie Une used to play echoed in his head. Transmitter to the enemy, always around her neck.

/"To thank you for your help. Now God will watch over you."/

Then the cross she gave to him. A transmitter to the enemy as well. And now? It had to be a trick. It had to be. To press onward, he would believe it to be.

Just like Heero. Just like Wufei. He would press into the RTL, until he could find the truth first.

8:00 AM and Feeling Refreshed

Suitcase lovingly packed. Her best big hat to hide her face if she got into too much pain. Some sunglasses to look chic, but also to hide any tears that may occur. Anyone else. Anywhere else and it would be no. To the beauty of the colonies, and the one that could make her feel better? It was worth it. Plus, Relena would be there tomorrow. She got on the shuttle and buckled up. A trip to the colonies was not as common as buying a plane ticket. Most people couldn't get authorization to visit, and no one could ever really stay long unless they planned on moving there. Once again, there were a thousand restrictions to that sort of thing too. If it wasn't for Relena, she probably would have gone through the restrictions and stayed up there for good. Stayed among the beauty of the stars. Earth's beauty was gorgeous but so were the stars. It would be a nice place to have a new beginning.

She was done with schooling for now, and she would be going on to higher education soon. Perhaps somewhere different in the colonies for higher education? What a nice thought. Maybe a more relaxed identity too. A relaxed past. The relaxation of knowing where she was going, it made her feel better. Oh, whatever information Relena was trying to bother to get out of her, she could more than have it.

She would decide once she was up there. If she wanted it? This might be her best chance.

CONTENT WARNING: This fic is going to have some psychological warfare. If it gets too intense, you should stop reading or skip a section.

Heero's Colony

Oh, it had to be a joke. Heero woke up and went straight to work on looking for the information he needed, but his first step just changed. Con or not? He broke into Relena's records. As much as he didn't want to go to her, he could save himself a lot of grief if he stopped her now. Her surgery was that day. She hadn't had any other surgeries. There was no way she could be pregnant. He picked up the phone and dialed her up. No answer. He looked at his watch. She could be heading there right now. Option number two since he was still in the colonies. He dialed a different number.

"Noin here."

"Don't let Relena go to surgery today," he answered.

"Surgery?"

She didn't even know. "She is getting a tonsillectomy. Don't let her go. There is a rebel group that may be tracking her there." Technically it was correct and it should make them move faster.

"I'll let her brother know."

There. That should take care of that. Now? To figure out what RTL was really trying to accomplish. After a few minutes though, he got a call back from Noin again. "Did you tell him?"

"She's already gone."

"Then go after her." He couldn't. He was in the colonies.

"She didn't go to the local hospital. I don't know what you see on the computer, but she went to a special surgery colony. She left early this morning. Her brother tagged along behind her, but he didn't tell her."

That sounded like Zeches. "Which colony?"

The Special Surgery Colony

Oh, the air. So relaxing. So lovely. So . . . interesting. Dorothy smiled politely as Heero Yuy approached her. "This is a surprise. Are you here to see Miss Relena?"

"Yes." Gruff. Annoyed. Yes, he was feeling himself. "Where is she?"

"She comes tomorrow," Dorothy revealed to him.

"What are you doing here?" Such an accusation. "Tonsillectomy? From Earth to here after two weeks?"

"My, my. Aren't you nosy in my records lately." She could see him hovering over Relena perhaps, but he paid attention to her surgery too? She touched the top of her hat. Speaking with Heero Yuy wasn't as fun. He tended not to speak much and she didn't really want to talk. That would make her look guilty of . . . something.

"Why are you up here ahead of Relena? Why does the computer say Relena is up here?"

She didn't know. She reached over to her phone and showed him the proof of her digital tickets.

"You should be better by now." He was staring at her. Not, angry. Was he studying her?

She had no choice, he wouldn't move the conversation along. "Healing takes time." Ooh, she felt that.

"Open your mouth."

For goodness sake, could he be less crude in his requests? A please would go a long way. Did he suspect her of something in the surgery? She opened her mouth toward him. He had taken a small light out of his pocket, gripped her mouth and looked down her throat. He let go. That was terrible. He didn't hurt her mouth, but one didn't do such a thing with a lady. She hoped this visit would be over soon.

"Your tonsils are missing, you did have the surgery."

What? He had doubted that? Oh, and now he had grabbed her phone and started to dig through her messages. Honestly. War was a thing of beauty, and soldiers with their mind on only victory was breathtaking. But this? This was not breathtaking. This was annoying, and seeing what he wanted to do next, it was time to speak up again. "That's my purse." He opened her purse and took her liquid medication. "My medication. I need that." He was staring at it.

"You should be healed by now. This might be hurting you, not helping."

Okay, that offense was forgivable now. Why in the world was Heero Yuy so interested in her surgery and her healing? Then again, she hadn't been healing. It's the reason she took Relena's invitation in the first place. Could her medication be corrupted? Was Heero Yuy there to stop Relena's surgery?

"Don't take that medication anymore. Don't take any drugs. Don't drink any alcohol." He was looking through her messages now. "She comes tomorrow. When you see her, tell her not to go for the surgery." He put her phone back down and started to walk off, when his own phone rang. He picked it up and the expression on his face changed. "They aren't here. Relena isn't here, it's Dorothy Catalonia alone. 6:00? This morning?" He looked down at his watch, hung up and then just glared at her. "Relena's already here, she came before you."

Why would she lie? Oh. Well, Heero was running like his tail was on fire. He still had her medication too. At least she was on the humidifying colony.

Colony Hospital

It was a small operation, but Zeches wasn't far away from Relena. He stayed out of sight, but he had been concerned. Especially since Dorothy Catalonia just had the same problem. Zeches had been trying to cover up her history too, there were so many that could still be after her. For good or for bad, he wanted her to simply live the life she chose. No matter how anything turned out. He looked at his phone and answered. "What is it, Noin?"

"Heero is coming."

Ugh. "I am right here, just outside the room where she had the surgery," Zeches insisted. "According to the doctor, she's eating cold gelatin."

"He's still coming. I have a bad feeling, Zeches, that he's not saying everything. You should go in and check on your sister."

"It already happened." Goodness. What was Heero's problem? Zeches was plenty enough if any rebels or traitors or anyone came to hurt his sister. He would be right there. Protecting his own sister. But? For him to be moving that fast, knowing he'd been there. Maybe Noin was right.

Not a word did Relena want to speak. Just get something cold down her throat. Relena however stopped eating her cold gelatin when she saw, of all people, her brother coming towards her. He was still concerned about her health? She was fine. He didn't say anything as he looked around her room. He looked under her bed. Then, he looked in the closet.

There was a young lady in the closet, hiding and petrified. She was holding something odd in her hand which Zeches had grabbed. He held her there, calling for assistance.

"Vice-Foreign Minister Dorlain!"

Oh no. She could hear the press coming for her. Now was not the time, she couldn't speak. She tried to indicate to Milliardo to hold them back but? Everything happened so quickly. This wasn't the usual push and pull.

This was different.

"Heero Yuy!"

They were calling for Heero too? Relena watched as they flooded the room against the hospital's codes.

"Vice-Foreign Minister! Is it true that your lover is bearing down on an innocent group called Revenge of The Lost?"

"Vice-Foreign Minister! What do you say to the allegations that you were having a baby with Heero Yuy, a Gundam Pilot?"

"Ma'am!" Someone got in front of the already scared nurse. "Do you know if it's true that Vice-Foreign Minster Dorlain was attempting an abortion?"

Relena looked over at all sides. What? The accusations flying everywhere were insane.

"Vice-Foreign Minster Dorlain, are you still carrying Heero Yuy's child?"

"Vice-Foreign Minister, is it true you came to the secluded colony for a secret abortion?"

"Is it true you had surgery two months ago for health problems as well? Vice-Foreign Minister, is your health at stake? Did you have all proper authority for this abortion? If you did, why are you here in the colonies?"

"Is it true Heero Yuy was raised in the colonies by a man named Odin Lowe?"

"Is it true Odin Lowe was responsible for killing the original leader of the colonies, Heero Yuy, and that he named his child after the fallen leader?"

Milliardo was trying to control the crowd, but it needed more. It was told lies, several of them. She had no idea about all of them, but the abortion was certainly a lie. She wasn't even pregnant. Heero Yuy as her lover? Who was telling the media these lies? "Stop," she managed to choke. Ow. She touched her throat as the press handled the medical board near her. And to top it all off? Her doctor started to lie. He said she would have an abortion after the tonsillectomy, and that they came too early. She was still pregnant and they could check her themselves.

Relena watched as things moved from the press to authorities coming in.

"Vice-Foreign Minister Relena Dorlain." The authorities addressed her, moved her from the bed, made her face the wall, and cuffed her.

They were cuffing her? "I'm not even." Ow. "Pregnant." Ow! "Milliardo!" He tried to keep making them check the main records. They did.

They continued. After seeing her work, they were still continuing with this? The lie should have been exposed.

Pictures started to snap of her, not something she was unused to, but at that moment? Being led away in cuffs as others accused her again. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't possible? Why was this still-?"

Not happening. The damage was done, and it was his fault. Heero would take the blame for it. On the way to the hospital, he heard the news break about Relena having a secret abortion. He turned around when he realized she was in another hospital away from that area. He moved as fast as he could to his temporary rental car. He sped as fast as he could as he heard the news break audibly, no time to look at the visuals, but he could imagine it. RTL was dragging Relena down. They'd set everything up to make it look like the tonsillectomy was a cover up to an abortion that would take place afterward. If she hadn't been pregnant, then the lie would have been exposed. There had been no exposure though. Which meant.

Not only was the pregnancy real, but Relena couldn't prove the intent to abort was fake. He stopped as he got to the hospital and ran in. Her time as Vice-Foreign Minister was over. She was about to go to jail, get sentenced, and get a standard of twenty years in prison. He raced inside through the back and saw her coming around the corner. The authorities had been unprepared and the press were more keen to ask questions than to stop him. He took out the two officers there, and then grabbed her, flinging her over his shoulder. Her hands were cuffed behind, she couldn't do anything. He had stolen a pair of keys too, but there was no time to figure out which one he needed. He knew that position on him in those cuffs would hurt as well as embarrassing in her hospital gown, but there was no choice. She hadn't ran through a trial, but she'd be found guilty. RTL didn't lose.

When Heero got to the car, he quickly put her in and got in on the other side. He started the car and got out as fast as he could, hearing others after him again. He glanced back toward her. Yeah. She wanted to know the strange facts she was missing. "There were lies mixed with truth." He concentrated on the road as he tried to get out as far as he could from the area. "You had an earlier operation not showing in your medical records." He heard the audio. He heard those questions. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from the console. A must he made sure to have if he had to see her. He pulled out the keys and quickly investigated which one would be to the cuffs. "Come closer." She turned her back toward him and he unlocked the cuffs. He gestured back to the paper and pencil.

Relena wasn't writing at first. She was stroking her wrists and looked dazed. She was still pulling facts together. She looked behind her, and then back to the paper. She wrote down on it and gave it back.

Heero looked at it. No wonder Zeches was following her on her hospital visits. She had a mass removed from her side. Benign. She had already had surgery. This tonsillectomy? "Your medical records were compromised by the doctor. It doesn't say just tonsillectomy." She was thrusting her hand to the back of her. "I know you want to go back and explain. It won't work." She'd be imprisoned. Earth and the colonies were tough on illegal abortions, and ever since Relena's time as 'Queen of the Earth', those restrictions were even more massive. Unless the cause of it was death itself to the mother, or the infant was determined to have terrible health problems that would leave it in so much pain death was better? Then what they claimed she had just done would lead to the end of everything for her.

She was trying to write on the memo pad, but he wouldn't change his mind. "You had a surgery earlier and you had a surgery now." She gestured to her throat vehemently. There was no pain nowhere else, just in her throat. He knew that. "The tonsillectomy was there, before the proceeding."

She wrote down more stuff. More pleading. More trying to convince him if she just went back to let them examine her more closely, everything would be set right. Only because she didn't know. "When was your last period, Relena?" Write that down. She wasn't moving very fast. She wrote down something, but it wasn't with the same conviction as before. He looked at the paper. From the previous surgery, the doctor said it would affect her.

RTL wouldn't risk their plan not working, they knew an exam would be involved. That's why it was for after the tonsillectomy. "Confirmed. You're pregnant, Relena. You've been pregnant since your last operation."

She didn't write anything else down. She just stared at the paper. She knew what that meant. "Whyyy?" She managed to screech.

"RTL. A rebel group called Revenge of the Lost. They punish those they deem wicked. Their enemies." No slowing down now. Couldn't risk fingerprints. She had to go as deep undercover in her life as he had been. To survive, she would have to become as untraceable as he had been. Which wouldn't be easy since RTL just gave a boatload of information from his past to the press too. On the audio, he heard it. They were mentioning real names, including Odin. What was real and what was not would get tossed around, but they had a general enough idea. It was only a matter of time before they dug up activities on his previous missions. Anything to deepen their stories for their channels. "Don't talk. It won't help." He didn't trust the medicine he took from Dorothy Catalonia. He would need to get to a trusting doctor to look at her.

He didn't know a trusting medical doctor, but he trusted the previous gundam pilots. He had to. He dialed up the one he knew could help the most right now.

"Quatre," he heard at the other end.

"Quatre," Heero said into the phone. "Confirmation, the pregnancy is real. Relena and I are about to make the news. I need you to find an excuse to bring a shuttle up to where I am. Then, I need a doctor to look at Relena. She has no medicine. I yanked her out of the hospital after her tonsillectomy."

"Heero, you're running with Vice-Foreign Minister Dorlain?"

"That name won't be used for much longer," he said. "Dorothy Catalonia is up here too. You should tell her and have her looked at. Her medication might not have been safe. Tell Wufei and Trowa to make a move toward the other women, now." Before RTL's trap was set for them. If he hadn't been there in time, if RTL's trap had gone off without a hitch? Relena, imprisoned, twenty years. It wouldn't happen. He looked over toward her. She was still having trouble gripping the new reality around her. He didn't blame her.

They'd ride in silence. He was fine with that.

Wufei's Colony

Wufei stared at his mirror. Hate filled his heart for RTL. This was an absolute catastrophe. He was left with no other option though. If he waited, then the trouble would just get deeper. What he was doing was already terrible enough for the colony, but it would prevent war. The Long colony, the original one, had long since been destroyed. Only a few of the original residents weren't sacrificed that day. Their will power and the need to preserve their culture (as well as the coming together of peaceful government missions) came together and founded another colony.

Not many. A small town size. At first, Wufei hadn't even known until he discovered the roots of them. When he did, he went back and stayed there to support it. Over time, just like before, it would become known as the Long colony again. However. The Zhang colony had been unaffected. They were thirty times the size of the Long now at least. In the past, Wufei's colony could have easily taken them out if need be. Now? A war with them would be only foolish pride and end in a savage defeat.

So, this simple matter of a woman and a child? The wrong step, and every last original descendant from Colony AO206, could be wiped out. They now lived on A0206-1, many times the one being left out, to feel more like home. Everyone yearned for their original home. No one wanted to risk losing everything all over again.

Wufei dressed in his finest white outfit. The best impression he could give. Heero had waited on Relena, and because he hadn't ran to her, she was now looking at a twenty year sentence, at least. Now that she ran, probably more. If he learned anything from watching Heero, it was that he better not wait anymore. No matter how painful it would be. Delay would not improve the matter.

Wufei left his home and off of his colony to a shuttle. No one was happy that knew what he was about to do. The Long clan area had been moved to the colonies hundreds of years ago, to live and survive. They had become powerful in Eurasia and seemed like a threat. His colony was not the only one who was 'a threat' though. The Zhang family had been too. The Long and Zhang's, both were powerful on Earth in their time. Therefore, both did not get along well. That sense of dissonance was held in space, both colonies never interfering with one another.

They had been close to war in their histories on Eurasia. That dissonance in the stars helped to keep them from that. But now? He was about to go see someone in that colony who was carrying a child that rightfully belonged on his colony. The father often had rule on matters, and this should be no different. Except, it had been. The Zhang colony wouldn't be happy about an outsider taking someone from them. If they came, it would be like squashing bugs. Many of them probably didn't even know a Long colony still existed.

As he told Heero, he would have to be careful. As respectful as he could while still not dischampioning his colony too.

The Zhang Colony

As Wufei arrived and stated his name, they didn't catch on at first. His last name was Chang, not Long. The rulers were not the only ones dragged to the stars. When he got access and came out though for people to physically see him. It didn't take long for others to notice he shouldn't be there. He already heard whispers that he shouldn't exist. He reached no farther than the gates before the trouble started.

Gentle. "I am here for the woman, Wang Mei-Lin." He carried her last name first respectively.

"Who are you?" One of them demanded. "Your dress suggests something that is dead and forgotten."

Dead and forgotten, why this- no, he had to be careful. Respectful. "My name is Chang Wufei." He tried to get them to bend. "I am here about Wang Mei-Lin's imprisonment."

"Good because that's not a problem," they answered, "She's free now. They found the real culprit. She's supposed to be getting married today."

Oh no. If she got married, the intensity would be unstoppable. RTL would have caused a dangerous war, and there would have been no preventing it. Thousands of lives sacrificed in the name of a child not even born yet! Colony pride verses what they could handle. They were not on equal grounds. "I need to speak to the husband. I assume Zhang Li." They were still not letting him in. "If you don't let me into the colony, I will find another way in. I am peacefully asking."

One of them had enough sense. Wufei could enter, for one hour, with the escort of a guard.

Back in the ceremonial wear, Mei-Lin prepared herself to take on the role of wife now. The suspect on the video had been found and would be in prison soon. Real prints that would have exonerated her faster, if her husband to-be had been supportive, had been found. She was safe and sound. She took her position gracefully in front of him. At least you know he will be a terrible husband. A decent provider, but don't let yourself fall into trouble. He will not help. It would bring her into the Zhang's though and her children would be safe and respected. The arrangement once official would keep her in good fortune unless she did something reprehensible. Since Li knew the child wasn't his and was still going through with the arrangement, he would not be able to protest it later. The best school, the highest honors, the marriage would provide everything she needed. I will be more honorable to him than he ever will be to me. Still, she greeted him with that smile that first made him take notice of her.

Mei-Hua, his family's second choice, watched the proceedings with one nasty scowl. Vile thing was trying to win Li over while she was in prison. At least Li didn't give up so far as to go with Mei-Hua. It wasn't hard to see who would be the lovelier wife.

A small curl at the end of Mei-Lin's smile, a nice reminder how she was so genteel on the outside, yet not so fragile on the inside. Everything was finally coming together until-

"Stop!"

Mei-Lin watched as a man, all dressed in white, approached them. No not just a white garb, a flowing white garb designed specifically not of their culture. That would never be found on the Zhang colony. It should be extinct.

"What is the meaning of this?" Li asked the foreigner. "Who are you?" He noticed the difference in robes too. "That's impossible. You are from the Long colony?"

"I am." The stranger didn't deny it. Nor would he or he wouldn't have worn the clothes that represented his colony.

"He is here on urgent business," a guard said next to him. "An urgent matter that required meeting Wang Mei-Lin."

"This marriage will not take place," the foreigner demanded. "It will create a war between our colonies."

What? She did not even know him and the Long colony was extinct. Wasn't it? Li was, of course, instantly looking toward her with those same eyes as before. Accusing. "I don't know him."

"Then why does he want to stop this marriage?"

"Ask me instead of the woman," the man replied. "My name is Chang Wufei."

Chang Wufei. She didn't know anyone from the fallen Long colony but that name was familiar. Like a whisper on the wind.

"You were a Gundam pilot." Li had found the answer before her in her mind. "You are the last remaining colonist of the Long colony. Are you an honored guest here I was unaware of?"

"You don't listen very well," Chang Wufei accused him. "Pay attention. I said this marriage cannot take place. I did not say I knew the woman nor did I bring up my history." He gestured toward Mei-Lin. "There is a rebel group who call themselves Revenge of the Lost. They are the ones responsible for your recent pregnancy, as well as the corpse found in your room."

Oh. Mei-Lin did not like where this was headed. This? This had better not be.

"Created for the sole purpose of war between us." He had to say those words. He had to say them toward her as well. His glance turned back to Li. "To prevent war. Give her to the Long colony."

The only sound Mei-Lin made was her customary head dressing jingling from side to side as she made sense of it all. What did this rebel group have to do with her?

"Wait." Li gestured toward Chang Wufei. "I understand how you survived, but what do you mean Long colony?"

Chang Wufei did not want to be as forthcoming about that. "Colony A0206 was recreated from the descendants of the original that had not been there the day it was destroyed."

"Hm. This Revenge of the Lost?" Li continued to question. "How do you know this for sure?"

"You said yourself you've heard of me, Zhang Li," Chang Wufei reminded him. "If you are going to make a war, make it with the biggest impact."

Li looked annoyed, but he didn't back down. "Do you know the chances of artificial-"

"I'm not an idiot!" The man had a fury himself. Mei-Lin could see that. "They had access to technology that isn't out to the public yet. With it, yes, it's a one-time deal. Now stop trying to hide the pregnancy like I'm an idle moron who wouldn't know before I came. She was jailed for the murder, but judged for the pregnancy too." He raised an eyebrow toward Li. "Do we really need to bring blood tests into this?"

Li groaned and grabbed Mei-Lin's arm and shoved her in front. "Go with him."

Mei-Lin watched as Mei-Hua was right there, ready to take her ceremonial garbs for her wedding. No! "Take the man if you wish, but you will not confiscate my family's sacred robing." There was little left for her now. She was about to be taken to a foreign colony to prevent war. Rebelling would only bring shame and problems with it, but if Mei-Hua expected such a gesture as giving her family's ceremonial outfit, she was not getting it!

"Women," Li muttered. "Trying to prevent war and all they think of is clothes. Mei-Lin, forget the robes, and go to Chang Wufei."

Her family. Her acquaintances. Anyone she had ever known. To leave as a resident from the Zhang colony to the Long meant she was abandoning her colony. She was trying to come to terms with it all, but if there was one thing she was not giving up? It was her robes.

"Wang Mei-Lin!"

Chang Wufei raised his voice towards her. She would have to get used to it. If she was in fact carrying his child, her fault or not, he would be her future. She looked toward him.

"I will be here half an hour and no more. Say goodbye to your family, pick up one suitcase of clothes, and meet me at the nearest shuttle area." Then, he started to walk away. He stopped to look back at Li. "Leave Wang Mei-Lin her robes and make the other woman find her own. If she was ready, then she'd be ready. If not, set another date." Then, he continued to walk off.

Medical Colony

Give it up to Heero Yuy, he may have been a terrible burden ruining Relena's life with the press right now, but he seemed to be right about her medication. Dorothy's throat felt better than ever. Oh, Miss Relena would be okay. The press got so anxious sometimes. She could have proved them all wrong if Heero hadn't played big shot and intervened. Now Relena was holed up somewhere in the colony, unable to enjoy its luxuries. How unfortunate. Meanwhile, she sucked on her cold drink. Not very long and she'd probably be just fine. Nursing her health and enjoying the colony, she found a hotel to relax in. She kept her eyes out for Relena if she came for help, but it seemed Heero was tending to her still.

Oh well. At least they were getting quality time with each other.

An emergency room. An emergency situation. Even if he hadn't planned for it. Heero always went with one bedroom though, expecting to just pull himself out of a jam. He would have to start getting a bigger room. Like Odin did with him. Relena looked around the room, probably surprised he had it and they weren't running through the streets. That's what he was counting on the authorities thinking too. She had used up a good portion of the front of the small memo pad, asking simple questions he easily answered, including why he asked for Quatre.

"It's a medical colony," Heero answered her. "He has better sway." He moved to the corner over by the computer and started to dig into the information. "He's also the father of Dorothy Catalonia's unborn." Yeah, that got a small reaction too. He knew about the pregnancy and the abortion details, he didn't need to hear the press' opinion on that. No, what he wanted to know was what they knew about him. RTL had given them information on his past. They knew about Odin Lowe. He tried to dig in deeper, but so far, news just broke. No one was deep enough.

He had managed to keep things about himself quiet, even when he was the 'acclaimed Gundam pilot'. Who was in charge of RTL? Who was Crystalia? "Don't go near the window." She was getting restless and starting to move around. "Relax. They won't find us." She probably still had thousands of questions. Of which, he didn't have many answers to.

"My mother?"

She was using her voice. He got the hint. Relena was good at keeping calm in many situations. Her pacifist words usually made a difference. This time, her words meant nothing. She couldn't use them. She was unaware of why she was being used. All she wanted in the world, was to talk to her mother. "Eventually." Not yet. Too dangerous. They would be focusing in on Miss Dorlain, questioning her about everything. The less she knew, the better and safer Relena's mother would stay. He watched her nod. Good. Except, not good. This whole situation wasn't good.

Unless RTL or the doctor relented the truth, Relena's career and reputation was dashed to pieces. They were on the run though, so neither of those things would be happening. Duties. He wasn't unused to new duties being placed on him. Duties. Giving him something to do. It made it easier to find a reason to keep going. He moved away from the computer. "Lie down on the bed. I'll get you something cold to eat." A nearby local store would probably have something. Although he was on the news, he should be able to snag something real quick in the back. If the situation got bad, he could fight his way out and run until he wasn't followed anymore.

It wasn't real hard to find a place. The cold area was in the back so he snagged something and got out. He kept himself fairly concealed without being too suspicious and headed back. He went to the room, locked the door, placed all of the cold bars in the little fridge area, and then gave her one. "Eat."

She didn't feel like eating.

He continued to hold it out. She was going to eat. Recovery would be hard for someone like her until he got some real medication not laced with anything.

She accepted it this time. Still defunct. About being lied to, about her career, about the pregnancy, or any combination of things.

He went back over to the computer. Her whole life had been over. How had Odin handled that? When he was just a kid. Assurance. That had meant a great deal to him. He didn't know what he'd been doing, just an orphan of the colonies. Not fully self-sufficient yet. Odin taught him how to survive, how to hold and shoot a gun. Everything he knew to that day was due to him. Assurance. "You'll stay with me. It's too dangerous out there alone and you are carrying my unborn. As long as you follow my lead and any contracts we receive, we'll be fine."

He didn't know if that made her feel any better or not. She seemed to be willing to eat her bar a little better. It'd be hours before Quatre arrived. Maybe even tomorrow. The Winner family should be able to gain access into a medical colony without looking suspicious. Once he boarded, he could get her out. The press wouldn't catch up quick enough to his colony would they? Or should they go all the way back to Earth. Getting trapped on colonies was harder to get out of than getting trapped on Earth. He had no real connections on Earth, no current contracts he was fulfilling down there.

Then again, if any kind of emergency broke out, Relena would be trapped up there. Her family having been all born and raised on Earth, pregnancy would be hard on her. Risk of complications rose while she was up there. It was best to get back to Earth. He still had old contacts that might need something done. In fact, he should probably call out as soon as they started to head out. He could use a hotel room system until he was ready.

He looked back over to the bed. She ate the bar and went fast to sleep. Her body wasn't used to everything they did that day, nor should it be doing all that. She wasn't a couple of weeks pregnant, she had been a couple of months. Similar to that woman, Mei-Lin Wang. Hopefully Wufei took his advice and moved fast. Come on, Quatre.

That Evening

"I'll join you soon," Quatre said to Heero and Relena. He had got them aboard one of the shuttles he went up in with the Maguanacs. They pretended to be picking up medical supplies. Relena didn't look so good and he doubted Heero said much to her about it. They probably spent the night hiding in alleys. He didn't know. The temperature was always decent in the colonies, but he doubted it was in any way more comfortable. Not that he could criticize, he still needed to confront Dorothy Catalonia. He went over toward Rasid. "Take the first shuttle and head out. They should get out as soon as possible."

Dorothy wasn't in the area she was in yesterday. She must be feeling better. That was good. Quatre wandered around briefly as shocking new developments started to come on the screens. An emergency. Oh no. Was this going to be RTL doing something like they did with Heero? He needed to hurry up and find Dorothy Catalonia. He moved through the streets and through the shops, sharing her picture to try and find her faster. Finally getting a positive, he started to head southward. She was just walking around, so it shouldn't be too hard to- "Dorothy?"

It was one of those moments Heero just suffered. Dorothy was in the middle of being arrested. There wasn't anyone around though, they were trying to do it quietly. She wasn't a celebrity like Relena and she wasn't even fighting back, quietly going with it. "Hang on!" Maybe he could get it straightened out? "What are you arresting her for?"

Dorothy tried to keep her head up. "Apparently even though I was on Earth at the time, I'm responsible for killing a man in the colonies."

"Your fingerprints were found," one of the authorities said. "Come on."

Framed for murder. Even her fingerprints were planted at the scene. Two people. He looked at her. She had no idea what was going on either, but she didn't think it was a huge deal. It would prove to be false, just someone setting her up. Fingerprints could be faked and video could easily prove she was on Earth at the time. However, the RTL didn't goof around with Relena Dorlain. They didn't goof around. It could get sorted out. It should. Getting involved would lead to bad things. Except, once again? RTL didn't goof around. His thoughts bounced back and forth. She'd been sick. How often did she leave her house? Could they manipulate her own security camera dates? Isn't that the only real proof? No, he couldn't risk it. No matter how simple it seemed.

He apologized before he took out the two authorities, grabbed one of their pairs of keys, undid her cuffs and started to run with her.

"Quatre Raberba Winner, what are you doing?" She complained. "This will only make me look guilty!"

"The people who set you up are very good," Quatre responded. "This isn't the time to assume justice is on your side. Hurry up and follow me to my shuttle!"

Zhang Colony

"Stop struggling," Zhang Li's brother said as Mei-Lin wiggled in her chair. She wasn't tied up, but understandably fidgety. The almost extinct Long colony's Chang Wufei wanted to take her away, and the idiots that were Li's brothers, along with some of the stupid citizens who believed in their ideals, were gathered there to take a stand. A stand for what? For her. All of this, so that she and her unborn didn't go to the Long colony. Futile, not to mention stupid. Zhang Li or Chang Wufei, they were both going to be the same thing. She hardly knew either one. One was from a dissonant probably extremely small colony and the other was from her own colony but she didn't much favor how he helped her.

She looked over Zhang Li's brother. "Your outfit's stained. Is that what you would have worn to my wedding? Which you were late to, obviously."

"If we could give you away, Mei-Lin, without any kind of honorable strife?" He answered. "I would."

"You are learning the brother roll well. Compliments." She gave him a cheery, crooked smile.

"I hate when you do that. Don't smile like that." He looked away.

"Future brother, can you at least get me something to eat? This isn't good for me, all this stress, especially in my condition. I'd like some water. With some lemon."

"We don't have lemon."

"Then go to my house and get the lemon. This isn't hard. Home isn't more than ten homes away. Which begs the question why Zhang Li didn't feel like he should bother to visit his bride to be more often. We've known since we were children. He wouldn't accept my letters before the wedding."

"Putting off the nightmare as long as possible. Be quiet, Mei-Lin."

"I will be," she insisted. "If someone would get me some water with some lemon already. Oh, and something simple to eat. I don't want very much. Shrimp would be decent." Everyone was getting tired of her. Good. "Fine, ignore my plight. When we go to war and the press ask why, I will be sure to throw off the subject and tell them that in our own colony, they couldn't take care of the nutritional needs of one woman."

"Fine!" One of his brothers said as he got up.

"And my water? With lemon," she insisted to the other one.

"Someone needs to make sure you don't do anything stupid," his other brother said.

She shrugged. It was too easy. She'd do it anyway. "Then who's watching you?"

Half an hour. One suitcase. That was decent of him considering the circumstances. Wufei looked at the time. "Woman." He was going to have to go and fetch her. He left the shuttle with the guard again, dealt with the strange stares at him again like he was some mythical extinct creature, until he came back to the marriage area. Li Zhang was still there. Buffoon really expected Wufei to just talk it out and have it resolved. "Where does she live?"

Li Zhang gave him directions and he headed out with his guard again. The longer he was on the Zhang colony, the worse things could get. He should have just commanded her to come right away but the way she fought for those robes, she needed closure. She apparently knew it wouldn't be a small talk with a tidy resolution.

When he found her address, he found out why she wouldn't come. Three men stood in front of her home, armed. Her family apparently didn't feel like her going was a good idea. "Stop being idiots." Warning one. Normally, that would be all they would get, if his colony had been as strong as it once had been. "Send Wang Mei-Lin out here." He watched one of the men approach with a contract. Seriously?

"No one has to know. There doesn't have to be war," he said to Wufei. "Just leave her be. Whoever is left of your kind, it can't be much."

Warning two. "I won't sign anything away that will shame me or my colony. It doesn't matter the size. Bring Wang Mei-Lin out here."

"It's not a bad contract," one of the others said. "It's just a basic-"

"Don't marry her and take her as my wife kind of contract." Obvious, and that was a bad idea to sign. Did they really thing the Long colony would accept such a proposal? The best he could do for them. "She will come with me and adapt to the colony first." That was all he could offer. For her to bear his child and to leave her and it in a state between colonies would only invite war. Wufei had enough of war. Enough of the senseless violence and bloodshed, especially just in the name of a woman and a child. However, he had to hold that fine line between them. No dishonor toward his colony either. "But before the child is born, it will have the last name Chang."

"Zhang Li is not the only Zhang who has a say around here!"

Oh? They weren't part of her family. "Foolish. You want war?"

"The Zhang say no!" One of them held out a damn sword toward him. "For some extinct Long to come over and steal a woman from us to be one of theirs? It's too shameful. We will fight to make sure you do not take what is ours. To make sure every Long member is extinct."

Warnings were over and the three man crowd gathering was growing to six. Soon, more would be coming. The guard escorting Wufei gave meaningless warnings.

"Chang Wufei!"

Hm? Wufei looked toward the back of the house, toward a back window where Wang Mei-Lin was trying to sneak out of. They had locked her up so she couldn't comply. He quickly moved over there. The room was empty now. Shifty woman. He snuck in. He heard footsteps moving back and forth, but they were too heavy. The light footed ones were to the right. As he started to head that way, she shoved a piece of paper in his face with a pen.

"Hurry it up or things will get worse." She moved in front of him and laid herself to the ground in a bowing crouch. "In the name of peace, a token between the Zhang and the Long." She glanced to him. "Zhang Li offered me as a gift. At least, it is what I assume? He wasn't that clear."

Wufei raised his eyebrow a moment as he signed. "I accept." Since others were claiming he was stealing her, she was countering them. By saying Zhang Li offered her as a peaceful gift, and making a contract? She diverted the problem. It was clear she wanted no one hurt anymore than he did. "Follow me."

They both walked out, looks of disapproval at both of them as Wufei held out the paper. He moved back to the shuttle with her almost obediently behind him. A few times someone had tried to throw something at him, but he quickly evaded it or knocked it away. Some things were thrown at Wang Mei-Lin, but she didn't do anything reckless. Just kept going. Typical. Those that didn't fight in the large wars craved real action. A chance to be in the history books. They were too naïve.

Just in time too. Zhang Li was headed toward them. Truthfully, Zhang Li only postponed his marriage, he never said he was giving her away. That was Mei-Lin's interpretation, which would only last for so long. He was hoping for it to be long enough to get to the shuttle.

"Wang Mei-Lin!" Li started to yell. "Do not say that I gave you as a gift to Chang Wufei! That is going to hurt my reputation! Mei-Lin! I stopped the marriage, but I never said that!"

"Oh? I was confused," she lied. "Oh well."

Nope. Almost to the shuttle, and Wufei was not risking it. It was a good move, but it wouldn't last long. The Zhang would come over to his colony to argue about it. Things could get deadly, fast.

"A conversation with her, and a postponement only," Li Zhang insisted. He crossed his arms. "Unless, when it's born, it matches your blood."

Hm.

"Do not marry Wang Mei-Lin. We will sign a contract, here and now." Zhang Li gestured to himself. "If the blood of the child does not match with you, she and it are mine and belong to this colony. If they do match. This colony will have no more say over them. No war, just a civil arrangement."

"You come up with a decent contract both colonies can settle on, and then I may sign. Wang Mei-Lin. On the shuttle."

"Without some form of written contract, you can't take-"

"She was a gift," Wufei interrupted him. That's how they managed to even get to the shuttle. It was the best way. Yes, it made him look bad, but it was how it had to be. "Like it or not, she is coming with me." Finicky and stupid. This Li acted like he was going to marry the other woman. He was only interested in Mei-Lin now because of Wufei's interest. Shameful.

"Temporary, with exclusions," Li finally gave in. "A genuine contractor. No loopholes. Two contracts, here and now."

Fine. He wasn't swimming in options. Wufei waited in his shuttle as a decent contractor was brought out to create two of them. It was simple. Wufei could have her in a friend status, but he could not do anything with her a husband would or could do. Not that he wanted anything anyway. Wufei had that status up until the child was born. If anything happened and the pregnancy was terminated, he would be responsible for bringing her right back. The second contract involved the birth of the child and duties and responsibilities of each party.

Finally, it was all signed and officially a sealed deal without any bloodshed.

Earth- Middie Une's Apartment

Middie ate her gelatin after she took more of her medicine. It was so putrid, but it was supposed to help her heal faster. She heard her phone chirp. Texting. She was on a strict text only diet, everyone who knew her knew that. She looked at it. Gin was calling for his One Song. His nickname for her. He confused her name with Medley or Melody, and she never corrected him. She was raised knowing when to be nice and when to snap. She answered his text though with a quick smile, letting him know she was around. She wasn't offering anything until she knew what his texts were about. In the meantime, she concentrated on her art. A commission piece. Just like her own disguise to the world, she knew how to make pretty art. Her specialty was children and unforgettable moments. Parents ate it up. A simple picture from a previous event and she'd recreate it with her paint and brushes. It was decent money on the side of her little job.

For someone like her, college would never be in the future, but the drawings gave enough that she managed to live in a decent apartment and not eat only the cheapest of food. She stepped back to gaze at the picture. Not cute enough. Parents wanted their kids to look absolutely innocent, like there was no imperfection unless it was a cute imperfection. This girl's cute imperfection was her tooth, but it was also drawing the eye. Less highlights toward it, and more toward her hair. She knew they wanted it to be accurate, so she rode out the imperfections by alluring the eyes somewhere else.

She was good at that too. The half grumpy looks and the almost close to bawling little girl now all looked like they were enjoying the moment of their lives forever. Which is what they wanted. It's what she was paid for. The fantasy.

Her phone continued to chirp. Oh no. She texted Gin back, saying she wasn't feeling better yet. She hadn't been, but feeling terrible wasn't going to make her lose her payday. After this one, it would be awhile. People didn't take her on like this all the time. It took the right person at the right time. Her phone chirped at her again. Great, he was asking if his musical birdie wanted him to come over to make her feel better? She couldn't make him mad. Without him, she wouldn't have had that surgery. She texted him that it would take at least a week before she felt better.

She went back to work when it chirped one more time. The reminder. She owed him. She rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate again. The art was some extra money, but not that much. Maybe she could sell some stuff? Oh if it was that easy, she could have done that beforehand. Her nice art went out for commissions. The art she kept that she could sell? Well?

It wouldn't sell. The art she created was never pretty. It was real. It was ugly. It was the real her. It would never make a dime.

Finishing touches and she'd wrap it up. Now though? Her phone wasn't chirping, he was knocking at her door. Really?

Be nice, Middie. She took a swig of her medicine. It was time to put on the best impression she could. She heard the door again. Being ready for if he did come over, she easily covered the artwork and she'd been working in her pj's. A quick robe over the pj's because she didn't want to beef up the wrong impression. More knocking.

Tying her robe up she trotted to the door with her best impression of a smile. She opened the door to see Gin and instead-

-came face to face with her past. No Name. No Name was at her door. Same hair, same eyes, but clearly the same guy-

-she slammed her door taking several steps backward. What was he doing here? He had the chance to kill her all those years ago and he let her live. Did he regret that? Was he there to finish the job?

Well, she wouldn't let him! She ran to her room and grabbed her gun. She held it close, pointing it at the door, a part of her expecting him to break it down.

Just like the boy she remembered, quiet. Not a sound. Not another knock. Why after all these years was he knocking on her door? She should be the last person he should ever come and see. Did he regret letting her live? It didn't seem like him to suddenly come back and kill her. If he was going to do it, it would have been back then. When he had figured out she was a spy and had led others to his crew. When they were all killed and his fire would burn brightest to annihilate her. So why was he there, now? It was so long ago. Practically kids back then.

No sounds at the door still. She backed away. She could call the authorities, but then if he told them what she did? What proof, he destroyed the proof. He shot the cross and the little game that had been transmitters. That many years ago, he couldn't prove anything. Still, she just couldn't call the authorities. Maybe he'd go away? Maybe she could call a friend. No Name wasn't a people person, if she called up Gin to come over, he'd come right away. Gin would no doubt make No Name leave, at least for-

She felt the gun being relieved from her hand and looked behind her. No Name was right behind her. How did he-?! She pulled away, his grip hadn't been tight. She moved behind her couch, her heart heaving. The front door was the only way in. She had a back garden area, but it was small and she was so many floors up. How did he manage that? Wait. It was No Name. What a fool she'd been! He'd always been able to pull off the impossible.

"Middie Une." His quiet voice filled the air. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Sure. Then why else was he there? She looked out from behind the couch. He was emptying the bullets out of her gun. What was he up to-ooh! Ah, her throat again! No matter how much she stayed on her medicine, it was like it hardly even worked. She moved over to the other side of the couch. The front door wasn't far. She could dive for it. Unless he had another gun. Then again? He had her gun and he had her before. If he really wanted her dead, he would have done it then. She looked back out toward him. She had to say something. "Why?"

She watched as he started to approach. She instinctively moved back more, but she tried to keep her senses. She just reasoned he could have killed her by now. He was even leaving behind the gun. When he came near enough to her, he held out his hand. What was that? Maybe he was trying to trick her first before trying to shoot her? No. No, she didn't know what he was doing there. She was either going to stay crouched on that ground or she was going to take the hand. Those were her choices.

She took his hand and he helped her up. She eyed him wearily. What did he want? He didn't say anything at first. Just walked away from her now, looking at her apartment. Memories started to come back to her. Even if she ran for the front door, he'd just catch her. No Name was very good at tracking. She had no choice but to wait patiently to find out what he really wanted.

Trowa wasn't surprised by her actions. He used the front door as a distraction to make sure she grabbed any kind of weapon she had so when he came around, he could pull it away. He didn't want it to get bloody, not on him, and not on her. He was taking Heero's advice, having no idea what could be waiting for Middie Une. Heero had a big problem with Relena Peacecraft and Wufei almost had the start of a war. Trowa only had a limited amount of time to learn about what she'd been up to since then. He wandered around lightly, not touching anything. Middie wasn't moving, she wouldn't be going for the front door. He'd catch her if she did.

Since he left her alive, he hadn't found her in any secret spy mission again. It could be hidden deeper though. Her apartment seemed fine. He saw a covering over an easel. He looked underneath it. Interesting. He looked away again and went further. She had another room that had more paintings. There it had been.

Regret. Despair. Sorrow. There was no pretend beauty hiding imperfections like he had seen in her other work. It was real. The imperfections weren't hidden, it was all in the viewer's face. She wasn't a spy anymore. It was clear in what he had seen. He moved out of there and back toward her. "An unfortunate circumstance has brought us together again."

Her brow raised. He knew she wouldn't want to speak. In fact, he would need to pick up that medicine. Quatre warned him that Heero said it wasn't helping them. Just making them hurt more. They stared at each other for a little while until he spoke again. "Have you heard of Revenge of the Lost?"

Ooh. She was starting to take steps backward now. She had known of them?

Trowa approached her slowly. "What do you know of them?"

"I thought." She rolled her tongue. "Outran them."

"They were after you?" Trowa gestured to her phone. She should use that to talk. "Who are they? What do they really want?"

Middie typed on her phone and then showed it to him.

Ah. It said, 'What hell have they brought on me?' She was expecting something large. "Us, actually. We both picked sides, in a war. We were on opposite sides. That war is over." Maybe that would make her relax.

"Not to them." She spoke again and held up her phone with the same message. 'What hell have they brought on me?'

"What do you know about them?" Trowa asked her.

She wrote longer on her phone. It seemed she had ran into the leader, shortly after she stopped being a spy. She was trying to infiltrate the rebel group to see if she could get some money. For her family, no doubt. Then came something Trowa hadn't known. Heero and Wufei had no info on it either.

Revenge of the Lost were not just avenging deaths. They were mothers and sisters, avenging deaths of very young children, lost at war. Some had training, some didn't. The longer they'd been in the group, the colder and more trained they had been. They had been Underground she said, almost since she was born. They sympathized with Middie Une because of her brothers and father, but wouldn't let her join. She wasn't a mother or a sister who lost a child or a little sibling. When they dug deeper and found out she'd been a spy, little brothers or not, they turned on her.

Back then, they weren't as powerful, and the leader Crystalia was only coming into a real sense of power. It wasn't until the all out times of Operation Meteor, that she was raised into higher power.

Middie wrote that she never killed children in her spy missions. They were never onboard.

"Maybe." Maybe not. The Gundams were so large, that so many had been hurt. Which meant? Whether they had or had not killed anyone, the Gundams didn't represent anything to them but the ultimate destructors of innocence. The ultimate weapons, and the ones who ran those weapons. The enemy. Perhaps, even enough . . . to carry out a plan against someone they loved. "Don't move." Trowa picked up his phone and went to her garden area. Middie would certainly not move now, she wanted to know what they did. That? That wasn't what Trowa was interested in right now.

He called up Catherine, hoping he was wrong.

"Trowa? Did you find her?" Nothing but concern in her voice. "Now what will you do?"

"She's not a spy anymore," he said to her. "I'm sure of it. Catherine? Do you know anything about Revenge of the Lost?"

"No." That sounded truthful too. "I'd never want to know about some rebel group. I hate war."

"I know." Okay. "She's fine still out here. I don't know what RTL is planning. I should get her out."

"Are you sure she isn't a spy, Trowa?" She was so worried. Trowa didn't blame her. Trowa traveled with the Circus and he didn't live in the same kind of life as Middie Une. Whatever he chose wouldn't be easy. Go back to the Circus with his sister? Do what Duo did and run with her? He couldn't leave her there, she was too exposed. RTL had found the women, and probably found the doctors if they had survived, but there was no proof RTL had bothered with the pilots' lives. It would have been tough to find some of them. Many times, they didn't even know how to find each other at all times. He heard someone knocking on her front door. "I have to go, Catherine."

"Careful, Trowa."

Trowa went back in and looked toward her. She hadn't moved from behind the couch. She didn't look comfortable though. Trowa gestured to the front door. He still had his own way of dealing with things if it turned sour. "Do you know that person?"

Middie moved over toward the door's peephole and looked out. A nod.

The less hassle, the better. Until he knew for sure what his next step should be, she should live her life normally. He moved a small ways away and let her answer the door.

"Hey, there's my One Song." Gin grabbed Middie and swung her around. "Wow, you weren't kidding. I mean, look how you answered the door." Middie grunted lightly. "Oh, I know, I know. You're sick over here and there's nobody to take care of you. So, I was thinking? For the time being, that you should come live with me. A couple of weeks, just 'til you are back on your feet. I'll even cover your rent," he said to sweeten the deal. "You know this whole surgery was going to hurt for your rent."

Middie wrote on her phone and showed him. "Aw, my little One Song. A commission of 500 to sweeten the pot? Your surgery was expensive, you had to pay for medication, you need to cover your rent, and to top it all off? You are still going to be gone at work." He bopped her nose playfully. "Come on, One Song. I know your struggling. Just bend a little for me." She gestured toward her throat again. "Don't worry. I've got things for you to do that don't involve the throat."

She got pulled outside and the door closed. "Let's go. I'm sure you probably want something for your throat. Maybe a hot cappuccino or something?"

This wasn't good. Gin was aggressive when he didn't get his way, but she couldn't leave Trowa. He'd come after her again. Pointing out that he was in there also wasn't a good idea. Gin was playful, silly even, but he had a mad streak and he wouldn't see Trowa in the right light. She wrote on her phone a second, dropped it to the floor and then willingly went toward Gin, like the whole idea was just fine with her. A placated smile and she was right in his arms.

When Trowa came out, he could see her new residence. Whatever RTL did, she needed to know. In the meantime, she had to save her own skin. Gin got what he wanted, with a willing smile or not. He wasn't someone you messed around with. If she didn't get playful and sweet after his offer, things would have gone worse. Not better.

Trowa came out the door. Whoever that had been, they practically seized Middie against her will at the door. Was RTL's revenge already starting? He saw her phone she'd been talking to him with on the ground. Her line of communication. She only dropped that for one reason. He picked it up and read the message she left.

An address and a name. Trowa had already got the hint from the conversation that he had paid for the surgery. This 'Gin' wasn't waiting for payment. What was RTL up to?

Duo's residence

"You are pretty lucky you didn't have to work today," Duo said as he walked in through the door. They'd had sick days more than once with each other, so he fully intended her to be half listening unless she was really sick. Hm. Nowhere around the TV at all. Must still be sick. Duo took off his work jacket and lied it on the couch. He looked into her room. "Hild."

She was looking worse, not better. He went to her room and felt her head. "You are burning up something awful. Have you taken anything?" So delirious she wasn't even answering back. He went to the bathroom and got a washcloth for her head along with some fever reducer. He placed the washrag on her head. "Come on, take this." This time, her eyes looked up toward him slightly. They were worried. "Just a fever. It's okay, it happens. Earthling germs, you're probably more susceptible." He held out the pills to her. Her hand gestured to the end table next to the bed.

Duo looked. There was a letter, addressed to Hilde. With something else inside. He really didn't want to mess with it, but he had no choice. Hilde hadn't pulled it out. She'd opened it but otherwise didn't mess with it. "Oh, being me sometimes." He managed to pull the letter away from the envelope and shut it. "I had a feeling Jewel probably paid for that." It was somebody's finger in there. Alive or not, she definitely paid for the letter she sent. Without it, the others would be in even bigger trouble. Duo opened it up and started to read.

Yep. "It's just your standard form letter being extra pissed off they didn't get away with what they wanted," Duo said. "Boy. They are some sore losers. We'll still pay, face your past to save your present, yada yada yada." He put the letter back down but looked at her again. "Hild? Can you even talk?" Yeah. "Then again? Come on, Duo's taking you to the hospital right now."

The Hospital

Duo remained at her side near her hospital bed. Hilde never did anything risky, there was no real chance of it. "If I hadn't been there." She'd probably be dead. Somehow, Hilde had sepsis. He'd got her in soon enough considering the high fever that hit her, but if he hadn't been there. "You'll be okay. Doc says you'll be out in no time." She wasn't feeling conversational. "You were treated soon enough, the kid will probably be okay too."

She looked up toward him, her eyes shiny. "How? When?"

"I think we know the answers to that." Revenge of the Lost. Somehow, they must have done something to trigger an infection. "It won't happen again, Hilde. I swear, I'll get this Revenge of the Lost."

Sepsis. Why? Duo thought more closely about the letter. They had said that line about facing his past to save his present, but they also mentioned the doctor. Since Hilde couldn't come home tonight, it might be time for a visit to old Howard. He wasn't leaving her alone though. He dialed up Trowa. "Trowa? I need a favor. Hilde's in the hospital with sepsis. I can't leave her alone, but I gotta go talk to someone. Can you watch her?"

"I found Middie Une."

"Oh." Damn. "I understand." He just couldn't leave then.

"I lost her. She left me an address. I tracked it and it was the address of the person who took her, but she wasn't there. Neither was he. She hasn't returned."

Oh man. "RTL?"

"I think so. I don't think she's coming here, it wasn't far away. I'll set up a trip camera but I'll come watch Hilde for you."

"Thanks." That was good news for Duo, but not for Trowa. "Sorry. Hope you can find her again." But, wait. "You carry a trip wire system on you?"

"Duo. I was coming to tell a spy that was responsible for the death of people I knew as a kid, that she was carrying mine. I had to be ready for anything."

"Yeah." None of them came out unscathed.

Howard's Base

You better not be doing anything with that group. Duo smiled and waved at Howard. Most likely, the other doctors were dead, but he'd seen everything in his lifetime. "Hey, Howard! Can I talk to you?"

"Duo Maxwell, you bet." Howard said as he came down. The old scientist hadn't changed, still rocking the Hawaiian shirts.

"Hey." Careful. "I don't suppose you know anything about the other Gundam creators? Like Professor G? Any make it out?"

Howard shrugged. "Uh? No," he admitted. "Why?"

"A friend of mine is sick." Duo watched him carefully. "Hilde?" No guilt so far. "She got pregnant." There, that was something.

"Uh? Aw, Duo." Howard sighed. "You should have been more careful. Life's fun should be limited just a little."

"Not by me," Duo complained. "Well, actually it is by me. But it's not by me." Yeah, he didn't know anything. "What happened to their old testing labs? You know, making sure we could be all we could be?"

"Testing?"

"Yeah." Come on, Howard. "We all didn't just pop in."

"Practically did."

"But not quite. I mean, Operation Meteor, but we all still . . . " Howard was fine to talk to, when you didn't need information right away. "Oh come on, we were all tested in different ways! What happened to it all?"

" . . . you mean like muscle fitness results and stuff?"

Close enough, same area. "Yeah. Where's that?"

"Uh? I think they pitched it all. Not really useful after they knew you were qualified enough." Howard shrugged. "I would have. Waste of space."

"Pitched it?" Was he kidding? "You don't really think they did that?" Okay, he'd have to come clean. "I got a letter involving all the previous pilots. Claims of a woman being pregnant for each one of us, and at least two out of five is confirmed so far. So?"

"It sounds like this group found their places. No one would be guarding them," Howard pointed out. "They are gone. No one's ever contacted me. Honest, Duo."

"They just broke in." Simple as that. The doctors really were all gone. Damn. "Do you know anything about our past?" Duo asked him. He went ahead and drug out the letter Hilde had received from his pocket and gave it to him. "Hilde's in the hospital with sepsis."

"Oh. Well?" Howard was trying. "They were all trying to gather forces toward the end. So maybe? Maybe all their information is gathered in one place, Duo. Like a final gathering base to analyze everything." Howard touched his chin. "Come to think of it, it's less of a need of a final base. More of a need of a gathering . . ." Howard started to head inside.

Duo followed. "Final what?"

"They always wanted me to leave my ocean view to get involved again. They might have sent it my way. Oz was already bugging my place out, but after they got the Tallgeese, they stopped watching everything. So maybe by that time?"

Whoah. "Hey, that would be a nifty idea." Duo approached Howard's computer base. "Great. I always wanted to see my muscle records matched against Heero's," he kidded around.

"It'd be down somewhere I never work." Howard moved through the files. "Let's see. Where would they put it at it? If I have them, no guarantee."

"There." Duo clicked on a folder called Final Showdown. Inside was all kinds of information about the gundams and the pilots. "Time capsule. Cool. Let's break it open." Because Revenge of The Lost just crossed a line. There was no way they were getting away with anything else. Duo clicked on his folder. "Damn, blood tests and everything. Oh." Maxwell Church Massacre. "Wait." There was another folder, even farther back. "What?"

"Yeah. With your matching blood type tests, I imagine that wouldn't be so hard. As long as she wasn't an orphan."

Duo stared at the picture on the screen. So. That's where he got his hair color. "How'd they match that up?"

"Thorough. Most likely on the colony you were found on. Age. Percentage rates. Cracking into old hospital files. The harder something is, the more us kooks had fun." Howard lowered his shades. "She was a looker."

"Yeah. She was." His mom. They actually found a picture. She was a young thing. "Attack." Not uncommon. Survived that attack but . . .

"Mmmm, I think I see what you see," Howard said. "You okay?"

"If they think that's funny." He managed to keep his anger in check once, once. War was senseless, killing was senseless but- "She died by sepsis."

"Yeah. Maybe they really did break in," Howard said to Duo. "Sorry. I'm sure they'd have watched it better."

"If they were still alive." Duo was staring at the picture of his dad. He had a rap sheet records long, and not for just destruction of property. There was no name relation either and very little about him. Smidge, but important smidges.

"I can see why G. didn't want to say anything," Howard said, trying to make him feel better. "You don't bother him, he won't bother you. He probably doesn't even know you exist."

"Yeah and I'll keep it that way 'cause with her name in his kind of rap sheet, my folks weren't datin'." Sickening. He never wanted to see that face again. He closed the folder. It was better before he even knew. Better to think he was just born from the streets. Been better thinking his parents were just innocent victims killed on the streets. His mom was. His dad was living on Earth, about 300 miles of where they were at, imprisoned for life. Exactly where he should stay. "You know, sometimes I guess I forgot you didn't just have spare change in your wallet to make all your scifi stuff." Trying to get it out of his head but there was more too. He had two more brothers. Twin half brothers. "Gin and Finn."

"Hey you got brothers. That's something positive." Howard looked to the rest of the files. "You gonna risk sending that data to the others?"

"Nah, I don't think they are near their computers right now. I'll just download it manually to my phone and get it to them through there when I contact them." He clicked Quatre's folder. "Oh, man." Duo looked at Howard. "You think Revenge of the Lost is . . .?"

"Is trying to kill all the mothers of your children, like your own moms went?" Howard asked gently. "Maybe. Revenge is in their name. Sepsis isn't uncommon though. Hard to tell."

"Yeah. Well, I'll still be watching." They weren't doing it again. They weren't getting to her again. "Hilde better like Vitamin C. because I'll make sure she gets a ton of it."

Revenge of the Lost headquarters

"Crystalia?" One of her members, Sapphire, who had been with her for a very long time approached. "I have news you need to see."

Crystalia was crunching away on a bag of chips. "Funeral today?"

"No, Duo Maxwell never left her on Earth alone after all so he caught it." Sapphire approached. "There's something else."

"Middie Une was taken away for lessons in discipline?" she asked.

"Um?" Sapphire was having trouble talking. "Yes, but that's not what I'm here about."

Crystalia crunched on another chip. "This is the worst we've been and it's all because I had to trust another group." She threw away her empty bag of chips. "What news do you need me to see?"

Sapphire handed Crystalia a sheet. "I don't . . ." Sapphire cleared her throat. "I don't know how you missed-"

"I didn't."

" . . . but-"

"It's not just me in charge. It's not just me who makes all of the decisions." She gave the paper back. "I gave them what I could. Not a word." Damn Sapphire. Always had to get up in her business. "Go."

"I couldn't do it," Sapphire said. "How can you?"

"It's all five or it's none!" Crystalia announced. "We aren't about the big things. We never have been. This is what was decided."

"Why-"

"Because one of the leaders will not let it go. Okay?" Geez. "They won't let it go. Revenge of the Loss works as a whole, or not at all. Not everything we do is beautiful."

"We're killing unborn children."

"Not all and not us, just circumstances."

"We are making the circumstances, Crystalia! This is insane. This is the opposite of what we do! Can't we work this out?"

"You haven't quit." Crystalia smiled at her oddly. "Because the group is so big, it doesn't feel like it's all on you. That's how we operate. That's how we work. Bits and pieces. Share the shame, it's not so bad. Whether good or bad."

"I don't see the point."

"It hasn't changed. We can't deny them anymore than we can deny anyone else." Crystalia watched her hand the paper back to her. "Fair is fair. I did what I could without . . ."

"Showing favoritism for your own son?" She questioned Crystalia. "For your own grandchild that you created? With an ex-spy?"

"It fit all the rules that we as a group had to follow." Crystalia kept the paper this time. "I'll shred this. Don't share it with a soul." If she did? So much more would fall on Catherine and Triton. Trowa. Whatever he wanted to call himself. Bad enough she had to make a grandchild with an ex-spy. "Dismissed."

"When did you find out?"

"Dismissed!"

"No!" Sapphire rebelled. "When did you find out?"

Crystalia hung onto her ear. "Right beforehand. Not long ago," she admitted. "Not a word."

"It wasn't Jewel, was it? Who warned them?" Sapphire had to ask. "She took the fall. She'd argued. A good patsy." She nodded. "A good patsy to save the children."

"It didn't save anyone," Crystalia denied. "It just gave them a fighting chance is all. Dismissed. Get out."

"I did it too."

Hm? Crystalia turned to look toward Sapphire. The most judgey person ever since they met all those years ago. She often stated her opinions for both good or bad. She gave it her all, always recommending the best way to go. If this was only an option. Crystalia though had a cover, and she was willing to sacrifice that cover for her needs. If Sapphire did anything stupid. "Did you have a cover?"

"I stole Jewel's finger for it before it was discarded. I have to leave now and hope they don't find me." Sapphire went over and hugged Crystalia. "I just needed to know that you, as a person, were still there deep inside. Crystalia. I'll probably never see you again."

"What did you say in it?" Crystalia demanded.

"It's pretty general. It might even be looked over, but? If they pay attention, they'll get everything they need. The gundams were machines of war, true, but they were used for peace too. None of them deserved this, and especially not these young ladies." She moved away. "I'll finish out the day and then I'll be out. Goodbye, Crystalia."

Crystalia gave a small wave. No longer would Sapphire be in her business. Too bad that didn't make her feel better. If only the world could see from Sapphire's point of view. It was too big now. Too out of her hands. She did what she could and everything had to fall as it would.

On The Road

"I don't know how to take it." Gin wrapped his arm around Middie. She patted it affectionately. "Just, my bro, gone one day. Then they found him, One Song. Dead on some random colony. A colony, he was shoved up inside of a colony. Can you believe it?"

She shook her head showing as much sympathy as she could, but cautious as well. She noticed a long time ago they weren't going in the right direction. They were going a long ways away from his address. They were already in another city, but she couldn't complain.

"I always told him his side business would get him. There were better ways to make money." He smiled and touched her cheek. "Better ways to meet girls. I mean? They were rubbing up on him for better pay, you can't trust girls like that." Distant for a moment. "It's put a crack between the family though, everyone's blaming everyone." He sighed and started to drive faster. "Things just got worse when they found out who it had been. You can't keep my family out of the loop. You know who it had been?" She shook her head. "Some blonde. Some blonde with pretty hair and gorgeous looks and a kind smile. Played him for a fool."

Uh oh. She wasn't here for comfort in the way she thought. "I'm not her." She struggled to say it, but she'd left her phone behind.

"Of course you aren't her. I mean? So you like playing me like she did my twin brother. You've got real nice long hair, a face that screams innocent but eyes that wink back and say you aren't. No, you're nothing like her."

Middie watched him grab her hand. "Never. Played." She fully intended on paying him back. She would never play Gin.

"I know I'm jumping the gun, One Song. I don't mean to scare you," he promised. "I know you were good for it. It's just? Life's hard right now. With my brother, and my family, and this whole situation? I just need some comfort right now. You know?" He stole a kiss on the side of her head once they reached the lights. "Promise. A guy like me can take care of a girl like you for a real long time."

I'm not a bad girl. He could see her past hiding in her eyes, but she hadn't done anything wrong in many years. Yet, what she did. It would always linger in her eyes. He could see that, and he was casting punishment because of it. She had to get out. Find another way to pay him off, steal and sell something if she had to at this rate, but she didn't want to be a-

"You did intend on paying me back, right?" Gin asked as he finally turned into a drive. "You weren't trying to stab me in the back." He lightly choked. "Like that Catalonia woman did to my brother! Even that last name, you knew she was someone terrible." He pulled her hair gently toward him. "He probably just saw the pretty girl staring at him. No idea what lied beneath. Get out."

Middie got out of the car. Gin was seeing her as some substitute for this Catalonia woman that just killed his brother. How to get out? She didn't know if 'One Song' was enough to comfort him, or if he'd want to strike her dead in anger. He was close to his brother, very close. A little crush might not matter at all in the bonds of brotherhood. Using her as a substitute though, how cowardly.

"Middie!"

Ooh. He didn't call her 'One Song'. She had to get out.

"Middie!"

Damn. He was physically grabbing her now. She went into the house but tried to watch herself.

"He never did anything wrong. I mean? Not really. It was just business." Gin walked around the room lightly. "It was just business. You remember him, right?"

Not much. Her and Gin's brother met only briefly. She gestured toward her throat.

"Oh, don't. I paid for medication too. It's been a couple of days and you've said a few words." He grabbed her by the hair. "Talk. What did you think about my brother?"

His brother? She barely knew him. Uh? "Nice."

"Nice what? Nice jacket? Nice pants? Nice smile? Nice money?"

She was trying. "Nice. Smile."

"Yeah. He had a nice smile. He was a nice guy. He didn't deserve that."

Middie took a few steps back. She looked around herself for a possible weapon as he went over toward a little bar area, but he dragged her along.

"I don't know, One Song. I mean? On one hand, I've never seen you do a thing wrong." He let go of her as he reached the bar and started to pour himself some whiskey. "On the other? You can just tell. When you look at someone, when they are hiding something." He smelled his whiskey and handed it to her. Then he poured himself another one. "What are you hiding, hmm?"

Middie set the whiskey down. If she said nothing, he'd only get madder. If she told him the truth, he might get so mad that he killed her.

"Are you sure you're not. I don't know?" He took a drink of his whiskey. "A spy?"

Oh no. Revenge of the Lost gave him information about her past. He was going to assume she was the one who ratted out his brother! "I didn't know him." It came out echoey, but she tried.

"Oh no? Didn't you just say he had a nice smile?" He took his whiskey glass and tossed it to the floor, and then pulled a gun on her. "You expect me to believe a spy, a dirty girl like you, didn't give up my brother?"

"I wouldn't have!" Ah. "Asked for money!" She took a few steps back. "From you, if I had!" Looking for anything. "Him." Nothing but furniture. Not even a single thing to throw. Time to switch gears. This wasn't going to remain friendly for much longer, but Middie Une was a survivor.

"I think my One Song? Was one naughty bird, singing like a parakeet." He held his gun at her again. "Death is so easy though, isn't it? You still owe me, and like I said? I'll take care of you for a real long time." He took another step forward to her. "After ratting out my brother, you still had the gall to ask for my help afterwards. Just, laughing at it all, weren't you? Didn't get enough from him, did you?"

Middie shook a moment as she watched a bullet graze the couch. Involuntary. It wasn't going to be that fast. A doorway? Nothing near her. A way out? The furniture was laid out eclectically, she'd trip if she tried to run.

"Honestly? I was pretty jealous. He owned a lot. You know? Left me in that dead-end job while he had enough money to cruise the world." He held up a key to her. "His house was a mansion too. This is just his little second house. A little reserve, 'cause he didn't want to be too far from me. But you know what? He earned it. He earned every dime. Now, this is what you are going to do," he said to her. "I don't know what's what, and I don't want to really kill you if your innocent, One Song. So? You are going to prove to me that you are a good girl. That you didn't do any of this. You are going to beg for me to believe you, and you are going to make me believe that you are just a sweet girl. A sweet girl that had nothing to do with this. You've got a week." He came toward her more steadily. "A week to make me forget how much you look just like the one who took him down. A week to make me believe you are just a timid bird. You start tonight, and then tomorrow, we are going on a trip. To his mansion. I have his extra key. Even though I was jealous? He trusted his brother. He trusted me. Now, what are you going to do?"

Gin was going to make her do anything she could to desperately save her own life. Yeah, survivor mode. His eyes were vicious and he firmly believed she ratted out his brother to the woman who killed him. Middie would either give him everything he wanted for a week and then be killed, or be convincing enough to make him see it wasn't her.

She closed her eyes. "Of course, Gin," she agreed. "I hurt but. I. Would never. Hurt. Him."

"Great. Then, explain your spy time? Go ahead, sit down. Use your own voice and explain everything you can. In as much detail as you can. One Song."

Earth Hospital

"Thanks, Trowa," Duo said as he came back into the hospital room. "Helluva day for the God of Death and all." Trowa gave a light nod. "I'll try to help find that Middie Une if I can. Once somebody's some place long enough, a foot print is kind of made." Still, Trowa didn't look any better. "You got any information to share?" It was clear that whoever took her was worrying Trowa.

"I shouldn't have stayed back," Trowa blamed himself. "Found her phone and an address she wasn't at."

"Huh." That was bad. "Maybe she'll come home." Yeah, maybe not. Duo pulled up his phone. "Anyway, got some information for you. All of the pilots actually. Turns out the scientists were real thorough. Howard had information on his computer." He smirked at Trowa. "Cool information. It was worth the trip." He downloaded it to Trowa. Duo watched his expression. His poker face didn't change much. "Not real surprised?"

"I was in the general vicinity of one of the markers they always set up at," Trowa admitted. "I've always been close to Catherine."

"Glad to see you take it well. Mine?" Duo looked at Hilde. Still sleeping. "My parents weren't in it for love, and my dad's even still alive. I even got brothers. Half brothers. Twins." He sighed. "Look into that another day, right now I just want to concentrate on Hilde. Found a link to the sepsis and my past. It turns out, that's how my biological mother died." He noticed Trowa's poker face slip slightly. "Howard says sepsis is common. It's hard to tell but murder by mother's death sounds like it might be up RTL's alley." Duo watched as Trowa dug through the files. "We'll find her."

"It was supposed to be a raid." Trowa looked confused. "Quick death by gunshot." He put his phone away. "I'll take any assistance that any of the previous Gundam pilots and/or the Earth forces want to give."

Yeah. Duo saw that too. Trowa's mother's cause of death was being beaten to death. "I hope the others are having a better day than us."

"They checked in. Heero's running with Relena Peacecraft to avoid a hefty sentence on her. Quatre's trying to run with Dorothy Catalonia, she apparently is being blamed for killing someone. Wufei avoided war by collecting Mei-Lin Wang."

"Well, Wufei's the winner today. I'll text him congratulations later," Duo muttered. "Right after I text the others their information." Everybody deserved to be aware.

Not Far From the Medical Colony

"What do you mean we can't go back down?" Quatre asked. Check-in should have been fast. He had Dorothy Catalonia stashed in the back but a few Maguanacs were still waiting there with him. As far as he knew, Heero made it out. Hopefully.

"Quarantined," the voice came back to his ship. "Sorry, Mister Winner. No one is returning to Earth. You can head out to your own colony for the time being. The Quarantine is just between Earth and the colonies."

"Quarantine?" What a time for this. "My other volunteer supply shuttle just passed here, maybe half an hour ago. Nothing was said about problems."

"It's just started, Mister Winner," the check-in said. "It's real vicious though. People are getting flanked left and right who came into space and back to Earth. No one knows how it traveled or what's infected. If I were you? I'd go to my own colony. No telling what's going to happen until we figure it out. I'm sure your other one will get stopped. No one's going to get much closer, Sir."

"What is it?" Quatre asked.

"The CDC is heavily involved. I've just heard rumors but it makes liquid mincemeat out of your insides. Trust me, you do not want to travel downward. Go back home."

"Is it in the shuttle areas?" Quatre tried to reason with them.

"It's striking everywhere. I even want to go home, Sir. Nobody knows where it's coming from. Until everything is checked out to be safe, no one can go through to Earth. Sorry. Checkpoint says no and there are a ton of authority shuttles to make sure no one else goes through. It has to get contained."

"I understand." Alright, for the time being, Quatre would have to divert to his own colony. He left the main room and headed to the back. Dorothy Catalonia wasn't very pleased with him interrupting. She didn't understand anything. He'd get to it. "We are going back to my home colony. There's some kind of quarantine going on right now. It won't let us go back to Earth."

"I don't mind that," Dorothy answered politely. "I find the colonies quite lovely. The only thing I don't find lovely? Is your actions. Some explanation as to what is going on would be quite welcomed, Quatre Raberba Winner."

"I told you. I'll explain." Yeah. When he got home. They could relax. He'd explain. "Just not right now." She was safe with him, no one would find her. He had time to explain it all in the right way. Then, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

It was a message from Duo.

A Little Further Than Quatre's Shuttle

"Quarantine." What timing. Heero listened to what Rasid said. They were separated from Quatre, but they would be stopped soon. Authorities weren't taking chances. Sometimes things like this happened, especially in the earlier days of the colonies. Still, it was coincidentally bad timing. He should be careful. Relena had real medicine and plenty to eat that was cold. His duty there was fine. "If they stop us, where will they direct us?"

"Master Quatre admits that he doesn't know," Rashid said. "We are further than him. He had a chance to redirect back to his colony. I don't know if we'll get that or be sent to a quarantine base."

"We can't do a quarantine base." Relena and him were practically hot celebrities as much as the social communications were focusing in on them. She would be noticed and taken in. It could be RTL, he didn't put anything above them right now. Options? Quatre would let them stay with him, or a quarantine base. Heero had a third option. Outrun the authorities. It would put them both into more hot water, but he doubted twenty years doubling to forty was much difference to Relena. A long time was a long time.

All he could do was wait for now. His phone chirped. He expected to see more information about what would happen, but it was a message from Duo instead.

Quatre’s Home

The colony was beautiful. His home was decent. Relena had no complaints. They were close enough that they were able to follow Quatre to his colony. He easily snuck them into his home. That was good, she didn’t know what Heero would have done if they went to a quarantine base. Now that the situation was taken care of? Life wasn’t much better. It still didn’t feel right at all. She understood the situation, someone was creating revenge against Heero, anyone involved in the war, etc. She understood that. The rest though. She had remained mostly quiet, trying to put everything into perspective. How did she get her life back from this?

Heero believed there wasn’t a way. Relena didn’t want to believe that. Wouldn’t Milliardo be proving everything somehow staying behind? She didn’t know. Heero was listening privately to social media, but he wasn’t letting her hear it out loud. Relena smiled and greeted Dorothy. She bowed her head slightly while, Dorothy being Dorothy, performed a grand curtsy. She seemed to be taking the news well. Too well. Her eyes angled toward Quatre whio seemed to angle away. Had he really not told her yet?

“Well, Miss Relena,” Dorothy said with her usual elegant charm, “it seems even being in the vastness of the stars we get pulled together once again.” She glanced toward Quatre. “Now? If I could find out why I was yanked away from an unfortunate situation by someone who wouldn’t normally mess around in my affairs, I would be most assuredly grateful.”

Relena knew she got it right, Quatre hadn’t told Dorothy. It took time to adjust to the news, he should tell her. She put on a friendly smile for her. As sure of Relena was of herself most times, she was faltering. Heavily. Her mind moving back and forth repeatedly on each problem.

She was pregnant. At her age, she wasn’t having any kind of thoughts about having a family. She had concentrated on her career and maintaining a peace between the Earth and the colonies. She never babysitted children. Never thought of them in her future. Her experience in that area was not grand at all. Polite and kind as she could be to others, but she was never a nanny Relena. Honestly? She had real doubts she would have ever been mommy Relena, knowing the stress that there had been between her and her father. Never getting to see each other because he had always worked as Prime Minister.

Then there was the accusation of abortion. Secretly. It? She didn’t even want to think about that. The scandals, the articles that were probably out there right now. Drawing lines between so many. Then Heero. A wonderful man, a decent friend, not talkative but he had his own charm she has always gravitated toward. He was keeping her away from all the processes going on in her name right now that she had no control over. If that wasn’t bad enough, she knew he wasn’t feeling good about the fact that parts of his secret past was out there.

The whole thing. It wasn’t a 'diplomat and her friendly perhaps crush working together', she felt more like Bonnie and Clyde. With a part of her not knowing when the law would catch up. With Heero, it could possibly be never but it only brought on another worry.

She could never be herself again. She couldn’t have her identity anymore, it would be too risky. Not just that, but it would be more than 'not Relena', it would be ‘no identity’. No certain place to live. However Heero Yuy got around from place to place is the same way she would travel. With a baby. A traveling family on . . . what? Secret missions? A secret mission family?

Eventually her mind would settle down and she’d drift back to reality. No one could ever really tell when she spaced out. Her thoughts ricocheted back and forth within seconds.

“If we could get some rooms worked out until this is over,” Heero said toward Quatre, “then we’ll get out of your way so you can do important things.”

Apparently Heero was thinking the same thing. Quatre needed to tell her.

“Well?” Quatre wasn’t looking brave at the moment. “I just got a message from Duo, and I wanted to get this all squared away first. Duo doesn’t always leave calm messages lately.”

“Agreed. It’s not a calm message,” Heero admitted to Quatre. “Do you have a spare room?”

“Yes, quite,” Quatre said. “I have three empty guest rooms right up the stairs. Follow me.”

Relena followed up the stairs like the rest of them as Quatre showed them three empty rooms.

“Everyone can borrow one as long as they are here,” Quatre said politely.

“No,” Heero declared. “Just one of these should be used, Quatre.”

Relena watched Heero’s eyes. There was something else he hadn’t told her yet. A Duo message. His friend Duo Maxwell sent him something that he hadn’t talked about, nor had Quatre looked at.

“I’ll take one double bed with Relena.” Heero glared at Quatre. “You take one double bed with Dorothy Catalonia.”

Quatre mumbled lightly, while Dorothy was the most in shock.

“Mister Heero Yuy,” Dorothy insisted. “Might I ask why I should even entertain the idea of sharing a room with Mister Winner, when there are clearly other rooms?”

“Quatre.” Heero’s voice. That pure certainty in doing what he wishes. What he feels is right. His sense of justice that brought her to him all those years ago, practically following him around the world. To understand it. It was there again, tried and true. “You’re going to live a life full of regret, if you don’t look at Duo’s message and tell Dorothy Catalonia.”

Quatre was quieter. He didn’t have a lost look on his face like Relena thought he would. It was almost puzzling, like he was trying to put something together. He would need all the pieces though. “The last room is a double bed. Dorothy, relax by the window. Rasid can make you some tea. I have to look into something first. Then? We’ll talk.”

Heero nodded toward him as he took the last room. He waited for Relena to come inside. When she was inside, he looked at the door and locked it. It was the middle of the day and Heero Yuy was already locking a bedroom door? Relena went toward the window, but Heero called out, “wait.” She stopped and he moved in front, peering out of the curtains. Heero was highly on edge. No one should know they were even there. He looked out in all directions before he turned to speak again. “Things have changed, Relena.”

Changed? “How much more could they change?” Relena asked.

“Revenge of the Lost doesn’t want you to survive the birth.”

What? “Die at birth?”

“Or before it,” Heero said. “As long as you die the same way she did.”

“Who did?” Relena asked.

He looked out the window longer and then glanced at her. “My mother.”

---------------------------

 Quatre's Room

“No, wait, I don’t want you to put me off until another one contacts me!” Quatre’s grip was so tight against the phone. This was miserable. This wasn’t just some pacifist way of seeking revenge. They didn’t get it right. Whatever Revenge of the Lost used to be, or whatever it used to stand for all those years ago? It was gone now, that group was just a shadow of it’s former self, and it was far from being pacifist anymore! So much so? Quatre now understood why they all had to have someone. Every single one of them.

To make them suffer in the same way the mothers and sisters did, to feel the pain they had in the war. It wasn’t taking into account lives anymore. Not the pregnant mothers, and not even the unborn children. It was stacked on full revenge! No wonder Heero didn’t want just a room, he wanted Relena right beside him. This group? Who knew what it could do. It apparently might have even taken Middie Une from Trowa’s reach already. “I want answers and I don’t want to be yanked around!”

Twenty nine sisters, some passed, but most were fine. He was trying to make contact with them, but they kept putting him off! Quatre was supposed to have been artificially made, a test tube baby. The grief of it had plagued him for years until he met the Maganacs and started to cherish his life as one. Started seeing things in a different way. But, according to the facts Duo had? “Just tell me?” He begged one of his sisters. “Was I the reason our mother died?”

Cause of death, was birth to him. The Winner’s still didn’t have easy births in space. When his mother was pregnant with him, she risked it all to have him. That very thought. Bearing a child nine months, knowing it would kill you. No wonder father never told him. “Please? I need to know,” Quatre begged her. “Did she die giving birth to me?”

Finally, she admitted it. When humans first came to space, birthing was a big deal. It led to many complications. Most families had adapted to it, but his family’s genes hadn’t faired well to the change. Humans who were raised and had history in space were much more prone to dealing well with it, with the right aid. It was illegal though for mothers who were raised on Earth, with nothing but Earth genes in their families, to give birth in space. No one knew what kind of complications could still arise. It was best not to take chances.

And now? Dorothy Catalonia was running from the authorities, in space of all things, with the CDC barring going to Earth. “Thanks, for telling the truth, Sister.” Quatre hung up the phone. In normal cases, even during a contagion of some sort, Dorothy would have been able to be released back to Earth. It was imperative to get back to Earth in her condition, they would find an emergency path. But to do that? Meant Dorothy would face whatever Revenge of the Lost had planned for her while in custody. “Even on the safety of Earth, if they want her to go that way.” Could RTL do it? They had managed everything else they had tried to do. Did they have connections on the inside too?

Quatre paced. “I-it is illegal, but it’s scare-mongering, right? More about safety and covering the colonies responsibilities to visiting Earthings. Right?” When was the last time a born and raised Earthling came to the colonies and gave birth? Science was often involved in the colonies now, birthing wasn’t that big of a deal. Could she handle it? A generation or two was often all that was need to pass legality. Was it just legal purposes? Could the methods the colonies used only work with women who were raised in the colonies? “Practically nine months.” Quatre tried to calm himself down. “Nine months. They can’t keep up an unforeseen plague between Earth and the colonies for that long.” Everyone would be cleaning and quarantining and disinfecting to make sure everything was safe but no way would it even be more than a few weeks. At most. So? “She died from a genetic defect. Dorothy won’t have that. It’s not the same thing.” Were they counting on something going on at birth? Is that all that really mattered to them?

The day she gave birth, is that just the day they planned on killing her? “Damn this Revenge of the Lost!” It wasn’t fair. The Gundams had strived to do what was right, even Operation Meteor! He followed his heart, and did what he could. This was their repayment for everything? For the mother of their children to die like their own mothers?

What was to be gained? A sense of justice? There was no justice in it! Taking innocent women and innocent children, and killing them. That’s right, they were risking all of the children too. A group that once mourned their losses together, were now killing them.

Yeah. “They won’t catch me off-guard.” He’d tell Dorothy and he’d stick with her. Heero was right, same room, and same bed. No letting up. Extra security around the mansion. Everything. He’d watch her all the time, until they took this group down. They had to take this group down.

No matter what, Revenge of the Lost was not going to win!

It was time to tell Dorothy Catalonia.
----------------------------------------

 Heero and Relena's Guest Room

Relena remained still on the bed as Heero told her what he had learned from Duo Maxwell. If RTL got their way, she wouldn’t have to worry about becoming a mother or hiding under a different identity the rest of their life. They wanted to kill her, and risked even the child’s existence, all for nothing but to make Heero Yuy feel pain. Feel empathetic for those who lost their children. It was cruel and unrealistic. RTL had clearly brainwashed people into believing that doing this would bring some kind of closure to their loss.

It wouldn’t. Revenge was not the answer that made someone feel better. Going after Lady Une for her father, Relena understood that. Lives were lost in war, it was war. While it was a terrible excuse, a life was blinked out in the movement of a single arm of a mobile suit.

Children. Teens. Men. Women. The elderly. All of the pilots knew that life was lost somewhere in great numbers because of them or the war or circumstances. Especially in the middle of battles. Whether the enemy or the innocent, it couldn’t be helped. It didn’t mean they didn’t feel that loss. The war had changed everyone involved, even her. No one escaped unscathed, devoid of consequences. But they were all moving on, finding new ways to move on.

It was like? “The world forgot how to grieve.” She noticed Heero looked at her. “They think because the world doesn’t suffer anymore in the same way, that their pain isn’t validated anymore?” No. Wait. It was close though. She could feel it. She’d seen it before. People who stood for one thing, then going back on what they once believed. Charismatic words. History of following what was right. Leaders that were right. History. Leaders.

“I already found what you are trying to think of,” Heero said. “Support for the Loss. It has to be their second group.”

What? “STL?” STL had been around for many years.

“The guilty strive to make themselves feel better.” Heero said. “STL has been having the best year ever.”

“Yes. Even more than the usual celebrities have been giving wholeheartedly this year.” A change inspired by what? “Contributions were up over 60% from last year.” Oh no. “This is my fault.” It was her fault. Hers. Everything. “I was trying to dismantle the group.” She looked at her hands. One small movement. Every member wanting to save it. “On the surface, it looked wonderful. They had done great things as a group, but they kept running into-“

“-matters that couldn’t be explained.” Oh, so Heero did understand. “Their voice raised high until someone asked about someone’s disappearance. Then they disappeared.”

Yes. “They were doing more than just having drives to support those who were dealing with loss. They were seeking justice for that loss. Revenge of the Lost must be the other hand of the group.” The vindictive hand that didn’t play by the rules, the ones that Support for the Loss wasn’t showing. Kept hidden from view. How many members of Support for the Loss were inside Revenge of the Lost? “Support for the Loss is a well known group, Heero. Celebrity and company endorsements aren’t uncommon. It’s classic, established, appeared noble and . . .” She couldn’t say it.

He could. “Pouring hundreds of millions into helping thousands makes up for the mere handful it would kill.”

“How can . . .”

“A tiny piece, Relena,” Heero said. “Like donating a few pennies to a worthy cause, they don’t feel like they are responsible.” He moved over and sat on the bed. “In vast numbers, those pennies make a difference.”

“Support, all over the world. There’s no telling who supported its previous ideals, and who supported the RTL of it.” Who was supporting RTL but didn’t really know it? Who did but felt only pennies responsible . . . Heero was right. To them, they weren’t hurting anyone. A light tap. A few pennies responsible. “Only a few pennies responsible.” All of this. Whatever they did to the doctors. The access to the advanced technology. Getting into the hospitals. Blanking out security or modifying them. Everything they did, nooks and crannies from so many.

She felt Heero touch her face. Oh. It was always a surprise when he did that. She wiped it as well as she could.

“Everyone has a leader, Relena,” he reminded her. “It doesn’t matter how big it is. When we find the leader, it’ll all fall.”

Relena nodded. “Heero. I don’t want to bring up anything that might hurt, but if I’m a target meant to be killed as your mother had. Do you know how it’s supposed to happen?” He didn’t look like he wanted to answer.

“It won’t help to know.” That was that? “I’ll be watching your back.”

Heero. Now was not the time she wanted to hear cryptic talk. What should she be watching out for?

--------------------------------------

 The Circus

Trowa’s sister was getting ready for the next act. He could see her getting her last bits of blush back on before it was time to get to the stage. “Catherine.” She turned around and looked at him in concern. He’d already told her about telling Middie Une. About losing Middie Une. About their mother’s death. He didn’t hide anything. She didn’t seem any more surprised either. They had always gravitated toward each other. He would set out the performance tonight, he was getting a break due to his sister covering for him. He had nothing else to really say, except one thing. “Don’t ever join a group, rebel or otherwise, that seeks justice against someone. No matter what it stands for.  Promise me.” She nodded, of course concerned. With nothing left to say, he walked back away. He’d keep his eyes open for her, keep looking as he could. Visit her work, any acquaintances, and do what he could. But he knew. He knew there was more than a fair chance by the time he found Middie Une.

It’d be too late to save her.

“Trowa.” He felt his sister’s arms around him suddenly. She never stopped worrying. “I promise. I’ll never, ever join any group! Even the Circus Bingo, I’ll quit!”

A slight smile. “The Circus Bingo is okay, Cathy.” He could feel her trembling against his back. He couldn’t reassure her that everything would be okay. He didn’t know. All he knew? He had Middie Une in his grasp, and because he was uncertain which move to make, she slipped right out of it. Like a Circus trick. There and gone. “Go wrap up tonight. The crowd is waiting for your dazzling performance.” Once she let go, he moved back on again.

Normally, Dorothy didn’t let things get to her. She moved through her own troubles in life with as much grace as she could. Yet? As she made up the steps to Quatre Raberba Winner’s personal room, she felt great unease. Nothing he had done made any sense and many coincidences raced in her head with each step she took up the winding staircase. Her and Relena had a similar surgery. Heero had suspected her medication was stalling her healing. She was being accused of killing someone, and even though she should be cleared of it, Quatre Winner had practically stole her from the situation. What could be going on?’

What could be going on that could possibly include her? Her time in the spotlight should be dimming. She was there for Relena when she needed information, and perhaps when she got older, she would look into going into her own political career. Other than that, her grandfather was gone, and she was simply there. The backdrop of someone once involved. Yet? On the last stair to climb, she only wished she could feel like all of it was in the past. She reached toward the door and knocked.

Mister Winner answered it. “Hello. Please come in.” He gestured her into his room.

Why did they have to meet in there of all places? “There was a lovely lounge downstairs.” He didn’t seem to be budging.

“Sit down, Dorothy Catalonia.” Quatre Winner gestured to the window. “I have something I need to explain to you. It’s going to be life changing, and I’m sorry. There’s no real way to do this right, but I’ve delayed long enough. Trowa already lost track of his.”

Trowa Barton? “Lost track of his what?”

“Dorothy, just hang on. I?” Quatre gripped his hands to the sides, like he was fighting against something. “There’s a group called Revenge of the Lost. They’ve targeted the previous Gundam Pilots.”

A group targeting the former pilots? “How unfortunate.” What did it have to do with her though?

“The Press and Relena.”

Okay? Once again, she still didn’t understand what he was trying to say. “They framed Miss Relena, and they are framing me for the death of a colonist.”

“No, they? Well, they did frame Relena, but not quite as much as you think.”

This. Man. He was not quite as forthcoming as she presumed he could be. “Not quite as much as I think?”

“Yes. She wasn’t there for a secret abortion,” Quatre said, “but she can’t prove it. That’s why Heero took her, he knew she couldn’t prove it. She was pregnant, she just didn’t know it.”

Miss Relena? That. Well? That.

“Revenge of the Lost did it. There’s advanced technology that isn’t out to the public yet. It assures pregnancy the first time during, you know?” Slipping, and she was starting to guess why. “Your own surgery.”

Nuh uh. He couldn’t be going there? That was utter ridiculousness what she was starting to think. “Please be more forthcoming?”

Quatre Winner gestured to her. “Your carrying mine.”

“ . . . a little less forthcoming that that.” A little too late to say that. “Tonsillectomy.”

“Yeah. That’s why Heero took your medicine,” Quatre said. “There’s more too.”

Oh. “More?”

“You were selected because I guess they thought I made a difference in your life. No one really knows. Wufei didn’t even know his. Trowa’s was an ex-spy. Anyhow, I’m falling off topic. Sorry.” Quatre moved toward the large window in his room, but didn’t open it. “Their ultimate goal wasn’t just to do this though. It was . . . the running theory?” Fidgeting. “A young lady named Hilde Schbeiker is carrying Duo’s and she was just in the hospital for sepsis. His mom died of sepsis. We think that? Your probably targeted to die the way our own mothers had. Just to hurt us.”

“Usss,” she hissed lightly. Not in anger, not in sadness, more wonderment. “Us, us, us, usss.” Not her. Nothing to do with her. Nothing to do with Relena. These other three. None of them. Just the pilots. They were being used against the pilots. “The pawn on the chessboard. Always fascinating,” she said. “One move, to move ahead. Fighting with the others to try and get across. Others being much more powerful, it continues on it’s way, often to be sacrificed in the glory of the battle to save the king.”

“There’s no king to be saved,” Quatre Winner said. “Dorothy Catalonia. I’m sorry.” He turned back around to look at her. “I won’t let them kill you. We are going to figure out how to beat Revenge of the Lost before anyone dies.”

“And yet, one pawn may have already fallen in this worthless game that has only losers,” she reminded him. “I believe you said Trowa Barton lost his ex-spy?”

“There’s no telling about that yet,” Quatre Winner confessed. “Heero and Relena are going to stay here until the coast is clear. I need to get you out of the colonies. You need to be on Earth.”

“And how am I supposed to die?” she asked boldly. “Mister Winner?”

“Quatre is fine, Dorothy,” he answered. “It doesn’t matter as long as I can get you off the colonies and back to Earth.”

“Mm. Well? This was not what I was planning to happen on my lovely trip to the colonies,” she confessed. Far from it.  “Are we all positive that this was used on little me?” she asked. “Not a coincidence?”

“Two out of five confirmed,” Quatre said. “The mother of Wufei Chang's child and Relena.”

He spoke so familiar of those terms now. That didn’t set well with her. Most likely he didn’t feel like being on first and last name terms with the mother of his child was appropriate. He wanted to make it feel like they were closer than they had been. “I understand the information now, Mister Quatre Raberba Winner.” They were not that close.  “I will take the first guest bedroom you showed us too, thank you.” She bowed lightly, turned and tried to leave. Her back was turned against him. She was almost there.

“Acting formal isn’t going to change the fact your pregnant, Dorothy.” His voice had to reach her ears. She didn’t like that. While they hadn’t been close, he had still affected her in the past. He’d seen into her, past even the depths she had known about herself. “Nor will it change that it’s mine, and you are now in danger. This group does not kid around. You need to stay near.”

In his room? “Like the winning prize out of a grab bag at a lovely birthday party?”

“You’re not happy and I get that. I’m not either, but I couldn’t have changed anything. You are mad at the wrong person,” he insisted. “I know that you see that. For the innocent inside of you, you need to listen.”

An innocent. An innocent within her. “While I am a decent lady, Mister Winner, I also know how to defend myself quite well.”

“They don’t come straight at you. It isn’t a fight of hands and feet or guns or weapons of any kind,” Quatre insisted. “They come in a way you least expect it. You’re my responsibility too.”

“Chivalry isn’t needed for this moment, Mister Winner.”

“How am I supposed to live with myself, knowing I let an innocent woman carrying my own child die? That’s not chivalry, that’s being human.”

Damn it! This. Guy. She took a deep breath. He still made so much sense. She squeezed the dress she wore abruptly and turned back around to face him. “A fine point, Mister Winner. I won’t leave your abode until anything is confirmed to be true or false.”

His eyes were still lingering on her though. “You know, Miss Dorothy? I can’t believe you actually managed to keep your hat on after all that running.”

Miss Dorothy. That was better. “One of my finest hats.”

“Your sunglasses too, Miss Dorothy,” he offered again. “You’d think you would have taken those off by now.”

Why? Why did he have to go and do that? Why did he have to know that? Not again. She didn’t move as he strolled over and took off her sunglasses, making her feel like a fraud. That.

He hugged her. She stood still. “You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to prove anything. I’m just asking you to stay. If you do, I promise I’ll give you everything I possibly can to keep you safe until we take down Revenge of the Lost.”

One of those moments in life. Where you don’t know what’s right or what’s wrong. Just stuck there with a young man holding her, almost in desperation. Yet herself faring no better.  She could watch herself as close as possible, but she knew Quatre was right. She was better off staying near them. Her chances of surviving this sickening twist were greater. Had it just been her, maybe she could think more clearly. But Quatre Winner called it right. An innocent. If she died, in a glorious battle or not, an innocent of no fault. No blame. No shame. No regret. No nothing. Fine. But? She would stay in her own style. “Ask me politely.”

“Will you stay here where I can keep an eye on you and the unborn better, Miss Dorothy?”

There. “Fine.”

“Will you follow me off the colonies when I get a chance to sneak you to Earth?”

Made sense. "Fine?"

"Will you stay in my room with me, and share a bed?"

What was this obsession with bed sharing? Even Heero had it with Relena.

"Revenge of the Lost, although they aren't known to kill, they usually attack when someone is off guard. A simple injection could keep you from waking up the next morning."

Oh. This group truly was ruthless. "Fine. Until it’s safer, I will remain within your escorted presence.” Yes, that did feel better. “It’s best to do what I can to survive. Who knows if I can contribute someday to make a difference in the world?”

Quatre let her go. “A very fine line of thought, Miss Dorothy. We all have to survive, to stop this enemy.”

----------------------------

Entering Wufei’s Colony

Wang Mei-Lin. It was hard to place her. She was certainly no Nataku. She didn’t ring out or yell with admonitions of her feelings or try to fight against him. She wasn’t overwhelming. Not underwhelming. She was simply there. As he stepped off the shuttle with her, she remained obedient as they walked to his place.

“Are we there yet?”

A slight tease? “It’s a small colony. It doesn’t take long to move around.”

“You can see there are maybe 50 residents,” she said again. “I never was one for the small village stereotypical life. Such a burden.”

“You aren’t the only one who’s burdened,” Wufei reminded her.

“I am leaving my colony for a place that is more of a relic than a home.”

Uh? “My home is not a relic!” He warned her. He had yelled at her, yet she didn’t respond. Much.

“Whatever you say.”

Uh. “You are one of those passive aggressive women,” Wufei said, casting judgment on her. “If you have something to say, then say it.”

“Were you not listening?” She said. “I told you that your colony is a relic. It’s not passive aggressive. It’s called stating the obvious while staying at a polite decibel of speech.”

Wufei stared at her. He tried to stare down at her, to make her take him seriously. “I didn’t need to go and grab you. I could have left well enough alone. Don’t give me a hard time.”

“Your contradicting yourself,” she said back to him. “You do not like passive aggressiveness, yet you are now telling me not to give you a hard time? I have been forcibly taken from my colony for the good of it. To pretend that is fine and to not give you a hard time would be passive aggressive. Chang Wufei. Where do I stay?”

“With me,” Wufei said. Unfortunately.

“Not advisable,” she warned him. “Staying together without some semblance of marriage would only make this situation look worse.”

“You are carrying my child, woman! You can’t look any worse.” She had a strange look on her face for a second. “What were you thinking just now?”

“How many other women in history have probably heard that line,” she said. “It’s quite a rare line to use for anyone, except for intolerably terrible women who gift themselves the wrong way. Therefore, please refrain from saying that in public again.”

What? “What are you saying?”

“You’re an idiot, don’t speak of the mother of your child with those words in public, the public will get the wrong impression. Is that more clear for you?” She looked ahead. “I would walk off faster to wherever my destination lies, but I don’t know where you live yet.”

Oh no. She wasn’t passive aggressive, she was one of those annoying ones who spoke their mind first before thinking about what they say. Revenge of the Lost just had to screw him in the worst way. “I don’t think we are going to get along that well, if you don’t compromise some.”

“Meaning?”

“Think before you talk and show some respect!” Wufei yelled toward her. “Honestly. Why couldn’t they have given me a quiet one?”

“Hilarious,” she answered. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“A quiet one that accepts the role she plays and stops talking back!” He yelled once again.

“I dislike yelling. The more someone yells, the more restless I become,” she admitted. “Watch your tempo and I’ll be better. Not perfect, I’m not this sweet girl model that will let you trample her. Do you have any food? I still haven’t eaten today.”

“Food?”

“Yes, mother of your unborn child, forced into this odd situation, has not had any food since her attempted wedding this morning.” She watched as someone crossed her path, leering at her. They knew she didn’t belong and she was not quiet about it. “It’s a crooked plan by a group using advanced technology, I’m not a whore. Mind your own business.”

“They were minding their own business and don’t say that!” Wufei warned her. “Don’t draw attention to yourself.”

“I haven’t,” she insisted. “You are the one still yelling.”

Ah! Honestly. Why? Why couldn’t it have been someone he at least knew? Why couldn’t it have been someone quieter? Reserved. A decent woman. No, no it just had to be a random stranger from an almost enemy colony that had to be chosen! Giving her another place to live wouldn’t be easy. There were empty areas, but then he would have to explain what she was doing there in more detail. He didn’t need anyone interfering in his life than they already had. Then again? If he did get her a place of her own, then the child could be raised by her. He would be a short distance away. He could choose himself how he would conduct himself as a father as time went on. Not much to do in the beginning anyhow. “We will see how you act, Wang Mei-Lin. If you are good, then maybe I will find a place for you.”

She gave a slight nod, but not a committed nod. He continued toward his home with her. Duo had sent him something in a message but he hadn’t checked on it yet. With him, there was no telling what news there would be. If it were terribly important, he would call later.

Food, food, food. The woman wanted food. Wufei checked through his cupboards. Then, as if she couldn’t be more irritating?

“Gluten-free food only.”

Wufei threw a glance her way.

“What is that look?” she complained, yet still in such a low tone. “Meat. Vegetable. The most basic of food that isn't bread. It’s not hard.”

Wufei could do basic. He went to his fridge. Meat. Vegetable. Simple eating. “Cook what you want. I have something to do.” He needed to check out that message Duo left.

“Do you want me to cook you something, or are you a little less useless than Zhang Li?” She asked. He didn’t answer her as he left. He went out the door to start looking into Duo’s files when he noticed residents staring at him. He’d already explained, but not everyone was catching up to it yet. He left off the RTL, and simply tried to-

“That girl is a Zhang,” one of them interrupted his thoughts. “They shouldn’t be here. You want to get all frolicky, do it off the colony.”

Like this man was going to tell him where he was allowed to live? “I already cleared it with the leaders.” The leaders being those who first came there and cared enough about their culture to try and preserve its line.

“What are you doing with her?” another one asked. “I mean, if you want to date away from our culture. Marry even, fine, but from the Zhang colony?”

Wufei ignored that question. He already answered one of them. His life wasn’t their business. He was busy looking through what Duo sent him when-

He threw a single glance at the upstart who ruined his phone. “Kid.” A ten maybe twelve year old just threw a single whack at his phone. He hadn’t wanted to injure it, but now his phone was on the ground. Destroyed. “Where is your mother?” It was a phrase that worked for the weakest of children, to send a tremble through their bones. Yes, it went running behind a woman.

“You should keep a slutty Zhang off of our only home, or get out,” she told him directly. More approached from behind.

Wufei left the phone on the ground. “This is my home, and I won’t be bullied off of it. I asked for permission. I was granted permission. That is that.”

“You didn’t ask us!” The boy said from behind his mother, but stayed hidden behind her.

“Face your opponent when you have something to say,” Wufei demanded of the boy. “Hiding behind your mother only shows your cowardism even more.”

“Don’t call my son a coward,” the woman yelled back at him. “You are the one who are going against it! You should have got permission from everyone, not just the few that were here first. The rest of us say no!”

One woman. No fighting skill. They were really causing this kind of scene about it? “Ridiculous. She doesn’t even fight. I can’t believe you are showing such colors to the only Zhang colonist who ever visited.” If lies got the job done, so be it. “We are trying to show peaceful colors, so that more will not want to cause a fight with us. With these numbers, until more (or if more) can be found, we have no chance of winning. It would be a slaughter.”

“A peace representative?” The woman now looked as sheepishly as she had been and more of the crowd was starting to disperse. “I didn’t know that.”

“It’s foolish to consort with the enemy!” The boy said behind her, but his mother picked him up and hushed him up.

Earth

Noin watched as Zechs tried to help the situation. Things looked grim on his sister right now. No matter how much Zechs vouched for Relena, no one believed. They'd rather believe the Doctor and the medical reports. In most cases, that would be the right move, but it wasn't. All of them knew something was wrong. Heero texted her. Relena was having genuine problems. Yet, the only thing the media was focused on was if Relena had been swayed away from her previous ideals about peace and fighting. Not to mention, bringing up every damn little thing they could get their grubby hands on for Heero's past!

Heero was a private individual. He rarely talked and never about his past. He wasn't someone to open up much about the present, he certainly didn't want to talk about the past, and she could see why. A boy never should have been raised that way. More proof and more eyewitnesses, wherever the vultures could get a story. From his simplest missions they could get any details on, to supposed rumors he was involved in, and even now about the mysterious life of the man who took the great Heero Yuy the colony leader's life so long ago. All for what reason? To know Relena was ignorant and naïve?

Those who believed in Zechs were few with any power. Those who believed Relena was at fault had dominated the media by almost half, with the other part believing she was tricked or lulled into everything by Heero Yuy, the Former Gundam Pilot. The more they dug up on him to show how terrible and tricky he'd been, the more that side of the media thought they were proving the point. Poor Zechs. Poor Relena. Poor Heero. All of them.

Noin just hoped for now that Heero was keeping Miss Relena from seeing the social media at the moment. Let her heal.

Duo and Hilde's Place

"I'm not glass, Duo," Hilde complained as he got up to get her a bowl of popcorn. "I said I'm going to go and get popcorn because I wanted to make my own popcorn."

"You are dreaming." She was going to take it easy as much as possible. Hilde scared the honest crap out of him. Yeah, he was watching after her as careful as he could. Quatre was helping out extra now that he knew what was on the line too. It wasn't work and come home and relax anymore. It was watching her 24/7 and making sure she was okay. She hated it, but she had to live with it. Duo wasn't easing up.

The first time she went in and he heard the news, he'd been sure it had been far progress in the sepsis. She was delirious in that bed, but it was just from the high fever. She was okay and recovering fine but only because he'd been there in time to take action. Any later and who knew what would have happened? Now she was pressing him about his brothers too, this Finn and Gin. She wanted him to leave her behind and go look for them. Yeah, right. Not with her like that. Okay, so there really wasn't a 'like that' but it was too close.

It was just too close.

"Duo, I'm fine," she insisted as he came back over with the fresh popcorn for her. "You should go see them."

"See who?"

Hilde popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "Your brothers. What if they are in danger?"

Ugh. "I seriously doubt they'd just bug a couple of innocent guys, Hilde," Duo said. He watched her toss his phone at him. He looked at it and saw the message 'sure'. "What's that?"

"Trowa saying Catherine and I could hang out while you two go hang out."

Ah! "Hilde."

"What? You can't shove me in the house all day, Duo," Hilde said. "Hanging out with Catherine sounds okay."

"You're gonna get irritated," Duo warned her. "She's not like you. She's a lady." He felt her smack the brim of his baseball cap over his eyes. "I don't get happy ever afters. This is something that could wait."

"Unless RTL is trying anything with them."

"What if RTL is just waiting for me to leave you?" Duo suggested as he fixed his baseball cap and looked back at her. Nah. Duo picked up the phone and retexted Trowa. There. That was agreeable. "I'll go see my brothers, once Trowa comes to watch you."

"Okay."

"Don't worry, Trowa and Catherine are coming to hang out," Duo cheered her up.

" . . . oh." She sighed. "Fine."

"Don't go overboard."

"I know."

"Don't do too much on your own."

"I know." She smiled at Duo. "Fingers crossed, Duo. I bet your brothers are the family you always wanted."

Eh. He wasn't so sure.

Finn's Place

Duo looked at the place. According to the data he got, Hilde had been right. RTL had affected them.

Two brothers, not a thing to do with him.

One of them had been found, dead in the colonies. It was supposed to be the guy Dorothy Catalonia murdered. Yeah. One of his brothers. Damn them. His other brother was currently declared missing and so was that pigheaded guy known as his biological dad. If RTL had bumped his dad off, that would be a nice gesture. His other brother though? The one who died, Finn, was apparently someone that was in the company of prostitution.

This so-called Gin brother was fine. He had nothing to do with those riches, instead working at some fast food joint. He was denying working with Finn and his family business. That's all Duo could find of him now. He'd already checked Gin's place for clues. Not much, but he did find a wire trap at the front. Not a good sign.

The only place now to search for clues was the mansion. If Gin was okay, maybe he just wanted to get away to his brothers to hide? His place definitely wasn't safe.

Duo didn't go up and knock on the door. He never did that. It was never his style. All his years of training never led up to 'knock on the front door and you'd get to the bottom of things'. He skulked around the corner, keeping his hat low as he moved. He looked into the first several windows. The place was definitely classy. Then as he moved farther backwards, he found a sight that he could not believe. 'Aww, shit!' Hilde was right, he should have come sooner! How was he supposed to know?

Tied up in a chair was the picture of the young woman he'd seen. The picture he kept in his memory for Trowa, just in case he ran into her. Middie Une, tied to a chair. She looked terrible. Her arms were bruised, her face was smashed up, and it looked like her leg was at an odd angle of rest. Was it broken? Injured?

His own brother. His own half brother had been abusing the hell out of her. Duo muttered words he rarely muttered as he thought about his own gun. He needed to get her out.

Duo went toward the back and turned all of the security off. As much as Trowa deserved to be the one to rescue her, this was his own blood that hurt her. He was getting her away.

Duo knocked on the front door this time. A direct route was the best way in. He could bullshit his way with a smile, it's what he'd done to lots of people in his life. He watched as Gin answered the door. "Hi there. My name's Duo Maxwell." Damn. This guy looked a lot like him. A darker hair color and slightly different eyes.

"Not looking for cookies at this time," the guy joked. "My brother isn't here anymore. Can I help you there, fella?"

"You bet." This guy's defenses were all the way down. He knew how to beat someone up strapped down and he knew how to command with a gun. His fighting skill would be easy to take down. "Yeah. This guy's my dad." Duo held the picture of his biological father up.

Gin looked toward him. Uncomfortable. No surprise. "You're a half brother?"

"Yep. Visited Earth and just thought it'd be good to see the side of the family I'd never seen," Duo remarked. "Mind if I come in?"

Oh yeah, this guy was definitely nervous, but Duo sort of brushed past him. He had no guard up at all against him. "Nice place. I thought this place belonged to our other one? You said he wasn't here anymore?"

"This was Finn's place," Gin agreed. "He's dead. He was captured and he was found dead in the colonies. He left me his place, but I don't know what to do with it. I don't know what to do with anything." He looked back toward Duo. "You should really go."

"I just got here." Duo strolled toward the back, knowing the way to go. She could be seen before in a distant window on the side of the house. It shouldn't be long.

"Look, i-it's not a good idea, Duo," Gin said as Duo continued to stroll with purpose. "Listen, Man, I don't even know you! Don't make me bury another brother!"

"Yeah, you have an interesting way of seeing things." Duo pushed the doors she was in, wide open. Of course, being a huge place, Gin would come from the side. There was more than one way into the room. Duo had his knife ready to cut her ropes. He gave it to her, knowing he wasn't going to have enough time and pulled out his gun on his brother.

"Hey, get out!" Gin warned him. He had his gun on Duo. "You don't know what's going on. Get out before you get hurt!"

"I can see when someone is getting abused," Duo warned him. "I'm not about to let you continue just because were blood. Blood means nothing to me." He grew up without blood. If he had to kill his own brother, he would. He didn't want to. It was supposed to be a time of peace, an end to the killing. He wouldn't let him continue to hurt her though. Seeing how well she was taking out her own ropes strategically and the look in her eye, Duo moved away to the left.

The effect worked. His brother edged closer into the room. He was on her right. "Get out. Get out before something happens."

Yeah, right. Duo held his gun on him. He didn't want the girl to have to do anything she wasn't ready for, but she had murder in her eyes. To rescue her, meant either she or him took out his brother. "Am I a coward?" He didn't mean to say it out loud. "I don't want to kill you. I think that you're a sick individual, and I'll make sure you go to jail for a long time, but I don't want to kill you." He watched Gin's eyes. They didn't make sense. He'd been coming for Middie, putting on his own show to get back there. This guy did not have the eyes of a killer. "I just hope, that everyone thinks about how important life is." His warning to Middie. He couldn't stop her. He didn't want to, she needed to get out, and once he set her free, she would do as she wished.

Right now, she wished to kill his brother. She was eyeing Gin's gun real well.

"What you've been doing is sick, but you haven't killed anyone," Duo said, speaking more to Middie but acting like it was his brother. "At least, not in a long time. Mercy is a harder thing to grant."

Then, he watched as Middie Une moved from her chair, grabbed Gin's gun, rolled and-

Shot out the door past Gin? Duo heard a loud scream then the word 'dad' from Gin. Not an anxious happy 'dad' or even a sad 'dad'. Then?

Sometimes, riding in an impenetrable machine like a Gundam made you forget some things. Like, you're human. Like, everyone makes mistakes. Duo was reminded of that as he found that same gun on him.

By Middie Une. "Leave us alone!" She held the gun at Duo. "Why can't RTL just leave me alone? I don't want to do this anymore." She held the gun straight at Duo's head.

"Not the enemy," Duo insisted. Gin was right, he didn't have all the facts. She just killed his dad, and she was siding with Gin.

"Come on, One Song, let's go." Gin said. "No more killing. There's only one person we have to kill. Then we'll be safe."

Duo would have tried to take the gun, Gin didn't know a thing about guarding, but Middie Une clearly did. Trowa was right, she was definitely trained as a spy. "Can I say something?"

"No!" Another voice. Definitely an older woman. He recognized her too. Gin's mom. "Give me the gun Middie and you two get going."

Gin grabbed Middie Une's hand as she gave the gun to the woman.

Duo watched the woman carefully. She was good at her skills too. She wasn't even blinking, she'd shoot him dead. "Can we talk about this?"

"What's there to talk about?" she insisted.

"My name's Duo Maxwell." He had to find a way to bust through to her. "Don't I look even a little familiar? I'm half brother to Gin and Finn." The woman was biting her bottom lip. "I only came in because I saw a young lady in here getting hurt. That's all."

"You sound just like him," she muttered. "I am not surprised there is a half brother to my son. This was not a time to show up though, and I can't believe that is the only reason you are here."

"Please? Lady, I've got a kid on the way too," Duo said. "You're good at reading people, I can tell. Does it look like I'm lying? I'm not. I just wanted to help."

"Then leave them alone," she told him. "Go and forget you ever saw this place. They should be safely away now." She sniffed.

"I can't." No way. "She's pregnant."

"I know." The woman knew? "She is being used by RTL. She's not perfect. My sons weren't perfect." She shrugged. "RTL are monsters in the guise of pacifists. They do nothing but torture, and after burying my first, I may have to bury my second!"

"Let me help then." She didn't seem like she wanted to shoot anymore. There had been a time delay. Why was she here? Why was that so-called biological father here? Why did Middie Une run with Gin? "Ahhh, okay." Yeah. Duo was putting two and two together. "One of your sons. They are the dad you think?"

"Yes," she said. "Of course, but it's not fair. RTL can reach anywhere." She moved away from the center of the room.

"You got it backwards, your sons aren't the dad," Duo tried to tell her before she left. "Really. I wasn't lying when I said I had an unborn waiting on me. I was a gundam pilot, Lady. They want revenge on us, not your small time boys. Think about it."

"Gundam pilots?" Ooh. She started to come back into the room. He was getting somewhere. "What are they up to then?"

"I don't know, but the mother of my future kid just survived sepsis, and my mom died of it," Duo admitted.

"They are killing the mother of your children, the same way your mothers died." She was almost ready to believe. "That is their fashion, I could see that. It makes more sense. Your father was absolute trash. Finn was . . . iffy? Gin never did anything, he was my good boy. He only puts on a show, he never does anything wrong. RTL was for revenge against children, it made no sense. None of them fought in the war."

"Yeah. He was a coward, evading all capture." Duo's father. "Can you tell me what was going on?" If she just believed him.

"I came over and I helped reason things out. We were getting her something cold to eat, packing up the car, and I was going to take her back to her home," she said. "Then he showed up. Courteousy of RTL releasing him. He came in, told us the deal. That Middie Une was pregnant with Finn's child, also thanks to RTL."

Yeah. Duo could see how this was going. "Who hurt her?"

"I told you. I reasoned things out with her," she repeated harder.

Duo stared at her. "You." He sneered. "Middie was ready to shoot your ex. Why not you?"

"I reasoned it out," she said again. "I didn't say anything about what he did or did not do. I won't get mixed up with his business again."

Frak! Be nice, get to the bottom of it. "Ah. So, I'll go explain what I know to your son before he ends up getting his butt in trouble. That's what's about to happen, right?"

"Nearest Space Shuttle, I used a favor to get tickets," she insisted. "RTL enjoys making people become what they don't want to become." She sighed. "He has to go kill the one who killed his brother, or she has to." She sniffed. "Then they will leave her alone."

Got it. Good. She could buzz off now. When he had nothing else to give her, she started to leave. "I better call Trowa."

"Trowa?!" She came right back, but this time Duo was out of the line of fire. He was running, her with that gun on him. "I will kill you before you reach Trowa Barton!"

Whoah! What the hell did they say about Trowa?

Duo had a few facts now. First, he had to call Trowa. He was going to be closer to the first shuttle area than he had been, and Middie Une was his responsibility. Two, that so-called 'mom' was part of the roughing up of Middie Une so she didn't get any sympathy from him. And three? That Middie Une was aiming heavily for his dad. That old ex-wife could call that guy trash but she didn't tell Duo what he did.

Blood relatives? "Who needs them," he said as he picked up his phone. He'd rather have reliable people he trusted any day.

"Duo," Trowa answered right away. "I'm sorry, Catherine is watching Hilde. I had to go, someone tripped my wire camera."

Uh. First sign right there. Think, Duo, think sometimes. "Yeah, that was me. I found Middie," he said as he moved to his car. Now he really needed to get home, what did Catherine know about defense? He didn't know and didn't want to find out. "Listen, Trowa. You've got a big problem. You need to get to the nearest Space Shuttle between us. You should actually be closer," he reasoned. "Oh and yeah, there's this old witch out here that started gunning for me when I said your name. I think RTL made up some kind of lie about you being the enemy." He jumped into his car, finally reaching it, still evading fire. "Second." He started it up and barely got out in time. That woman was a good shot, she was going for the kill too. He moved back to the phone. "Sorry, getting shot at and all that. Anyhow, Middie thinks someone else is the dad."

"What?"

"Yeah, and you are apparently part of RTL or something, trying to hunt her down so be careful. Call me back later." When he could talk better.

Private Shuttle

Middie looked at the shuttle. I can’t believe this. It felt like her worst nightmare. At least Gin was being a supportive Uncle. She never even knew Finn. Gin was relaxing on the shuttle with her, trying to dab her face.

“You got blood on you again when you fell.” He tried to gently wipe her cheek. “Sorry, One Song. I really am.”

He had been. Middie knew that, still he couldn’t stop it or say anything. He was under the thumb of both his mother and father. He told her if she had the chance, she should take the hit on his dad. But his mom? Oh no, she was off limits. Her hitting was for good. It just helped them determine the truth better. Sure. Meanwhile his father?

“How’s the splint?” Gin looked at her hand that she didn’t use for a gun.

Middie nodded. At least the enemy didn’t see it. If he realized the finger on her other hand was broken, he probably wouldn’t have given her the knife. Why did he do that? She didn’t know but she didn’t trust anyone trying to be friendly right now. It could just be a trap to get her comfortable. There was no reason anyone would go out of their way to rescue her. They would only go out of their way to kill her.

“Don’t worry, real soon. They’ve got some kind of quarantine thing going on according to mom,” he told her. “It’s real hard to shut us out though. We’ll get this Dorothy Catalonia.”

We’ll? Big talker, but Middie would probably be the one who had to fire. They had nothing to gain from me. It wasn’t about that though. The present wasn’t a thing to RTL. It wanted justice for the past, even if she hadn’t done anything personally to children, she knew now why she was selected. “Do you have the pictures on you?”

“Yep. Made small ones too for the wallet,” Gin said as he showed it to her. “I won’t forget it. Dorothy Catalonia. Smug face.” He showed it to her. She took it with her better hand. “Platinum blondie, just like you. A bad girl though, unlike you,” he pointed out. He took out the second picture. “Catherine Bloom. If you see her, let me know right away.”

Sure, so he can hide. Catherine Bloom. Catherine Bloom, No Name’s sister. Catherine and No Name both lost their parents, and for a long time, each other in a raid. No Name would have been so young still, almost a baby.

Middie didn’t want to believe it. No Name sounded so sincere when he was at her apartment, but he was No Name. A poker face. Reading him was impossible. Besides, once she had the information, it was easy to look it up. She could look it up right now. Catherine Bloom had fit the absolute bill. The right time. Lost a sibling and her parents during an air raid. Perfect case. Why wouldn’t No Name be helping his sister? Just wait now. She handed the pictures back.

“I doubt we’ll run into this Bloom girl, so don’t worry,” Gin said to her. “She’s on Earth. All we gotta do is find and take care of Catalonia. We are going to bring her to justice.”

Middie had played the ‘stick ‘em up, we’re kidnapping game’ before. Never worked out. Unless Catalonia went peacefully, they would have to shoot her to make RTL happy. It was the only good thing about having Gin’s dad show up. She knew what was wrong, what was at stake, and what to do. It was the only thing good about him showing back up. Gin put the pictures back in his wallet.

“I hear it’s pretty up there,” Gin told her. “Maybe after all this is over, we should go up there. Mom would lend us the money to get started.”

“Maybe,” she muttered. Middie didn’t know what to pick for her future right now. Gin was offering help, and so was his wretched mother. Her baby was Finn’s, and that made it family to Gin’s mother. While it made it family, ‘Uncle’ Gin wanted to take care of Middie strongly away from the family. Something she couldn't disagree with considering the options.

“We’ll get this squared away first, then we’ll decide,” he told her. “Momma says you gotta be in permanently, either way. You’re carrying Finn’s baby.”

“I know.” A little rougher than she meant to be.

“Inheritance, shady family, you’re in more trouble being separate,” Gin said again. “Up there, we’ll be free if you just want to live the same kind of life as before. If you want more, we have to stay down. Either way. August? That’s not too far along.”

“Fine.”

“Maybe September? That pushing it?” Gin asked her.

“September is fine.” Any day would be fine. “Any arrangements you want from flowers to guests to music.” Middie Une didn’t need to be involved in it. She wanted no part of it! That wasn’t an option with Gin’s family. Crime families didn’t accept ‘no’ for an answer. Even though Gin said he’d just go to outer space and take care of her, his mom shut it down real quick. Whether they wanted part in business or to be separate, a wedding would happen. The heavy bruising on her face alone was a reminder from his mother. She wouldn’t embarrass them.

“No part at all?” Gin asked again.

“No.” Then, she tried to give him the nicest but fakest smile she could muster after all the hell. “Weddings aren’t my thing but it’s okay. I’ve been through worse.” Much worse. “You know why I killed your dad.”

“Yeah, I can guess.” He tried to hold her good hand. “I’ll never know what mom saw in him.”

She knew. Gin said it once before while his mother was there at the mansion, and when Middie uttered the word ‘money’, she earned the ability to limp from that woman. Gin was okay. His family was not. His dad. His mom. What was the rest of his family like? She didn’t want to think about it. “The colonies.” Yeah. Gin was right, it did sound nicer. Living from day to day on minimum wage. It was a much better lifestyle than staying down there with his mother. She felt the shuttle starting to move. Goodbye a chance at a normal life.

She had to get drug back in again. She tried to do it all correctly. A decent job. Her paintings. Nothing nefarious. No more spy work. Still, RTL dragged her back into the hell. A killer or not, she still had to end a young woman’s life, the same age as hers. She still had to be No Name’s enemy.

Then afterward, she had to be married into a crime family, pulling her own child into a dangerous life she never would have chose for it.

“Middie!”

Aye? That voice. That was rare. She knew it, but to hear it shout? She turned around and already saw No Name.

“Don’t worry, we’ve already lifted off,” Gin assured her. “There’s no way someone like him is getting through to the colonies right now, not with this quarantine. It took beaucoup bucks to get through just for us. It’s okay.”

Middie felt him pat her back as she continued to stare below. No Name didn’t look like he was out for blood. When he was at her apartment, he didn’t seem like he was out for blood. He looked . . . hard to tell with him. Always hard to tell, and now too far away.

“One person and it’s done,” Gin assured her one more time. “One evil killer, one gun, and it’s done, One Song. I promise.” He held her hand.

It was no self-assurance.

-----------------------------------------

Convenience Store Near Duo and Hilde’s Place

“Are you done yet?” Catherine asked through the door.

“Not yet.” Hilde looked at her pregnancy test. Duo never let up on her for a moment’s peace, and she didn’t want to stress him out any extra. Especially with all the others turning up pregnant, but so far, everyone was confirmed through hospitals.

It really was ridiculous, and she knew it. There was no way it would be anything but positive. Even Relena Peacecraft was now on the run because of her confirmation in the colonies. Still. Those had all been by blood, and by professionals.

It wouldn’t hurt to just take a few minutes to see it for herself. These pregnancies were ruining lives, and just . . . exhausted every avenue. As soon as Trowa left from a tripped wire, she asked Catherine to come and buy a quick pregnancy test just down the block. It was her main purpose to get Duo to see his brother’s in the first place, hoping somehow Trowa would have to leave. Once her luck was made, she wasted no time in dragging out Catherine and heading out.

They brought their phones and she was in the bathroom of the convenience store, not wanting to leave a trace of evidence to make Duo question good or bad.

And . . .

Catherine knocked on the door again. “Trowa won’t take long, he won’t risk us being out like this because he had promised to watch you. I really shouldn’t even be here. Hilde?”

Hilde opened the door to look at her big bouncing red curls. “Catherine. Get me another test.” She had to be double sure. Catherine went to pay for another test and gave it to her. Hilde took it one more time. She checked the expiration date on them.

She came back out the door and looked at her.

“Hilde?” Catherine questioned. “What is it?”

Hilde didn’t answer at first.

Catherine gasped, holding her hand to her face. “That’s impossible though, isn’t it? Everyone else is.”

Hilde went back into the bathroom and pitched them into the trash before coming back with a smile. “It’s just what you’d expect!” She slapped on a smile and sighed. “I’m so relieved. Sometimes, a girl just wants to see for herself.” Yet, Catherine caught that undertone. Hilde headed back straight to the apartment, Catherine right behind her.

Hilde didn’t understand but she had to see Duo. If this was the case. If this was real?

Then somehow, a whole force that could overtake all the hospitals and evidence was overtaking her life, even in the colonies. Her last trip to the hospital with her fever, even they confirmed she was pregnant, but two of those cheap tests said otherwise.

Until she knew what was going on, she wasn’t going to risk telling Duo over the phone or saying anything out loud. Not until they were safe and alone back at home.

------------------------------------

When Duo arrived back home, he wasn’t in the greatest mood. One of his brothers was terrible and dead. The other was just terrible, his biological father was dead, he was shot at and to top it all off? He found Middie Une, and Trowa didn’t make it to her before she left Earth.

There was a quarantine right now too. Getting through wouldn’t be easy.

Yeah. Duo needed some good news. “Hey? So?” She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a little smile and a pat on the shoulder. “If it makes you feel better, I’m not pregnant.”

Of course, his body shot straight up. “What do you mean?”

“Duo? How much power do you think the ones that are getting us all pregnant have?” Hilde asked first. “I mean, getting five women pregnant in one go, during one tonsillectomy surgery, is pretty impressive.”

Duo didn’t know how to answer that at first. “It’s some kind of contraption, guarantees pregnancy the first time. The inventor must work inside RTL. That’s Quatre’s theory.”

“If that were the case,” Hilde pressed, “then are there guaranteed studies of it?”

“Quatre’s heard of it.” Now Duo was starting to look at her funny. “Out with it Hilde, what do you mean you aren’t pregnant?”

“Duo. I don’t think you . . .” No, that wasn’t the way to put it. “They want to make you suffer. They want you and the pilots to feel the loss of innocence in your lives, and RTL thinks losing a friend that bore your child would be fair.” Hilde didn’t know how else to say it. “If we’re killed before we even get big enough to justify physically than we were pregnant, than it kind of works.”

Duo just gawked at her. “Hilde Schbeiker, out with it.”

“I think that technology isn’t quite up to speed. I ran off with Catherine while you were gone,” she admitted. Before he could yell, she continued, “and I scored a negative on two cheap pregnancy tests.”

Duo stopped. “What?” Anger. Boiling. “You promised you wouldn’t do much while I was gone.”

“I crossed my fingers,” Hilde covered. “You thought it meant for good luck I guess.” Yeah. Deceiving. “It was worth it to me, Duo, but I didn’t want to worry you. It’s just that all of the testing was done at the hospitals except one. We all thought they were making us pregnant, but what if they are faking all of that too? What if it really is just the feelings they want to stir?”

Except one though. “That was a cheap test. The first test, Hilde,” Duo pointed out. “What? You think Revenge of the Lost actually snuck into our place and replace your test with an expired or jinxed one?” He almost chuckled, but he saw her expression.

“There’s a lot of people in it,” she said. “If they are in the colonies too. I know it sounds ridiculous, but, I didn’t even want to say anything out loud in the convenient store. Maybe they are even watching us here. Even now.”

“Oh, man.” Holy crap. “They were watching us that closely at home?” Replacing a pregnancy test?

“Yeah, and. Well, I went home with it and used it right away in the colony,” Hilde said. “So, I don’t think they snuck into our place per say. I think they reasoned where I’d get it. My favorite store I shopped at for us. So, I mean, they couldn’t be that powerful. Right? Could they have replaced the tests at the time they knew I needed to buy one? If so, that’s . . . that’s a lot power, Duo, but I don’t see any other way.”

“Damn it! Yeah, that is power, but money makes power strong. Real strong. Heero and Wufei was right this whole time!”

“Maybe,” Hilde agree. “Maybe they really were doing something though. An old-fashioned random test at a random spot that nobody could possibly set up is the only way to know the truth. For all we know, maybe I was just a glitch?”

Ugh. “Okay.” He smiled. “Well, at least my butts out of the fire.” Hm. “I need to let the guys know too.” Hilde was right. RTL didn’t have to sacrifice unborns to make them pay. They just had to make them think so.

So close together. Using the same tonsillectomy excuse. Making sure the hospital was the one with the positive testing. Confiscating every single surgery, like something happened in it. Damn!

Instead of hiding the fact they were using some advanced technology . . . they might be hiding the fact they weren’t! So far, not one pilot had found any kind of footage. Except, maybe? “Great news, Hilde, but I need to make an important call first, before we go much further.”

-------------------------------

Wufei sat in a chair, deciding on what to do when his phone rang. “Duo Maxwell.” He learned some time ago to not ignore his calls. Not like this time it was going to be-

“Hilde took a test and she’s negative for pregnancy.”

Okay, nevermind what he previously thought. “What?”

“Hilde took a test when I left her alone with Trowa. I tripped Trowa’s wire at Middle Une’s and – we’ll get into that later – anyhow, she took the time to buy a cheap test and take it. Negative.”

Negative? “The doctors. The nurses. Hospital staff.” They couldn’t all be in on it.

“Wufei, Hilde thinks maybe that technology that helped get them pregnant, might not have happened. We all psychologically and emotionally suffer if the women and unborn die, whether the unborn are real or not.”

Agh! “I was right in the first place, Maxwell!” He was ready to throttle Duo. All this trouble with his colony to bring Mei-Lin there and for what?

“Look, they might not all be fake. Hilde could be a glitch,” Duo pointed out, “but Mei-Lin was released from jail, right?”

Hm? “Yes, she’s here with me. No longer in prison, or on her colony.” Damn. He had to get a cheap test and do the same thing to know for sure.

“She got out ‘cause of proof, right? Does she have any footage of the surgery? Is it in her proof?”

Wufei didn’t even think about that, he’d been focused on getting her out. “Woman,” Wufei addressed her from in front of him. “Do you have any surgery videos in proof of your innocence?”

“With my should-have-been husband,” she said.

Oh. “It’s with the one she should have married, Duo.”

“You got to go get it and see it. We gotta know for sure what’s on it.”

“Sure, after I get her a test,” Wufei insisted.

“Look, it’s early days, Wufei. There’s a reason Hilde didn’t want me to know about the tests. They could be wrong. Especially in the colonies, I don’t know how that all works out, or if they have the exact same tests. Space is different in nearly everything.”

“I get it.” It might be different. “If there is a visual of it happening, I would be more satisfied.” Still. If she wasn’t pregnant, life would be so much better again. As annoying as it was, he had to contact Li Zhang.

Awkward. They had said all they needed to say, and now he had to waste time speaking to him again. When he answered, it wasn’t kindly. He made his request though and soon had a download waiting on his phone. Two downloads waiting on his phone. He sent him the one of the murder as well. Hm.

He hit play.

Mei-Lin was on a surgery table, unconscious. Nothing was happening. A doctor that looked like he was from the Zhang colony came in and set to work. Wufei fast-forwarded the download. Of course, for a tonsillectomy, it would look strange not to remove them. He didn’t need to watch that.

“What are you watching?” Mei-Lin insisted. “From the conversation half I heard, it sounds like you are watching a video that you shouldn’t be.”

“Woman, I don’t care right now about your personal or private needs,” he said so lovingly. “None of us pilots have seen this footage yet.”

“Li Zhang has,” she said, “and if it was wrong, I would be dead right now.”

Wufei ignored her.

“You are just like him,” she said coldly. “Your respect is gone.”

Wufei glanced at her lightly. Tricky. If it showed the procedure without any covering, or if anything else happened to her that revealed her body, then it should be viewed only by a future husband. He could simply let her watch it and tell him, but if she were somehow in on this herself? She could lie. He knew nothing her either. Plus, the other pilots would want to know for sure about the video.

What he would pick wouldn’t sound the best, but technically it would have to work. “Your colony already thinks you are a bought woman right now, so this shouldn’t be in the same matter of rank as physical contact.” She would have to deal with that.

While annoyed, she couldn’t say anything and went to sit further away from him. Discontent wouldn’t bother him. Wufei watched as someone came into the room on the video. “What?” It looked like Dorothy Catalonia. No, not quite, but almost. They tried to get her brows but were a little off. She always had a strange kind of smirk this imposter didn’t have too. Wufei could detect fake enemies.

She was holding some kind of square device. Was that supposed to be the invention that guaranteed pregnancy? Only research had been done on it. She bent down beneath the sheet a few minutes.

When she came back up, she left. What the hell? Was it real? It could be real. Then again, it might not be. What was that? He called Duo back up. “Someone did something, but it was a square apparatus. A covering maybe, I couldn’t see anything. No needles and no switches.”

“Hm. Can’t say for sure? Then maybe that’s what they want. I mean, they must have planned to have that footage come out to clear her.”

“The acting doctor of it all looked like Dorothy Catalonia, but she was a clear fake,” Wufei revealed. “Catalonia has a way about herself. The imposter didn’t have it, nor would she be anywhere near that colony. She was an outsider, it wouldn’t be easy to get in there.”

“Besides which, Dorothy Catalonia is no medical professional,” Duo agreed. “Yeah, that whole thing sounds setup.”

If it was, then Wufei could get her back sooner. “I will have her take a test again, just in case. If it’s negative, I’ll give it a little time.” An elaborate setup. That was good because he was a fighter, not a father. “Woman. We are getting you a pregnancy test to take from my colony.”

“Say please,” she teased. “I already had it confirmed.”

“I don’t trust anything from anyone. We are going to take a test from my colony, and no place else,” he insisted. “Go.”

Catherine was quiet on the way back home. Once Duo came and told her what happened, she didn’t expect Trowa to be in any kind of a good mood. He had Middie Une so close again. “Sorry, Trowa.” It’s all she could say.

“It’s not your fault, Cathy,” Trowa said simply. “I will find a way to reach her.”

“Yeah.” She championed his thought. “At least we know she’s okay, and she’s going to the colonies. Somewhere.” Okay, not the best. No. Trowa was an excellent tracker, and he had friends who could help him. “She’s safe at least.”

“Yes. She’s safe.” Trowa didn’t say much else. She didn’t expect him to.

-----------------------------

Quatre’s Home

The social media. Heero wanted to forget it all, why did it have to go so deep into his past? He turned off another rumor that popped up on his computer while he tried to figure out where to go. What to do. He could only stay with Quatre so long, he couldn’t live his life out there with Relena.

He heard his phone beep. Wufei. He read his text. It could be false? What? Wufei said that Hilde Schbeiker wasn’t pregnant, and the woman carrying his supposed child was negative so far too. Heero didn’t know about space pregnancy tests, but Earth pregnancy, that should be correct. Revenge of the Lost. They wanted to spare innocent children, or the technology wasn’t as perfect as they thought. “I’ll be back, Relena. Don’t answer the door. I’m locking it.” He’d get at least three different brands. “I’ll unlock when I come back, I won’t knock.” Without saying anything else, he left.

Three pregnancy tests. If she had been false, he could safely get her to Zeches. Her brother would make damn sure no one got near her again. Zeches would stake his life on it, and she could have her own back. Meanwhile, Heero and the others would take down Revenge of the Lost, once and for all.

Please. Let him have Duo and Wufei’s luck.

“Heero!” Quatre ran in from behind on him. He was breathing rapidly. “I just got a text from Duo.”

“Yeah, I got from Wufei. I’m going now,” Heero insisted.

“Wait, you’re wanted,” Quatre insisted. “Let me get some help to go for us instead. We can’t risk anyone being discovered.”

Heero would not have been discovered, but if Quatre went out there too, he might be. He doubted Quatre wanted to just send him for extra tests either. “Three different brands. Early, the most expensive, and the least expensive. Nowhere near here, we shouldn’t risk any nearby pharmacy being in a coup with Revenge of the Lost.”

"Doubtful. They'd come after us in the first place." Hmm. "You mean, you think whole pharmacies in any nearby vicinity to a gundam pilot could have been bribed?" Oh yeah, that look. Wow. "Got it. We'll get it all the way from the other side of the colony." Quatre risked a smile. "Let's hope we have the others luck. That this whole thing was just about damaging our feelings and manipulating us."

“Yeah.” Heero wasn’t so sure about that though. That was risky, doing such a thing. One out of the way pregnancy test would reveal the truth. That didn’t seem like a fault RTL would let slide through.

Maybe there was something wrong with the technology that guaranteed perfect invitro Quatre believed it to be.

-------------------------------

Revenge of the Lost Headquarters

“Crystalia?”

Crystalia turned her head to one of her workers in the computer center. They were making great progress in everything, but her assistant showed her something disturbing. “Oh no.” They had technology to track where the footage they gave Li Zhang had gone. It was to the new Long colony. “Bring up the hidden footage near Chang Wufei’s home.”

Crystalia’s assistant keyed her way into what was needed. Footage of the outside of Wufei’s home, a little far, but close enough to visually see. Wufei and Mei-Lin were both leaving the house and walking away. If he didn’t trust that footage? Why wouldn’t he trust that footage. There was a reason he even wanted the footage.

“Crystalia?” Her assistant looked toward her. “Now what?”

“Check the process outside of the Maxwell home.” Also, a similar setup. Less concealed since they wouldn’t even know it didn’t belong there. They were only on Earth for the pregnancy. They went back several hours and watched Hilde Schbeiker leave with Catherine Bloom. No Duo Maxwell around. “That must be it.”

Why? Why did they have to check? It was foolproof. Why waste time with cheap tests when doctors confirmed it? When it happened to all the others? “Damn it!” It didn’t work? “Move forward ‘til they get back.” The screen wasn’t blank for too long. “Zoom in.” The camera zoomed in on their expressions. Catherine Bloom was uncertain, but Hilde Schbeiker’s look? Determined. Angry.

It wasn’t perfect.

“Crystalia, what is going on over here?”

Her superior from Support of the Loss. “Checking surveillance videos,” she insisted. “Standard procedure.”

“Up close?” She moved closer to view Hilde Schbeiker’s face that was frozen on screen, zoomed in. “What’s standard procedure of this zooming in then? What’s she so concerned about?”

Shit. “The technology we used was still under research. Very great research,” Crystalia insisted. “I suspect she may have taken her own test and come up negative. Nothing’s perfect.”

Her superior grinded her teeth. “She isn’t pregnant? Why did no one say she was not?”

“All of the doctors were told to lie about the same thing, just in case,” Crystalia’s assistant said. “We didn’t need to go through the whole nine months, so I don’t think it really-“

Crystalia watched as her assistant was no more. Her superior had shot her, then and there, straight through the head. Crystalia didn’t show any unexpected surprise. It was a rare gift she always had, and right now, it was a life saver as that same gun was now pointed at her head.

“Why did no one say she was not?” Her superior asked her. “Is it the same for anyone else?”

“Knowing they’d be killed or their families destroyed for betraying us, the doctors must have knowingly hid it,” she said casually.

“Then this doesn’t work. It has to be all of them.” Her superior stared at the woman on screen. “Hilde Schbeiker. A soldier. All of the lives she stole in war. All of the lives Duo Maxwell mercilessly took, and now they are off the hook.”

Crystalia kept her poker face tight as the gun once again flew into her face.

“How many other doctors could be lying?” she demanded from her. “How many and why didn’t anyone check their lies?”

“Only they would know. Only they were in the surgery,” Crystalia insisted. “No one would check because the video footage confiscated showed they all did as they said, and the pregnancy should have been foolproof.”

“Then we will make it foolproof.” Her superior stared at the picture on the screen. She seemed to be burning Hilde Schbeiker’s image into her mind. “Is it because she is from outer space?”

“I suspect,” Crystalia answered. That was honest. There was little to no evidence the method used on Earth worked elsewhere. “More footage is found of Wufei leaving with Mei-Lin. If hers is fake, then perhaps outer space jeopardizes it. Either being out there in it, or the body being born in it. There is much to know about science and space on the human body even now.” Her superior’s look had gone white. She knew why.

“Is Relena Dorlain pregnant.” A command of an answer. Immediately.

“I don’t have any access to that knowledge. This is the first time we have witnessed this,” Crystalia answered.

“She had better be. Of any of them, she has to be.” Her superior chewed on her nail. “She has to be. Of all of them, he needs to pay. Heero Yuy must pay personally, along with the rest of them.” She removed her hand from her mouth. “We won’t dismiss this. Go after every one that is confirmed not to be pregnant. We will steal them away for months, and this time? The pilots won’t even see them.” She gripped her hands tighter. “We’ll secure them. We’ll send footage so that they can see them, but they’ll never find them.”

Crystalia didn’t risk moving. She looked insane.

“A young mercenary, just like them,” her Superior continued. “Just like they used to be, that will be the killer. Before or after though? In labor, or after labor? Through the both of them after a final baby’s scream, or right before it breathes its first gasp of air? We’ll decide.” She finally took her eyes off the screen. “Good work, Crystalia. We’ll get this figured out.” She gestured to the body of her assistant. “Clean this up.”

Crystalia shouldn’t, yet, something inside compelled her to do it. “All Earthling women who were impregnated on Earth should be pregnant. It’s only space that is unexplored research.”

“I don’t care, check everyone,” her Superior insisted. “The plans have changed, and the beauty of the revenge has shattered! They can’t all be punished the same way!” She stared at the screen longer again before walking away. “Dispose of any of the lying doctors, their families, and see to it all threats against them are carried out!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Crystalia would not fool around. Only the ex-spy was supposed to pay, but if the plan was ruined . . .

Only the ex-spy that hurt Triton in the first place. No one would have to feel bad about it. Middie wasn’t a friend. Middie wasn’t even an unknown acquaintance that would cause any sense of mourning. Middie killed Triton’s crew, those who took care of him when he was young. Triton wouldn’t have been burdened with taking care of Middie until it was necessary. She’d be gone, forced to stay hidden away, but Crystalia had decent plans for when it was time, and then Triton and Catherine would have brought it into their lives in the circus. Happy circus.

Happy circus.

Quatre, a dear friend to her son. Simply lost a Catalonia. The war mongrel needed to die anyway. Wufei Chang, a simple woman he didn’t even know. No chain of friendship, easy to terminate. Of course, Schbeiker was a soldier. She already put her life on the line once, it was good enough. Relena Dorlain though. There was no choice in her case.

It had to be her. No one else would hurt as much as her for Heero Yuy, and the Superior wouldn’t have it any other way. Even though Relena Dorlain led the world with pacifism, and still sought to do the right thing between the Earth and colonies? She could not be spared.

At all.

Her Superior never even gave a code name, just had Superior written on her lapel. Crystalia had no idea about where she came from, or her past. She wouldn’t go snooping, lest the Superior snooped back into her past and found Triton as well.

Crystalia would let sleeping dogs lie or they’d all have unburied secrets exposed.

“No.”

Relena had not seen that coming over the course of the day. She was standing beside Zeches, in the middle of Quatre’s living room, with Heero not letting Zeches take her. After finding out about the possibly fake test, she and Dorothy were prepared to take tests. However?

Space was different. Earth was different. They could take the test but it said right on the packaging, it could not guarantee results to anyone that had lived less than three years in space.

Quatre had then made the brief recommendation, more to be polite than accepted, that he could have his doctor examine them. Heero didn’t even need to say a thing.

RTL could have threatened someone his doctor loved. They could easily do it, they had the resources to move on any threat. Deciding there was no choice but Earth pregnancy tests, Heero gave control of a secure line to her.

Zeches came with cheap tests, but also with the will to have his own personal doctor examine her, and Heero was fighting him on the point. “My doctor’s go through rigorous training and trusted trials. He has taken care of me for years, and I trust his judgment. She needs to be looked at and confirmed by a trustworthy doctor.”

“No one is trustworthy if RTL gets to them.” Heero wouldn’t hear of it. “No.”

“Relena,” Zeches looked toward her. “I did locate imported pregnancy tests, but it will do little good. They are emergency tests and only for evaluation purposes. It says right on the boxes that an Earth test taken to outer space will not give accurate results either.”

That way too? To take an accurate Earth pregnancy test, the test had to stay on Earth. “No wonder we couldn’t find any imported.” She looked back toward Heero. Was there any other choice? Short of going back to the Earth. With quarantine happening, that would take time, unless Zeches knew of an isolated and safe path. “We have to trust somewhere, Heero.”

“Not there.” Simple, secure words. Heero wasn’t backing down. “Any doctor by you means he also used to work for the alliance, for Oz, and anything else you ever worked for.”

“One exam, and this could all be cleared up. Relena could be out of this mess,” Zeches insisted.

“One exam, and a negative could become positive,” Heero came right back with.

“No, it can’t. You would need the best luck there is without whatever technology RTL had been using, and you’ve already proved that it is flawed,” Zeches pointed out.

“It’s still a chance.”

“She can’t be out like this with a previous gundam pilot, it’s going to get her killed!”

“I am watching out for her. She isn’t going to get killed. Going to a doctor is not happening.”

“Fine then, then I will take her and do my best to get through the quarantine sections,” Zeches insisted. “It will take at least five days to crawl through it safely.”

“No.”

“Then what do you want to do?” Zeches demanded. “She needs a doctor. She needs to be accurately tested. You can’t get any of that here.”

“Zeches is right, Heero,” Quatre sided with him. “We need to trust someone or wait until they are undeniably pregnant. We have to make it back down to Earth.”

“Where on Earth? Places I know aren’t safe anymore.”

Relena watched Quatre’s movements. He didn’t seem comfortable with the question Heero threw at him. He’d rather we all go back to Earth than with Zeches’ doctor.

“This is utterly ridiculous,” Zeches spoke up. “Quatre Raberba Winner, you have your own doctor, do you not?”

“We just need a blood test,” Quatre pointed out to them. “That’s it. If we watch the doctors draw blood and perform the blood test, it should be good enough. My doctors have their own lab, it won’t take long.” He looked toward Dorothy. “Would that be fine, Miss Dorothy?”

Dorothy nodded. “That sounds fine, Mister Winner. As long as it stays that simple.”

Okay. “I agree then,” Relena said.

“At first,” Zeches added. “If it’s negative, then you need to be examined physically to get the press and media off of your reputation and good name.”

“With an eyewitness.” Heero just had to drop that into the conversation.

“If she’s negative, I can handle it from there,” Zeches insisted firmly to Heero. Heero’s eyes didn’t back down from his.

“If she’s negative, then I won’t risk her becoming positive during an exam. Full hospitals on Earth, the colonies, her personal physician with suspicions of nearby pharmacies and stores have all been involved with Revenge of the Lost. Revenge of the Lost has Support of the Loss’ budget and loyalty of members.” Heero made the point clear. “They can be anywhere.”

“I can be in the room with you, Miss Relena,” Dorothy volunteered. “Would that be suitable for everyone?”

“That should work,” Quatre agreed, but Heero looked skeptical. “Heero. She’s pregnant too.”

“She hadn’t always been on the right side.” Heero glanced at her.

“Are you kidding?” Oh, Dorothy was certainly offended. “I would not falsify watching someone hurt Miss Relena! I never would do such a thing, even during the wars.” She turned her back on Heero. “We are all in this terrible predicament together, and I only want to help her. After all, who will watch her, Heero Yuy? Will it be her own brother in that room, you, or both of you?”

“Me,” Heero answered.

“You are not needed in that room, I can handle it,” Zeches told Heero. “A personal matter does not involve an amateur.”

“If something goes wrong, Relena and I are the ones that pay,” Heero came right back on him.

“Okay, enough,” Quatre interrupted. “First things first. Everyone can be present with a blood exam. If it’s positive, then there’s no reason to argue the second point. If it’s negative, then the argument between the three of you can continue privately.”

Agreed.

------------------------------

Not long after talking to Quatre’s doctor, they got the next set of bad news.

A blood test would also be different in space.

“This is beginning to border on ridiculous,” Dorothy said, confronting Quatre’s doctor. “Fine then, don’t do Relena. Do mine, I’ve lived here three years.”

“Uh?” Quatre stayed quiet and watched the doctor. They all did.

“I qualify, so please test me.” She curtsied. “Tell me if I’m bearing the next Winner please.”

The doctor didn’t look any better. At all. He looked even worse and started to sweat. “It’s not my specialty field? I’d rather not do it.”

“I knew it,” Heero spoke up. “You’ve been threatened by RTL.”

“Only if something medically comes through about pregnancy,” he said. “I have an ex-wife on Earth.” He looked toward the ground. “Mister Winner, it’s usually more of a political jargon about the difference in the tests. There’s more room for error, but not a high degree.”

“Political. Hmph, of course.” Zeches nodded. “If someone from Earth gets a wrong readout in the colonies, it goes against them if something happens because she thought she wasn’t pregnant. Is that closer to the truth?” A nod. “How accurate. Over 90%?”

“Between . . . 80-90 roughly. That is a guess and it’s not legal.” He looked toward Quatre. “Am I fired?”

“No,” Quatre said. “You are protecting the people you love, but you didn’t falsify evidence. Thank you. You’re dismissed.” Quatre looked back at the others as the doctor left. “80-90. It isn’t perfect.”

 “Fine then. Relena, we are going back down to Earth,” Zeches insisted.

“Forget it, traveling with more people creates too many eyes,” Heero said.

“I will bring her back if it’s positive.”

“Through a quarantine, you wouldn’t be briskly doing that.”

Oh no. Relena watched Heero’s expression. That would not work. Between Zeches and Heero, I feel so blocked. Positive. Negative. Unable to go back.

“Just give us one of the tests here,” Dorothy insisted, holding her hand out toward Quatre. “If Relena is negative, Zeches can take her to Earth to make sure it’s negative. If Relena is positive, she stays here and waits for Earth until it’s safe. I’ll take one to have a better idea at least.”

“Fine, I can agree with that,” Zeches settled on. “However, she will still go down to Earth and take another test when it’s safer.”

“It sounds like the best plan, Heero,” Quatre mentioned to him.

“Except for Dorothy. You’re not going to let her go to Earth easily. You did hear from Trowa about that,” Heero remarked.

Trowa? What about Trowa?

“Yeah.” That’s all Quatre said as he looked at Dorothy “I’ll trust in the results, Dorothy. If it’s positive, we’ll assume positive. If it’s negative? I think it would be best if you still stay, as my personal guest, until we know without a doubt.”

Dorothy seemed a tad concerned about that conversation too. “I would be pleased to stay as a guest to the luxurious Winner estates until it was safe to travel back to Earth.”

Good going, Dorothy. She had managed to get Quatre to crack his secret seal a tad bit more.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Quatre said. “You are a target of RTL, and it would be best if you just stay safe until your name is cleared.”

“You would defend me even if you thought I had no Winner connection to you anymore?” She questioned. “My, that’s almost too graceful Mister Quatre Raberba Winner.”

They were hiding something, but they were always hiding something. At least Dorothy got a little more confirmation, but it didn’t look like anyone was spilling. Heero held out a test box to her. Relena took it, knowing there was no more putting it off. “I better get this done then.”

“Feel free to use any restroom,” Quatre said politely as he handed Dorothy her own package too.

A few minutes later . . .

Relena came from the bathroom she had gone too. It looked like Dorothy was coming back too.

“80-90% accuracy,” Zeches repeated to her. “The test, Relena.”

“It’s still a high accuracy,” Quatre said as he looked at Dorothy. “Well?”

“The lottery of life has not always been kind to me.” Dorothy held up her test. It had two lines.

“Is that negative or positive?” Quatre asked. “Miss Dorothy?”

“Well?” Dorothy glanced at Relena. “One or two lines, Miss Relena? Are we twins?”

“Twins?” Quatre’s voice rose. “The test can’t detect that, can it?”

“No,” Zeches answered. “She is rattling you.”

Relena held her test up with one line.

“That means.” Quatre stared at Dorothy. “Yours was successful.”

“A proud father you still seem to be. Heero Yuy must be absolutely jealous.” Dorothy didn’t smirk. “Congratulations, Miss Relena. It seems you will be getting your life back.”

“The sooner we get going, the better,” Zeches said. “Come, Relena.”

Relena looked toward Heero. “Thank you for your help, Heero.”

“One week and one week only,” Heero instructed her. “We meet back at Saint Gabriel's Institute. Don’t forget it’s not completely accurate, so do not take any risks.”

Relena nodded. “I promise.”

Heero watched Relena walk away. “I’ll be leaving soon, Quatre.”

“Do you have to?” Quatre asked. “Food will be here soon.”

“I have a lot of work to do,” Heero insisted. “See you around.” He walked out, not needing to pack anything. He could pick up essentials later. One week. He went toward the kitchen trash and looked at the test kit he switched.

Zeches would watch his sister well, and he would return her back to take that next test. However, if she had been positive, Zeches wouldn’t have just said goodbye forever to his sister. He would have started to try and track him. Even one person trying to track and find him like Zeches would make it more likely they would be spotted. It’s how Relena found him in the past. He couldn’t allow that to happen this time.

Throwing everyone off for now was a better idea.

Heero had switched a one strip line positive box, with a colored test strip. Her line was pink. If it had been blue, he wouldn’t have had to lie. That wasn’t the way his life ever worked though, and whether she hated him afterward for bringing her down into his worlds, she would have to deal with it.

Because pink meant pregnant, and danger would be following.

Getting everything done without someone hanging around him was better too. In fact, if RTL figured out Relena was with Zeches, they probably wouldn’t be trying to kill her. They’d have to wonder why he wasn’t with her, and Zeches and Noin would be watching her carefully.

For one week. Throw everyone’s scent off track. His gut instinct told him the more he zig zagged instead of curved, the safer Relena would be. It was better that way.

“I don’t know if you should have done that, Heero.” Quatre’s voice came from behind him.

Heero turned around. Of course Quatre figured it out.

“Why would you do that?” Quatre asked. “You switched boxes, but why? All that’s going to do is make Relena more certain nothing’s wrong. It’s going to hurt that much worse when they meet you back on Earth.”

Heero didn’t answer, just watched as Dorothy Catalonia came through the door. “Just take care of your own responsibilities, Quatre, and I’ll take care of mine.”

“Miss Relena.” Noin greeted her aboard Zeches’ ship. “It’s so good to see you. How are you?”

Before Relena answered, Zeches said, “She is coming with us, Noin. RTL messed up, she isn’t pregnant.”

“That’s great news!” Noin hugged her.

“Not completely,” Relena answered. “It’s 80-90% sure. I have to take an Earth test on Earth’s surface to know for sure. We’ll meet Heero next week.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Zeches assured her. “A high percentage is a high percentage. You should start readying a speech about this whole mishap.”

“Yeah. It might be able to help Dorothy Catalonia too,” Noin said. “You have a way with words like no one else.”

Relena didn’t know about that. “I shouldn’t assume anything yet. I should not be making any kind of waves until I know for sure. We’ll meet Heero in a week first.”

“We could find our way down now?” Noin suggested. “Home is on Earth. It’ll be some distance, and a few days, but it’d be worth it to get back home, wouldn’t it?”

“We have to find our way down because it’s going to take time,” Relena agreed, “however, I’m not taking a second test without Heero Yuy. I could tell. He wants to be there.”

“Okay then. I have no problem with that,” Noin agreed. “Let’s find our way through the thick of this all then.”

It seemed impossible to wipe the smile off of Noin. She was so please to her okay. Zeches was also in a good mood, though it was harder to tell without knowing them. Everything is fine. It’s okay, yet Heero’s words and expression. It bothered her. “We’ll all find the correct path home.”

Although, in a way, it was disheartening. She enjoyed Heero’s presence, always had, and could never explain it away. Even now, this much older and with this much trouble. I will miss you, Heero. Til’ we meet again in one week.

Waiting Terminal

Middie waited in a corner. They couldn’t go through any further. Even with the family of Gin’s help, it couldn’t get them through quickly. Gin was looking around, trying to figure out how to stay undiscovered while they waited in a terminal overnight.

He needed to find the answer to problem two. Concern to take off as quickly as possible so No Name couldn’t catch up led them to another problem. Middie was in terrible shape. Even walking, people could see she wasn’t an ordinary person with no problem. She had a long shirt that Gin had paid someone off for to hide her bruises on her arms, and a hoodie that he paid someone off for too. They each helped to hide the bruises but she had to keep looking down at the ground, away from everyone.

Her entire face had to be hidden in order to get through.

“One night here,” Gin said as he came over toward her. “Unfortunately, the route of safety zig zags. It’ll take a few days to make it through.” He sat close to her. “At least there aren’t many here. Makes it a little easier to rest. Then again, makes it a lot harder to find what we need to cover you up. Oh, if I just hadn’t been so gungho to get out, we could have bought make-up or veils or something.”

“It’s okay, Gin,” Middie replied. It wasn’t the first time in her life she was stuck somewhere unpleasant. It was still a secure safe location with guards. No one knew their purpose yet. Even if they found out her abuse, they would only send them back to Earth to get it documented before they allowed her through.

She simply scrunched up on the floor, her legs pulled up with her arms hugging them. She tucked her head over them, but down and unseen. It was the most comfortable way she could think of to sleep.

“At least we already got hot tips from the media. She was last in some healing colony, almost arrested but rescued by someone. If we can figure out that ‘someone’, then we can find where they took her.”

Middie didn’t respond. Rest was all she wanted.

Circus

“I will take the risks,” Trowa asserted on the phone, trying to find a way to get on a shuttle to go to the colonies. The quarantine between the Earth and the colonies was tricky to get through. For one, for emergencies only, there were some non-contaminated stations where no trace had been found. Those were the only way to get through, and since there weren’t many, the price had increased exponentially. It zig zagged a strange way, and created a barrier of wait times nearly five days long.

Trowa had to find a way up there. Whatever lies they told Middie, he had to find her and clear the air about it. Not only that, but he needed her on Earth to take a test, to discover her truth. So far, Duo was cleared and so was Wufei. He had just heard from Heero and Quatre though. Both Relena and Dorothy still seemed to be pregnant, but it couldn’t be said with total accuracy. Relena also wasn’t with Heero anymore, he was playing his own way through the problem, leaving her with Zeches now.

Meanwhile, Trowa waited on the phone as they checked through what was available and how much. Cost wouldn’t matter, Quatre already said he’d put in any help Trowa needed. He just needed to find a way up. He strolled over to his bed, still waiting for an answer.

From the day he lost her, he had already become prepared when he found her again. She should have been there, that night, safely in the boxed in bed area he made to prevent anyone trying to get to her at night.

It was unexpected that Duo had found her, but he was grateful. At least now he had something to go on. Quatre had also been aware of Gin and Middie now too, but he didn’t want to worry Dorothy about it. His security was tight, and Quatre was still on the premises.

Middie. She had tried to escape her past, but RTL was forcing her back into it. I can’t let her get away with this. It would damage not only her, but Quatre too. Middie didn’t even know Dorothy Catalonia was pregnant.

Duo was fine though. He seemed to have more bounce in his voice last they spoke again. He wasn’t leaving with his friend back to the colonies until he knew for sure she was okay and quarantine was lifted. Wufei hadn’t contacted him again, but Heero stated that the woman Mei-Lin wasn’t having Wufei’s child. Her test should be completely accurate having only lived in the colonies. Wufei planned on testing in one more week, then she would be freed. Until then, he hadn’t even planned on sleeping in the same bed.

That sounded like a mistake.

 “Knock knock.” Catherine came to his tent. “Trowa? How are you doing?” She looked over toward his boxed-in bedding. “I bet that’s a pain to take down between shows.” Trowa didn’t respond. “I wish I could make things better for you. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes.” Trowa turned. “If I get a hold of her, she is staying with me 24/7.”

“Well, if she’s carrying your baby, sure,” Catherine said. “I’m sure we’ll have to get it figured out. Once she takes the test though, maybe this will be over.”

“No,” Trowa disagreed. “If it’s negative, it means I have a better chance of beating RTL, but I won’t let her out of my sight or they will just try something again. Until RTL is brought to justice, I can’t risk letting her go.”

“Oh.” Catherine sounded disappointed. “You mean no matter what, that dirty little spy has to be here?” She looked toward the bed. “What if she tries something at night against you?”

“It wouldn’t be in her best interest since I am the one protecting her,” Trowa reminded her.

“Well, I didn’t exactly mean try to kill you.” Catherine groaned. “I don’t trust her, Trowa. Don’t get too close to her.”

“That’s . . . not a problem right now.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to! To drag up losing her. Again.” Catherine looked disappointed in herself. “You should talk to the ringmaster, Trowa. We don’t get along with regular people on the outside very much. That’s why you picked the carnival in the first place.”

“I know that, Cathy,” Trowa said affectionately. “I will deal with her presence here, if it becomes a problem.” If. It was the ‘if’ that was the hard part.

“Mister Trowa Barton?”

There. He got in on the phone. “Yes, I’m still here. This is an emergency, so did you find something?” Trowa asked. “As soon as possible.” There was only one thing that would be letting Trowa in. It was something he didn’t want to use, but without some political influence, it would be positive to work.

Duo made it obvious. Middie was in bad condition. Duo had said her leg was funny, her face was smashed up and she had bruises all over. With a small amount of guidance with Heero, he managed to get himself in officially as someone looking for Duo’s half-brother Gin, for suspicion of abuse.

“We have a route for you, and we might have found the person you are looking for,” the voice on the phone answered. “A suspicious man and woman. She is even sleeping now with her face covered in a hoodie.”

“I need along that route, right away. Please do not intercept them, just make sure they cannot leave,” Trowa demanded.

“Yes, Sir. We will be waiting. We will not approach.”

“Good.” Trowa got the details and hung up. “I am going after Middie Une, Cathy. I am bringing her here. Anything management needs to talk about, I will. Could you please pick up a pregnancy test for me?”

“Now? Trowa, it’s almost time for the last show tonight,” Catherine urged him. “You’re going to collect the spy now?”

“Yes. Her name is Middie. Middie Une,” Trowa reminded her. “I’ll be back.”

Hopefully, this time, with her.

Middie stirred as she felt movement on her side. Gin had been resting beside her, but he was gone now. Had he gone to the bathroom? She looked around. It was empty and no one could see her face. Nothing seemed out of place, except Gin.

Then she felt him from around the side of her.

“We are going now, it’s getting too risky,” Gin warned her. “One of those guards approached me and questioned about you. I had no choice, I had to call for help. We are magically getting through now. Probably blackmail but I won’t ask. No one’s complaining either, they are getting their time saved from being in this place too.” He smiled. 

As they walked, she could see what he meant. Damn. She knew Gin’s family had some power, but how much power? She headed back toward their shuttle, now getting the command to take off. 

“Here you go,” Gin insisted as he gave her something when they went inside. “Mom’s helpers got you this. To make sure things went smoothly.”

Middie looked at it. A veil for the face and a robe to go with it. It seemed traditional of a religion. With everything they were doing, they certainly had the means to kill this Dorothy Catalonia themselves. They want me and Gin to get our hands dirty personally. 

“Now no one will suspect you of anything,” Gin said. “They’ll think it’s for your religion. You can drop it and go back to the hoodie when we reach the colonies. You want to get dressed in it now?”

Not really. “Of course, Gin. Thank you.”

“You had him and you lost him,” Trowa complained. “I told you not to approach him.” This? Unbelievable. Gin got warned and he apparently had some men that his mother employed to help run the business up there with him. Trowa didn’t know what happened, but everyone got the okay to get out early.

No Middie. No Gin. No one there except the waiting attendants. There was no choice. He called up Cathy. He had their trail, and even if it would be tough to catch up to them now, he would find a way through. Even if they somehow got a shuttle to run straight through, they would still be blocked. No colony would allow them in, no matter what. “Cathy? I won’t be making the show or supper tonight,” he told her. “Not for a little while.”

“Trowa?” She sounded worried of course. “You didn’t get to her in time. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I am on the same path, and as long as I keep following, I will get to her.” If he didn’t catch up through the outside quarantine path, then he would catch up with her when they reached the colonies. “I might be gone a week.”

“Trowa.”

“I can’t risk letting her go just because I don’t want to play follow the leader.”

“She might not even be pregnant. I wish there was a way to know for sure.”

“I know, Cathy. I’m sorry,” Trowa said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Hopefully, with Middie.

One Week Later

The last negative. The last of her. Wufei wouldn’t be bothered by looks in his colony anymore as he walked by Mei-Lin, ready to take her home. Her last test, that last ‘must make sure’ test everyone wanted to perform, was negative.

She walked silently beside him. It was one thing about her. As long as he wasn’t actually bothering her, she tended to be quiet. Even when he did, she was passive aggressive, but quiet. It was only when his voice rose high, that her annoyance rose to levels that made people want to tear out their hair.

Otherwise, she’d been a simple woman. She had unique needs, but as long as they were granted, easy. 

He heard more commotion walking alongside her from others around them. Mei-Lin was . . . unique. She was a cross of Trowa, knowing and achieving a sense of silence and dignity while, every once in awhile, a spark of Nataku was seen. Especially when she became angry.

As they moved onto the colony shuttle and readied to go back to Zhang, their conversation was simple.

“Li Zhang is waiting for you,” Wufei announced. “He isn’t the best choice in all categories of husbandry.”

“He had me imprisoned without any belief I was innocent,” Mei-Lin said. “He is far from best. The only decent thing is his name. However, it’s not like we all get choices, do we?”

“No, we don’t always.” Wufei looked ahead at the Zhang colony. “Go settle down and have many children to improve the Zhang numbers.” Heh.

“I will only have many children if I have to and not before, Wufei,” Mei-Lin complained. “At least they will have a high status.”

“Being a Zhang doesn’t denote any kind of status to the Long Clan.” His last words should be something of pride. “You were surrounded by everyone greater than you in the Long colony. I hope you can learn to cope with your mediocre Zhang colony again.”

“Chang Wufei, you are trying to make me angry simply because I am too close to home and have nothing to annoy you about to make this even.”

Yes, he was, and it felt good. He would get the last say. All he had to do was get permissions for the colony to-

She had never done it before. When she had woke up and found the body in her room, she didn’t do it. When she found out she was pregnant, she had not done it. Even when finding out she had to cancel her marriage and possibly marry Chang Wufei because she was having his child in bitter revenge of RTL. She still had not done it.

One moment, everything looked fine. Nothing extra happening outside the colony, then it started to emit fire. Bomb like states. Several different directions, until there were no signs of fire left because there was nothing left.

Her home. Her family, her friends, her soon-to-be husband, and the entire life she had known. 

How could she not scream. She found herself on the ground, trembling and shaking, her eyes refusing to open again, not wanting to see it. Wanting to believe if she kept her eyes shut, then it couldn’t have happened. Self-denial though, didn’t last long as she felt tears stroll down her eyes.

Her home. Gone. 

After Colony 198: After the pilots have found the women who were involved in the revenge, they had a spark of luck and realized not all of them had been pregnant. Now, Chang Wufei's luck has allowed him to take Wang Mei-Lin back to the Zhang Colony. However, Revenge of the Lost may not be so . . . sporting.

Wufei waited, giving her time. He had seen that before with his own once. It wasn’t easy. Revenge of the Lost, how dare you sacrifice more innocent people for no other purpose but revenge against me! It wasn’t even against him directly, it was to make him watch Mei-Lin. Re-experience his trauma of seeing it all over again, in her.

Calm and collected, never one to raise her voice, her scream pierced through the shuttle. It had sounded like someone had stabbed her, a physical pain of torture where a scream was the only way to endure it.

She would not be one to hear words of comfort or comparison empathy. She was not raised to want that kind of thing anymore than he had been. Revenge of the Lost may not have made her pregnant, and maybe they had blown it up prematurely, but he knew as a man what he had to do. “The Zhang clan were a proud people like the Long clan. Losing them all only as an act of revenge was the highest form of dishonor. As such, I promise that I will find those responsible and make them pay.”

She was slowly starting to stand up as she looked outward. “I am weak.”

“I know.” Her entire clan just died, it would be honorable for her to be the one to give them justice. She knew that she was weak though, and didn’t try and puff herself up like others did. Instead she bent toward him, in honor of his strength. “It isn’t just a matter of duty. Revenge of the Lost was doing this because of me. It’s only right we seek justice.”

“I am weak, but I will do anything you need.” Her voice was soft but pained. 

“I will find their secrets, their base, and I will get justice. I swear it, Wang Mei-Lin.” More than that, it didn’t matter if she wasn’t pregnant anymore. 

She now had no home, and she was part of his responsibility. 

For now, she would stay with him. 

Quatre's Mansion

I was having a hard time with Dorothy Catalonia. Harder than I thought I would. It’s not that she was mean or anything, it’s just . . . “are you okay?”

“I am just as okay as you are,” she said as she continued to read a book out in the open living room space. “Just as okay. As you. Are. Mister Quatre.”

I could read people. I always had a way of reading people. Not only that, I could feel their pain emotionally too. I knew Dorothy had some of that ability, but I didn’t know ‘til now-

“Too much,” she answered. “So stop. Just stop, and yes, I’ll have some tea.”

That was how she had managed to run that mobile doll system so well. Revenge of the Lost may have brought them together, not just because of a small conversation after all. “Do you have a preference?”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” she said instead. “This was just a far-fetched accident. It will be fine.”

Even Dorothy knew to be worried. Instead of the tea, she knew exactly what Quatre was dreading. Emotional people like them, they were okay, but it was rare to find too many with the same kind of emotional reading they experienced. 

“I don’t have a clue, Mister Quatre,” Dorothy answered.

“We should really speak our thoughts out loud and not just answer before anything is even spoken,” Quatre insisted. “We could create a deeper hole or assume something that wasn’t exactly right.” When Heero and Relena had been there, he hadn’t had to warm up as close to Dorothy Catalonia. “Okay, I’ll go first. Just to make sure we understand each other. After all, it’s not like we can read minds.” Just, emotional feeling.

Dorothy gave a slight, polite nod. That’s all it was though, she thought it was dumb. “Proceed.”

“First of all.” Where did they leave off at? “Are you okay?”

“I am worried about Miss Relena,” she said. “She should be on Earth, safe and sound, but I don’t trust that everything will work out as it should. RTL is still after her. I feel close to Miss Relena, she moves my heart. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her. On the other side, I am worried about . . . oh yes, you probably want to save that for question two.”

Yeah. “When I asked if you have a preference, I meant tea,” Quatre said.

“But that wasn’t what you were feeling out for. Tea is fine though,” Dorothy insisted. 

“You’re right, it’s not what I was feeling out. What I wanted to ask wouldn’t be right to ask straight toward you,” Quatre insisted. “But, you answered it anyway. So, I better ask.” He adjusted himself in his chair. “People like us are rare, so I worry about what this child might be like.”

“I’m sure it will be okay,” she repeated. “I highly doubt Revenge of the Lost planned on some kind of specific outcome for this. They were simply looking for someone you interacted with that would work. Have you realized that besides me, the only other obvious choice would be Trowa Barton’s sister?” She smiled sweetly. “Yes you did, right just now, just before I finished.” She gave it a minute. “You may speak now.”

“I didn’t even realize that!” Now Quatre could react. “Trowa’s sister. That would have been a disaster.” Her smirk. “That’s not fair, I’m sure I could have learned.” No, wait. “I’m breaking my own rule again. Sorry.”

“I was going to say from the way you reacted, you were more worried about having to join a circus, then having a child with Trowa’s sister.” A thin smile. “Then afterwards it occurred to you that having a child with Trowa’s sister might not lead to good things.”

Yeah. It was sad to have to admit that. “Anyhow, Miss Dorothy.” 

“-we won’t know what aspects of us will be passed down into it,” Dorothy answered. “Worrying won’t do us any good  We just have to remember. If it’s raised well, it will be fine.”

“It will be.” It wasn’t all just biology, it was nurturing that was also a part of what made a person become who they needed to be. They’d be great nurturers because they each had kind hearts, no matter how they were raised. She’s right. It doesn’t matter that there’s no science to say how this child will turn out. We’ll raise it the best we can.

“Your welcome, Mister Quatre,” Dorothy finished. “Sorry. You wanted to say what?”

Quatre smiled. “This is all really new to me. I never actually concentrated on anything like this before. It’s got nothing to do with war, and everything to do with life. New life. I’m sure we’ll all be just fine. Thank you, Miss Dorothy.”

“Your welcome.” 

Quatre answered his phone though as it started to beep. He read the text.

“That confidence just dropped significantly,” Dorothy said to him. “What?”

“Wufei. The woman who was supposed to be carrying his . . . “ Quatre held the phone close to his heart. “They just blew her whole colony up in front of her and Wufei!” Dorothy didn’t say anything at first while Quatre felt immense pain in his heart. Wufei! My old friend, I am so sorry. It’s all just to make him hurt again, by watching someone completely innocent be hurt by the same crime. “RTL, trying to make up for their mistake.”

“Is it?” Dorothy’s voice was softened. “Perhaps we need to rethink this. How did Chang Wufei’s mother die?”

Quatre didn’t know. “His whole colony went out that way. I guess, there is a good chance that might be the way she went.” Sad. 

“This Mei-Lin should have been placed on the colony right after Wufei left then, if they wanted her to go like his mother. Perhaps RTL is changing its goals? They think revenge conquers war, that revenge is beautiful and justified. Revenge is not justified. It is still just a war, a war in the heart that can’t be won.”

Quatre expected nothing less coming from Dorothy. “He feels responsible for what happened. He is going to be taking care of her, even if she has no connection to him. He’ll do so until we beat RTL. It’s the only honorable thing he can do.”

“Justice. Some sense of justice .” Dorothy went back to looking at a book. “Is searching for justice or revenge any different from each other? Couldn’t revenge be seen as justice, and vice versa? Perhaps, in the end, they just want to bring him down to their level. Maybe it’s always been more about us, the victims in these cases, then anything else.”

Hm? “More about the victims?” Quatre asked.

“If their goal is just to make the former gundam pilots hurt, and their original plan was destroyed with not everyone being pregnant, perhaps they still plan on making everyone suffer. In a different way,” she noted. “Mister Quatre. What would set you off? What would make you reach for the need of justice you once felt, that made you pilot the gundam Sandrock?”

Hmm.

“What’s your fear?”

My. Fear. What would make me swear justice against RTL? I already want justice for all the things they’ve done so far. But, personally. What would make me go after them, the same way I went after Oz in the war? The same way I fought the colonies to continue fighting Oz. All that mattered was taking down Oz. What event could trigger him to feel that way again? “Justice isn’t revenge.”

“Could it be to them?” She pointed out. “Take out the word ‘justice’. What would make you feel revenge? What would make the great Quatre Raberba Winner.” She coughed slightly. “Take revenge?”

That small cough between her words. He knew it. Mostly likely, it was just a cold that she caught, not used to the viruses of the colonies. Nothing severe, but. “I never had a chance to know my mother. I never even knew I was actually born, and not a test tube baby until recently.” So. “Now, you’re having mine, the same way I was really born. Naturally. You're in space too, and - and you shouldn’t be!” He could feel himself starting to crack. “You should be on Earth. It’s the safest place for this, especially you! You aren’t from the colonies, Earth is where you should be.” His hands scrunched against his seat. “If anything happens to you, because of them . . .”

Dorothy glanced over from her book.

“If anything happens to a child. My child. My family that I never got to know, just because they want me to feel that same kind of pain father had . . .” No. “All of us pilots, we swore it. No more killing. We did everything we could to keep it that way. No more senseless killing.”

“Then, that must be their ultimate goal now,” Dorothy said softly. “Bringing every one of you back to the brink. Back to the brink where you could take lives again.”

“To the brink . . .” They were trying to turn them against their own selves?

“Oh.” Dorothy didn’t look well. “Staying here is secure, especially during the quarantine. It’s almost over though, and it will be time to return to Earth. If RTL wants you to continue to feel that uneasiness, if their plan is to keep me here? There will be something nasty waiting on Earth, or something else to hold me in the colonies.” She glanced toward him. “Are you going to confess it already? You’ve gone a week with not a word about it. You know that I can sense you are hiding things. I’ve let you get away with it, but a week is more than long enough. Don’t you think?”

She was right. “A crime family is after you,” Quatre revealed. “A well-known one from Earth. I’m sorry, Dorothy. Here, I have supreme security to keep you safe. The Winner family has everything it needs here , even though I need you on Earth. It will be risky either way. We just have to find a way to stop RTL and prove your innocence.”

“Then they are already winning,” Dorothy said out of the blue. Quatre didn’t understand. “Their goal is to make you seek justice against them, or revenge against them. In order to let me be free to leave this place at all, you have to prove my innocence. You have to fight RTL already.”

“Oh. I see.” Yeah. “I don’t care if they think they are winning then. I don’t care if what they ever really wanted, was just to make me seek some sort of revenge against them. The only thing I do care about, is keeping you safe. Whether they win or not. My family is my top priority.” Quatre smiled. “If they think they won, that’d be great in fact. Then I would have to worry less about what they were planning. Somehow, I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“That is a very worthy answer of you, Mister Quatre,” Dorothy said. She looked thoughtfully at the book. “Still. If anything happens, just try to think of us as a figment of a possible future. A future not set. A future that wouldn’t even be worthy to fight. If something happens, you gain a new future. The future you had before RTL messed within our lives.”

“I don’t understand why you’re saying that,” Quatre said. “A future not set?”

“If it is about hurting me, or us,” she said thoughtfully. “Then be cold to it. If something happens, it happens. Don’t change the path you believe, or they do win. They win, and you’ll never escape the despair within your heart again.”

“But, I can’t just stop caring!” That wouldn’t happen. “I can’t just see you, and-and, and see it, and just let it go. If you die, it will be because of them, not because it wasn’t the right path. It wasn’t because it was some other destiny and I should be okay with it!”

Dorothy seemed startled by his words. “If we die, and you don’t accept it that way, they win.”

“Then they win because my heart could never just shut off like that!” Quatre knew it. “I know wars solve nothing, but I also know that someone is in charge of that whole process. If we can find them, we can put an end to this madness. That’s the priority. Not whether they feel like they won.”

“I see.” She seemed to accept it. “I will do my best to survive through this all. At the very least, this child must survive, to keep hope alive within you. Although you seem positive about caving, it is best not to tempt it. RTL clearly plays psychologically. Although dangerous, I will return to Earth.”

“ . . . thank you.”

“I would have been taking care of myself anyway, I’m surely not looking to have my life shortened to nothing,” Dorothy said, her mood changing slightly. “It still doesn’t seem right though. Catherine would have been the better choice. I know you hate the drama and the sound of it. But just imagine? That would have been a lot better of a choice than me.” Thinking.

Quatre was too. Dorothy wasn’t being cruel, she was being realistic. They could get to Catherine, the same way they could get to everyone else. Why wasn’t she considered an option? “To get Catherine involved, it would have hurt Trowa even more.” If RTL was all about revenge, why wouldn’t they be using that hurt against him? It couldn’t be just about her innocence. Relena Dorlain believed in nothing but peace, and they had no problem hurting her.

Maybe Dorothy was onto something.

“The family after you,” Quatre said, “is part of Duo’s family.”

“Lovely. Getting killed by Mister Duo Maxwell’s family. Not the most enchanting way to go,” she figured. “It is better than the uneasiness of waiting in the colonies for you though. Isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Quatre admitted. “We can stay with the Maguanacs at first. If I think we’re being tracked or in danger, I could move you out of the way. Heero and Trowa are very good at identities too. I’m sure they could help.” It was a better idea to be somewhere that he could see or predict the enemy.

“Than to live the restless life of fate up here, where you can’t pretend that you can do anything,” Dorothy said, understanding without his finishing words. “Mister Quatre, it is time for me to return back to mother Earth.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Miss Dorothy.”

Saint Gabriel Institute

Relena looked around for Heero near the entrance. He knew they would be coming. She promised him. Where are you, Heero?

“Relena.” Noin opened the door. “It looks like we can go inside. It’s the weekend, no one will be here.”

“It should be closed.” Oh, Heero. “I understand. Heero unlocked the doors.”

“Where is he?” Noin asked as Relena went inside.

“He’ll only show if it’s positive,” Relena said, understanding that much. He wouldn’t risk any chance of being seen with her now. She reached in her purse and pulled out the new test. Precautionary. Zeches had been telling her that the other test was probably good enough, and if her nerves rattled her, she could take another test at any time, and still go to Saint Gabriel for Heero’s benefit. 

She wouldn’t do that though. Although she was preparing a speech in her mind, she would be as cautious as Heero. After this test, as long as it had been, her decision would be sound.

She took her test package into the stall. She did her business, and came out. She washed her hands as she kept track of the time. Not long. Last pregnancy test. 

Watching it and the time. She bought one that was digital that stated ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ on the device. The best one on the market on Earth. Then, as she kept watching, not much time passed as it started to write dots across it’s screen. When it was done, it would have it’s answer.

“Are you done yet, Miss Relena?” Noin asked through the door. She had been polite enough not to come in.

“Almost.” Relena smiled, knowing she was ready and waiting to hear the negative to call and tell Zeches. “I will be out soon.” She didn’t hear Noin answer. Instead, she heard a sound outside. Heero? She went toward the door, and it opened up.

With two people she never saw before, pointing guns at her. In the middle, was Heero. He was dressed in nice clothes, more posh than his regular wear. “The illustrious Relena Dorlain,” he said strangely. “You’re mine.”

What? It was Heero, she could tell it was Heero, yet he whipped handcuffs around her wrists? What are you doing, Heero? 

“You’ve just been jacked by the Phillips,” one of the men she didn’t recognize said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

What did she have to say? Relena looked toward the corner. “Positive.” She glanced back at Heero. He wasn’t surprised at all. Just what are you up to, Heero Yuy?

She cooperated quietly as she was taken to a van outside. Noin had been knocked out. Really, Heero? What was going on? She was placed in the back of the van, gently by Heero taking over.

The other two did come in though and looked at her.

“Insane the theory worked, Heero,” he said from across the room. 

They continued driving for some time with Heero not saying a word to her. She didn’t dare to say a word either as she tried to understand what Heero was up to.

When they stopped, they were in front of a simple residence.

“You need something else, Heero?” One of them asked.

“No. I’ll be in on Tuesday as I prepare Relena,” Heero said to them as he took her out of the back of the van. As it left, she waited. He still didn’t explain anything, just going inside with her cuffs on.

Relena waited on the inside, still handcuffed. Even a pacifist reaches a limit. “Congratulations on the new profession and family, Heero Yuy.” 

Heero seemed to get the hint and undid the cuffs. “Take a seat, Relena.”

A seat. Relena took the nearest seat on a couch. 

“Duo Maxwell never joined his family,” Heero said. “So I did. I’m part of the crime syndicate that is hunting Dorothy Catalonia.”

What? “Why?”

“Why else?” He asked. “You’re Relena Dorlain, pregnant and on the run with Heero Yuy currently. I didn’t have many choices. I’m getting rid of the one thing I can.” He went toward the small kitchen. “The rules are simple. I find Catalonia, I hold her until Gin Phillips or Middie Une kill her. I find Trowa Barton, and I kill him.” He came back to the door with a glass of water. “Here.”

He couldn’t honestly be doing that. Relena took the glass of water. “I don’t understand.”

“Life isn’t easy, and until I find RTL, then it’s going to stay like this. Nothing is changing. I’ve already called Trowa before I took this job. He knows to stay out of my line of sight,” Heero answered. “If I do see him, I have no choice but to follow through.”

What?! “You would really kill your friend?”

“I’m on thin ice enough out here. I had to find a place that would protect us, and this was the most satisfactory I had,” Heero answered. “I never called Quatre, but I told Trowa to tell him when I safely had you. I told the Phillips that Zeches Merquise took you away, I was desperate, and I would take any job or task for some protection. A couple of proof samples, and I was in their good graces.”

Relena took a sip of the water. Heero. “You knew.”

“I switched tests last time,” Heero admitted. “I needed you out of the way to make this happen. The only reason I have you is due to the Phillips investigating and finding you, to get you back to me.”

“The only reason you have me, is because you chose the place and time,” she corrected him.

“Not to them. That means they believe that it’s safe. When an assassin is outed, death or protection must await you. I didn’t choose death.”

“With the lovely handcuffs, I suppose that makes me an unwilling runner as well,” she pointed out. “Is that the one thing you could change, Heero? Whether I was escaping with you or not?”

“If anything happens to me in the line of duty, you are to be returned unharmed to Zeches Merquise,” Heero said. “They will make sure that the fact you didn’t run with me willingly would be revealed.”

“But, why?” Relena asked. “How did you know this family would take you in as fighting for them? One would assume right away it would be best to kill someone like you.”

“Like I said, I proved my worth.” He didn’t explain how. “Duo had told Mrs. Phillips about Hilde Schbeiker and him, in comparison to Trowa and Middie Une. Even though she was angry and shot at Duo, she also listened. When I contacted them and told them the same thing, her beliefs had changed. The fact that you just scored a digital positive only proved it more.”

That’s why he really wanted her testing right then and there. “Proof positive.” It would be a great coincidence if Heero Yuy ended up in such a jam as Duo described. Proving the point so well with her testing too. “Good enough to even fool me, Heero Yuy.”

“Just behave,” Heero warned her. “This family isn’t that gentle. Stay out of the way and don’t talk to anyone.”

“Why do you have to kill Trowa then?” Relena asked. “Why is that such a profound order?”

“Gin Phillips, Duo Maxwell’s half brother, is in love with Middie Une,” Heero told her. “Mrs. Phillips saw how much Gin is willing to kill for Middie Une to keep RTL off of them, so she wants Middie Une for Gin. Trowa is an exceptional fighter, so it’s imperative to have someone as exceptional as him. It’s that simple.”

Hmph. “That’s a terrible reason to kill.”

“It’s a good enough reason to hire me,” Heero answered. “I can also dig into RTL even deeper with their resources. The ultimate goal is to find and stop Revenge of the Lost. An alliance with an enemy of my enemy is the best place to be.”

“The ultimate goal?” Relena closed her eyes. “Heero, even if you do, what good will it do? The fact of the matter is, I am still pregnant.”

“You would be safe and be able to go back to your position,” Heero answered. “I would go back to my life. That’s good enough for me.”

Not for me. She noticed Heero staring at her too. “What?”

That look. Heero knew about that look. He didn’t know the first time he met Relena what it meant. It took time to understand Relena Dorlain’s line of thinking. She was not a typical student back then. He threatened her with death, and she seemed to be following him to get that mission completed faster. It wasn’t until later that he started to understand her.

She set her sights on goals, and like him, even if it meant her life she would proceed to accomplish those goals. She did it often with alluring charm that swayed the audience, instead of fighting and mobile suits back then. The goals weren’t the same, but she went after what she wanted.

It was an involuntary look. It meant there would be a battle with Relena herself. As Duo would say, Mommy wants daddy in the picture. “It would be worse with me, Relena.”

“I’m right here. You were the one who kidnapped me,” Relena said, taking him at his exact words.

“I’m not good father material.” Her eyes weren’t changing.

“I see,” she answered. “That’s a strange thing to say at this time.”

“I mean it, Relena.” Damn. “Relena.”

“Heero. I don’t blame you for this situation,” she uttered. “I understand why you chose this path. I hope that you never have to open fire on Trowa or Dorothy.”

“A man who would kill his own allies would make a terrible father.”

“If you planned on killing them, you wouldn’t have warned them,” she came back with. “You are only doing what’s best for us. I understand that. I am sure they understand too. Did you give them any kind of help before warning them to stay back?”

Double damn. She was always good. Even now. “Yeah,” Heero said. “I let Trowa know the exact location where I met Dorothy Catalonia specifically. Gin Phillips and Middie Une will eventually find their way there after looking hard enough. He’ll beat them there and be ready.”

“I hope Trowa Barton does get to her,” Relena said.

“He will.” Heero already knew that. Trowa would be pulling out all the stops. He’d get Middie Une, and get back to Earth. 

The Colony Heero Met Dorothy Catalonia

Middie Une investigated under the table and around it. No longer having to wear the religious veil, she moved around easier in her hoodie outfit again. 

This should be the place according to what they gathered up. She didn’t see any evidence that showed them where she left to next. “She was pulled away from here, and then someone came after her, knocking law enforcement out.” Middie got back up from the table. “They say he resembled Quatre Winner.”

“The former gundam pilot?” Gin asked. “Whoah. That’s strange.” He scratched his head. “Duo Maxwell was at Finn’s house, claiming he was some half-brother of mine. I wonder why someone as rich as the Winner estate would want her?”

“If he was a gundam pilot, then there’s no predicting whether this was him or not. Still, it’s a clue,” Middie Une insisted. “She might be with him, hiding in the colonies.”

“Breaking into the Winner Estate is going to be the heaviest yet,” Gin said. “We’ll need more than a little backup. Quarantine should be over soon. We’ll relax up here and wait for more help to take it on.” He smiled at Middie Une. “It has been one long week though. I thought we’d never get out. No place had the gall to just send us straight up, only to pass us on to another station. We inched our way up here.”

“No one wants to be responsible for spreading it to a single colony.” Middie Une felt Gin touch her shoulder.

“Come on, One Song. Let’s go do that relax thing,” Gin insisted. “They have nice hotels in this colony. It’s a healing colony. Bet they are nice enough for us to take our minds off things.”

Middie stood up. “Right.” Middie embraced the hoodie hiding her face. A double hotel bed didn’t sound relaxing to her. Why even try to protest. Gin is taking you in, like it or not. No one can fight this family, and no one can fight RTL. They are RTL’s enemy, so it’s the safest place to be. She moved away with Gin to the nearby hotel. Except? 

Something. Something was wrong. 

“One Song?” Gin called for her. She had taken off running for some reason. Bathroom? Nah, they were right next to a hotel. “One Song!” Then, he spotted her. Not far away, sitting at a table. “You startled me, One Song.” He sat down next to her. He glanced back to her. Something was strange. “You okay, One Song?”

“It’s not One Song.”

Oh. Shit. He knew that hoodie looked slightly darker.

Trowa flipped off the hood and grabbed Gin as he struggled. “Where’s Middie Une?”

Gin danced in the air, his legs not able to touch the ground. “Trowa. Barton.” He could barely breathe. “Don’t hurt her.”

“I would never hurt her.” Trowa glanced around again. Middie wasn’t like Gin, she had moved away as soon as she felt  an uneasy presence. Trowa had been hiding behind them with an outfit similar to her so that he could take out Gin’s men, and then get to Gin and deal with him. “Are you assigned to kill Dorothy Catalonia?”

“I don’t want to,” Gin said. “Revenge of the Lost is making us. You are working for them too, right?”

“If you go after Middie Une, I will make you pay.” Trowa let him go. “You don’t have the eyes to kill anyone. It doesn’t mean you can’t get those eyes.” Then, Trowa stopped. He spotted it. Movement out on the side. Strange leg movement for a second, trying to hide behind a wall. “Middie Une.” He called for her, this time not wasting one moment with what ifs or wonderings. She wasn’t far and she would be listening. “I am not here to gun you down. I don’t know what lies they made up, but they only want to hurt you by making you kill someone who is the same as you. Pregnant and manipulated by Revenge of the Lost.”

“She’s pregnant too?” Middie’s voice came from the general direction he suspected. She came out in a slower walk, a little wrong. “Are you sure?”

Trowa couldn’t see past her hoodie, but he knew it was her. Trowa let go of Gin and flipped backward, showing up behind Middie, and sealed her against him with one arm.

No Name grabbed her and pulled her away without a word.

“Please don’t do this, No Name, I wasn’t a part of the raid that hurt your family,” Middie pleaded. She was desperate. No Name was one of the best fighters at the time she was a spy, and he was only a kid back then. “I mean Trowa.” She tried not to aggravate him any extra. He brought her to a rental car, let her go and pulled a gun on her.

“Get in,” he demanded. He saw Gin approaching from behind but kept his gun on her. “One move and I’ll take her out right now.”

Gin held up his hands. “Please, man, have a heart. She would have been like a toddler at the time of your-”

No Name cocked his gun, silencing him. He looked back at Middie. “Get into the car.”

No choice. Middie got into the rental. No Name headed toward it himself but kept his gun trained on her as he got inside and started it.

“I’ll get you back, One Song!” Gin yelled as they started to take off. 

“What are you going to do with me?” Middie asked as they started to move away from Gin and all hope of safety.

“Nothing, Middie Une. RTL is a trickster.” Trowa steered the car with his gun trained on her. “I couldn’t take the chance that you didn’t believe me. You aren’t carrying a child of a person named Finn or Gin. If you are pregnant, then you are carrying mine,” he finished. “All the gundam pilots are involved in their own similar problem. Do you believe me?”

Middie looked at his gun. “Your sister is Catherine Bloom.”

“I know what you are thinking,” Trowa responded. “Her past looks like she could fit in that group, but she isn’t a part of it. She hates war.”

Middie didn’t know what to believe anymore except that, once again, he could have killed her. He still didn’t. There is a good possibility . . . he could be telling the truth then. “Why are the gundam pilots involved?”

Trowa took a minute to answer. “The Gundams took thousands of lives. To them, the pilots of those Gundams, we deserve their biggest dose of justice.”

Did he gulp? Middie couldn’t quite tell. Trowa never did that. His emotions were hard to read. If he did that?

“The theory so far,” Trowa continued. “They want to kill you in the same fashion as our own mothers died.”

Oh. That sounded like Revenge of the Lost alright. It made more sense too, as sad as it sounded. Middie rubbed her arm. “I believe you.” No matter how much No Name’s sister fit, it just didn’t seem right. She watched him lower his gun. Then it’s him. She could still be pregnant, but if she was, it was Trowa’s. They want to hurt the pilots? Who could hurt him half as much as me being the one? Nobody. That’s beyond cruel.

“Before or after?”

Middle looked back at him. Before or after what? “What do you mean?”

“The injuries,” Trowa said. “Duo said you were injured. Was it before or after they knew?”

Oh. “Both. Nothing near the stomach.” There. That should make him feel better. Although? He still didn’t look good. She couldn’t risk asking yet, but she was wondering. How did his mother die? 

How was she supposed to die?

Piece of shit, that Trowa was not getting her! Middie was carrying his unborn nephew. “Mom, she’s gone.” Ooh, an earful. “I couldn’t follow, it was the Trowa No Name guy. He didn’t kill her though. He could’ve done it right here. She said back at the apartment, he didn’t do it either. I think he’s holding her.” Yeah, it made sense. “I don’t think he will kill her, but I think he’s holding her. Making sure I do it. He even said she’s pregnant, but that’s probably just to twist the knife.” Damn them. He didn’t know if that part was real. He never personally killed anyone in his entire life. “Middie must be insurance. He only said that stuff before he grabbed her, trying to lure her out.” His mom agreed that it made sense then. “I promise, I’ll do it. I’ll do it for Finn’s memory, his kid, and the family. Meanwhile, spread the word.” Yeah, the tough question.

Gin could live in one world or another. He could have had a mansion, his own ring of girls, and everything else under the sun. He didn’t want that. He just wanted a normal life where he didn’t have to watch his back for the rest of his. To get the kind of help he wanted though? “Fine, I’m in,” he agreed. “Send out the word. Send out the picture. We need Catalonia. Alive only.” If Dorothy Catalonia found her way back down, she wouldn’t live long with the bounty he was putting on her. And that No Name, he better pray nothing happened to One Song! Like it or not.

Gin just officially got into the family business.

-------------------

Duo and Hilde’s Place on Earth

“So, who’s excited to be going home tomorrow?” Duo asked as he slipped down his shades. “Last night of Earth programming, but I don’t mind. Kind of missing everything on high.”

“The God of Death misses things on high?” Hilde teased him. “Well, regular Hilde misses it too. I’m really excited to go back. Earth was nice, but it’s no vacation. I’ll be happy working in the junkyard again instead of this fast food craze down here.”

“Yeah, but don’t take it too easy,” Duo warned her. “RTL is still out there, and I don’t want them nabbing you, to try for a second time.”

“I know, Duo,” she said. “I know that I was really lucky in this. Relena Dorlain and Dorothy Catalonia weren’t at all. The woman that was supposed to have Wufei’s baby too. She isn’t pregnant but . . .”

“Yeah, that’s gotta be harsh,” Duo said. “It’s never easy when the only ones you knew, and the life you led, get burned to cinders.” He knew that firsthand. “Wufei knows that pain too. He’s taking care of her until RTL is done for.”

“I hope everyone stays safe and connected, so we can watch each other’s backs,” Hilde said. “No one can win if we all keep vigilant.”

“No can do, Hilde-Babe,” Duo said. “Heero’s working for the people that want to kill Dorothy Catalonia. If he sees her, he’s kidnapping her. If he sees Trowa too?” He winked and turned his finger into a gun. “Kapow. He’s supposed to shoot him dead.”

“What?” Hilde of course didn’t understand. “Duo, that’s insane! Why is your friend Heero Yuy working for the enemy?”

“Because it’s not his enemy,” Duo answered. “RTL is their enemy too, and Heero isn’t just fighting for a quiet place to stay. He’s going to need something extreme to hide the likes of Relena Dorlain. Where else are they gonna go?” He waved it off. “It’s no different than Trowa working for Oz and busting Heero and Wufei.”

“There is a difference. Heero is supposed to kill and hurt his friends.”

“Don’t see that difference yet,” Duo teased her. “Look, I know about it because he told us. He told Trowa before he took the position to watch out for him, and Trowa is supposed to tell Quatre as soon as Relena is abducted by him.”

“Abducted?” Hilde asked. “What do you mean abducted?”

“He can’t just be working for that group, walk on up in a car and go ‘hey-mother-of-my-child! Yo, how ya doin’? Listen I know you like peace and all but I just turned assassin for a bad group. So jump in the back already, Babe.”

“Duo.” Hilde sat on the couch. “I guess, it is what it is.”

“Everybody runs their own lives the way they think is best,” Duo said. “As for us, we are much better off high in the colonies, running the junkyard. Don’t ya think?”

“Yeah.” Hilde nodded.  “It’s a little surreal though. One day you think you’re pregnant, and then you just aren’t.”

“So?” Duo took off his sunshades. “You’re not sad about it, are you?” 

“I don’t know how I feel about it,” Hilde answered. “It feels like a waste I guess. All that drama, coming to Earth, and we leave the same as when we came.”

“Yeah. Guess it does feel a little like running in circles with no new bundle of joy,” Duo admitted, “but it’s way better this way. I’m good at fighting and junkyard stuff, but I’d be lousy at the parenting thing. Sometimes you should just forget about the journey and concentrate on the destination. The destination happens tomorrow.” Quarantine over. 

“It sure was a nasty quarantine. Happened so fast, and now, it just went over almost as fast,” Hilde noticed. “Strange, huh?”

“Yeah. Might have been RTL. Might not have. Didn’t feel so attached to the colonies I was going to put anything at risk though,” Duo said. “So? Let’s spend a little wealth for the night. Call up a nice joint, and put in some reservations.”

Hilde chuckled. “Pizza. Got it, Duo.”

Yeah. Soon, pizza wouldn’t be their go-to ‘nice meals’ anymore. Back to the Junkyard.

Back to a normal life.

Hotel in Nearby Colony.

“We’ll stay here for now,” Trowa insisted. “You are going to stay near me. RTL may still want to try something against you.” Middie Une didn’t ask any questions as he grabbed his phone. It should have happened by now. Heero should have had Relena.

As he promised Heero, he dialed up Quatre.

“Hello?”

“Quatre, it’s Trowa. This is a warning for Dorothy Catalonia,” he said clearly. “Heero is working for Duo’s family. He is working for the Phillips, and he is supposed to find Catalonia on Earth.”

“What?! Heero’s working for the enemy?”

“Yes, and I can’t get any word to Heero about anything else because if he spots me, he’s supposed to outright kill me,” Trowa finished. “Watch Dorothy Catalonia.”

“I will. Trowa? You stay safe. Um. Did you . . .?”

“I have Middie Une,” Trowa informed him. “We’ll find out more truths when we go to Earth. Quarantine ends tomorrow. Quatre? What are you going to do?”

“Quarantines aren’t new,” Quatre said, “but . . . I’ve talked it out with Dorothy. We’re going back to Earth.”

“I had a feeling you were,” Trowa said. “I trust you, Quatre. Don’t risk getting in Heero’s way.”

“I won’t. You make sure Heero doesn’t see you either.”

“I will.” Trowa hung up and looked at Middie. She sat on the edge of the bed. “Lie down. You need proper rest. You haven’t had proper rest in a bed for over a week I assume.” She climbed onto the bed. 

“What do you want?” Middie Une asked. 

“I want you to come to Earth and take a pregnancy test there,” Trowa said. “Not all the women who were supposed to be pregnant, had become pregnant. However, the only ones to be negative were those that lived out in the space colonies so far.”

“Okay,” she answered as she curled up on the bed more, seemingly enjoying the pillow. “Then what?”

Hm. “I want to protect the innocent inside of you, that is related to me. To do that, I will keep you hidden while I stop RTL.” Trowa looked back at her, but she had already drifted off to sleep. Middie Une hasn’t been in a bed for over a week. I doubt being captive gave her a bed too. Food. Water. She could be lacking on several essentials. Just because he didn’t move fast enough. Blaming myself won’t do any good now. I just need to get her back to a healthy state, and get her to Earth with me.

Trowa would take her to the circus. Catherine could help her heal back to normal. Although Catherine hated the very idea of Middie Une, her heart would be too kind to turn her away. It’s quite possible she might even see what I had seen about her.

Middie Une had always been a good person, she was just trapped in the wars of fate.

The Circus

Trowa got out of the truck with Middie. He stayed relaxed, as in most situations. “The hoodie. Take it off and leave it in the truck.” Middie glanced toward him oddly, but she followed his order.

This would be intense. Middie Une got some rest yesterday, and then he brought her back to Earth. She slept on the journey only a little, her own mind and body still in a mixed-up state.

Maybe he should have let her take the pregnancy test, it would have helped her at least know if she were pregnant or not. It could have also saved him this hassle too, but RTL had pulled off impossible things before. He wanted the secure location of the Circus to test.

He also wanted Catherine to trust in the results. She knew nothing of Middie Une, so he left the testing kit to her. He trusted that Catherine grabbed a top brand bought from nowhere near them. She would be there to justify that Middie Une did not mess up the test. I don’t suspect her in any way, but I cannot leave anything to chance. Neither can Catherine.

All three of them should be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Catherine started to head over, her arms folded, and almost marching. Middie Une wouldn’t want an upheaval, but Trowa never could control Catherine. He also wouldn’t let Middie hide in the hoodie. This wasn’t a time for hiding anything.

“Is this her, Trowa?” Catherine asked him, but walking closer toward Middie Une. Trowa nodded.

Catherine stared at her. Flashes between anger and sympathy. “A spy in the war.” Middie nodded to her. “Not a spy anymore?” Middie nodded again. “Did you go to the hospital?”

Middie didn’t seem to know how to answer. Trowa would not interrupt.

“Is anything broken?” Catherine asked her. “It looks like. You’re broken.”

Trowa watched her gesture to Middie’s hand. Of course she would notice that.

Middie tried to hide it behind her back. “Professionally set.”

“So Trowa took you to a hospital before he brought you here?” Catherine looked at him. “Did the doctor say she was okay? It is okay? What’s the situation?”

“She didn’t go to a hospital with me, Cathy.” Whoever took care of it was a professional, that was clear. She didn’t tell him about it though, and he was not prying into her life yet.

“Who did that?” Catherine was starting to make up her mind now. While torn between war and fighting, she was also sensitive to violence against others and Middle was still healing from the kidnapping visually and physically. “Walk.”

Middie didn’t move.

“Who did that?” Catherine repeated.

Middie looked at herself briefly. Like she was debating what to say.

“Well. Open your hand then.” Catherine angrily reached behind her and shoved a pregnancy test into hers. “Here. Keep keeping secrets then and you’ll see where that gets you with me.”

That seemed to trigger Middie to tell Catherine as she brought the test box closer. “The friend I was with, it was his parents some time ago.”

“His dad?” Catherine asked more assertively.

“Mostly his mom.”

“Before or after she knew your condition?” Catherine asked firmly.

“After, mostly,” Middie Une admitted. “We negotiated things between.”

That didn’t stir Cathy in a good direction. “Then what did his dad do?”

Trowa could see an unbalanced feel when Catherine asked that. Middie could seem to tell Catherine about Gin’s mother but not his father as easily.

“The finger. Who took care of it?” Catherine asked again, wanting an answer to that question still.

“Gin called their private family doctor,” Middie answered.

Catherine glanced at Trowa. Not so much of hate. She seemed to be deciding about Middle Une. “It’s late. If you want something to eat, there is still plenty. After she takes the test.” She stole one more look at Middie. “The bathroom is this way.”

Trowa followed each of them.

---------------------------------

Was Catherine a part of RTL? Middie couldn’t tell, but Catherine definitely was passing judgment. No surprise. Please. Make this negative. I don’t want to be here, I want to go back home. Catherine led the way to the bathroom and made certain Middie went in.

It wasn’t the best bathroom, but not the worst. The Circus took care of it. Probably traveled with it. I can’t dwell on a bathroom forever, this is going to happen whether I like it or not. Middie knew she didn’t have long, but took two seconds to let her mind wrap around everything that was happening.

She was in an area she wasn’t welcome in, she knew that. How long would she be there? What did Trowa plan on doing with her? These questions became all too real as she looked at her test. She brought the test back out along with the box to show. “Two lines.”

Catherine grabbed the box and the base of the test and scrutinized it. She trembled slightly, then threw it in a nearby trash can.

Catherine was quiet for once. Middie didn’t know how to react.

Within the silence, Trowa spoke again. “That’s not surprising.” he admitted, “but confirming. This way, Middie Une.”

----------------------------------

Trowa led her into another tent. He wasn’t surprised when everyone hanging around still were a little standoffish. The Circus was its own family. He hadn’t even brought any of his allies into that area. It was critical though. Being on the move in the Circus was a much better option to keep Middie Une hidden. “The food is over there.”

As Middie moved, he moved. Meanwhile, everyone watched her. The Circus knew who he’d been, but they’d never give away his location to someone asking for it. For the same reason, they were cautiously watching the woman hanging around their food.

Middie must have felt it too, but she still went after some food and ignored everyone.

Trowa had two things on his side. For one, anyone could tell that she hadn’t been treated decently. Although she carried herself and tried not to call attention, she had a slight limp, her face and cheeks still had signs of not being treated well, and of course she was trying to plate things with her good hand that didn’t have the finger splint. For those that wouldn’t care about physical injury, Trowa stayed near her, showing he was in control of his guest. Yet?

 It still wasn’t enough.

“Sorry about her injuries. She shouldn’t be in here,” one of the performers said to Trowa.

Trowa didn’t want to get into all the facts. The troupe would keep the secret, but it was a lot to shoulder. He wasn’t going to go into the past, a skim of the top would suffice, but that meant they would want to know more about her. Especially her current injuries, and she didn’t want to express it. “It’s late,” Trowa settled on. “Middie Une is a unique case for the Circus that we will discuss tomorrow, but she is in no condition for a lot of questions right now.” There.

“Is she joining?” someone else asked. “What happened to her?”

“You heard Trowa!”

Ah. The voice they would all listen to approached. “Cathy.”

“Middie Une is a unique case no one has had a chance to discuss much yet, but she needs some food and a good nights’ rest before anyone gets any answers.” Catherine tried to satisfy them with that.

Instead, someone had started to bring the ringmaster in. “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Who is that, Trowa?”

Damn. The ringmaster was now involved. The circus is a great place to hide, I chose it correctly when I first came here for cover. However, the reasons it’s a great place to hide, are the same reasons it won’t be easy to get her in either.

“Watch your finger right there.”

Trowa looked back at Cathy. She was trying to guide Middie around. Her fears of Middie were starting to lessen quicker than he thought.

 --------------------------

Middie stared at the food and was thankful for Trowa’s sister being a guide. It was good to see she was clearly wrong about her. Middie hadn’t revealed what had happened in detail. She thought Catherine was angry at her beyond measure. However, she realized she got it backwards.  She knows something.

“That’s pretty good, and so is that,” Catherine said, making pleasant conversation. “Everything is colorful and on display because that’s how we live. If you stay, everything about you is eventually on display.”

Catherine’s subtle way of warning her that any secrets kept would be exposed. Middie just wanted some food, but it was starting some kind of argument, and Trowa was not the kind of person to deal with arguments. He didn’t speak up. Ever. “How much display tonight?” Middie asked her.

“The ladies and the ringmaster. The guys will trust it after that.”

Okay. “Then food?” Trowa wasn’t exactly planning many stops with her. He just wanted to get back to his home.

“Then food,” Catherine said as she left to go over by Trowa.

Ladies and a ringmaster. Been through worse to get a morsel. Everyone vacated the tent for now except the ladies. Catherine said they were all going to have some girl-talk. Except the ringmaster stayed too. He was the special girl-talk guest.

Middie almost had a plate of food. It was lying way over there by the buffet. Sing for your supper. She remembered Gin’s words for her when she said that. Maybe it wasn’t her name that made him call her One Song. Maybe he heard her say that out loud one day. Everyone there now stared.

“Most questions that can be answered, should,” Catherine warned her. “It won’t be repeated outside the troupe.” She hesitated a minute. “If Trowa wants you here, you should understand, it’s not a quick stop.”

“Name?” Someone asked her.

“Middie Une.” She’d answer what she could.

“How do you know Trowa?”

“The past, in the war.” Hopefully that would work for now.

“Why are you eating on our food?”

“She is about to become one of us,” Catherine answered for her.

Circus folk. Middie didn’t have the abilities to be in a circus. She barely managed in her low-income jobs as it had been.

“What happened to your hand?” A younger, more innocent looking girl in the crowd had asked.

“My finger got hurt,” Middie said simply.

“Why’d it get hurt?”

Just get it over with. Get it all over with because they won't let this up. It’d all come out, so let it all come out. If they wanted her gone afterward, Trowa would have to figure it out if he wanted her to stay. Otherwise she would find a different way.

That is what she did. She was a survivor. “My name is Middie Une, I am nineteen going on twenty,” she said. “I lived on Earth all my life. I was involved in being a spy in the war. As a cute blonde kid, it worked. I know Trowa that same way, I was a spy against him.” She heard a couple of gasps but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to hang around a place to walk on eggshells. It was nice to see Trowa try and give her time to adapt before she explained, but Middie was never used to nice without a price anyway. While she spoke, Catherine stayed beside her. If she started to misspeak, she could stop her too. So far, she was letting her continue.

“Revenge of the Lost helped me at first, until they found out I was a spy and came after me instead. I ran away and found a new beginning. I went into a regular labor force. I’ve been in it for years.” No need to mention her brothers or her father. She wasn’t going for the sympathy vote, just the facts vote, to find where she stood. “Not long ago, I had to have a surgery for Tonsillitis. I borrowed money to get it done from a man named Gin. Afterward, Trowa came to my door and told me Revenge of the Lost was after him too.” Hushed room. “He thinks I’m carrying his child so now he feels like he should be responsible for my welfare. Before he explained that to me though, I was taken away, being blamed for ratting someone out. These wounds are mostly a result of negotiation between me and a powerful mother of the crime syndicate down here.”

She looked toward Catherine. She wasn't pulling in the details of Catalonia. "I was lied to, went to the colonies, but Trowa took me back. Now I'm here." Was that enough to get something to eat?

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past,” Catherine struggled to say. “Although it will follow around her, I’m sure of that, but she is carrying Trowa's child. If we don't take her, then we might lose him.”

“I want to know more about the spy position and the war,” the ringmaster announced. “I want to speak with Trowa too, Catherine!”

“Yes, Sir,” Catherine nodded gently.

“She may eat something for now.” He stood up and placed his hat on. “With my permission. First thing in the morning, Trowa had better be at my tent!”

“Yes sir,” Catherine nodded dutifully again as he left.

Expecting that to be enough for her meal, Middie tried to go back toward the plate she was making, but it wasn’t enough yet. Catherine stopped her. I knew this was coming.

“You were a spy and you got people killed!" Catherine laid into her. “You didn’t pull the trigger, but you gave away positions and that was as bad as killing them. But? We all have to learn how to forgive after the war. It’s a time of peace." She gritted her teeth. "This is asking a whole lot though. You hurt my brother, and he is bringing you into our family, to protect his child. Therefore, you are getting a second chance to make things right. Don’t screw it up, please.” She rubbed at her eyes. She was a sensitive one.

“Now the injuries?” Catherine demanded. “You said they were before and after. I don’t need extreme details but . . . I want to know.“

Yeah. Middie knew she'd ask soon. "The mother of the son who they claimed I ratted out, roughed me up to figure out the truth before RTL called her,” Middie admitted. “All of the injuries you see except my hand came from her.”

“Did you go to the hospital?” One of the others asked.

“No. Just, regular stuff.”

“Your finger.” Catherine paused back on it again. “Did she do that too?”

“Her ex-husband that escaped jail, also courtesy of RTL. That one, I did kill,” she confessed outright. How could she put it succinctly? Catherine was smart enough. “Since the father of the baby was dead to him, he wanted to use it to regain his track again.”

There. Was that enough? Everyone still stared at her. “Well, what do you want already?” Middie was getting mad. “I didn’t ask to be brought here. I was living just fine away from here until I got dragged here. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here. I’m pregnant, I’m starving, I’ve been forced to do crap I haven’t done since the war to survive, and I had to retain my dignity by doing crap I never wanted to either! So just leave me alone, let me eat, and I’ll get out!” She limped to the food.

Damn limp! You can’t look cute and innocent with a limp. You don’t look like a good girl with a limp. She moved toward her plate. Fighting for a simple meal again. All over again. Survival. Survival was never an easy thing. It wasn’t a matter of pride. It was about getting down into the muddiest, dampest mildew ridden and rotten infested spots and not giving in. I’m not a good girl anymore anyway. Not since before.

Then, she saw her plate being taken away. I earned that, at least let me eat. She realized though, that they were plating it for her.

“She missed that, and she should get that.”

“Do you have any allergies?”

“You should try that; it’s got a lot of protein in it.”

Oh. Middie looked over at Catherine.

“Like I said. It’s a time of peace. Second chances,” Catherine said to her. “Just be good." Her eyes sharpened, with a slight tear. "Because Trowa would never ask you for anything else.”

“I will." Middie agreed as she saw a much better-looking plate coming into existence. While she took it graciously and started to eat, she felt Catherine’s hand on her lightly before it fell away.

 -----------------

Trowa sat on his bed, talking to Duo on the phone. He promised he would call when he got her back. “It was positive. Catherine should be able to get her food. I’ll find a way to get her in.”

“Trowa,” Duo said. No whimsy. No cheeriness. “I only saw her for a bit, but she’s been through some hell. You talk to her about it?”

“No,” Trowa admitted. “Not yet.”

“Well, enjoy a night or two getting to know her then,” Duo warned him, “but you better find out the facts. I know the way she was eyeing the guy she killed that she was all set to do it. She’s a pistol ready to go off if too much builds up. She’s that kind of person. Be careful.”

“I know,” Trowa said again. “I’m sorry your family wasn’t what you wanted.”

“Hey. People you can trust are a lot more important than some relation,” Duo said. “I better get to bed. I need to go sleep with Hilde now. I mean! Yeah, you know what I mean. She might be safe now, but one wrong move and RTL will bag her. I gotta be just as careful until we get them. You got your bed squared away to watch out?”

“I have been ready.” The day he ever found her. If he found her again. Trowa had been ready.

-------------------

Trowa took Middie to his personal tent area before bedtime. She was looking at it all around.

“It’s like a bunker on the side.” She glanced to him. “Are you holding me prisoner at night?”

“It’s designed for safety,” Trowa said. “Revenge of the Lost is known to stab its victims at night with anything, especially by the feet. It’s better to be safe.” He noticed her look. “What is it?”

“Careful what you wish for.”

That was an odd statement. Trowa didn’t understand it, Middie never wished to be pregnant that he knew of, or to be with the Circus. “Climb in.”

“Are all of the other pilots using this model?” she asked. It was almost a tease. Almost. She climbed into her side.

Trowa didn’t know what the other pilots used, he just knew while they had taken care of their responsibilities, Middie was . . . not being taken care of. Just lugged around through shuttles. All he could do was plan for if she came back.

He had sacrificed room in his tent for a larger bed. Half of it had been boxed, and melded together with the railings. It looked like a giant metal box with a bed tucked inside. One side was left unwelded and unopened so she could get adequate air and get out.

Otherwise, he would be next to her. His area was not contained, but he was a light sleeper. If anyone came in the room, he would take care of them long before they could figure out how to reach her.

Even though it was a box, it was still a bed first. A pillow, a blanket, and a comfortable mattress.

Having been taken from her home, kidnapped for some time, and now there, she was missing many items. Everything she owned except the clothes on her back. He would have to find a way to get her items without putting her in trouble later or rebuying her some down the line. The second option would probably be best. For now, sleeping in her clothes was probably easier anyhow. He would do the same.

He moved into the bed. She was tucked back into the metal container, already sound asleep. She sleeps well inside of it. “Goodnight, Middie Une.” He closed his eyes.

Finally.

--------------------------

ACT TWO: THE RESULTS

The Long Colony

Wufei didn't say anything as he took the few items he had and packed them up. He was being asked to leave.

Mei-Lin had witnessed her colony's demise. Her mind had not been trained to accept and understand all possibilities. Her colony had been her home, and it was now terminated. Nothing was left but scrap metal that may have escaped the carnage. Certainly nothing alive, and no one of the Zhang Colony.

Mei-Lin was the last of it, but the Long Colony had not been very good friends of the Zhang. Although Wufei no longer had to worry about any nonsense of fatherhood, he could not abandon her to whatever life wanted to throw her way. She was weak and she had nothing. Even she knew that, and unlike some women, seemed to accept it as an inevitability. She alone could not bring justice to her colony. 

Unfortunately, that did not mean one simple life on the Long Colony. Wufei asked politely, with the most sincerity that he could, to let her stay. His choices had been given to him. Unless he planned on marrying her, (why would he ever without reason?) then she was not welcome.

He tried to work out something with Quatre since he was leaving to Earth with Catalonia.

After all, Trowa would not be so easy to get on the phone. He had gotten the spy with his unborn only yesterday. Everyone should be on guard, not even answering phones.

Even Quatre shouldn't have answered it, but he did. Wufei reminded Quatre that he knew Heero, and he could possibly be working with him. He shouldn't trust anyone. Then he insisted Quatre could trust him right now.

Wufei got help from Quatre, and then reminded him once again that he shouldn't trust anyone else. Quatre complained it was confusing, but that's why Wufei chose Quatre in the first place. He was of the weaker, kinder kind of heart that would be the one to mess up if something did happen.

They should not let their guard down. For anything.

----------------------

Duo and Hilde's Colony

Hilde stuck her head out the side of the truck. "It feels so good to be back home."

Yep, they were lucky. Hilde not pregnant. Never taken. Safe and sound, and finally home. Duo pushed his shades up as he parked. "Oh, Junkyard, my Junkyard. How I missed ya." He got out along with her. Back to how things should be. "Alright, Hilde, listen up. We are still not out of the woods."

"You aren't going to start babying me, Duo?" Hilde warned him. "I'm a big girl, and I won't be getting any special surgeries anytime soon. I'm fine now."

"Gee? Pardon me Miss Perfect," Duo complained. "I'm only trying to be a friend that cares for the sake of your health."

"Oh. Sorry, Duo," Hilde apologized. "It's just that? I don't want to be stuck in that kind of position again. I am going to be just as careful as you are going to be. No late night frolicking, new friends, or anywhere that's not my regular. I'll even drag you shopping with me when I go if you want."

Good. She was taking it seriously. Duo knew that he had been lucky, along with Wufei. However, Wufei's luck had backfired for the woman he took care of, so just assuming everything would be okay wouldn't work. As long as I stay next to her, they won't risk doing nothing. Not like they can blow up this colony without blowing me up. Then where's the satisfying revenge? Nah, they wouldn't.

They wanted to hurt him and make him suffer. Not just kill him off quick. He even went inside the junkyard door at the same time almost. They both thoroughly inspected the place. Everything was absolutely fine, but Duo wouldn't let down his guard. Like it or not, he'd be her shadow for as long as it took to nab RTL. Even if he had to spy on her secretly to do it. 

Not something he wanted to do to her. Spy. It wasn't right to spy, but at the same time, he doubted she would really allow him to shadow as much as she needed to be. Precaution was no four letter word. 

"I smell like one of those Earth pigs we always crossed on the farm when we went to work," she complained. "I like Earth, but not everything about it."

"Yeah, the colony smells are different," Duo agreed. "Earthlings kind of do have a . . ." Hmm. "Well, it's not like terrible."

"No, just different," Hilde said politely. "But, colonists smell a different kind of different. I missed my shampoo and soap." 

Yeah, subtle things, but Duo got it. "I get it, Hilde. Earthlings don't stink. Just you." He gave her a playful wink to let her know he was kidding.

"That's not, hey, I didn't." She was tongue-tied. "I'm taking a shower. I'll be out soon." She smelled her shirt. "I'm serious though, Duo, smell that."

Duo's nose got close to her blouse. "What did you do, hang out by a pier all day? In the water by a pier all day? Because I used to hang out on Earth piers and I never came close to that." It smelled like rotting fish. Duo had smelled it before, but the smell was worsening as time went by. He thought it was a combination of them or something. "Yeah, you go get cleaned first. You need it."

Duo sat down and waited. He turned on TV and got some snacks, ready to just relax for a bit before they got down to business. Fifteen minutes rolled by, so he went to go knock on the door. "Hilde, you okay?"

"I smell terrible still, I need longer!"

"Okay, okay. Don't have to bite my head off. Pardon me for being worried." He walked off and relaxed on the couch for another ten minutes. Twenty five minutes total now. He went back toward the door and knocked again. "It's not like a skunk. It's been 25 minutes. What's taking ya?"

"It's a stubborn smell. Give me more time."

Duo sighed. "I'll give ten minutes, Hilde, that's all you got left."

"I'm fine. Don't be so commanding."

Hm? Hm. Commanding? "You know the hot water doesn't always stay on for too long."

"Stop badgering me, I will come out when I am ready."

The place wasn't the best, and water wasn't always perfectly warmed up. Usually, it started to get cold in around the 30 minute mark, with nothing left at 35 minutes. I was giving up my shower time. That would never make her say commanding. 

Duo stepped back and knocked down their bathroom door. He heard a scream and saw a figure's shadow in the bathtub. Could be Hilde, if she really for some reason did forget such a simple concept about water? But, he'd find out now. "Why don't we take long showers, Schbeiker?"

The figure was still. "Uh? Water, of course."

"That's right!" Duo didn't care, he grabbed the shower curtain open. Like he'd ever say just her last name and have such a plain reaction. 

Duo knew it. He didn't want to know it. He'd rather get pummeled for miles by Hilde for that action, and he'd let her for doing such a despicable thing. Except? It wasn't her.

The lady there ripped the shower curtain off and covered herself. "The money. It was too good?" She shrugged. "Would you turn around?" 

No answer from Duo.

"How'd you know? Wasn't the answer right?"

No answer. Just. 

A pull of a gun aimed straight at her, with a click to unlock the safety. 

-------------------------------------------------------

In the back of an unmarked van.

Hilde risked opening her eye. They had been nice enough to give her towel back. Somehow, she doubted that meant she would be okay.

She had been pushed out of the van, being brought to a shuttle. She could not even last one hour with Duo before they managed to steal her. On complete alert even. Just one quick shower and-

"Hilde!"

Duo? Hilde watched as Duo knocked the women around her out. Something she would be glad to help with once she was free. "Duo!"

"One freaking shower, how could I be so stupid?" Duo criticised himself. "You okay, Hilde, you aren't hurt?"

No, but he was a little close for comfort in her towel. She was used to having a towel to and fro, not a big deal living with Duo, but this towel wasn't tightened by her, and she was restricted in handcuffs. 

Duo seemed to get the gist as he backed off slightly. She adjusted the towel a little better, checking the tightness. "Good. You're okay."

"How did you find me?" Hilde asked.

"Shady voice actor told me where you went."

Hilde watched him. His actions were jumpy. His eyes angled and alert like he was still in a mobile suit fighting. There was no way he would want to stay home now. "Now what, Duo?"

Duo didn't answer at first. "I uh. I don't. I thought I lost you, Hilde-Babe. I thought?" Suddenly, he didn't seem to care about her space with the towel as he hugged her. 

She didn't care much either. Duo lost so much in his life. Losing another would not be good for him."I am okay, Duo. I promise." He was still hugging her. "I won't risk a shower without checking for windows again."

"Screw that, Hild, I am standing right outside the bath now," Duo said. "We are spending 24 hours a day in the same rooms. You aren't leaving my line of sight."

Uh? "What about to just use the bathroom, Duo?"

"I'll use a bath curtain and stand in it. I don't care, RTL is not getting to you. If we didn't have such terrible water, I wouldn't be here right now. They even have fakes doing voice acting of you. We definitely have to get off this colony. The more they know where we are, the easier it will be to mess with us."

Duo scratched his head. "Really wanted to believe they would just try something small later on. Try their luck on some dental surgery or something. No such luck, they were ready to outright kidnap you. We can't come home yet, Hild. I don't know where to go, but not home."

"I get it, Duo." No junkyard yet. Still. They would need somewhere to go. 

-----------

Right in front of him! Just get home, not even a day, and they have the guts to try and take her.

They thought they were that powerful. Heero's got it right, I have got to be more careful. Duo didn't care anymore about right or wrong to one's own self. He wouldn't lose Hilde.

He had to find out about his own family tree because he was climbing into it.

---------------

Heero's hideaway

Heero checked his phone, recognizing that last number. Duo's throwaway. Considering he wasn't waiting to call from home, that couldn't be good. "What."

"I need to talk to my half brother," Duo said to him. "I jumped the gun on him when I saw a woman in his house tied up. I want a second meeting."

Hm. "Things not good at home?" First day even. "Your brother is not in a good mood. He lost that same woman you untied to the man I am hunting down."

"Yeah, I know. Just get me to him, Heero. I want to share all the support I can."

Uh huh. Heero wouldn't be there alone for long. From the lengths Duo seemed to be willing to help? Let's test it. "Your brother needs help retrieving his woman from an old ally of ours. He also needs help getting rid of a woman that is with our other former ally."

"He's my only family left. I'll do anything to help him out."

Yep, something bad happened. "You aren't being recorded, Duo. What happened?"

"They tried to nab Hilde from the shower, and replace her with a professional voice actor in there. I am lucky I got her back. You don't get how lucky."

The shower? Professional voice actor? They want them at all costs, even without being pregnant. He looked over at the other side of the room at Relena. She was looking at the view right now. 

Heero went back to the phone. Duo was ready to fully pursue RTL to all lengths too. "You know who to call up. I'll get in touch with your brother, but I'd be honest with him. Family is important. He'd probably help shelter his little nephew."

"Little nephew. Yeah, I getcha," Duo said before hanging up.

------------

Maguanacs Base

The safest place. Quatre went with Dorothy, Wufei, and Mei-Lin, but Rashid already gave him the news.

They were getting a lot of new visitors. As much protection as the Maguanacs may have offered, RTL was sniffing around.

Maguanacs information must have been found in whatever information RTL got a hold of. It wasn't safe anymore. 

It was already time for plan c. Quatre had been ready for it, along with his sisters and Rashid. It still didn't make it the best.

There was a reason it was plan c. Only to be implemented as a last resort.

Even as it was implemented, Quatre still felt shaky about it. He looked at the desk in front of him. "There must be something else, Rashid."

"Master Quatre. You were in charge of seeing this through yourself," Rashid insisted. 

"If only it could be a bomb shelter for a whole year." This was absurd. Plan c.

Quatre gritted his teeth. He could still feel how bad of an idea it had been. "All of my sisters know. My advisors, you, and anyone else that has any real power." Quatre sighed, a very long sigh. 

Before Heero turned off into enemy territory as his resolution, he had discussed a few options with Quatre at his mansion. Once Quatre realized that their might need to be a plan c., he talked to the person Heero had known.

He was no gentlemen. The man Quatre talked to was rude, vulgar, and came down hard on Heero and Quatre. He belittled the war and their problems. Spoke rudely of Relena and Dorothy.

Then offered Quatre what he needed for plan c. 

Still, it would been nice to have plan B. "It's because I came here during the war with Duo." They hid there when Oz was looking for them. Before he headed back up to space all those years ago. 

"They may be watching any and all actions you took," Rashid agreed. "I'm sorry, Master Quatre. I believe it's needed."

"Yeah, I know. It'll be safe." Quatre laid his head on his hands. "But. I just never . . . pictured having to do this." Heero didn't pick this way for a reason. "I feel. It feels wrong to put Miss Dorothy in such a position with me."

But this wasn't about being comfortable, it was about being smart, and after a disturbing call from Duo? He couldn't even let Dorothy take a bath without being watched, and any help he had on the outside was fading fast.

Heero was hunting him down for Dorothy. Duo warned him he would probably be doing the same thing after he connected with his half brother. Trowa was breaking all contact with him, even though they were both being hunted. He didn't want to risk Quatre's presence leading to him or vice versa, especially since he finally had Middie Une.

At least that was good news. Trowa had Middie Une.

The only one who was on his side was Wufei. There still needed to be some kind of communication. Heero, Duo, and Trowa were cutting off from him. If anything happened, he could tell Wufei. Wufei would be allowed to talk to them.

In exchange, Quatre was offering to help him too. But? "I don't know if Wufei would go for this." It was a lot to ask for.

Wufei needed a place on Earth and a way to look into RTL as well. If Quatre didn't secure him, it was a matter of time before Wufei would be cut off too. "How does he look?"

"He looks exactly like you," Rashid said. "Utmost precision was used. He even has a sound device to imitate your sound. It is secure."

----------------------------

Amado fixed the annoying sleeve collar on his wrist. Who even wore those? With his funky dyed hair, he went to go test out the new look.

He approached Dorothy Catalonia. To him, he looked just like Quatre Winner. They were even about the same size. He'd try out the blonde's girl to see how far he could pull off the illusion. He gave her a simple smile as he approached her.

She had kept her eyes closed while she looked outside. Weird girl. She looked weird too. Defo not one of his. 

She opened her eyes, looking toward the side at him. "What do you wish of me?"

Hey, it was working so far, and what an opening line to work with. "Why don't we head away to order some food. I am starving."

"Why would I go to eat with you?" She asked. "You're no one of real meaning."

"Whoah." What a bitch. "After everything I've done for you, you dare to talk to me that way?"

"You've done nothing for me," Dorothy insisted. "I don't even know you. You are not Quatre Winner, that is obvious."

Really? "But I didn't even speak like I normally would, Honey, so how the hell would you know?"

"You!"

Oh, the real Quatre came around. "I was testing how good this appearance worked," Amado stated. "Pretty good to me. Fooled some of these Maguanacs too. Your knocked-up girl though, it didn't take."

"I believe the 'knocked-up girl' could tell you weren't Quatre Raberba Winner from the way you carried yourself. Your unbecoming stagger and that unimpressive smirk," Dorothy corrected him. "You can dress a snake in a fancy suit, but it will eventually slither on the ground."

Pfft. "Yeah and I can tell you haven't been called a bitch only once in your life."

"I beg your pardon!" The real Quatre interrupted. "That was quite unbecoming of you, you are no gentleman."

Ugh, this guy. "Fuck this, how are you really supposed to be me?" Sounded impossible. "I'll take the dough and pretend to be you at your colony to throw off the dog's scent after ya, but you aren't fooling anyone. Even in another neighborhood, you can't talk like that shit." Seeing one of his girls, Amado snapped his fingers. "After all, proper gentlemen don't have two babes hanging off their arms." His girl came over and eased herself right next to him.

Yeah. No way. Nice dough. Hella good dough that the girls were getting a piece of too, but this sad mess of a guy. He wouldn't even-

-----------------------------------

"I apologize profusely," Quatre said toward Dorothy, bending down. He wasn't apologizing for knocking Amado out, but for everything else. "I know this isn't something someone like you are used to, nor should you have to bear with it. However, I want to not only hide you away from many people, I want to look into RTL too. I can't do it by keeping my head down in the sand."

"This louse has purpose," Dorothy said. "It must be a great purpose for someone like you to associate with Quatre."

It had been. "A man Heero trusted had connections for this setup. It was an option Heero considered. I will have to take this man's identity, as well as he took mine. We're not going to where people know him, but it's not the nicest of places. In normal circumstances, I would never take you where we have to go." He wanted to apologize again. "You'll hear a lot more of the dialogue you heard from him earlier." 

Neither he nor Dorothy were used to where they had to go. "To save trouble, Miss Dorothy?" He really wanted to add the 'miss' in now. "It is best if we agree that you are my pregnant girlfriend only when you start to show. Until then it's more of a loose . . . Situation."

"Charming." Of course she wasn't happy with that. "From his manner and your constant apology, I can guess my role. What about the others then. Wufei Chang and Mei-lin Wang? Will she have a similar role with him?"

"Well? Wufei plays my bodyguard. He'll change his appearance only slightly. Mei-Lin, I don't know yet." Amado often had two women on each side of him. Quatre didn't know what Wufei would think of that.

Becoming Amado wasn't fun. Amado may have cursed wildly and acted tough, but he had no real business in the life he was leading. In the mess he was in, he'd be lucky to survive another two years.

He was a sort of underling, living off the graces of his father who did have some skill before he passed away. That was how Heero's connection found him. People his father trusted had ensured a decent deal. Amado couldn't mess it up. If he did, he'd be killed. Hopefully pretending to be me will give him a chance to straighten out his life. Everyone deserves a chance. 

"The fuck hit me?!"

Then again, some just never can change. "You need to get up off the floor so we can talk," Quatre said to the awakened and cursing Amado.

"You knocked me out? You?" Amado said nervously. "Lucky shot. How would a guy like you even know how to fight?"

"Because he's a gundam pilot, or did you miss that detail?" Wufei came around the corner with Mei-Lin. He glanced toward her. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't choose this."

"I can handle it," Mei-lin said from his side. "I will do what I must. Just . . . find something on RTL so my . . ." She quit talking.

"So that the Zhang colony can receive justice," Wufei finished for her. "Wang Mei-Lin."

Quatre watched Wufei. There was something strange in that moment. A brief feeling. Wufei is trying to inspire her to be brave? No, she is naturally brave but her colony must have kept her down. He is encouraging her to be more true to herself.

"When one is a lady, it is even more important to let the world know your opinion," Dorothy said to her. "Not everyone hears you through the crowd."

"I promised that I would support the strong." Mei-Lin answered. "I will add my support by adhering to this duty."

"You are no Nataku," Wufei responded. "She would never stoop into this."

"I will grant aid where I must for you to grant the justice my colony deserves," Mei-Lin answered. "I never said the strong would choose how I would support them."

Oh. Wufei really didn't like that, but she was taking the route she thought was best to support Wufei. Wufei isn't fond of the weak. Yet, he doesn't hold the same kind of contempt for her, even though she calls herself 'not strong' . Maybe it was a difference in colonies. 

 Quatre looked back toward Dorothy. "We need to go change our looks now. When this is all over, we can all have our old looks back."

But for now?

-------------------------

Quatre came out of the make over room. The outfit was leather, not him at all. He had to wear strange shaded sunglasses, some weird branded shirts and jeans, and he even had to get his ear pierced.

But then, he saw Miss Dorothy. In an outfit. That just.

Dorothy always tried to appear calm and in control. Quatre could tell she felt uncomfortable though. The dress she was put in showed a larger amount of skin than she liked.

She was trying to adjust the top section that showed the most cleavage. Her unique eyebrows were trimmed back. She had red lipstick on her with bold makeup. Her long platinum hair had at least been left alone.

She looked lost, and unlike last time, she didn't have shades to hide it. She didn't even need to say anything.

"Now that looks right on the mark," Amado said as he came over. "Right to a 'T', now you would fit in with my other girls. The other one too?" He whistled. "Yummy."

Dorothy tolerated him and surprisingly so did Mei-Lin as she came over. She couldn't have been used to the outfit either.

Still, her and Dorothy both went beside Quatre, each one taking an arm.

"See? Get them in the right clothes and a girl just knows where to go," Amado said. "Have fun on Earth and I'll enjoy your place in the colonies. Promise I won't mess up your name too bad."

Yeah, he couldn't afford to. He would still be watched by those who knew his real identity.

As Amado left, Wufei came by. He seemed to take in Mei-Lin's appearance for a bit. Wufei's own transformation wasn't much more than a haircut and different clothes. Yet, he clearly still felt some anger." Let's go already, Winner," Wufei insisted. "The longer we stay, the more we put this place in danger."

Quatre agreed. They gathered the new outfits and tips they would need to stay in character, and then left to their new destination.

--------------------------

———————————————

“This feels a little weird,” Hilde said to Duo as they were driven up to his brother’s new place.

“Ah, it’s just living with a family famously known for torture and killing people,” Duo said sarcastically. “It’s a safer place than anywhere else I got, and I can work with Heero here too. I just need to be real nice to my half-brother.”

Hilde touched her stomach. “Didn’t get real long to not have that feeling of this all being over.”

“Already used to the live or die feeling of it too, so good practice?” he said as a positive note. They got out of the car and went to the door.

As nice as possible. Before Duo knocked, he already saw Gin open the door. He didn’t look too welcoming. “Hey, again.”

“Just get in.” He left the door open for them.

Duo moved in front, holding Hilde’s hand safely from behind. “Nice place again. Sorry things didn’t work out last time I visited. I really did come to visit, but I thought she needed help.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Gin said to him. He looked at his hanging onto Hilde. “You’re either really stupid or really desperate to bring her here.”

“A little bit of both?” Duo teased.

“You’re a genuine pilot,” Gin said. Any kind of humor he had in him seemed almost gone from before.

“Yeah. This moment’s pretty awkward. I call it like I see it,” Duo said to him. “I promise, I’ll work extra hard to find your girlfriend.”

“She’s carrying my nephew. One Song wasn’t my girlfriend,” he said slowly. “She was this great fusion of a girl, but she also knew I had the name Phillips on me. Most didn’t make the connection, but she did.” Gin glanced toward Hilde. “When it rains, it pours, you’re carrying too?”

Hilde nodded. “We could really use any help we can get for . . . we still haven’t gotten that far. We don’t really . . .”

“Think about it. Yeah, RTL is a real piece of work, isn’t it?” Gin seemed to be warming up to him. “Just because you knew him? Ran a junkyard together?”

“Run a junkyard together,” Duo corrected him. “We’ll eventually get back on our feet, and get back to our life.” He noticed the smile on Gin. It really wasn’t a bad smile.

“Yeah. I think we are all kind of stuck in a hole right now, but we’ll get back up,” Gin said in the same sort of way. “As long as I can save Middie. Trowa Barton took her, and it seemed pretty personal. I thought it was to ensure I get Catalonia, but Heero says he thinks that Catalonia might be carrying his kid instead. I don’t know. They both sound like something twisted RTL would do.”

Heero, what the hell? Gin must have gotten closer to the truth which would have pulled the Phillips away from them. “You figured out the connection, huh?”

“Yeah.” Gin nodded. “They impregnated some of them for Gundam pilots. It makes sense why Trowa is holding One Song hostage.” He smiled at Hilde. “Anyhow, nothing to fear here. This place is plenty big enough. It’s not ideal for the average person, but you weren’t an average person.”

“I was a soldier,” Hilde admitted. “I’ll be fine.”

“One thing I don’t get, and Heero hasn’t figured this one out either?” Gin looked toward Duo. “Why did RTL impregnate One Song and make my brother the father, when all the others involved, were all with pilots?”

Ah, he was too close. “Beats me.”

“Maybe this One Song woman is carrying Trowa Barton’s instead of Finn Phillips,” Hilde said casually.

Duo’s hairs started to rise. He knew what Hilde was trying to do, but it was still risky.

“Yeah, I get that,” Gin admitted. “It might make more sense that that is the case. That this Catalonia chick might even be innocent and RTL just wants her to be blasted away for them.” He shrugged. “I don’t have her to test her. RTL’s words aren’t worth a damn, but their threats are always real. She might not be carrying our brother’s kid. Or, she might be, and RTL is using this whole thing to confuse us.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Risky for Hilde to say, but apparently smart thinking. Not saying the obvious probably made them look more guilty.

“Either way, I guess.” He took a deep breath and put his hand out toward Duo. “I’m not the warmest person in the room right now, Duo. I’d be a lot more accepting of getting to know another brother, if my twin, hadn’t just . . .”

Duo took his extended hand. “Yeah, I get it.”

“Yeah. But? Hey, I’ll try.” He waved to Hilde. “So, another nephew to protect? How did you know so soon?”

“Oh, I just have a feeling. Mom instinct I think,” Hilde bulled him. “Feels like a boy.”

That made Gin chuckled. “Eh, niece or nephew, I’m sure it’ll be great. Gonna have to work on a name though when you really know what it’ll be.” He gestured to the left. “This way, Heero and his family is hanging out on this side. You’ll be over here, just on the left side.”

Duo and Hilde followed him up the stairs and the most right room.

“He doesn’t like to be disturbed. He’s a real loner kind of guy,” Gin said.

“Yep, that’s Heero,” Duo agreed. “I’m used to it. Is he gonna pull a gun when I knock on the door?”

“Yep, you know him,” Gin said with a slight smile as he waved at him. “I hang out downstairs, front of the house. If you see something that isn’t from me or Heero, shoot,” he insisted. “I can’t ignore this family anymore, not with so much on the line.”

Duo watched him walk off.

“Your brother is good, Duo,” Hilde said toward him. “He’s just in a bad situation.”

“Yeah, I know situations.” Gin seemed okay. “A little in love with the wrong girl, but yeah. Overall, pretty good.” Duo moved to the side of the door and knocked.

“Like I didn’t hear you?” Heero answered the door normally. “What?”

“We have arrived.” Duo gestured to Hilde. “Excited?”

Heero didn’t answer him.

Of course. “You got your queen with you, I hear?”

“Relena isn’t a queen. You know that,” Heero said to him. “Don’t talk about her.”

Relena appeared at the door on the other side of Heero. She was wearing handcuffs like jewelry?

“What’s with that?” Hilde asked concerned. “Hi, by the way. What’s with the handcuffs?”

“If anyone breaks in and sees Relena, she’ll be in handcuffs which helps prove she wasn’t here willingly,” Duo said to her. Such a Heero thing to pull.

“Could you not talk about things out loud?” Heero was not taking his interference well. “Relena, back inside.”

Relena looked toward Hilde. “Nice to meet you again. I wish it were under better circumstances.”

Hilde waved. “Nice to see you again too. We’ll be on the left side, if you feel like visiting for a spell.”

Relena nodded and then went back in the room.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Heero warned Duo. “One word about Relena and-”

“I know, I know, you’ll kill me or expose my secrets or something like that.” Duo always knew him. “Your secrets safe with me, Pal.” He watched him head back in.

“My mom is also here,” Gin added.

“That was not something I wanted to hear,” Duo said to Gin. “Your so-called One Song’s injuries-”

“Some, and yeah, I get it,” Gin said. “It’s a warning, to let you know. She’s not the greatest person on Earth. She won’t be baking cookies or anything. She’s a Phillip, through and through.”

Yeah, and Gin wasn’t, although this situation was toughening him up. It was hard to see which way he’d fall in it. Would he become one of those cold Phillip guys? Or would he get freed again and go work in a nice little job away from all this stuff again? “Hey, as long as step-mom doesn’t touch Hilde, I won’t fuss.” Duo moved away from Heero’s door and headed to his room.

“So, if there’s anything you know about Trowa Barton, be sure to let me know,” he warned Duo. “Really. I know you got along with him. Heero did too, but he’s got Middie Une. I can’t guarantee why he does, so we gotta be careful.”

“Right. Look out for your One Song, and shoot Barton or Catalonia if I see them,” Duo said.

“This is the safest place right now for your friend, and your unborn, half-brother,” Gin warned him. “Sorry, but really. Don’t fuck it up.” He nodded and left.

Duo looked back toward Hilde. “I know.” Gin felt hard to trust both ways. Not bad, not good, but? “It’s our option, Hilde. They tried to take you the first day.”

“I know,” she said to him as she opened their door and looked at the room. “Everything’s a risk right now, but I get it. I just hope your other friends don’t get in the-”

“-way of RTL even more,” Duo corrected her. He hadn’t had a chance to check anything for bugs yet.

“Right. That was so scary, Duo,” Hilde told him. “I don’t want to get caught. Can I keep my gun on me here?”

“I didn’t see a sign that said ‘no guns allowed’,” he teased as he went into the room too. Seriously though? Hopefully, the others did understand they needed to stay out of the way. Far, far out of the way.

——————————

Narrator: After Colony 198: There is still no rest for the gundam pilots. Even the ones who had escaped Revenge of the Lost's scheme, had suffered consequences for it. To keep everyone safe, for now, each of them has done their part. With his newfound fame, Heero has had to use the power of the Phillips family to keep Relena safe, and Duo has pretended to befriend a brother and convince him Hilde was pregnant. The Phillips power could be essential in finding Revenge of the Lost while hiding from them at the same time. Meanwhile, Wufei and Quatre have taken a different direction, choosing disguise and switched lives to keep Dorothy and Mei-Lin safe until the threat is over.

However, Revenge of the Lost itself is not an undefeatable champion. Sometimes, it just takes a single shatter for something to start falling down without recourse.

Crystalia stared at a glass horse in front of her. She’d had it for years. Having fragile glass of something so strong in nature.

“Crystalia?”

Right now, the glass seemed much more in control than the horse.

“We lost them.”

The glass was in much more control. She sat back in her seat. “Lost them?”

“We had Duo’s assignment to try and correct it, but he immediately found her. He’s too close and suspicious.”

Too fragile.

“Trowa Barton found Middie Une too.”

Too breakable.

“Chang Wufei’s situation at least turned out right. She didn’t get pregnant, but we did manage to destroy the colony. As for the Winner son and Heero Yuy, we haven’t found them yet. We also lost track of Chang Wufei again. Still, it was fitting revenge.”

All the results were landing right in front of her on the desk, like it should be impressive. “We lost.”

“We didn’t lose,” another member said. “Of course we didn’t lose, just the women from space didn’t take. The others will be found and taken care of, and we will find fitting revenge as a substitute.”

“We don’t substitute!” Crystalia yelled knocking that fragile horse off the table. “It doesn’t work with them all, so it doesn’t work. That is not what superior wants.”

“Yes, but making them still suffer in some way-”

“-is grasping,” she finished for them. “Superior never said to pull that colony trick. It hurt, yes, but she wasn’t pregnant. She wasn’t even on it! Do you think Superior will say, ‘oh, she cried and it made him feel bad? That’s good.’ No! She won’t be that forgiving.” She held her hand into a fist. “They deserve to hurt, in the same way. The same way. Consistency. You blew it. This didn’t work. We lost.”

“Then, what do we do?” the little sheep asked her, like she was actually the full one in charge.

“Nothing. We lost,” she said. “Let them go.” They didn’t look happy about that. “To pursue trying to make them suffer without consistency isn’t professional. Superior will have to create another plan.”

“Then, what do we do?” one of them asked. “Just give up on trying to punish them?”

“No, but it needs to be consistent.” They each had someone they now knew they had to protect. Even the flaw her group created with Wufei Chang would keep him closer to a random stranger. Wherever they were, they were with the ones who are or were supposed to be pregnant still. “We can still hurt them, without children. Consistency.”

“I thought we decided that they all-”

“It doesn’t work, deal with it.” Life sucked, they should know that. It didn’t work. “Plan B. The women they are protecting.”

“We don’t even know where they are though.”

Yes, she did. She could find all of them right now. During the surgery, she had her doctors microchip each one.

Relena Dorlain was on Earth, in some mansion. That meant Heero Yuy wouldn’t be far. Hilde Schbeiker was near the same area. Dorothy Catalonia and Mei-Lin were both on Earth in the company of someone they normally wouldn’t be. Most likely it was some kind of hiding deal for safety.

And of course, Middie Une was at the circus. “I know where they all are. I just don’t need anyone getting ahead of themselves like they did with Mei-Lin.” That was absolutely stupid, taking out an entire colony of people!

Yes, it hurt Wufei Chang and Mei-Lin but it stupidly killed many innocents as well. “Who the hell came up with the Wufei Chang thing?”

“I thought it was good,” one of them said. “It was great revenge considering his past.”

“This group was started for mothers and daughters who lost their families,” she reminded them boldly. “That stunt just killed who knows how many innocent mothers, daughters, brother, fathers, so many families!” She took her gun from her drawer and shot the speaker straight through the head. “You lose your way, you are dismissed! Everyone remember that.”

There was no way just one was involved, but it got the point across. They stepped out of place.

They were all silent.

Eventually, one raised their hand slowly. “Miss Crystalia? Madame? Uh. What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing,” she answered. “I’ll pick them up with a few of the best in this group. Pregnant or not pregnant, the pilots will sweat. They will come out of hiding to eventually search to find us to find them.”

“Then we get them, Crystalia?”

“No. We make them sweat.” They were all confused. “Yes, they’ll be as confused as you are. We’ll disband and go under for a little while.”

“Uh?”

No, of course they didn’t understand. “One of the worst things in the world is being scared and separated from the ones you love. Never knowing if you’ll see them again. How old they’ll be. How they’ve changed.” She moved her finger to her brow. “Once the women know we can track them, they’ll willingly stay away from the pilots.”

“So? Our revenge is supposed to be satiated with these pilots, by what? Making the women they are trying to protect hide from them? What kind of revenge is that?”

“They murdered my husband! Revenge is to let them wander around searching for these women?”

“These women and their unborn children.”

“I don’t think this is any different,” one of them bravely said to her. “Some of them will get hit with the fact their child is growing up without them. Others won’t care, many of them probably didn’t want to be fathers in the first place. The others that have no children in the first place, it won’t bother them at all, it would just be honorable to find the women.”

“Do you really think so small?” she asked them. Honestly? “First of all, this stunt with the colony just pulled a massive amount of notice to who could have done that. RTL has to go underground for at least a few years.” Even Superior would have to agree with that. “So, this is the best we can do with the resources we have. Each of our best will be watching over the women. Making sure they settle down. They are safe. Everything is fine. That way, when the pilots come, they will run from them or expose them for their safety.” Until they can emerge with a new plan.

“It only works for the pilots with children.”

“Yes, and so the pilots will all have children. We took them once, they will eventually drop their guards, and we’ll do it again. It is a slow burn revenge.” Did she have to explain this in great detail? “Pilots without children lose the women. They know what we have. They will be sweating it out, knowing what is probably happening while they search. Everyone still suffers.”

They nodded, but they didn’t look . . . honorable about listening.

—————————————

Emerald looked toward the others as they were dismissed. “Does anyone believe that hogwash?”

“No way,” another one agreed. “No way. That doesn’t make any sense, it’s like she’s trying to backtrack from the mission. We are making them suffer, not just wonder ‘oh, I wonder where someone went?’. What the hell?”

“You know, there’s a rumor I heard,” another one muttered. “That she’s actually related to one.”

“Oh, please.” Emerald didn’t believe that. “They all lost their moms.”

“Not all of them, and she was presumed dead. That’s how she got away with even starting Revenge of the Lost,” they reminded Emerald.

Not all of them? “Which one?”

“Just think. We know that she said she used to belong to a circus. We know that her son Triton disappeared. We also know that Trowa Barton is in what?”

Oh. Wow. Was it? No. “She would have said something.”

“Someone else would have taken charge if they knew.”

“Right, right.”

“She’s been put in charge and mucking it up. You know what? Maybe she planned all this failure of the space women.”

“It wouldn’t make sense, Middie Une was chosen and she wasn’t in space.”

“Yeah, she was also taken hostage and beat up pretty bad,” another one remarked. “None of the other women had to suffer like she did.”

“You think Crystalia wanted it because Middie Une hurt Trowa? But, she gave Middie Une the baby.”

“Maybe she wasn’t even supposed to survive. Middie Une was supposed to kill Dorothy Catalonia and that would have made her the enemy of the pilots. Eventually her boyfriend Gin would learn the truth. She’d have no one on her side.”

“To kill her own grandchild before it’s born?”

“No, after. I bet she would have made sure it was safe. Once eyes were off Trowa Barton, she’d probably send it back to him.”

——————————————————

Crystalia watched and listened to the conversation going on in the hallway from her own private room. Damn. No matter how careful she had been, the fact they knew where she came from kept exposing the truth.

Now, she had a problem. They were going to try and find out where the women were, so they could outright handle revenge in their own ways. In fact, she could tell they were about to open her door again and-

-four of them held a gun straight at her image.

“Crystalia, we want to talk about the slow burn revenge,” one of them said. “We disagree.”

“Tell us where they are. The women. Forget making them die like their mothers, it’s all botched, just tell us so we can kill them! That will hurt them enough.”

There wasn’t much time. Crystalia was already starting to leave. I can’t believe this. She headed toward her car. “Damn group is just too big and out of control.” She unlocked her car and took off as she heard the gunshots.

By now they would have realized she had used a hologram. Once she got a sense they were onto her, she left the room and left a hologram standing instead. I hate this. I hate this so much! She squeezed the wheel of her car.

It had started so simple. Helping others like her get the revenge they deserved for hurting them, for hurting those they loved. Losing Triton. Losing . . .

She turned the corner sharply and grabbed her shades. No time for a trip down the past. The group had become so much more than she ever imagined. Everything from controlling police to congressmen. But . . .

Why did her son have to be the enemy? No choice. She had her whole life dedicated to her group, she couldn’t just say ‘he can’t participate, he’s my son!’ No, that would have killed her.

She would have died in a creative and torturous way, since it would be the same way Middie Une would die later.

So yes, her group was right about her, in a way. Middie Une wasn’t her first choice, but Triton didn’t make any big impression with many women, and she had to make it someone from Superior’s list.

Stupid. She tried. I’m dead. She lost her group. Just because, they just really wanted . . . revenge against the wrong people. Seriously, the pilots did mess up, but they also helped so much. They were heroes.

Saying they needed punished because their actions ended up getting someone killed, forgetting the fact they saved how many? They tried. Triton was not a cold-blooded killer. Someone as good as Relena Dorlain wouldn’t have befriended Heero Yuy. Hilde Schbeiker was just signing up to feel like she was protecting her colony.

When she first began RTL, they took down people that physically grabbed people, beat them, abused them, killed them without a care. Spit at their bodies, believing they were untouchable.

After Superior came, the changes could be seen and felt, and RTL had moved into more money and support than ever. That’s when the targets had changed though. From single people to full companies.

Crystalia helped establish the company. The reason everyone had gem code names was because she started it. She naturally had a name that sounded fake and blended in. It was a great name from her mother, and audiences loved her name.

They loved cheering and gasping as she swung on a trapeze with her husband. Then, Catherine. So small, she did the small things still. What a smile she had. The Blooms.

Even Triton. So small, he couldn’t do anything yet, but he seemed to get happy when the crowd ‘awwed’ him right before the other performers took him away so she could perform.

When she came back, she knew she couldn’t just pretend that it’d be okay. That she could go back to the troupe, just smile and perform her tricks like life was still okay.

Triton grew up strong, and handsome, and righteous. He grew up following his own goals. He had apparently somehow found Catherine again. Found his home. “And I just impregnated a spy with my grandchild.”

She shook her head. Losing her grip in the situation would have led to something worse for each of them. The spy was terrible, but no more than she in reality. Middie Une had even been trying to flip her life around again, unlike Crystalia. She couldn’t hate her without hating herself too.

She’d live in RTL and die still being in RTL. That was what she believed. That’s how it should have happened, but the chances? The chances her baby son would have survived and become one of the biggest enemies in the group.

She sighed. Leaving her conscience behind used to be easier. I’m going to be dying soon anyhow. Fuck it. I’m doing this.

She took a deep breath and swung her shades back off. This was for all the marbles. She picked up her phone. “Janet? Hi, it’s Sarah. Yes, Sarah McGee of STL, how wonderful of you to remember. Say, I have to call in some favors now. I have a fabulous proposition that I’d like to discuss with the higher ups regarding some disenfranchised new mommies that need help. Oh, well bless you too. Bless all of us, we need it.”

She turned another corner. “Uh huh. Good, sounds great, just leave the details with me. Yes, now if you could be so kind? Yes, right, burn it all. It’s better not to leave any traces for anyone to hurt them and I’m afraid in my group it’s getting to be too big, so . . .” She shook her head. “Yes, of course. Yes, spies get into real big things, and we don’t want anyone to hurt our new mommies. Yes. Great, thanks. Thank you. Could you please let me know when everything is in place? Thanks, Hon.” She hung up.

A routine help line with scorched marks afterward. It wasn’t the first time she’d performed it, but it would be the last time she would get that kind of help. It was doubtful she could help all of them in time before she was cut off, but she’d help who she could.

Last piece. She called up Superior. "Superior? RTL was responsible for a colony blowing up, please come down."

Her life would be ending soon anyhow. Let one of her last actions be something good.

—————————————

Superior walked in. There was a crowd around her, demanding attention and answers. Shouting out theories. Blaming each other. “Who was responsible for the Zhang colony?”

No one wanted to accept that one. “I know that someone fucked up,” she yelled. “This. Is. Important. If you don’t give a damn about fixing anything. If you want me to call this group off altogether and you never get any revenge against any of them that hurt your loved ones? Then stay silent.”

“Someone was already killed for it,” someone spoke up. “Crystalia killed them.”

Crystalia. A great leader. “Were they or weren’t they? I am not going to go easy about this.”

“But none of the pilots have felt a sting of revenge until-"

Dead. Everyone went silent again. She held out her gun. “This was too big. There was more than one. So?” She brought out her tablet. “I have this very personal problem with blowing up things in colonies. They are connected, small, and delicate like a woman. One thing hurts, it all hurts. I want everyone who was involved in the middle of this room right now.”

No one was moving. She didn’t doubt that. “This tablet I’m holding?” She showed it to them. “It’s called insurance. You know that RTL is not something that you treat as your playground. You work in a place of revenge that has had no arrests since it’s conception. You all have your personal information, your addresses, your loved ones working locations updated every year.”

Yes, they were starting to get the idea.

“I will randomly blow someone’s house or loved ones work location up every ten seconds until there are ten to twenty people shoved in front of me. Starting in five seconds. One.”

Immediately, some people were starting to run, others were grabbing others, yelling, pushing, and shoving but they were getting shoved in front of her so fast.

One of them in the circle dropped to their knees. “We did what we thought was right, Superior!”

“We don’t blow up anything in innocent colonies. Innocence does not get anymore mixed up in it than it has to! I will destroy every member in this group before I will let it happen again!” she scolded them. “All twenty of you. You are mine now. If you try to leave or interrupt my plans, I will kill you.”

“We are going to let them live?” one of her members asked.

“Yes,” she insisted. “They are going to make up for their mistake. This isn’t over, we can and will correct this. Stand up.” The overzealous members all stood up. “Until this is corrected, you are going to stay with me.”

“Crystalia betrayed you too,” one of her spared members said to her. “Superior, we believe Crystalia is the mother of Trowa Barton.”

Superior just stood there. Honestly? “Crystalia lost her family from a circus. Trowa Barton is hiding within one of the Circus’ and is about the age. If she isn’t his mother, then yes, I believe she might have some personal interest in his future.”

“But then, she’s a traitor,” they continued.

“How? Crystalia is my second hand,” Superior reminded them. “She chose the situation and the people involved. She successfully accomplished that, and she was doing fine with her motives. Even better because she set up Middie Une to take a fall early and play the villain role. Besides, if you are telling me this, you already scared her off.” She would not stick around once someone started saying it. “We do not choose our families, and she put the group first. We aren’t going after her.”

“She might warn the-”

“We think she set up-”

“She has to die to follow-”

“Quiet!” She yelled at them. “Crystalia was a loyal member since the beginning. She was a core founder of this group. Anyone found going after her will answer to me. I will handle her with grace when the moment comes to deal with her. Now? You.” There were at least twenty-five in front of her. “You won’t see your families again until our revenge is completed. Try and run, and I will make sure all of your loved ones suffer.”

“Yes, Superior,” each and every one of them answered.

“And don’t forget,” she warned everyone in there. “We are a group. A team.” She watched someone’s hand go up like a schoolgirl. “What?”

“Miss Superior? Permission to say something without um?”

“Speak,” Superior decided. “What?”

“You’re pulling 25 of us away because of an ambitious decision,” she stated. “Every one of us have had to tell about our family except you. What did Heero Yuy do to you?”

Did some upstart really just ask her for that? She was tempted, so tempted to shoot her as a vision of her little girl. In her cute little hat and their new little puppy . . .

She pulled her gun and shot her. “He killed me.” He killed everything she cared for. One business meeting. Away from home. One screwed up babysitter, but such a simple colony. Safe and wholesome. Home.

That home was gone. That home was taken. Everything she loved, cared about, or could have cared about. Gone. She died as a person that day. “You 25 in front of me. You better work real hard for me, or I’ll do more than just kill you and your families. I’ll invoke torture you won’t believe.”

“From now on, RTL is forbidden from being entered. All credentials are backed up so drop every piece of proof you are a member. You are simply in STL if anyone asks. You don’t know other members and will not react to each other’s presence if you see each other elsewhere. No purchases and member accounts are cut off. We are going underground, except for you twenty-five.”

“Just twenty-five?” Someone asked.

“Just twenty-five,” Superior insisted. “I will start reconnection when we reconvene.”

“Ma’am?” Another hand in the air. It seemed to make them feel like she wouldn’t shoot them. “Before Crystalia left, she said she knew where they were."

Oh? Oh. 

——————————————————

Quatre had been trying as hard as he could to find information. So had Wufei. He mostly stayed in, claiming sickness so he didn’t have to deal with all the unfriendly ‘friends’ he had.

Dorothy walked by him, adjusting her outfit as she took a seat with her own book. Mei-Lin often preferred to be silent, almost subservient in the corner. It was hard to tell she was in a related sort of clan to Wufei, except when he accidentally angered her.

Then somehow, accidents happen that couldn’t be explained, and a passive aggressiveness he couldn’t really prove she had would be provoked. She never did anything major in front of others, never risking being found out.

Every time she did that, he swore Wufei had a slight smile on his face.

Today there was no smile. “Every single piece of information is old,” Wufei said to Quatre. “There is still nothing.”

Nothing. “I’ve noticed.” Quatre was concerned about it too.

“Maybe so,” Dorothy answered her.

He just nodded to her too, noticing a slight change in her usually slim body.

“Probably,” she said to him.

It was still barely seen, but it meant time was moving farther along. They had been hiding in that disguise nearly four months already. When they first arrived, they had plenty of information to dig up in. So many holes they had mined, but it was like the mine had been sealed up away.

While the women were safe from being found, he couldn’t keep up the charade forever with Wufei. They needed some kind of crack.

He noticed Dorothy looked uncomfortable, wiped her brows and stood up. She was getting warm. He noticed her head outside. “AC?”

“Fresh air,” she insisted.

Oh.

“She’s starting to show,” Wufei said to Quatre. “We should have had information dug up by now and had this whole charade ended. RTL went underground, they aren’t making any moves. Even STL is being silent.”

Yeah. Quatre watched Dorothy come back in. She didn’t look so good. As she passed, he touched her hand gently. She didn’t comment, just held it back.

It didn’t even last ten seconds before they both let go at the same time. Dorothy started to turn the AC on. “Don’t know.”

“Hope so,” he said back to her. Her changing body was making her feel sick and hot. She was trying to be polite for everyone in the room so she wasn’t turning the AC too low. She didn’t know if it would be low enough to do her good, but hopefully it did.

No, she was going to go back outside again instead. Mei-Lin moved toward Wufei.

“Are we wasting time now?” she asked him.

“Apparently,” he admitted. “It’s been down too long.”

Quatre watched the front door, waiting for Dorothy to come back within it. He put down his information and moved away from his chair.

“Hey!” one of his ‘friends’ had showed up.

“Where is my chick?” Quatre asked him. “No fooling, Man, you better not be messin’.”

“I’m not messin’,” his ‘friend’ said. “Your platinum goodie isn’t out here.”

What? Quatre looked all around them. “Hell?” He hated to use the vulgarity, but he did when it called for it. “The hell is she?” He started taking down to the corner.

Nothing. “Baby!” Quatre yelled, trying to stay in character. “I didn’t mean to mess on you, come back!”

“Dude, I hope you didn’t mess on the platinum, she was fine.”

Quatre noticed Wufei and Mei-Lin come out to see what was happening. “Hey, you!” He pointed at Wufei. “What do I pay you for?! My girl is missing, find her now!”

Wufei didn’t answer or rebel, he played his role well. He started to look in the other direction.

“Maybe she finally got tired of your ass?” His ‘friend’ added. “I mean a girl that fine isn’t going to be with your ass forever. You need serious money to keep her.”

“Shut up about how fine my girl is!” Quatre yelled at him. He noticed Wufei. “Well?”

Wufei nodded. “She’s regurgitating on the side.”

Oh thank goodness. Quatre headed over her way. “Get back inside.” Poor Dorothy. “Dorothy, you okay?” She was clinging to the wall.

“It just hit me.” She stepped away lightly. “It was so fast.”

Pregnant women throw up. It didn’t mean anything was wrong.

“Normal,” she said to Quatre. “Uncouth but normal.”

Right. Good. Except, she bent over again. This time, he tried to help her keep her balance. He stroked her back, trying to comfort her.

“Dude, you’re pushing it doing that out here,” his ‘friend’ said from the side. “Killer kudos though.”

Quatre didn’t care what he said though and continued to stroke her back until she backed up. “Better?”

She didn’t answer, and she wasn’t. He took her hand and they left the side, with his ‘friend’ giving him a thumbs up along the way.

“Didn’t intrude,” he promised Quatre. “Guess you pleased your platinum thing again though.”

That’s it. “Stuff it. She isn’t feeling well because she’s pregnant.”

“No shit? Oh shit.”

Quatre ignored him. “Talk later.” He helped Dorothy back inside and to her room. “Do you want something? Medicine? Heat or cold pack?”

“Just my bed, Quatre,” she told him. “I’m not feeling myself right now.” She touched her head as she lied down on her side.

He stayed beside her. No one wanted to be completely alone when they weren’t feeling well. At least, Dorothy didn’t. He eventually grabbed a chair and left only long enough to get his information and bring it with him to her room.

He saw Wufei at the door after a couple of minutes. He could see he was still working.

“Privacy?” Wufei asked Quatre. “I swear, Winner, let her sleep. She’ll be fine.”

“She doesn’t want to be alone,” Quatre answered him. “I’ll leave if she wants me to.”

Wufei came in the room and looked at her. “Leave the ill woman, every hole is being filled by RTL. We don’t have much left.”

“I’m still working,” Quatre insisted.

Wufei just shook his head and eventually left them be. Quatre tried to type as quietly as he could so she could rest if she needed to. She looked toward him, it was clear she changed her mind about earlier. He got up and went to get the medicine.

At first, he felt uncomfortable with someone who could read him just as well as he could read others. He was always scared they’d get lost in translation somehow, but after awhile, he dropped that fear.

He got her some medication, glanced back toward her, got her pain reliever and an ice pack out of the small freezer. He looked back toward her again, gave her the medication, and left to the kitchen to wash a washrag and put ice in it instead.

He went back toward her, and she took it as she swallowed her medicine. He gave her a friendly smile and left knowing she wanted to rest now.

He left with his information and sat back down, noticing Wufei’s look. “What?”

“You’re overreacting to such little things,” Wufei criticized him. “She’s feeling ill, it’s expected. It shouldn’t be important enough to distract you.”

“I think feeling ill is important enough to warrant some intention,” he said back. That and he always worried if she wasn’t feeling well. It was normal in pregnancy for it to happen, but a part of him was still worried RTL might have done something to her.

He looked back to her room.

“She’s fine, it’s normal,” Mei-Lin said coming more from her corner. “You’re smothering, I don’t know how she stands it.”

“Exactly,” Wufei agreed. “Personal space.”

“She’s resting now. She wanted me to leave to rest.” Quatre obeyed her wishes. “I’m not smothering her, I just helped her.”

Both Wufei and Mei-Lin just both bowed their heads and stopped talking.

———————————————

“Hey, Duo?”

Coffee. Early morning. Duo noticed Gin heading his way. He’d already been up for awhile, trying to find RTL again. “Gin. Hey.”

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you.” He patted his back. “You know, it’s been about four months. Have you had Hilde checked out yet?”

Shit. “Naw, but I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Hey, I get it, Duo,” Gin said to him. “It’s kind of scary. You don’t even have any idea about names even. It’s just that? I haven’t seen her getting sick or changing in any way. I’m not saying anything’s wrong, but if it is? You should get her checked out.”

Damn. Time had moved so much with no detection of RTL anywhere. “She’s just a late bloomer probably.”

“Duo? Look. She might have lost it,” he said slowly. “Or, something could be wrong. I’d feel bad if I didn’t let you know. If she lost it, it’s okay. I get it, you can still stay because RTL might try the same trick again.”

Really?

“In fact, it’ll be safer if you stay, even if that is the case. Hilde and you are like the best of friends.” He shrugged. “I used to have that with Finn. I know you don’t know him, and all you do know of him isn’t good, but he was just a figurehead. The next in line, following his duty. Deep inside, he was an awesome guy. He was just stuck in this because he was born a minute or two before me.”

Duo didn’t know what to say about Finn. He sure as hell wasn’t going to make Gin upset about that right now. “I’ll get Hilde looked at,” he promised. Now that Gin knew him well enough, he could continue protecting Hilde there. “Thanks for opening my eyes.”

“No problem, Duo,” Gin said to him. “You and Heero are always looking real deep into RTL. Not one request about the mission of killing Catalonia ever came in again. Have you heard anything about them or did they disassemble because the heat got too hot on them?”

“Not finding much,” Duo answered honestly. “They’ll eventually poke their heads out of the ground.” He watched Relena dart pass them across the kitchen for the cupboards. “Cravings?”

Relena didn’t answer as she got some crackers.

Heero walked up behind her. He still had her daily handcuffs, but he probably got told off to take them off so she could eat. He ignored his and Gin’s presence.

“Is this all the crackers?” Relena complained as she took the last four in a package.

“Sorry,” Gin apologized. “Looks like someone needs to go shopping. I’ll put it on the list and tell one of the goons to get it done.”

“I can get it done,” Hilde volunteered as she came over. “I need to pick up a few things anyway.”

“Okay, we’ll get it done.” Duo didn’t let Hilde move too far away from him. A couple of months later or not, he wouldn’t risk it.

—————————————

To the Convenience Store

Hilde almost skipped. It felt nice getting out of the place. Sure, it was huge, but unless Duo went somewhere with her, they really didn’t go anywhere. Even now, they’d just walk a couple of blocks to a small convenience store.

“Hey?” Duo said to her as they walked. “Hilde-babe, you don’t have to pretend anymore.”

“Pretend about the?” She held her hands out from her belly.

“Nah. Gin thinks you might have lost it, and he wasn’t suspicious or terrible.” Duo put his hands behind his head. “I didn’t think he’d be, he’s been pretty cool about everything. If it weren’t for his crush on One Song, he’d be in a lot better spot.”

“Well, I’m glad you are getting along with one of your brothers,” she admitted. “I’m glad we can end this charade too. Although? I mean, we shouldn’t have to. Didn’t you guys even pick up one thing?”

“Nope, forgot to check things out,” he said sarcastically. “When something disappears, they cover up anything. There is nothing new, everything practically died for new news since that colony explosion.”

Yeah, Hilde knew that too. “Maybe they have to give up for a long time?”

“Yep, they messed up I guess,” Duo said as he went into the store.

Hilde went to the side and looked at the ice cream. “Yes.”

“Oh, I see, what a sweet considerate friend you are,” Duo said as he looked at them too. “You just wanted to have an excuse to drag me out for ice cream.”

Pretty much. She would be right back for them. “First, crackers.” They moved down a couple of aisles. It was just a small convenience store, there weren’t many places to hide it.

“Hands up!”

They both went on alert when they heard that coming from the front by the cashier. They looked out and saw someone trying to rob the place. They immediately got a hundred and some loose bills and took off.

Neither Duo nor Hilde were going to bother that, but the whole place had now been locked down instantly. “One little robbery and the whole place has to lock down.” He looked around for maybe a vent system.

“Duo!”

Duo looked and realized they were surrounded. There were five people there, all women, with their guns on them. Not only that, but also the cashier, and someone labeled the manager as well.

“Don’t move,” the cashier warned him. “Don’t move and your Hilde will be fine.”

Duo grabbed Hilde’s hand. “You aren’t taking her again.” But? They all moved to putting gas masks on, except for the cashier. She was still keeping her gun on them.

They were going to be gassed. “Hilde. Sorry.”

“We both tried,” she said back before they both lost conscience.

———————————————

Relena waited for Heero to come back. It didn’t take very long to go to a convenience store and he got worried. When he came back, he didn’t even bother with the cuffs.

“Gin,” Heero warned him. “RTL nabbed your brother.”

“Duo?” Gin looked terrified. “No. Not again.”

“Relena, we have to go,” Heero said to her.

Oh no. “Hilde and Duo?”

“They are on their own,” Heero insisted, “for now.” He grabbed her hand. “Gin. We can’t be in contact with you anymore. If I get news about Middie Une, I will let you know.”

They’d been found.

“Take a car.” Gin gave Heero a set of keys. “I hope you find my brother later.”

Heero took the keys and started to move out. There must have been one small corner of RTL still working. He headed to the car outside and had Relena get in.

The next place to go wouldn’t be half as nice. He had no choice but to take her into places unfit for someone like her. He’d warned her it might happen if something went wrong.

It was time to go.

Unknown Prison

Duo woke up and found himself not on the floor of the convenience store. In fact, right in front of him was Hilde. She was in another cell. “Hilde!”

She was still unconscious. Duo watched as someone walked toward him. She wasn’t dressed like any soldier at all. She had that rich upperclass look. Pretty white hat and everything, even white gloves.

Yet, her eyes. Her eyes said she wasn’t someone he could push in any vicinity.

“Are you Revenge of the Lost?” Duo asked her.

“I’m Superior,” she answered.

“Well, that answers my question,” Duo said with a certain amount of glee he knew annoyed people. “A little full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think so, no,” she answered. “I quite fit the bill, Mister Maxwell.”

Duo looked around his cell. “Hey, cozy.” He saw a bed with fitted sheets and a rocking chair and a comfy chair. He went over and took a seat in the comfy chair. “This is nice, thanks.”

“You're welcome,” she said politely. “Your girlfriend is still sleeping.”

“Hey? Not girlfriend, just a friend who happens to be a girl,” he corrected her. “Actually woman, girl is kind of juvenile. You know? Juvenile, like people bothering with revenge like kids at a playground fighting.”

Superior didn’t look upset. “I don’t really have anything against you, but as a group, we are fair to everyone in it.”

Nothing against him? “But someone does?”

“Yes, several,” she answered. “Several people who at the time didn’t fight with guns when you took their loved ones away.”

Duo leaned forward. “War is hard. It’s not fair. No one gets out of it staying an innocent angel.”

“She’s pretty close though.” She turned to look at Hilde. “Volunteered to help. Did she ever take any lives?”

“Doesn’t matter, you already got plans on her,” he said.

“I don’t think she has. I suppose she is sort of, your innocent angel.” She moved closer to Hilde’s jail cell. She pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

Duo moved from the chair and got closer as she moved closer to Hilde. “She’s not pregnant, killing her isn’t part of your plan yet.”

“True.” Superior snapped and several women went in and took her away out of there. She walked back toward Duo’s cage. “Our little trick doesn’t work with women in space, so we’ll have to try harder. Harder and harder. We’ll let you know when we finally get it.”

Duo slammed his hands on the jail bars. “Damn you, just do it! You want revenge against me, well, I’m right here?” He gestured to himself. “Do it. Kill me and just end this whole damn thing!”

“Mm. Pleading for death over her?” She moved closer to her. “That’s more fulfilling for those women you hurt, than just watching you get murdered. You live, with the hurt. Just like them.”

“Pain hurts, but you’re just hurting someone that never did anything!” Duo yelled. “Bring Hilde back!”

“We will after our second attempt. We’ll bring her back between attempts,” she said to him. “Until then, keep screaming if you wish.”

“You messed up, you’ll never get the revenge you want!” Duo yelled, almost to the top of his voice. “You fucked up and you know it, you wanted them all pregnant at the same time so they’d all go! You botched it up, you’ll never get the same results!”

“You are right. There is a chance that Hilde may get pregnant in four months, and of course the others will have been taken care of by then,” she said to Duo calmly. “If time gets too close, then once we confirm positively? We’ll give you a whole month together.” She smiled. “Then we will separate you and kill her. You are right, it’s not perfect, but it was never going to work out that way. We weren't waiting until before or after birth. Once Dorothy Catalonia goes, the revenge will begin. Most will be quick. Except Relena. She will live with the agony up to the moment right after birth."

"Relena Dorlain never did a damn thing wrong! She advocated for peace during the war!"

"Yes. She was very innocent, but she mixed up with the wrong person. No one else will work for this. Heero Yuy would have found it hard to get through with others, but he will be begging for glass to slit his own throat afterward when he sees what we did to his princess."

"You fell off the cliff a long time ago, you're all just sick. You are taking the lives of people you used to save! We looked completely at your history. You didn't start like this. It was revenge against people who were hurting on purpose, not because of sides in a war."

"That changed shortly after I joined. I am proud of claiming this minuscule group for my own. We have risen up so, so far. And now? You will all feel your victims pain."

“You’re fucking sick, and you are no lady!” Duo shrieked.

“I’m not a lady,” Superior agreed. “The lady part of this body died years ago. I’m just a sick fuck now that prefers to pretend to be some semblance of a human.” With that, she tipped her hat lightly and she started to leave.

“Damn, damn, damn!” Hilde. He heard her starting to yell. “Hilde!”

—————————————

Circus

Catherine was practicing her knife throwing. She heard some clapping behind her and looked.

Oh. Oh. Her hair was shorter, but she definitely recognized her.

“Look how well you’re doing now, Cathy.”

Catherine didn’t think about anything as she ran straight toward her, hugging her. “Mom!” She felt her hugging back, but in a weaker fashion. “You’re alive.”

“Mm.” Her mom wasn’t talkative. She gave her a tablet. “This is yours now,” she told her. “Yours and Tritons. I’m sorry. Tell your brother too.”

Her brother? “Triton. He . . .”

“Trowa Barton if you prefer,” she said with a wink. “Make sure he gets that right away.”

“Momma?”

“Catherine, I’m not the mother you once knew,” she confessed to her. “I’m not going to be staying. This is the only thing I can do. It’s a safe spot. There’s not enough for everyone.”

Safe spot? “Mom?” No. She watched as her mother stopped hugging her and backed away. “Don’t leave. Don’t leave!” She watched as she started to take off in a run.

Oh no she didn’t! Catherine didn’t care why she suddenly showed up in her life, but she wasn’t just going to run out of it. She caught her flipping into trees.

She could do that too. She flipped into the trees after her.

“Catherine, I’m sorry, I can’t stay,” her mother said to her trying to leave.

“No, I’m not letting you leave!” She grabbed onto her with all her might. “Whatever the reason you want to leave for, I’m not letting you leave! You are back in my life, and you aren’t going to just disappear again!”

Her mother sighed. “You still have that determined spirit. Cathy, I was a part of RTL. Do you understand what that means?”

RTL?

“Revenge of the Lost,” she said clearly for him. “Middie Une was chosen by me, for Triton.”

What? This couldn’t, this couldn’t be. “Why?”

“I was a founder of RTL,” her mother admitted. “It started as a place to help people who needed real help, who wanted to change the status quo. It grew and went from individuals to full blown companies. It had seed money from Support of the Loss.”

Catherine didn’t know what to say. “You gave Middie the baby willingly?”

“Cathy?”

“How could you!” How could she do that? “You just showed up, now, with this kind of message?” She felt her eyes starting to fill with tears, but she didn’t wipe them away, just blinked through it. “You knew where I was all these years.”

“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m a horrible mother. I have to go now.”

“No.” Catherine held her sleeve. “No, tell me why?”

“I was a founder, but I wasn’t in control of it. I had a choice between only so many,” she answered. “Trowa Barton didn’t make many connections and I had to choose someone he knew. I couldn’t make it you, of course, and the option my superior wanted was you with Quatre.”

What?! “Me? You mean, they know about me?”

“Yes, they’ve caught up to Trowa’s location more than once. I certainly couldn’t allow it. I paired Dorothy Catalonia with Quatre Winner instead, and Middie had history that made her delectable enough for the leader.”

Was she even hearing herself? “You founded this group. Even the gem nicknames, I bet that was you. But? You lost so much control, that you did this to Triton? To stay in it?”

“No,” she said. “To live. Once this was found out, it would be the end.” Her mother tucked her legs beneath her. “Middie Une isn’t going to die now, until I die. Whatever fashion I go in, will be her planned end.”

Catherine gasped. That was right, it was the mother’s death, Trowa told her that. “But, it wasn’t, you didn’t even-”

“I’m his mother,” she said again. “I was doomed from the start.” She touched the tablet again. “RTL’s best secrets. One of the pilots was just taken, RTL is making its moves again. You’ll find him in one of ten locations in there. There are also some safety locations, I set them with some of my favorite fan senators, but there are only two locations. Now? You need to tell Triton to leave the circus soon, they will be checking everywhere when I’m dead to watch for Middie Une.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Catherine hugged her. “I’m so sorry, you were alone for so long. You need help, Mom.”

“No. No, for once, I need to help someone else in a good way.” She held her this time in a tighter embrace. “The sounds of the troupe. The open night air. The familiar lights. I have missed home, and I missed you. I’m glad I got to see you before the end.”

“Mom.” Catherine didn’t want to let her go. “As long as you are alive, Middie’s safe, so the pilots have to-”

“You are running out of time. They already know where several of you are located by now,” she said. “The troupe is harder because Ringmaster decides things on a whim. Weather. Events. Ooh, north instead of south. He even takes you to the colonies, doesn’t he?”

Yeah. There was never anything certain about the route they took. They traveled everywhere. “Middie Une is having your grandchild. You didn’t want to pick her, but you didn’t want them to find me and use me.” That would have been . . . “Did you plan the part of her hunting Catalonia? Middie was hurt.”

Her mother sighed. “I didn’t have a huge buffet of options.”

“She hadn’t been a spy in a long time. She flipped her life around.”

“Yes, I know. I can’t be close enough to get to know the women chosen,” her mother insisted. “Do you think she’ll be okay? I planned on yanking her out of the picture later for Triton.”

“Oh no, don’t do that,” Catherine urged her. “Middie is doing fine here. She presents people with this really big smile. She is doing caricatures of people in quick sketches too. She joined Circus Bingo, and she’s actually . . . nice.” Sort of. Her past really haunted her a lot.

Her mother smirked. “Good because I don’t get a chance to correct anything now. How is Triton dealing with it all?”

“I tried to give him a book on babies one time. He didn’t take it,” she told her. “I tried to leave it in his tent. I found it back in mine. Him and Middie share a tent, but only he would actually go in it when I wasn’t there. I don’t think he’s . . .”

“That’s okay,” her mother said. “It’s his life I ruined. If Middie is good and can handle it, then let her. If she doesn’t want it or runs away, then the troupe will always take it.”

Yeah, they would, in a heartbeat. “I can’t say anything for sure. You planned on it being okay." She planned on revealing herself or that Trowa's mother wasn't dead to delay it all and give him time to run with Middie. They had to catch her and kill her.

“Cathy? I love you,” her mother said so casually, like it was something she had said every day.

She used to. When she was there. “Mom.”

“I have to go. You have the tablet,” her mother insisted.

Momma. Catherine could sense that no matter what she did, she wouldn’t stay. Her mom left again, and Catherine halfheartedly tried to catch her.

This time, she couldn’t. Catherine looked back at the tablet. The last thing her mother ever gave them.

She ran toward Triton and Middie’s tent.

————————————

Trowa glanced toward Middie and her work. Middie always gave away the caricatures or quick scenes that someone wanted. Instead, she worked on something more personal. Her real work was similar to what he had seen at her apartment. It was the way she expressed herself, even if she didn’t share it with anyone.

It was so realistic. If something wasn’t realistic it was an emotional addition. Right now, she was working on a young boy below electric lightning with its leg so badly hurt, it would never stand unless it had no choice. In her paintings, it stood, with so much hurt in its eyes.

Since the troupe didn’t stay in one place, she would only keep her latest work with her. Once it was done, Trowa never found it again. He followed her one time the night after she finished one.

She took it a ways out from the troupe, and just placed it on the ground.

Trowa never brought it up, he understood that something inside her needed to express itself, but it wasn’t something she could dwell on. Life went on, and she released her art to the elements. She could have trashed it or threw it on the ground. She just placed it against a tree and walked away.

“Trowa!” Catherine rushed inside holding some kind of tablet. “Trowa.”

“What’s wrong, Cathy?” he asked.

“Mom.” She held the tablet to him. “She’s gone. She visited, but she’s gone.”

What was she talking about? “I don’t understand, Cathy.”

“Our mom.”

Trowa took the tablet and looked at it.

“Crystalia. It was mom’s name.”

Trowa looked toward Cathy. “Crystalia is our mother?” She was starting to cry. “Cathy.” He went to comfort her like she did for him.

"Dad's name was Henry. The troupe has always switched naming between parents. He named me Catherine. Pretty and simple. Momma named you Triton because a 'wave of you was like magic to the crowd'. You were the little Triton she loved to carry. She used to joke that you were someone special but it was too long for a name so she stuck with Triton."

Why was she saying all this? Their mother was beaten to death.

"She was in RTL,” she told him. “She turned her back on them in the end. She’s responsible for Middie though.”

Middie glanced from her painting to Cathy. “What?”

“Our mother is alive and was a part of RTL?” How? What?

“She chose Middie because her leader wanted something way grosser. They didn't know the relation but you were friends with me.” Catherine gagged a second. “Me. She even had to fight to keep me from ending up pregnant with your friend Quatre.”

Eeeeh! Trowa felt himself almost freeze. “I?” He looked back at the tablet.

“RTL’s secrets. She said one of the pilots were taken, and their location is somewhere in there. There’s also, um, two safe locations?”

His mother? “How did she get entangled in this?”

“She created it, she was a founder,” Cathy said. “I guess because of what happened, she just wanted justice. She said it grew and that it grew too big and someone else started taking charge.”

Trowa touched his forehead. His mother. All of this. “Where is she?”

“Running. I tried to make her stay,” she said to Trowa, “but she said they’ll find you. They caught up to us a couple of times, and before it gets real close, they are going to want to find Middie. Apparently, they even know where the others are.”

Trowa started to dig into the tablet. Names. Addresses. Locations. Senator personal numbers. Prison names and location secrets.

“Trowa.” Cathy touched his hands. “As long as she’s alive, Middie is safe. If they catch up to her, they’ll choose in what way she dies.”

Trowa understood that.

“Don’t hate her,” Cathy practically squealed. “I-I know that what she did, and everything, but she really was a good person! She was, and in the end, she gave you this, so.”

“She just got stuck.”

Trowa looked toward Middie as she spoke.

“People get stuck,” Middie said as she looked back toward her canvas.

People get stuck.

“I’m sorry,” Cathy apologized to Middie. “I’m sorry on behalf of her that can’t say it. She dug deep into Trowa’s past to find someone. She had to.”

Middie nodded. “It’s not your place to apologize for her. No one needs to apologize. This was because of a whole movement of women who were wronged, who just chose the wrong way to go.” She lightly swung her brush a couple of times before concentrating back on her painting.

Cathy looked back at Trowa.

“I have no place to judge anyone,” he told her. Cathy hugged him tightly.

He paid attention to the tablet again. One of his friends were in trouble. From everything he saw on the tablet, his others were not far behind either. “Middie, we have to leave.”

Middie peered out from behind the painting. “Both of us?”

“It isn’t safe here anymore.” Trowa gave Cathy a small hug which she tightened.

“Don’t be gone for too long, Trowa,” Cathy said. She wasn’t going to hold him back either. They had to get out.

—————————————

Unknown Prison

Hilde came back to her cell. Duo looked miserable. “I’m okay.” She wouldn’t let him continue that. “There’s no doctor yet, Duo. They just grabbed me and had me sit in a room doing nothing. They just wanted to get a reaction out of you.”

Yeah, he looked more relieved now. “Cheap shot. It’ll be okay, Hilde, we’ll be out of here before you know it.”

She really didn’t know how to believe that. Apparently Duo noticed that disbelieving look.

“Oh, come on? It’s a shoddy prison with rusted bars, holding back a gundam pilot?” he pointed out. “Plus, I mean, chances RTL kept all the info from all of us pilots? I bet at least one of us uncovered something.”

Well, it did sort of make sense. It sounded nice. To believe that would be really good because . . . “Duo. I felt such relief, incredible relief, when I knew I was okay.” She slouched on the side of the cell, matching him. “I don’t . . . I don’t want kids.”

“Well yeah, we are pretty young right now,” Duo agreed.

“I mean, not just that.” She probably shouldn’t say it. She didn’t want to feel worse.

“You don’t ever want kids?” Duo asked. “That’s fine, me neither.”

“Yeah, but most women want kids at some point.”

“Yeah, but you aren’t most women,” Duo countered her. “I know that I probably don’t want any, or I want lots.”

Lots?

“Like ten or twenty, it’d be weird to just have one,” Duo answered her.

Ten or twenty?! “That’s a lot of kids, Duo.”

“Yeah, so I’ll probably stick with zero if I can. It feels like an all or nothing kind of thing.” He winked at her. “So let’s hope it stays zero.”

“You better be kidding!” It took a second for her to register that wink. “Oh.” She smiled. He was kidding.”

“We’ll figure things out,” Duo promised. “If worse comes to worse? We can’t just send a kid up. I know how that went. I know that really well.”

Yeah. Hilde bit her lip. She was happy with her life the way it had been. She didn’t need anything else. Duo was right though, if anything happened, they couldn’t just send it off. They’d take care of it. Make sure it ate and it had shelter. But, Duo probably said it best in the beginning. “If you can be Uncle Duo, can I be Aunt Hilde?”

Duo held his eyes on hers for longer. “Hild, don’t cry.” He moved off the floor and stood up.

Hilde didn’t move.

“Aunt Hilde’s fine,” Duo said to her. “It wouldn’t even get it at first. We just don’t want to raise it like ours, but as long as it’s happy, it’s not too bad?”

“So what, like a little brother or sister?”

“Heard of worse,” he said. “If that’s what you want. No one else is giving you a choice in any of this, so whatever you want. As long as we eventually tell it the truth when it’s grown up. It’d hate us probably, but I can deal with that. If that’s what you want?”

Hilde hid herself behind her knees. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Well, you’ll get plenty of time to think about it, if anything happens, but nothing’s happened yet,” he reminded her. “You’re born and raised from space, Hild, and the fact we’ve been on Earth for a little while too just makes it that much harder for them to get what they want. So, believe in me. We’ll get out.”

We’ll get out. We’ll get out. Remember that.

“So?”

“So.” Hilde knew what he wanted. Why didn’t she tell him a long time ago, when they first came to Earth because of it? “It was going to happen one way or another. There was so much going on, I didn’t want to dwell on it yet.” But. “I can’t go through it keeping it all bottled up again.”

Duo seemed to understand it. He dropped it. “Soon.” She noticed he was already starting to examine the cell in places. Looking for weaknesses. “You gonna be ready to date somebody after all this is over?”

It sounded more like an innocent statement, a curious topic for conversation out of boredom. Those words meant neither one.

Duo and her had a bond, and the fact they ran a whole junkyard together without ever forming a relationship bewildered a lot of people. It really didn’t them.

Duo’s past, what she knew about it, it affected him to that day. Even though he was cheery and bright and could be so friendly? He’d lost too many people. Trusted the wrong people. Been hurt so many times. Though he’d tease when he saw someone he thought was ‘cute’, he never approached or dated anyone.

Hilde didn’t even know if he actually liked her romantically or not, but he trusted her so much that her words ‘there was no boyfriend’ sent him straight to Earth. He believed and trusted her so much.

But that phrase from him. Had Duo kept her at arms length only because he didn’t want to hold her back from marriage or family? “I don’t think so, Duo.” Still, just words. They would probably not change anything.

Because friendship was comfortable. It didn’t involve war or lives lost or hearts broken. It was two people who could laugh, joke, enjoy movies and pizza and just life together.

“Yeah and boyfriends that don’t break your heart usually end up wanting marriage and kids,” he said casually. “Usually the kids after the marriage.”

Oh. He was moving faster in his approach. What was he doing?

“So you either have to know you need a boyfriend who doesn’t want kids, or just know that things won’t work out for super long.”

Getting really strange now. “Sounds like you know from experience, Duo. Have you proposed to a boyfriend before? Did he want kids?” She expected some kind of chuckle from him, he didn’t even seriously date.

“I just meant to point out that you should probably just date for fun, so nobody screws up what you want in the future. That’s all,” he said as if that settled the whole thing.

“I don’t want anything in the future.”

“Exactly. So, don’t get too serious.”

Oh! Seriously, that took her a hot minute to figure out. “I don’t ever want marriage either. Whether a guy I date want kids or not, I like my own freedom. Too many bad things happen when people connect like that. I never date real seriously, Duo.”

“Yeah.” He sounded off, but he looked happier. “Yeah, I do that too. I don’t need serious people in my life. It’s serious enough.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

“Did you find a way out yet?” Topic change.

“Working on it.”

In other words, no, but it ended their serious conversation.

————————————————

Heero didn’t know who was calling him. No one should have his number, even spam wasn’t able to get through. He answered it but didn’t speak.

“Heero.”

Trowa’s voice? “This is stupid, Trowa,” he warned him.

“Who did RTL just take?”

He knew? “Duo and Hilde Schbeiker.”

“Where are you?”

Why did he want to know that?

“I know. Heero, Duo is probably in one of ten jail locations of RTL.”

“Great job at finding information,” Heero had to congratulate him. “Everything was buried that I could find.”

“It’s not mine. My mother visited Catherine,” he said. “Apparently Crystalia Bloom didn’t die. She was a founder of RTL but she turned against them.”

Whoah. “Crystalia is your mother?” Heero never knew the name of Trowa’s mother. If he did, maybe he could have made that connection himself. “That is the code name of the leader.”

“No, it's her real name. She isn't the leader either. Middie Une and the others were impregnated because of her, but she wasn’t doing it for her sake. In fact, it was supposed to be Catherine that ended up with Quatre or me.”

Yeah, not pretty. “She’s the enemy, Trowa, the data could be a trap.”

“Middie Une is supposed to die the same way she does, Heero,” he reminded him. “She hid facts from RTL, but she knows if they catch her, they won’t just kill her. They’ll get creative.”

“Good point.” He’d give Trowa that one. He looked to his side at Relena. He saw her serious, glassy-eyed stare. She wasn’t exactly being diplomatic right now. In his rush, he didn’t want to take anything. Which meant he missed some key things.

He ignored the issue, but it was getting pressing. “RTL could be tricking you, or your mother might still be in it somehow. That information could still be a trap.” He moved the cell from his mouth. “Soon.”

She glanced away, almost like a quick burn against him.

“Then we’ll test it because she’s got two safety locations. If this is legit, we’ll need them.”

Safety locations. Relena really wouldn’t like where he had to drag her to next. He didn’t like it either. If Crystalia is the enemy of RTL, then I could get Relena somewhere better. “I’ll test it by finding and saving Duo and Hilde.”

“Glad to hear you agree,” Trowa said. “I’m leaving the circus with Middie Une. I don’t know where to go yet. I know when you get Duo and his friend, they won’t know where to go either. This could get tricky.”

“Do you know where Quatre and Wufei are at?” Heero asked.

“Yes, if they stayed with Dorothy and Mae-Lin Wang. She has a microchip in the women so keep heading north for about two more towns. You’ll be near Duo.”

Microchipped? “Where at?”

“I don’t know.”

Damn. “Does RTL know about the microchips too?” He noticed Relena starting to lean more forward.

“I don’t think so or they would have found Middie.”

Good. Still, they would have to figure that out in the future. They microchipped her like a lost pet. “Call me when I’m two towns over.” He hung up, knowing Trowa was following his every move now.

Which was good because he had something else to tackle. “I have to try and find Duo after a couple of towns. We’ll stop briefly and get something.”

Nothing.

“I promise,” he added. “Relena.” A head nod, but still a lot of unresolved anger.

Or maybe not anger. She was bending over too much, it was already beginning. Cravings. She craved crackers, tomatoes, and pickles.

He had waited too long to get crackers, which was why she ran out to the general kitchen for her cravings. Which was the reason Duo and Hilde got taken.

And she still didn’t get her crackers, and he made her leave right away without taking anything.

He didn’t know how much cravings affected her at first, he didn’t have the encyclopedia on pregnancy. Everyone was different apparently, and each one was different.

The worst thing was, the cravings were a helper, because she didn’t want to eat anything much at all. That surprised him. He thought she’d want to eat even more as the pregnancy moved forward. Instead, she would practically starve if he didn’t watch her.

No meat, except in a meatball form with another meat and sauce. No chicken. No salad. No fish. Pasta, but only thick pasta. No spaghetti. She mainly ate veggies and pasta. Throw anything else in front of her and she’d vomit from the smell, or after she ate.

He should have took two seconds to grab at least some veggies but he wasn’t thinking about that and neither was she. Now she had an upset stomach or cramps which would make it harder to eat when he did get her food.

The first town he found he stopped and brought her with him into the convenience store. They would have to settle for something quick they could microwave.

She immediately backed out of the store, held her hand over her mouth and that was that with her coming in.

“I’ll get something basic, a basic pasta to warm up,” he promised. “Follow safety procedure.” Not easy. He searched but the basic things to microwave in a small convenience store was limited.

He found some crackers and he finally found something real she could eat, overpriced and small in the freezer section. Not exactly the standard food people would use the convenience store microwave for, but if he paid for it, it was free game to him.

He was on a countdown. He was already in a bad predicament but if Relena didn’t eat, then she’d be weak. He paid for the frozen dinner, went over to the store’s microwave and started to warm it up.

It wasn’t many noodles, and hardly any sauce. It should work. He noticed looks from the person behind the counter, but they probably wouldn’t say anything. “Fork.”

“Um?” They looked around and gave out a plastic fork to him from the hotdog area. “This?”

He took it. He stirred it after the first beep and put it in longer. Once it was ready again, he took it out. Too hot to hold. He went and bought some small, overpriced paper plates to put it on. Once again, he was getting a funny look.

Once again, he didn’t care. He grabbed it all and headed back out to her. “Simple pasta.” He also handed her the crackers.

She took both but didn’t look like she wanted to eat.

“You have to eat, Relena. You’ll need energy for whatever is next,” he reminded her.

“We don’t know what’s next.” She took the plastic fork and tried to eat.

He got back in and watched her. She was trying. She was eating really slow so she didn’t throw it back up. “I’ll try to drive easy.”

“Now isn’t the time for this,” she said like she was mad at herself. Her eyes started to shine. “We are in a real situation right now, and I can’t even eat right now normally without wanting to throw up.”

“Don’t get stressed out,” he insisted. “Your body has a foreign body in it, it acts differently.” Now. Second emergency. Saving Duo. Heero's phone went off again. "Trowa."

"Heero, don't save Duo."

Um? "I'm heading there now, so why not?" he had to ask.

"This could be a trap. Crystalia doesn't have much on the main leader Superior, but it does point out that she is against you. You are the one she wants revenge against."

"Hm." He didn't want to leave Duo and his girlfriend to the whims of RTL. If they were getting mad at not even getting them, they might upright kill Hilde. "I have to take that chance, Trowa. Revenge of the Lost might be planning to kill them."

"Most likely, they don't want to deviate from the plan. They put a lot of work into this, it wasn't formed in a night, Heero. You have Relena with you too. Trust me, it's not smart."

Hn. Heero could see his point. "If anything happens to Duo, it's on your head."

"I will go after Duo with Middie after I get a hold of Quatre and Wufei."

"All of the pilots?"

"The main leader who upgraded and changed everything to create the way the group is led today has a bitter and crazy need for revenge for you. I know how your mother died, and how Relena is supposed to go. Trust me, Heero. Take Relena far away and let me handle this with the others."

Trowa was telling him to basically run and not get involved anymore? "What is it, Trowa?" He wanted to know.

"Just stay away."

"Unless you are super close, he or Hilde could be killed." That was a fact. Heero didn't want anymore needless death. If he could save him, he had to. "I'll leave Relena far away. If I don't come back, she knows what to do." He had trained her very well how long to wait and where to go. "I will leave the phone with her too."

"You are closer. If you accept the risk, Heero, I wish you luck. I'll get back to you soon. Trowa, out."

Duo watched the red lights start to go off with the sound of alarms. “See? I guarantee that wasn’t put in for festivity, Hilde.”

“Someone is coming for us!” Hilde brightened up right away.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll let someone else get the glory this time around,” he teased. “I wonder who it is?” He stared down the hall. “Heero never found anything same as me, so it can’t be him. Could be Trowa, but he’s staying out of the way so he doesn’t get killed. Maybe Quatre, but Dorothy is being hunted? Gotta be Wufei.” He looked toward Hilde. “It’s not really Wufei’s thing to go rescue someone though out of the blue. The only one that tends to do that is-”

He watched Heero coming down between the cells. “Well, hell, it was you?” Duo greeted him. “You didn’t have any info either. Were you hiding stuff from me? Not real nice, Heero.”

“Duo!” Hilde scolded him. “Be nice to our rescuer please!” She smiled at Heero. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Hm.” Classic Heero line as he opened her cell first. He had keys? Nice. He gave the keys to Hilde. “Rescue him now, I have to get back to Relena.”

Hilde unlocked the door and he wrapped her up in a hug. It was going to be okay. As they went out the door, they saw several women on the ground unconscious. Sleeping gas? “You know what? I shouldn’t be surprised, he probably has it stuffed in his trunk like a spare tire.”

They both walked out and ran to the car that Heero and Relena were sitting in.

“Nice ride,” Duo said to Heero.

“Hn.” Another classic line.

“Now where do we go?” Hilde asked as they started to leave.

“Away from here,” Duo told her. Far, far away from there. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Oh, Relena.” Hilde leaned forward slightly. “How are you doing?”

“Don’t bother her right now,” Heero insisted. “She’s trying to eat without vomiting.”

Ooh. Duo noticed what she was eating. “Hey, when did you stop and get a full blown dinner?” It was even steaming still. “Did you really stop and get food before saving us?”

“Duo, do not go there right now.” Heero sounded tense about that.

“Duo.” Hilde reeled him in finally by tipping his hat. “I’m happy we’re out too.” She hugged him.

He wrapped an arm around her casually too. “So driver, how did you really manage to find us?”

“Trowa’s mother is Crystalia. Crystalia Bloom is the founder of RTL. Trowa believes she’s turned against them because they’ll want to kill her.”

Uh? “Well, I wasn’t the only one with the old family surprise.” Duo would take Gin any day over that one. “Damn, that meant she was responsible for her own grandchild?”

“Responsible for everything,” Heero corrected him. “She’s not the one in charge though. Someone named Superior is.”

“Pull over!”

Well, that ended the interesting conversation they were having. Heero stopped but he still took a little longer than he should have. Kind of weird for him. Relena popped the door open and got out.

“That went north pretty fast,” Duo said to Hilde.

“Yeah, just another reason I’m so glad we are out,” she said back to him.

Duo just watched out the car at them.

“Relena?” Heero asked as he bent down toward her. “Are you okay?”

Relena looked toward Heero. “I didn’t feel good, real nauseous. Sorry.”

Hilde tugged on Duo’s sleeve. “Oh, so sweet.”

“Sweet and Heero never mix.” Looked like all that time hoarding Relena in his room had changed the cold soldier slightly. He was gently giving Relena quick kissing pecks on her forehead. Yeah, that’s not normal for Heero.

Relena whispered something to him. Duo watched him come back to the car.

Duo thought about it. He really did. But? “Hey, Heero-”

“Tell anyone about that and you can forget RTL because I will kill you,” Heero threatened him.

Yeah, better to play it safe. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then again, it was fun to tease. Then again, Heero did save him. Then again, what an opportunity. “Is your princess doing better with your healing touch?”

“Duo.” Hilde helped yank him back. “Let’s not push, okay?”

Yeah. He better listen to Hilde. Duo saw a gun right in front of his face.

“You tell Millardo, and I will hand you over to RTL,” he threatened Duo. “Things are complicated.”

“Complicated? Pointing a gun at someone you just rescued is shoddy work at best,” Duo pointed out. Hilde just hung her head. That was a real sign he should back off. “You started a relationship with Relena, but you are also you, and there’s a baby, and it’s not like she can be a famous peace leader if she’s dating a bad boy even if he is the daddy. Something around there?”

“We aren’t dating,” Heero insisted.

“Hey, cute little pecks on the forehead from you of all people means you’re probably doing more than dating, but let’s just call it dating for all the young ears?” he teased him. Yeah, that look gave him his answer.

Heero pulled the gun back. “Stop nosing around in my business.”

Hmmm. “She can’t have the life she had back. She’s screwed, no more career with or without you.” So then? “Yeah, you aren’t so sure about the daddy role you’d have to take.”

“Be quiet, she’s coming back.”

Relena opened the car door and sat back down. She took a deep breath and closed the door. “Sorry. I’m ready again.”

Duo watched the two of them up front. It was cute. Looked like Heero had some big decisions to make later. Right now though, Duo had his own to make.

Trowa had safe locations. They were only as safe as they could trust his mother who had founded RTL in the first place. We might be better off just jumping out in the next town and taking it from there. He knew how to live that kind of life. Hilde, though?

She could but he didn’t want her to.

Maybe they’d look closer into things first before jumping out. “Sorry to say, Buddy, but we are going to be staying with you for awhile longer.”

“I know.” Heero didn’t sound mad or glad about that. He handed Duo his phone. “Recent call is Trowa. Find out everything he has found out.”

“Ah, got it.” Duo called it up. “Hey, Trowa! Man, thanks a bunch for getting us out of there.”

“Duo, are you okay?”

“Yeah and Hilde too.” That was his biggest concern. “So, what is it Crystalia Bloom had on her device?”

“Plenty, but Quatre’s phone isn’t working. I have his location thanks to Dorothy’s microchip, but we need to get to him. Now.”

Oh no, that didn’t sound good. “Why?”

“Dorothy Catalonia only has a few months to live unless we get to him soon enough.”

“Oh damn! Damn Revenge of the Lost!”

“What’s wrong?” Heero asked. “Duo, what did Trowa say?”

Duo took the phone away from his ear. “Catalonia’s been screwed with already. Quatre’s gonna be lucky if she even pulls through.” Shit. That? To Quatre? Duo paid attention to the phone again. “Do we got anything for it?”

“Yeah, but it’s going to take time to work. It’ll be given daily and build up in her system over time, and if she’s strong enough, she can ride it out.”

“Time is important,” Duo agreed. “We’ll get it to her as soon as we can.”

“Dorothy.” A single word from Relena in the front. The way she said it though held a weight in it that Duo hadn’t guessed it would.

“Did you try Wufei’s phone?” Duo asked. “He might know about him better. He’s the only one of us not having to go after Catalonia.”

“I’m trying. I haven’t got him to pick up yet, but it hasn’t been long since I’ve tried making contact with everyone,” Trowa admitted. “Most of RTL’s work after that has been minute because of the colony. Whoever this Superior is, she had a real problem with that and most of the group evaporated away.”

“Playing possum,” Duo said. “That group is definitely still around. Anything else we should know right now? Do you think those safe locations are legit? Can we track RTL somehow?”

“Duo. Even if they didn’t want to kill Crystalia Bloom, they would be planning it now. Revenge of the Lost is composed of 5,623 members, and Support the Loss has 10,523,901 members. Code names, real names, addresses, marriage status, number of kids, and even the reason they joined.”

Hmm. “Yeah, she’s gonna die.”

“Everyone but the woman named Superior. I can’t find any extra data on her, not even her age. I only found one source. She was recommended to the club by a high-paying member that was also a senator.”

Huh. “Hey, is Quatre on Earth? Is where he’s at going to affect Dorothy’s health?” With how he was born, maybe?

“If she was staying in the colonies during the worst duration, then her chances of ended fatally would increase. She is on Earth, but her best chance is getting her a specific medicine. It’s at the house of member 349816, Goldie Mark. Her father Howard Mark died in the service of Duke Dermail and her mother couldn’t take the stress. She committed suicide which left Goldie Mark homeless at a young age. She isn’t very far from you.”

Oh yeah, all the information. Duo saw some downloads hit the phone. Hey, not bad, not too far from here. “Hey then I bet you got everything on Relena and Catalonia’s innocent then, right?” Trowa didn’t answer. “Hey, Trowa?”

Nothing.

“What’s going on?” Heero asked.

“Nothing, he hung up.” There was nothing but a dial tone now.

To Trowa and Middie on the Road . . .

Trowa stopped the truck as Middie got out. He would call the guys back in a second, but this wouldn’t be stopped. Middie had been patting his hand in a panic as he was reading on his side of the tablet. While he had been doing that she saw a curious tab called ‘recommendations’. She clicked it and a small amount of messages popped out on the side of the screen.

When she got out, he could see more clearly what ‘recommendations’ was referring to. Trowa got out of the truck and tried to approach her steadily. “Middie.” He couldn’t tell whether she threw up. She might in a second after he said this, but she couldn’t bury things forever. “Did you recognize a recommendation?” He was rewarded with a rock being thrown at him. Not a big rock, just the nearest thing her body could fling to silence him. That wasn't very like her. “We can’t waste time here, lives are at stake. We either need to talk this out, or get back in the truck.”

She looked appalled at either idea. She turned and faced away. Clearly he was going to have to look at the recommendations again. “I’m going back to the truck to finish giving information. The longer we wait to move, the less chance of success. Be aware of that.”

Trowa went back to the truck and started to download information to the phone. They needed to get to that woman with the help needed for Dorothy Catalonia, or Quatre would be sad. As he did that, he looked back at the recommendations. There was something that triggered her in there. He scrolled through it. Was it the sensation it gave? A certain message? It was messages that recommended different ways to embellish death, or different ways for the mothers to suffer and die.

Most were really general, some just said poison or stab, while some were more structured with things like ‘In A Mass Burning!’. He scrolled back upwards, studying the area she  had probably seen.

He found it and a page associated with it. “Middie.” He got back out and went on the side of the truck. She was sitting on the ground with her head half covered up. He went over toward her. This wouldn’t be easy, so he did it the best way he could think of. He went to the recommendation he thought triggered her and pointed to it. He saw her react by digging her head away deeper with a slight involuntary squeal. He laid the device down and sat beside her. He heard her crying and he didn't say anything this time. When it was clear she got herself under control, he knew he would have to start it off but this wasn’t easy. The recommendations referenced some torture, but then it went and actually gave a page of instructions. He didn’t know how far down they had gone in those instructions until Duo had saved her. “Are you going to live?”

She nodded.

Okay, so they didn’t finish. “Did they get to the injections?”

She shook her head. No, they didn’t get that far.

Trowa thought back to the list. He didn’t want to guess where they left off, but just like Duo said, Middie had to share at some point. “Did they brand you?”

“Next.” She finally spoke.

Okay then. That made it clear where they left off. “When you are ready, we need to talk.” If she wasn’t going to talk to Cathy, then she needed to talk to someone.

“Let’s just go.” She pulled herself off the ground.

“Ignoring this won’t make it better,” he said as he stood up.

“Nothing makes it better, and you can’t tell me anything!” she went off on him. “Look at you, I mean, if anyone needs help, it’s the former gundam pilots, okay?! I hardly did much, there’s a lot worse off than me!” She started to cry again.

He gave her time. This wouldn’t be something solved over night. “Cathy helped me. A lot.” More than anyone could ever know. “We have all had someone help us. We’ve dealt with our own tragedies, in our own ways. Talks with people we trust. Time spent with those we love. Life isn’t perfect, no one lives it perfectly, but we can’t bottle everything up inside.”

“Why do you hardly talk, and when you do, it’s like only the most prophetic things come from your mouth?” she asked him offhandedly, trying to change the subject.

“Usually, words aren’t how I talk,” he answered, not losing his direction.

She was quiet for a little while. “They don’t even have a way for me to die yet, and all that’s still waiting out there for me if they get me again.”

“They won’t get you again.” He wouldn’t let anyone take her again. No one was getting her again. It took so long to retrieve her once when she fell away from his grasp, and he wouldn’t let anyone get their hands on her again.

“Talk doesn’t have to be with words.” She seemed to be thinking about what he said.

“You already know that, you speak with your brushes,” Trowa reminded her. “You give your all to the ugliness of the world, and release it out of your grasp to the elements.” Yes, now she’d know he followed her. “I can talk, if you want to talk. I can hug, if you want to hug. I can just be here, if you need me to be here.”

There. He saw her run into his arms and start to hug him. Hugging wasn’t the form of talking he was the best at. Cathy was much better at that form. Eventually, Cathy could probably really help her better.

But he spoke as well as he could by tightening the hug.

Quatre and Wufei's Hiding Spot . . .

Mei-Lin cracked an eye open toward Wufei. “Your phone.”

Wufei was quiet.

“It is constantly ringing,” she said to him. “It’s distracting.”

He still didn’t answer.

Absolutely ignoring her to meditate, while his phone rang, blocking her from meditating. “I will silence your phone if you don’t answer.” No answer. She left her spot to look at it. “Someone is urgently trying to find Quatre.”

Now, Wufei cracked his eye open.

“Quatre.”

Quatre was in his room, working on digging up any link he could find still. He didn’t want to bother Wufei or Mei-Lin while they meditated. Wufei was calling for him at the door though and he didn’t look well. In fact, something was very wrong. His eyes didn’t hold the same stubborn spark in them, whatever he had to say wouldn’t be good.

“Trowa got a hold of a tablet by the leader of Revenge of the Lost. The leader Crystalia was his mother.”

Quatre heard the words Wufei spoke, picking up several things right away. Trowa’s mother was hurting, Trowa was hurting, and Middie was hurting. He heard about Duo being captured and saved, meaning Duo and Hilde had got hurt. Everyone was hurting, everyone, and he knew before he even said it what was coming next.

“There’s something wrong with Dorothy Catalonia. The guys are going to get something to help increase her chances.” Wufei didn’t look positive. “It’s not a guarantee, but the sooner they get it, the better the chances.”

Quatre didn’t answer as he got up and peeked into Dorothy’s room. She was asleep.

“I’m sorry, Quatre,” Wufei said next to him.

That wasn’t a comfort. There was no guarantees for her, no matter where he put her. “Since . . .”

“It sounds like since it was conceived,” Wufei said to him. “I know that feeling. Leave if you need to, I will watch Dorothy for you.”

Quatre blinked, feeling his eyes begin to water. “No. I. I want to stay near.”

“Just give the word, and I’ll watch her if you need me to.” Wufei was being extra kind as he closed his eyes, gave him the phone, and walked away from the room’s door.

Quatre took the phone to look at the data. It was a slow burning virus they gave her. A healthy body could fend it off better, and it usually went away in it’s earliest phases if the person was on Earth. There were antibiotics for it. It was curable.

But the longer it stayed unnoticed, and the more stressed the individual had been? Dorothy was pregnant, which was a lot of stress on the body, and she’d been up in the colonies for a little while before they came to Earth. They had been on Earth a good while, so his chances were good there for her. But her being pregnant and going this long without any help? Months?

He noticed she had woken up, and her eyes looked dire. She already knew just by looking at him.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Remember. It’s just a possible future.”

He went over toward her. “The key thing is not to stress.” He let her see the message, the less she knew, the more stressed she would be. “We got you to Earth really early, and the guys are actually out there and they are getting medicine for you to take. It’ll be okay, you can pull through this.”

“I have a fair chance. I’m supposed to be dead by month six without treatment.” She took a deep breath. “I will do my best to hang on, Quatre. I don’t give in easily, and I didn’t go through holding a human being for four months to give in half way.”

He couldn’t help a smile. He moved some of the long hair out of her face. Her health had changed several things about her, including the normal flowing direction of her hair. “Right, Dorothy. It’s too soon to throw in the towel. You’re going to be okay.”

“I hope the medicine doesn’t taste too bad, I rather hate icky things.” She was trying to distract him, but he could see she was doing that not to worry him. “I hate when people win against me, so I won’t let them win. Start thinking up names, Quatre, for a boy. Make them wonderful and elegant, don’t be plain. I’ll think of names if it’s a girl. Star blinding, wonderful names.”

No one would win. She wouldn’t give in easily.

“I want three good names within the hour and report them back to me,” she demanded.

“Yes, Ma’am.” She was distracting herself. Making her goal more solid. He left and tried to smile for her.

Goldie Marks Backyard . . .

“Make sure it matches up,” Duo instructed Hilde as she took the flowers out of the garden. The lady who lived there played fake of course, so Duo took care of it. He wrapped her up like a hostage and then knocked her out. “All the petals.”

“Yep, the same color too,” Hilde said back to him. “This is it.”

The cure were just some flowers growing out in her flower garden. Treatment was probably the better word, they were just some wild flowers that had special medical properties. Later on, Quatre would be able to even order them or the pills and have them come straight to him if he wanted.

In it’s natural state, Quatre would know just what to do. Crush it up and make an herbal tea, three times a day. “I hope we were in time for Quatre.”

“I hope so too. I got the roots as well,” Hilde said to Duo. “Do you think I got enough soil?”

“Heero’s car isn’t going to hold a ton of flowers. I think Quatre’s good just getting these to crush up, but just in case, it’s good to be careful.” They basically picked enough with plenty of soil to keep in a bucket, so Quatre could have a couple live specimens to keep on hand. The rest, they toiled straight up. There was plenty in that garden.

“These aren’t that rare, I think I planted some,” Hilde told Duo. “They didn’t grow well.”

“Yes, on the colony,” he teased her. “With perfect temperatures and no natural weather. I wonder how that happened?”

“Oh, leave me be. They needed extra water,” she confessed. “I was distracted.”

“Yeah. Even if they did come up, we kind of left the junkyard,” he admitted. That whole pregnancy scare definitely didn’t do wonders for her flowers. “I think the easier it was to get cured, the more they wanted to make sure she didn’t come back to Earth.”

“Not in time. Even with these, Duo. I mean, she still has a chance.” Hilde tried to stay positive. “The more the body is stressed out, the harder it is, and she’s pregnant and hiding from a jail sentence.”

“Just gotta hope for the best. She’s pretty strong. She made it through the wars intact,” Duo reminded her. “Month four isn’t the best to give reassurance, but it’s far from month six.”

“Right. We just need to make sure she gets this as soon as possible. Hopefully she likes tea,” Hilde teased.

“Oh yeah. She’s going to be drinking it a bunch,” Duo agreed. “I have a feeling Quatre will help keep her positive too.” If Quatre could hide his anxiety about it all, and just reassure her, maybe it would work out? He went ahead and called up Heero. Heero didn’t want to risk staying there with Relena longer than he had to. He was circling around until they were ready. “Hey Mister Eagle, we are ready for you to dock in about five minutes.”

Support of the Loss Headquarters

Such a pain. Such a failure.

“Superior?”

They had Hilde. They had one of the mothers. They had a pilot actually yelling finally.

“Superior?”

Superior turned to see a member trying to give her something. She had lied it on the table for her. “Of course. What else is new?” It looked like Gold lost her stupid flowers, which meant the pilots knew about Dorothy. Which of course meant, they had the tablet.

Crystalia must have given her wretched son the tablet. She rubbed her eyes over her face. It was all compromised now. She couldn’t send out alerts, she disbanded the group. No one was logging in, all accounts were frozen. The only active members were the thirty little mess ups that blew up the colony.

Not only that, but it would have real video footage of what happened. Everything had been with Crystalia, she was the first leader. All of that private information, all of their secrets had just been handed over! “When we find Chrystalia, we will kill her. We will kill her in a manner that will leave her screaming for her life for hours, knowing she will die. Get new phones. Connect with any old member you can physically, and have them call me with a new phone.” They would have to start new attachments, and start the group physically. It would slow down what they could do, but this wasn’t over.

Chrystalia would die slow and painfully for what she did, but Superior kept more than her own share of secrets. So the pilots were more aware of what was waiting for them? Fine, they knew. It wouldn’t stop it, and they could throw in new twists.

Dorothy was still on the edge of help, there was still a good chance she might die, even if she had the proof she was innocent now. Nothing would change for her.

They would get a hold of Hilde, and they would get her pregnant. Knowing now how much she didn’t want that, made it even better and more stressful for Duo Maxwell. They could still go with sepsis as the way she died, or they could change it to how Duo Maxwell's mother got it bad enough to get it in the first place. It would make the hurt constant each day. That might be funner, and more creative.

Right, creativity! Crystalia stifled that. A lot of members only wanted it to hurt as much as it had to, but the more the women hurt, the more it would hurt the pilots. Now, Superior had full reign.

Middie Une seeing what else was waiting for her, and knowing she’d probably die in a very painful way, that only made the results even better. No need to change anything there except the person who was hurting her. She had killed Duo Maxwell’s father, but a different substitute could be made.

Relena had proof of her innocence, but Heero would still be keeping his eye on her. Even she didn’t share with Crystalia how Relena would die, it wouldn’t have anything but ‘classified’ on it. That was her own.

Mae-Lin wouldn’t be hard either. All they had to do was recapture her, impregnate her and then just blow her up. She would change it now with something else several of the women had wanted. Classier plan even, they would choose the bunker area that Wufei Chang had once blown up that was full of soldiers around the first time he came to Earth. That would make it all the more sweet.

Poignant with screams. Each one would have such a sentimental value, that each pilot would want to end their own life afterward. That’s what they all craved. Sure, those pilots would sacrifice their life any day in a battle, but no, they wanted it to be from just the act of living. Just knowing their existence did this to these women and unborn children.

Mae-Lin and Middie Une were supposed to be the toughest to create that sensation, but several wanted Middie Une to suffer anyway, so the choice made up for it. But, Mae-Lin. An unknown stranger to Wufei. With her whole colony and clan being taken away in an instant the same way he watched his own? Perhaps it drew them closer together. That’s all she could hope for. If it did, then it would be perfect.

Everything would be perfect. Nothing was lost, everything could still happen. Without Crystalia, it could happen even better.

They just needed to get organized. Members would bring in members, and those members would bring in members. They could connect in different places, and they still had STL. They had all of STL. They had all of STL’s billions of dollars. “This is all we need, this is all I need. After this, we don’t need anymore.” Use it, use it all. Use every single dollar of STL to support RTL.

Billions of dollars. Five women. Bribe. Make waves. She didn’t care anymore, when it came down to it, this was all she needed! It was all anyone needed.

Heero's Vehicle . . .

“I sent the proof of your innocence to Zechs,” Heero told Relena from the front seat. “The proof will go to your authorities, and it’ll free your name again, but I don’t trust you away from me.”

“I couldn’t even take a shower without them trying to nab me,” Hilde said to Relena. “It’s a better idea to just stay together until RTL is taken care of for good.”

“Right. I’m not leaving your side,” Relena agreed. “There’s no telling what’s waiting for me. The device won’t even say.”

“Yeah, that’s disturbing,” Duo said from the back. “We got the details on everyone, but I’m betting that’s going to change. I’m willing to risk that safety location. I’m guessing Heero is going to be your all personal body guard now? At least Zechs won’t ask why he’s staying so close.”

“Duo,” Heero warned him. Too close. He hated that Duo knew that. He ignored him and talked to Relena again. “Don’t go to any conferences. You can clear your name, but not on air, and we aren’t staying at your home. I don’t trust it.”

“I wouldn’t even tell anyone that your around either,” Duo said to Heero. “I’m sure you’ve heard, but you’re actions are all on social media.”

“I know.”

“Let’s not discuss that,” Relena cutted Duo off.

Yeah. It was a real sore spot. Everywhere he turned, he saw it. It was the past, but the press loved it. Hidden conspiracies. Hidden missions.

“So you heard about them wanting-”

“Movie rights to my life, yes,” Heero seethed. His life was so entertaining to the masses, a lot of people wanted movies and shows about him. Once this was cleared up? Yeah, the press would be wanting to talk rights with him. “I’d rather die.”

“I wonder if anyone would want my story for a real big fancy fee? Buy a big house, lots of security and keep RTL out of it?” Duo asked. “Gundam Pilot of Deathscythe.”

“Please don’t even joke,” Relena warned him.

Hilde shouldered him. “Do you really want them knowing about all of your past like that, Duo? They know everything about Heero. His secret missions. Who raised him. Why he got the spot of pilot.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just pointing out, even with millions of dollars, I don’t really think we can just live normal lives with RTL still existing. We have to stay under until this whole mess is sorted. I do gotta ask, is it true you dressed as a woman one time to catch someone off guard?”

“It worked,” Heero said. “For the moment, and no, it wasn’t fun, and no, I didn’t speak in a falsetto voice.”

“Yeah, because they used that for a perfume add, didn’t they?” Duo asked.

“It was deodorant, and not officially, it was a parody,” Hilde told him. “Never said his name either.”

Heero tightened his hands on the wheel. “Can we drop this conversation?” He turned on a music channel and hoped it drowned out Duo. The more anxious Duo was in a situation, the worse he tended to get in teasing. Since he didn’t know where he was even going with Hilde, he was definitely in his teasing mood.

As soon as Heero turned it on though, he turned it back off.

“Can’t even turn on some tunes without hearing something about yourself,” Duo just had to add. “It was easier when they just said gundam pilot back then. At most, 01 or whatever.”

Much easier. He didn’t know how Relena could stand that publicity. If he stayed with her, she promised no one would know except their child, her mother, Pagan, and Zechs. He debated with her on Zechs, although as much as he watched everything, he probably wouldn’t be able to fool him for long.

A back area, just for him. He didn’t have to interact with anyone, unless he wanted to. He could have keys to the front and back doors. He could see their child whenever he wanted, without feeling obligated. Considering the world eliminated many of his hiding spots, and were actively searching for him like a celebrity, it might be a good idea.

No marriage needed. No responsibility. She didn’t even care if he left for months or years on end and came back. She just wanted one thing, a sign when he was present. A sign just for her because it made her ‘feel better’ to know when he was around. It seemed doable, and Relena wanted her child to know it’s father, even if it was someone like him.

“Hey, Heero, you got any good boy names?” Duo asked him. “Quatre texted and said Dorothy said he had to have three great boy names in an hour. Looks like she’s keeping him on his toes.”

“No. If I did, I would save it for mine.” Of course, he didn’t realize that he just triggered Relena until she smiled. Great.

“I think that’s a great idea,” she said. “Explore some names, Heero.”

Great. Oh, great, now he had to name it if it was a boy.

“Hey, cool, you get to name it,” Duo said to Heero. “Pretty snazzy. What about Snazzy? That’s a real shiny name.”

“Duo, are you okay?” Hilde asked him. “You get on people’s nerves sometimes, but you are really going hard today.”

Even Hilde knew Duo was anxious. They would be heading for a spot that was supposed to be safe, but might not be safe. Yeah, he was real anxious. “I’ll check out the area with you, Duo.” Maybe that would make Duo feel better. He might even pick around the area for Relena and him. Even when she was cleared, RTL would easily be able to get to her. Zechs clearing her name would work better, and they already had proof he had willingly abducted her. His name wasn’t cleared, but his name wasn’t ever cleared. He didn’t care if his name was cleared, he didn’t plan on ever being in the public eye again.

“Did we come up with anything yet?” Duo asked. “We are letting Quatre down.”

“Quatre can come up with his own names,” Heero stated. “It’s his kid.”

“Real super friend,” Duo said back.

“Then you help. Did you ever have plans for any names beforehand?” Heero asked.

“Not even,” Hilde answered for him.

“Maybe some names of those close to him,” Relena suggested.

“Hm. Sandrock. Maguanacs. Hey, hey, that could even be Maggie for short if it’s a girl,” Duo reasoned. “Alright, two names texted out. I did my friend duty today.”

Heero rescued Duo and Hilde from RTL. He did his for the day too.

“Thank you for trying to get some food,” Relena said as she finally started eating. It was cold by then, but she wasn’t the type to complain. Polite and simple.

“No problem.” Obviously. Still, he always liked it when she complimented him. It wasn’t needed. It was never needed. He still liked it.

Quatre and Wufei's Hiding Spot

“It’s been an hour.” Dorothy came out of her room, her stomach feeling better again. She had ins and out days, she was pregnant, and it was natural. Just because something was wrong with her didn’t mean that was the cause for that day. “I hope you have come up with some stellar names. I want the stars themselves to be jealous.”

She came out, hiding not a bit of her confident feeling, and was rewarded with a relieved, bright smile on Quatre. “I-I did. I came up with several, and the others helped out too. Though, there might not be as-”

She swiped the paper from him and looked. Now she knew his gundam was infamous, a legend in it’s own right in the war, and it would indeed make the stars jealous but? Hmm. Then again, it was just that. Infamous. Whether it was boy or girl, Sand. Sand. Rock. “Sands Rock Catalonia. That isn’t too bad,” she reckoned.

“Um? Does it have to be Catalonia?” Quatre asked.

“Are you really naming your child after your gundam?” Mae-Lin asked as she looked toward Wufei. “Thanks for the small things.”

“I would not have named my child Nataku,” he said.

“Wasn’t it named Shenlong?” she asked.

“Woman, this discussion is pointless,” he said. “Shenlong would be a good name.”

“Sand Rock Catalonia Winner then,” she compromised. “I suppose it could share in the illustrious Winner name, but one cannot forget Catalonia either.” He was trying to share more of the paper, but she already made up her mind. Sandrock was more than just a weapon, it became the very object to getting where they ended up in their system. It was even one of the last mighty mobile suits to ever be lost.

She noticed all of the subtle looks Quatre was giving, he was really trying to get her to relook at the paper, he even managed a ‘um’ and some pointing. “Sand Rock Catalonia Winner or Sands Rock Catalonia Winner?” People would call him by his first name more, but then again, Quatre had always introduced himself as Quatre Raberba Winner. Introductions were important to the expression of a name. “Sand Rock Catalonia Winner.” He was going to definitely interject, probably with ‘if it’s a boy’, which made sense, but “Sandra Rock Catalonia Winner would be a more feminine choice if need be, but it could go either way.”

“That was Duo’s suggested,” he finally managed, like it would add any bearings. “I just wrote it down to be kind. Are you . . .” Yes, of course she was sure, and he could tell she was sure before he even asked in the first place. A wasteful bit of time.

Quatre liked the name as well, but humility was keeping him from saying that. After all, who names their child after a mobile suit? Legends did. She did not care about such trifles as humility or modesty, it was a fitting name for a child that belonged to a legend that had changed the course of history.

It mattered not how or why Sand Rock Catalonia Winner would be born, he was the child of a legend, and before she left this world, she would leave that honorable mark on him. Quatre seemed to understand as he gently gave a nod.

“Sand Rock Catalonia Winner,” he even repeated.

Mae-Lin looked toward Wufei. “If anything ever happens? No.”

“Nothing will happen,” Wufei answered back.

“If it ever does? No, and it’s Zhang.”

“It would be Long,” Wufei corrected her. “It would be a strong child, not a weak one.”

“If it’s mother was weak and unmarried, it would be weak, so it should have the weaker name.” Mae-Lin was using the weak point and making herself look less good, to get her own way. It was something no other woman ever did, except her. Sometimes it worked.

“If it happened, it would be mine, and I would marry you so as not to be dishonored, and it would be a strong Long. I am avenging the Zhang colony, it would be Long.”

“Zhang Long would probably solve that problem,” Quatre came back with.

“Shut up,” they both told him.

Dorothy just smiled, although she felt her body waver a moment. No, she mustn’t waver, Quatre would- Quatre already saw it. If she rebelled, he would push harder. She would go lay down a few more minutes. She already knew he was going to get another washrag, but gave him a look. She wanted to be drowned in the washrag last time, but not this time. She headed toward her room, waiting for him to bring an ice pack politely.

As she got comfortable on her bed, she received the ice pack. Yes, she knew the eyes. Yes, she was taking it easy but serious. Would someone meet with the other pilots soon for the flowers? Yes, his look definitely indicated they were coming. An easy smile, he was feeling better. A good goal accomplished.

He left and she closed her eyes. Sand Rock Catalonia Winner. It would be a legendary name for a legendary person.

Narrator: After Colony 198: After each pilot goes through their own strife with Revenge of the Lost, each so far has outwitted it, leaving it in its own turmoil. Having gone underground with just a handful of what it used to have, they are using their other branches to feel out for information. As another month passes, the pilots feel more triumphant while RTL feels more embroiled. But, things might be changing once again soon . . .

One month later at Support the Loss Headquarters . . .

“Hello?” Ronald held up a little pass his friend of a friend gave him. “I need to meet someone special? My friend Emerald-Ruby sent me?” Please let this work. He had a low class job, and he hated it. Every day and all day, he did nothing good with his life but work with trash. He was tired of it, but it was work.

He’d heard from a friend of a friend, who heard from someone else though about there being underground rewards for not the capture, but just information about ten missing people. He didn’t know about all ten missing, but he did know about Relena since she was the freaking Queen of the Earth for a little while. He also knew of course about Heero Yuy. Everyone knew about that guy, he was like a legend. People said he was like a real life James Bond. He didn't know about any of them though, he knew about the pretty girl with the beret. She had the same hair color as him. Same eye color too. Hilde. She looked more down to Earth than the other missing people, so she just stood out more to him.

It wasn’t exactly a big leap to know about it, but to find someone to get the reward wasn’t easy because it wasn’t a legal thing. But? The reward was worth it. He told everyone he knew, and tried the best he could to find a connector. He ended up finding someone that lost touch with the group, but knew another member, and then he finally got in.

He was invited in the back and saw the official member. “Okay, I have information. How do I share it?”

“Just, tell me,” she insisted. “I’ll make sure it gets to the boss.”

Wait. “Are you sure I’m going to get paid, if I tell you?” This was a lot of money.

“If it’s real.” She didn’t seem pleased. “I don’t care about the money, we are trying to find important people that have been out of our sights for a month. Just give it to me.”

He sighed, knowing he didn’t have much choice but to trust her. He brought out some of the pics he snapped. “I think this is that one called Hilde, so does the woman that knows you?” He held it out to her.

She took it and examined it. “Where was the picture taken?”

“On my route.”

“Where is your route?”

“Does it look like her?” he asked. “It looks like her. I know the hair is a different color." He pulled on his own hair. "I know it should be this color, but people aren’t going to be wearing the same hair. The clothes though, it looks like something from a-” He watched as she gave the picture back.

“I don’t think it’s her. Thanks for coming.”

What? “Seriously, I see her on my route all the time. I know you can’t tell from the photo so well, but I think this is her.” He picked up the photo and gave it to her again.

The woman sighed like she was just going through the motions now. “Does she live with anyone?”

“No,” he said, “but she does have extra trash. More trash than usual for one person.” She just yawned as she looked at the picture. “There could be others hiding. Look, I got some real good looks at the people who are being looked for, and I’ve seen this woman a lot. I am sure it’s her. Can you please just take this seriously?”

“Hang on. I know women who have studied every inch of her history,” she said to him. “They will be able to answer.” She left with the picture that could be worth so much if the information came through. He hated that she had to leave with it.

She was gone about twenty minutes, then he saw two different women head his way. They looked serious. Please let it be it, he wanted that reward so bad. “Do you have my-”

“Where is this bitch?” One of them said holding his photo up high.

Geez. “On my route.”

“What do you do?” The other one started to question. It wasn’t just a question, it was harsh, like he better have the right answers.

“I collect trash.”

“Where is this, is it on Earth?”

“Yes.”

“How far away, where are you from?”

Geez. He tried to keep up with their questions. They wanted everything, all the nook and crannies, from the address to what he had seen, to anything he saw that was out of the normal. He watched as one of them picked up a phone.

“Superior,” she said. “We’ve finally got one.”

Duo and Hilde's Hiding Spot

Could really go for something different, but Duo never really left the house. Those two safety houses really had been entirely safe, no one had bothered them once. Hilde was the only one presumed to live there, they were like special houses. When he and Heero first came, they had a quick brush that almost created a mistake. These houses were used for apparently ‘mommies that were in danger’. RTL apparently did still work with trying to shelter innocent people.

Duo and Heero said they were just the drivers for Relena and Hilde. They stayed out of the way and surveyed everything around the area, and waited to be sure before joining them. On the inside, they still stuck like glue to them. On the outside? Well, they just couldn’t go outside.

That wasn’t fun. A month stuck on the inside was not fun, but Duo wasn’t going to risk Hilde for one night out away. Heero was the same way. So far, everything had been great. Hilde had changed her hair into a vivid green color and straightened it long so she didn’t look anything like her old self. She hated it.

Relena dyed her hair red and cut it real short. She also only went outside with glasses, and she only left the house in clothes that she would never have been caught dead in before. They never left much farther than Heero or Duo either.

Another really great bonus with this strange housing was it came with some money attached. Since the women were supposed to stay in hiding, they made sure that they wouldn’t have to work for a time. It wasn’t a lot, but hey, money each month dropped off in the mailbox only by the same representative that had showed the houses in the first place. It worked.

“Duo?” Hilde called for him around the corner. “We really need some more food. I have to order more.”

Duo checked the cupboards. Eating everything possible first was always a good idea. “I thought we had an extra box of mac still?”

“We ate it,” she said. “Yesterday, and we finished off the rest today.”

“I thought it was a box each day.” Well? “Okay, order up, Hilde.” Ordering out sounded nice, but it cost way more. To survive on the money they had for two people easier, they bought food through the local market app. Someone would deliver the bags right to the door, that way he didn’t have to trust her leaving.

“I already made the list.” She went over and showed him the list on the computer. He roamed the house just as much as her, they kept the curtains sealed with tape to keep anyone looking in on them. “We still have two whole weeks after this before the next pay drop.”

Yeah, it looked good. Ooh! He added his favorite brand of chips. “Oh, Hilde, how could you miss something so important?” he teased. “Send it through.” It wouldn’t take long for the person to be there with the groceries.

Duo relaxed with her and the TV until the eventual knock. He made sure he didn’t go too far from the front door, just in case. They could never be too careful, and one careless act could ruin everything again.

She brought in the groceries left at the door with little fuss.

“You didn’t miss my chips?” he teased as he went to help put them away.

“No, I didn’t forget your chips,” she said holding them up. “Here you go, Duo.”

“Ah. Now, see? If we ever had one, Chip is what I would go with,” Duo said as he opened his chips up and took a bite. “Deathscythe would kill them on the spelling. It kills me on the spelling.”

Hilde just laughed and popped a chip. “Hey, have you contacted Quatre today?”

“Not today. Yesterday he said Dorothy was doing a-okay, so was Sandrock.” Seriously, if they were going to name the kid that, they should just give up the Sand and Rock separation and really commit to it. Sandrock. “I tried to call Heero, but he’s been busy all day. Probably just watching over Relena, and doing absolutely nothing else with Relena all day.”

“Oh, let them live it up,” Hilde said to him. “I wish we could do something fun. I feel like I’ve got Cabin Fever.”

“Board games make the day go faster,” Duo pointed out.

“I really miss leaving the actual yard. I really wish this was all over by now,” she muttered. “Sure, no one is finding us, but we aren’t getting any hints about RTL either. It’s real annoying.”

He’d rather be annoyed than captured. “I’ll go set up a game.” He set up the game on the opposite side of the kitchen table where they would eat while Hilde fixed some real quick box food for supper.

They ate and drank some soda and then started to play their game.

Duo started to move a piece, when he started to feel like . . . “Hilde. Bail. Hilde.” She couldn’t though, she had already fallen asleep right on top of the game. “No. Seriously. We were so careful.” He watched as the door was opened, without any force. An extra key. “So careful.” He tried to keep his eyes open, but it wouldn’t work for long.

Duo woke up. It was night outside, and he was still at the safety house. “Hilde?” He looked around but it was clear she was gone. Taken. Someone found them. “ . . . Heero.” He used what momentum he had to head to Relena’s house.

It was already empty. “Good.” Some food was left unfinished, but some clothes were missing too. Since clothes were missing? Heero must have either figured something out, or heard them when Hilde was taken.

They were safe and out of there. Meanwhile? Duo’s phone was now gone. Everyone’s numbers were compromised. First thing he had to do was get to a phone, and let everyone know what happened.

Second? Scream. Scream into the air, scream more, and do everything he could to track RTL down before they held Hilde for too long.

Duo left, heading to a nearby hotel to take a shower and check every crevice on him for any kind of bugs. Crystalia had microchipped the women, but none of that was on the tablet Trowa kept. Still, RTL could have tried something dirty, there was no guarantee he was clean. At least any surface bug would be checked so it wouldn’t pick up any audio.

He made the first call to Heero, to let him know he appreciated waking him up and letting him know they left. Absolutely the thickest sarcasm.

“You are compromised,” Heero insisted. “I already let the others know, they are looking into RTL’s places that we know, there is nothing else we can do for you, do not make contact again.”

“I checked myself, there’s nothing on the surface.” Still, Mister Big Shot didn’t want to talk. “How am I going to get Hilde back?”

“Find out who found out about her, and work backwards from there.”

“No one knew, there was nothing. She didn’t leave, and I didn’t leave. She never did anything.”

“The women went outside. Someone must have seen them outside and somehow put it together.”

“So, a trash man or a meter man or something?” Wait. “Do you really think a simple person would take enough notice?”

“Everything is risky, Duo. Two people in a house for one makes a decent amount of trash, water, and energy. Maybe it made someone notice her.”

Okay, local utility people and trash people. It was a place to start. He had to work quick. He had to get Hilde back. RTL was absolutely mad with revenge, but after escaping their eyes this long? They couldn’t have had good things planned for Hilde.

Hilde. Whoever it was that spotted her, they were going to pay. "It was bad last time they kidnapped us, but it was still us." Now? He had no idea what was happening to her.

“Wufei.” Mae-Lin was showing him again.

“It is a claim by one person RTL is either setting up, or they are purposefully using,” Wufei said as he put an article back down again that Mae-Lin had printed. “Your colony will be avenged when we take the Superior out of her role.” Mae-Lin was getting tired of the wait. Each day she had to dress up and be seen with Quatre and him out there.

Quatre had to up the ante as time went by, more of his friends were getting suspicious. He was now using full blown curse words, and doing his best to know about Amado’s past and business. Especially those he had wronged. So far, he and Quatre had to dissuade two people that had wanted to kill them. Not RTL, but just for being Amado.

The no killing thing wasn’t as easy when they needed to stay hidden, and not have witnesses, so their attackers ended up in the hospital with some bad injuries and concussions. At least no one knew their real identities, and it helped cement the fact Quatre was indeed Amado.

Only on the inside of the house was Quatre able to be gentle. Like right now, he just finished a whole cursing bath with his friends outside, and took a breath of relief when he started to make some tea. “Oh, finally, I really need some fucking tea to relax, and so will Miss Dorothy.”

In fact, Quatre was saying it so often, sometimes he messed up and cursed inside. He tried to watch it more though when he had accidentally cursed in front of Dorothy. He had to curse outside with her, but the inside was like a sanctuary where they could all be themselves. “Ooh, some lovely Earl Grey for me and some special tea for her. Oh goodness, I just cursed earlier, sorry,” Quatre apologized to Mae-Lin and Wufei.

Neither of them cared. It just meant he was doing that much better at his role.

“There is someone gathering information over the Zhang colony, they are trying to find anyone left,” Mae-Lin asked Quatre. “Can you find out more about it without actually involving us? Wufei believes it’s pointless.”

“Wufei, crack open a . . . computer.” Quatre almost cursed again. “Please take some time to look into it for her? It will make her feel better.”

“I am helping with avenging, I am not seeking out information or communicating in any way to any leftover Zhang’s,” Wufei insisted. “That is final, woman.”

“If there is a big enough number left, they may restart a colony,” she told Wufei. “It is not pointless, and this is not final.”

“There we go.” Quatre ignored Mae-Lin and headed toward Dorothy’s room. He knocked on her door. “Miss Dorothy? It’s tea time again.” He always had a great big smile, he loved sharing his act of drinking tea with others.

“If there will be a colony, then I will not pursue in an act of avenging, Wufei Chang.” Mae-Lin was getting more antsy. “There is no reason, all of the gundam pilots are already pursuing RTL, and Duo Maxwell is pursuing them the hardest right now.”

“Yes, they have recaptured Hilde, and Duo does not want to become a father,” Wufei told her calmly. “This only proves that RTL is getting more desperate, so seeking out some half cocked person with theories and a plan is a lousy idea right now!” He tried not to yell. Yelling is how he handled himself sometimes, but when he yelled, she became more stubborn and hard to control. “RTL is responsible, not someone from an opposing clan. If your colony is rebuilt, when it is safe, I will gladly take you back to your people. Until then, let’s play it smart and not be stupid.”

“By continuing this charade until when?” she asked. “Dorothy’s child is born? Dorothy’s child turns one? Dorothy’s child goes to school? It graduates college?”

“We will have found RTL way before that,” Wufei insisted. “We will not be in this role forever. You know when you agreed, it was the long haul.”

“No one can play a role forever.” She walked away.

It was true. They couldn’t play that role forever. Something would eventually break. It already broke for Duo. He didn’t know how Duo’s search was going, everyone had cut off ties from Maxwell. It wasn’t fair, but Duo could have been compromised. Until he got some X ray of himself to make sure RTL didn’t microchip him, no one could say anything.

They changed their numbers to each other so RTL couldn’t find them by tracking the numbers. Duo was on his own, but it probably suited him fine. They each got one more call that Heero had to pass on, and none of them were surprised to hear it.

Duo no longer promised not to kill anyone. He said RTL might have corrupted him. Even though killing was pointless and just a wasted life, he was in pursuit not for something intangible like hope or peace. He wanted a person, and his morals didn’t care how they got her back anymore.

He just wanted her back, but so far, he still hadn’t killed anyone.

Quatre was opposed to it of course. He left Dorothy in his care for a little while to travel far away to a pay phone to call Duo once more, to tell him that’s what RTL wanted. To compromise the kind of person he had become now that the mobile suit era had been over.

Duo’s brilliant response was he didn’t give a shit. This wasn’t hope, this wasn’t peace, he’d do whatever he could to get Hilde back and as fast as possible. Wufei understood the sentiment. Duo wouldn’t all out strike to kill. Many of these women were just mistaken in their pursuit of justice. Another thing Quatre reminded Duo.

They were all responsible for their actions though. He would hurt, maim, and if he thought it was necessary, kill to get Hilde back. Case closed. Duo was resolved in his feelings. He said he would have died for peace, but he wouldn’t die for people who weren't killing for any cause except revenge. He hung up and that was the end of that.

Quatre wanted to try again, but it was too risky, and the more time passed? The worse the situation would get. Trowa had tried contacting him one time later too. He hadn’t tried to convince Duo not to kill though. Since Trowa hadn’t been able to uncover Middie Une for so long, and hadn’t been able to get information without at least Duo’s interruption? He felt it was necessary to at least watch for any information about Hilde.

Nothing had come up so far. There was a good chance Duo's friend might even be carrying his child now, and there was no way of knowing. That had to burn deep inside for Duo. The truth would be uncovered one day, but how far down the line?

With the way RTL took it’s revenge too. There was no way Quatre would be able to reach Duo. The only one who even stood half a chance would be Relena, and Heero would never allow that. No more communication. Duo was a risk until he could get an x ray.

“That cough isn’t normal.” Quatre came back out of Dorothy’s room with their empty tea cups.

“Probably just a cold,” Wufei offered. Quatre had made sure he made her fresh tea everyday, three times a day since he had it. He used some from the live specimens, but also preserved the remains of all the others their allies had brought for her. He gave her the best quality he always could. “I have heard nothing suspicious except that cough from her. I wouldn’t worry.” Even Mae-Lin had a similar cough. “She may have caught it from Mae-Lin, she’s just getting over that cold. She even has some sniffling, Quatre.”

“I know. I just . . . I don’t want to miss anything,” he pointed out. “Even the smallest thing.” Quatre didn’t look so good. “I didn’t tell the others.”

Wufei stared at Quatre. “What?”

“When I talked to Duo last time. He found the culprit. He almost killed him,” Quatre said. “Once he went on that path, it would be harder to get off. I want to reach him, and talk to him. Killing solves nothing, but . . . he’s so desperate. I don’t know if he’s done it since then.”

“He’s following his own heart right now,” Wufei pointed out. “Maybe after this, Duo will find his own way again. Right now, he is entrenched in his own kind of war, and he’d do anything to win it. If he is willing to kill again, then maybe RTL is taking him more seriously. Maybe he has picked up some clues, or had even found her.

“I want to find out more still,” Quatre insisted. “It’s been a little while since last I talked to him.”

“You should have told the others,” Wufei told him. “Keeping things to yourself never goes well.” He might have new information on RTL, the others might risk contact to get that.

“They broke contact, they aren’t even willing to leave a distance for one phone call,” Quatre complained. “I didn’t have to tell them about Duo’s shortcomings. I didn’t have to tell them about the call at all.”

“They snagged Hilde Schbeiker once while she was taking a shower,” Wufei reminded Quatre. “They don’t have a setup like we do here, they don’t have someone else who is watching over their responsibility for them.” Wufei did watch over Dorothy when Quatre wasn’t there.

“True. I guess, we are all just in different situations,” Quatre compromised. “I’ll tell them later, but I want to reach out again.”

“Fine. I’ll watch Dorothy again,” Wufei promised. “Don’t talk long.” Hopefully Duo did find something, because waiting around in this mess was taking it's toll on everyone. They needed a lead to take RTL down for good. Trowa's tablet helped a great deal, but they couldn't just hand it over to the authorities by just itself. The wrong trust in the wrong person, and that tablet would disappear.

But, something had to break. Soon.

Quatre left a long distance away before he called. He bought a phone at a random store and started a new number. It always delayed him some time before a call would go through. Afterward he would leave it behind on the street and head away from the area right away. He didn’t take much risk, he didn’t want anyone trying to track him if Duo was exposed.

He called Duo’s number. No one answered at first. He had no choice but to wait and try again. This time, he got an answer. Duo wouldn’t announce himself, he had to start. “Duo.”

“Quatre. What is it?”

“I just wanted to know if you were doing okay?” Quatre started.

“Yeah, I figured. You are the one who cares. Thanks for caring. I haven’t found Hilde yet, but I am getting closer. I’ve also got an x-ray of myself, I’m clean. They don’t need to have me just to let me know things. They’ll know I’ll find her. They just want to control when I find her, so I gotta figure things out faster than they think I will. Has Trowa gotten a hold of his mom? If he can, I need to know about any defunct former prisons or containment centers RTL had. I think that’s where Hilde is.”

“Trowa hasn’t found his mom at all. She really distanced herself from everyone. I’ll let him know about that though.” It would be a good place to keep Hilde. An old place they once used.

“Yeah, I figured. I’m going to get there before they want me to be there.” Ominous.

“Duo. I know the justice they are taking are wrong, but these people are still just mistaken,” Quatre tried again. “Please don’t go overboard. They are just seeking justice in the wrong way.”

“Talk to Duo Maxwell from a month ago. I’ve been in places and gotten a hold of too many horror stories. Even women that used to be a part of it. Mistaken in their pursuit? Great, then you probably shouldn’t be chopping off fingers or shooting people in your warnings. That’s not mistaken, that’s orders, that’s soldiers, and that’s an enemy. My enemy. I don’t care whether they are women, mothers, sisters, if they have the gall to hurt someone, then they risk getting hurt themselves, and lord help the ones that hurt Hilde, because there’s nothing that’s going to save them from the God of Death!”

He hung up. Quatre looked back at the phone. Duo was losing hope. Quatre ditched the phone and started to return back. While he did, he called Trowa to let him know about Duo.

“Sounds like he’s picked up more than a few things about RTL,” Trowa said to Quatre. “Did he give you anything more?”

“He was breaking down. He didn’t say anything else,” Quatre said, “just that your mother might be able to help. Has she made any contact at all?”

“No,” Trowa told him. “No one has seen Crystalia Bloom, her whereabouts are still unknown.

“Yeah, I thought so. If you hear anything, we need to let Duo know. He thinks RTL is keeping Hilde in a really old hideout of theirs that wouldn’t be used anymore. Somewhere your mom might know, but wouldn’t broadly be on her tablet.” Darn. “I hate the fact that RTL corrupted Duo. We went years not killing or hurting anyone.”

“Duo is doing what he has to, to save the person he most cares about. We all know that feeling. He is living the best he can, how he can, with the choices presented to him. No one is perfect, especially us. I’ll ask Cathy if she has seen anything and I’ll let you know. She usually doesn’t want to contact me for anything. She’s extra protective, always has been.”

Yeah, that was true. “Thanks, Trowa.”

“How is Dorothy Catalonia so far?” he asked.

“She’s doing great. She’s healthier than she was a month ago. She has a cold right now, and she does get some light nausea, but it comes and goes. It’s mostly pregnancy related,” he said. “It’s okay. We are doing okay. She’ll be fine. Everyone will see that she will be fine. Wufei says she’s fine.”

“I understand, Quatre. I hope that continues for you. Trowa out.”

Trowa took a moment to call Catherine. She didn’t like to bother him or Middie at all. There was no contact at all with anyone from the circus, except one time she gave him what she had saved so she knew him and Middie would be taken care of.

They used most of it for the rooms. They ate the lowest thing they could get their hands on since neither of them could risk working. Even her art tools was just cheap lined paper, pencils, and crayons. It didn’t matter to Middie, she still did things the same way. If they could get better products, she might be able to get something online. So far, their resources were holding out well.

Trowa had no problem with simple meals, and Middie had done her own share of not eating the finest meals or being in the finest places. Trowa still tried to make sure she got a decent amount because she was eating for two, and that was more prominent than it had ever been.

Three more months, and his son or daughter would be born. It was a strange feeling the more he looked at her stomach. Instead of two, he would be watching over three. He had really hoped that they would have taken on RTL so they would be free to live again. It wouldn’t be easy to take care of an infant. Figuring out how to handle the birth. Trowa always tried to stay prepared, but there wasn’t much he could do. The best he could plan was Quatre would allow him to connect to his own doctor if he trusted in him. Since the doctor was compromised, but willingly told Quatre about the problem, it didn’t seem like the worst or smartest option.

Their best bet would be to go to a nearby hospital when it was time, get emergency help, and then get her in and out. It still wasn’t a guarantee. Middie wanted to just stay there and get it done, but so far they had not gone to a genuine hospital once. If something went wrong, Trowa wouldn’t know what to do.

He could break her out of a hospital, but he couldn’t perform immediate surgery. He had to work within his elements. Quatre was going with his doctor, he trusted in him. Heero was letting Zechs expose Relena since she was already found to be not guilty. After she was helped, he was taking her back along with him until they took care of RTL.

They weren’t the best plans, but it was all they had. Heero would be the first to test his plan since Relena was only a month from being due. Heero and Relena were actually hiding with Noin of all people, deep in her home. Heero didn’t want Relena to go to any of their options left, and he didn’t want to go to Zechs. He was actually trying his best to track any information on Hilde, just like Trowa had been.

The more they could gather on anything, the better the chances they could finally take down RTL. Trowa stared at her stomach a few seconds longer before he left the room to call Cathy. She wasn’t happy he called, but she did have some news for him. She just didn’t want to share it.

That alone was troubling, Cathy knew how important it was to keep sharing information. He had to give her more time than usual, before she confessed she found a piece of paper. On it, was a simple message.

She told him that he shouldn’t tell Duo, just to tell him that he didn’t have to run or hide anymore. That it would be better not to tell him, but Trowa could not do that. He had to retrieve it.

Trowa went back to the room Middie was working in. “I have to see Cathy and then contact Duo with some information, and then I’ll contact Heero. Cathy got something outside her tent.” He didn’t like leaving her alone, but this was too risky to take her on, and so far they had been safe.

She headed toward the room they shared and crawled into the bed. She’d remain there with a key to the room only she had as he locked the room. He also locked the doors to the rest of the house, to give her that much more of an edge if something happened. Worst case scenario she could crawl through a window if she was able to. The plan seemed to work better when she wasn’t as big as she had been. She might still be able to get it to work safely. He piled up some things to reach the window safer, just in case.

Then, he headed out. “It’ll probably be fine,” he assured her. “Everything is set up. I won’t be gone long, less than a few hours.” He would get to the circus, and then see Duo. He didn’t deserve this over the phone. After that, he would give Heero a call afterward. It was almost time to exchange the tablet. “I’ll be back by dinner.”

“Ham or turkey?” she teased him. “Just kidding, we are out of turkey.”

“Ham sandwiches sounds fine,” he said right back. “I won’t be gone long.”

“I know, Trowa. I’ll be here,” she promised.

---

Duo stared at the computer. He was just tapping his finger next to it. He was out of ideas, but he still got behind it every day to search for anything. Any scrap. He searched out all the people he found that rejoined. He had even used the little information Trowa had given him on the tablet to help.

Trowa was probably being smart that way because Duo wasn’t doing well. Hilde’s bright smile. Her laugh. Her quirky little hats she used to like to wear. What a weird start for them, in After Colony 195. He could have sworn someone like her would be dying real soon if she stayed a soldier.

Not only did she make it, but she had means to help him with his gundam. It probably should have been temporary, but she felt . . . fun and safe. He could never really describe it. She was someone that accepted the consequences all the time if they were caught, she had put her life on the line by being a mobile suit pilot in the first place.

A few weeks to fix Deathscythe turned into months, and that turned into years. There was just no reason to pursue anything else. She even dated sometimes, but never really got serious with anyone.

Pizza. Movies. TV. Laughing. Joking. Hilde. It was a lot easier to stay positive when things got rough, when she was with him. He’d been on his own before, for a long time. Most of his life before he met her. Now though, that simple comfortable feeling. It wasn’t there anymore.

He knew now, that even if she disappeared from his life, it wouldn’t just snap back. Her being okay with something happening to her life, didn’t make it hurt any less. She could risk her life, or put her life on the line. He didn’t want to.

Peace. Soldiers. War. In the big picture, in the past, that’s what mattered. Their lives, how they conducted themselves, and the end to mobile suits. That’s what mattered. None of them had to take one more innocent life. None of them.

He was remembering how he felt toward the end with Deathscythe. No more lives lost. Death did nothing. He was trying to remember that a whole lot as he heard a knock on his actual door.

He didn’t know anyone, but when he heard the word ‘Duo’ at the door, he knew this was going to be bad. He didn’t want to answer that door. There is no reason any of them would take the time to knock on the door to see him. Unless, they needed to share something in person.

And whatever that had been, wouldn’t be good. Up, he had to get up. The news wouldn’t change. He reached for the door and answered it. “Trowa.” He left the door open for him to come in and closed it. He stayed near the door, relaxing his body behind the door. “Please tell me that there is some kind of god damned miracle good news that made you come to my door?”

No. Not that look. “I’m sorry, Duo. Cathy got this from the circus. Only our mother knows the location.” Trowa held a paper out toward him. “She doesn’t know what is going on anymore, she thinks Hilde might have been unable to have kids.”

“Then why didn’t they just release her and pick someone else?!” He probably shouldn’t have yelled at Trowa but he couldn’t help it. If she was useless to them. Duo took the paper.

“Duo,” Trowa began. “Maybe one of us could get this done for you?”

“Don’t you dare!” Once again, shouldn’t yell. “I’ve got it.” He held the paper tightly.

“Remember what you’ve accomplished,” Trowa said to him.

“Sure, I’ll remember that. Like that isn’t what I’ve been thinking about for this long.” Hold it together. “Hilde was just one life. She was just one individual, one breathing being. Just one person.” He squeezed the person. “Just one person that meant the fucking world to me!” He slammed it on the ground and lowered his cap down. “Fuck it. I’m getting it.”

“Duo.” Trowa called to him. “I understand that you are angry, but you should be careful. I can call up Quatre-”

“No one is involving that innocent guy, just to make sure I’m a good boy,” Duo countered. “If you really even believed we should do that, you would have brought the desert prince with you.”

“Just remember, there’s nothing concrete given except an address,” Trowa said.

Trying to keep him from going overboard? Sure. “Look?” Duo put his hand on Trowa’s shoulder. “You get it?”

“You’ve got Deathscythe in your eyes,” Trowa said back to him. “You brought it to peace by destroying it.”

“It’s one person,” Duo said to Trowa. “It’s just one. Out of everyone we killed, out of the risks I took, even not caring if I died.” He felt it. Deep inside. “I can’t do shit for Hilde, and all of you guys are too great now to kill. I know none of you want to do that, but by staying on the fringes, the bad guy keeps getting away. And I? I just . . .”

“Don’t let the God of Death take over,” Trowa warned him. “Think before you do anything, Duo. They are mistaken. Just like in the fight with Mariemeia. I really should have had Quatre come instead of me.”

“Yeah,” Duo said, “you probably should have, but if his sweet little heart couldn’t turn me away from the thought of killing whoever I find near her body when I get to her, it would have only hurt him. And newsflash? He couldn’t.” Duo just tried to give him a morbid smile. “But hey? If it makes you all feel better, shortly after I take out RTL, I’m putting an ending on my own. I’ve always been kind of a sore loser I guess.”

Trowa didn’t know what else to say as Duo started to leave. There wasn’t anything to say. “RTL won against me Trowa!” Duo yelled to him. “But that bitch is not winning against anyone else! Relena. Middie. Dorothy. Every one of them is going to be safe because I’ll take that whole damn place down to hell with me!”

Trowa stopped him from swiping the tablet from him. “Not with this, Duo. Not everyone in here has taken a life, and some are just mistaken women, victims who got pulled into the wrong thing. The law will decide their fate.”

“Fine then, the God of Death will go it alone,” Duo agreed. “I’ll find them all still and take care of them like I took care of Oz.” Just like Oz. Just like the Alliance. Just like White Fang. Just like all of them. He’d take them all on, just like all of them!

Duo got in his car and took off at high speed. Innocent people getting hurt by the enemies all over again. He squeezed the wheel. Not for long. He’d take care of this. He should have taken care of it with Hilde, but each of the pilots were being kind.

Heero could have had Relena out of it all real fast. Quatre, definitely, it’d be pretty quick. Wufei, super easy. Even Trowa, no problem. Enough information dwelled that with the right amount of pressure, they could have discovered more and pulled RTL’s strings apart. It was just a magic show, with really light strings. “Only reason Revenge of the Lost survived this far is because we were all too kind.”

Well, not anymore.

They wanted revenge against a gundam pilot? They wanted to make one break? Well, they’d get their wish.

They’d see how much they got their wish.

Trowa didn’t know what to say as he headed back. He called up Heero, knowing that he would have to make this call. Trowa just didn’t want to call up Quatre and tell him. “Heero.”

“Trowa. Is this important, Relena’s taking a shower right now.”

“Heero, you know I hate that!”

“I’m not supposed to have calls, it’s embarrassing and it’ll distract me from watching her so this has to be important.”

Heero was a unique one. “Duo is going to start killing people from Revenge of the Lost. He’s going after Hilde’s body. He became the God of Death again.”

“Hilde Schbeiker’s body?”

“I’m afraid so,” Trowa said. “Revenge of the Lost pushed on his weak spot.”

“Sepsis?”

“I don’t know. Can you tell the others?” Trowa asked.

“Hn. Yeah, I will.”

An immediate hang up. With such a subject, Heero would do that.

Duo snuck into the address. It was an actual suburban neighborhood. There was no hidden basement, just a basement. He searched the place, and found out it belonged to two kids, boy and girl in elementary school, some guy that worked in an office, and a simple mom.

Yeah, right. He had to calm down though because he hadn’t found Hilde’s body like Trowa’s mother wrote about yet. When he heard the woman come home, he hid out to make sure she was unaware of his presence. She just started chopping vegetables and boiling water.

If he were in a better mood, he’d probably give some kind of tease, but instead he just took the safety off his gun. The way she acted, she knew that sound. Yeah, she was definitely someone.

She turned around and looked at him. “Oh. I didn’t expect you.”

The way she said that didn’t sound right. “Who were you expecting to be holding a gun on you?”

“Revenge of the Lost,” she said. “Shouldn’t . . . you be after them instead?”

Okay. This woman’s face? Yeah, something was way off. “You aren’t part of Revenge of the Lost?” he asked.

“No. I quit, some time ago,” she said. “I ran. I thought I ran far enough with my family. How did you find me?”

Interesting, a deserter was who Crystalia led him to? “An address left behind that claims you have the body of Hilde Schbeiker.” Right. He held his gun on her closer. “Any idea why it’d say that?”

“Oh, Crystalia.” She was definitely not happy. “She left me with this? Damn her.” She turned around and stirred her vegetables again. She put her spatula back down. “I don’t know everything. I mainly worked in helping as a burner, housing people. I wanted to do something after having to leave.”

Having to leave? “Leave from where?”

She wiped something from her eye. Maybe a tear. “Something happened with my husband. My clan wouldn’t let me stay with just my son. It was a strong clan, and a mother alone couldn’t raise the next boy in line.”

Clan? Hang on, this lady looked a whole lot like . . . “What was the name of your boy?”

“I think you know,” she said. “There is a reason I left. Since I lost not only my husband, but a son just due to being . . . weak,” she said softly. “They helped me. I did my best for Support of the Loss, but when they recognized my skill, they had me become a burner. Someone who helps others that can’t be strong find a way to escape until RTL solved it.”

Holy . . . “If I hadn’t come ealier to see Hilde’s body wasn’t here, I would have killed you dead before you even knew I was here.” Revenge of the Lost. They never quit. “I almost killed Wufei’s mom.”

She didn’t seem upset about the realization. “When I heard his name for the first time involved with the gundams, I was shocked. I knew I had to get out. He might become a target with how many lives he was taking. I thought they forgot all about me for years.”

“Nah, they were just saving you for something else,” Duo uttered. “They took Hilde Schbeiker away from me. You might not have killed her.”

“I would never kill anyone,” she insisted.

“Maybe, so maybe I won’t kill you, but you need to help me find her.” He was done with pussy footing around, especially after that!

“I remarried and began again,” she insisted. “I need to get my kids to their school each day. I need to make sure my husband gets a good breakfast before he goes to work. I need to run my own life, not wreck it.” She turned back around. “Please don’t do this. I left to never get involved in anything that might come after him.”

“Don’t do this? Really?” Duo never lowered the gun. “Hey, I’m glad you figured out that, hey, maybe RTL wasn’t quite the way to go. Thrilled actually, wish more people went your way and ran too.” He held the gun closer to her. “You know how I run my life? It involved all kinds of things, but the best thing in it was called Hilde. Now. If Crystalia led me to you, then you must know how to track her back down. Trowa has Crystalia’s tablet, so I need places that aren’t going to be on that tablet.”

“Defunct, old areas. You want information.” She sighed. “If Revenge of the Lost finds out I gave you info, they would target my entire family, not just me. I had to get my husband to think he got a whole new job somewhere else in order for us to move here.”

---

He didn’t care. “You are helping. Where would they take her if their current locations couldn’t be used?”

“ . . . how did Crystalia ever know this is where i moved to?” she wondered. “Nobody knew the truth about me. Nobody. They knew I had to leave, I wouldn’t be near any organizational area to run what I did. It organically fell away, I was out before I moved. Everyone stopped caring, no one even stopped to say hi at the grocery store the week I moved. No one ever knew my connection.”

“Did Crystalia?” None of this was on the tablet.

“Is that why she risked my family like this, I was disposable?” She touched her forehead. “No. No, Crystalia was strange but not vindictive like this. Did you see Crystalia physically?”

Oh. This wasn’t sounding good. “An address was left with a friend.”

“No. No, it’s RTL, not Crystalia!” She started to go nuts. “She doesn’t know my connection to Wufei, only Superior does. She was the one who found me and took care of me.”

Heh. “Well, makes the whole simple ‘blown up’ without a name even attached a lot more clearer to cause of death.” They couldn’t have picked a better lie. “That lie blew up a whole other colony.”

“I didn’t know what was happening. I told you. Please. I have to get my children, I have to get my husband, please help!”

What? “Help? Help a person who used to belong to an organization that took Hilde?”

“I left before that, I wanted to leave way before that for Wufei’s sake! Don’t you get it? Look how mad you are, even you said you were ready to kill me!” She pointed to the gun and started to cry. “RTL expected you to take me out in that anger. They are going to kill everyone close to me to get me. Please, none of my children never did anything wrong, they lived the best way they could. My husband never did anything, he just fell in love with the wrong person, please?”

Oh crap. The guys. Like it or not, he couldn’t let innocent people pay, especially kids. “Come with me, we are taking my vehicle. Bring your phone and where is the school your kids go to?”

Trowa’s Hideout

Middie wished she could have used the time Trowa had been gone to clean the tablet. The tablet was something precious to everyone. It didn’t leave the place at all usually, but she understood Trowa would want it near him. It was used to send the video proof that Relena Dorlain and Dorothy Catalonia were innocent, but the whole thing itself could be given to the right person and put everyone involved in RTL away forever.

There was only one real reason they hadn’t shared it yet. It had not only the people of RTL’s information buried in it, but a lot of sensitive information the rest of the world didn’t need shared. The tablet was heavy with information, and classified things only they should know were hiding in every corner. Even after all that time, there was still things they had to find to clear it out.

At first, Trowa tried it on his own. Then, he started to trust Middie to know the differences. Even with that though? There were things buried in messages, documents, documents that could still be recovered, pictures, texts, instant messenger texts. Everything from the circus, Trowa’s real information, her information that would get her thrown in jail, pilot information that would get them thrown in jail the world didn’t know about, and just sensitive information no one else needed to know.

Like? No one needed to know that Quatre’s 24th sister had actually moved to an address on Earth, got married, divorced, married again, lost a baby preterm, divorced and went back up to the satellite without telling anyone. That was her own personal business.

And that was just lying around in a messenger message from one member to another.

Middie often asked Trowa if it wasn’t obvious if she should include something in the deletion rounds. She kept track of what she looked at, what was deleted, and what could be recovered with techniques.

There was someone called Howard that Trowa had considered giving it to, and he said he could probably get just the main parts off, but they were risking the entire tablet, taking it out of the house, and trusting someone no one had contacted since the wars between the colonies and Earth.

Slow and steady, but they were getting closer. Middie had read just about every member’s message, had erased several documents months ago, while Trowa had deleted every picture of the circus, any thoughts about the circus, the information about the circus, and even the smallest baby pictures he actually found of himself with his mother.

All of it. He might have saved some of it to his own phone, including his real identity proofs, but most of that was gone.

It was also a balancing act, the tablet had to keep actual information on it too. If someone was talking about how good it felt to stab Relena, then it had to stay in there. Deleting things just because they were bad wouldn’t do any good.

More than a couple times, the device had triggered her too. That’s another reason getting everyone off took so long, seeing what people wanted to do to her didn’t always make it easy to pick up and work with.

It was probably another reason Trowa took it. Getting triggered while he wasn’t there wouldn’t be good.

Once the device was all clean to Trowa, he would pass it along to Heero who would double check all information that was sensitive for them had been gone. He’d also make sure the information couldn’t be recovered with any kind of hacker moves.

The good news? It was getting closer. Stuff cropped up here and there, but they were probably a good 85%, maybe even 90% done. Trowa was supposed to hand it over to Heero next week at some point.

Which left her just relaxing on the bed, staring at the ceiling with her hair sprawled out on the bed.

Freedom from Revenge of the Lost again sounded so nice. Middie still had consequences to face with the run-ins of them that would never leave her, but at least? At least the pregnancy only had three months left. At least her and Gin didn’t have to kill anyone.

It probably felt like it was almost over to everyone except Duo Maxwell who just lost his friend. Nothing ever seemed to be perfect for everyone though. Life was never like that. Someone always suffered.

Okay, as much as Duo owed Trowa, it was definitely Wufei he should contact first. If his story differed from hers, he’d know it was all a con. As Wufei picked up, he made it clear. “Gee, I’m breaking protocol and contacting you? It must mean it’s real important. When’s the last time you saw your mother, Wufei?” While he waited for the answer, he took a picture of her beside him and sent a pic in a text message at the same time as he waited. “So?”

“How is she there?!” Ah, yep, sounded correct.

“Last time you saw her, Wufei,” Duo asked again.

“Around twelve. She just went missing, or so they said.” He didn’t seem to believe it. “She should have gone with the colony. How are you with her?”

“Well, I almost killed her,” he admitted. “Honest mistake.” Yeah, that language he was using said it all. This was Wufei’s mom, and even though he wasn’t real fond of a lot of weak people, Wufei cared for his mother. “Trowa sent me a message that he thought Crystalia left. It said Hilde’s body was at her address. I was supposed to kill her, Wufei. I’m on my way to apparently her new family’s schooling and work to make sure they aren’t killed.”

“What family? Remarried?”

Aw, it almost made him smile for a second. “I know you want to talk, but I just needed to confirm she was who she claimed. Tell Quatre and Heero, I’m going to call Trowa. You can talk to your mom later.”

“Soon, Duo Maxwell!”

“Yes, soon,” Duo insisted as he hung up to call Trowa.

Trowa’s Car

“Duo are you sure about that?” Trowa asked anxiously as he started to drive at a faster speed. “Cathy said she had that note for at least a week.”

“Crystalia didn’t even know her identity as Wufei’s mom, and I was hot enough under the collar that I would have killed her. There was no body, just Wufei’s mother, so I’d say the circus was compromised. They probably didn’t want to try anything until you dropped your guard.”

“If they knew about Catherine, and I just visited her?” Did they tag him then?

“Welcome to the ‘they screwed you over’ club,” Duo said to him. “Get back as fast as you can and tell the others. Each of the women were microchipped by her, RTL might have that now.”

Trowa had been a member of that club for way too long! Trowa hung up and drove even faster to get back. He could not risk them getting Middie back.

Duo was headed straight for the local elementary school. He had her call the school for an emergency, someone just died in the family. Her kids should be ready as soon as they got there. Going into an elementary school, what a weird thing. Something he never did once himself, but he had to make sure she didn’t run off.

This thing was dangerous, and even now she seemed to get what was at risk as he parked. He got out with her and they headed inside. Her voice was definitely nervous at the office and he did his best to hide his appearance. He didn’t look like someone that belonged in that place.

When her kids came to her, she wrapped them in the biggest mom hug he’d ever seen. She signed them out while they just stared at Duo for a few seconds, and then they started to bail.

“Back seat,” she instructed them. “We are picking up your father.”

“What’s the emergency?” her son asked. “Who is this guy who picked us up? An uncle we don’t know?”

Heh. “Definitely not Uncle Duo. Next location.” He headed for her husband’s work. This one would probably be more dangerous, that group would have a harder time against kids than taking out one guy. “After this, you tell your family, your husband takes his car with them, and you are coming with me to find Hilde.”

“Tell us what?” Her son asked. “Who are you taking our mom to find?”

His mom told her son to be quiet. A harsh whisper, but a desperate whisper. Yep, her whole life was about to change. “If I were you, I’d tell him the truth, and leave it however it falls,” Duo told her. “It’s your life though, what’s left of it, so you go with what you want to do. Just know, that-”

“That this is it.” She clearly knew it. Once they were out, she’d never see them again. She’d rebuild her own life, on her own again. When Duo arrived, the woman formerly known as ‘Blue Topaz’ told her kids to run over by her husband’s car. They definitely weren’t coming with them.

She got out. Duo still couldn’t risk leaving her. Just like before, he kept his head turned, and his eyes out of her business as she shared what she could as fast as she could. Duo didn’t know how long RTL had her info waiting, but it probably wasn’t a coincidence the one named Superior brought her in and didn’t share her information correctly.

Her family would probably be safe, but she still needed to hurry. He heard her start with why she joined, and heard a lot more detail this time. That proud Long clan was too damn proud. Wufei’s mother hadn’t been a fighter at all, only his father. Apparently when he died in some battle, Wufei’s mother didn’t even get to say goodbye or explain before she was ejected from the colony. It was already decided that Wufei was supposed to marry into the Long clan itself at 14, but with a weak mother, and a dead father, someone else ‘stronger’ took him in.

Yeah. They decided to eject her when Wufei was 12, not like a kid. Her family now was from this guy’s previous marriage, so none of these were half-brothers or half-sisters. At least that was good for him. Still, man. Wufei didn’t even know, or there’s no way he’d just let the ‘she blew up’ stand. Right?

Duo continued not to say a word, letting her handle her own business, but watched as her husband slapped her. Not the right way to take it, geez. At least she came for them, without her, that whole family would have been fried.

He still didn’t say a word as the husband left to the car those kids stood by. As they all left, Duo headed back for his vehicle. Innocents saved, it was time to get back Hilde using the person he was supposed to kill. As they drove on, he watched her try to quietly weep in the corner. He didn’t have anything for her except maybe?

He reached in his vehicle’s compartment. He had a work towel to use if his car broke down. It was still new. “Here.” He gave it to her. “Life isn’t over, just with them. Be happy they make it out alive. Run again, run farther away without any plans of family this time. Now, how far should I drive before asking for directions? Oh, and do you have a real name because I know that nobody from your clan would name you ‘Martha Thomas’.”

She took his work towel from him. “At least three hours. RTL, for a long time, it worked fairly small. It came from a fairly small town.”

Yeah, that’s how things started. Small, then they spiraled into huge and out of control.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “about your girlfriend. If you tell me about your situation, I might guess where they keep her.”

“She should have still been alive,” Duo said confidently. “They want her carrying my kid, and then she’s got to at least progress awhile before they are going to try and kill her. At least, I thought so.” Please let her still be alive. “We got so lucky, she being from space and all. Messed up their plans.” He looked back toward her. Maybe this woman would be a nice little gem in disguise?

“Group revenge involved similar manners. Is your girlfriend Hilde not possibly able to get pregnant?” she asked. “If she can’t, they will have to change their strategy.”

“What would the secondary strategy be?” Duo asked.

She was quiet for a little while. “The worse the offense, the more likely the innocents involved can be taken down, or splintered. I was only with it a couple of years, and even then I knew it wasn’t perfect. These tactics were first used with such scum that it didn’t bother me.”

“Okay, Mrs. Chang. Glad you got a moral compass, can you help some more again?” Duo didn’t care about how she got involved, he wanted to get all the useful info he could.

“Who were chosen?” she asked Duo. “Hilde Schbeiker, how did you meet?”

“During the war, when I was hiding,” he said. “She’d been a friend ever since. It started with just helping me fix my gundam, but I still stayed near. She was fun and great and didn’t deserve this.”

“A normal bystandard or involved in the war?”

“Sort of involved, she learned how to drive a mobile suit.”

“Any involvement meant guilt in their eyes. Do you have some paper?”

She wanted to make calculations? “Memo pad.” He took it and grabbed a pen for her. “What are you doing?”

“Determining more of your options and predictions. Writing down some of the old places. You could have killed me, and instead you saved me and my family,” she answered. “That kind of honor from an assassin deserves nothing less than anything I can give.” She started writing down vague addresses.

Okay, he’d buy that. “Wufei ended up with someone called Mei-Lin Wang from the Zhang colony. After they found out she wasn’t pregnant, her colony blew up, but Wufei had been in the process of returning her.”

“Superior would never have agreed to that, that couldn’t be it,” she said looking at the paper. “Tell me about Wang Mei-Lin, and tell me exactly how Long Meilan died.”

“I don’t know the Long details, but Mei-Lin never went into war or anything. Wufei got to her on her wedding day to someone else. She was also accused of murder for a little while, but that was cleared up to pin it on Dorothy Catalonia. What do you mean Superior would never let that be the revenge? The colony thing?”

“Few things were taboo, but blowing anything up was never allowed, no matter how much easier it could make things,” she answered. “Not involved in war, an innocent. Count of one.” She made a separate column that she didn’t label. “Next one.”

“I guess Quatre and Dorothy Catalonia.”

“Involved in war, not innocent. Do you know how they plan on dealing with her?”

“His mom died during birth. We found out she was poisoned with something, but she’s been getting treatment for it for about a month or so.” he said.

“If the treatment is working . . .” She sighed and made another column next to it called Failures. “Two not pregnant, and one being treated. Tell me another one.”

“There is Trowa with Middie Une. She was a spy in the war,” Duo said to her. “She got pregnant. She has a hot line of torture waiting for her, with chemical injections coming up soon if they get a hold of her again.”

“Spy, absolutely the worst. Chemical injections?” she questioned. “She had none though?”

“No, not according to Trowa.” Duo saw her put another o in the innocent and 1 in the failure column. “If I thought you were playing a game, it’d look like they were losing.”

“They are,” she admitted. “Another one?”

“Heero with Relena Dorlain, used to be Queen of the Earth if you missed that,” Duo said to her. “Definite innocent column.”

“She was innocent and never killed. Let’s go with O. She was kept safe but pregnant?”

“The safest she can be, no one can get a drop on Heero,” Duo agreed. “She’s almost due too, just one more month. She was also redeemed in the news, and so was Dorothy Catalonia too.” He watched her write it down.

“The next one?”

Hm? “You miscounted,” Duo told her. “That’s five pilots.”

“There were more than five gundam pilots,” she said back to him. “There’s six.”

What?! “Hang on, who? Zechs?” No way. “Nobody messed with Zeches.” 

Martha didn’t look convinced as she wrote his name down. "Who was he close to in the war that was female?”

“You mean Noin? She's not pregnant and they could have gotten her at any time." She wasn't being safe at all. "He's Relena's brother."

“Doubling the pain. Actually, she might be the price for Heero and Zechs. She wants Relena to suffer so badly, she could hit what she wants much harder with that excuse. Revenge of two pilots." She looked at in her notes. "This is not what she envisioned though, she is failing. Superior isn't someone who will accept failure. This is bad."

“Nobody knows Superior,” Duo pointed out. “Not even Crystalia. What do you know about her?”

Martha paused. “She had so much hatred in her heart. I saw it when she first befriended me. I needed a place to stay or I was going to die. I didn’t want to trust easily though, so she had to tell me about herself in order to make me come. I also made her promise that no one would know about me.”

Like son, like mother, not so easy to convince. “What did she tell you?”

“She didn’t know at first if she wanted to just kill herself or not. She had soo much anger in her, it was thriving in her very eyes. She said killing herself felt like she was trapping her spirit on this plane forever, that she would never be able to rest until she took her own justice.”

“It was something to do with Heero,” Duo said to her. “What was it?”

“He killed her little girl,” she answered. “They lived next to a mobile suit factory he blew up.”

“Oh. Poor kid. Mom’s insane though, that was an accident, I’m sure of it.” Killing someone off the field probably even hurt Heero if he knew about it. Striking down an innocent kid? Geez. “No reason to seek revenge to another innocent person. They don’t get more peaceful than Relena Dorlain.”

“She doesn’t care about that,” Martha warned him, but, she didn’t look so good. “She just wanted someone else to feel her pain and she couldn’t find a way to release it. The way she dressed and acted though, she had a lot of money. People with money can get things . . .”

“Hey?” Duo poked her. “You okay?” Shit. “You need a doctor?” Aw shit! “Okay, okay, I’ll get you to a doctor.” He’d have to put the search on hold. He called Wufei. “Wufei, I think RTL got to your mom anyhow. She might be dying.”

“Let me talk! Is she there?!”

Duo gave her the phone. He didn’t have a choice. He’d stop to get her help, but this might be the last time she could talk to her boy. Maybe the revenge against Wufei since his mom wasn’t dead was just to . . . end her.

Duo saw a smile on her face as she heard Wufei’s voice through the phone. She couldn’t speak real well, but she was definitely speaking. “I wasn’t allowed. Oh. No shame for you. Hm.” She was getting worse. “Did you marry her? Oh. And? Oh, she didn’t. Oh. Watch for flowers at Victoria.”

Duo watched her body going more limp. He held the phone to her as he was pulling into the nearest hospital. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please! He didn’t want her to die. He really didn’t want her to die.

“Wufei.” Strain in her voice. She was going quick. Duo reached the hospital and went inside to get help. By the time he came back with help, he already knew. He still let them take her away, but he had to pick up that phone. “Sorry, but she didn’t make it.” There was definitely sound over the phone along with concerned voices. At least Quatre’s presence would keep him from going off. “I’ll stay and find out the facts.” No sound now, but he knew he was still there. Revenge of the Lost.

If Duo hadn’t killed her, it looked like they had a backup plan, to still make sure there was pain.

He waited in the emergency room for another thirty minutes before he heard the news he already knew. She had been poisoned, apparently by a fatal flower. It was from the same kind of genus as the flower helping Dorothy, but in a highly concentrated dose.

By Duo’s bullet, or by poison. They didn’t even seem to care, they just wanted her dead. The only one who knew about Superior. Duo looked at the jotted out mess of places she had written down on the memo pad.

The whole organization, the whole planning, the whole cohesive revenge they had wanted was shattered. The way they sloppily put that together just showed how much they didn’t have control. This wasn’t Revenge of the Lost, this was some run-down second and third chance plan B and C crap to take down an enemy.

This? This was the time to really watch out for them. There was no telling what would happen now that they were losing. If they gave up on pregnancy all together . . .

Superior sat in her seat, sulking. She stared at the papers in front of her.

“Superior?” One of her employees asked as they came closer. “We tried.”

“Did you at least get it right?” She could tell from her eyes, she didn’t. “Trained for years to get this done. This place always ran so well. These pilots . . . how could they be so much better?”

“Crystalia was . . .” They paused.

“Crystalia was very good at hiding things, physically and emotionally. She knew the right people for the right job. She depended less on money and more on her instinct.” Oh, she missed her. “At least the other is out of the way, no matter how it was botched up.”

“Duo Maxwell didn’t kill her. For some reason, he actually went around and helped her family,” they answered. “We don’t know if she gave anything else to him.”

“No imagination, but these idiots did blow up a colony.” She looked straight at her employee, who was also one of those idiots. “Did we find the microchip locator yet?”

“Not yet.”

“The sixth?”

“We did get her once, but she does occasionally go to space, so um we haven't paid much attention.”

“If Crystalia had stayed, it would have been perfect!” Superior slammed her fist on the desk. Right on the desk. 

“I don’t think so, Superior,” her employee answered honestly. Since Crystalia was gone, this little shrimp became second in charge, meaning she felt brave enough to speak to her. “It was crumbling on her too. This revenge hasn’t been planned for years on end. It was just wanted for years on end, but no one ever did it because not enough people agreed we should. You are the one who pushed it the most.”

Whatever. She took her gun from her dresser and shot her. Second in command, who cared. She still ended her life on that floor. Congratulations to whoever would be the new second in command. “Disappointing.”

Bull. She got up and headed out herself. If it took every ounce of torture, Crystalia was giving up the microchip location device. Those women were hers. As she left, she saw more of her employees. “Clean up the body in the room, and I want the statistics and strategies in the board room in one hour. Every single one of them. Now.”

One Hour Later . . .

Superior took the papers in front of her. “Hilde Schbeiker?”

“No success. We have her, but we aren’t able to get her pregnant. Even if we did, she’d only be for a little while before Relena gave birth.”

Failure. “Dorothy Catalonia?”

“They’ve been getting her those flowers. It was later, but there is a chance they might have stopped it.”

Half-failure. “Wang Mei-Lin?”

“Not pregnant but her colony blew up.”

“A mistake, and it doesn’t count as revenge,” Superior corrected her. “Anything else?” No, everyone shook their heads. Another failure. “Middie Une? The spy. The worst of every single one of these so-called pawns?”

“She is pregnant. Triton Bloom must be watching her real closely. He did stop by the circus finally, and we are tracking his way back. He is moving fast, which will help us find the target. We are already narrowing it down to a small area, and discussion is being held to find the resident the most sheltered.”

“I love how you said ‘we failed’ in the brightest way possible.” No, she didn’t. Failure! “Relena.”

“Gundam pilots are really good at hiding them. She is pregnant though.”

“And due in a month.” Due in one month. “We don’t have the location of a single one yet except Hilde, who isn’t even pregnant still, and it’s too late to make this all go off together!”

The beautiful revenge. To feel it all. It was gone. There would never be empathetic justice.

“Plan B or Plan C?” One of them asked.

Plan A, she wanted Plan A so badly. Plan A. Plan A. Plan A. Plan A. Plan A.

Ugh. "This didn't make things any better." Her anger sometimes. She put her gun away and passed by all the women she just killed in the board room. How was she going to do this?

How was she going to make them all pay?

Trowa’s Hiding Residence

When he got there, he opened the door. It was unlocked. “Middie.” He started to search to make sure she wasn’t just hiding. Did she leave a note where she went, or a clue? Maybe she got paranoid and saw something and left?

Then, he picked up something. A sound, a strangled sound from far away. Trowa headed outward and watched a car start to speed off. He quickly jumped in his. She must have risked getting loose for one second, risked the consequences to make the sound.

It was a huge van, something that wasn’t made for speed, so Trowa did have that over them. They probably threw Middie right in the back of it. He punched it further, deciding how he should handle this.

As he watched the passenger woman shoot out toward him with absolute hate in her eyes? “Shoot at me, you are showing enemy colors, no longer just a person who is mistaken!” Taking Middie, a six-month pregnant woman and intent on killing her, that was not a mistake. He grabbed his gun and waited for it. He felt the same kind of anger probably stirring within Duo, except he also had details.

Middie and he knew all of the things they wanted to try on her if they caught her. Death would be the release from the pain if they did it. He watched out for it carefully, and when the passenger tried to take another shot, he was ready this time.

He heard a scream. Definitely nicked her. As he turned the corner, he knew he almost had them, but not very far he saw a group of women stretched out along the road.

Each woman had their arms linked like they were playing red rover. “I have no time for you.” He went off the side of the road, knowing he couldn’t barrel through people with his car. The women lined far though, much farther than he thought.

He stopped and got out. No one was firing at him, just keeping their hands linked, like they were the ones who were righteous. He wouldn’t kill, but he would get them out of the way. He shot at one of them in the foot. They screamed and others came to help, but the line sealed back up against him.

None of them were shooting or going after his car.

“Support of the Loss knows who you are!” Someone finally cried out. “You won’t hurt anyone else.”

Support of the Loss. “Revenge of the Lost is lying to you,” Trowa said to them. “I am trying to save someone, not hurt them.” He had just shot someone in the foot, they wouldn’t believe him. “Damn.” He had no choice. These weren’t the bad women, these were the confused group of Support of the Loss, being lied to. He couldn’t hurt them anymore, but he couldn’t let Middie just go.

He got back in his car, and sped as fast as he could. There were a lot of people in Support of the Loss, but there would eventually be a break and he could get back around.

When he did get to the end, he turned into the empty space, and headed back to the road. It was a long distance, and by the time he got back to the road, he just gunned it as fast as he could.

There wasn’t a sign of the vehicle but he couldn’t give up. He called up Duo. “Duo, I lost track of Middie. RTL was using STL to create a block against me for too long. Where are you and how can we meet?” Most likely, they would end up taking her to the same spot they took Hilde. He had to join Duo if he had any chance of getting Middie back.

—-

Quatre and Wufei’s Hideout

She had done her best. A smile. A cunning look away just right. Her and Quatre had done it, been so fake. They faked it even if they knew they were caught, because faking it was nicer. It was a nice denial when things got rough. It was better.

Dorothy had felt it stirring inside, some part of her knowing since the beginning. The flowers were a nice touch, nothing like a little hope to get the human heart churning to possibilities.

Although it had been a surprise the day she was being arrested, a part of her had hoped that they must know what was wrong with her. When Quatre confessed what it was about, she surely wanted to believe it was the pregnancy that felt wrong. Even then.

Even then. Before they found out the revenge would be the way mothers died, she had told him about only a possible future with them. In reality, she felt no possible future. Every time she coughed, she excused herself like a lady. She tried to hide her feelings, and Quatre tried to play the pretend game too.

The pretend game was always funner with more than one. But? This time, as soon as Quatre walked in and she saw those eyes. Those definite honest eyes that assuredly saw something without the denial of what it was seeing anymore? “Is our game over now?”

Quatre was taken aback slightly, he usually had been. Sometimes he enjoyed their open communication, while at times, it scared him. It scared him because he didn’t even have words formed in his head for what he wanted to say. “My personal doctor is coming from the colonies.”

Oh? “Well, I guess I couldn’t play the part of feeling well good enough?” she asked politely. No answer. Poor Quatre’s tender heart. “Keep your doctor near. If I pass from this world, Sand Rock Catalonia Winner has a good chance if there is intervention soon enough.”

“It’s not fair!” His voice was loud, but not straight, several painful curvatures in the vibration from the crying. “It’s not fair, Miss Dorothy, it’s not fair.”

“Since when has life been fair?” she pointed out. “Every time we smile and see each other, we have felt it. I felt it before you even grabbed me, Quatre Raberba Winner.” She felt no such difference in her fate.

“There are some experimental things we can try,” Quatre said to her, “and you are all trying all of them, because I can’t just lose you like this! It’s not right, there’s got to be a way to fight back! I’m going to take you to the Maguanacs to meet with my doctor, so I know what’s the truth. I am trying to make contact with two other doctors who have successfully had people live over eight months out, and one curing it as late as six months for one person.”

“Ooh, the big time spending only a Winner can afford,” she teased. That’s what it would be.

“We are not giving up. I don’t care what it takes, or how I feel, or how we’ve felt! No more fake smiles.”

“Oh, what a pity. I loved the fake smiles,” she said honestly. “It’s better than tears of sadness every time you look at me. That display you’ve been trying to hide since the beginning. Quatre.” No more fake smiles. “I have felt no difference deep inside, and neither have you.”

“I didn’t want to risk getting caught, the more I bring you to the attention of everyone, the worse my chances. But, I don’t care anymore! How can I not risk getting caught, if it means losing you and Sandrock before I’ve ever met them?!”

Quatre.

“You had evidence to clear your name. I sent that so you are free, Dorothy,” he said. “You know that. I didn’t want you to go back because it isn’t safe, RTL could still get you.”

“RTL doesn’t need me. They already won,” Dorothy pointed out. “Unless they want to add some kind of torture to everything, which would be tacky, but knowing the source, reasonable to assume they want as well.” That didn’t make him feel any better. “Just one possible future. It was just a dandelion being blown into the wind.” His eyes, were so hurt. “I am hanging on as tight as I can, Quatre. This wheel of life won’t knock me off without a fight, and I want to see what my beloved Sandrock looks like too.” Well, it only made sense that the name would eventually join Sand and Rock. The child might even just go by Sand, but officially, it would be Sandrock. A legendary child, that she wanted to live long enough to see. That she hoped had not been poisoned too much to see its own grand future.

Ooh? That was a strange gesture. Dorothy looked at the ring on her finger. “My, what a beautiful ring you seem to want to give me. An odd time to fall deeply in love and pronounce marriage, when one is dying. Almost tactless, Mister Winner. Not even flowers or chocolates?”

“No worries,” Quatre remarked. “All honors. If you go early, I’ll make sure the world doesn’t know you as the role you were here as my platinum blondie, you’ll be Mrs. Winner, with the reputation to go along with it.”

“That’s very kind of you. Reputation can mean a great a deal.” She took the silly ring off. “That does seem like a foolish thing you would do. Marry as a kind gesture.” She pulled herself out of bed. “I’m not accepting some death bed gift, I am still able to walk and talk. Still able to eat, to get around, and still able to enjoy living.” She curtsied. “I can even still dance, though I miss it so much.” She would take that. “I would much rather have that than a costly ring. Is that a deal, Mister Quatre Raberba Winner?”

She grabbed his hands and started to sway him around. The place wasn’t the biggest, so she ducked him through the front room and they danced around the couch. Wufei and Mae-Lin gave them both the oddest look as she navigated them toward the kitchen to find more room.

Anywhere could become a grand ball, if someone knew how to dance just right, and Quatre Raberba Winner had been taught that skill with his noble name. Around the island of the kitchen, dancing around Mei-Lin’s odd look, and back toward the room. “Such a lovely dance.” Drained though. Too drained. “No regrets at all.”

---

Quatre caught her before she fell. Wufei came in. “She’s okay, she’s just drained. She’s always more drained of energy, she just always tried to hide it.” He picked her up and put her in bed. He went to the side of the bed where the ring fell, and slid it back on her. “I’m sure you probably think it’s silly too, don’t you?”

“Not at all,” Wufei answered. “Honor is never silly. Are we eating before we head to the Maguanacs? She needs more rest than food. She is pregnant and stressed.”

“I’ll take food along with us, she’ll need extra rest,” Quatre admitted. He was just too scared, he didn't feel any better, even with the tea. Neither did she. It was weighing everything down, and he needed to get her seen by real doctors he trusted. He would start with his personal doctor coming down and visiting them over by the Maguanacs. After that, he would get more if he had to. Wufei and Mae-Lin agreed to come too. Wufei was coping with what happened, it wasn’t his first tragedy. He didn’t even know she was alive, but that clearly didn’t help his hurt.

Mei-Lin and him had become more reserved. Mei-Lin never even met his mother, but she seemed to go out of her way to make sure Wufei was taken care of. She cleaned more, she didn’t create any arguments, and she’d even prepared special meals for him for the last two days.

The last two days. Trowa had lost Middie Une in the last two days. Wufei’s mother had been found and then dying with her last words to him in the last two days. And Dorothy, was lying down a lot more, not talking as much, and overall not showing good signs for a brighter tomorrow.

He had to take a chance to have his doctor look at her. Quatre held her hand. “Never thought I would really experience what my dad must have felt like before I was born.” His hands trembled. “Never even knowing if it would happen, or if my mother . . .”

“Not one thing except a name,” Wufei said to Quatre. “Six months along, and you never even bought a simple shirt to welcome your own child. With your heart, you would have bought it ages ago if you felt it would actually happen.”

Ah, Wufei just had to say it! It cracked Quatre that much more. Six months was a decent amount of time, so why couldn’t he believe? “How can I welcome someone into the world when I don’t know whether or not they will ever really make it?” He hated to say it. He tried for so long and so hard. “It was even - I mean it's even six months along. Why couldn’t I ever just . . .?”

“Aah.” Wufei looked shocked. “I get it. There is a reason it was Dorothy Catalonia after all,” Wufei said to Quatre. “I didn’t see it at first. You two barely even speak to each other and understand things between you.”

“Why would that mean it had to be her?” Quatre asked. “I don’t understand.”

“You two can’t grasp the future, you just grasp your emotions,” Wufei told him. “Her fear is building in you, and you reflect it right back to her, only increasing it. The more you two have been around each other, the less confident either of you have felt. Break the chain. Strive for it, Quatre.” His voice grew. “Change what you feel! Her body is still a body, and treatment is still treatment. Doctors can see her, and things can change! She is not gone from this world yet, she is right here. Still breathing. Still talking. She is even still dancing. You can’t just give up because you feel nothing positive from her, you must feel positive and feed that back to her! It could be the stress of this and being pregnant that is affecting her health instead.”

Quatre watched Wufei toss a small shirt to him. A very small shirt.

“I fight for what I believe, and I don’t think you’ve nearly fought to the end yet,” Wufei told him.

Such a small shirt. “You bought a shirt for Sandrock.” The first shirt. The first thing anyone gave. He closed his eyes and brought it close.

“Peace in the war was a bigger illusion than Dorothy dying,” Wufei told Quatre. “Don’t get your fears mixed up with reality. You have been treating her every day. Don’t think anything until you see a real doctor.”

Sometimes. Just, sometimes? “You’re right, thanks, Wufei.” He couldn’t see the future, and neither could Dorothy. Their emotions, they were feeding into their own fears. Quatre really needed to hear that. “Nothing’s been looked into. No doctors have ever really looked at her since the pregnancy. We are just feeding our own apprehension into each other.” Positive. He had to stay positive.

This wasn’t over.

RTL’s New Hiding Spot

Middie glanced over toward Crystalia who refused to look at her.

“Give it up,” Hilde told Middie from her side. “I’ve tried talking to her to have someone to talk to. I mean, it started with heavy yelling toward her, but I eventually just tried talking. It doesn’t work.” She sighed and hung onto the bars. “At least I have new company and I don’t mind talking. It would make me feel much better.”

Middie looked toward her. This was supposed to be Hilde, Duo Maxwell’s friend. She didn’t know a whole lot about the other women personally, just the problems they faced. At least she was chipper. Middie wasn’t much for conversation right now though. She knew what would be coming.

“Hey, just a small chat?” Hilde asked. “I know this place isn’t nice, but it’s scarier when there’s no one but your own thoughts in your head to talk to.” She moved closer. “How is Duo?”

Middie didn’t have much to say, but it was obvious Hilde really wanted someone to talk to. She’d been gone from her sense of security for about a month. “He’s been searching for you a lot.” She wished she had something else for her. “He must miss you.”

“I hope so because I really miss him,” Hilde answered.

Middie watched as three women were coming toward the cell. Not good. Hilde backed up too.

When they came in, they grabbed Middie. Hilde watched them start to drag her out. “Easy, she’s obviously pregnant.” Hilde looked toward Crystalia, who still didn’t say a word.

“See?” Another member said as they pointed to Crystalia. “Absolutely true, no doubt about it. Crystalia doesn’t give a shit, this is a big lie.” The guard pushed Middie against the wall and took out a knife. “What should we put into you, and how should we do it?”

“Well, Crystalia?” the other guard asked. Crystalia still didn’t look at her. “On the shoulder or on the stomach?”

“It’s not my body to choose.” Crystalia finally said something.

“I knew it, I so knew it!” The guard closest to Crystalia grabbed her own knife and pulled it closer to Crystalia’s cell. “Don’t think this is going to save you, you really went against RTL. We are going to find accurate punishment for you, and your son is not off our radar.”

What was going on? “It’s your grandkid,” Hilde pointed out, “the least you could do is yell shoulder.” It was the least she could possibly do. Hilde didn’t get it. Weren’t they actually supposed to kill Crystalia in the worst way they could if they got her again? “Why are you even still alive?”

“She’s the mom of the gundam pilot,” one of the guards told her. “She isn’t the grandmother of this baby though. Crystalia is too cold to her, and there were rumors about whether she really did it or not. Especially talking with the Phillips.”

The Phillips? “Duo’s relations?” Oh. “Middie Une isn’t pregnant with Trowa Barton’s.”

“She was just trying to save face with RTL by making it look like it.” The guard came closer to Crystalia. “We won’t be fooled. Superior will have more than a few words for you.”

Hilde heard painful screaming in the back. “Middie!” What a bunch of- “You’re nothing but a bunch of lowlives, just wait, kharma is definitely coming for you.” Messing with a six month pregnant woman. “I’m not even relation to that woman and I feel sorry for her,” Hilde said looking toward Crystalia. “You either were playing RTL, or you are the best poker player I have ever seen.”

“I don’t like gambling,” Crystalia mentioned back.

Oooh! It was so hard to read that woman.

“Mind your own business,” Crystalia called back to her. “Worry about yourself. The easiness in here will be over soon.” Middie’s scream rang out again. “It’ll be closer to that.”

“Absolute bitch.” Hilde wouldn’t try to talk to her anymore, she was impossibly cold. She turned away from her and looked at the guard that stayed. “How can you live with yourself? Someone hurt someone you love, so now you have the right to hurt innocent babies? I bet your mother would be proud.” She saw the guard flinch when she said that, like there was a tiny bit of humanity left. Hilde just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. There’s no way Duo would have either. “All of you have been so pathetic with the way you get revenge. I wonder how you all would feel if we took all the information we had on that tablet and called your own mothers?” It sounded ridiculous, but it was the only thing she had ever shake them up before. “If you’re so righteous, then explain to your own mama’s why you are killing babies.”

She watched as the guard came into her cell. They grabbed her and dragged her out. Where were they taking her? “You can’t kill me yet, not until you get what you want.” She was being taken in the back where she had heard Middie. Oh no! “Sickos!” Why?

Middie lied on the ground, clearly hurting with a brand on her stomach that said ‘Liar’. On her huge sensitive stomach, smack dab in the middle.

“You are going to live,” they said to Middie, “but let this be a lesson not to mess with RTL,” the guard said to her. “You are being delivered back to the Phillips, there is no need to keep you. You are no one, with a no one baby. Giving you back will make the Phillips back off too.”

“This one needs a lesson too.” The guard pushed Hilde toward the one that hurt Middie. Hilde didn’t cower. “Liar doesn’t fit her, but she thinks she is righteous, and not some soldier that fought in the war.”

Hilde watched them hold out hot brands, like they would use for cattle. They had liar, the word spy, and something else. A huger word.

“This one.” They picked up the huge word. “Excuse me. You’ll become intimate with this more when I come back.”

It wouldn’t be fun, but if it kept her busy? Then they wouldn’t harm the poor pregnant woman anymore. I know it’s stupid, Duo. I know it’s going to hurt. You hate when I do stupid things, but if they focus on me, then she’ll be okay.

Middie needed rest after that unbearable pain. How long did it take to warm up a brand? Duo. I really hope you find me soon. I am running out of time. Plus, so far, they hadn’t threatened her with a single thing. They never even tried to slap her, and now they were doing this? Duo.

“One Song!”

Oh. Middie definitely heard Gin. That’s right. Crystalia never hurt her son, just me. “Gin.” Her eyes shut as she was blinded by light. She had been thrown into the back of a van and taken away.

“What did they do to you?” Gin yelled. “God damn them.”

“They have more than me,” Middie told him. “They have Hilde Schbeiker too.”

“Don’t say anything right now, I am taking you straight home.” Gin picked her up and put her in the back of his car. The chauffeur drove while he stayed right by her. His men was already getting her gauze and pain reliever.

Middie tried not to panic when she saw the needle of the pain reliever.

“It’ll help quick and the best,” Gin told her. “A quick prick, it’ll be okay.”

Gin had no idea about what was in line for her for torture. She needed pain relief, but letting that thing near her? She closed her eyes, her stomach felt so queazy against Gin as she felt something from a different place.

“There you go. She’ll be okay, Gin, I gave her something to relax her.”

Hopefully that was the private doctor that said that. She felt something, and it was gone.

“That’s better,” Gin said to her. “Okay, let’s take off.” The car started to move, but Middie couldn’t rest yet. Gin had more news. “Revenge of the Lost said Dorothy herself is dying now, so it shouldn’t be as hard to kill her. It would be like a mercy killing.” Gin was trying to reason it out.

“She’s innocent,” Middie managed to say. “Please don’t. She’s just like me.”

“Yeah, but you are pregnant with my nephew, Middie. RTL didn’t like the gundam pilots with us, even if they were helping us,” Gin said. “They made Heero and Relena split, and went after the God of Death himself. We can’t fight their request, it’s not even about the money they are paying. They literally pick people up and make them disappear.”

“I’m nothing but a soldier, being told what to do.” Commanded.

“Not to me,” Gin encouraged her. “Never to me. You’re the greatest thing out there.”

Not great enough to stand up to his mom. Gin was in over his head, joining into his family business like this. That though, could work in her favor. She was definitely sedated so she didn’t have much time. “Gin, did you really take over the Phillips family business?”

Gin fidgeted. That fidget that still meant he hadn’t killed anyone by himself. “I had to. I had to find you.”

“Someone else could take it,” she recommended. “Give it to someone else.”

“The hell?” Gin didn’t get it at all. “You want me to hand over the family business to who?”

“A person who, if they cut their hair short, would look almost like you.” A small bit of touch up. RTL would never know. Middie had been thinking about it for some time, just in case things didn’t work out at the circus. She started to think about it much more once Trowa and her had to leave. A safe spot for the pilots to operate, even if it was just safe for one.

“I don’t know if I could do that, to that guy.” Gin obviously knew. “We both do have more of dad’s traits. I’m a little taller. A smidge. A little more good looking,” he joked. “You really think that’s a good idea, One Song?”

“He can do what your heart can’t.” She tried to butter him up. “He needs help, all of the pilots do. Even though Trowa Barton took the best care he could of me, to hide me, with all his knowledge, RTL still nabbed me. You just said RTL found the gundam pilots were with you.”

“I know that Duo called himself the God of Death, but he’s not someone that should get involved in this-”

“He needs it. They need it! Let him have it, let them take their own risks with your men, and give them a fighting chance,” she encouraged him. “Your mom still wants marriage between us because of the baby, right?”

“Yeah?” Gin looked so unsure. “I doubt they took an airplane and drove out a long distance. The place you and Hilde were at, it’s got to be in this vicinity. No one runs from them for long.”

“Pilots have proof, all the members, everything.” Sleep was coming rapidly. “It’s almost ready. Just a little longer.”

He stroked her long hair. “I’ll find out what’s going on, and we’ll look into the details, but don’t expect much. Duo would be insane to agree to this when they already spotted him with us once. For you, I’ll find out.”

“Thank you.”

“Just remember, if he is sane and doesn’t want that? Then I don’t want you to feel bad about killing this pregnant woman. She’s already in bad condition, nothing can be done. I’ll even be the one to steady the gun for you so you can shoot if you need me to help.”

Noin’s Home . . .

When someone who upheld a certain number of years dedicated to a kingdom wanted secrecy, they bought homes that had hidden levels that no one else could enter. With that security, Noin had been able to hide them both in the third level of her home, where she used to keep anything Peacecraft and Sank Kingdom related. She had even had it all fixed up because she didn’t when or how Relena would find out the truth about her heritage, or whether or not she would have to even hide her in her own house or not.

A bath, a bedroom, and that was about it, but it was enough to hide comfortably.

“Heero!”

Heero quickly entered the bathroom at the sound. He opened the curtains and saw Relena . . . having trouble. “Can’t get out?”

“My hands are too slippery, and I’m just . . .” Relena looked at herself. “I don’t even know how to start. I always lean on my side, but-”

Heero didn’t need excuses. He helped to give her stability as he pulled her out from her bath. It used to be more awkward at first to help her in the private moments. A lot more awkward.

///Phillips House Months Ago, Three Hours After Duo’s Call About Hilde Kidnapped///

Heero watched Relena head to the bathroom with some fresh clothes. “Wait.”

“This shouldn’t take long,” she insisted. “Do you need to finish anything else up before I take a shower, Heero?”

“No. I’m coming.” Heero followed her to the bathroom. Since Duo almost lost Hilde in the bathroom, he wasn’t going to take any chances with her. When they reached the bathroom, he watched her step in the tub and then try to pull the curtain shut.

He stopped that. “What are you doing?”

She looked confused. “Taking a shower.”

“Not with these closed.” Why would he be that stupid?

“Pardon?” Relena looked confused. “It’s the curtain.”

Heero gestured to the easily removable tile right about them. “This whole bathroom could be used against us. Someone could head over and knock you out while you are taking a shower.”

“That’s unlikely,” she disagreed.

“I would, it’d be a good way to get a drop on an enemy. Vulnerable with no weapon.” Heero stared at her. “No curtain.”

Relena looked at how much space the ceiling had with the bathtub.

“There’s no space,” Heero said to her. “No curtain.”

“No way,” she disagreed. “You can’t just watch me take a shower.”

Really? “I am here to protect you, Relena, I wouldn’t leave my area.”

“Are you really not kidding?” Relena gawked. “Look, this is no different than when I use the bathroom then.”

“No, it’s not.” It would be the same thing.

Yeah, that wasn’t a becoming face at all. “No, Heero.”

“RTL isn’t going to get their hands on you just because you feel embarrassed,” Heero insisted.

“Well, you’re going to want to eventually use the bathroom, what then?” She pointed out.

“Duo is coming soon. I can watch Hilde for him at times, and he can watch you.” It was probably the only thing useful about the situation. It would be better though if she just got over it.

“He is coming from the colony, he won’t arrive that fast,” she pointed out.

“Yeah.” So, they needed to work this out.

She crossed her arms. “I don’t like this.”

“I don’t care,” he said honestly. “No curtain.”

She looked around toward the top. “What if I hold your hand through the back somehow?”

“There’s not enough room to move around, they can still come through the top, and they would get an even easier drop on me,” Heero said. “It’s not an option.”

“Well, I can’t just let you . . . watch me,” she insisted. “I’m a lady, you can’t just watch me bathe, Heero.”

“This isn’t a battle we should fight, Relena.”

“Well it is going to be one, because I’m not doing that. Using the bathroom and washing in front of you, is out of the question.” She wasn’t backing down.

Hmm. “You will have to get over the uncomfortable feeling. You’ll eventually have to do it.”

“No decent person is going to just bathe in front of another without at least having a relationship,” she pointed out.

“Fine.” He watched her try to grab the curtain again to close. “We’ve gone over this.”

“Yes, we just did!” She was getting stressed. “I am not bathing in front of someone I don’t have a relationship with, Heero.”

“Yeah, we have a relationship.” She knew that.

She seemed to take a deep breath, like she was trying to stay calm. “I know that I’m carrying your child, but that doesn’t mean we have a relationship that counts for this.” She looked at him like he should say something. “We didn’t actually create this baby, Revenge of the Lost did this.” She still just looked at him. “I wouldn’t even let someone that I was just dating see me like that, Heero.”

Hmm. It was her feeling of vulnerability that was the problem. She knew he would never try anything, and he had no fears of her trying anything. She didn’t always follow the rules that society had set out, or she wouldn’t have played her part in the wars.

Comfort. She watched him approach her with skeptical eyes. “Who made you feel safe?”

“Safe? I don’t understand, Heero.”

“Your parents maybe. What did your mom and dad do to comfort you when you were younger?” he asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?” She made a fussy gesture for a minute. “My mother used to stroke my hair, especially when I felt ill. My father . . . he used to plant little kisses on my forehead to make me feel better.” She sighed. “Why?”

Got it. He brought her closer and gave her quick kisses on his forehead. “Feel better.” He held her and stroked her hair. He didn’t get an answer back at first. “Trust me, Relena, and I will do my best to comfort you.”

“Comfort me?” Those big, round eyes.

“Yeah,” he insisted. “I’ll comfort you in a way that makes you feel safe.”

Relena hugged him tighter and looked around the bathroom. “It’s not like it’s . . . a battle or anything.” He could still hear the tightness in her voice. “Will you consider coming to see this baby every once in awhile?”

His hug loosened up and he felt like he got gut punched. He knew it was coming. Somehow. He didn’t know how she would do it, but somehow, she was going to win against him. The moment he first saw the resolve in her eyes to keep him in the picture for it, he started fighting back on it. But now? “I’ll . . . consider.” He had to make her feel safe. ///

After so long, it was easier to do. Relena seemed to warm up to it even faster than he had, something he tried to hide. He eventually did get used to it, and they could even make conversation if necessary.

It made things like helping her out of her bath a lot easier.

He helped her into her side of the bed. She rested her body while he got to work on the tablet. Things were heating up more and more. Trowa was joining Duo to track down Middie and Hilde. They dropped off the tablet and warned him Zechs might be in trouble himself. Heero didn't believe that, no one ever messed with Noin and they had plenty of opportunities. Even Zechs didn't seem concerned. Zechs was able to pilot a gundam, but he wasn't a part of their team. 

He was Oz. He nearly blew up Earth in the name of 'pacifism'. Yeah, he did help with taking down the next threat but . . . 

Noin wasn't concerned. Zechs wasn't concerned. Relena wasn't even concerned. 

This was almost over. They would have done something. "I'm going to double check this tablet," he told her as he stared at her belly. "It's almost crystal clear."

Relena wouldn’t have a chance to escape either if something went wrong at this point. She was eight months pregnant. One more month, and he’d have a whole new thing to worry about if he screwed up on the tablet. One tiny message mess-up though could spell prison for someone. He couldn't risk that. He really wanted to hand it in though, get her safe, and get this over with.

Relena stroked her belly. “Are you looking at my great big belly that’s going to change life in a month again, Heero?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he admitted. It wouldn't be easy to keep the sound of crying down if they were still there when things went bad. Theoretically, they had a month, but if that baby came early? He started to work for some time, checking every corner. While he worked, Heero noticed her stomach slightly moving. “Having trouble sleeping?” She rubbed her belly again. It was hard to sleep, even though she was tired, if it was kicking. As time got closer, no one could miss when it was being active. It moved beneath her skin slightly. This was no place to raise a baby. He had to get this done.

He tried to stroke her hair. “Try to relax if you can’t rest. Your body will eventually settle down.”

“It's easier said than done.” She was frustrated. 

Comfort. He patted her hair while he checked his computer. He got an interesting email.

He had no choice. He knew Quatre and Wufei were on their way to the Maguanacs, but one of them would have to contact Duo. He couldn’t risk leaving, so he’d have to do it by email. Hopefully, they would get the message soon.

Driving with Duo and Trowa

“Duo, you must contact Gin.” Quatre’s voice. “He was given back Middie.”

“That’s great to hear.” At least Trowa would feel better. “She okay?”

“Heero got the email from your brother. Revenge of the Lost gave him back Middie Une. They said she was just a decoy by Crystalia so she wouldn’t have to hurt Trowa. Tell him I’m sorry for that.”

Oh, man. She isn’t holding Trowa’s family, she’s holding my nephew or niece.

“He doesn’t know where Hilde is, but Middie gave him an idea. At the very least, talking to him might give you a general location of where to look for her.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Duo agreed. He called up Gin on the same phone. “Duo.”

“Oh? Hey Duo, that was fast. I’m still riding back with One Song. Those bastards scarred her with liar on her stomach, no regard for our nephew or niece at all.”

Of course. “They scarred her?” Duo picked up Trowa glancing toward him now.

“Yeah, an all out brand like they would do to a cattle, Man.”

Damn! Quatre didn’t tell him about that. “I’m sorry, Gin. I hope she gets better.”

“I run the Phillips family business. I had really great pain killers and doctors. I had everything for her. One Song wants me to ask you something, and you can feel free to say no, Man. You are technically family.”

“What?” Duo asked.

“You want to come to the wedding?”

He managed to get an unexpected chuckle from Duo. He hadn’t laughed for a bit, but there was no way Middie Une actually asked for that. “I might, if I can somehow dodge Revenge of the Lost in a tux. You really marrying your dream girl, huh? You really . . . gonna do that to her?”

Oh yeah, now Trowa was really paying attention. He knew who had been on the phone, and he knew Gin liked Middie Une. He was putting two and two together quick. Duo moved the phone away. “I’ll explain in a second, Trowa. Promise.” He brought the phone back to it’s original position.

“You know my mom calls the shots, Duo. Nothing’s changed from before, all the orders are still the same. Of course, I mean, maybe something could be different? Like I said, One Song recommended this. You wanna take a stab at running the family business?”

Run the Phillips business? Yeah, right into the ground. He’d know exactly what to do with each of them when he was done using them. In the meantime? “We kind of do look alike, don’t we?” That? That was an excellent idea. Quatre and Wufei went with taking over other identities and they never got spotted. Maybe in plain sight, but their eyes on a different position, was the way to go?

He physically heard a lot of relief in his brother’s gasp. Gin was never made for the family business in the first place. He did hold serious grudges, and when he got mad, he got real mad. But, that was it, just bark. Yeah, Middie Une had a smart idea. “You’re interested then? The men would follow you, you’d be the boss. I can’t run with One Song though, RTL will track that kind of thing. I don’t know what to do about this Dorothy thing, RTL still wants it. She’s supposed to be dying soon, but I don’t think it’s going to make it any easier.”

Hmm. Duo rubbed his chin. “If I’m you, then you need to disappear, and trust that you disappeared without a trace with Middie. Otherwise, that’s the end of that.”

“I can’t risk much, I have to protect One Song. The kid is my nephew, but eventually it’ll be more like a son,” Gin said.

Ugh. “You know, pining over one girl is never going to land you anywhere good in life,” Duo pointed out to him.

“Yeah, you should know,” his brother agreed. “You are doing it right now with Hilde. I don’t know where she is, but I can tell you where I picked up Middie. Just, reach out to me later if you are serious about this switcheroo.”

Duo got the location, and barely had a chance to hang up before he got some serious wondering eyes from Trowa. “So, good new or bad news, depending on how the whole daddy thing was going for you.”

---

RTL's Containment Center

Hilde had been in worse shape. She bled and risked everything a long time ago to get data on Libra for Duo. She had been in worse shape. It didn’t make it feel any better. They didn’t give her anything to bandage it up, and of course no pain killers. She just had to sit there with the pain of the brand.

Middie Une was gone though, with someone who would care for her, so at least that was good. She watched as the guards came round her again. They didn’t bother her, and Crystalia didn’t make eye contact either. Not that she wanted her to.

She watched as one of the guards approached her with a metal pipe. It wasn’t super long, but the top was kind of sliced. What was that for? They unlocked her cell again, holding the pipe. “You just branded me, what else do you want?”

She uncomfortably watched the guard take some scissors from her pockets and start cutting on the back of her shirt roughly. After she felt the back of her shirt being opened, she saw the guard twirl the pipe.

Then they answered the phone. “Superior. Yes, Ma’am,” they said on the phone. “What?” They put the pipe down. “Yes, Ma’am.”

They turned and left her alone now, heading straight for Crystalia.

“Crystalia!” Crystalia was dragged in roughly by the other person. “Would you like to see your troupe blow up?”

This time, Crystalia flinched. Hilde watched as they started to show something on a phone. She went over to watch too.

It was a recording of a program where Catherine was performing. “What are you doing?”

“Red Emerald, wave your hand in front of the camera right now,” one of the guards said through their other phone.

A hand started to wave on it. It was live? It was live. Hilde closed her eyes, knowing this was bad. Real bad. Crystalia made connection to Catherine Bloom and no one else. She was her only weakness.

“First, we destroy your tight walking daughter, right on camera for you, as a warning,” they threatened her. “If that isn’t enough, we’ll set up the bomb beneath it all. Your troupe and daughter will be dead because of you. How much countdown do you want, a minute?”

“I smashed it. I didn’t need it, but I know where they are all at,” Crystalia answered. “I will tell Superior. I want to talk to her directly, no second in charges.”

“Be ready, Red Emerald.” She kept holding it in front of Crystalia, but she was calling their bluff.

“Revenge of the Lost is desperately floundering around, you can’t do anything anymore. Relena is about to give birth, Hilde isn’t even pregnant, Dorothy’s probably fine, it’s all screwed up. I still have a way out. I want to see Superior,” Crystalia insisted again.

“She’s going to do it,” they tried to convince her again, but Crystalia didn’t change her expression at all. She was about to watch her daughter die, and she didn’t seem to care.

Hilde heard them start to talk to the Superior again.

“Superior will hear you out.” They looked back at Hilde. “You’re lucky.”

---

RTL Emergency Center 41

Well? There it had been. She used a pulley system that she had set up years ago to enter into her mobile suit.

They left so much behind. Those stupid gundam pilots had no idea what those scientists had left behind. It would have all been trashed if she hadn’t spoken up against Crystalia. Her find had been revered, and her training even better.

She took off her gloves as she closed the door on her suit. She would never leave with it, she’d get caught, and she never needed that. Well, at first she did. Before she was Superior, when she was just some clueless woman wandering around, trying to figure out what to do after her daughter.

Her good luck and fortune, finding locations to many things. She had been a nobody back then, just a lucky member. She was hoping she would find a mobile suit that she would be able to flatten Heero Yuy with back then.

No vision yet, and she had no idea back then which one she had picked to remake.

This blueprint once made the gundam known as Wing Zero. She preferred a different name though. “Lady Zero, how are you today?” She smiled. “Do I still have a future, Lady?” The mobile suit made a mechanic noise back at her. “So polite.” Once she had bonded with Lady Zero, she had started to go by Superior. She gave all her good graces of being a lady to the Zero. “I didn’t want Plan B. I wanted Plan A.” She moaned. She stroked her zero.

All of the mobile suit development had been stopped and destroyed years ago. All of them except personal private ones, that were made without any law enforcement meddling anyhow.

Theirs.

Areas where they were made in secret.

Also, now theirs.

Maybe it would have been handled, if the scientist had made it out. But that man’s trash, was her treasure. “Such a waste. Did I fail, Lady?” She stroked the panel. “What is the beauty left in something that can never reach completion?” Yes, it only made sense. “I failed you, Lady Zero. However, Revenge of the Lost will reach it’s goal somehow. The future will come true.”

The future would come true. They would all taste defeat. They would all taste despair. They would all . . .

The visitor. Superior came out from her gundam and came down to see her. The only person that had any actual backbone or mind for RTL.

The one who created it.

The one who deceived her the most. “Crystalia. You wanted to see me before we kill you? If you got rid of the microchip locator, there is no use for you.” She stared at her.

Reading Crystalia had been challenging before the zero system had been added to training. Now, it was downright impossible. “Your impenetrable glass has shattered, but you haven’t even picked up the pieces yet. You’re still glimpsing in the mirror in a thousand different ways to see the perfect plan.”

Superior glared at her. “Using your last words for that? I will be in charge of however you are killed.” She stared at her. “Did you follow orders, or is Middie Une really not Triton Bloom’s?”

“It’s over, your revenge is no longer even. Should we go through the facts?” Crystalia said. “Let’s reveal it, in front of Lady Zero. Let her see it for herself?”

Superior looked toward her gundam, and back out at Crystalia.

“I’m about to die. I could die in seconds. You have nothing to lose,” Crystalia insisted.

Crystalia. A woman of great vision. The one that created Revenge of the Lost so long ago. Limited, but so creative. She could be giving her the best dagger in the world to kill someone, or she could be setting her up with a dagger in her own back. That was the power of this woman.

It was risky, but Crystalia was cold. Calculated. Everything she needed for Revenge of the Lost. “Share.”

“You didn’t get Wang Mei-Lin pregnant, yet you destroyed an entire colony in a justice move that was not yours. A move that already put you in the hole. There is no 1-1, you lost with just her alone, but let’s keep going. The one you want the most, has never had RTL get a hold of her even once since she found Heero Yuy. You have one month left, and you are still spiraling in the wind. Dorothy Catalonia has probably been cured by now, and even if Hilde does get pregnant, you still have another one that no one is sure about. Not even willing to risk getting some outside source to look over her now, she’ll just remain the treat uneaten in your justice.”

Oh, her damn words.

“None of this will have the effect you wanted. A big old belly, at the last minute, as they watched them all die.” Crystalia’s head lowered, her hair starting to cover some of her face. “Out of six chances, you have lost three, didn’t even bother for one, and even if you get the last two? Relena is one month away. Impregnate the others even today, and they won’t have those big bellies that spell the future so much harder that you wanted.”

They forewent the sixth altogether, there was just too much at stake with what they already wanted. “We found one of the mothers.”

“You already knew her,” Crystalia said to her. “You bordered into my group at the same time, with nothing to either name. No matter how angry Duo Maxwell would get, it was doubtful a pilot would just shoot her for you. Nice going, by the way. The only friend in the world who could stand you, Superior. At least that poison finally killed someone.”

“Okay, fine!” It was hard to hear. So much planning, and it was time and inefficiency that was breaking them down.

“Not only that, but all you did with that move was change your failure meter with Wufei, who already lost a whole colony. That’s all under the term ‘slaughter’, yet it still doesn’t feel that way to you.”

“RTL always hunted them down so secretly and so well. They are like . . . shadows and with all these mistakes, we feel like amateurs!”

“You are changing everything at the last minute to some stupid gamble mode. Your mirror is not in front of you anymore, Superior. Look at the pieces, shattered around you now. It’s over. You only have one move left,” she encouraged her. “One.”

A move left. “What move?”

“If an equation isn’t adding up simply because of an unaligning factor, take out the factor so it isn’t important,” Crystalia answered. “It doesn’t matter if they are all pregnant with big bellies, it doesn’t even matter if we don’t kill the babies. We picked these women for one reason. That reasoning will make a difference. A new gamble. A new gamble that will hit all of them in the hardest way possible. No matter how this ends.”

“Nothing is going to hurt as much as-”

“Just to you. Your feelings of ‘children’, will not be the same as theirs. Let’s pretend they defeated Revenge of the Lost. That the women all had their children and RTL as a threat was long gone. What would make you think that they would even want to stay with those babies after they were born? Each and every one would leave them with their mothers. They were not raised to even care about that. They were raised to fight. Fight for peace. Fight for war. It’s all the same. They meddle and take out anything that’s in the way of their mission. They are soldiers, not daddies, and never will be. They couldn’t give a fuck. The most they might have done is go see them afterwards, to be charitable.”

The sting! “Crystalia!” God. She was right. They were just animals, just things made for war. They wouldn’t care. They cared for nothing. “What is left? I'm guessing something that doesn't involve killing you." That was obvious. "The children?"

"Will be fine, it doesn't involve them," Crystalia assured her. "Not a factor."

"Not a factor." That look. Why would she even . . .? “Middie Une isn’t carrying Trowa Barton’s child, Crystalia. Right?”

“I never said that. They simply assumed.”

Oh? Yes. Crystalia was hard to read. “You wanted them to assume. You even made sure she had some back up role with the Phillips to make it look like she had another purpose. Such a clever bitch.”

Crystalia didn’t answer back.

“I guess that would leave you alive without any revenge against mothers. Your survivor instinct sometimes, Crystalia.” It was almost as strong as hers.

Fine. There really was nothing left. It was all screwed up, twisted, tangled, and every chance was burned away. "Okay. Fine. Humor me. What is the great Crystalia's plan?"

On The Road With Trowa and Duo . . .

“Where do we go next?” Trowa asked Duo. He had explained about how Middie possibly might not be carrying his child. It made no difference, she was still someone caught in RTL’s trap.

She was still a friend. He wanted to help all the same. Helping Duo figure out where they were wasn’t as simple though. Wufei’s mother had been with him and barely managed to scriblble a few things down.

Making sense of what she wrote, looked like a puzzle all it’s own.

Duo looked out the window. It was all risky. “Actually, I think I know where we should go. You might not like it, so I can drop you off wherever you want if you don’t. I am going to need some serious help with my Hilde hunt. This one man band is not enough.”

“Where?” Trowa asked.

“To Gin Phillips. We look similar enough, he wants to try and switch places. That guy really doesn’t have any business running what he’s running,” Duo said. “He wants me to take over. It’s such a bad idea, that I really want to try it.”

“Well, well.” Trowa’s voice lifted. “That works well for your current problem and afterwards.”

“Yep, say hello to the Phillips power.” Duo knew Gin didn’t want that power, but he didn’t have the stomach to risk turning on it. Duo would.

“What about Middie Une?” Trowa had to ask.

“Gin will probably try to track Quatre and leave with Middie Une,” Duo told him.

Trowa shook his head. “Dorothy Catalonia cannot be put at risk, and I don’t trust Gin Phillips to watch over her.”

Hmm. Yeah, Trowa did believe she was his responsibility for a long time. Telling him his brother would do fine, wouldn’t exactly . . . “I can’t tell a lie, you’re right, he’d probably suck. He’s okay, but he wasn’t even involved with the Phillips, he was working with Middie Une. A basic average guy.” Must have been a nice life.

Trowa just shook his head again. “No. I’m watching Middie.”

Geez. Duo looked out of the corner of his eye. “Trowa, the Phillips were looking for you to kill, I don’t know if you forgot that?”

“They thought I was after Middie Une,” Trowa corrected him. “I’m not anymore, I am now ordered to help Middie kill Dorothy Catalonia from Revenge of the Lost.”

Uuh? “Well? I guess I will be running it.” They did take on him and Heero with no problem. It was RTL that was the problem for them, not the Phillips. “Gin is going to want to be right beside her.” Trowa didn’t answer. “He’s kind of in love with ‘One Song’, he’s been crazy for her since I’ve known him.”

“She goes by Middie Une, not One Song,” Trowa corrected him. “He isn’t skilled enough to handle this, he shouldn’t try anything until Revenge of the Lost is out of the Phillips business.”

Oh, Trowa. Duo didn’t know what else to say. Trowa did his own thing, and he was going to do his own thing.

“You should jail Cathy and me as Gin Phillips.”

Yeah, well, different. “Looking forward to being my prisoner?”

“Revenge of the Lost is after Cathy because of her relation to me and Crystalia. They won’t bother with the circus if she is a prisoner of the Phillips. The Phillips were after me, but you understand the truth, and as the leader, would make sure she gets to the target without putting another Phillips at risk.”

Oh, Man. “Seriously, I don’t think Gin is going to go for that. He is obsessed with the Middie girl,” Duo reminded him.

“I can be a second helping hand, to make sure your brother is alright. If you are in charge, Duo, no one can say anything about your orders,” Trowa said.

Okay? “You might be missing the whole ‘taking over the family’ thing. I’m pulling a switcheroo so RTL can’t mess with us anymore. I can’t be Gin going around with Middie Une, and Gin that orders Gin to let Trowa come with them.”

“I’m not letting Middie Une go out by herself and make an irrepairable mistake, nor am I letting her lay down and just accept the consequences. I will make sure RTL believes that we are hunting down Dorothy Catalonia, but I won’t let her get hurt.”

“You’re taking Middie Une out to the desert to risk looking like she’s off to kill Dorothy Catalonia.” Duo tried to think about it. She did have a checkered past, but she wouldn’t, right? “You really don’t think she could get away and accidentally do it?” Whoah. Duo usually didn’t see a whole lot of emotion in Trowa’s eyes, he had one of the best poker faces around. Yet, he could have sworn he actually saw offense.

“Middie Une regrets a lot of things, she wouldn’t be capable of killing another pregnant woman. I know if placed in that position? She will want to have her baby so it’s safe, and then try to run away from this all. She won’t get away, and she’ll be killed.” He said it like it was all a solid fact. “She can’t run away or say no, RTL is calling the shots. If she says no, they will snag her and kill her like she is nothing. No revenge needed, not dying in a certain way, all it takes is a single bullet to the head.”

Okay, and Trowa cared too much to let her end herself like that. “It’s a dangerous game to play, staying close but not close enough to shoot. I hated when you played that game with Oz in the colonies that one time.”

“I won’t let her risk it,” Trowa said simply. “Since the Phillips have Cathy, Trowa Barton will be cooperative. It’ll fit, Duo.”

Well? Trowa’s sister Cathy being there should make it work. The Phillips did fall for family stuff.

Okay. Meet Gin. Talk about the new prisoners, Trowa’s deal, and then do the switchover. Keep Gin way out of the business by agreeing to actually take it over after RTL’s nonsense is over, that way he could hammer the business into the ground.

Gin would agree to everything, but the Trowa thing would still be a pain in the ass to get that guy to agree to. He could be hardheaded, and he could definitley hold a grudge. Maybe if he told him that he thought of ‘One Song’ like a sister? So he’d be more like a brother-in-law when they got married?

Oh yeah, Duo’s step mom. That woman actually called a lot of the shots too, which was the whole reason a marriage was a thing. He’d have to figure out how to eventually pull her out of her seat of power. “I think I’ve got it figured out,” Duo told Trowa. “Gin isn’t fighting against marrying Middie Une, but his mom is the real reason he has to. If you want to go along with them, we can just say that you became sort of like a brother while you watched over her. You know, sort of like with your sister Cathy.”

Oof. Duo definitely saw some emotion slip. “She isn’t Cathy at all.”

“It’ll fit, Trowa. If Gin thinks you never thought of Middie as anything but a brother, I’m sure he’ll use you to keep her extra safe,” Duo pointed out.

Trowa took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t think of someone I thought was carrying my child as a future sister, Duo, it won’t work that way.”

“Gin doesn’t know the whole scoop. He knows that she knew you, but Heero and I never told him much except that you weren’t a bad guy. I doubt she ever gave him details. If you had sisterly feelings beforehand, then maybe you were protecting her like a brother. Maybe you knew the truth already since Crystalia was your mom. We could say she just let that slip?” Duo was trying. “You’ve got to give me something to work with here. He’s not gonna like another guy around his girl.”

“She is not ‘his girl’. If that is the way you see as best, you can describe it that way. I won’t describe it that way. A sister is different and it isn’t something I can just ‘pick up’. I can be protecting just a friend. You had been protecting just a friend,” Trowa pointed out.

“I think I failed miserably on the protection,” Duo answered honestly. “She was caught twice. Once with me for a day, and once without for a whole month now. No one has lost twice like I did.” Oh yeah, Trowa just did. “Nevermind. Look. When it comes to time away from safety . . .” No, that also wasn’t it. “No, I gotta admit, I have to share the lousy spotlight with you. Sorry.”

Phillip's Residence

Trowa wasn’t treated the best at first when he first came, but Duo got Gin to loosen up. He didn’t say anything as Duo told Gin about Trowa being a ‘brother figure’ to Middie, and wanting to help out with the target.

Gin wasn’t buying it. There wasn’t a choice. “I will not go against you. Duo already knows the location of my sister, and you now have her in your possession.”

“I can handle One Song,” Gin told him. “I don’t need you, and I don’t need to take any stupid prisoners.”

Ugh, Trowa hated that ridiculous name. He respected names that someone chose, but Middie Une never respected or liked that name.

“Look, Duo, One Song has to kill someone. That isn’t going to be easy for her,” Gin tried to tell Duo. “Oh, I’m so lucky mom’s not here today.”

Not even a shot. Trowa had no choice, Gin didn’t even want to keep him as a prisoner. He needed something strong. “In the past, I didn’t know that Cathy was my own sister. I didn’t know my own identity. Revenge of the Lost was twisting the knife again, that is why Crystalia stuck me with her in the first place.”

“Um?” Gin looked like he was at least considering it. “You mean?”

“Yeah, he didn’t want to tell Middie Une since it was their own family.” Duo was helping him make the excuse even better. “He wanted to bring her into the actual family and get to know them before he told her the truth. He couldn’t reveal the real connection since RTL made her confused about the baby.”

“Oh, I get that.” Yeah, Gin was going for it. “Oh yeah, even mom will go for that. Sorry, Trowa, for having the group kind of hunt you down like that.”

Yeah, this guy didn’t have what it would take to care for Middie being so close to Dorothy Catalonia. This was already going to be difficult, and just this excuse alone had Gin smiling. Gin trusted Duo. He was easy to manipulate. Completely gullible. His mother ran his life, even though he ran their family business.

This might work out real well.

---

“How are we going to do this?” Gin asked Duo after they were alone.

Duo touched his hair skeptically. “I grew this thing my whole life. I’ve put my life on the line plenty before, but my braid?” This sucked. “It feels like the worst part of the plan.”

“Duo.” Gin wasn’t amused. “This is real risky, are you sure about this?”

“You are the leader,” Duo reminded him. “What you say, goes. Right now, that is.” Most of the men wouldn’t know the difference between Gin and Duo, but the top ones did. Gin was even making a contract with Duo’s name and identity documents to physically hand over being at the top. The top people wouldn’t say anything because Duo was officially the leader, but he wasn’t going to announce it until after RTL was brought down.

Right now, he was about to take ‘second-in-command’, so Gin could be out with his crush, and Duo could run the show there. Eventually when Middie’s problem was solved, he’d have to lose his luscious locks.

“Are you sure we should be bringing One Song’s brother?” Gin asked him again. “Last time we just grabbed a gun and took off. Hardly anything had been given to us,” Gin said to Duo. “Sounded cut and dry, and considering what this . . .” He kind of faded away. “The press cleared her name, but she’s still missing. It’s a lot easier to plug someone when they deserve it for taking someone from you.”

Yeah, but it didn’t take away any of the pain. “Gin. I’ve been there in the past. I’ve lost too many to count anymore. Dorothy Catalonia isn’t even responsible, the proof came out. Revenge of the Lost was messing around with you so you’d do their dirty work.”

“I really hope this works,” Gin said back. “Her and her kid already dying make it easier I guess.”

“Well, it shouldn’t.” She wasn’t responsible for anything. Duo watched as Gin gave him a printout. “What’s this?”

“We didn’t get this last time,” Gin told Duo. “It looks like whoever was giving orders messed up on sending this part out. Sounded important.”

Duo looked at it real close.

“It’s that revenge thing, and I guess it makes some sense since the one in charge of this stuff is actually her real mom,” Gin said. “This shit is psychological now.”

“No kidding, this is a lot different.”

Duo followed him through a set of doors, passing some of ‘his best top men’ now. First place they were going was scouting for Hilde. He had way better chances sending them each out instead of him individually hitting all these sketchy places Wufei’s mother had put down. She was concentrating more on guessing how Revenge of the Lost was doing instead of lots of places.

Not only that, but she didn’t exactly know addresses. He had some parts that were like ‘Red house near bricks in around the 4th-6th block’. It wasn’t going to be fun, and not something he wanted to do on his own.

He had known enough about the Phillips place when he stayed there, that it probably made sense to the top guys that Duo took over, so it made sense to send them too. They’d know to share the information where she was at and watch over the situation until he got there.

Duo looked at the two specialized guns. “One is gonna kill Dorothy Catalonia, and one is gonna help cure her.” Which would be which was the question. Nature’s death, up to chance? Middie Une had to shoot Dorothy Catalonia with one of two specialized dart guns. “Big difference in orders this time.” Crystalia was just trying to get Dorothy Catalonia flat out killed last time. “Pretty colors. So how experimental?”

“This is apparently like a heavy concentration specifically of what works in some treatment flower a doctor successfully used to cure someone . . . super late in treatment? Weird statement,” Gin said, “and the other is the same thing, but it also includes a dangerous poisonous amount of the flower that will just instantly kill. It’ll be a 50/50 shot.” Gin opened a suitcase that had more than one vial. “We are pretty sure they just added dye to make it more confusing.”

Oh, Man. Every single tube was a different bright color, Duo couldn’t just grab a couple and get them checked out. Short of getting the whole case analyzed, he wasn’t going to get a lot of success. Still. He grabbed four of them. “You know, I got friends.” He pocketed them.

“No guarantees they aren’t all the same,” Gin warned him, “but yeah, I get it. This Dorothy never did anything, and neither did her pilot.”

“Sweetest one of us actually,” Duo said. “Great guy. Don’t cross him, he is real in touch with emotions.”

“We are after the woman bearing his kid,” Gin said. “At some point, we probably will cross.”

“He really doesn’t want to kill,” Duo said. Gin didn’t seem to pick it up. “He really, really doesn’t want to kill anymore.” Gin was just looking at the vials like there would be something in the design that might give away what was inside. “He really is going to try his best not to kill, I know he will, but make sure Trowa is in front as the leader of this thing.” Yeah, that third mention seemed to catch his attention. “Don’t mess with Quatre Raberba Winner. Follow Trowa’s lead, Gin, don’t confront Quatre. Middie Une shouldn’t shoot until she knows what the heck she is shooting.”

“Yeah, sorry. So, I’m going to be heading out soon with One Song and her brother so you can use the crew however you want to find Hilde. Top guys know it’s you, so if any mid or bottom guards get suspicious, it’ll take care of itself.” Yeah, that’s how things usually went. “I better learn to be nice to Trowa, he’ll be my new brother soon. My mother already understands. I’ll call if anything happens and if I have to come back around this area, okay?”

“Got it.” Trowa would appreciate the speed, it was clear he already wanted to see Middie’s injury for himself. “So where is your One Song?”

Middie stared at the bed she was supposed to be resting in. She touched her stomach. How was she going to do this?

“I’ll be here, to make sure this goes off right, Middie Une.”

Trowa?! She turned around so fast she almost stumbled. “What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don’t make any grave error, just to save another person,” he assured her. “I’m going to keep you near enough to the target that RTL will believe we are trying to take Dorothy out. That should keep you safe.”

Oh Trowa. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I know. It’s not mine, that’s why you were set free,” he said casually. “It doesn’t matter, you are still part of this because of RTL, and you and that baby still need help.”

How? How could anyone ever be as good as him? “Trowa.”

“We will be traveling with Gin. Duo and I have him convinced that you were actually Crystalia’s trick, and that I’ve known since the beginning the baby wasn’t mine,” he said. “Crystalia, for the foreseeable future is your mother, and I was your brother, trying to take care of you.”

What? Brother? Mother?

“It was the only way Gin would give in and let me come. You can’t take this on your own, this act is too tricky,” Trowa insisted.

“It gets trickier.” Gin showed up by the door. “So she’s going to have to use a special gun with blowdarts. Half of them will probably kill Dorothy, while the other half have the possibility of curing or helping her.”

Gin appeared again in the doorway now too? Gin and Gin? No, she noticed the braid on the other one. It was the guy who tried to save her once.

“We are shoving off now. The sooner we all go towards Dorothy Catalonia, the better for everybody.” Oh, but that little flirtative grin, that was the one that was Gin. “I half-took your advice, One Song. Duo’s got things he needs to do with the power of the family. It’s part his now, so let’s book it for awhile. With your brother, of course.”

“Good. The sooner, the better.” Trowa looked toward Duo. “Watch out for Catherine. Make sure she looks like she is your everyday prisoner.”

“I’ll do what I can. Count on it.”

Duo and Hilde's Junkyard Home In the Colonies

Hilde didn’t understand it at all. Cuffed, and taken home? Not to any temporary residence. Home, home. Why? She was brought out of the car and headed inside. The familiar look of how everything was when they last left. “Home.”

She had new guards that had switched off on her twice. One pair when she went to the colonies, and one pair when she came home. “What am I doing here?” They didn’t stay inside the house section for long.

They were taking her somewhere that they hadn’t dealt with for basically years. It was used more for storage of extra junk parts, with just a little room, just in case the worst thing happened and- “What?”

No way. It couldn’t be. Duo blew his Deathscythe up so long ago. “RTL can’t have Deathscythe, he watched it get blown up himself. This isn’t possible.”

“It’s not the one he blew up,” one of the guards explained as she was escorted up with much more pressure, like they expected her to buck. “Gundam Deathscythe isn’t an object, it’s a blueprint. This one is different in another way.”

Another way? “I don’t get it. It’s a mobile suit.” In what way was this different? Hilde felt them put her in and buckle her up. They took off the cuffs and closed the lid of the mobile suit.

Um? They knew she knew how to drive a mobile suit, so this didn’t make much sense. “Well, go for it anyway. I’ll figure it out.” She started to turn things on. It was all connected. She started to activate the hands. “I’m not really cleared for riding a mobile suit, but if it gets me out of here.”

She didn’t know their plan, but she went ahead and tried to move the legs. “Yeah, okay, not working.” Operations were sealed that way. “Why did you put me in here?” Hmm.

She checked her oxygen levels. Fine. She tried to open or exit, but those were cut off. “Are you just keeping me in here for some reason?” She opened up her camera view. It was only locked on one location, the visual prompter down below. She saw her guards, looking proud of themselves. “What’s the deal?”

“Look at your arm,” one of them goaded her. “You’re a soldier, now and forever. A worthless soldier, that’s gonna die as a soldier.”

Death. “If you wanted to kill me, you would have just straight blew me up. Are you going to press some self destruct button of this mobile suits or something?” she asked. “If so, I don’t care. You’re all just mad you couldn’t put a baby in me, so now you think putting me in Duo’s baby will somehow be revenge? How much stupider can you get?”

She turned off the camera. How dumb. Nothing happened. Five minutes. Twenty minutes passed. She turned the camera back on. Only one guard was still there? “What is this?”

“The slowest activation ever, but we wanted it to be a slow burn for you,” the guard said to her. “Right now, it’s just a mobile suit. It’s nothing really special. When you start to get going though. When your heart starts to race and it wonders ‘what is going on’? Then, it’ll kick in. It’ll be over soon after.”

What were they even talking about? “I was ready to sacrifice my whole self when I tried to steer my first mobile suit years ago.” If they thought she would go out pleading and begging? No way. “Just blow it up already.”

“We aren’t blowing it up. Revenge of the Lost doesn’t just cast revenge. It’s fitting. You are right, our first wave didn’t work. Apparently you can’t have kids or something. Pretty weak, I can’t believe it. Looks like you’ll never know the experience of having a wonderful, precious being in your arms.”

“Really, trying to belittle me as a woman? Wow, you guys are just scratching to get anything now.” Hilde turned the camera back off. She turned it back on. “Do you guys have any games or something? It’s going to get boring in here, just waiting.” Wait?

No one was there anymore. Maybe they went to the bathroom. It was fine.

Hilde waited another thirty minutes and checked. No one was still there? Did they got to the bathroom again? Why were they just leaving her in there unsupervised? “Hey, I hope one of you gets back from the bathroom soon, because I have to go.” What a joke.

“At precisely 1400, the suit will open for thirty minutes.” One of them came back over to the outside of the gundam. “You can use the bathroom, get some food, and stretch your body. It’ll open exactly at 0200, 0600, 1000, 1400, 1800, and 2200. You must be back by 1430.”

By 1430? “Why?” she asked.

“Right now, we’ll escort you and watch you. Later, you will be watching your own time very carefully, and not want to take a step over it. Even if you really, really want to.”

Sketchy. Weird. She would get out every four hours? “Why am I getting out every four hours, is Deathscythe like my new home or something?”

No answer.

Okay? “Your revenge against Duo, is having me live in Deathscythe for a long time.” What? How was this supposed to do anything? “I don’t get it.” She turned off the camera to stop seeing their weird faces.

She looked at the internal clock on the gundam. “Every four hours.” Why? What was this all about? “I don’t get it. They don’t want to kill me easily. They don’t want to blow me up. They clearly gave up on getting me pregnant. What gives?” What were they wanting?

Time passed by. She took her first break, with the guards watching. She went in their house and fixed a sandwich, guards didn’t mind or say anything. “So, can I go ahead and call a friend on my break? Do I get paid on my breaks too, or is the bill covered by the company?” she joked.

No laughter. Fuddy duddies. She drank some pop, finished her sandwich, and relaxed until it was time to get back to the Deathscythe. She climbed in again, this time with a dumb game she stole. She wanted to see if they cared.

They didn’t. Hilde played on the little mobile game for the next couple of hours. Her body wasn’t used to the strange positioning, so she took a nap. She was woken up when the mobile suit opened at 6:00 PM. She didn’t really need anything again, but she got out, grabbed some music, a small bag of chips and a few other mobile games.

She was back in with an extra bag of chips and the mobile suit closed up at 6:30 PM. She set the games to the side, listened to her music and adjusted the settings of the mobile suit to the colonies satellites TV to watch her shows. It had been awhile being locked up since she got to catch up on her favorite shows. But?

Hilde didn’t get it. This wasn’t even any kind of torture. She could use the bathroom every four hours, take a break every four hours, play games and music all day, watch TV in there all day, and sleep whenever she wanted. Where was the . . . revenge? What was all of this supposed to do?

///Hilde watched the mobile suit open unexpectedly and a hot poker came straight at her eye///

“Agh!” What the hell?! “What the hell was that?!” She felt her heart soaring. The mobile suit compartment was closed, it wouldn’t open until 2200 again. “Not until 10:00 PM.” But? What was that? She wiped the sweat off her brow. Nightmare. Just a nightmare.

///Hilde watched the mobile suit open and three women appeared with sharp knives, all coming at her at the same time with a scream.///

Hilde grabbed her arm, she had smacked it against something. “What?!” The knives didn’t happen, but she definitely smacked her hand on something in the excitement. She placed her hand on her head. “Another vivid dream.” She stroked her cheek, trying to find a way to calm down.

///Hilde looked dead ahead at a colony, starting to fly to it. Closer. Closer. She didn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. Faster. Faster. Faster.///

Hilde screamed to the top of her lungs. “What’s going on?!” She started to beat on the door. “What is going on, what are you doing to me?! Why are you giving me nightmares, how are you doing that?” They were so vivid, they felt so real. It felt like she was going to crash head first into a colony. “What are you planning for me? Are you going to crash me into a colony?” No one spoke to her.

She turned the camera on. No one was out there again.

/// “Hilde, you don’t have to do it, don’t do it!” Duo’s voice echoed in her mind. He was right there, in front of her. Defenseless, with no mobile suit.

Hilde touched around her. She was on the outside of the house, right inside the colony. “Duo?”

“Hilde, please!” He yelled at her again. “Don’t do it!”

Hilde raised the Deathscythe’s special scythe weapon. It came crashing down on Duo, splitting him in two.///

Outside of the Mobile Suit.

“She’s already crying out worse than I hear the branding had been,” one of the women said proudly. “This was a fantastic idea. Superior is the most wise. The pilots are all going to feel the pain here, whether they wanted kids or not. Whether the girls were pregnant or not.”

“I heard the zero system without training wheels makes people go crazy. The documentation over it from the scraps was insane. A lot of people think Superior went crazy because of it,” another one spoke. “Rightful end.”

Another agonizing scream. “Yeah, it hurts, doesn’t it?!” One of them yelled out at her. “Now you know how we felt when you took everything from us too!” She started to rub her eyes. “This is so much better than just killing off that little joker. I don’t care if it’s not elegant, it was worth it.”

“She’ll be out of her mind in three days I bet.”

“Oh, she won’t know who she even is in an hour. Her mobile suit experience is limited. An experienced mobile suit fighter absolutely lost it when he was just planning on doing tests with it I think. That might be hearsay, it wasn’t in our data, but I wouldn’t doubt it too much.”

“Well, if we have to tone it down here and there, we will. She’ll learn to live with it, or find a way we haven’t thought of to kill herself.”

Smiles. So many smiles as Hilde let out another agonizing scream along with the words, ‘What is real’ over and over like a mad woman.

Hilde looked outward as the mobile suit opened. She didn’t move. She didn’t know if it was real. She didn’t know if anything was real. Everything felt real. That could be real. But it might not be real.

Some guards came over and plucked her out. Maybe they were real. Maybe they weren’t real. They led her around the house and dropped her beside the bathroom.

Was that real? Usually she didn’t dream of toilets. She touched it. Everything always felt real. Maybe it was real. Maybe it wasn’t real. Maybe nothing was real.

“She is so out of it,” she heard one of them say.

Was she out of it? She wasn’t out of it, she just didn’t know what was real. A meteor could start careening straight toward them at any minute and she might find herself in the mobile suit again. There was no telling what was real.

She was back in the mobile suit again. Was being carried out real? Did she use the bathroom, was that real? Or did she just wake up again, and just in the mobile suit? “How can I tell? How can I tell? How can I tell? If I don’t figure it out . . .” She would go insane. “Duo.”

Duo.

Duo.

“Duo.” Duo watched one of the top guys come toward him. “We found something about Hilde.”

Yes! Gaw, yes! A whole month of nothing, and less than what, three days? “Where is she, who got her? McMillan? Georgie? Phillip?”

“Phillip isn’t one of the best, he’s newer, Sir?” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but a Phillip Phillips sounds cool.” Duo was feeling better than he had in ages. “Where is she?”

“McMillan found a recording in one of the locations you sent him to. After hearing it, he connected with another Phillip that was in the colonies. He went to check your estate,” he said.

Oh boy. “Junkyard being called an estate, now I’ve heard everything.” The Junkyard.

“They think she’s in your old hangar area. They don’t want to approach, as per your instructions. She is guarded.”

Good. “Home, she’s been at home in the hangar.” Weird.

“McMillan is sending you a download of the recording right now.”

Ooh, good. Duo watched his phone, waiting. “Fun of waiting for downloads.” What was it? Ransom? Trick to get him to come? If the survey crew said they believed she was in the hangar, it was a trick worth getting tricked for. When he got it, he played it right away.

“Um?” Hilde’s voice was on the recording. “Duo. You are supposed to somehow get this, so I guess? Hey, I’ve been fine, so I hope you’ve been doing great, Duo. RTL never managed to get anywhere with me, isn’t that great? They hate it. Until today I’ve been just kind of hanging out in their jail cell. Anyhow, for some reason, they say they are taking me home. I can’t think of what that means except the junkyard. I don’t know if it’s a code, or what. I miss you, Duo. I really do.”

“I miss you too, Babe,” he spoke back to the recording. Damn! It was good to hear her voice, and hard. She’d been okay, and that made him feel real good. She sounded good. “I’m heading up. Stay in touch. Tell McMillan not to make a move unless he suspects something really bad.” He was heading up straight away.

Hilde. At home. Just, at home, in the hangar. Why the hangar, why did RTL leave her in the hangar with the guards? It was mainly a place for minor repairs and great extra storage for the junkyard. Why was she there?

Duo left quickly, he’d pay for an emergency ticket, fast but expensive. Worth it. If he talked to the right people, he could probably get a straight ride there, but he wanted to go on his own way.

As he took off, he went ahead and sent off an email to Quatre. That guy could take care of spreading the word. Hilde was up on the colonies, and he had no idea what to expect.

Noin's Home

Noin had her chess board set up for the night. Zechs had been there for chess, or so he said. He probably wanted to know about her sister and her safety. There was no way to see her except through the elevator, and no one went down that elevator. It was only for supplies.

She also could just call in advance, but Heero would probably still be there with a gun. Relena only had one more month left before RTL’s ultimate revenge plan would fold, and they were almost ready to give up the ultimate proof to stop it all.

She smiled as he came to sit down. She made the first move. “Nice to see you again, Zechs.” That annoyed him sometimes. He had taken code names here and there, but she was always more used to Zechs. “Did you want some food too?”

“No.” He looked at the floor, then back at her. “Everything has been fine, Noin?”

“Yes, everything’s been great here,” she insisted. “Something to drink?”

“Sure,” he agreed. She went to her fridge and got something. She came back and saw him staring at the ground again. “You won’t hear if they are doing something you wouldn’t approve of, there’s a lot of sound proofing. I always wanted to make sure your sister didn’t have to walk softly on pins and needles if I had to have her here.”

Of course, that didn’t please him.

“They probably aren’t,” she said, at least to make him feel better. “I don’t really know though.” That lit him straight up again. He took the drink. “They also can’t hear if I’m getting into a tussle up here, so it works both ways.”

“Are you having fights up here, Noin?” he teased her.

“No, not really. Haven’t found the right one to practice tussling with.” She smiled at him with a slight tease.

“They can’t stay down there forever. She’s been cleared. We have to figure out how to help her, without trapping her anymore,” he insisted.

Oh. “Big brother syndrome still has you hard. Her knight in shining armor will have them out of there soon.” Another tease. She sat back down and enjoyed the time playing a game with him. Of course, he only wanted one game. Zechs had always kept himself so distanced from everyone. Even with his ‘friends’, a simple game, and mainly it was just to be near Relena for a few minutes.

It stung a little, but it was okay. Zechs loved his sister, and this was just the way he had always been. “Zechs. You could have given me a little give.”

“You know that a great player doesn’t put in ‘give’,” he said with the slighest of smiles. He stood up. “It was nice to see you, Noin.”

“It was nice to see you, Zechs.” That tall, wonderful man who could do just about anything, and hold her heart away from anyone else, would be gone in a few minutes. “Like fairy dust sometimes.”

“What did you say, Noin?”

“Nothing.” She closed her eyes. “Goodbye, Zechs.” She heard him leaving outside. She went toward the door and watched him leave. Leave in his simple car. She barely liked to leave the house, but whenever he stopped by? Just for a little while, she lingered, to watch him leave.

Not on alert. Just by the door. Just gazing out after a comfortable time.

“It’s over.”

Oh! Noin jumped briefly. She saw Heero right behind her, holding out the tablet. “You scared me.” She came back into the house and closed the door.

“You should have had more training. Here.” He gave it to her. “Crystal clear.”

It was ready. “Nice to hear. That was fast.”

“Trowa Barton did most of the work,” Heero said. “I’ll keep Relena here for some time longer, until everyone involved is charged.”

“I’m so glad it ended this way.” She looked at the tablet. “It’ll be good for Miss Relena to get some air on her skin again.” She looked toward Heero. “One more month. Have you decided what you’ll do about the baby? I know Relena would want you to stick around.”

“We have our own arrangements,” he answered. He turned and walked back away.

Well? It was doubtful he would take on the roll full-time. Even a small visit here and there from Heero though. It would do her heart so much good. Maybe. Sometimes, the ones you can’t catch, shine bright enough that just seeing them every once in awhile was enough.

Maguanacs Base

Quatre looked over the calm people right down below, just living their life. It was such a good feeling. He watched as Wufei came in the room. “The people are just so happy. Everyone is so happy. What a peaceful day.”

“Sure.” Still, Wufei cracked a smile. “I see you got something next to you. I doubt it’s for me.”

Quatre picked up the small present. It was the first thing he had for Sandrock. Yesterday, they got the first good news. Dorothy had nothing inside of her that was hurting her anymore. “I just felt like celebrating Revenge of the Loss’ utter failure.” A little ego-ish, but he couldn’t help it. “Dorothy is going to be fine. I can even watch over her carefully in the colonies if I needed to.”

Wufei gave a light nod. “Good to hear.”

Quatre noticed Wufei was wearing something different around his neck. It was small. “Did Mei-Lin make that for you?”

“She wants to make me feel better about my mother’s death,” he answered. “A Zhang woman will do this for awhile. Meals. More agreeable. Less aggressive. It’s just tradition.”

“It’s tradition for a Zhang wife to do that for her husband when someone passes,” Quatre pointed out. He’d already looked into it. “Nice chain.”

Wufei messed with the chain briefly. “I’m just making her feel better by wearing it. I am not her husband, but I am helping her with her justice. It's a similar dedication.”

“Funny. I didn’t see that one as an option,” Quatre teased.

“Not everything is on the internet.” Wufei looked irritated. “At least she hasn’t been bothering me with her new colony news anymore.” He looked over by the present near Quatre again. “You finally get it. What are you going to do?”

“Oh, I’m taking it over to her in just a bit,” Quatre smiled. It was such a little gift, but it made such a difference in his heart.

“No, I mean you, Quatre,” Wufei asked. “Dorothy Catalonia agreed to stay until it was safe. There’s nothing wrong with her, she’s been cleared of the murder accusal, and when RTL is gone, that is over.”

Over. Yeah. The tablet was almost cleaned. “You mean, what to do about Sandrock?”

“I don’t have that problem to worry about,” Wufei admitted to him. “You couldn’t see past the emotions between you two, but now you’ll have to think about this. You did throw a ring on her finger, but I believe she was supposed to die. Are you still doing that?”

Oh. Oh boy. “I never really asked her, I just put the ring on, and she refused it once. I don’t even know where she put that ring.” Yeah. “No.” Nope. “I am not going to hit that subject yet with her. I’m just going in there to give her this gift. We’ll figure it out from there.” He watched Mei-Lin come in. She had such a close proximity to Wufei again. Those two. He thought it was tricky with Heero and Relena, but those two? They had an excuse for everything. Even if he called it out right now how close she was standing, Wufei would say it was once again some kind of joint grieving position or something.

Zhang and Long may not have gotten along, but their similar traditions seemed to keep those two closer than either wanted to admit to. Quatre was picking up that feeling long before the tragic death of Wufei’s mother.

Mei-Lin’s action must have been filling him with more closure. Neither of them seemed to get so mad at each other, and that feeling of belonging between them only increased.

Yet, Quatre didn’t really know if these two would share anything, and he doubted Wufei would want to hear about what he thought. It was best to leave them alone and go see how Dorothy had been doing.

She was never too far. He spotted her looking out from a balcony down below instead. “Dorothy. I wanted to talk to you.”

She glanced back at him. “You are radiant today.” That slight smirk. “By all means, Quatre Raberba Winner, what has you in such a good mood?”

He brought over the present. “Here.” He watched her look over it. “Open it.” Confusion. “It’s just a present I want to give her.” He wouldn’t lose his spark or his good mood, no matter the confusion he felt from her.

“A pre-gift. How quaint.” She was trying to brush it off. “I am sure they will love it when they are born.”

“Dorothy.” She just loved to play around. She shook the box briefly.

“Nothing valuable, it is a baby. A rattle could be in it. Perhaps a blanket?” She still felt confused.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a small gift,” he insisted again. “No need to be confused.” The confusion wasn’t about the gift, it was about the same thing Wufei had been talking about. “We’ll figure things out, but for now, open the gift.”

She fanned herself with the gift. “Goodness, it’s warm.”

“Then, we should head back to our room, and you could open it?” he answered.

She seemed to shake her head lightly. “Too playful.”

“Not playful enough.”

“Not a time to be playful.” Lots of embarrassment. “Psychology can create such profound effects.”

“I feel what others feel. You feel what others feel. I was nervous about this. You were nervous about this. Those feelings just kept increasing because we felt nerves from each other all the time. There’s no shame in that.” He gestured to the gift. “It’s for more than fanning yourself when you’re hot, Dorothy.” She was generally uncomfortable with his level of basically happiness. She hadn’t felt it as much. “This is how the real me feels when the world isn’t ending around me. You’ll have to get used to it.” The gift already?

“Do I have to get used to it?” She gave him that look just right, understanding why he wanted to give her it so bad. “Life changes so fast, you want a positive memory before this illusion of happiness shatters.”

“It isn’t an illusion, it’s just fragile.” But, yeah, he did want that. Oh, she was finally messing with the paper, delicately messing with the tabs gently, like someone who would want to keep the paper. He gave a gentle groan, indicating the paper wasn’t important. But? He heard it.

Something he hadn’t heard in quite some time. Her playful chuckle. She knew the paper wasn’t important at all, she was just drawing out the moment with him. She really started to get at the paper and opened it up. “Well?”

“Well, I believe she’ll be dazzling in any color she will choose,” she answered bringing out the dress. It was simple. Beige colored mixed with darker shades of blue and green were more in fashion around that stronghold. “It’s a good first time color, it will be beautiful right next to the majesty of Relena’s child. Just about five feet to the left.”

Oh, she was feeling better. “She might be meant for more than staying by the side of Miss Relena’s baby.”

“There is no nobler place then on the side of Miss Relena.” Dorothy could barely say the phrase. “I suppose you’ll just have to do for now.”

“I’ll try and be a good substitute.” Smiles adorned both of them too fully.

They both headed down and mingled with some of the others in the town. Went to go look at things that were for sale on the outside. Enjoyed the sun. Well, he enjoyed the sun, she bought a real fan to try and deal with the heat. “Do you need to go back and get out of the sun?” She wasn’t used to that direct heat. Yeah, her movement. Her smile she was trying to put on for others. The sweat on her brow.

She didn’t bother to answer as they both headed back upward to their room. He didn’t want her overwhelmed by the sun. When they entered, he helped her down onto the bed. She relaxed as he went to the bathroom.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror. It felt so much better inside, having and reflecting hope back. Even a little bit of hope being given outward, just pulled more hope from her. It was the opposite effect Revenge of the Lost probably wanted.

Instead of dragging each other down, they were now lifting each other up. What do I do about Sandrock? A little girl. Revenge of the Lost is almost over. Do I really bring Dorothy up into the colonies with me? Or, is she still going to want to be on Earth? Do I try and stay full time, or do I . . . He washed his hands and came back out. And? “Dorothy?” He looked toward the open shutter that hadn’t been opened before. “Dorothy!”

No, no! “Wufei!” He darted out of the room, immediately looking around. “Dorothy!” He looked out toward the crowd, realizing Wufei had been doing the same thing. “Dorothy!”

“Wang Mei-Lin,” Wufei answered back to him. “I asked her to stop with the grieving gifts since they weren’t being displayed right in the correct manner. She said she would keep it just at the new chain and left the room. She wasn’t gone long.”

But. But. But. “Dorothy.”

“I have been looking!” Wufei insisted. “This stronghold isn’t big, Quatre. Make an announcement, we need to find them now.”

Good idea. He went and had the leaders make an announcement. Several people searched. They were searching in so many nooks and crannies, but coming up empty.

Quatre had to risk it. He called up Trowa. Unreachable. He called up Duo. No answer? He called him again. He called him again. Duo always answered, he was always too concerned about Hilde.

“Better be important,” Duo answered.

“Heero isn’t answering, Trowa isn’t answering, and we lost sight of Dorothy and Mei-Lin!” Quatre told him. “Do you know anything?”

“Ugh, maybe? I don’t know yet. Just got around to hopefully tracking Hilde.” In other words, no.

“I had her looked at, Duo. She was okay, she must have been all healed up. She was really okay.” That happiness. So fleeting. “I even found out that Sandrock was going to be a girl. I gave her a gift.” Breaking.

“I’ve got people who helped me on Hilde’s whereabouts. I’m hoping I found her. I’ll make sure if they see anything else in these locations, they get back to me. I went from one person looking for Hilde, to a top notch crew of about ten guys going around searching in skeptical places. We just need to pray that Revenge of the Lost doesn’t want to do anything until we are actually there with them.”

None of it made him feel better. None of it. “Just a few seconds.”

“They are getting desperate, Quatre, don’t feel guilty. Heero’s done with the tablet, things are already happening against them. It was bound to happen. Oh, but Trowa’s . . .” Duo paused on the phone. “So, Middie Une isn’t actually carrying his child. Turns out that’s gonna be a nephew of mine.”

“Trowa’s baby wasn’t his baby?” Middie Une wasn’t carrying his child?

“Yeah, Crystalia just wanted him to think so. She kept it convincing so she wouldn’t have to have an actual grandkid involved in it all. Trowa hasn’t said anything much about it, but he’s still keeping a close eye over her. Uh? Oh yeah. She’s supposed to still kill Dorothy, but you shouldn’t dwell on that right now.”

“Not dwell on it right now? She’s carrying Sandrock and she’s missing right now!” Not dwell on it? Not dwell on it?!

“Trowa is with Middie Une, so if they spot her, instead of killing her, I’m sure he’ll call. It couldn’t have been him. He wants to keep them near to her so RTL thinks she’s doing her job, but he’s actually helping to make sure Dorothy stays safe too. Quatre. You get that, right?”

“How do you know Trowa isn’t the dad?” Quatre asked.

“She just didn’t act like it? It was convincing enough that Middie’s been free.”

“Yeah. Free and no longer in danger by Revenge of the Lost unless she doesn’t follow their rules.”

“Okay, Quatre. Relax. Fine, even if Crystalia pulled yet another one over on them, it doesn’t mean Trowa stole her.”

“When did he leave?”

“Um. Couple of days ago. You know Trowa would never hurt her.”

“I lost Dorothy, and someone is after her right now to shoot her.” To shoot her. Trowa? “Trowa is after her.” Did he take her for a reason? “He can’t have her, I am watching over her!”

“Look Quatre, I know you are having a mini-breakdown, but I am trying to keep my eye on RTL in my own house to get Hilde back. Everyone’s stressed. If for some reason they did take her, they wouldn’t hurt her.”

Quatre squeezed the phone. “This is the thing about friends who just don’t express their plans to each other! We are all separated from each other, I don’t know what his plans are. You know he once joined Oz to get close to it. He even took Heero hostage.”

“I don’t know about any plans, Quatre-”

“Which is the problem!” Quatre saw Wufei come back, concerned. “If you hear from Trowa, tell him that he needs to communicate more with me! I can help make sure he is close. I can. Not him, not some stupid research, and not some stupid plan that I don’t understand! I can because I am not going to let him just plan whatever he wants with her! Duo!”

“Fine.” Curt. “If it’s Trowa, count yourself lucky. I’ve gotta go.”

“Stay in touch. We all need to stay in touch. All RTL has been doing is separating us more and more from each other. I didn’t even know you were in your old colony, or that you were getting Hilde.” Quatre tried to ease up on the conversation. “Sorry for the outburst, Duo.”

“It’s almost over. Gotta go.” He hung up.

Quatre just watched as Wufei looked for him for news. “Trowa’s hunting Dorothy down with Middie Une.”

“What? Did he take them? Is he planning something?” Wufei asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know because we don’t even call each other because we don’t trust any clues not to lead Revenge of the Lost to us.” Quatre shook his head. “I don’t know whether she’s . . .” Oh, those eyes started to sting as he wiped the tears away. “I don’t know if I’ve lost her to the enemy and she needs found now, or whether she’s with a trusted friend with a plan.”

“That we don’t know.” Wufei seemed to get it. “Trowa infiltrated Oz before. There’s no telling if he did it, but the fact Mei-Lin is missing leads me to suspect we aren’t getting off lucky.”

“Yeah.” Wufei was right. “Then . . .”

“Revenge of the Lost, Quatre.” Wufei put his hand on his shoulder. “I have a feeling you are hitting on a big problem that we must address. Let’s go.”

“There’s more,” Quatre said as they started to walk away. “Apparently Duo has a lot more people helping him find Hilde. She’s supposed to be at their old house, he’s waiting to make a move. He’s going to let the people who helped him with Hilde find Dorothy and Mei-Lin. They say Middie Une isn’t carrying Trowa’s baby after all, that his mom lied. I don’t know about that for sure.”

“We won’t find them here anymore,” Wufei said to Quatre. “Keep open lines here, but we need to get out and get to Duo. Any information he has gathered on Revenge of the Lost, I want it, and he won’t fork it over on a phone call.”

Duo talked to McMillan briefly before heading over. Apparently, the women had left not too long ago. Now was their chance to get in there and get her. Duo had them sneak from the house instead of directly to the hangar. There was less chance someone would be watching that way as well.

When he went in, he had no idea what to think. “Deathscythe?” He walked toward his very old gundam. “You come back from hell just to say hello?” No, that couldn’t be right, this was one of the old designs. “This was the design used for when we were on Earth.” That gundam was destroyed by Trowa.

Brand new, tip-top shape. “Hilde, you in there?!” He yelled out her name, but he didn’t hear a response. He went toward a new little section. Two teleprompters. He activated one. “Hilde!” There she was. “Hilde, where are you?”

“You aren’t real until 1800. 1800. Until then, not real. Not real.”

“Hilde.” Those eyes. That expression. “What the hell did they do to you? That's the zero system affecting you, isn't it? Where are you? Hilde?” He wasn’t getting any better of a response, so he headed toward Deathscythe. On the screen, it was clear to see she was inside a mobile suit. “Hilde!”

“Not real. Not real.” He could hear her inside of it.

He tried to open it up, but it was stuck. “Hilde, I’m going to figure out how to get you out.” He heard her mutters of ‘not real’ over again. Not until 1800.

Oh no, if there was one thing they messed up on, it was picking his brand of mobile suit. He worked on Deathscythe for ages. He got off Deathscythe and headed straight to the hangar program area. He got into the familiar programs he used to work with all the time. Not long, it wouldn’t take long.

“Geez, you can really burn those keys,” McMillan said as he watched him put in everything he needed to get into the basic features. If Duo hadn’t been in such a hurry he would have made a joke about how he could pop a soda can with it all, but he wasn’t in a good mood. He was just moving as fast as possible to get into the root files, find what they changed, and break it so he could get her out of there. “Is it gonna be safe to do that? What if they are strapped like an explosive or something?”

Self destruct. “Good call.” He opened up another window, he had such a one-track mind, it’d be good to make sure nothing like that was on Deathscythe. It wouldn’t take more than 5-8 seconds. “Not an automatic.” What was this though? There was something that could trigger it. A program. They must have downloaded a program into the computer.

He isolated the program and froze it, so he could work around it. There, that was simple. Now, he went back to the beginning so he could pop it open. “Bingo.”

He ran straight over, hearing it pop open. In her head space with the zero system, he knew she would-

There was a small amount of hurt as he caught most of her falling to the floor, but it was way worth it. “Hilde.” He hugged her head as her whole body was shaking in his arms. “Real, Hilde. You’re safe now.”

“It isn’t 1800,” she moaned.

Oh, Hilde. Seeing her like this wasn’t easy to bear. He stroked her hair. “Hilde-Babe, it’ll be alright. It’s just the zero system, just a program. You are out of it now. It’ll be okay.” Oh god, look at her arm. Branded with the word soldier.

“I want you to be real so bad, but you never are.” She reached out toward him. “I don’t want to kill you.”

“You won’t.”

“I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t.” That zero system messed her up something awful. How did Heero and Zechs ever conquer it? He started to move around to get up with her. McMillan was on watch, but getting her out of there quick was the best idea.

However, he lost it just a bit when one of the greatest and worst things happened in his entire life. His Hilde had been so out of it, so desperate for him, and wanted him so much, not believing that he was himself. That.

She kissed him. Her lips didn’t let go, trying to hold on for dear life, and he wasn’t stepping back as fast.

Bad idea, all around, forever and ever. What they were doing. It all screamed regret with that kiss.

As much as he wanted to enjoy that sensation, he couldn’t. Reason wouldn’t leave him alone. There was a reason all these years they stayed at the friend zone. There was a reason they needed to get out, and get out fast.

Most of all? There was a reason if he just moved out of there and pulled away, that this moment wouldn’t destroy the friendship they had. She was out of her mind right now, she wouldn’t believe it happened.

He took her out of their house and drove her away with McMillan’s rental. He kept assuring her it was safe, and it was over. Little by little, she was coming back around.

“Sorry about what they did, Duo,” McMillan said to him.

“It could have been much worse,” Duo assured him. He kept one of his arms wrapped around Hilde. “She’ll get better. The zero system is tough on the mind, but she’ll be okay. Who knew Revenge of the Lost even had blueprints to my old gundam?” Crazy.

“Duo.” She trembled. “This is . . .”

“Real. Yeah, real,” he assured her. “You are safe now, Hilde. Back with good ol’ Duo.”

“Duo.” She squeezed tighter. “You wouldn’t believe the things I saw.”

“I’ve been in that kind of thing before. It’s okay.” She was already starting to come around. “This is over. I’ve got a great place to hunker down, but that won’t need to last real long.” Let’s see, maybe he could make her feel better? “See?”

He found a news station currently talking about Revenge of the Lost and the arrests taking place. Scandals. Everything. “Not one of the people who hurt you will get away.” Speaking of hurt? He tried not to touch that injury. What a hell of an injury. Physically, it needed taken care of before it got anymore infected. That branding was just like Middie Une, but longer, and all over that arm. She wouldn’t be able to wear even a short shirt without seeing that hideous thing. Never again. I will never take my eyes off you again, Hilde.

“Trowa, Trowa this way!”

Trowa heard Gins voice, but he couldn’t follow it. He would have to trust Middie to him, because he had to know how this end. I am so sorry, Quatre!

They had found the town that RTL wanted them to check. Middie had held the tranquilizer dart gun. Everything had been going fine at first. 

Dorothy was actually there, away from Quatre, Revenge of the Lost must have had her. She was moving around slightly in cuffs, waiting.

It still counted. Trying to take a shot, would make them look legit. He had steadied Middie’s gun. He had made sure it lined up a good distance away. He had done everything he could. RTL would be on the run soon, Hero should be done with the tablet soon, but he couldn't risk not taking a shot when they were that close. There would be several members that would still need picked up. It was too dangerous not to take the shot. 

It wasn't on point. He was very good on point. He had to be very good on point and accuracy with what he did in the circus.

Regardless.

“Hey, it’s over.” Gin showed him the text. Middie dropped the gun, stunned, while Trowa just stared at the message. RTL was proud of Middie, she made her target. Middie Une was now even in Revenge of the Lost’s eye and they would never chase her again.

After that message, Trowa had to. There was no time. Gin had called to him, but he couldn’t leave it that way.

Two forms of tranquilizer darts. One that helped, and one that would kill. Trowa got closer to them as Dorothy was fighting against them now. He could see where Middie must have struck.

“Let me go, I can’t go out this way!” Dorothy cried out. “That bitch, I can’t believe this, let me go!” She was screaming at the top of her lungs as they were throwing her in a car.

“Two hours. Yell and scream all you want,” they insisted. “In two hours if you’re still alive, you beat the game. It’ll be over. You’ll be dropped off in the middle of nowhere at the hour and a half mark.”

“My god, my Sandrock.” Dorothy looked so . . . “I'll take it now, I'll take the happiness, I will, please! Quatreeeee!”

Dorothy Catalonia had never been that distraught. Calm. Polite. Even when stabbing someone. This was the first time Trowa had seen her out of control. He hung onto the back of the vehicle. Unseen but he had to follow. 

He had to know. He did this, he caused this! He had been so careful. She would either be okay, and he could collect her safely back for Quatre.

Or? He could make sure she didn’t at least die alone.

Middie would need help dealing with what she did, but he couldn’t abandon Dorothy like that either. This was his fault, and he had to correct it. 

Narrator: After Colony 198: After a tough time with Revenge of the Lost, most of the pilots have felt it's sting. The good news is that Heero still has kept Relena safe, and with a month before a baby arrives, it's a good feeling. Everyone is close to putting a close on this as news starts to come out about Revenge of the Lost and arrests start being made. But news, doesn't mean that everything will always go well.

The vehicle eventually stopped. Trowa got off of it as he saw Dorothy Catalonia flung out of the van. She managed to land on her side.

“So? Dorothy Catalonia, leader of the mobile dolls,” one of the women said to her. “If you survive this, you beat death by nature.”

“Death by nature?” Dorothy tried to prop herself up. “Is that what you called poisoning me with some manmade hybrid flower? Just to see if I was strong enough to stick it out in pregnancy? No, that couldn’t be it, because suddenly this is supposed to be the end of it all.” She swayed slightly. “Goodness. I admit, I’ve seen my share of Romefeller’s missions get screwed up. I’ve been on the other side of my own mistakes.”

She swayed slightly the other way. “But, goodness? I have never seen the disorganized, absolutely amateurish moves of a bunch of women who are just moronic enough not to notice their enemy was the world’s salvation.” So much swaying. No, dancing? Twirling. “Goodness, really. Such a simple plan of pregnancy and killing in birth, just like their mothers? Couldn’t even get that done, this is not some beautiful plan coming together to some deserved justice. This is scrambling around with fragments you managed to keep, to try and make it all look good.” One of them slapped her.

She didn’t care. “You know what Revenge of the Lost actually is? It’s a kid on a playground, pointing at the teacher and crying about someone stealing your ball.” One of them pulled a gun on her. “That’s not death by nature.” She just made a tisking sound. “Even now, you are willing to risk everyone’s sense of what is left of your pathetic justice, by getting rid of the plan and just shooting me? My oh my, so many will understandably be so upset. Just keep straying far off the path, why not? You’ll never find that path again.”

No one shot her though as she stumbled backward to the ground. “I don’t care what you do. Your feelings do not concern me. At the end, you can remember this. I feel no empathy for you, and I’m not screaming to give you any satisfaction. Ooh. That bad person will surely cough up something she regrets in her death.” Her breathing got lighter. “I don’t. I always followed what I felt was best. Well? I suppose if I have one regret, it would be over something I couldn’t control.” She moved her head around the ground, her hair getting tangled in the weeds. “I was never able to save Mister Treize.”

“Shut up.”

“Everyone wanted the same thing. No matter the group. No matter the methods. They all wanted the same thing, to stop each other. To stop the wars. That want to stop wars, to stop arguments, just led to more wars. More wars and more wars.” She wiggled against the ground. “More wars and more wars. Only the people stopped it. The people. Not a group.” She turned her head toward them. “You are all just like Duke Dermail. Just like Treize. Killing does not lead to anything but more killing, but you don’t see it. You can’t see what war will do, without experiencing it.” She lied her head back down. “Why? Why are your . . . how are your . . .”

“See?” One of them said to her. “Your stupid comebacks aren’t going to prevent what is happening to you. You’re even crying, you can’t ignore it. You can’t stay strong forever.”

“I’m not crying for me.” She wiggled her head slightly. “You are all scurrying on the ground, unable to see the free sky just ablaze above you. By the time you look up, you’ll have such regrets you’ll never get to enjoy it. So many dark skies. Grief. Must. Be understood. Or you’ll just repeat so many mistakes. So many. She would. There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t.”

“She would what?” one of them asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Lost hearts. They would understand, but not this.” Dorothy was saying something to them. Sensing something, that Trowa couldn’t pick up. “Not this.”

“What are you talking about?” Another one angrily asked. “What?!”

“Your portaying anger and happiness, but you are breaking down. You know the truth, deep inside.” One of them went over and punched her on the nose. She held her bleeding nose. “That hurt us both.”

“Come on. Red Emerald,” the other one called over. “It’s almost over. Forget what’s she saying, it doesn’t matter.”

“I wouldn’t care,” the one that punched Dorothy’s nose said to her. “I don’t care what she would think, I’m a grown woman.”

“Age has nothing to do with it.” Her head lulled back further. “Her sorrow afterward.” Dorothy closed her eyes.

Trowa watched as the one known as Red Emerald started to wipe tears from her face away.

“It’s over. It’s okay.” The other woman hugged her. “It’s more bittersweet because she couldn’t shut up at the end.”

“My.” Red Emerald tried to speak. “She’d understand, my mother would understand. How d-dare sh-she. She didn’t know her. How’d she ever? That was . . . low, like who . . .?”

Trowa watched Dorothy. All of her movements. Small motions. Her hair was just all tangled up in the weeds. Traces blowing in the wind. He watched her open her eyes once more. Her head sort of moved upward. Toward the vehicle. I’m sorry.

“It’ll . . . be hard. He’ll come back around.” She closed her eyes again.

That was it. Trowa waited for another ten minutes before the other women went over and started to check her over. Will Quatre come back around? When I tell him, that I helped Middie Une do this? Every ounce of him wanted to collapse. Wanted to curl up somewhere. Revenge of the Lost was almost down for the count!

And he lost Quatre’s . . . everything. Not only that. Middie. He had been so confident, he was so far away from the target. What did Dorothy do, dart five feet ahead? Did she get pulled at the time Middie was taking the shot? Middie. She would have nightmares over this. No, worse.

She’d want to end everything. He had to get back to her, before she made a mistake she regretted.

“Get the corpse’s feet and I got the arms.” Red Emerald was starting to move her to the back of the vehicle.

He moved away from the spot, waiting for them to head back forward. The back of the truck had been locked though, so he didn’t see what else they had back there. Wang Mei-Lin. She had been caught too.

While she was being brought out, the other one started to get into the vehicle. They were going to take Dorothy away. The only comfort I can even bring Quatre is her body. Meanwhile? Wang Mei-Lin was alive and well, but probably not for long. I couldn’t do anything for Dorothy, but I won’t let her go out like that. He stayed behind.

Wang Mei-Lin kept her head high and her eyes closed as questions were asked of her.

“Anything you can give could potentially save your life,” she was asked. “You aren’t pregnant, you are of no real use to us. A bullet in the head is simple.” She held it toward her temple. “Where are the other pilots?”

Nothing. No motion.

“Where are the other women?”

Nothing. Trowa came up closer.

“If you don’t give us something, you die. Here and now. Our group has been exposed, do you think I’m going to be graceful about this?! Where are the other pilots?”

“I know where one of them are,” she answered.

“Where?”

Trowa grabbed her, knocked her out, and took her gun. He felt around her to make sure she didn’t have any more weapons. He moved over to check on Wang Mei-Lin. “Are you okay? I am Trowa Barton, a friend of Chang Wufei’s.”

She didn’t change the position of her chin, only opened her eyes. “Miss Dorothy is dead. Isn’t she?”

“Did they inject you with anything?” he asked her.

“We both heard something a ways away from us,” Mei-Lin told him. “It didn’t strike her. One of the women, when they saw it, grabbed Dorothy and stabbed her with something. I believe they were only waiting to kill her for that sign. Petty. Stupid.” A deep breath. “Poor Dorothy.”

“I knew I didn’t mess up that shot.” It was just to make Middie Une suffer. The results didn’t change though for Dorothy.

“May I make a call?” Wang Mei-Lin asked. “I need to let Wufei know what happened.”

“I will let them know.” Middie was part of this mess, and Quatre should get the whole story. First? Middie Une thinks she just killed an innocent pregnant woman, and I had to leave her side. She was vulnerable to anything right now, and only protected by Gin. The first call should go to her well-being.

Trowa held his phone steady. “Duo.”

“Trowa! I know I usually answer the phone better, but I’m driving with Hilde under my shoulder.” He could hear the smile in his voice straight through the phone. “I got her. Strangest place ever, RTL had her trapped inside my gundam.”

“Your gundam?” That was weird.

“Yep, I’m guessing they got some blueprint treasures from the scientist’s trash too. It was like the first model when I went to Earth. I got her out, but they were messing with her mind using the zero system. She’s slowly getting better.”

“That’s good to hear, Duo.” Trowa was happy for his friend, but he couldn’t keep dwelling on this. “I’m glad you got good news. I have bad news.”

“Yeah, I’m hoping it doesn’t have anything to do with Dorothy and Mei-Lin. They went missing from Quatre and Wufei. Poor Quatre is going nuts.”

“We didn’t kidnap them,” Trowa said first. “We had to follow a lead Revenge of the Lost sent to us. I had Middie miss Dorothy on purpose. However . . . Wufei can come get Mei-Lin.”

“Trowa?” Duo’s voice had lifted. “You need to finish that sentence, Bud.”

“They were just waiting for her to fire. Mei-Lin said it missed, like it should have, but they used the moment to stab Dorothy with something.” It wasn’t so bad with Duo. It would be ten times worse with Quatre. “I followed Dorothy, and I left Middie to your brother. She won’t be in the best condition mentally, be very careful with her. Please let her know that it was a trick, she wasn’t responsible.”

“Dorothy’s dead, isn’t she?”

“Yes. I’m afraid so. I stayed behind from the vehicle when they separated Wang Mei-Lin from her,” Trowa confessed.

“RTL is just getting arrested. Already making the news. This was almost done. I was really hoping we’d all be fine, and this would all be over.”

“I am here with Wang Mei-Lin. I’ll keep us safe. I have to tell him, face-to face.” Quatre deserved it.

“Yeah, I get that. I’ll call Wufei, tell him you found Mei-Lin. I’ll let him know to bring Quatre. I’m sure he’ll get the hint.”

Trowa gave Duo his location and then looked toward Mei-Lin. “I’ll get us a place for the night. They’ll probably be here by morning. Do you need anything to eat?”

RTL Emergency Center 41

Dorothy opened her eyes again. She wasn’t on the dirty ground anymore, instead she was lying on cement. She started to move around. All of the tingles and weakness was getting less, and she was able to move.

She was still handcuffed. Alive. Yet, clearly Revenge of the Lost was still playing games with her. “Ooh. Well, here is some fantastic role reversal. I’ve never been Juliet in this capacity before.” They made her think she was dying. What brutality that had been.

“Up.”

Dorothy couldn’t stand yet real well, but she managed to use the wall to prop herself up. “Are you Superior or Crystalia? You certainly don’t demonstrate the immaturity of the others.” Keep it together.

She didn’t answer. She took Dorothy’s arm and led her away.

“Am I going to a third death trap?” she asked. The woman still didn’t answer. “I went through one that needed flowers to get out. The second one had me playing the big moment as Juliet. What shall this one be, one cannot help but wonder. Flowers. Shakespeare. All we need are chocolates and jewelry for that added feminine flair. Oh wait, the jewelry has a hold of me.” She brought Dorothy into another room. “Crystalia. Not quite the jewelry I had in mind. Then I guess my next death will be death by chocolate? That sounds delicious.”

As they walked in, Dorothy got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “My, my. To stand in the presence of such a fine piece of history. I could have sworn the machine I named my baby after was blown up in one of the finest displays mankind could have ever witnessed.”

The woman next to her she believed to be Crystalia still didn’t speak. She took her up a strange elevator to go up closer to the gundam. When they got up higher, she helped Dorothy across a beam and ledge that led to the front of the cockpit. “Ooh. Interesting. So up close and personal.”

“Stop faking,” the woman said as she opened it. “Get in.”

Dorothy leaned around it, trying to figure out how to get in. The woman helped her get into the seat. “Sandrock is within me, and now I am within Sandrock. What a concept to explore.” The woman didn’t answer, just closed the door. Dorothy watched as several lights started to come on, along with some kind of camera. She could see the other woman in the camera. “What are you doing now?”

She didn’t answer. She just stared at Dorothy.

“Oh. Perhaps you are waiting to hear something positive?” Dorothy turned some buttons and had hit radio signals. “Over 10,000 women are already being questioned, and several are now being hunted across the lines. Yes, the world is aghast at the news of such a report from one of the most trusting sources, Support for the Loss. What was once a haven for the war-torn families of women and girls, is now the center of a huge storm.”

Minutes. An hour maybe? Just a little longer, and I would have been out of here. RTL wouldn’t have been as much of a threat. I’m sorry, Quatre. I’m sorry, Sandrock. All of you. It’s quite embarrassing to lose at the very last minute. Death was probably imminent now. If it had been?

Then Dorothy Catalonia, would go down as Dorothy Catalonia. “Let me turn this up. Oh, How’s that, is that a good channel to try?” Dorothy asked. “How about a news station? Interesting topics lately, it seems most of your crew is now caught. Thanks to your absolutely lovely assistance with your tablet. You know, I have seen some strange things in my Romefeller days, but someone who gives away everything on their allies, just to turn back to them? Goodness. There’s probably never a reason I’ve seen it. Its only ever outcome would be failure and shame!” She just watched the woman walk off. Undisturbed by anything she said.

Fine. Good. She didn’t want to have to keep putting on a pleasant face for her, she was scary. Crystalia was too scary. Her eyes. Her movement. It was like someone caught in some kind of possession against their will. Similar to the other women, but to such a higher degree.

Now. What was she doing in there, and how was she going to get out before she was killed? Calm down, Dorothy. They want to kill you somehow in Sandrock. How and why? She messed with more buttons. Try to relax. It will . . . destroy poor Quatre’s heart. Never let Sandrock really live. She started to weep. Not for herself. She knew the strain and the hurt this would put on others. Especially, Quatre. That pain, doubled back, and only created more pain.

It hurt to be her. It hurt to be so sensitive. She tried to wipe her nose and dry her eyes. This should have happened sooner! I shouldn’t have accepted that gift. He never believed we’d really make it until he gave us that gift. “Just one possible future.” But? I wanted to be part of that future, I was starting to believe too!

She messed around in the mobile suit. The legs didn’t work, just the arms. Do they want me found dead in Sandrock? What purpose does this serve? This is not the revenge we were expecting, what is this contrivance?!

///”No.” Dorothy watched Quatre stumble with his words. She refused to accept the gift. “I’m going to check the sites below. Keep your crummy gift. It must be, to have waited for so long to gift something so silly at the sixth month. It’s just clothes, right? Silly old clothes that a girl of her caliber would never wear.”///

“I should have done that. I should have broke his heart.” It would have saved more of his heart later. Instead, she had accepted that token graciously, and even went down and mingled with others. “Too nice.”

///“Oh, look at that coloring!” Dorothy said excitedly as she went toward a dress. “This would be absolutely smashing on Miss Relena.”

“Well? I’m sure it’d look nice on you too. I know you treasure, Miss Relena. I can feel it. You have bounds of respect for her, something you have for no one else. But, I think you’d look better in it than Miss Relena.”

“Not so, these are her colors.” She squeezed the dress. Oh, Miss Relena.

“You don’t need her presence as much,” Quatre pointed out. “I’m here too, but I’m not really needed. If you would just trust in yourself.”

“Going too far, Mister Winner.” He would have to stop right there.

“You’ve got the most beautiful, strong heart as well. If you’d just accept it,” he had to stay. “You never will. You never feel good until you are around people you feel are good. Miss Relena is at the top of your list, but I’ve been making loads of progress. Haven’t I, Dorothy Catalonia?”

Why was he saying that out so loud? He didn’t have to do-///

Dorothy shook her head. A dream? A dream. “I forgot I was in here. I really thought I was back at the Maguanacs area.” She scratched her head. “It felt so real.” She watched as the cockpit opened. It wasn’t easy to step out from that position.

Crystalia was climbing up. “You will get a break from inside every four hours. That break is 30 minutes. You will do this for at least the next two weeks. Accomplish that, and we might free you.”

“Freed?” Crystalia. This woman. “How can you give me a claim so bold, when you yourself clearly are not?” Ooh, anger. She hated that. “What are you already trying to do? What did you put into Sandrock that shouldn’t be here?”

“Nightmares already?” Crystalia asked. “I expected better from your caliber, Miss Dorothy.”

“Not nightmares per say, but a higher sense of reality warping around me, showing me what isn’t real. It was a little different than my mind usually conceives, Miss Crystalia.”

“You scared your guards,” Crystalia said back to her as she got her out. “I will be the one training you now.”

“You scare me,” Dorothy said honestly, “so that seems fair. What do you mean training?” Training. Sandrock. A death scene without an audience. Training. Ah. “You have the zero system, don’t you, Miss Crystalia?”

“Bathroom is to your right. I have a plate of food ready when you come out. On the side of those, there are some games for you to play. You can watch TV, listen to the radio, whatever you want,” Crystalia said. “No hurry.”

“You have video of me dying.” That was clear. “I wasn’t playing Juliet for nothing. You want to convince them all that I died, yet you want me trained to go into whatever small army you have left. Why?” It was so hard to tell with her. “I already helped almost destroy the Earth once with Milliardo Peacecraft, I don’t understand your silly ways. Clearly I am the villain. Making a villain more villainous? Two villains square off, with one mighty system of the mind and a machine of no equal for physical might.”

“You ran the mobile doll system before. There is a chance you might make it through.”

“There is heating and ac in there. I tried the ac, it works. The visual prompter. The sound. Video games. Even some board games. Do you know what that sounds like?” Dorothy pointed out. “A frog that finds itself in hot water will jump out. One that is in cold water that starts to heat up will eventually boil itself alive.”

“If that is a fact you believe, then it doesn’t matter whether the frog lands in cold or hot. You aren’t going to get back out. Make no mistake, Revenge of the Lost’s days are numbered. I knew that when I sent the device to Trowa,” Crystalia said to her.

“You should have bowed out with your head held high,” Dorothy said back to her. “But you can’t. You cannot get past it. Even when you try, your soul is still crying out to keep fighting. You are not even part of the enemy anymore, but you can’t see any other way to live.”

“You are highly annoying,” Crystalia said to her. “You are wasting your break. Go.”

“These breaks too. I doubt they are out of the goodness of your heart. What is it? Is four hours the maximum to be exposed to the zero system without giving the mind a break? Does it get better at the zero system after four hours, or does it worsen too quick to get the effect you want?”

“Go eat,” Crystalia commanded. “Your food is getting cold, Miss Dorothy.”

“Not as cold as your heart and mind, Miss Crystalia. One of those you are missing now. You can ponder on that answer as I go eat.” Dorothy walked over toward the food. She unwrapped a sandwich, trying not to let her fingers tremble. My mind is bound to die. They don’t just want to drive me insane, there is a purpose. They want to break me. Why do they want to break me? She said training. Training in what? She started to eat her sandwich. This whole motif isn’t about the pregnancy anymore. Quatre, to hurt Quatre. To hurt the pilots. She fumbled with her sandwich. “Your mayo does nothing for this sandwich. It’s clear you missed the beat of making regular sandwiches for your children as they were growing up.” Sandwich. “Yet, there is some charm to this sandwich. Maybe you didn’t. Did your little Cathy not like regular mayo?”

“Any of the others would have been better,” Crystalia complained to her. “Even when you figure it out, it won’t do any good.”

“You mean that you’ve fixed the zero system to erase my very identity and I will become a soulless soldier for you to bend to your will? Ruling the world doesn’t seem your style. I’m still figuring some of it out, but the other part is quite clear.” She took a bite out of the sandwich. “Part of the crust on the top was starting to fall off, were you peeling it off for little Cathy because she doesn’t like crust on her bread, but forgot it wasn’t for her?”

Yes, that also annoyed her, but it gave more insight into Crystalia. She remembers, yet doesn’t. She’s more a machine than a person. If she is here, the plan has completely changed. It’s no longer stumbling. It’s refined, yet simple. She feels no doubt in any of it. Even if I figure it all out, she has no doubts in it.

Was it a grand plan? Was it a personal plan that on a big scale wouldn’t hold any meaning to it except those involved? RTL was discovered. Not every woman would be able to get away when everything was right there to catch them. A few maybe, here and there, would get away. So, what was it?

Dorothy took several more bites of her sandwich. What was it she was getting from her? Her memories were there. Her instinct to grab the bread and tear at the strip for her young daughter was there. Gundams ran by a woman the pilots were attached to. This world stands up for itself now, it won’t just give into any demands for world leadership just because of the gundams.

She grabbed one of the drinks left out for her too. The end of Revenge of the Lost, something she put her whole self into being, feels like the end to her. She wants to end it on her own terms. “You want to go out being just the leader of another rebel group, instead of facing the truth that you are Crystalia, former circus performer and loving mother of Catherine Bloom and Triton Bloom.” She got it.

It was clear on Crystalia’s face. “I don’t know what you mean. That means nothing.”

“It means everything!” No, she was onto something here. If I can break through her, then I can get away and end all of this! “This zero system is not your friend. How many hours did you spend in it, trying to see some kind of good future for yourself? Revenge of the Lost was something derived by women to find solace and to feel better, but neither group really took off until after Libra!” Yes, she could feel it. “That’s because you weren’t corrupted yet! Your little group was just that, a little group! It didn’t start getting mastery over anything until you started using the zero system! Brought to you by Superior, after she found it.”

“What does it matter?” Crystalia asked her. “You only have five more minutes to get to your gundam.”

Then that gave her five minutes to reach her. “This isn’t you. I don’t know what you saw in that zero system, but if it brought your tragedy into focus, and it feels so real, then you already feel like she’s dead. Crystalia is dead, the Crystalia that you were. She isn’t. She’s alive. You are not a machine running her life, you are Crystalia, the amazing trapeze performer herself. When’s the last time you used a trapeze? Used any circus tricks? To see your daughter, you must have. You felt human again, didn’t you?”

A blank stare.

“They still would. Each of them,” Dorothy tried to reason with her. “So far, all you’ve done is give the pilots children. Annoying, terrible, but it’s not death. It’s not unforgivable. Catherine and Trowa. Triton. They would forgive you and let you come back. You even gave them the means to stop everything in Revenge of the Lost. Don’t turn back now. It’s meaningless.”

Still a blank stare.

“They would welcome you with open arms! Revenge of the Lost has no one but me. A video showed to no one, and someone who still knows herself. Please? End this, and be who you should be!” Dorothy could feel it. It was so far away though. She started to wipe at her eyes. “If you do this, there is no going back. This is the point of no return. Right now. Just, turn. Just, please turn Miss Crystalia.” Oh please. “You will have a grandchild with such a bright future, waiting for a loving grandma to hold it in it’s arms.”

“ . . . I doubt either of them even named it,” Crystalia said. “Which is fine. It’s just another entity taking up space in the world.”

So far away. So close, yet so far away. “You don’t believe that. Just like, there’s some part of you that doesn’t believe in the wretchedness that you’ve caused, that keeps you from turning around because you won’t face the consequences!” Dorothy moved closer. “Cut through. Whatever happened, whatever you felt in zero, it didn’t make you a bad person! You are making you a bad person, just stop it! You are at a brink. A brink of forgiveness. Please. Miss Crystalia!”

“Miss.” Something. “No one calls me Miss.” Crystalia looked toward the gundam. “Superior calls these ladies . . .///

///After Colony, 195:

“Did you hear, Miss Crystalia?”

Mm? “Sorry.” She licked her fingers. “Sure, yeah. Have you had these? I love these. They crunch just right in your mouth and then there’s this five seconds of like jellylike goodness before you have to swallow it. Best chips on the planet. Best thing to eat next to popcorn. I can never get enough popcorn. Well, the smell of it.” It was like home.

Her new recruit, who got so much more attention than usual from others, was pointing to the next room over. “I want you to meet Lady Zero.”

Crystalia went in and saw . . . a gundam? “Wasn’t expecting that. At all.” Grr. “Why are you showing me a mobile suit? I hate war.” Hated it. Hated it a lot! She flattened her chip bag.

“That’s not nice to say,” this woman said. “Her name is Lady Zero. She knows your future.”

“Lady Zero?” She named a gundam. She did sound like one of those heavy mobile suit enthusiasts who named their things. She moved closer to it. “Let me guess, another fan of Treize? Or Lady Une? I swear that woman has split personalities. Saying she’ll destroy the colonies if the gundam attacked Oz one day then fighting for peace in the colonies the next.” Weird woman.

“I did not name it after her!” The woman was angry. “Lady Zero deserves the respect.”

“Sure, so Superior fits better.” Crystalia controlled her group, yet she didn’t. Big investors she just couldn’t deny were actually taking an interest in her group because of this ‘Superior’. “Everyone has gem names, not categorical names. Whatever gem you want, and whatever color added to it if you want.” Words like superior, master, lietenant, leader, she hated those. “We are all someone special. You might be new, so you might think you have to have a lower class name or something? Look, you can even have something cool like Black Diamond.” There was no ranking done by gems or anything.

“What do gems have to do with anything if they have no meaning on who is in charge from whom?” Superior asked her.

“Because, I started the group, and I started with gems,” Crystalia reasoned. “Gems are really pretty.”

“Try it out,” Superior insisted. “Try Lady Zero.”

“I am not getting into a mobile suit of all things. I hate war.” Absolutely detested it.

“It will show you how to be a good leader. You want Revenge of the Lost to take off, don’t you?” Superior said. “Lady Zero can make it happen.”

Crystalia rolled her eyes. One of these upstarts. “Revenge of the Lost mainly houses women who need help or are in trouble.”

“And revenge,” Superior said. “You enact revenge.”

“Sometimes, some people in the group, ask about some . . . things,” she answered. Yes, there had been a few instances where the group did use it resources purely for revenge. “It is called Revenge of the Lost. If they want to play on this side of the sandbox, they have to put some risk into it.” She sniffed. “Nothing your Lady Une could show me.”

“Her name is Lady Zero!”

“Sorry. Lady Zero.” Crystalia sighed. “I saw what you wanted to show me. I am leaving now.” She turned to leave, but was blocked off by several other people in her group. “What is it?”

Several of them, several of them she had even known for years, had grabbed her and pushed her into the gundam. She fought back, cursed, and even screamed. She hated things done against her will!

They didn’t let go until she was trapped in the machine. She started pushing buttons, trying to figure out how to get out of it. She never wanted anything to do with mobile suits, she had no idea what any of the buttons were for!

Then . . . ///

“You are still a good person inside!” Dorothy yelled as she was being brought back to Sandrock. The other women had interfered after all. Dorothy had scared them away with her words somehow, but they hadn’t been so far they could come to make sure things got done. They knew she was close. “Crystalia!”

“Don’t worry, Crystalia, we’ll handle her,” the others insisted as they put her back in. “Stay in there. Accept your future with grace.”

She called out again to her. Crystalia just stared at the gundam. “Do you have any deep tragedy in your past?” she called out to Dorothy. “If you do, this system will work harder. We’ll have to adjust it for shorter breaks.”

“Let me go before it’s too late. Please! You never wanted something done to you against your will, how can you do this?! Look inside yourself, Crystalia! You hate war! You hate pushing against people!”

Crystalia went to the computer. She stared at it as the others walked off. “Lady Une.” Split personalities. She pulled through. “You were fond of Treize Kushrenada, weren’t you?” Lady Une.

She looked at the core of the zero system. Revenge of the Lost needs to end. I need to end. A little group. Just a little group. For it. Against it. It’s all over either way. Either way. It’s all over either way. The only difference is . . . She looked at the monitor. She betrayed me. She started . . . killing me. She struck first blood. She threw her in the gundam. She killed Crystalia. She wrecked her mind. She wrecked my mind. Her mind. “Lady Une. Let it burn.”

Let it go. Let it burn. I saved those children. I did the impossible. I didn’t care, but I did. The part of her inside me that won’t die. I can do better. I hate Superior. I hate that woman. Made me ruin my chips. She looked at the screen. Even knowing what the zero system would do to her mind, Dorothy was still doomed. Every single one of those women were doomed. They would all be pulled into a situation they could not escape. By the time the pilots figured it out, they would become . . .

Her fingers were on the computer board. Oddly typing weird phrases on it. Typing her favorite poem she used to like. Superior threatened Catherine. But. I’m a threat to Catherine too. I’m a threat to everyone. I’m just this thing . . . a thing nothing understands . . . no one can predict . . .

She glossed her fingers over the keys on the keyboard and tabbed over to another program. I will create more me’s. More people I don’t know. More people no one can predict. Creating more me’s is worse than killing someone. She looked back into the training mode. Superior would be checking that. Training mode kept it easier, more simpler on the mind. Made Revenge of the Lost the focus, but kept personality intact. Kept a lot more intact, but slowly wore down a person the more they used it.

Superior would check that. “It’s not world control,” she said to the virtual prompter that held Dorothy’s vision. “We aren’t world controlling. We just strike in small spots. Like a match. We aren’t designed to be a raging fire.” Actually, her group had always worked much better with a small amount of people. When she ran it. “Did you know, that there were actually some people . . . that learned from their mistakes? We didn’t kill everyone. Sometimes, they just learned. Figured it out.”

Her fingers roamed around the keyboard more. “I don’t know what I am. I could have just gone straight back to the circus, performed for a whole year, and then decided to kill everyone there. I feel like nothing, I’m just this numbed . . . thing.”

“I don’t want to be a numbed thing,” Dorothy said through the virtual prompter. “I want to be a good mother to Sandrock. I want to be there to change the world for the better when things get bad. I want to feel. I want to be like you, Crystalia, before you were forced to change.”

Crystalia felt a spike down her back when Dorothy said that last line.

“Please, don’t force things on me. Don’t leave me like this. I’ve done nothing wrong! I never did anything wrong.”

Dorothy had done plenty wrong. Mobile Dolls. Being on Libra. Attacking Earth. Even stabbing one of the pilots. 

“I’ve done nothing wrong, can’t you hear me!” Dorothy yelled through the visual prompter. “I’ve done nothing wrong, nothing at all, I’m just a mother of a young girl and a bright new baby boy!”

Another spike. “Stop doing that.”

“Don’t do this. I was no one. Stop it,” Dorothy pushed farther. “I had nothing to do with any of this, I just lived my simple life with my simple kids in my simple circus! How can anyone force anyone like this? Let go of me! Stop this!”

Crystalia started to see her hand tremble. “Stop it or I’ll go and kill you myself.”

“You are just like them. You are just like the ones that beat you to death. They were all wrong, every one of them. You aren’t Trowa Barton’s mother, she is dead. She was beaten to death and her spirit was scratched. Scarred. She was killed officially in After Colony 195, when someone took that scar and reopened it. Reopened it to become the perfect leader for Revenge of the Lost.”

Kill her. She should just go over there and kill her.

“A perfect soldier that did comply with Revenge of the Lost. Middie Une was never to be beaten to death. The mother to your grandchild was always doomed to reopen her own scar and kill herself, just like you. Explains the odd ‘kill someone’ part that never made sense. Why get a former spy to simply shoot someone?”

Ugh! “Has anyone ever said that they would like to kill you?”

“On many occassions. I have that kind of personality,” Dorothy admitted. “I am actually not that bad, but Romefeller’s influence on me makes me quite abrasive at times. A product of my environment. You understand that very well.”

She may have shouted and yelled and screamed and acted desperate, yet Dorothy was not getting enough adrenaline to start the real zero system. She was concentrating on her. “I can’t get you out. If I could, I’d kill you already. You’re annoying.” If only they had collected a different one for this.

“Annoying like Lady Une?” Dorothy asked. “You’ve said that name several times. Lady Une. Why do you keep thinking of her of all people? Mister Treize’s number one companion. Even at the end, she followed Treize’s wishes. She also went to stay and take care of Mariemaia Kushrenada. Someone that you would think no one could forgive for taking over the world. Yet? Here we are.”

“Here we are.”

“At a brink, between times.”

“A brink.” A brink. Crystalia stared at the visual prompter again. If it had been anyone else. But, Dorothy Catalonia. The more she conversed, the more that women seemed to read right through her. The more she wanted to kill her, the more she was reading her just right. If it had been anyone else. This woman seemed to understand her better than herself. “Emotional people are so dangerous.”

“I am the one trapped in the gundam, being forced to stay in here against my will. You are the one oppressing my desire to escape. You are the dangerous one.”

“How is it going?”

“Superior.” She had her fingers on the keyboard. “Hello.” She typed a few off-hand numbers. “We have captured her. Ready to begin training.” A few more offhand numbers. They wouldn’t mean anything. She would change them later. “Be careful around her. She’s very good at reading people.”

Superior came into view. “Is that right?” She looked at Dorothy in the visual prompter. “Good at reading people?”

Crystalia could see Dorothy seemed shook. “Please do not leave me with her, Crystalia. Please, I beg of you, do not leave me with her.”

Crystalia looked at Dorothy and then at Superior.

“I don’t think she’ll be messing with me,” Superior said. “Set it all up before you go.”

Crystalia looked back at her keyboard. Back at the program. Back at the begging eyes of Dorothy. She already sensed that Superior was a loose cannon. Anyone pushed her the wrong way, even a slight tap, and she’d kill without a second thought.

A few numbers off wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t even much more than a chance. The pilots might not even see it. “Whatever happened to Lady Une?"

Superior glanced at her. "What?"

"Strong. She was this extremely force, yet in the colonies, she got so soft. She was so weird. She watches over Mariemaia now. She is well enough to watch over that girl."

"Yes, I suppose? Why are you bringing that up? Do we have another caveat in the system again?" Superior asked.

Hmmm. The mind is a complicated thing. Fair. I promise nothing to no one. I just know, that . . . she started to mess with several numbers they usually didn't. Why am I doing this? She isn't me. I don't care. We have the same name, but we aren't the same person. That woman died. I stepped out of Lady Zero, she died in it. If she had Cathy when she first stepped out. If she had someone who cared. If she even had Dorothy catching her when she stumbled out. "I fixed some weaknesses I spotted in the system. We want them focused. Extra-focused."

"Oh, don't change those settings." Superior was seeing her changes. "No, no. You'll get another Aquamarine on your hands again. We have enough members working on six-piece puzzles."

"Aquamarine is doing twelve-piece puzzles now." It was in that section. The stressers of the zero system. I hate you. I really should just roast you alive. You'll stumble out not even knowing how to speak. I want to kill you in the worst way. It hurts when I have to use her heart. She would never be her. Why did she have to care at all? Because, humans care. More humans than Crystalia did. Dorothy. I want to kill her. Because. She sees who used to have this body. Same reason she was such an emotional mess with Cathy. Some feelings of her are still in me. She was hoping keeping the babies was good enough. Keeping Cathy safe was enough. But. I was pulling the crust off the bread. She hated regular mayo, she needed some of the lighter notes of lighter mayo.

Small changed numbers. Barely visible. Dorothy Catalonia had been able to handle the mobile dolls, and she had been able to navigate her stress visions into different places. I can't do this again. I won't be trusted again. You get one chance to get this right, Dorothy Catalonia. If you get caught, I will have to terminate your chance. 

“Ooh.” Superior looked back toward Crystalia, seeing exactly where Crystalia wanted her to see. Controlling the audience, was importance sometimes for trick performances. “You have the levels ultra high, she must have really made you mad.” She looked toward Dorothy. “Don’t worry. I can handle her, I am sure. So? What do we do with that thing in her?”

The baby. “As long as she plays her part, it’s her responsibility. As long as she has some semblance of human, it'll keep her obeying us.” As long as she has something to care for, to care about, maybe she'll make it through even better.

“Right, good point.” Superior bent closer to the visual prompter. “Be good. Obey the rules, and that thing lives. Understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Dorothy said obediently.

“Good.” Superior turned and looked back at Crystalia. “I don’t foresee any issues. I see much less rebellion in her than any of the others. A good choice. Did you share the data with the rest of the gems left about how Duo Maxwell got out Hilde?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Crystalia answered. Just, run with them again. Don't do what I expect you all will do, give a damn! They wouldn't. No one would stay so vigilant with no more threat around. Enjoy this time. Countdowns running boys.

“Good.” Superior looked back at Dorothy. “So, Revenge of the Lost is on official papers, destroyed. Only a few got away. Everyone else ended up getting a good ending, and they all get to keep their babies. Isn’t that nice? You were the only one that got captured.”

Dorothy didn’t answer. Smart woman.

“We are going to be gone for awhile. They will all have happy lives with their babies. Well, as happy as they can be. Some will have no change. Others will visit their children once in a blue moon maybe, if it all.” Superior groaned. “I’ll know soon whether you were right about this, Crystalia. If the pilots do stay with those children, don’t be surprised if I kill you when your back is turned.”

Of course. “They won’t.” She'd welcome death if she were wrong. At least right now.

She stared at Dorothy on the visual prompter. “This better work better. After this is done, every single one of those pilots better burn. There’s a lot of competition though, to get them to feel. Goodness, one of them already lost an entire colony. Lost their mother again. Can we beat that kind of pain?”

“It will work.” She glanced toward Dorothy. Immediately, Dorothy started to settle down. She must have sensed she did something. “Only a tiny chance.”

“Only a tiny chance of what?” Superior asked.

“It’s only a tiny chance it won’t work with overwhelming odds it all will.” Just a small chance. Just a chance.

Only a chance. Even with that chance though.

ACT THREE: THE REAL THREAT

Narrator: After Colony 198: After having defeated Revenge of the Lost, the pilots have been dealing with repercussions in different ways. Duo went back to the colonies with Hilde to the Junkyard, and continued life like nothing happened. Wufei took care of Mei-Lin for a little while, until her colony had found enough Zhang to restart on a new abandoned colony, much like his Long clan. Trowa stayed at arm's length with Middie, trying to make sure she was doing okay, but she stayed with Gin Phillip now. Heero took a different approach, choosing to survey his family instead of leaving or joining it. He didn't believe that Revenge of the Lost was done yet, and wanted to be prepared.  Quatre, having lost Dorothy and a little girl three months from being born, didn't always deal as well. He was constantly telling the pilots he was okay, while mentioning their own shortcomings and theories.

Duo and Hilde's Colony

Duo was relaxing on his outdoor furniture outside. Never a real problem with weather when they lived in a colony.

“Duo, look what I got!”

He felt something being shoved into his face. He lowered his shades to look at it. “Really?”

“What do you mean really?” Hilde felt offended. “I think it’d be great.”

“I think it’d be stupid.” He relaxed back again. “It’s your life.”

“You got one too.” She showed him his letter. “It’s from the same address and looks the same.”

Ooh. “Now it’s not so stupid.” He looked at the letter. “It’d be different. Might bring in more than just the junkyard. A lot less mobile suit related stuff means junk tends to be more . . .” Junky. For awhile it was pretty good, but that scrap metal of mobile suits was getting dimmer and dimmer. A sign of the times. “Maybe. It would be kind of nice to be out in the actual space of space again.” They were invitations to become shuttle pilots. Back and forth from different colonies or the colonies to the Earth. A good step up. “Not easy jobs to get.” They paid nicely too. “Part of the training is on Earth.”

“Hey, this is around the area that Gin is at,” Hilde noticed. “Are you going to drop in on him?”

“Probably shouldn’t.” Duo was trying to keep his distance from Gin. The more he participated with the Phillips, the less Gin had to. He almost had that place right where he wanted it. It really wasn’t hard to start making it crumble.

He didn’t hurt anyone. Didn’t out anyone. He just made really bad business decisions. Like proceeding to bug the same people about small business problems all the time, and ignoring the big things. Soon he actually saw something else he could do with the power of the Phillips. Instead of pressuring good people for money, his ‘family’ was pressuring bad people to do good things. Like when a bank was going to foreclose on a nearby orphanage because someone wanted to buy the area around it for a lot of money. It mysteriously got the bank to change its mind.

His men didn’t care who they harrassed or what they did, as long as they got the same paycheck. Oh, Gin’s mom yelled at him all the time for that stuff. Ruining reputation and whatnot. She swore if she found him or Gin, she’d kill them both for leaving him control without her input.

So, Gin wasn’t with his mom anymore. He never married Middie Une, no reason to force that stupid kind of thing, but Gin did take care of their nephew. “Then again, I should probably go see my nephew again.”

“He’s probably getting big.” She gestured outward. “Babies grow fast. He’s going to be talking soon.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Should I let little Alec call me Duo, or Uncle Duo, or Unc Duo?” Good question. “At least I don’t have competition for best Uncle. I’m way better than Gin.” Plus, Trowa was out of the running. Not that they ever actually corrected that with him. Probably should have, but Trowa preferred not to let Gin know, so he could see her if she spiraled down in a bad way. She did for a little while after Dorothy Catalonia’s death. Trowa told her the truth about it just being a way to hurt her, but it didn’t erase the whole feeling. That woman had issues before then too.

Yeah. Revenge of the Lost. That place left a lot of bad taste in their mouths. Even after that whole place’s network was demolished, it didn’t change the pain they did cause. Relena and Middie were still stuck with babies. Mei-Lin’s colony was lost because of them. Wufei lost his mom. Most of all? Poor Quatre. The day Trowa had to tell him wasn’t easy.

Quatre dealt with it as he could. He and Wufei actually kind of went to go see him more often in the colonies. He ended up putting a memorial statue for each of them, right next to one he had designed for his father.

“So, yes?” Hilde persuaded him. “I’m signing up either way, Duo. I want to try something different. It feels stagnant here now.”

Yeah, he did too. It might be the final goodbye to the Junkyard. But, something new. “Out in space again. Not having to fight out there, just enjoying the ride. Kind of sounds perfect.” Yeah. That Junkyard had been part of their whole life for so long. It might be time to switch life up.

Relena’s Home

Heero waited for them to be asleep. Relena was working not far away. He wasn’t going to stick around for long. He did promise that he would try to come and see it. Actually, them. Them.

Sora and Sophia were both sleeping in their own cribs. He moved closer, still getting a feeling it was a bad idea to see them so close. A promise was a promise though. It wasn't a big surprise, he'd seen their heads before. Both of them had inherited his darker hair. They each were in different PJ's, one in yellow and one in blue. Their size was healthy for how old they were. They were both resting, but one of them was starting to shift around. Did it need something?

And of course, Relena's footsteps were heard. He stayed still, knowing it was better not to run.

When she opened the door, she had been surprised. “Heero. Hello.”

“I just came to see them real quick, I am not staying.” Right off the bat, she had to understand.

“Of course. Sophia usually wakes up a little before Sora.” She smiled at him. No blame or cursing to wait that long to come see them was seen through her.

He noticed the girl was starting to move. Relena picked her up. “Twins with your career. Can't be easy.” He always sucked at small talk. He should go.

“This was fine, Heero. I am glad you came to see them.” Her words hit right on the mark of what he needed to hear. “I don't have any problems right now, but if anything does happen to me, will you personally make sure they are okay?”

His life wasn't designed for that. “You are better off asking Zechs for that kind of thing.”

“My brother isn't that close to me.”

“He's always watching you closer than you know, Relena.”

“To know that, you would have to have eyes even closer than his,” she reasoned. “If anything happens, just make sure our children are safe. What that means is up to you.” She said it straighter this time.

“Understood.” She had been abducted once and tricked once. Things did happen to her. “I should go.”

“Do you want to hold one?” Her voice wavered. He didn't even have to reply. “I know, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't ask?”

Time to go. This kind of thing wasn't for him. He wanted to try more for her. Especially considering how close they had become. But? “I don't like it, Relena.”

She didn't understand. “You don't have to do anything. It's overwhelming. I understand.”

“Crystalia and Superior were never found. I don't trust that.”

“But if you were still thinking of them though, then . . .” It was starting to click. “This is the first time you saw them up close. Your still watching us.”

It probably seemed stupid to her. RTL was practically destroyed, only a handful of members still hadn't been tracked down. He did get away sometimes, but he was watching over them when he could. The babies were seven months old now, but he still felt concerned.

“You are a great father. Thank you for watching over us, Heero.” She courtsied as best she could while holding Sophia.

Great father. Did he deserve those words? “Just be careful. Keep your eyes open on your jog more, your trainer isn't looking around for you.” Her trainer liked staring at her instead. “Goodbye, Relena.” It was time to go.

He wanted to go eat before he'd come back for his nightly surveying of the property.The other pilots could take it lightly, it was unlikely RTL could muster the same support to trick their friends back into a hospital room to be impregnated.

Duo dodged that bullet. He watched out for Hilde so little, that he didn’t even care she was dating someone new. Wufei went back to being a Preventor, and let Mei-Lin move on with a new Zhang colony. Trowa was never a father, he was protected by Crystalia. As for Quatre. Well.

He should probably go see him soon. Duo and Wufei had seen him three times since then. Trowa hadn’t seen him since that conversation. It would be good to get a good estimate on how he handled everything. He ended up creating the Wing Zero last time something hit him as hard as this.

Now though, he just didn’t trust it. To stay away from Relena too long could turn bad. He had taken on smaller assignments, skimmed money off people, and other things to get by. If things got too rough, he knew he was always invited inside.

It would be nice to be back inside with her. But if RTL thought he was out of the picture and she was alone, he'd have a better chance of actually capturing them, instead of just evading them. 

Maybe a brief call would help. Heero dialed Quatre’s number on his phone. It didn’t take long for their to be a pick up sound. “Quatre. It’s Heero.”

“Oh. Hey.” He sounded better. “Hey, Heero. Haven’t heard from you in awhile. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Are . . . you doing fine?”

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Really. How’s Relena’s perimeter, is it sound?”

Yeah, he’d know. “I’ve got several trip cameras around the property and I keep watch when I can.” So far, it was quiet. He brought his study book from his bag.

“What do you do when she takes off for business in the colonies?”

“The nanny is good, but not that good.” He flipped through the pages to check the seven-month details. Sora and Sophie seemed about normal.

“Good to hear. I didn’t know if you watched over them or her when she had to split.”

“She just confirmed to me today that she wanted me to make sure they were safe if anything happened, so I guessed right.”

“You actually went into see her? Wow, that’s good.”

“Not really. I can’t watch out as well when I’m next to her.” He didn’t want to dwell on this with Quatre. Not healthy. “How are things in the colonies?”

“Everything’s good. Mei-Lin is on a small abandoned colony that’s getting repossessed for the Zhang’s. Wufei went back with the Preventers. Trowa sees Middie Une every once in awhile I think. He doesn’t really talk about it much. Duo’s seen her baby more than Trowa has. I really think they should do a blood test.”

“If it is his, then being an unknown is the best place to be.”

“Sure. I guess.”

This call didn’t help at all. Heero was not good at cheering people up. Quatre was reasonably dealing with things. He wasn’t going to be trying anything reckless. This should probably be the end of the phone call.

“Hilde’s got herself a new boyfriend. I thought you should know since everytime Duo calls, it’s the first thing he always says. He said it’s to let us know if she does become pregnant, it’s not going to be his. It’s . . . worrying. Duo was going off the deep end for Hilde, I know there’s a lot more there.”

“Not everyone can take that leap.” It wasn’t always an easy leap to take. He closed the book again. “Sometimes it’s smarter not to leap.”

“I know Duo’s past probably crushes him. I don’t know anything about Hilde’s past, I try to stay out of it. But. Hiding his feelings isn’t going to help.”

Was he really stuck in a Duo and Hilde conversation with Quatre right now? “I should go.”

“How would you feel if Relena suddenly started dating someone else?”

“What are you asking that for?” Maybe Quatre was worse off than he thought. “Your dwelling on everyone else’s problems. Is that to help stop thinking of yours?”

“ . . . what was Revenge of the Lost trying to achieve with us? They didn’t want to kill us, they just wanted to kill our spirits. It would have been better if they just took a gun and shot us.”

Okay, not well. He had to make sure Duo went to visit him. Maybe Wufei depending on where the Preventers was stationed. “The past can’t be changed, but we go on with the future. We all know this. If you let this hold you down, then it doesn’t matter that Revenge of the Lost doesn’t exist. They won against you, Quatre. Don’t let them have that victory.”

“I know. Sorry. Really, I am okay. Really. Everything’s fine.” Concerned voices were asking about him in the background. “Oh, okay. I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, Heero. I hope you feel better enough to be with your actual family instead of just surveying them soon. Or, Revenge of the Lost won against you too. You know?”

Hm. Heero wasn’t expecting that last bit. He hung up. Revenge of the Lost wasn’t winning against him. He wasn’t being over paranoid. Revenge of the Lost got the big budget during the period when Superior and Wufei’s mother joined. But.

It was still successful, still able to get in little crevices and reach its goals when it was even just a few people. It had survived for over a decade without being stopped with a small handful of people. With more than twenty people still missing from the records, not knowing how many weren’t in the records just like Wufei’s mom, and the two leaders themselves never being found?

No. They would strike when everyone’s guard was down. One more strike. It would be something else, but it would be devastating just the same. One more time. One more go. This opponent wasn’t finished. He would be prepared this time. 

Quatre's Colony

“Hey, Quat.”

Oh. That didn’t take long. One phone call to Heero and now Duo was suddenly showing up? “Hey there. I’m going to be leaving soon. Sorry.”

“No biggie. Just came by to tell you I’m going to be heading to Earth with Hilde for a little while,” Duo said. “We are going to become shuttle pilots. Training starts in Earth’s atmosphere.”

Shuttle pilots. “That sounds great. I’m happy for you and Hilde. She still have a boyfriend?” He didn’t mention it up front this time.

“Hm. No.” That odd gesture behind the head. Less funny, more awkward. “Nah, which is good, this would be a terrible way to end a relationship. So. Selling the Junkyard. Already got an interested buyer.”

“Oh. That’s great. Moving on with your life.” Quatre nodded. “I think you and she would have been better if she had been pregnant though.”

“I don’t want any of those things.” His voice was sharp. “Imagine me and her with a kid, it’d never turn out. Ever. I just . . . I hate it when you get in my head,” he complained. “Look. Off to sunshine and pastures for a bit. Trowa’s touring on the colonies with the circus right now. Wufei’s on Earth. Heero’s on Earth. We are always a skip away on a shuttle though, so keep in touch. Oh yeah, you lived with Mei-Lin too, right? She’s not too far away either.”

“I know. Really, you guys don’t have to worry so much. I’m fine,” he said. “Heero is the one that’s surveying his own family like a stalker, I don’t know why no one is making a fuss over him.”

Yeah, wrong words again. “Heero is doing his thing. Whether or not he wants to watch over them from a distance or crawl away on a colony to never see them again, he’s going to choose whatever he feels is best. He’s is paranoid right now, but he’s got every right to be. He’s the only one of us pilots who actually ended up with a kid. Hell, two of them. So, a little more compassion from the pilot who has the most compassion would make us feel better about you, Quatre.”

Compassion? “I have compassion. It just came out wrong.”

“If they had made it through, I can tell what you would have chosen,” Duo said to him seriously.

“Hilde made it through, and you still can’t choose her,” Quatre came right back against him. “You are all being so . . . even if it didn’t work, Duo, you can’t just ignore your feelings forever.”

“Until you can actually breach the subject, you know, of yourself? When you will be able to say her name in general conversation again? As long as you keep deflecting everything back to us? Then we are going to worry,” Duo told him. “Flat out, that simple. I’ll tell Trowa to watch out for you.”

“I think they should do a blood test,” Quatre said.

“Stuff like that is not going to make him feel any better either. You know us better than we know ourselves and you are using that as ammo against us so we don’t try to help you with your problem. It’s not going to work forever.”

“I’m serious, Quatre said. “Next time you see your nephew, Duo. Make sure he’s lining up with your family and Middie’s genes. Check the eye shape. Trowa’s eyes are so different than anyone else’s.”

“Fine. I’m going to see Gin before Hilde and I reach our destination,” Duo informed him. “Even if I see something, it doesn’t mean Trowa’s going to want some blood test though.”

“It’s only right to know,” Quatre said to him. “If it’s Trowa’s, you’ll see something. Trowa is someone so special, you would definitely see it in his child.”

“A baby. I’m going to see something special in a three-month-old baby. Sure, Quat.” He started to walk away with his hand in the air. “Trowa will be seeing ya soon. If you promise not to breach that conversation with him, I’ll check out Alec for you.”

“Thanks, Duo.” He watched him start to walk away. I’m not deflecting to hurt them. I just wish they could see what they have. Heero has a whole loving family, with someone who really loves him too, if he’d just stop and join them. Trowa might have a son, but he refuses to see even a little logic in it and doesn’t see Alec. Duo has the love of his life right there in front of him, and he refuses to make a move because he doesn’t want to lose anyone again. The only one I don’t have to worry about is Wufei.

It wasn’t deflection. He cared about his friends. That wasn’t deflection. “I need to get back on the terraforming project.” That would be good for him. Getting away from that colony again. With Relena heading up that project, he’d get a good look at how she was handling things too.

Probably better than everyone else.

“It’s bare,” Wufei complained as he looked around Mei-Lin’s new colony. “Really bare. More like people huddling up in a treehouse.”

“The numbers are not great, but it’s not a treehouse,” Mei-Lin corrected him. “Food delivery is getting course corrected. Not much is being done with the housing yet.”

“You don’t have anything.” He didn’t like it. “There’s barely food delivery, you have to leave to other colonies to go get food. You are still sleeping in tents. Where are the beginnings of the houses at least?”

“It takes time,” she reminded him. “We are not the biggest issue out there with our numbers, Wufei. I am just glad that I am not the only one left.”

“It’s hard to tell like this.” He clearly didn’t like it. “Move in when there is housing and the food is correct. They have your contact information, as long as you let them know you are moving in later when things get more worked out, they will contact you.”

For one, it was probably a good idea. This was not the best place to stay. She had been there a week and it zapped up money like crazy. The nearest colony for food was still a shuttle away. Shuttles weren’t free. It cost more to bring back the food than to buy the food.

Then again? She was comfortable being beside Wufei. Even after the whole Revenge of the Lost thing, he had taken care of her as he went back to being a Preventor. He worked between the colonies and Earth, sometimes living in his colony, and sometimes staying on Earth. She had still not built any kind of life for herself yet. Her justice was met, and it was over.

This should be the end between their association. Yet, Wufei still believed the leaders were still out there, and they could be a problem. He wasn’t cutting her off his support yet. “I know I should stay. It is a pain to get anything but already boxed up food.”

“Which isn’t gluten free. You need to have access to plain meats and vegetables,” he agreed. “You were a little better on Earth, but you still suffer from the small plagues of life. Getting used to being back on the colonies, along with not finding what you really need to eat. This place is fine for people living here, but not for you. Even now, I can tell you are experiencing side effects.”

He was right. Her eyes were hurting so she was uncharacteristically wearing darker shades. She was a migraine sufferer, but gluten made them worse and more often. All she wanted to do was curl up in a real house in real darkness instead of in a tent with just a fan.

A woman decided which battles to fight. It sounded like she didn’t need to fight this battle yet.

“Grab your bag, this place isn’t fit for you yet. They said they would be starting housing this week, and I don’t see a single panel of wood. That is running behind, and without even one article or word about it, it means they see it as no big deal.”

Right. She leaned on him lightly. Leaders still missing, she would lean on his assistance a little longer. She couldn’t argue, she didn’t want to stay either. She went to go get her bag from her tent. She came back toward him and she followed him into his Preventor shuttle.

He turned off most of the lights in the back, and slipped some pills into her hand. Oh, she hated feeling like this. She watched as he also had an ice pack ready for her. “I am sorry I could not stick it out, Wufei. I am getting closer.”

“It’s lack of progress and communication. It’s fine,” he insisted. “Circumstances out of your control don’t make you weak. You were never weak,” he said right before he headed to pilot the shuttle.

Oh. She could tell he was thinking about his mother again. Although he thought he had lost her years ago, along with everyone else. There was something about her that hit home. She had given him a traditional time of sympathy to see what it had been. He eventually confided in her the truth.

He had a suspicion they had done that. She was always there, and then one day, she was just gone. The Long clan said she couldn’t watch over him anymore, but it didn’t make any sense to him. They were fine with money. They respected each other.

It wasn’t until he heard it from her own mouth that it really hit home though. He could hear it in her voice. She didn’t brush off the words or blame. He believed that she was placed on another colony and left alone with a night of food. That Superior knew of her identity and fetched her to RTL. With nowhere else to go, and a purpose again, she followed into it not understanding the consequences yet.

He believed that was why she did what she did, and why she eventually pulled out. He still didn’t have anything bad to say about her. She lived the best she could, for what she had been allowed to do.

Long tradition was rougher than Zhangs, but she knew that tradition too. That was why it was essential to make sure one never appeared less than perfect and married into the main clans. Even that had not saved Wufei’s mother.

That place was horrible. She couldn’t get what she needed, and she’s in pain. Sleeping in a tent still . Zero progression from what they promised. Wufei was reasoning his own actions out. She didn’t deserve any of that, she could come back when the colony started to function for her. There was no need to deal with that kind of ineptitude to start making it on her own. She needed to at least access the basic foods, not boxed foods. Most of them had that annoying wheat and gluten in them, and it wasn’t a good way to keep eating anyhow.

Besides, there were still strings of Revenge of the Lost out there. If anyone asked why he was still hanging around with her when they went to his colony, that excuse would still work to make them back off.

He looked through his camera to check on his passenger. She was starting to lull to sleep, curling up on her side with the ice pack. He had given her more than a couple of pills for a headache, he knew she wouldn’t be doing well so he asked Sally Po previously for some stronger medication. He hated leaving her there in the first place, but her integrity wanted to see it through at least a week. He couldn’t disturb that.

A month, maybe more. Until that place was right for her and her needs, he would still watch over her.

Emergency Unit 41

“No, no, no. Not so fast you two.” Dorothy bent down to tuck in the clothes of some of her favorite gems. Well, favorite was a strong word. Best gems? Best personality. Cutest age. Also, best chances to help her. “I wanted to talk to you before you go on your big adventure.”

“What is it, Platinum?” Bubblegum Diamond asked. A name that was technically forbidden since Bubblegum wasn’t a color, but even Crystalia had no problem allowing it in Revenge of the Lost.

“I know you both are so eager to go up to the colonies, to go see your brand new Aunt. But, things are going to be tough up there. Food will be a real problem. Shelter too, you’ll have to be on the floor for several nights without your own beds. It’s going to be just as miserable there as here, without beds.” She watched Bubblegum Diamond clench tighter to her doll she carried around. “I do know someone though. If you can keep a secret?” Oh yes, she bopped that head up and down. “If you secretly ask to go to the colony on this paper instead, they’ll pay for the tickets, and so much more for you.”

“Really?” She asked.

“Oh yes. You know how some people just can’t resist the charms of a cute little girl.” She pinched one of her cheeks more playful than rough, making her smile. “He is going to think, ‘Oh my, how cute this little girl is!’ You know how easy those people are to pushover to your side. He’ll be very helpful, and give you lots of money.”

“Lots of money?”

“Yes. Why just go to your Aunts and put such burden on her?” She stuck a piece of paper in Bubblegum Diamonds overall pocket, right in front. No one ever checked the pocket in front of a girls overalls. They were too small to stick anything more than a piece of paper in. “Where’s Kenny?” Since Kenny was a very young child, younger than Bubblegum even, he was allowed to be taken care of just without a code name.

“Kenny!” She yelled without subtletly.

Platinum watched him walk up. “Don’t make a fuss when you arrive either, okay? I’ve packed you both a great big lunch for when you get up there. Don’t eat it until you get up there.” She gave the package to him and he took it with glee. “Do not open it and snack on it on the way to the colonies. You’ll be hungry when supper arrives.” She patted Ken’s head. “You listen to your sister, no matter what happens. Your sister is the boss until you reach your Aunts, and I don’t want to hear a word about it.”

“Okay!” Ken gave her a hug. “Love you.”

Dorothy gave him a brief hug. “Love you too. Listen to your sister.” She looked toward Bubblegum. She hoped she worked with her number skills good enough. “Don’t forget the numbers game if you get stuck. What do you do if you get stuck on a number?”

“Yell really loud!” Bubblegum Diamond yelled at her.

“Correct.”

“Not correct,” Red Emerald complained as she came by. “Platinum, I hate that you trained them to do that.”

“Whenever she’s in trouble, she will yell. It’s a good skill to learn,” Dorothy remarked. “A creative skill.”

“An annoying skill,” Blue Ruby said from beside Emerald. “At least they’ll be gone to their aunt’s soon.”

“Yes, to our Aunts.” Bubblegum Diamond said it a little higher than subtle, but Red Emerald and Blue Ruby were both amateur trash when it came to their understanding of things. Of course, it wasn’t their fault.

Before the zero system was tested on them, they probably had a lot more of their faculties. They were probably a lot more loving. The zero system changed people. Withered them down. “Now? Two plus two.” It was even withering her down.

“Four,” Bubblegum Diamond answered her.

“Don’t forget greetings,” Dorothy warned her. “Four plus four.”

“Eight Miss Platinum.”

Good. “Eight plus Eight.”

From the top of her voice, Bubblegun Diamond yelled. “I’m just a cute little girl, I don’t know my math that high!”

“Correct,” Dorothy answered. “It is sixteen. Good job.”

“Terrible job. They are going to be terrible on their poor Aunt,” Blue Ruby answered. “Glad I am not going.”

“Glad you are not going too,” Bubblegum Diamond said with a curtsy.

Perfectly trained. Dorothy just watched them walk off. “You two have a safe and fun journey. Don’t forget to see the babies before you go.” She watched them run to him.

She had no idea what she had wanted to name her baby. When she first came out of the machine, she had so many more memories. It took another round before she figured out that she needed to start writing things down.

Like, her name was Dorothy Catalonia. She liked to be polite, to a point.

As time waned by, she wrote more and more things down, noticing them fade little by little. She wrote down every code she could remember in her head, labeled what it belonged to. She wrote down names she could remember, how they died, or how they were important to her.

She remembered someone who read and played violin with hair just a smidge bit darker than Amira’s, but matched Zara’s almost precisely. She knew from where she had been, this was technically her enemy. Quatre Raberba Winner.

But she also wrote down super important facts that would get them out of there. Zara and Amira were his, with Zara being his heir to his family fortune, and if she made sure that it was absolutely clear that they were his? She could either take a great deal of his  money, or get a ring on her finger. Whichever. Whatever it took to get out of that miserable place.

She knew from pictures she found of herself in the press, and seeing she was in a Romefeller foundation, she used to have very fancy dresses. She had large eyebrows too, gigantic. Very strange. She didn’t understand why she would wear her eyebrows like that. It would be a mystery that would hopefully reveal itself again one day.

She didn’t understand several things about herself, but she couldn’t ask about that kind of thing where she resided. They didn’t care if she wrote things down, but she couldn’t ask them questions. After all, they fed her. They sheltered her. They treated her. They took care of her twins, which they were extra angry about because it should have just been one girl.

When she told them it was probably the drug they had used on her, unknowingly, they didn’t like that and shoved her back in the zero system for awhile.

So, yes. They were taking care of her and her children. They were also slowly demolishing her mind. Once she reached some point they seemed to like, they lessened the time in the zero system.

But, they still put her in there, and they put her in it the more they didn’t like her answer to something. The more she pretended though, gave them the answers and actions they wanted, the more she stayed out.

The more she stayed out, the more she had less lost moments in her memory. The more she could remember facts. The more her memory was okay, short-term and long-term. She didn’t know exactly how the zero system worked, but it focused and put stresses in certain directions on how the brain worked.

Right focus, right spot, perfectionism. It’s why some kind of someone that she knows she once fought in a fight used it to protect a princess she was very fond of. Relena. No, Miss Relena. No, she wasn’t a princess anymore. She was something big. Important. It wasn’t a princess of anything anymore. Anyhow, they used it.

They used it in a more raw form. A different form than what she felt through it. The zero system could be sculpted to be used in different ways. Like, her future planned husband had used it correctly as this strategic . . . “Oh that’s right.” She stabbed him. Shoot. 

Well, whatever, she still had his ring. He must have gave it to her, it looked expensive. She didn’t wear it on her finger, she had just had it safely in her pocket all this time. Probably. It was probably his ring, who else could afford it? If not, maybe he’d know whose it is. Then she’d just get some shut up money from him if he didn’t want his kids and she’d hunt the other one down.

Whichever! As long as she got her children and her out of that place because leaving it was not easy and the longer she was there. The less likely she would ever escape.

Kenny excitedly started to move, wanting to move up. Dorothy sat Zara and Amira up to see the others.

Ah, if only she wrote down what one of the babies had been named. She had at least gave some honor, or maybe more accurate proof, that someone of Arab descent was the father by picking out Arab names for them. She would need that. “Someone’s going to miss you two so much.”

“Bye bye babies,” Kenny said as he waved to Zara and Amira.

“Bye bye babies. We are going to the stars,” Bubblegum Diamond said. “We are going to be up in the sky.” She pointed upward. “Super high up in the stars.”

“Yes. To the stars.” Dorothy looked upward too. There were no windows there, but she didn’t need windows. She could imagine how bright the stars were shining that night. This is almost all over. One more spark on this world, and it’ll be over.

“Packed up?” Crystalia came over toward them. “Let’s go.” She gave Bubblegum Diamond a paper. “Give that to your pilot when you get through the line. After you arrive, your aunt will be ready to meet you up there. Are you big enough to take on this task?”

“Yes, Crystalia,” Bubblegum Diamond insisted. “I take paper and give to pilot.”

“Yes. This one. You need to do this right,” she warned the little girl. “Revenge of the Lost doesn’t have what it used to to protect you. This is the best we can offer. Do you have food?”

“Food food.” Ken held the food. “Food.”

“Don’t eat that until you get there. Share it with your aunt. She’ll need some help.” Crystalia sighed. “Bless her for helping with this. Let’s go.”

“Bye bye. Bye bye Platinum!” Bubblegum Diamond waved. “Bye bye baby!”

“Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye.” Kenny added his own goodbye. “Bye bye!”

“Good luck on your new journey into the stars,” Dorothy said to both of them. “Don’t forget to say goodbye to everyone individually, they will all miss you so much.”

“Platinum!” Both Red Emerald and Blue Ruby cursed her as they endured another round of goodbyes.

She watched the kids move off. Make it to your destination. Make it. Please. If you don’t, then I’m more than just an accidental Juliet who is losing her memories. I’m killing all the Romeos Juliet’s too. She looked toward Zara. I’m killing the future of everyone. She looked at Amira’s bright smile and smiled back. No, this has to work. He’ll surely get the message. I have given it my all.

Quatre Raberba Winner was supposed to be one of the nicest people. She saw that. She remembered his kind smile. They read together. She heard him play something sometime. She had to go with instinct.

He would care enough to help.

“Platinum. Gear up,” Crystalia commanded. “You start tonight with Sapphire. Blue Ruby and Red Emerald will leave after you.”

“Tonight.” That soon. It’ll be okay. He’ll be ready, if he gets it. It was cutting it close. “Our first real mission.”

“It’s been a long time. Just look how big Zara got,” Blue Ruby agreed. “They will be super offguard. We’ll get it done, Crystalia. Except for . . . how are we going to get Relena?”

“You aren’t going after her. Another team will take care of the others at the same time,” Crystalia insisted.

Yes, getting Relena past Heero Yuy wouldn’t be easy. “Bring them straight to the zero systems,” Dorothy insisted to them. “Don’t fool around, just straight to the systems! Or you’ll mess up our only chance at this.”

“We would never mess it up-”

“Pray that you don’t!” Dorothy didn’t let up. “This is our last chance at victory. This is no time to muddle ourselves in anything.” She came toward Blue Ruby and Red Emerald. “All of you did a disapproving job before because you have no experience in war. I, on the other hand, worked in sych with the Romefeller foundation, was there at the coronation of Queen Relena Peacecraft, and rode side by side with Milliardo Peacecraft! I refuse to disappoint.” She spun her hair around just right when she saw Superior. She saluted. “Ma’am!”

Superior. Dorothy couldn’t tease. Dorothy couldn’t smile. She had to be rough and commanding in front of her. As long as she was, Superior would trust her. Especially as the only one with real war experience. The only gems there had limited experience.

There was Blue Ruby. She was exposed to the zero system nearly every day on training mode, plus she had bitterness in her heart that only increased her anger. There was nothing good in life to her. She hated everything, even life now. She swore to end her own life, after she made the ‘unfeelable pilot’ feel what she felt.

Red Emerald. She was willing to kill anyone it took to hurt Quatre. Dorothy’s very presence irritated her, and she had been the one just watching her die less than peacefully, but she wasn’t allowed to go against anyone else in Revenge of the Lost. So?

Everything that Dorothy could do to annoy her, she typically stressed it more on her. She only had three goes in the zero system, but Red Emerald’s body didn’t take the stress at all of it. She was cracked and unfixable. Death would be better for her.

Sapphire hung in the back. She never said or did much to Dorothy. She was supposed to have been with Revenge of the Lost, left, and got forced to come back when RTL was found out. If she was found, a long prison sentence would await her.

Dorothy didn’t even converse with her. She honestly shouldn’t be there, and the closer she got, the more she wished she could just break her free. It was easy to tell from her heart, from her actions, and from her words. She was a part of Revenge of the Lost when it was more okay. She was scared to leave, but stayed out of that fear. She found the courage to leave after doing something redeeming to her spirit.

Dorothy didn’t know what Sapphire did, but it was something that made her presence feel lighter, though the throat of life in prison was wrapped around her neck.

Ken and Bubblegum Diamond just left.

Superior had been pretty much in the zero system whenever they weren’t working. Superior had her favorite, her Lady Zero. Eat. Sleep. Lady Zero seemed alive to her, she couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

Dorothy didn’t trick Superior, only impressed her. She never let her see her weak or charitable, always working and disciplining. It impressed Superior enough that she actually got something that no one had actually gotten so far. The way she had wanted to end Miss Relena.

After she found out, Dorothy couldn’t help but whisper a small thank you to Crystalia. Heero Yuy would have most definitely ended himself, but so would the whole of the world. It was a move that would have caused the same end to Revenge of the Lost. A power move that no one would have been able to escape, but would have stayed within the history books just as strong.

Blue Gemmy pulled on Dorothy’s pants to get attention. “Leftovers?”

Normally, Dorothy could have given her some grapes, but Superior was watching. Rough was the only way to handle it. “You will eat at supper, and be grateful that we even have any food left. Everyone gets a fair share for their age, do not try to take the equality out of it.” Her look and words made Blue Gemmy back away from her.

Blue Gemmy was ten. Her mother had committed suicide before she was caught and left her to the will of the group. Completely innocent, she didn’t even know the name of the pilot her mother had hated.

Something in Crystalia, kept Support of the Loss’ intentions still active. Something growing ever stronger. Day by day.

“This one, this one!”

Aquamarine. She had used the zero system when it was unrefined and being ‘tweaked’. She had no plans in the revenge either. She didn’t even remember who the pilots were. Her real name. What happened. “This one!” She tried to stick the blue piece next to the grass. “No, it goes. It goes.” She pulled on Crystalia’s arm. “It goes!”

“Red Emerald is very good with puzzles,” Dorothy said. “Red Emerald, go help Aquamarine with her mission.”

“I hate you,” Red Emerald glared at her as she went over to the puzzle. “Turn it.” She turned it slightly. “Turn it more.”

“Red Emerald,” Dorothy scolded her. “Give her some solid directions, you need solid directions to be successful in everything that you do. You can’t just tell a fellow RTL member ‘shoot around this area’ or ‘go over to the right some’. Be accurate!”

“She doesn’t understand accuracy!” Red Emerald yelled straight back at her.

“Do not yell back unless it’s worth yelling back for. I gave you specific instructions, I didn’t keep it vague. Help her find it accurately!” Dorothy commanded.

“Keep turning it slowly until I say stop,” Red Emerald tried again. Aquamarine kept turning it slowly. “Stop.”

“I would say good job, but I can’t say that for every minor thing you get right, when you get so much wrong,” Dorothy told her.

“I knew it. See?” Aquamarine held up her 12 piece puzzle. “Squirrel eating apple. Good for me.”

“Acorn,” Red Emerald corrected her as she slid her another puzzle. “Do that one.”

“Fifteen pieces will be too difficult,” Dorothy warned her. “Check the stack for another 12 piece, Red Emerald. Do I really have to guide you in such a trivial fact again? How will you fair trying to track down the others if you can’t handle giving somene a twelve piece puzzle!” She slapped her hands down on a table. “Work within a person’s strengths, overextending them is even worse that underextending them.” Dorothy was flashy for Superior, while also being condescending to Red Emerald. A double win. “Plus, just saying Acorn to her was no explanation. Do better, Red Emerald.”

Ooh, Red Emerald was red in the face at her. Yet, she had to be good too around Superior. She would not hesitate to kill anyone. “The acorn is less red than an apple, Aquamarine. The squirrel was eating an acorn. Squirrels are more likely to eat acorns in real life than apples.” She moved over another twelve piece. “This is a duck on water.”

“No duck on water,” Aquamarine groaned. “I’ve done that too much.”

Ah, another moment to leave her life in a miserable hell again? Don’t mind if I do. “No duck on water!” Dorothy commanded. “She has done that too many times, there is less enrichment. Give her the giraffe reaching for a leaf.” Ooh? Crystalia was leaving the area. Superior must have given her orders again.

“I can’t find the giraffe reaching for a leaf,” Red Emerald said.

“That one will give her a decent challenge. Find it,” Dorothy commanded. Superior was currently busy getting in her own gundam. That gundam can only predict what your future could be by the actions you take. You’ll never see what’s happening before it’s too late.

Dorothy started to head toward Crystalia. Crystalia looked back toward her. “Have you seen the giraffe reaching for a leaf puzzle?”

Crystalia just ignored her and crawled into her gundam. Dorothy gave it a few seconds before she went over by the control. Crank this here first quickly. Just in time, Superior stepped in. She went over to the settings and cranked it to hardcore. “Superior.”

Superior went over to her. “She won’t appreciate you doing that.”

“We must all run our best to defeat our enemy,” Dorothy insisted. “She can’t just be on whiny trainee’s level. She is one of our top leaders.”

“Right. What she doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt,” Superior agreed. “Did those two children make it back yet?”

“They were grounded a little longer, so I made them some food to counteract that lost time differentiation,” Dorothy told her.

“Good. We might need to do something about Blue Gemmy and Aquamarine. Once the others come, there won’t be any need for them.” She glared at the gundam Crystalia was in. “That nagging part of her I just can’t get pulled away, keeps them eating and sheltered on our limited budget.”

You can’t say anything, you decorate yourself in fancy dresses like you are going to a party while I and the others wear rags. You are the one eating into that fund, which isn’t even small. It’s massively big, you are just buying the bare minimum you- Dorothy saluted her as she looked at her again. “Ma’am. I must make sure to attend to my own duties now.”

Yes, an important one. Her Amira and Zara would be stirring more soon. It’s almost time. I hate this. I really do. It was hard to do this, but she couldn’t risk any more than she had to. Amira curled up her hands beneath her chin, a sign she was going to go to sleep soon. She looked cute in her little dress. It was something Dorothy wanted on her that day. She rarely let her wear it since she didn’t want it to get ragged. It fit her so well now though, and today was the day of freedom, or . . . well, she wouldn’t ever recognize them again.

So, either way. That dress would be on today. It was important.

She vaguely remembered a gift she was fanning herself with. Somewhere hot. The dress must have been in that box because she always had it. Another reason that the pilot she was with, would be the right choice.

He bought his daughter a dress. Right? Yes. It came from somewhere. It was most likely him. Zara held his arms out and bounced his feet in his little onesie. “Zara.” It is just so close to time. She picked him up and sang him a gentle lullabye as she picked up her already drowsy daughter with her other arm. They would go to sleep better together after a brief walk around the facility.

Earth: Gin's Place

“Yo, Gin.” Duo had his arms behind his head, his usual greeting. “Promised to stop by. Actually, kept it.”

“Hi, Gin,” Hilde greeted him.

“Hey there.” Gin gestured for them to come in. “Nothing much. Basic place. Prefer it though, much more like a home. Never needed a whole mansion. Still fine. Ma still hasn’t found me.”

“Ah, she doesn’t want to kill you. She wants to break a bone at least for leaving everything to me.” He didn’t have too much to worry about, Miss Phillips wasn’t actively looking for him. He was still her kid. She had the slightest case of ‘I care’ that saved him, but not enough to keep him out of a hospital.

Middie came into the room with little Alec. “Hey.”

“Hey there.” Duo went over to see little Alec. “Hey Alec, how’s it going? Growing? Did you miss your Uncle Duo?” Middie easily gave him over. Okay, let’s see. Promises, promises.

Alec was delighted to see him. Probably didn’t remember him, but people liked Duo. Also excitement and funny voices did tend to go over well with kids.

“Upsadaisy.” He held him out further. Hair, brunette. Him and Gin had different brunette hair. Didn’t mean much. Excited and not real quiet, babbling excitedly. Seemed fine. Then?

///”If it’s Trowa’s, you’ll see something. Trowa is someone so special, you would definitely see it in his child.”///

Oh, that shape. There was something screaming that that was kind of Trowa’s eye shape. He wasn’t an expert, but. “He’s growing up, huh?” Did Middie see that in him too? Just a shape. It’s just a shape, just a small look. Nothing concrete. Alec started to pull at his nose. “Hey, I never said you could grab that.” He brought him closer. “So, how are things otherwise down here?”

“Okay.” Middie didn’t look too peppy. The kid probably wore her out. Maybe. She might be having some troubles again.

“Hey, any new art lately?” Duo knew that she made a lot of art.

“Nothing’s really stuck to her mind,” Gin answered him. “Can’t rush things that don’t come.”

Yeah, but art helped her to cope. “You should probably pick up a brush and just splash some paint around.”

“Too busy.” She gestured for Alec back.

“More like too tired,” Duo said instead. “Why don’t you catch up on some rest? I’ll just shoot the breeze with Gin for awhile. It’ll give me time to spend with my nephew.”

She looked toward Gin and he shook his head back at her. “Okay. Sorry.” She went to her room.

“Postpartum?” Hilde asked Gin. “Is she really tired?”

“Why isn’t she doing her art? How long has she not been doing her art?” Duo asked. Trowa would definitely want to do that.

“Started last monthish?” Gin answered. “Ugh, I hate it. She’s always been one tough cookie to crack, but she’s just not bouncing back. Like, it’s been months since that hit, and . . .”

Killing someone didn’t work like that. “Encourage her art. Maybe get Alec’s Uncle Trowa to come see her too?” Gin really should have told Trowa she stopped doing art.

“He doesn’t answer the phone a lot. I know he’s family to her, but when I call, there’s never an answer. Middie called him once and he picked up right away. I tried to get her to call her brother, but she isn’t budging.” Gin looked over toward Alec. “At least she’s got me and her Smart Alec. Although?”

Gin didn’t look too happy either. “Feeling defeated there, Buddy?” Duo asked.

“Maybe it’s the family line. Maybe I was just too obsessed,” he admitted to Duo. “I don’t think I’ll ever have a real chance with Middie. I think she’s scared of me. I’ve never been nothing but nice. Okay, a little flirtatious here and there before, but after this whole thing with Dorothy Catalonia. I backed off a hundred percent. She still . . .”

Oh. “She doesn’t have the best past. No telling all the details.” Duo tried to cheer him up. “Maybe she had a bad run in with a Phillip before.”

“I wouldn’t know. She won’t tell me.” Gin groaned. “I can be the best friend ever, and she’s going to be scared I’ll turn on her until the day she dies. I would have really, really taken care of her.”

Oooh. Duo was getting it now. Dang, dang, dang. “You don’t want to live with her and Alec anymore, huh?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty awful,” Gin said. “I haven’t made a move. It is our brother’s kid and she does need someone to watch over her. I’m scared what would happen if I left.” He looked at Alec. “He’s a good nephew too, so I can’t just leave him with his mom like this. I mean, look at him. He’s got Finn’s hair. Our attitude. His Uncle Trowa’s eyes. Middie’s nose.”

Okay. Two things popped out right away. Gin stopped calling Middie Une ‘One Song’. He noticed the eye connection, but wouldn’t think twice about it because of the family lie. It’s not just me, he sees it too. He should give Trowa a warning, about Middie Une, and about Alec. “Maybe instead of sharing a house, we could all just live in the same apartment building for awhile?” That would take the stress off Gin with her, and give Duo more access to Alec, without Middie feeling like she was being abandoned.

“We do have to find a place. This is pretty small for five people, so it could work with her?” Hilde stated. “I mean? Duo’s not brimming with money, that’d be a good excuse.”

“Yeah, I’ve been taking the Phillips money and reputation down super fast,” Duo agreed. “I am mainly just keeping enough aside to make sure everyone makes pay grade. Eventually, their salary is going to go down and . . .” He shrugged as he took a few pictures of Alec. He liked the camera, not making it so easy. “What was I saying? Oh yeah. No more family business soon. Only reminder left of the Phillips name will be just of an orphanage that renamed itself for some inexplicable reason.”

“Yeah. Sounds good,” Gin agreed. “I can totally help out with the rent there too. When Middie eventually gets better, I’m sure she’ll get a job to help too.”

---

Trowa was about to go on stage for rehearsal soon, but he saw Duo’s number on the phone. Considering Duo warned him to go see Quatre soon, it would probably be a good idea to answer. “Trowa.”

“Hey. So.”

Two words, and neither one sounded like Duo was well. “Is everything okay?”

“I hate to say this. I really do. Let’s start with the easy one. Middie Une hasn’t been doing her art. She looked pretty downtrodden.”

“No art is bad.” Very bad, that was how she expressed herself. It helped her get through so much. “Are you sure she hasn’t designed anything at all?”

“She said she’s too busy with Alec. Alec’s the name of the kid,” Duo reminded him. “Didn’t know if you knew that. You saw him once, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a cute kid. Pretty cool.”

Why was Duo talking about that? “I’m sure he’s great. Is something wrong with him?” Did they actually do something to Middie while she was pregnant after all. “Is he acting strange? Is he well?”

“Oh. No worries, Trowa. He’s fine. Great kid. Big smile.”

Then why was he talking about him? Duo was usually more upfront than this. “Does it have to do with why Middie stopped doing art?” He specifically told her she needed to at least scribble once a day. This was weighing down on her too much. “Is that why Gin has tried calling me?”

“Uh huh, that and he’s not going to be here alone with her anymore. He’s realized where she really fits with him, and it’s nowhere near his side. I needed to find a place to stay down here anyway, so I’m going to rent some apartments for us.”

“He’s leaving her.” Oh no. “She won’t have anyone to watch her.”

“Well, Hilde and I will be here.”

“Not for very long, a few months for training maybe.” After that, Middie would be on her own. “She isn’t healthy enough to be on her own.”

“Look, Gin really gets it now. He’s been charitable staying as long as he has. He even said that he thinks she’s scared of him because of the whole family thing. It was the opposite of what he always wanted.”

Shoot. Trowa heard his name being called. It was time to take the stage. “I’ll be back, Duo, I have to go on stage.”

“Go have fun, Trowa. Call me back when you are done.”

Definitely. He was calling right afterward.

Oh. Great. Duo and Hilde just gave her the news, but she knew it was coming. She had felt the high energy change from Gin. He spent time with her less and less. He wasn’t happy with her anymore.

She tried to play it off when he first told her he was picking something up from her, but that fake smile, and those fake emotions she used to use. She just couldn’t . . . do it anymore. “Okay. How many apartments?” She already knew, but she wanted to hear it.

“Hilde and I take one. You and little Alec get another,” Duo said. “We’ll all be pretty close together though.”

“Yep, I’ll visit,” Hilde promised her.

Yep. Middie tried so hard to put on a fake smile, but she couldn’t do it. It failed. It always failed. “Great.”

“It will be great.” Gin came over by her. “It’ll be no problem. We’ll rent a couple of places. No real problem, nothing changes.”

He was being nice. Maybe. Trying not to leave her alone. Or, maybe not. She was pretty vulnerable right now. She just didn’t know. But? Once Hilde and Duo left, she’d be alone with Alec.

Middie knew that Gin would be taking care of her. She tried to involve him so he felt important. She even let him name the boy. It apparently didn’t matter though. He was falling more and more distant. He hung around less and less. He helped with Alec less and less.

“Let’s go outside.” Duo strangely took her hand gently, opened the door and had her stand outside.

She didn’t get it. She looked around in the sky.

“Do you know?” Duo asked her. “Or are you just falling?”

She looked toward the front door. Gin hadn’t followed them. Yeah, she knew what he wanted to discuss. There would be no details. “Gin thinks so.” Duo looked confused. at her. Wait. “Oh, it’s something else?”

“What does Gin think?” Duo asked her.

“I? Gin wants to do a test on Alec.”

Duo seemed a little surprised. “Do you think it’s not Finn Phillips?”

This woman that used to be so good at smiling and faking it. Where was she? Middie missed her. Her head just sunk. “Drugs usually produce more than one, so Gin asked, and I . . . I don’t know. I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” Duo asked.

“I don’t know . . . whether he’s your nephew or your brother.” Oh, she hated going through this with him. Duo had actually been a good Uncle to Alec, she really didn’t want to talk about this. He deserved to know though too.

“Nephew or brother?” It didn’t click with him yet. “Whether it was Finn or my dad RTL hooked you up with, it would have been through drugs either way, so-o-whoah!” It clicked. He looked appauled, ashamed, and skittish for several seconds before snapping out of it. He just looked angry now. He bent his head away beneath his black cap he lowered over farther on his head.

“It’s fine, I instigated it.” She wished it had worked better to skip punishment. Yeah. She looked away for about a minute, just enjoying the view. It was a pretty view around there.

“Brother’s too much for him.” Duo finally spoke again. “Did you tell him you were being a bad girl?”

“Yes.” It didn’t make him feel any better.

“Well, nice way for you to let him sleep at night.” Duo said the end of night with a harsh T on it. “I’m a little bit cleverer.”

“Gin’s been scooting the other way. He didn’t mind nephew. I don’t think he . . .” She shook her head. “He wanted some piece of Finn to take care of, that was nice to him. But, he hates raising some ‘brother’ that shouldn’t exist because of me.” Gin didn’t want anything to do with his father. “So, he wants to leave me, doesn’t he? I’m sure of it.”

“You’re right. Gin’s ready to hop out, but it’s more than just that.” Duo brought his head up along with tucking his black cap up again. “I’ve got to go back in my mind to talk about something, way separate from that.” He breathed gently. “Look. No one’s perfect. Dorothy Catalonia was going to die, whether you shot her or not. That’s what Revenge of the Lost wanted. You becoming all depressed like this, is exactly what they wanted. Do you get that?”

Hm. She looked around the neighborhood again.

“I’m asking you seriously, can you take care of Alec like this?” Duo asked. “I’m not saying how well you are, I’m not saying not knowing paternity is too hard for you, and I’m not making any judgments. I’m not. I’m just saying, you better think about the people around you before you try anything that’ll jeopardize the basic life of that kid. Losing a mom isn’t easy.”

Ooh. “I don’t. I wasn’t.” She tried to think about what he was saying. Survival. Her survival instinct. “I am still here because of him, and that won’t change. I don’t care whether it’s Finn who was the dad, or your dad who was the dad. I don’t even care about that. I don’t see it in him. I see something else. I did lose something inside of me when I shot Dorothy Catalonia, but I know I need to be there for Alec. I won’t leave him behind, ever.”

“Glad to hear it.” Duo finally smiled again. That wasn’t a regular smile. She knew that kind of smile. It was a ‘better smile for another person’s benefit’ smile. “Very good to hear that. You need to start getting back into your art. Trowa wasn’t happy to hear you quit. He’s coming for a visit.”

Ugh. “You told on me?”

“Ooh, expression? Good to see.” Duo shook Alec’s hand. “Keep being cute, kid, you might be the only thing keeping her here right now. Let’s head back inside.” As they started to walk again, he stopped one more time. “Take some time, get to know Hilde. You two are probably going to be with us for awhile.”

Was he sure? “Are you sure, Duo? Can you really handle-”

“-Brother, nephew, I don’t care,” Duo said quick. “Blood is nothing. Alec is just a good baby, and big brother or uncle is fine by me. I’ll talk to Hilde more about it, but for now, we are doing some apartment staying. Okay?”

Middie nodded as she followed him back into the house. “Fresh air helps.”

“Sure does,” Duo instead. “Hilde, you want to start scouting out apartments with me? We’ve got some fun things to discuss. Possibly over ice cream?”

“Oh, you know it.” Hilde moved right toward his side. “We’ll see you again soon.”

Colonies: Circus

After Trowa’s last number, he went back to his tent to call back Duo. He really wanted to know more about what was going on. He had tried to be as clear as possible with her last time he saw Middie. To continue her art, and accept what happened. It wasn’t her fault, it was a setup. She had already killed others, even recently, but Dorothy Catalonia’s death was an anchor on her. “Duo?”

“Hey. Knew you’d call back.”

“Yes, I did. I am done for the night.” He was ready to hear what Duo had to say. “How is she acting? Is she sick or is it depression?”

“Depressed, but that wasn’t what I needed to talk to you about now. How close of a view have you ever got of Alec?”

Alec. “Her son?”

“Yep, name of her kid. You made sure he was born safely I bet. You survey her with stalker tendencies like Heero is doing with his?” Duo asked.

“No. I just made sure the birth was okay. I haven’t heard anything from anyone from Revenge of the Lost. Besides, they got what they wanted from her.” To make her compromise herself. “Gin shouldn’t leave her, or you need to figure out what to do about her baby. She can’t handle all this weight and a baby on her own.”

“Uh, yeah. Give me two seconds, I got a bunch of cool pictures with my little nephew. Give me one more second. Go ahead and check them out. What do you think?”

Trowa looked at the pictures. It was tough to see, the baby was covering the camera with it’s hands and mouth. He moved back to the conversation. “I can’t see much.”

“Alec. He might be my new little nephew, or my new little brother. Either way, he’s now my new little housemate. Hope he doesn’t hog the remote.”

Uh? “Little brother?”

“Gin pointed out that the drugs used would usually give doubles or something. It gave doubles to Heero. It’s possible it didn’t, but it made him ask her something. You probably already get that answer.”

“Trowa, did you eat yet?”

Trowa actually jumped for half a second. Catherine. “I’m good for now. I’ll join you later. I’m on an important call.”

“Oh, okay.” She walked away.

“Trowa?” Duo was trying to call him back. “That whole depressed thing might be a bigger problem. You should really come see her.”

“I will. I’ll come soon.” Middie. “I’ll be there tonight or early morning.”

He got dressed and packed a small bag. He had to leave. He headed toward Catherine’s room. “I’m sorry, Cathy. I have to miss dinner.” She could easily tell something was wrong. “I have to get back to Earth right away. Duo sent me some pictures of Middie’s baby. Things might be happening with her.”

“Can I see them . . .?” She looked at the text pictures Duo sent. “Oh, oh, he’s a cute boy,” he teased. “He really likes the camera, can’t get a good shot of him. Oh? This one. His eyes sort of look like . . . yours and moms.” She fidgeted. “Trowa?”

Hm? Trowa looked at the image she was looking at. They . . . sort of. No, Crystalia didn’t use Middie for him, that had already been established. “It’s something else. I have to go down right away.” Quickly.

“You know, um. I never told you, but you know how our entrances and eating times kind of got mixed around? I told you the circus was just trying new things, but it was actually the leader,” she said. “He was fixing everything up a certain way because he’s dealt with circus babies before. We don’t get or rely on outside help. We’re all one big team, no hired babysitters here, so there’s always someone watching over the youngest. He was even incredibly happy at first. We haven’t had really young performers for about a decade now.”

Trowa took his phone back. Schedules were fixed that way for a reason. Leader was staying prepared. “I better get going. Don’t worry, Cathy. I won’t be gone long.”

Blue Ruby. Red Emerald. Crystalia. Superior. If that was really all that was left, Dorothy could just get rid of them right now.

She was in a main area emergency outlet. There were 200 combined that stretched from Earth to the colonies. There were more than that though, no one knew everything RTL actually had. Inside these places were charming heroes, superhero heroines, would be killers, sanity losers, homeless runners, and children of the others left behind. Superior and Crystalia was in charge of all of it.

All of it. As much as she wanted to leave, to get out of Revenge of the Lost? A running total of many innocent people would have to suffer. Dorothy wanted to know once, just what she had been up against.

Before she made this final move, she took Amira and Zara with her around the place, to look over at Crystalia’s white board. Just a mess. There’s no way anyone would even know. She probably had them all labeled under aliases. One of the first things her mind filled with direction from the zero system would want.

Forty Two orphanages on Earth alone, with nineteen out in the colonies. In the emergency areas, over 20 names. Two had been scratched out, Kenny and Bubblegum Diamond. A rough estimate of money and deliveries needed to go to each emergency outlet to keep surviving. Triton Bloom’s mother is such a fighter. Even though the zero system ate at her mind, she knew it was Crystalia that was making the process slow enough to figure other things out.

Zara put his hand toward her mouth, looking like he was about to cry. No, no. “You are going to be fine.” She held him tighter.

“It’s rough.”

No, not Sapphire. This was hard enough. What was she doing there right now? “So many numbers and places, but so little names in each. We should have all gathered in one area.”

“If one gets found, the others go unaffected. Unless Crystalia or Superior is found,” Sapphire pointed out. “Crystalia.”

Ugh, those eyes. Ugh, that position. “They would still be okay. The government would go in and rescue them.”

“If the government tried to rescue them, they would all take up arms.” Sapphire pointed out the obvious. “They’d go in shooting and that would be that.”

Dorothy knew all of this. Knew it very soon after being brought into the RTL community. “The government would step in to at least help all of the orphanages.”

“And children’s hospitals?” Sapphire gestured over to the corner. “Oh, but our safety houses. Not burn houses yet, we had many safety houses. We actually all worked on one of the first woman’s shelters we made. We wanted to lay down a couple of bricks ourselves. Just to say ‘look what we can do’.” She started to cry. “It was silly and dumb and I’ll remember it until I die. I have a picture of it even.” She looked on her phone and showed Dorothy. “Oh, look at those ridiculous smiles.”

Crying and laughing. Incredibly vivid moment. Do not break, you need to run! “I believe the one we all want to kill, Miss Relena could have handled it all. She was very smart and very good and very kind.” Nope, too nice. “I mean-”

“You have a soft spot for her? A lot of people did. I wonder what her fate was supposed to be with Superior?” Sapphire asked.

“You don’t want to know, and I’ll never tell.” She held her children closer.

“Are you responsible for what is happening to Crystalia?” Sapphire just had to say it.

Too close. “I don’t know what you mean, she seems the same to me.” Leave the area, leave that woman.

“Thousands will get lost and die on the streets before anyone even understands why. The world as a whole, probaby won’t even notice it.”

“Someone will take care of them,” Dorothy insisted.

“No one did until she did. They were placed in the care of whatever was around that could help. There was no real place, not for all of them.” Sapphire was still crying. “No way to place them with families. That’s why revenge never worked for me for long.” Sapphire came back around to her, not letting her get away. “The gundam pilots were the deal breaker. One of them had suffered in that same exact way we were trying to prevent.”

“Then you should have moved out of RTL and back into the safety of STL!” She was stirring Dorothy up. Zara started to cry. Sorry, Zara. It’s okay. You need to calm down, you’ll make Amira cry too.

“I couldn’t, once you join this side, it’s for life. I just moved to being a burner. All of those women are going to eventually be found. The state of their mind when that happens. We housed so many. It felt like something between STL and RTL.”

“It was the slope that led to RTL.” That made sense. Her reason for being here by this board. By talking about her past. She’s grieving.

“You can’t hide the way we did with law and government involved. The rules of who we helped were no longer just women who lost their family. They could be getting hurt by their family, or even by a boyfriend that just had great influence in politics or the military. When the regular system wouldn’t help, they came to us. We were the only ones who would get things done.”

“And I’m guessing it wasn’t in just a small district.” Who was lost for you today?

“We typically housed over 200 each month all over the Earth and the colonies. The last lady I helped had a husband in government and was well known in the military. He realized she knew too many of his nasty secrets and wanted to kill her. We had to get her whole family moved and housed far away with new identities right away. It was a big time project I really wanted done.”

Sapphire flipped the white board onto the other less appealing side. The lost side. “Crystalia added their names today. He killed the children too, just for staying with her. Some people!”

Dorothy watched Crystalia head over.

“She really died?” Sapphire gestured to the name. “By him, wasn’t it?”

Dorothy heard the name of the one she just said. Didn’t he just win a major election?

“Damn. She was the last one I helped before I left,” Sapphire said as she tried to wipe her eyes. “I didn’t want to believe it. Can I leave flowers for her?”

“On your own life,” Crystalia said. She was flipping through papers and gave Sapphire the name of the cemetary. “It would be smarter to just honor her here. I have a section next to the gundams.” She closed the papers back up, and Dorothy saw a slip in her expression. “It’s become a blooming flower field in the back, you can’t miss it. Superior had the idea to decorate it by either a rose, a blue flower or a purple flower. Rose for the adult, blue for babies, and purple flowers for children. There’s a market place not too far near here. Get a rose, a blue flower and a purple flower. In fact, go ahead and get some little pots of the blues and purples.”

Damn! Do. Not. Break. You cannot help.

“It’s not fair. None of them are fair, but that one was so important to me before I left.” Sapphire stared at the board. “He got away with it. He won his election too. Killed his family, won his election. Got away with it all.”

“They always did before. Now they always will again.” Crystalia looked away. “I have to go.”

Sapphire looked back toward Dorothy. She could tell. “Even if you do change her, Platinum, could you imagine living with the truth of it all?”

Dorothy turned back around and took off. Too close.

“The others are going to be taken soon,” Sapphire said from behind Dorothy. “I’m going to get the flowers and then we can leave. Why don’t you join me?”

Already. It was already time. I have to do this. I have to. Only someone who understands is going to be able to help. I don’t know this. I’m not good for this. “I think that sounds good. Zara and Amira could use a little fresh air.”

“Yeah. I know they will get plenty of it,” Sapphire said as she walked with Dorothy out of the facility. As they slowly ascended from all the metal from their underground area and eventually reached the warm sun, Sapphire spoke again. “It’s such a shame. To see this beautiful program get so corrupted in After Colony 195. In such a short time, it’s just whithering away as this wicked entity. For over 13 years, it helped so many. It’s all that damn system and Superior’s fault.”

“Stop talking.” Dorothy was done playing for her. “I don’t want to hear from you. You are here because you screwed up. Instead of risking it to better yourself, you just moved yourself over in a good part of this twisted organization until you couldn’t twist anymore. It started like a rose with a few thorns, but it ended in nothing but rotting diseased flowers shoved in tangled up vines and mounds of garbage. Crystalia should have known better than to mix all these organizations so tightly!”

“Crystalia was more human before Superior brought her zero system program. Even if the funding had started to disappear, she could have navigated it if she was herself. Will you really be able to fix her?” Sapphire asked. “Where are you going to leave them? How do you know they’ll be safe?”

“None of these are your concern. Go get your flowers and leave me. I won’t be much longer.” He’d be so close, yet so far.

This had to be done. It had to be. She moved her own way, feeling every sensation of her babies. Wondering about it all, aren’t you two? It’s so nice and bright up here. There are a lot better things up here. You don’t have to come into the depths of that terrible place anymore, if momma planned this right.

She was good at plans. She felt that. She was really good at being clever. But, she also had some apprehension. How could she not? She was leaving her children up to chance that the pilot that gave her daughter a dress had cared. A present means care. I know it was him. It was warm. I was fanning myself. He has a light, more delicate voice than others. Bright eyes.

She went over to wait by the library, acting like she was browsing for a book. She sat Amira down, her daughter having fully gone to sleep. Good.

She held onto Zara as she looked at the books near the table where her daughter slept in her carrier. Her boy just wasn’t choosing sleep today. Like he knew his mom wasn’t okay no matter how much she smiled. If only a book could pull us out of this. She picked up one. “This would be the closest thing. How to put out a raging fire. Unfortunately, the fire is too big by ourselves to handle.” She looked through it. “See, Zara? We need big things called fire engines. We would need several thousands of them. So, all we can do, is run from the fire. Momma just can’t be burned anymore.” He patted the page. “Everyone is burning, no matter what, but I won’t let us burn without trying to get out.”

She continued to browse books. Time was getting closer. The local storyteller was coming around the corner. Time for the show to begin. “Oh, excuse me? Hello? Miss Carol?”

“Oh, Miss Catty,” the young woman smiled. “Hi. I’m glad you could bring your babies this time to the reading.”

“Well, I really wanted to, but-? Oh, I don’t know what to do!” She started to cry out. “My sister is in the hospital, I have no one to watch my twins, and I don’t know anyone else who babysits but you. Please, can you help me? I know this messes up storytime, but I will pay you a lot of money, just please help me!”

“Oh. Uh? Oh. I don’t know if I can, but I have other friends that might be able to?”

“Oh please, please, I’ll pay you to get them, and I’ll pay you extra! You don’t understand, I have to trust someone with my babies that are a professional, not a stranger off the street! We are talking thousands when I get back, please? My husband will contact you very soon, please?!”

“Thousands?! I mean? Oh, okay. Okay.” Miss Carol took Zara from her arm and stood by Amira’s carrier. “I’ll see what I should do. Let me know what’s going on as soon as possible though please.”

“I promise, my husband will call as soon as he gets a chance. Maybe an hour, hopefully. It might be a little later. His name is Quatre. Just tell him his family is waiting for him. If you leave the library, just come back so he can pick them up. He doesn’t know the area well.”

“Okay, Miss Catty, I’ll do that. I promise, I will make sure they are good.” Miss Carol started to ease up Zara. “There you go. What’s their names?”

Good. Good people would help, but money always made people much more helpful and pleasant. If this Quatre did care, he would come and accept the bill. “You are holding my boy Zara, and Amira is in the carrier sleeping.” She is keeping him calm. She is very good. I picked the right person. I have to go back now. “Goodbye, Honeys. Your father will be picking you up soon.” And I will be ready, no matter how this goes down. She gave Zara a little kiss feeling his little hands pat her cheeks. “Mommy loves you.”

Time to go. She left in a hurry and started running back toward the flowers. Sapphire had actually stayed there. Dorothy was out of breath. “I’m not feeling well at all.” Her nerves would definitely be helping to pull that off. “Give me extra time. I just need to rest.” She sat down near the stands of flower beds. “Could you get me something? I think I’m going to throw up if I go any farther.”

“You’re lucky I’m not Blue Ruby or Red Emerald,” Sapphire said back to her. “I figured you would need extra time. Our destination ride isn’t for another four hours. We are supposed to be there early to survey when it was best to get them.” She looked around the flowers. “I have to take off, but you better be there in four hours. We are going to get yelled at waiting even that long.”

“I’m sure four hours will be good.” If Mister Winner got himself a direct route down there. If not, she would have to run, and accept the consequences, because she couldn’t do it.

Quatre's Home in Colonies

“Sir? We have a problem with some kids.”

Quatre heard his intercom while he was working. “Kids? Like teenagers?”

“No, Sir, kid kids. One is maybe four or five?”

Oh. “It’s probably just some lost kids. Try to see if their family is nearby.”

“They had some of the codes to get in, Sir.”

Codes, they had codes? How would some kids have codes? “I’m coming down.” He went all the way to the front to see his security with two kids in front of them. Did Amado try and retake back his identity or something? That wouldn’t be smart. He was annoying enough when he came back, but Quatre was in a mood that was delicate, which meant he wasn’t on him.

At least Quatre was polite enough to pick up the hospital bill for him.

Quatre smiled and bent down to see them. If they were paid off to get in there, then they probably had a need for that money. In fact, their clothes were stained. Ragged. “Hello. I have some questions for you.”

“We are here for the money promised to us,” the little girl said. “We were promised money if we came here instead of our Aunt’s.”

Um? Well, that was a new one. “How did you know the codes to my property?”

“Platinum gave it to us.” The little girl pulled out a paper from her overalls to him.

Platinum? He looked at the note. It was definitely coded.

“She yelled when the codes stopped working,” his security officer told him. “That’s why we thought it was best to call.”

Yeah, yelling wasn’t the kind of thing someone did when they were meaning to sneak inside.

“We were promised yummies,” the little boy said. “Platinum said goodies.”

Hmm. They had changed a few codes, but the next set of numbers were too many for any of the next locks anyhow.

“Miss Catty promised if we disobeyed, you’d give us money!” The little girl exclaimed.

“Miss Catty?” Platinum. “What’s your name?”

“Bubblegum Diamond,” she said proudly. “We need to go to our Aunts, but Miss Catty promised if we came here and used the codes, and if I get stuck and I yell, that you would give us lots of money.”

It was impossible. But? “Bubblegum Diamond. That’s a pretty name.” She curtsied. “Kind of like jewelry.”

“Food,” she said. “You are supposed to eat with us and give us lots of money.”

“Eat with you two.” It sounded like instructions. They were carrying a bag of something. Platinum, like a platinum blonde. Miss Catty like Miss Catalonia. These names. Knowing codes. It was going to hurt even more if he got it wrong, but . . . “Let’s go into the house and eat.”

He walked along with them and took them to the closest eating area.

Bubblegum Diamond put out the spread. “The grapes are the best. We also got crackers. Miss Catty snuck in some ham.”

Tomato,” Kenny said as he reached for a tomato.

“Kenny, share,” Bubblegum Diamond scolded him. “Share, share!”

A tomato. A slice of extra thin ham, cut in half. A few grapes. For two children to eat for a supper? “Yeah, I don’t know who wouldn’t treat you to some better food.”

“Lots of extra food, you are lots of extra rich,” Kenny said to him.

“Our Aunt will be mad if we don’t get a ticket and lots of money,” Bubblegum Diamond warned him.

He saw something underneath the grapes and grabbed it. A photo. A photo that was spelling out a lot of things he needed a moment to think about.

Those two kids were right next to someone. There was some platinum hair he could make out, but the picture cut off a little higher than the children. “Do you have a better picture?”

“Miss Catty wasn’t allowed to take a picture with us unless she kept it low. She still did for us,” the girl said.

The clothes didn’t match. There was no way Dorothy would have been caught like that. Her pale skin was a lot more covered in dirt. She had a plain shirt and skirt that wasn’t in much better condition than these children. She was also carrying something in her arms, he could see the edge of them. One had a blanket and- “The dress.”

“That’s our first and only picture with her.” Bubblegum Diamond put her hands down and tried to reach for it.

“Platinum?” He pointed to the picture. “What’s going on with her arms?”

“Yeah. We just got to RTL.” The little girl finally dropped the name. “Momma sent us for safety.”

“Momma gone,” Kenny said.

“Yeah. Miss Catty helped us. So did Sapphire.”

“I didn’t want to leave,” Kenny said.

“Yeah, but Miss Catty and Sapphire wanted us out. Superior scared them.” She shrugged and held the picture. “So. Money and ticket?”

Oh. Kids. They didn’t answer his question at all. “I’ll get it all figured out, but back to this picture. Is she carrying a baby?”

“She is carrying her babies,” the little girl dropped on him. “Zara and Amira.”

Zara and Amira? Zara and Amira?! She had twins.

Quatre looked again at the little paper that Bubblegum Diamond had brought. She found a way to get back to me, this can’t just be some code to the home. Not this one, it doesn’t match. It’s intentional. It’s? “It’s not a code to the house.” It was an Earth telephone code! He stood up. “Pardon me. You’ll get plenty to eat soon, I promise. Just eat your food and don’t leave.” He ran by his security. “Don’t hurt them, just make sure they do not leave this room.”

He ran as fast as he could to the nearest phone. She’s alive, she’s actually alive! She’s trapped somehow, but I got the message loud and clear. He dialed the number immediately.

“Hello?” That voice wasn’t familiar.

“Hello.” Not her. “My name is Quatre Raberba Winn-”

“Oh, Quatre! I mean Quatre Winn,” she cut him off. “I’m glad to hear from you. It’s okay, I have your son and daughter.”

Son and daughter. “You do?”

“Yes, your twins are just fine. I understood your wife’s emergency. I’m really sorry about her sister going into the hospital so quickly. They were both good babies, but it was really last minute babysitting and your wife said you’d have a lot for the babysitting fee? I mean, she only trusted me to babysit because I have a lot of experience and she didn’t trust anyone else. I basically had to let the library down to take this on though, so-”

“Where can I pick them up?!” Okay, too excited, he shouldn’t scare her. “Where did you meet my wife at? Where can I get them?”

“Oh, she came into the library in a real panic with them. I’m at my home though. I just fed your boy and your daughter is still sleeping. Sir?”

“Yes. Um. I need an address.”

“Uh? I’d feel better meeting back at the library when you get into town. Just give me a call before you come,” she said.

“Uh. Sorry, I . . . what is that address?” A street name. “I mean, the city too.”

“Oh? Oh, you really are far from each other. Well, she said to wait, and I won’t judge your relationship.” She gave him the full address.

Definitely Earth. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. It might be a little late, but I’ll make up for the cost of it all.” She sounded delighted. He went back to where the children were with a smile. Not likely you are going anywhere yet. “I’ll make sure you get that ticket but I can’t get it yet. Curfew.” Simple Earth kids might fall for that one. “You can stay here. I am going to order anything you want-”

“Meat, real meat, like chicken! Chicken!”

“Meat! Hamburgers!”

Yeah. He watched as one of his servants came over. “Go ahead and get them some real food. Take them to the kitchen and fix whatever they want. Take them shopping too, get them baths, and give them a guest bed tonight. If for some reason you can’t reach me, just keep taking care of them. If somebody calls for them?” No. “You don’t know anything about them. I’ll handle it when I get back.”

“Yes, Master Quatre. Are you off now?”

“Yes, immediately.” He couldn’t tell them where though. He’d risk nothing on them, he just needed to get to them.

Earth: Gin's Home

Duo and Hilde had scouted out some apartments that seemed to fit the bill, right after their interesting ice cream conversation. Yep, they earned it.

Hilde promised she would be fine with his little nephew or little brother. She’d even help out if Middie needed a little bit of help. Still, she got the hint too. Duo couldn’t leave them with no place to go.

When they had returned, they spent the rest of supper and the night with Gin and Middie. Middie seemed out of it for most of dinner.

Duo made a point to have Hilde hold Alec more while he tried to keep his eyes on Middie. It wasn’t too hard, especially since they were all just relaxing with each other. Once Middie headed to her bedroom and took Alec, he tried to have a conversation with Gin about it.

It didn’t turn out well. Gin wasn’t getting into it, and he wasn’t seeing the truth past what Middie said.

Hilde's actions were just as bad. She ended up slamming her foot against the end table. “Boy, can I visit the sunshiney world you live in, Gin? Ugh!” She put her foot back down. “I don’t care what she said, she didn’t get with him ‘just because’! She didn’t want to be punished, but oh boy, that didn’t work out anyway, did it? No wonder she wanted to kill him afterward, broken promises!”

“Hilde.” Duo raised his voice toward her. Usually she didn't get that broiled up over things that weren't political in war. “Why don’t you head down for a little while too. I’ll talk to Gin.”

“Good idea. I can’t take it out here anymore.” She got up and headed toward the vacant room.

Duo wasn’t going to fuss on the subject. Some people had trouble seeing things, and Gin was one of them. He’d just wait for Trowa to come see Middie. Keep it simple. “So what’s on TV right now?” Oh, even better. There was a knock on the door. He went over and answered.

“Hey, look who finally got here,” Duo said gesturing to Trowa. “Uncle Trowa took his sweet time to finally come and see his nephew.” He folded his arms. “If we are keeping score so far, I’m the better Uncle.”

“I am probably not even in the running,” Trowa said to him, clearly irritated at his attitude. “I need to see Middie Une.”

“Whatever reason you came by, it is a good time to see your sister.” Gin didn’t get up. “Second door on your left.”

Trowa headed straight back. Guy wasn’t letting even a second burn by, he was concerned big time. His presence startled her at first, but Trowa went into her room and closed the door.

Oh boy. Time to see how it went.

“I’m fine, I was just tired more often.” Middie watched Trowa checking her all over, like she’d have marks on her or something. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

“You are clearly not fine.” Trowa put her arms back down. “Why have you given up on your art?”

“I’m just tired.” She felt so drowsy. “I am just really tired.”

“I am going on stage in 30 minutes. People will start lining up soon. Where’s the smile that would win them over to get their portrait done?” he asked her.

Smile for the portrait. She tried but still couldn’t. Even for Trowa. “I’m just tired of all the fakeness. I can’t put on a show anymore.” She tightened her hands. “I got through it all by thinking ‘it was war’. I got through it thinking ‘they deserve this’. I can’t get through this. The moment I took that shot, that fate was sealed for a pregnant woman. A woman and her unborn child. An innocent woman and her innocent unborn, just stuck for the same reasons I had been. I. I can’t do fake anymore,” she confessed.

Trowa looked around her face. “You can’t fake smiles for Gin anymore. He knows you don’t like him. He knows that you are scared of him.”

Oh. That’s where it all came from? “I can’t fake smiles anymore. I’m done with it all.”

“Smiles help get you through,” Trowa said to her. “You use smiles to make others smile. Others smiling helps you to feel a little better. Without any glimmer of anything from you, then you wind up being no one. Feeling like no one. You end up just as a no name.”

No Name. She watched him look over toward Alec. “He’s not sleeping yet. He’s only quiet because of his pacifier.” Trowa was starting to mess with him. She went over to look at Alec. “I guess he did fall asleep. The pacifier helps.”

Trowa grabbed the pacifier out of his mouth and set it to the side.

“That was a power move.” An irritating one at that. Alec was going to wake up now, and he’d be real grumpy. Why did Trowa do that? It didn’t even take a whole minute before Alec was starting to scrounge around.

Trowa drew closer to him as he started to wake up. He moved away slightly, but then came closer again. “I don’t know how to pick him up. I never really studied babies, even when I thought he’d be mine.”

Middie went over and picked him up on his side. “I didn’t take any courses. I figured stuff out, especially when Gin helped. Alec prefers on the side and nestled.” She bounced him very gently, making him settle down again. Trowa reached out and tried to take him, so she helped him. A little odd? Maybe he was doing the same thing Duo did. Maybe he didn’t trust her without her smiles to watch for Alec. “I would never do anything that would leave him motherless. I’m no different than before. I just can’t fake smiles.”

Trowa was trying to look at Alec in the eyes. Alec yawned closing them, and then opened them again, looking at Trowa. “We need to get your smiles back, Middie. You need to put a smile on for the world, for it to have any chance to smile back.”

“I didn’t expect to hear that from you.” What was Trowa doing?

“We will get them back, if you come back.” Trowa drew his attention away from Alec, straight to her. “Out in this world, you can be left behind. Even now, someone who used to be obsessed with you, is ready to turn you out. The circus isn’t like that.”

What was he saying? She looked back toward Alec as he snuggled against Trowa. Trowa actually tightened the grip.

“Trowa?”

“Giving the crowd something special while they wait in lines. It was something only you could do. We can work on your smile again better, when you are among real friends. Would you like to return with me?”

Again? Did he get weird new information? “Trowa. Alec is-”

“He’s Duo’s brother or nephew. I understand the circumstances,” Trowa told her as he started to sway Alec. “It . . . doesn’t really matter. Once you are in the circus family, you are always a part of it. Even the leader was making special schedules, to make sure there was always someone to help take care of the new member if needed. He never changed that course.”

Back to the circus. “I’ve lost a lot of my touch.”

“Until you can retrieve your own smiles.” He reached into a bag and gave her a similar mask to his. One-sided happy face.

A way to hide that perfect smile. A new act. “If I am really welcomed back.”

“Then we will leave together back to the circus. It’s a distance away on a colony and it’s getting to be late, so we can rest first if you would like.”

“I think I’d like that,” she admitted.

Trowa went over and put Alec back in his crib. He lingered on him a few seconds. “I’m going to talk to Duo for a little while.”

Kind. Gentle. Trowa politely asked Duo to see him outside. He had to see how Duo felt about it all. “Duo. I’m taking her back to the circus with me.”

“Really?” Duo asked. “I mean, I thought I’d have to take care of her. It’s my relation. Unless, you see something else there?”

“I think I see something,” Trowa admitted, “but, it doesn’t really matter. I know this is the right thing to do. Gin was short-lived. She isn’t in the right state of mind to be out there alone. Even by your words. You’d ‘have’ to take care of her.”

“Oh. So, you really want this?” Duo asked. “Okay. I won’t fight you on it. I’ll probably be making more visits to come check up on them.”

“I’m sure that would be fine, Duo.” Trowa went back inside. “For now, to Gin Phillips, a concerned brother is taking his sister back. One day, I’ll tell him the truth it it comes to that, but I won’t involve you. I don’t want to involve you in this lie anymore.”

“Start on a lie, and end with a lie. Total opposite of what I used to stand for,” Duo remarked. “Then again, I used to kill thousands of people, so I guess it’s a pretty even trade?”

A small smirk. Trowa went back to the house with Duo. “I talked to Middie, and I talked to Duo. I want to take Middie and Alec back home with me.”

“Really?” Surprised, but there was no look of protest. “If she wants to go with her brother, who am I to say no. Do you need something for the trip? Any money? I got a little extra money. Need some snacks? Oh, wait. You probably mean in the morning. Sorry.”

Yeah. Trowa could see it. Without fake smiles or a fake personality, Gin didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore. She would be on her own soon, maybe before Duo even offered anything. “I’ll take her in the morning.”

“No problem. How long are you going to be gone with her?” he asked. “A couple weeks or months or . . .?”

“As long as it takes for her to get her smiles back,” he lied.

“Okay. She will be missed.”

No, she wouldn’t be. “Middie was a lot more attractive when she faked happiness for you. Rub all of the pretty away on her face and she looks like a used match that can’t burn anything within you.”

“Whoah, whoah, whoah!” Duo interrupted the conversation. “Take it easy, Trowa. Middie was a huge responsibility on him. Let’s not start this kind of thing, huh?”

Gin really didn’t say anything.

“Sorry.” Trowa didn’t even know why he said that. He just- “She needed support. You couldn’t give it anymore because your relation isn’t what you wanted it to be.”

“I couldn’t give it? She rubbed up on my dead beat dad, and that’s all just water under the bridge?” Gin said standing up.

What? Trowa watched Duo smack his head.

“Don’t start this again, Gin. Really. You are not going to like where this goes.”

“Of course I don’t. She’s admitted it I don’t know how many times. That’s . . . just the kind of girl she is.”

“She instigated it, but she did that because she thought she wouldn’t be punished later. Not because she was winding her vines around him of all people!” Duo yelled at him.

She didn’t want to be in pain. She slipped back into old tricks, to try and escape it. That was a step Middie Une would take. Did Gin really not get it? This is the person I left her too? He doesn’t understand her at all. “If she gave you that trademark glossed up smile, you would have got it. Without that illusion, you miss everything, even the importance of the art. I never should have left her with you.”

“Well, you did, and where else was she gonna go? I’ll stop talking now.” Gin started to leave the room. “I’m heading to my room. Gin Phillips is headed to his room.” He looked toward Middie Une’s door. “Not a secret lair to some villain room, an actual room, like an actual person!”

“Don’t yell at her like that,” Trowa warned him.

“Off you go, Gin, to your room,” Duo insisted harder. “Good call. Good night.”

Gin went off to his room as promised.

“Man, really.” Duo sighed. “Phillip name or not, he’s lived too clean all his life to understand or see the truth when things get dirty. Getting everyone to get along is not my thing. I’m surprised Hilde didn’t interrupt sooner.”

Hilde? “Where is Hilde?”

“Uh? I saw her at dinner. We watched a movie but she was getting into it with Gin too, so I told her to go cool off in her room,” Duo said. “But. All this back and forth should have brought her out. Did she go to sleep?”

Trowa watched Duo take off toward their guest bedroom, getting a sinking feeling. He just saw Middie. He went out to talk to Duo, and then he had a confrontation with Gin, it hadn’t been too long. It hadn’t been.

He went into Middie’s room. Alec was no longer in the crib, only his pacifier. “Middie?” He checked the closet. Nothing. Maybe she snuck to the bathroom?

“Hilde, you better answer within the next two seconds!” That deep, shrill voice. Not a yell. A scream of words only Duo could perform, and would perform, for the most desperate of times.

Earth: Almost 9:00.

Quatre reached the inside of the library area. He was told to head over by the storyteller corner, and to hurry. The library would be closing soon. If he didn’t make it, he would have to agree to meet her somewhere else in other conditions.

The library was more than one story though. “Excuse me?” He asked someone near him. “Could you tell me please where the storyteller corner is?” They gestured to the left. Okay, not far. “Thank you.”

He moved to the left, running into children’s books. It had to be around there. He saw a couple of kids looking at books and passed them. Then, he saw it, in a glass area not far away. There was a big round colorful rug for sitting on with lots of pillows around it. “Hello?”

“Hello, maybe I can help you?” Someone about fifteenish or sixteenish was in there. About the age he actually ran Sandrock.

“I called . . .” Quatre was hoping this had been her. “About the babies?”

“Oh, you’re Mister Quatre.” She seemed really delighted. “You bet. They are just back here.”

Quatre followed behind her into the darkness area of storytime. Even the darkness didn’t get rid of the bright colors that were in there. It couldn’t dim the shine coming from the little carrier in the corner, playing with a stuffed zebra with crinkles and hoops on it.

“Zara was a really good boy. Amira fussed a bit more, I needed a little extra help with her.” Amira was resting. “She drank some formula about twenty minutes ago and went to sleep. Anyhow, this was a really big emergen-”

Quatre just reached in his pocket where he had already been prepared with money. He didn’t even want to bother with messing with a wallet or cards. “Here you go.” He put it in her hand while his eyes were glued on them.

Memorizing their little carrier. Their little blankets. One sleeping face, and one that seemed to be trying to understand who he’d been. “Hello, my double Sandrocks.” There’s no way Dorothy could have given either one that name if she’d been stuck in RTL. He went over closer to them and grabbed their carriers.

“Yes. They were sweet. I hope your wife’s sister is okay,” she said. “She was really worried and crying. She wouldn’t leave them with anyone else, but she really had to go.”

Worried and crying? She left you for me. She risked all this, for you two to get to me. “I’m going to get a hold of her again,” Quatre said as he watched them. “I promise. I’m going to get her.”

“Thank you, Sir. You can have the stuffy for Zara too if you want.”

“Sure. He seems happy with it.” Quatre tried picking him up. He really didn’t have a lot of practice at picking babies up. It wasn’t too hard though. You’re really alive. You’re really here and alive, I can’t believe it! But, he shouldn’t dawdle. There was no telling what was going on, it was obvious Dorothy took quite a risk to leave a trail for him to find. He placed him back into his carrier.

He was starting to head out towards his car with them, when he saw an even better site. He thought he wouldn’t see her, but there she was, waiting right by his car? “Dorothy!” He moved faster to her, but she was keeping some kind of video on him with a phone. “Dorothy?”

“What do you have there?” She said to him, almost accusingly.

What? He couldn’t get a good read on her. “I have Zara and Amira.” Either way, even if he couldn’t get a good reading. “I’m glad you and them are okay.”

“How did you find them, and why are you here?” she asked oddly.

How did he . . .? “You led some children from RTL to me sneakily, and I got the number from the note you left with the little girl.” He put down one carrier and opened the back door. It had already been unlocked.

“But why did you come to pick them up?” She said it more fiercely.

What? “Because?” He placed Zara’s carrier inside as he tried to get the car seats he made sure he had fixed. “Because they are our children.”

“Ding, ding, ding! You are right, Mister Winner.” There was something strange in her voice. “You left the colonies all the way down here to track them. You probably noticed the little detail in Amira’s dress, right? You gave that to me, for her, correct?”

Of course, it was the gift. Why do I not like this look in her eye? Why did she still have her phone on him? Why couldn’t he get a good reading? Why hadn’t she helped at all with the twins so far? “What’s wrong, Dorothy?”

“Nothing. Everything’s perfect.” She put the phone back away and went to retrieve Amira on the ground. She helped place her in the car seat easier. “Buckle her up and let’s get out of here. I am coming with you, like it or not, Quatre Raberba Winner.”

Um? Of course she was. He finished putting Amira away and went over to the side to drive. Dorothy got into the passenger side in the front.

“A little faster if you please,” Dorothy pointed out. “This isn’t the time for strolling.”

Right. He needed to get them out quickly. He started to pull out of the library area and started to drive away. Now? “I’m glad you helped me find them.”

“Because you care.”

“Of course, I care,” he replied. She knew he cared. A lot. But? “What happened?”

“I have you right where I need you,” she said. “I uploaded all of the footage safely claiming those kids are yours.” She gave him a strange smirk, rolled down the window, and threw out the phone. “I don’t need that guy’s phone anymore.”

“Did you take that from someone?” She usually didn’t do that kind of thing.

“Yes. You are dead, Mister Winner,” she said to him as she seemed to relax in the car. She brought out the ring he once gave her and rolled it between her fingers. “Were you the one who gave me this?”

Quatre just stopped. He didn’t mean to, but he just knew what that phrase meant. He pulled the car to the side of the road. There’s no way she would randomly say that. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” He had his children in the car, he had to be careful. It was definitely Dorothy, but something terrible was wrong with her. “Why?”

She placed it on her finger. “You have two choices, now that I’ve tricked you down here into getting us. You can either marry me, and I’ll stay in your estate with our children, or you can give me a very high settlement to keep my mouth shut and I’ll take care of my twins. I’m sure it won’t look good to the presses that the esteemed Winner family has been soiled with the Romefeller name.”

Why would that even matter? I mean, maybe in the war, but even then . . . It was . . . “What did they do to your head, Dorothy?”

Odd look. “What didn’t they do?” Very odd look. “Choose!”

“You can stay regardless with them. You didn’t need to lure me down for footage to try and trick me or anything,” he said.

“I knew it! Yes! Because, we were actually a thing! Right?” she asked. “Someone gave me a gift. I was fanning with it. It was hot.”

Her memory. “No one would care about what the Romefeller names did with who. Not anymore.” He was starting to understand. “You don’t get that though. You don’t remember much, do you?”

“I can get better. I can do better,” she urged him. “Sorry for all the fanfare, Honey, I just needed to be sure you would be safe.”

“Which means, you didn’t really know.” She didn’t really remember him.

“Don’t sound so down,” she insisted. “I turned out better than a lot of others. Crystalia is a guardian angel.”

Trowa’s mom was a guardian angel. “You met Trowa’s mom?”

“Trowa?” She seemed confused. “Oh yes, Triton Bloom’s mother. Of course, she runs the emergency area around here.”

Around there? “Where around here?”

“Oh no!” Her whole self just shifted. “No! I fought over this plenty with myself, no more raging fire, I can’t take it anymore!” She drummed on the steering wheel. “Just drive, drive!”

Raging fire. Fighting over it. He could see it. “You have to get out from there. It’s burning your mind. You can’t take much more, but another part wants to go back. Why?”

She started to cry. To break down. She never broke down like that. “Don’t do this to me, I can’t save anyone, Sir!”

Sir. That hurt harder than he thought it would, because it really showed him where he stood. He tried to reach over to comfort her, but she didn’t want it. Why would she? She didn’t even know him.

“Just get us out, my love, if you care so much about your family, just get us out!”

Quatre was shocked she actually dove toward him and kissed him. Pleading. Begging. Everything inside of her, was so broken. She doesn’t understand anything. He broke the strange kiss with her, but took advantage of the closeness to hug her. “Please. Tell me. You don’t want to leave anyone to be hurt. Tell me what RTL is doing?”

She looked toward him. “I don’t get it. Where do I fit with you? None of these are working. Just get the car moving. Why can’t you just keep the car moving?” Those tears. “With every passing moment in there, my tears drown out more memories. I can’t take much more of the zero system.”

“Zero system?” The old system in Gundam Zero? “Were you put in the zero system?”

“That’s what’s wrong with Crystalia. Why she can’t even decide who she really is. One day, I’ll look in a mirror and not understand who’s looking back, if I don’t leave.” Struggling. “If I leave, they’ll all be left to die. I have to leave, my mind will die. It’s too big. I need someone else! I need someone more powerful, that I used to know. Someone I treasure. I think from the articles I saw, I’m not sure. I think it’s . . . someone named Relena?”

Quatre was torn. On one hand, she wanted to flee as soon as possible. That place had torn up her very mind. Her very connections in her brain. It all might come back one day, or it might remain that way. “Have you retrieved any memories over time?”

She took out a small notebook that she had. “When I knew what they would do, I think, I remember? I thought I would write down a few notes.” She gave it to him. “Then, when they did more things, I expanded the notes. I expanded them as much as I could. Unlike others losing who they are due to an accident. I knew it would be coming, time over time over time, Good Sir.”

Quatre looked at her notes. She even wrote down his house code. Anything she could write autobiographical, along with little notes. Little memory notes she didn’t want to forget. “The first time you went out for ice cream with Mister Treize Kushrenada.” Oh, yeah. He had meant the whole world for her.

“Must have been wonderful?” She didn’t know what to say. “If it consumes me fully, I won’t come back. Crystalia gave me as much leeway as she could. I have to go, I’m out of time. They are . . . getting picked up soon.”

“Who is getting picked up soon?” Quatre asked. “The other women? Someone else?”

“If I tell you, will you please start driving?”

It’s the other women. Quatre picked up his phone. “Where nearby is it?”

“Please, no!” She was trying to take his phone. “If they know, they’ll end me, don’t do this!”

“They aren’t half as big as they were!” Quatre insisted. “I won’t let anyone take you away again! Not you, not them, we need to stop them now!” He kept struggling with her. “Dorothy!”

“You go in there shooting, you’ll kill an innocent kid and a woman whose mind had been zapped by them! You get rid of the leaders, and the little bit of help will die! No! The numbers, I hate it, but I ran the numbers! I know, it hurts, but so many for the meagre price of . . .” She was starting to break down again.

He was able to get the phone away from her again. “The others need to know to start watching. We need to stop this.”

“They’re gone. They will send someone later to take care of me, but the area will be empty,” she insisted. “Sorry? I forgot that they would all leave together.”

Was that the truth? Or her memory just fuzzed up? If so, it was more than long-term, there could be damage in her short-term memory. He started to drive again, but called up Heero first. He would already be watching, he could put him on the extreme alert. “Heero, it’s Quatre, Relena’s in danger.”

“How do you know that?” He could hear Heero scooting around now.

“Dorothy was still alive. Her, and I have twins,” Quatre admitted. “RTL is trying something again, and it’s bad. Dorothy doesn’t seem to remember much. She wrote down a lot of things about herself, but she didn’t even really remember me.”

“What?!”

“Yes, and she says that she was in the zero system.”

“The zero system?”

“Yes. She’s escaping because of the zero system, Heero,” he stated. “I am apparently near a base, but she’s terrified to go back.” Real terrified.

“Was she a guinea pig with the zero system, or is everyone using it?”

“She said people change using the zero system. She said she’s out of time, if she uses it more, she won’t be able to see who’s in the mirror,” Quatre answered. After he said that, he felt more change in the conversation. More than just alerted. Panic? Heero had panic in his voice?

“Make her lead you there, Quatre!” Heero was definitely on the move. He could hear the sound of crying through the phone. “Relena’s on a colony visit. I’m grabbing Sophia and Sora and getting out there to her.”

“This won’t end well,” Dorothy warned him. “Don’t do this.”

“Get to that base, Quatre!” Heero commanded. “I have to get to Relena. You are the closest, it’s up to you. I’ll let the others know, just get to the base.”

“It’s already over.” Dorothy sounded so defeated. “I can’t anymore. I endured for as long as I could, I can’t anymore. Why don’t you understand?” She looked straight at him. “You do, but you just understand too much. You understand too much, that it’s ruining everything.”

“Just tell me where the base is,” Quatre encouraged her. “I have to see it. Was anyone else going to be taken soon?”

“Everyone. The golden moment was tonight,” Dorothy told him. “By now, at least a couple have already been nabbed.”

“Nabbed?” Strange. “No one’s called about it. Something must have gone wrong.”

Zechs' Home

His phone rang as he enjoyed the relaxation of the night. It was Noin? Odd. “Hello, Noin.”

“Hey, Zechs.” She sounded different. “So, I woke up and found myself in a problem.”

A problem? “A problem you can’t get out of?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she admitted. “I’m in some kind of mobile suit.”

Mobile suit? “What are you doing in a mobile suit?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I have all of my ID’s and my money on me. Strangely a few odd games are in here too. Everything’s working in the machine, and I even have my own phone. That’s how I’m contacting you.”

This was weird.

“I just, don’t know where I am. I can’t open the hatch to get out,” she admitted. “I don’t hear anyone around me.”

Hmm. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, but, I don’t know if I should tell you this part,” she said slowly. “It’s gotta be a trick, Zechs.”

Trick or not, Zechs was already getting dressed. He didn’t know where he’d have to go yet. “Is it some prank with an old mobile suit? Does it look like a Leo? A Taurus?”

“It honestly has this appearance, from where things are in it?” Noin was stretching it out. “It looks like I’m in the Tallgeese.”

The Tallgeese? “The Tallgeese doesn’t exist. No mobile suit should exist.” The Tallgeese though? “The Tallgeese would just be a tall tale.”

“I am not making this up Zechs. Can you just humor me and check the hangar the Tallgeese used to be in?”

Well, it was as good a place as any to start looking until he found more answers. “Fine. I’m heading there now.”

Tallgeese's Hangar

“What in the actual hell?” It was there, the Tallgeese. In it’s hangar, like it had never been blown up. There wasn’t even a scratch on it. It also wasn’t like he last saw it, it looked like the one from Earth before it was remodeled again. “Noin, do you hear me?” Why would she be trapped in the Tallgeese? “Noin!” All the different things RTL had done so far to Relena and the other gundam pilots started to invade his mind. It couldn’t be.

That group was dismantled. Not once did they try anything on anyone near him! After all, sure he was a gundam pilot, but even the other pilots weren’t exactly friends. He even fought against them.

Why, why now? “Noin!” He used a lift to reach the chest compartment. “Noin, can you hear me?” He opened the door on the Tallgeese.

Nothing. No one was in it. He tried to call her back, but got no answer. Why was the Tallgeese there, and why was Noin not inside of it? He went down to the program that ran Tallgeese. This place was old, but that system should still work. In fact, the parts were replaced with all new parts. Someone replace the entire Tallgeese system.

He went into the program and looked around. He saw a certain section that was attached to some kind of camera feed. In fact, as he opened it up bigger?

He could see Noin, in a mobile suit. Not in any kind of gear, just an everyday outfit she was wearing. The pairing of that seemed to hit him harder. “Noin?”

She couldn’t seem to hear him.

Hm. Zechs looked around the program. It definitely had some unique things. There were some things connected almost like mobile dolls, but no. That’s not mobile dolls. What is that? He pulled it up and actually saw a diagram of the Tallgeese. He clicked on its right arm.

“Whoa!” He heard Noin’s voice from the camera. “Whoah, whoah, what was that?”

I am somehow controlling her mobile suit. It was somewhat like mobile dolls, except it wasn’t a fleet. It was actual interaction. If she is connected, there has to be a way to connect with her. He went back to the main area of the unit. He turned the camera and audio on.

“Zechs, there you are!” She was delighted to see him. “Did you find me somehow?”

“I found a suit that is connected with yours,” Zechs said to her. “I have full control over you. I even have access to your self-destruct sequence.”

“Well, I won’t be doing that anytime soon,” she promised. “What’s going on? Is this that Revenge of the Lost thing?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe. They were supposed to have some access to one of the creator’s research. They did manage to rebuild the gundam Deathscythe.” Hmm. Duo Maxwell told the others that his friend, Hilde Schbeiker, was terrified. Influenced by the zero system.

Zero system. He moved around in the program, to see what kind of system was in the Tallgeese.

He took a step backward. “Noin, are you okay?” he asked her. “Noin!”

“Yeah, Zechs, I’m fine.”

“Just. Stay. Relaxed.” There was a zero system in the Tallgeese, but that wasn’t all. It was labeled zero system, but the whole schematics were different. Targeting different sections of the brain with the stimulus, similar to what he felt in the Epyon. But. “Stay still.”

They were also bouncing around as he tried to fix the dials. Like someone was playing with him. He banged his fist near the keyboard. He reset everything again.

He watched as they started to move around again. He moved back toward his camera to Noin. “Stay calm, Noin.”

“I am calm,” Noin said. “Considering I was just abducted at home for no reason and woke up in a mobile suit. I think I’ve been relatively calm.”

“There is something like the zero system inside your suit,” he warned her. “Stress might activate it.”

“Oh. Then, I’ll get spinny images of what could happen to me, right?” she asked.

“Normally, but this is different. The system last time was just automatic, eventually a button. It didn’t have ‘settings’.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Noin was starting to look distressed. “It affects the mind, I know that, when it gets stressed. If you can work with it, it makes your combat really good. I’ll be fine if it triggers, as long as someone eventually gets me.”

Would she? “Noin. There are several different settings, and they are moving around on their own.” When he said that, he saw a memo pop up on his computer. “I just got a memo in the program of someone saying ‘ha ha’.”

“Someone in the program laughing?” Now, Noin was starting to get it. “You’re not the only one controlling the suit.” She looked around more. “There’s gotta be a way to pop this top.”

Zechs tried to eject her, but it wouldn’t work. That part was sealed off. He went into the root files, but he was getting backtracked right back into the main screen. “Damn it!” How was he going to get her out of there? At least, get rid of the self-destruct button. He went into the controls again, clicked the self-destruct capability off.

It clicked back on again, with another memo that said ‘ha ha’ again.

“Zechs.” Noin didn’t sound well. “It feels hummy in my head. I’m warm and flustered.”

“Just hold on, I will figure it out,” he promised.

“Zechs. Even if you do.” She groaned.

The memo came back on his computer again. ‘Even if you do, you aren’t actually near her, are you?’

“Damn!” He called up a number he didn’t think he would ever have to call up.

Heero Yuy.

Heero had Sora and Sophia in the backseat of the car. He would have to get emergency tickets. They took nearly all of his money, but he had to get to Relena. He tried to call Relena, but she wasn’t answering. Instead, he got someone else ringing him. “Zechs.”

“Noin is strapped into another Tallgeese, with a system that is connected to Tallgeese’s original system.” Zechs spoke quickly getting to the point. “This system has the zero system in it, but at a more unique level. There are many settings.”

“Put them on the lowest,” Heero answered.

“Someone else also has the same control. They stop me from even disabling the self-destruction. There is an actual Tallgeese in this hangar too, it’s not connected to this system.”

Heero squeezed the steering wheel. “Did you say the original hangar?” He came to a slow stop and turned. She could have already been taken, it was worth looking into this clue first before heading out.

Original hangar. He didn’t have one when he first came down, his Wing Gundam was in the ocean. It eventually got pulled up by Duo. “That place would have Howard there. Hilde was in the Junkyard before.” Shit!

He turned again. This is personal. Revenge of the Lost always works with personal. It wasn’t just a hangar, or it’s first hangar. Duo built a life with Hilde when they lived in that Junkyard. But, the Tallgeese being found in its original hangar?

“What do you recommend?” Zechs interrupted him again. “Heero! I am running out of time, Noin is getting stressed, and this zero system is dangerous enough to erase her entire mind!”

Heero stopped again. Where do I check?! He could hear one of the twins starting to cry now. “I know how you feel.” Okay, it was personal but Revenge of the Lost didn’t have as much power. The Tallgeese hangar would be old and abandoned, plenty of time to work with it. Howard’s area was occupied. Somewhere personal between Relena and I, easy for people to get to. He turned to the right. “Just fight whoever is at the other end of the program, Zechs. Even if she isn’t there, if she is connected, then you have some kind of control too. Keep it as low as you can.”

“That’s not even how it works! There’s a section with letters, one includes numbers, it’s like someone took their own school project and just shoved it into here!”

“That’s all I’ve got, now I’ve got to get to Relena!” He hung up, he needed to concentrate.

Someone really took the zero system and advanced it. It was made to make someone focus beyond all other things. Wing Zero. Epyon. Quatre’s strategies. Even the mobile doll system. Someone took that concept of focused combat, and they did something to it . . . it was . . . it was . . .

Both of the babies were crying now, but Heero knew he didn’t have much time. Either she was there, or they would leave to the colonies as soon as possible.

He stopped in the parking lot of St. Gabriel’s institute. “Those . . .” Brilliant. He saw it right on the banner. Any of those normal people would flip seeing themselves on a huge banner. Apparently Saint Gabriel’s institute was making money off his name attending there.

He grabbed a cap, and then grabbed the twins. This wouldn’t be easy, but he couldn’t leave them behind. Most likely, no one would see him at the event if he just stayed tucked away.

He went through the door, wishing he only had to navigate with one baby. He mainly looked to the wall, trying to find the information he needed. Oh, look at that. The entire dormitory he once lived in had been bought, and a new dormitory had already been built.

“No way, are you him?!”

Damn. Just, great. “Shut up or I’ll kill you.”

The civilian just laughed. “You sound just like him too. Why are you carrying twins? Oh, that’s right, you had a relationship with-”

Out. Just, move. He ignored the civilian drawing a lot of attention to him, but it didn’t stop others from figuring it out. They were even trying to take pictures of him and ask questions. Almost to the door, when-

“Hey, you! How did it feel when you had your humanity removed after you killed that girl! Did you know that was part of the zero system too!”

Huh?! He looked around, trying to figure out who had yelled that out. Who knew?! Oh, there’s no time! He ran to the door and busted right through them.

The old dormitory. Private property, not even the school was allowed near there anymore. Perfect place. It should shake these obsessive people too if they followed.

He moved past the signs and headed in. The door was, as he predicted, unlocked.

The main area looked different, hollowed out to be taller. He headed through another round of doors.

Yep. He found it. Wing Gundam, the original blueprint when he first came to Earth. Standing perfectly in front of him, along with a system.

Just to twist that knife, just a tiny bit deeper, they actually put a large table that was big enough for two carriers, with a large sign that said welcome with a single balloon taped to it. Heero chose to put them down near his feet and went to the system.

He tried it with the suit near him, but just like Zechs, it wasn’t connected to the suit next to him. He found the camera system.

Yep. “Relena.” He turned the audio and the image feed communications.

“Heero?” Now he could hear and see her. “Sora and Sophia are crying.”

“Yeah.” He knew that.

“Comfort them,” she insisted. “I can’t do that from here.”

“Where are you? Are you feeling okay?”

“I don’t know for sure. It feels like a car for one, without a steering wheel. I think it might be a mobile suit,” she admitted. “I was invited in for a meeting, like always.” She had her professional suit she usually wore for those events. “I sat down. I guess, I was careless. I felt something in my arm. I tried to get out the door, but I don’t remember reaching it. I am so ashamed.”

“You are in a mobile suit.” He bent down to look at one of them. “Do you know anything else about your location?” He moved back up and went into the zero system area. Ugh. He understood what Zechs was talking about now.

F.B.M. DNMWTO. 12PIL. Those were the section labels. The numbers weren’t even making sense, just a senseless meter on each option. Right now, it was in the middle of all the options.

Heero started to look how to break into the physical system. There were definitely some functions he could set off down there, but this was just one control center. Terminating some of the functions, might destroy the ability to change the zero system adjustment at all.

“Heero. Are you comforting them?” she asked.

“Don’t get stressed!” The twins crying was getting to her. I am not losing her to this because of crying. “Just stay calm, and I’ll comfort them.”

He moved down toward them. Okay. I’ve studied this. First, he would pick them up. They were a little better. They mainly wanted attention. He bounced them lightly. “It’s okay.”

///”Hey, you! How did it feel when you had your humanity removed after you killed that girl! Did you know that was part of the zero system too!”///

“It’ll . . . be okay.” Heero swayed them lightly. Removed humanity. He was gripping them tighter, and felt himself . . .

“It’s okay, Heero,” Relena’s voice encouraged him. “It’ll be okay. I know that it will be okay. Thank you for helping them feel better.”

A light nod. He watched his phone start to ring again. It was Wufei’s number. He already warned them about what Quatre said. He’d have to take time to catch them up on this. He took the babies and set them more on the side of the table, and scooted the monitor. It’d be good if the three of them saw each other while he dealt with calls. “I have to do something. Watch the children, and feel better.”

He answered the phone just a small amount away. Of course, same thing with Wufei. “Is there somewhere you personally spent a lot of time with her at? A first meeting area.” No, her colony was destroyed. “I found a control panel along with a brand new gundam at Saint Gabriel’s. The control panel isn’t to that suit, it’s for another suit somewhere carrying the women. Zechs has access to Noin in the same way.” Yeah, that was a yell.

“Both of our colonies are completely destroyed, where in the world would they decide to put communication?!”

“I don’t know. Look, just find it. The zero system is in the suit, and it’s . . . tough.” Heero hated this. He really hated this.

He really hated this. He called back Trowa, and got a yelling Trowa and Duo on the line. “Somewhere personal. You’ll find some kind of communications somewhere personal between each of you. They won’t be there, but you can talk and see them. Duo?”

“Yeah?”

“This zero system is from hell itself. If you are the god of it still, I hope you can disable it. You have no idea what it can do.” Fair warning.

“I saw Hilde. I know what it can do.”

“You don’t know what it can do! Trust me, they were just testing you. Probably to see how we handle the control system.” Please no. “They will completely rewrite them.”

“Oh, I’ll get her back no matter how bad this system thinks it is,” Duo promised. “Is it gonna be the Junkyard again?”

“You sold it not too long ago?”

“Right? Right! Shit!” Duo realized it. “I just sold it to someone that was still working with that damn group, didn’t I?”

“Heero.” Trowa was on the phone. “Do you see what they are doing with the zero system? You said Dorothy had her memory tampered with. Will it be reversible?”

Heero looked back toward Relena on the monitor, trying to speak sweetly to them. “No. There might be some connections made later.” He looked at his own hand. “Some. Realization. They might get sparks back, but they’ll never be the same.” He had to stop it. “Things. They used to do. Words. The way they act.”

“Trowa’s already off, Heero, and so am I. I’ve got the phone. Keep in touch if anything else happens, and let me know if Quatre finds something new.”

“Yeah.” He hung up. He just watched Relena associate with the twins. The right smile. The right graces. Social interaction. Revenge of the Lost. Why didn’t you just shoot me?

Narrator: After Colony, 198. With Quatre Raberba Winner figuring out Dorothy is alive, he arrived to Earth to find three new travelers. Eager to take them back, he knows that he must do what he can to take down whatever is left of Revenge of the Lost to free them all for good. Meanwhile, RTL has now sunk it's teeth into the other pilots, and Heero is coming to understand just what is waiting at the end for their loved ones.

Quatre, the only pilot in a place of RTL, is the only one who can make any deal to save the people they care about now. But, will he come to regret his decision?

Quatre's phone was ringing off the hook as he safely got Dorothy and the twins into an emergency shuttle. “Here, just in case something happens.” He shoved some money on the side of Zara’s carrier.

“You’re an idiot,” Dorothy warned him. “You’re the biggest idiot.” She grabbed the money from the carrier and held it tightly. “Go throw your life away, so many others already have.”

“I have to check out that base,” Quatre insisted. “I’ll be straight up after you later. My people will be right there waiting for you. They already know you have memory loss. It’s gonna be okay. You’ll get everything back, I know it.”

“People can’t be trusted! Your people and people in general!” she warned him.

“I know, but I have to do this.” He had to help however he could. That was a main base where Crystalia and Superior had been. There had to be information in there that could turn this around.

“I just want to stay me. I just want to keep what I have. I’m not going to wish for anything else. It’d hurt too much. Go,” she commanded. “Absolute moron.”

“I still care for you too.” He got up and headed out toward the base address she gave. The code to get inside. She didn’t want to, she wanted to get out and for him to come with her.

Not because she cared. She didn’t really remember him a lot, but because he had money like she used to have, and her life wasn’t safe to go straight to yet. Still, as cold as it sounded, it wasn’t.

Because there was something else. Something in her looks. In her gestures. Hiding in her communication. There was something more inside of there that was risking something, that she really did want to help. She just didn’t know how to.

Emergency Area 41

When Quatre went in, there were no alarms or anything. He saw a woman just putting together a puzzle. A really young kid’s puzzle. She looked toward him, but didn’t sound any alarms. Just smiled. “Hello! I am Aquamarine.”

Not good, but Dorothy mentioned her. If they left, why was she there? He continued down the way as she went back to concentrating on her puzzle.

“I went from six to twelve!” she yelled at him proudly.

Oh boy. Quatre ignored her and continued on his way, checking for any traps. None so far. It was a decent sized place, but vacant. Once he got past the front, he found a hangar area. “Oh. Hey, Sandrock.” He moved into the room. “Deathscythe. Shenlong. Heavyarms. Wing Gundam. Wing Zero. Tallgeese. Just a big old party over here.” He looked around them.

Still, no alarms. No one knew or cared he was there. He noticed a lot of flowers over in the corner next to Heavyarms. Lots of flowers. They were strung up on a trellis randomly. Something significant about this. He went to actually check in the Sandrock. Yep. There were some original looking things in there that shouldn’t be.

He went over to the control panel and looked at it. He dug around to it. This is all really strange. What are these meanings? The zero system shouldn’t be like this. As he was coming down, he spotted his first person. Before drawing any kind of weapon, he took a closer look.

She could have been waiting there a bit. She was young, not as young as the little girl and boy Dorothy sent to him, but still no teenager. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he said quickly. “Please don’t be afraid.”

She wasn’t moving. Did she recognize him?

“I’m just looking for some friends. They may have been taken,” he said honestly. “They are good people. Ladies, who mean a lot to me and my friends. Like, Platinum,” he said. That generated a small shift in her.

“You’re the Quatre pilot,” she said. “The one who says sorry before you kill people and dresses the funniest.”

“That’s a description, I guess?” She didn’t appear to be a threat, and she wasn’t going to fetch anyone. “Who are you?”

“Blue Gemmy. It’s not like . . .” She winced looking at the ceiling. “It’s not a real gem name, but I don’t know many gems. I just picked my favorite color and Crystalia let me use Gemmy.”

“Oh. Is Crystalia here?” he asked slowly.

“No. Aquamarine and I are gonna be alone for about five days or so? Maybe three. Platinum should have been watching us after a mission, but they are mad at her, so.”

Oh. That explained some of the feelings in Dorothy, but not all. “I can help you get some food?”

“I have food. I have to make it last,” she said. “You killed a lot of people. What are you doing here?”

“I did kill,” he admitted, “for a sort of peace. But, I refuse to do anything like that now. Why are you here? Is your mommy one of these members?”

“She was,” Blue Gemmy answered. “She sent me here for safety. Crystalia said she passed on.” She gestured to the flowers. “That’s the ones that pass on. I forget what’s what for colors. There’s a big white board in the back.”

“Then, I’d like to see this white board.” Oh, this was a really good idea. I’m going to figure out everything about them, and make sure we get everyone back, and they never bother any of us again. Then, he had to get this girl out of here, and the other one. They were in no condition to just be alone for five days by themselves.

“You’re not . . .” She was still not exactly wanting to talk to him much. “I’m a gem. You’re not gonna hurt me?”

“No, I don’t do that. Your mom sent you here for safety, probably from the law,” he guessed as he got closer to the doorway she stood at. “RTL’s been hurting my friends and I for old, old grievances that were taken in a war. People die in war. There’s nothing we can do, a soldier that goes out, knows what’s coming. I understand their pain. I understand yours, but staying like this? It’s not good.”

“Mom said one of you killed my dad,” she said.

“In. War.” He tried to be gentle. “I didn’t come in here blasting off with a gun or anything. I don’t want to hurt anyone innocent, and you’re definitely in that category. You haven’t done anything wrong. Even people who do wrong, we still haven’t hurt any of you. Do you understand that?”

“I’m ten,” she said. “A lot of the people in my mom’s place are crazy.”

Good, she saw that. He felt a small sigh give through.

“Not everyone though. I couldn’t exactly take on a gundam pilot though. So? I’m gonna go to the front with Aquamarine. You can do whatever. After your done, if you want, you could get us some extra food?”

He could do more than that. “Sure.”

“Oh. You’re Platinum’s boyfriend?”

Well? “I’m the dad to the twins,” he admitted. “I’d never hurt Platinum or them.”

“No, RTL would.” She said it flat out. “White boards in the back. Offices are in the back.”

Quatre watched her walk off. Okay, steady. He double checked his phone. Yep, more and more he was glad he silenced it. All of the guys were really reaching out. Trowa was asking if he had any clues where Middie could be. Wufei was clueless and yelling where Mei-Lin could be. Duo was just plain fact aggressive, so plain that it wasn’t his style. Heero said Noin actually got involved in it, and?

And Heero said he wasn’t doing good. Heero of all people saying that? This is seriously bad! Please, let there be some kind of answers in here to help. He saw the offices, but he also saw the big white board.

It had two sides. There were a lot of properties. Women’s Shelters. Children’s Hospitals. Oh.

This. This is what was hurting Dorothy. He flipped it over on the other side. The flowers.

He moved onto the offices. There was only one in use. In it, were folders and folders of properties, names, people, places. None of this is helping. He picked up a gigantic folder set that was sat down. Whoah! Crystalia.

Crystalia did care for her family. She had papers that were getting signed and even notarized for her properties to be willed to the entity of the circus. She even had some extra properties that went straight to Catherine, straight to Trowa, and straight to . . . “Alec is yours, Trowa.” He placed the folder near his heart. “Your mom’s heart is still in there somewhere.”

He felt his phone vibrate several more times. Duo’s frustration being all the way on Earth. Wufei’s frustration he couldn’t think of a place Mei-Lin could be kept. I’m trying guys. I really am.

He looked through more of her papers, and found some . . . a lot . . . of problems. He saw a phone that was left nearby too. Your heart is on your sleeve, Crystalia. He tried the password Triton on it, and it opened.

He had to try something. I am Quatre Raberba Winner. I am directly in the line of contact with a physical leader that may be able to do some good. I’ve spent years learning the business of running everything in the colonies. I have to do this. Some of the guys weren’t even getting to them, while Heero was already contemplating ending everything again. Come on, answer. Answer!

“Hello?”

“Hello,” he greeted them. “I’d like to talk to Crystalia.” The phone was handed straight over.

“Who is this?”

“I want to make a deal,” he said quickly. “Your people, for our people.” Yeah, there was a rough sigh. “You’ve got a lot of flowers to fill on that trellis. A lot of innocent people are dying. I understand that, you saved everyone before. Our children were born safely because of you.” That threw her off, he could hear it in her ‘uh’?’. “There are a large number of lives hanging in the balance, Miss Crystalia Bloom. I know you had all these things set up before you went under. I’ll help out everything for five people.” No answer. “This isn’t a trick, you hold all the cards, and you are ready to terminate the absolute minds of five women by the zero system. Five at the cost of all those people?”

“The hell was I so clueless to leave my stuff?” Crystalia was fuzzy. “Mm. It’s . . . I don’t run RTL, Superior does.”

“You have some sway.”

“She doesn’t care about the loss of life. She’ll kill for the candybar brand you eat. She’ll kill for coughing in her presence. She’ll kill because she thought your name was something else and she got embarrassed.”

“Okay, but you do! You care. You helped out once. Even though it was underhanded and tricky, I get why you did it that way now.” Bring her as much to his side as he could. “It saved Catherine. It saved Trowa. It even managed to save your grandson, Alec.”

“The control panels are just a chance to see them before they change. It’s just a gimmick. I needed something to make Superior happy, and this is all I knew.”

Just a chance to see them before they change? “Isn’t there some way-”

“No. Each pilot gets three hours to see them. Last wishes. Say goodbye.”

“You can’t just end them like this!”

“They aren’t ending, only who they are now.”

“So, what? We find them and we’ll smile while they put together children’s puzzles?!” No! Quatre banged the wall. “This isn’t right. This isn’t fair. All those people, Crystalia!” He beat the wall again. “I guarantee, every pilot will help you, if you please just . . .”

“Kill Superior?”

Kill?

“Do you want me to do that?”

No more killing. They stuck to that. They always stuck to that. He heard the loudness of Aquamarine in the distance. All of them, losing so much.

“I want to do better for the burners. They have no one, just us. I want to do better.”

“Please. Any deal?” Quatre swore. “I am sure they are going to be willing to make any deal.” Sorry. “Please kill her, take over, and make a deal with us to save them.”

“You really are desperate. I doubt Superior cares, but you can talk to her if you need to.”

Oh. The Superior was probably in the room with Crystalia now. Yeah. “I understand.”

“Understand you put someone else first before you. There’s a time and place. You chose that.”

Um? Was she saying that because Superior was still in the room with her?

“Take that property to Triton. Uh, Trowa Barton. He’ll get it to where it needs to go. None of its profitable without money behind it, it’s a burden. The money is still heavy, but it will dry up and deterioration of reputation and money will eliminate it slow enough that people won’t be thrown out onto the streets. That was a long sentence.”

There was more sensitivity in her voice. Dorothy did say she was trying to work with her.

“Superior wants to eliminate their minds, and then give them back. She’s crazy. A little crazier than me. I’ll make a different deal. Don’t think I’ll just hand them over. I’ll kill for those burner families, but I won’t let their minds go if I win.”

Quatre wasn’t going to give any kind of speech about killing being wrong. He wasn’t going to dissuade her. In a way, it was like condoning it. Like, killing Superior himself. But? For so many lives, plus their friends and children, she had to go down.

“Dorothy probably won’t recover,” Crystalia added. “The women, by the time you get to them. Even with your best times. Best case scenario, Dorothy level. Understand?”

“Yeah.” He understood that. Crystalia was the ally but still the enemy too.

“I’ll call if I kill her. If you get nothing, expect nothing.”

Okay. He started to make the painful texts, while he grabbed some office carts and loaded up all the files. Hopefully, each of them understood he got them the best deal he could.

Heero at least got it. He actually thanked him for taking the chance. That was rare from him.

He also got Aquamarine and Blue Gemmy out from there. He walked with them for awhile before renting a car and getting to the nearest emergency shuttle.

He waited to hear anything on the phone. Until Superior was dead, Crystalia couldn’t do anything. I am coming straight home. Dorothy would be okay. His people would be right there waiting for her. It would be okay. He was just nervous. That was all.

Just, nervous. RTL didn’t have as much stretch anymore. He had to risk it.

Quatre Arrives Back at the Colony

When he arrived at the shuttle, he saw one of his favorite maids there. She was always prepared for anything. “Thanks for waiting,” he thanked her. “These two will . . .?” Oh. Oh, as he got closer, he felt something from her.

As he drew closer, he watched her duck her head and hold out a piece of paper.

“Sorry.” No Master came from her as he collected the paper.

“Did someone threaten your family?” Was it like his doctor?

Quatre read the letter. “Your resignation.” No. “They aren’t here anymore.” No. No. “Then what are you even sticking around here for?!” He watched her take off in a hurry. In his heart, he knew why she stuck around. She wanted him to know the truth. She even wrote it down for him. Of course, RTL did more than threaten his staff. They actually got on it years ago.

She wrote down how it was just supposed to be a way to keep their eyes on him. Orders changed later. Her identity information was hidden for undercover work. But, his degree of sympathy was vague at this point. Everything was a risk. I had to. I couldn’t bring them all, but I couldn’t leave without checking out the base. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I just couldn’t!

He just stared at the ground. I know they are alive now. I have twins. I know their names, Zara and Amira. I know Dorothy was alive. But. Was it better knowing or worse? I’m sorry, but, please! Crystalia, please kill Superior! I beg of you. For the sake of my family, please win.

St. Gabriel's Institute

“Heero?” Relena heard a thud from the side of Sophia and Sora. She knew the babies were alright, so that left one that was not. “Heero, answer me.”

“I’m right here.” He didn’t sound well.

“Heero, come over here.” He wasn’t taking it well. He had no idea what to do. He had no idea where she was at, and they were a lot closer than before they had their bump-ins in the past. She understood him better. What made him move. What made him stop. She even started to piece together, what happened to him. “I need comfort.”

She heard him starting to move. Before he was even in view, she held her fingers out to the small screen. It covered up some of the screen, but it was important. He put his fingers up to it too. “So far, I have been fine. We need to concentrate on the moment. Search around on the extra gundam. Maybe there will be a clue on there.” It would keep him from sinking. He needed something to do. “While doing that, make sure our twins feel comforted if they start to cry or get anxious. They take attention.”

“I know,” he said. “I studied.”

Yes, she didn’t doubt that. The emotions it took for Hero to understand things. One could not be subtle with him. Phrases of subtlety, of politeness, didn’t always work the best. She used those to keep it easier for him after the twins were born.

Now was not the time for that. He did things directly. He took things directly. Even then, he didn’t always listen, just like anyone else. But, for best results? Be direct and honest. Be both. “Always assume they want attention and comfort first, then figure out if that is it. Sophia is in red today, and Sora is in Green. Sophia mumbles more than Sora, but it’s just mumbles so far. I miss you, Heero. Don’t give up. Do the best you can do, and I will be proud of you. I miss having you in the bathroom with me. It feels lonelier as myself now. I miss your comfort too. I’ve missed you so much. Please get us through this.”

He stared at her a second. “Sophia is in red today, and Sora is in green. I will comfort them first if they start to cry. I have less than three hours with you.”

Oh. He knew something now.

“Quatre wants to make a deal, if Superior is killed. If not, this is the last time I will be talking with you. Relena.”

Oh. I see. “I want you to make sure the children are safe, no matter how this ends.”

“Yeah.” He agreed to it, but he was so lost. He looked so lost. He was just staring straight through her as one of the children started to cry. “Comfort first.” He picked up Sophia correctly, and patted what hair she had. She was fidgeting around, but Heero had a good hold on them.

No. You are not going to cry, Relena Dorlain. You are going to be strong. You have two hours left with Heero, and then your fate is unknown. “Straighten up. It’ll be okay. We still have another option left. These last two hours can just be really nice hours between us.” She smiled at him, trying to drive something good for him. Don’t break, Heero. Don’t break. This isn’t over.

Middle of Nowhere Hangar

Trowa really had to do some digging to find it. It had to be in one place. There was nowhere around at the time, but there was a hangar built in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere with No Name.

It was the grounds, the place where he could have shot her and ended her life for all the betrayal. He saw something different though, deep inside of her. That something became even more pronounced as she got older.

He went into the building and saw it. Heavyarms. He went over to the control panel. He didn’t have very long. He got the camera and audio working. “Hello, Middie.”

Middie noticed him. “Trowa.”

“We might be able to help you,” Trowa said to her. “If Crystalia kills Superior, she will make a deal with us. If she doesn’t, this is the last time we will speak. Sorry.”

“Alec?”

“He is gone too.” Trowa looked at her. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. I deserve this. I deserve all of this.”

“You aren’t to blame for anything, anymore than I had been. It was all RTL.” He tried again. “Do you blame me for it? I lined up the shot.” She didn’t answer. “Should I terminate my own life?”

“No, of course not!” She was passionate about that.

“Then think about why it’s okay for you to think that,” he said. “You are a good mother. You are a good friend,” he added. “Even Quatre, no matter how upset he had been, had never laid any blame on either of us.”

“How much longer?” she asked.

“Not much. Is there anything you want to say, just in case.” He hated this. She had flipped her entire life around. She was living straight, and she was doing well. Fake smiles or not, she still had regular smiles too. She had a lot of passion inside that she couldn’t keep away. It transformed into beauty, horror, reality, and wonderful. Some of her paintings that she had made, were so visceral. If your family hadn’t been your responsibility, where would you have ended up? Not losing her mind in a gundam.

She didn’t have anything else to say.

Whatever the deal is, I want it. Please let Crystalia win.

---

Wufei’s Colony

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He checked the area around the explosion. He checked the area in her new colony that he could before he was escorted out. There wasn’t much to see though, there were no buildings still. Time was almost up.

Not one thing. How could he find something personal to her, when the place she spent her whole life was gone? He checked in a couple of the places he had kept his gundam, but none of them were important hangars.

Nothing was important, and still there. Wherever they had stashed her? They shoved her somewhere unimportant. Just like they cursed her for no other reason then they had a similar name and circumstance to Nataku.

All he could do, is give her a moment in his mind. If Crystalia did not kill the one in charge, she would be as good as dead. The Zhang’s should still be prospering. You should have married Zhang Li, never been accused of murder, or ever had to lower yourself to any standards to hide. All of this was because of something against me, and never you.

He took his sword and held it outright. I never brought you the justice you deserved. I shamefully thought this was almost over. The ending of that organization’s official presence felt like enough. You were never even pregnant, they blew up your colony, what else could they possibly want?

He hadn’t wished for someone to die this hard in so long. A battle that he could not help. He could not enter. A battle between two women, with no telling how each one would fair. All because of . . .

?! “I know where it is!” He stood up, but he realized he would never make it. He was in the colonies, and it was on Earth. His mother even told him where to watch out for.

Originally it would probably have something to do with the revenge, but it was a personal spot. Not at the time, he didn’t care how he got his mission done. It would be a place to show how bitter, how uncaring he had been.

Victoria Base area. Then again? Maybe it wouldn’t be. You must have left somewhere else. Somewhere besides our colonies. “I can’t believe I have to say this. Win, Crystalia.” They needed a deal. Otherwise? How was he supposed to ever get any kind of justice for her?

The old Junkyard’s Colony

There was no time! No time for anything. Just enough time to say at least there was a chance for her! He tried to get there the fastest he could, and he ran the fastest he could down the fastest shortcut he could. Backyards, fences, a car would be too slow. Travel back and forth from the colonies used to take longer during the war, and it was risky to move from place to place with the different allegiances. It wasn't a simple half hour ride over, but you could move a lot faster.

Yet, it still wasn't fast enough.

When he hit that front door, he could still smell them. Their scent was stale, but still there. Nobody had been there at all, and the furniture they left behind was still there. He moved toward the hangar, didn’t even bother to look at the gundam, just ran straight to the control panel.

He got in the camera and audio as fast as he could. “Hilde!”

There, her expression was surprised but happy. Probably feeling relieved. “Duo. I was hoping you could come soon. They haven’t started any zero program on me yet, but-”

“I’ve got five minutes, Hilde.” He couldn’t let her waste time. “Listen. Quatre’s trying to make a deal with a leader that can take over, if she gets rid of the other leader. So, you just gotta hang on? Okay? I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you back.”

“Wow.” That relieved look fell right off, but it had to. “I’m guessing if he can’t, I’m toast? I’m not there this time, am I?”

“No.” He didn’t even waste time looking. He’d break his own heart later. “It’s not over. Just think positive. I’ll come get you, I promise.”

“Don’t promise, Duo.” She still tried to smile. “It’s okay. I know if you can help me, you’ll help me. You are Duo Maxwell after all. You may run and hide, but you never tell a lie. That’s my Duo.” She was faltering. “No. It’ll be okay. We’ve been through worse. Right?”

“Well, you’ve stupidly gone after me a couple of times when you shouldn’t have,” he pointed out. “We’ve got in scrapes before, and always find our way out. So, I’m sure, if Quatre can pull out a win, I’ll be able to get ya.”

“Don’t do anything too stupid to get me, Duo. I know the zero system was really hard on the head, but I don’t want you to get stuck as their lacky doing their dirty work.”

He couldn’t really answer that one. “I’ll decide that for myself, if it comes down to it, what I’ll do.” He chuckled. “I compromised myself with lies a long time ago. The phrase still sounds good.”

“Yeah. It sounds good.” She looked at herself. “It feels weird wearing one of my favorite outfits in a mobile suit. Never did that. If it blows up, well, that’s the end of that outfit.” She was trying to be cheery as she touched her favorite beret. “You know, this last-minute thing is usually easier when you know what the outcome is going to be. There’s a chance I might be okay, and you can come pick me later. There’s a chance though, that I might not get back. Right?”

“Pretty much,” he confessed. “These might be our last words. All of us pilots were all just bamboozled into this. Even Zechs.” It was fast, but well planned. Swift. No debating. No scheme. No plan. No dumb puzzle to figure out. No pregnancy, and no mothers.

And it was undoing each of them a thousand times faster.

“You better get through this, Duo,” Hilde told him. “Make sure you keep making friends. Keep having fun. I am really bad at last words. What is it I said after we first met, and I saved your butt so you could get through? I should know it.”

“No idea. Keep awful last words, because these aren’t going to be your last words.” Aw, damn. He choked on the word last. “I’m no better, huh?”

Then, that was it. The panel shut off and closed down. Gone.

“Yep. I’m no better.” He covered his head, trying to block out the world. Trying to block out his own conscience screaming at him. Even now, he just couldn’t tell her.

But, he didn’t have to. She didn’t have to either. They both always lived in that perfect state of denial with each other. Good friend, who offered him help. Good friend, that offered more help when he came back. Best friends, sticking with the junkyard. Never a plan. Never anything said. Just month to month checking. Just month to month living.

Just month to month. Just never anything said. “I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. Wish I could say I stayed true to that end, Hilde.” He wiped his nose.

Getting back up on his feet. Been through this before. Losing those you care about. This’ll be okay. Just, one foot in front of the other. Gotta keep going. This isn’t over. Quatre’s still got a chance, he pulled a bullshit last plea to do something for them that’s gonna get considered. “Oh, who am I kidding? I barely lasted a month before I wanted to kill.”

No. No, no. I can’t do a damn thing until I know her fate for sure. Quatre could call any second. Crystalia could win. I gotta be ready if he does.

Tallgeese Hangar

“It was nice to play one more game with you,” Noin remarked. “Crazy to think the one that took me down was just a bunch of people who couldn’t even fight.”

Zechs looked at the board. “Soldiers have to understand war to be able to set foot in the battlefield. Others that haven’t been soldiers, can’t understand as easily.”

“Yeah. Maybe the Preventers should be starting some kind of different program. Not for soldiers, but to help the ones who lost their loved ones, that can’t understand. Maybe reaching out to them. A little late though, I guess. This group was doing it’s thing for a long, long time.”

“Before AC 195, their work was different. It didn’t run the same way,” Zechs said. “Lucretzia Noin.” The last chess game he would play with her. “If things change, I’ll come for you.”

“Mmm. Zechs Merquise coming after me instead of Miss Relena? Instead of a mission?” She chuckled. “Mmm. That don’t really fit Zechs. If you see me again, then, I’m not gonna be myself. Right?”

That was the plan. “I’m sorry, Noin. Maybe things will turn out.”

“Oh. You know they won’t. Let’s be happy though?” she encouraged him. “At least they never got far enough to throw a baby in me. That would make this a lot harder. Can’t imagine how the others are feeling. But? At least I don’t leave anything behind me.”

“No regrets?” he asked softly.

“Sure I have regrets. I think everyone does,” she admitted. “But, I got to have one more chess game with the man I admire most in the world. What could be nicer?”

Zechs stared at the board.

“They could have found someone better than me for this though. You just have such few friends, it was pretty limited.”

Everything turned off on the control panel while he kept staring at the chess board. “I always cared for both of you, Lucretzia.” They did a fine job on their selection. He only wished they hadn't.

St. Gabriel Institute

“Heero. It’s almost time.”

“Yeah.”

“I have been preparing too,” she said to him. “Ever since the day you believed they were still out there, and I knew you were watching over our children. I trusted your instinct.” She looked at the twins. “I can’t make you do this, but I think, it would be better for you and them.”

His eyes were just held on hers. “You have to go up to the colonies. You can’t just take your children on business. I tried. I still had to live. There were several times I did leave you alone.” What did she come up with?

“I knew you had the present covered, Heero. I was thinking about the future. About what would happen, if something happened to me. I wanted it to be up to you, completely your option, what happened to them. It’s still your option, I can do nothing when I am not there.”

“What?” What did she decide?

“I kept in touch with Catherine, Trowa’s sister. I try to keep communication open with everyone as best I can. When she told me how her troupe handled babies, I talked to the leader. Heero, I want you to stay with Trowa, with the twins. They have a scheduled manner there, so you’ll always have someone to help if you need it. They are even willing to just take care of them, if you get to a point, that you can’t.”

How? What in the world would make her think to keep in touch with Trowa’s sister? Communication. Excellent communicator. Strategy. She never had to fight in a mobile suit. She never had to land a single punch. She always found her way, probably the only way that existed, to take care of things.

Someone to help with twins. A place to earn money. A friend to talk to. She had covered all the bases she could. “Until I know for sure this is it, I’ll stay with them, at the circus.”

The smile on her face beamed. “Thank you for telling me, Heero. I really wanted to hear that.”

Then it was dead. No low battery sign. No flickering. It just shut off, terminating the connection.

Even after that, he was still thinking about what he could have done. If he had stayed and just traced the program, could he have found the source that was communicating? Could he have messed with the system to find the answer? However, people were right there, working against him on that machine. People elsewhere who had been trained in it, with the dedication to not stop. To only make things harder from tweaking it.

And with three hours to find a possible source that might even be more than three hours away. Not to mention, losing those three hours when she would be able to speak to someone before this ordeal could be important.

He picked up Sophia and Sora. “The circus it is.”

Circus in the Colonies

Maybe, I should let you stay here? Trowa thought about Alec as he carried him back to the circus. He’d call Duo soon, after a little more time had passed. He at least could stay for a bit. Your mother raised you with the best love that she could under her circumstances. Be sure to know that, Alec.

As he went forward, he saw Cathy sitting around a fire with Heero and his twins. “Heero?”

“Yeah.” Heero took a drank of a drink Catherine gave him.

“Relena had set up something with leader,” Catherine stated to Trowa. “I guess that’s why he never changed the scheduling back. Heero’s gonna stay here with the twins from now on.”

Oh. “That’s fine,” Trowa agreed. “That’s smart.”

“I’m staying until something happens, or nothing happens for too long,” Heero said clearly. “I’m not leaving until I know I should.”

“Understood.” Trowa looked toward Alec. That would have been three. I don’t know, Alec. Will Duo be okay enough for you? Will your presence heal or hurt him even more? Come on, Quatre.

Emergency Area 52 of RTL

Crystalia continued doing things on her end as they gassed all five ladies and started to strap them up. It would be rougher this way, a real chance of extra brain damage, but strapping them into the zero system physically with its currents really did a number on the user.

A real number on the user. No fuss, no wait. If the pilots thought the zero system was tough just into the machine, then they never endured the power when really strapped in. It was hell. It was real hell. What came out of it with so much physical contact. Was. Not the person who went in.

Crystalia watched Superior crank the settings up extra high and heard them start to scream. Everyone, including the one with the most military training. It was painful, no matter who they were.

Whether they were genuine fighters in a war, or a mother moving on and trying to find a new way to live. I have to kill her. I can’t create more me’s. Triton would be so-

“Where do we set her up at?” Sapphire held Dorothy along with Blue Ruby. Dorothy was unconscious.

“The Sandrock, of course,” Superior snapped at them. “Hurry it up.” She turned off the zero system in the other suits for them to stop and put her in.

Sapphire would let me kill her. Blue Ruby will not. I have to kill Blue Ruby too. That was twice the loss of life. In an organization, that wasn’t ever meant to kill. Red Emerald came in to help too. I would have to kill Red Emerald. That’s three people against one. Maybe Sapphire would join in and help? Dorothy’s memory loss was already so bad. She fought so hard and valiantly. Valiantly. I never use that word.

In the short amount of time she knew Dorothy, it always felt like she was weaker against her. That need to kill her stemmed into something else. She made her feel something. Feel human? Feel pain. Even feel embarrassment. She created the trellis and the way they showed honor to these lost women and children. Not Superior. I need to kill three people.

Superior was starting up the system again. “I think we should hire someone to drop them right off to wherever they would be idenitified the fastest. It would make the news, even if the miserable pilots wanted to ignore hearing about it. It would be right in their face.” She laughed. “Would they go over and kill them? Would they visit and try to make themselves feel better? Or would they just end it all, knowing the only reason it all happened, was because they were friends?”

“Mei-Lin didn’t even know Wufei,” Crystalia spoke up to her. Already, that was risky.

“Then it was because of similar circumstances. Just because of a name, just because of traditions, an innocent woman was chosen and lost. That’s pretty good,” Superior patted herself on the back.

“Not really. It’s no different than grabbing some girl with the initials HY and saying it was good enough to use for Heero Yuy.” Yeah, she was starting to irritate Superior.

Sapphire moved to the right some, with her eyes on her. She knew what was happening. She headed away from the gundams. “I can work on the revenge mission, Superior, I am super-efficient. I’ll go look at it right away.”

“We will too.” Blue Ruby and Red Emerald agreed in unison as they started to leave the room.

Great. Sapphire brought it back down to one person to kill. Superior was glaring at her, but she didn’t have a gun on her. Crystalia knew that.

Superior reached for the missing gun, thinking it would be there. Crystalia also knew that.

Crystalia took the gun she had stolen from Superior and shot her. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t a fight. It was pretty cowardly and sneaky, but the result was all that mattered. Superior was dead with a giant hole in her head. The sound made Blue Ruby and Red Emerald head back over. She kept the gun trained on them as she went back to the controls and readjusted them.

“I knew you would betray us,” Red Emerald said to her angrily. She dived for her, but Sapphire shot her from the back. Blue Ruby stayed still.

Now. Crystalia had control. Limited help. Soon those numbers would deteriorate even further. Crystalia swiped Superior’s favorite card. There would be more, but this would be a start.

She turned on the speaker to all areas of RTL. Not just the emergency areas. “Attention. Superior has been killed, therefore I am now the leader of RTL, STL, MTB, PFL, JC, B, BW, BE, BS, and all financial properties participating in such groups directly or indirectly. Your first order is to break into your proper teams, and follow emergency procedures. Groups are terminated, every member existing must now become self-sufficient with minor support. No more than five normal status members, with no more than three non-normal status numbers to each RTL area. Members who are non self-sufficient must now stay in RTL emergency areas. Follow all duties, and follow all supporter offers. All open missions have been terminated. All termination missions are still inactive until each area is completely self-sufficient according to all procedures and rules. Emergency funds will be distributed to each member to make it through until supporters attain self-sufficiency. Missions accepted?” Yes, she heard Mission Accepted amongst them all with no disagreement.

There. “That is the best I can give.” Now. Crystalia went toward the Wing Gundam and looked at Relena. She had such cold eyes staring back. “I need help. People are dying.”

The coldness melted away when she heard the words. “How can I help?”

Her gentle tendencies. Her leadership. That was what they needed now.

///Relena didn’t know what to expect when she came out of the gundam. One minute she was saying goodbye, getting electrocuted to what she thought would be her death, and then someone came for her.

The last person she was predicting. Crystalia.

Relena was trying to figure out the facts. She was spared first, to look at everything. Once she got a good look, she talked to each of the women who were also trapped in the gundams.

Noin, Middie, Dorothy, Mei-Lin, and Hilde. They were all standing around with her, also trying to figure it out.

“The guys can definitely do this, but they can’t do that,” Noin was looking just as deep.

“I could do that?” Hilde pointed out. “It would be tricky, but I could.”

“I don’t see why Wufei would ever help,” Mei-Lin pointed out.

“Um? Yeah. I know, this is tricky,” Hilde agreed. “I really don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything with RTL. You scared me. You scarred me for life.” She held out her Soldier “I’d much rather walk out that door and never see any of you again! But?”

Yes. Hilde had the same dilemma. “These are innocent people, wrapped up in something they didn’t belong in.”

“They were just seeking help, because the law was saying no to it. They couldn’t get protection, or they felt unsafe.” Noin understood it too. She looked toward the numbers. “A lot of good people already lost.”

“RTL doesn’t have the means to take care of this anymore,” Relena said honestly to Crystalia.

“The law doesn’t have an official way of helping,” Crystalia came right back on her. She dropped another paper toward Relena. “No one can ever find the path to prove anything.”

Relena looked at the paper and closed her eyes briefly. She sat it back down. “This whole place fell apart.”

“It had to be stopped,” Noin pointed out. “You guys were working outside of any book, even before this Superior got involved.” She sighed. “Which saved a lot of people. Built a lot of things.”

“Duo would have definitely helped,” Hilde pointed at, “at the drop of a hat, if you had showed him any of this. What’s going to happen, Relena?”

“How are they getting by? How are you getting by?” Relena asked Crystalia. “All the funds are gone, everything was stopped with the association. Your private reserve, what do you have?”

“Superior and I have deeds, details, and the currency. Mine and Superiors are now wrapped up in emergency mode and I pulled them together. It will sustain the women of RTL. I can save them, but I can’t save others. You are good at strategy. You may be able to help.”

Strange.

“Yes, because you are a good person inside,” Dorothy said to Crystalia. “A very good person. Look at all this good you just did.”

Dorothy almost talked to Crystalia like a child? “Dorothy?”

“Yes, Miss Relena Dorlain?” She looked at her oddly. “Strange. That didn’t feel right. Oh, yes. Miss Relena?”

“Are you okay?” Relena had to ask.

“I’m . . . not a corrupted woman seeking vengeance?” she said. “Not that Crystalia is either, she is a good person.”

Oh. “You’ve lost memories though.”

“I’m still Dorothy Catalonia,” she said proudly. “Quatre Raberba Winner is the father of my children. He cared. I tried to get us to him. I fanned myself with a gift that was a dress.”

“You’re melting her mind away.” Hilde said it straight.

“No, no. Superior, not Crystalia. Please get it right,” Dorothy criticized her. “Crystalia doing this saved our children, and gave all of you months of bliss.”

“I wouldn’t call it bliss,” Middie finally spoke up as she stared at Dorothy. She had been doing that for a long time. “I did spent time with Alec. He was good.”

Dorothy just glanced back at her. “I don’t understand what your problem is?”

“I . . . killed you?” Middie said to her. “RTL uh-”

“RTL tricked her into thinking she killed you.” There, that simple. There was more to figure out. Dorothy’s memories have been tampered with. Crystalia has pangs of acting like . . . “Heero.”

“I remember that,” Dorothy smiled at her. “Yes, you would do that, wouldn’t you? Just say Heero out of nowhere.”

That made Relena smile. “Yes. I suppose I do that.” Still, no time to smile. Crystalia’s been through it too. Relena looked at her arms. Physically latching her into the system with some kind of IV’s. How long would it have taken to change so completely?

“I will help,” the woman who was Mei-Lin said to Crystalia. “I don’t know what I can do, but I can help. I am a good cook. I can help fix food for those who are starving because of your incompetence.”

“Her incompetence is keeping them off the streets,” Dorothy warned Mei-Lin.

“Quatre Raberba Winner wants to make a deal for you,” Crystalia said to her. “I had to kill Superior to make it happen. I still don’t know what deal to make. You are a great leader.”

Yes, a great leader, but not a magician. What am I supposed to do? Relena didn’t have that much money. She had some to help, just like Crystalia, but this would take? The conditions of this, and the rules of this. “It’s ridiculous! Half-hearted at best.”

“Many of the watchers are shaken up, Miss Relena,” Dorothy answered. “Crystalia did what she could. She isn’t a great and powerful being like you. Someone that can help? You can help?”

Help. “We need this Superior.”

“I thought so too,” Crystalia said. “We need her. I killed her. You are a great leader. You can be her?”

“I can be her?” What in the world was Crystalia thinking?

“There is a way,” Dorothy said dully. “I couldn’t do it. I ran with Zara and Amira, trying to con my way into some money with their father.”

Oh, Dorothy. Good memories or not, she was still Dorothy. A strange person, not really good or bad. “You are missing memories, but you are still yourself. That’s good to see.”

“Crystalia left the settings as low as she could,” Dorothy admitted. “She is good. She’s just different now. A lot of women are different because of the zero systems. However, when one is bootstrapped into the zero system, it takes on a whole different effect.”

Relena could imagine that. “You said there is a way, Dorothy. What did you see?”

“We are obviously Dorothy, Miss Middie, Miss Relena, Miss Noin, and Miss Mei-Lin.” Dorothy gestured toward Crystalia.

Crystalia searched through some more papers and handed them to Dorothy.

“They knew about us and the decisions they wanted to make for a longer time than you think.” Dorothy handed Relena some papers. “They kept other backup plans. Backup plans behind backup plans. You really don’t understand just how big RTL had been. The names given on that tablet Crystalia gave Triton Bloom were just of RTL and STL. That’s like saying in an entire school of children, you took away quite a few of the classrooms. Not the whole school though.”

That big still? Oh? Oh! Relena just stared at the pictures. “How?”

“Polled. Checked. Most closest got the positions,” Crystalia said.

“Yes. There were several dedicated members, that had plastic surgery to look just like all of us,” Dorothy pointed out. “Yet they walk freely from base to base, because they have ID’s. ID’s are the most important component. Even males are allowed to move back and forth, because some born as males were eventually women, and some couples who weren’t heterosexual still lost children and husbands and brothers and . . . I really love to hear myself talk, don’t I? It’s quite familiar.”

Yes, Dorothy did.

“Point being . . . I don’t think I ever got to the point?” Dorothy was still shaken, but still Dorothy. “Not everyone can get everywhere, but an ID will allow anyone anywhere with communication. So.”

“Most communication isn’t done in person. There’s too much distance between the active areas,” Crystalia agreed. “You can be Superior. No one would know. Maybe with your help, we can save more people.”

No one would know. “First things first. Middie, do you have Trowa’s number? I don’t have Heero’s. I don’t want him to be worried about me anymore.” At that moment though, Relena froze. “Oh.” She could see it around Crystalia and Sapphire. “Noin?”

“I don’t have a gun,” Noin told her. “I was just relaxing at home when they took me.”

“It’s better if you don’t do this,” Relena urged Crystalia. “I cannot help if you do anything drastic to me. Everyone will find a way to help people.” Every single person she knew would find a way to help.

“I can’t kill Sapphire,” Crystalia said. “I can kill people. I used to be able to do it better. I . . . I don’t want to kill Sapphire.”

“Damn it, Sapphire, this is not smart!” Dorothy yelled at her. “Miss Relena will be able to help the best that she can, do not do this!”

“Don’t move,” Sapphire warned Noin. “You two.” She moved the gun between Noin and Hilde. “Just?”

“Her reactions were too fast. She was stressed.” Crystalia pushed her gun down. “Let’s rewind. Your thoughts instead of gun pointing, Sapphire?”

Sapphire put the gun away. “Sorry.”

Dorothy was just smiling at her Crystalia quite brightly. “Lovely good thing you did, Crystalia. Throwing us into the gundams would be a bad thing to do.”

“Sapphire,” Relena addressed her slowly. “Your thoughts, please?”

“If we adjust the settings, Crystalia, we can make the pilots help now. We can just turn it up slower.”

“Threatening the people trying to help you is not how to handle this situation.” Relena covered her face. Everyone here is affected by the zero system.

Crystalia answered her phone. “Mm.” Her phone was on speaker.

“Please, look! We need help. I don’t? Please? Look. My oldest is injured, he’s only eight. We tried to get back into someplace safe, but it didn’t work. My four year old won’t stop crying. We are just in the woods outside of town, I don’t know where else to go, the car is broken down. Please? Please!”

“Where are you?” Noin asked. “Give us exact directions.” After giving directions, Noin and Hilde both headed back toward the gundams.

“If we can get that miserable system out of there, then we can get to them,” Hilde said as she started to remove some of the wires.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Noin asked her as the others came in.

“I’ve worked on Deathscythe for a long time,” Hilde said positively. “This won’t be pretty, but as long as we can get out as soon as possible, I don’t care.”

“Where are you going to put them?” Crystalia asked. “They are just another trio of people we have no place for yet.”

“Look, you leaders figure that out, this is an emergency,” Noin warned her.

“The gundams are illegal to fly,” Crystalia warned them. “We only used them for emergencies.”

“A person is fleeing for their lives out in the woods, and that’s not an emergency?” Noin criticized her. “We’ll be back, Miss Relena.”

“Good luck. Please rescue those people,” Relena said. “We’ll figure out where to put them before they even get back.” Fighters would fight, and it was up to them to figure out the details. “We need to contact Heero’s and the others first. We shouldn’t make them worry. Does anyone have their friends’ number?”

“I have Duo’s but I am kind of busy here,” Hilde said.

“Same over here, Princess, we need to get this stuff out before we can fly them,” Noin said as she pulled out more from the Tallgeese.

Princess? Odd. “Mei-Lin. Middie. Do you have numbers to . . . the guys.” The guys. “The former gundam pilots.”

“I know Wufei. I don’t have my phone, and I don’t remember the number off the top of my head,” Mei-Lin admitted.

“I know Trowa’s. I hardly called it, but I knew it.” She tried to recite it, but kept getting stuck. “Having a phone remember the number for you is easier.”

Oh. “Noin. Hilde. We need numbers before you go.” Hilde came down and took the phone while she continued ripping out the zero system. “Ask him if he had Heero’s number.”

“I have Quatre Raberba Winners,” Crystalia said. “It’s my number. He took my phone. The main phone is what he called on.”

“Hey, Duo.” Hilde was still ripping out more. “It’s okay, I’m okay. I’m actually about to take your old gundam on a mission of my own.” She grunted. “I’m trying to rip out a zero system. Du . . . Du . . . Duo, let me speak. Hang on. First of all, I am okay. Crystalia took control and got us out of the gundams, but I have to get to somebody fast, so I have to leave the phone with Relena. She’s okay too. We are all okay.” She seemed to stop for just a few seconds. “It’s . . . it’s okay. Sorry, I have to give the phone to someone who’s not going. Here.”

She handed it to Relena.

“Duo?” Ooh. She could tell from his overexpression he was excited, and emotional. “I’d really like Heero’s number, so I can make him feel better.” Yes, of course he would tease. “Yes, the number.”

“Princess, I think we are ready,” Noin said toward her. “Where are we being sent to again?”

Relena stared at Noin. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve got the coordinates,” Hilde said. “Let’s go.”

“Right.” Noin got in the Tallgeese. “It should work fine now.”

Relena watched the top of the hangar area open and they left. “I’m still waiting for Heero’s number, Duo. Duo?” He didn’t know the number? Damn. “Okay, then let me speak to Quatre Raberba Winner. Do you have his number?” No? Why wouldn’t either of them have Heero’s number? They would stay closely connected. “Well, who’s number do you have? You have to have more than one number, Duo.”///

Crystalia woke up, hearing sounds in the room. The women were talking to each other. They are influencing each other in the gundams? That’s new. She turned on her back. No, she couldn’t. No, she hadn’t just woken up.

She was in the Wing Zero. “Well, fuck.”

Blue Ruby and Sapphire were right on her screen. She started to get out of the gundam, feeling not good.

“I’m glad that you snapped out of it,” Sapphire said toward Crystalia. “I had to put you in after you killed Superior with the help of Blue Ruby.”

Why? “Superior is dead. Get them out. It’s not needed anymore. They are going to figure it out anyhow. You shouldn’t have done that. How did you do that? How did you do the papers and . . .?” Oh. “You. You really did that?” She looked at the gundams. There were chords moving freely around. She looked over to the next room.

Relena was looking at the papers, still attached to the zero system’s chords.

“Only with one,” Blue Ruby stated. “She’s gotta be partly in the waking world to help.”

Then, Deathscythe and the Tallgeese took off. They just took off? “Why did you leave it all functioning?”

“Oh, they were strapped in. Nobody ever tries to fly,” Sapphire reasoned.

“None of them knew how to fly mobile suits. Those are actual pilots. You forgot to freeze the functions.” Mm. Bad. "Hilde and Noin can't be out like that in their condition."

Crystalia went over to the control panel for the rest of the connected gundams and adjusted the settings. Like she thought, the Deathscythe and Tallgeese were now too far. “This is stupid, this is bad, this is not what a good person does.” She groaned, trying to see straight. “Sapphire.” How dare. “One of my oldest members.”

“We’re dying,” Sapphire said to her. “You need to make a deal or something. Look, we have them.”

Make a deal. “I am leader. I call.” I am affected by the zero system more now. “I need to call Quatre Raberba Winner.” Even strange, she would be better at this than both of them. “I’ll make the deal. What deal?”

Quatre's Colony

Quatre answered the phone on the very first ring, just waiting. “Crystalia?”

“A deal.” She sounded odd. “Umm. I killed Superior. The women are strapped in the zero system. I have some control, but I don’t have all of it. I share it. So.”

So? “We just want everyone back safe,” he said. “That’s all we want. Just, what do you want in exchange for them?”

“Um? There’s a place in . . .”

“This is Blue Ruby.” Another voice came over the phone. “We have your women now, and most of the babies, and their minds are in our complete control. Right now, Noin is losing it a little bit. Relena’s definitely going to be tapping out of reality a little faster. Just, do what we want, and we will slow down the zero system.”

“Then what do you want?” Quatre asked. “We’ll do whatever you want, just give us them back before you tear their minds apart.” Oh, that wasn’t good communication, and he knew it. Too panciked. “What do you want?”

“There are a couple of gundams out there right now, with RTL members, not doing anything wrong.” Another voice. “Leave them alone, or we’ll increase the zero system.”

“As long as they don’t hurt anyone.” They’d be able to stop whatever RTL was up to later.

“No promises what they are doing. Uh? Um. Look! Just, we don’t know the deal yet. Crystalia is still a little out of it.”

A different voice than the last one. “You should go to an address. We’ll text it to you. And. One of you can check it out. Where are you?”

A place to check out? This is really weird. “In the colonies.”

“Oh, I have an address over there. I’ll text it to you. You need to get the residents from there to . . . somewhere? We’ll know if you move them.”

“He won’t know where to move them to.”

“Well, it’s a start?”

These are really the people that got everyone away from us? Quatre sensed no professionalism at all. There was no real plan. “I’d like to talk to Crystalia again if I could?”

“I’m here.” It was her voice. “Double mutiny today. Tell Duo Maxwell to go to the address we give you. For each task you do, we’ll give one hostage up.”

“No, no, no, that is not agreed upon Crystalia!”

“For each task you do,” Crystalia repeated firmly, “we will give one up.”

“You just gave them such a little thing to do, Crystalia!”

“That is an order. If you don’t, then what are you worth, ladies? Complete your orders.”

“Fine, but there is no choice on who it will be. You also will not interfere if you here about any gundam activity in the area!” Another voice was trying to take command.

“Both of you agree with this? Fine, but the next task is definitely a bigger thing.”

While they rambled on, Quatre was already texting Duo the place and the deal. At least Superior is gone. It seems like just a couple of rabble rousers are around Crystalia. I’m sure we can work with this.

Near Duo's Colony

“Okay. The colony wasn’t that far away,” Duo said out loud to no one in particular. “No idea what I’ll find, but as long as I can survive, I don’t care.” Quatre made it clear with the messages that it wouldn’t be smooth sailing, but there would be some form of sailing.

Not a pretty environment. Steel door. One light? Yeah, the funnest ones. The ones that probably had physical guards instead of a fun security system. Whatever. Let’s just get through this. He knocked on the door.

He waited. He heard a familiar scrambling, but not from the door. He moved around some trash cans and found the cause. “Hey.”

There were a couple of kids that stared at him until they tried to take off. One managed too, but the other stayed.

“I’m supposed to help the residents. Here. Can you help me get inside?” he asked. “Do you live here?” That look.

“Got moved here last week.” He shrugged. “There’s a bunch of us that got moved here. Are you the Junior Camp dropper?”

That kid was pretty skinny. Pale. “Yeah.”

The kid went over to the door and played ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ and the door opened. “JC Dropper!” He yelled to them as he ran inside.

When Duo went in, his jaw wanted to drop. The hell is this? There were like thirty kids and five beds. They had stacks of clothes on the ground. Some were older, some were young. All boys. Duo rubbed his bottom lip with his hand. “Okay. Are you all the ones living here?”

“Dropper,” some of them muttered.

“We are down to like 60 cans, and they aren’t the best of the stuff,” one said to him. “We ate all the actual prepared food.”

“Yeah? I’m supposed to be dropping off some food, huh? Who’s watching any of you kids?” Oh yeah, of course. The older kids raised their hands.

Oh. There was one girl in the mix he noticed in the back. He heard someone coming from outside too. Two older kids were returning with a bunch of wet clothes. They stared at Duo.

“Are you the JC dropper?” He looked like the oldest one there, maybe fourteen?

“Yeah,” Duo lied.

“Then what’s JC stand for?” the kid asked.

What did the first kid call him? “Junior Camp.”

“Okay.” The fourteenish year old relaxed. “Shoot. We are catching up with laundry right now, but I’ll help in just a second. Lucas, you take your half and start hanging up in the back.”

“Why are all of you boys except one?” Duo asked.

“Sue wanted to come with her brother. Crystalia didn’t want to force the separation.” He passed Duo.

“Okay. How long you’ve been out here?”

“Does it really matter?” he said to Duo. “Where’s the drop?”

“One second.” Duo left the entrance way and called up Quatre. “So? You got room for like 30 homeless kids, Quat?”

“What?”

“That’s the people who live here.” No adults. “All boys but one. Wasn’t too hard to get in, turns out they are running out of food soon and expected someone to come with it.”

“Okay, I’ll try to get some sleeping bags, I don’t have that many beds. I have some guest quarters, some can have beds. Maybe the younger ones.”

“I would say the youngest is about nineish, and the oldest is about 14 or 15. I’d also just check for who came from the hospital. There are some big racks of medication in the back. They are going to need food too. Real food, Quatre, like lots of it,” he commanded. “Lots of meat. Lots of veggies. Lots of-” He paused. “Not a single soul watching them that’s an adult.”

“I’ll get it prepared. I’ll let Crystalia know you already got it. We’ll see what happens now.”

“They better keep their promise, that is what better happen now,” Duo said firmly. “This better not be chosen for me, because it’s part of their scheme to make me relive my god damn fucking childhood through this!” Nope, too loud. Some of the kids were starting to look out. He just tried to smile at them. “Have a variety, there will probably be some dietary restrictions on some of them.” He went back inside. “So? I’m a different kind of JC dropper. You all ready to go to a better place with better food?”

Yes, a lot of cheering.

“Do we get to go back to our places?” an around ten-year-old asked. “Are we joining with the others now? Is the safety shelter reopening?”

“Is the hospital reopening? We are getting lower on that medicine.”

Hospital. Safety shelter. “Hey, I know. Why don’t you all tell me where you are from? Then I’ll see what I can do.”

These kids were pulled from everywhere, from Earth shelters, to hospitals in the colony. Duo checked out the facts. All of the places they named were- he smashed a roach nearby. Close to shutting down or shut down.

He also found out what a JC Dropper had been. Junior Camps were an organizational distribution that helped out younger kids in disaster situations. RTL didn’t have just STL but the Junior Camp Organization?

“Is anyone older coming too yet?” The oldest one asked. “I get that things are hard, but we’ve been out here for two whole weeks without even one JC Guardian. It was just another JC member who brought more kids. Then more. There isn’t enough room, Sir.”

These kids weren’t born homeless, they got pulled away from the places they needed. He heard coughing in the back and watched another older kid go over to some medicine on a cabinet wall, grabbed some, and brought it over.

“I know, I know.” The older one held up his hands in a stop sign motion. “We aren’t supposed to be dealing with the medication, but there’s no JC Guardian, and the last person who dropped off more kids said we have to start giving it out on our own without one.”

There was a lot of medicine on that wall too. Duo went to go inspect it. It was all good medicine, nonexpired, and plenty of it. The cabinets from the medicine looked like they used to have holes in them for deadlocks. JC Guardians used to lock it all up. There were also first aid kids in the back. There was lots of extra soap and shampoo but one shower. From its state, it got used plenty, but the beds mattresses were clean. It was decent, just overcrowded. Five beds. Limited cabinets. This was a place fit for four older JC kids, and one adult. It even had a washer. In its day, decent. But now?

Small space, large amount of kids, good medicine. It looked like trying from both sides. Maybe someone was supposed to come soon, but that was off the agenda now. “Hey, oldest ones,” he said out to the room. “Show me how to stack this medicine.” This was going to take several trips.

He needed to take a proportionate amount of young and old each trip, so the youngest didn’t end up alone figuring out problems. The first trip would be the youngest, to relieve some of this burden. He took the first group by the age, and by whose medicine he grabbed.

One of the older kids started to bring over the actual tabs of doctor signatures to prove they could have the medicine. Duo pocketed the ones he needed for the first load.

Luckily, they were just moving from colony to colony and not colony to Earth. Soon, they should be getting one of their friends back. He was happy they’d be able to get anyone back but? Please, let it be my Hilde first. She already went through this once, just let it end on her.

At the Destination

“This is definitely the place,” Noin said. “We’ll have to be careful with the gundams.”

“It was a good thing we had them though.” Hilde popped open the Deathscythe. It would have taken forever to get there otherwise. Mobile suits were built for speed, especially the version of the Deathscythe built for Earth she was driving. “Ow.” Hilde felt a large pain in her arm.

She twisted her other arm. “That stupid zero system they tried on us, really hurt my arms. Eventually, her arm started to feel better. But, ow.

She got out of the gundam with Noin still in hers. “You coming?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little sore.” Noin started to come out. “That zero system, really hurt my arms. The seating is a tight squeeze.”

“Yeah, it was a squeeze and my arms feel pulverized.” Still hurt. “What do we do now?”

“One of us should scout for them, and we’ll get them someplace safe until someone else from the group can get them,” Noin said. “You stay with the gundams, and I’ll help the civilians.” She looked at Hilde. “Ooh, your kind of bleeding.”

Hilde looked at her arms. “Yeah, maybe that’s why they hurt.” She looked at Noin. “You are too.”

“It doesn’t look like too much. We’ll get it bandaged up later. Just stay with the gundams. Take out if anyone sees you, these couldn’t be any more illegal in this world now.”

“I know. But? At least if someone sees them, they are the mobile suits that stood more for peace for people.”

They heard sounds in front of them, and both of them drew closer to their gundams.

“Are you them?” A woman came out carrying a child while another one was next to them. “Are you from Burner Enforcers?” She seemed shocked. "You can't be them. What are you doing out here like that?'

“We are the ones who were sent for you,” Hilde went with. “Noin is going to take you to safety.” Hilde would stay with the gundams.

“You have your reasons.” She brought her children closer. “I know things are really hard right now. I don’t understand or know what’s going on with everything, I just need help from anyone right now. I'm really sorry it took these lengths.”

“So who’s after you?” Noin asked.

“One of their father’s,” she said looking toward her youngest beside her. “He won full custody because of his status, even though the kids swore to everyone he was a bad man.”

“He hit,” her youngest said. “I had a bruise this big.” He held both hands in a circle.

“They heard my plea thankfully in STL, transported me with a group called RTL, and then sent me to something called a burner group in a different division, and helped us two years ago.” She looked at Noin. “Obviously, I can’t go to the law.”

“Because you are running from it,” Noin said.

Hilde looked at the young boy. She looked at the girl in their momma’s arms. They were clinging to her so hard.

“I don’t wanna get caught, I don’t want to go back to him,” the girl said. “Please, he’s not nice. He’s really not nice. I had to wear the thickest hoses to cover so people didn’t see.” She was starting to cry. “It’s supposed to be over, I thought it was all over.”

“Yeah. I see, it’s okay.” Noin looked toward Hilde and nodded. “Safety. Now.”

Hilde went back up in the Deathscythe and connected back to RTL. She tried to move some of the controlling back up. “Hey, we found them. Noin is taking them to safety. You need to have someone nearby come pick them up.”

“We have someone already on the way. She’s going to meet you at a certain hotel.” They gave the name of the hotel. “After that, you can come back.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Noin didn’t discuss the goods or the bads of what they were doing. She just helped navigate the mother and her children through the woods. She knew the system wasn’t perfect, and sometimes a high enough status could win anything.

Noin heard a bullet nearby. She reached for a gun, but remembered she didn’t have one. “Get down on the ground!” Okay, yeah, stuff like this really cemented things in the direction of belief.

“I don’t know how to use this very well.” The mother pulled a pistol out of her purse. “It’s for emergencies.”

Good enough. Noin took it as she heard another shot. “Stay down.” She moved backward some, trying to get a good eye for the shooter. Next time, bring a gun, Noin. She held it steady but detected movement and shot toward it.

After that, she took back off with the mother and her children. That shot might have kept them away. She didn’t hear anything else, and she didn’t detect any movement. What kind of idiot fires on civilians?

She helped them across the street and kept the mother close in her view. She wasn’t going to lose them. She led them to the hotel she needed to.

A lady in a lovely dress with a lovely hat waved at them. “Oh, hi there. My name is Ruth T. Lee.”

RTL. Cute way to get it across. Noin watched behind her. “Someone’s shooting at her. Make sure you lose them.”

She tipped her hat. “I am more trained that I appear. I will be super careful.” She looked at the little boy’s injury. “I think it’s just a sprain. Don’t worry, Sweetie. We have people to look at it.”

“Thank you,” The mother said. “Honey, get inside,” she told her oldest. “Thank you very much too, Miss Noin. I don’t know what we would have done without you. Although, you still shouldn't have come. Are you coming with us?”

“Just take care of those kids,” Noin said. She needed to get back to the gundam.

Ruth T. Lee just stared at her. "You should really come with us. You shouldn't be dealing with guns, Dear."

Grr! "I am not in the mood for this."

"I insist you come, in," Ruth T. Lee insisted.

People were shooting and after them. "I don't have time for this!" She pointed the gun at Ruth T. Lee. "Get them out of here!"

"Ooh, a crazy one, okay. Nothing I can do about that." She held her hat as she jumped into the car.

Noin watched as the car took off briefly. The connections had fallen apart that RTL had used to keep people like that safe. It was their own fault. 

She headed back through until she reached Hilde. “Let’s head back.”

Her and Hilde started to take off.

“Oh. Noin?” Hilde asked. “Do you remember which way it had been?”

“No idea.” Noin used the communicator. “Princess Relena, we are having troubles finding the place that we need to find.” Oh, that sentence was all over the place. “Which way is home, can you send data?” She saw some data feed toward her. “Okay, follow me to home.”

When Noin and Hilde came back to the base, they didn’t get the warmest greeting.

“Hey, what are you? Quit that!” Hilde tried to fight off Blue Ruby. “We are trying to help, quit fighting with me!”

Noin tried to hold her back. “You need to reign yourself in,” Noin insisted. Her eyes caught a strange chord though coming from Wing Gundam around the corner. “What’s that?”

“You spotted Relena’s chord to the zero system.” Crystalia’s voice came from the Wing Zero.

What? “You can’t put the Princess through that!”

“I’m not doing anything, I’m in here too,” Crystalia said to Noin. “I am just watching you through the cameras and guessed.”

Guessed? Noin grabbed Blue Ruby. “We try and help you, and this is how you repay us?! People out there are in real trouble, people you were protecting and now they are all being killed because you couldn’t stop using the zero system!”

“Noin,” Hilde warned her. “Stop. Noin. Noin!” 

Noin looked back at Hilde. “They are harming Princess Relena! All of these crazy zero systems!” She grabbed her head and staggered. “Damn Treize, creating Epyon, and those scientists. Princess Relena only ever wanted peace in the Sank Kingdom. How could they do this to her?”

She felt something get on her back. “Zechs, I couldn’t protect your sister.”

“Noin.” She heard someone’s voice near her. “Noin. She isn’t a princess. Noin? Where is the convenience store?”

Blue Ruby and Sapphire got Noin back in the gundam and strapped in. Impressive. Of course, to actually rescue anyone, she had to break that connection. Meanwhile, Hilde looked like a bear through the monitors Crystalia watched through being stuck in the gundam again. “A bear with a beret. A bearet.” Interesting. “I made a joke.”

“Good job, yes, Crystalia!” She heard cheering from Dorothy of course. “What a nice joke that had been. Ah, the only thing is, this isn’t the time for a joke.”

True. She watched Hilde darting her eyes around, her fists were very tight, ready to punch one of them out. “You are not getting me into the zero system again, not happening!” Hilde was very much fighting against it. She was a decent fighter. She managed to land a hit on Blue Ruby, and hit Sapphire where it definitely hurt.

Yes, she was definitely a friend of a pilot who made sure she knew how to fight. She watched her coming toward her gundam, trying to yank it open.

Oh. She got it opened. Ouch, that hurt. Crystalia felt herself getting lifted out. She tried to help Hilde out with that. “That didn’t help you. I am affected by the zero system. What is around me, might not be around me at all. Same for you, Bearet.”

“I’ve been there,” Hilde insisted, “but I get the feeling you are the only way we are getting out of here. Where exactly are we again? Somewhere bad, I just fought two people off.”

“I made a joke,” Crystalia said. “Did you hear my joke? Bear with beret? Platinum liked it.”

“I most certainly did, it was a very funny joke. I mean you, you made the joke, and it was funny,” Dorothy said.

Hilde looked at the chord going to Relena. “I need to follow that.”

"Don't follow it Momma Bear," Crystalia warned her. "Stay, Bearet. Zero system has you. It's dangerous."

Hilde winced. “I am out of the zero system, I know I am, I know I am!” She headed over the corner to find Relena. “You! You are trapped in the zero system!”

Relena just looked at her oddly. “No, I’m not. You are, Hilde.”

Huh? Hilde looked at the chord behind her. It was hooked to her, not Relena. Maybe. Crystalia watched as Hilde started to flip out and Blue Ruby and Sapphire grabbed her and dragged her back. Was she still hooked up?

Relena called out around the corner, still dragging her chords. “Why is she still hooked to chords?”

“Oh. Mutiny,” Crystalia said.

“But what are those chords?” Relena demanded. “Why was that woman in chords?”

“Crystalia.” Sapphire’s warning voice. “Be good. Back to your gundam.”

“You’ll need to release one of them soon. The pilots will beat your task. Make your next one’s tougher if you want, but you can’t break your word or you fail.” Crystalia walked away. “I recommend Dorothy.”

“But Dorothy betrayed us!” Blue Ruby complained.

“Hold it right there.” Relena tried to get them to tell her more, when . . .

Mother? What was she doing there? Her eyes so happy, her hair all put up in a lovely bun. “Mother?”

“Relena,” she said sweetly. “It’s okay.” She held her arms out. “You can come back to me now, can’t you, Relena? Don’t you remember me?”

“Of course, I remember you.” What an odd question. She saw a vision of herself hugging her mother, telling her she would always be her mother.

“You left. You found out you were a Peacecraft, told me I would always be your mother, and left.” She shook her head in disappointment. “How could I not come here? I lost my husband and my daughter to the military and politics.”

What? “No, of course you didn’t. I’m here. I know that father isn’t, but I’m here. There’s no reason you would be in RTL.” She wouldn’t.

“Why didn’t you ever come see me again?” she asked. “Afterward. You still didn’t come back home, Relena.”

“I have seen you again, I’m sure of it? I didn’t need to live at home, I was more concerned about helping the state of the world, Mother.” Mother. “Did I really never visit? Did I show you them?”

“Showed me who? You’ve showed me no one. I’ve never met the man that so completely captured your heart.” She looked so sad. “You cut me off, I no longer meant anything to you.”

“I didn’t. I.” Did she? Relena grabbed her head. “I didn’t do that. I would never just leave you forever. I was growing up, figuring out things, but I never . . .”

“You never left me?” she asked. “Did you come back to me?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’m sure I did.” Surely she did. “Mother? Mother!”

“Do you visit your father’s grave?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sure I do,” Relena said. “I visit many graves.”

“Do you visit mine?” she asked.

“You’re not dead, Mother.”

“That’s what it took to get a visit? Then come visit me. I’m gone.”

“You are not gone.”

“Of course I am. When’s the last time you heard from me?”

When was the last time she had heard from her? When was the last time? “I? You couldn’t be.”

“Relena. A pilot lost their mom not too long ago. RTL is still hurting Crystalia. You’re ignoring the facts.”

“No, but.” Not her. “You wouldn’t be dead. You wouldn’t be. I’m sure of it.”

“You would have to visit me to know. You’d have to call to know. I miss you, Relena.”

“Don’t talk like that, you are not dead, Mother!” No, she hadn’t been. “I’m sure you aren’t. I know you aren’t.”

---

“Which one do we send?” Blue Ruby asked Sapphire. “Crystalia wants us to send Dorothy, but she was a betrayer. She left the group, she was on her way to the colonies and everything.”

“We can’t send any of the others. The zero system hasn’t done much. It would look like we weren’t serious. If they think we aren’t serious, they won’t help anymore.” Right now, 42 kids would be saved from one task alone. It was a drop in the bucket to what they needed.

“I don’t know. Relena is in the next room talking to nobody like it’s her mother. It could be hitting on her finally,” Blue Ruby offered. “Then again, she is helping with things. I don’t think she can help much longer if we leave her like that. We should remove her so she’ll stay useful.”

“Yes. Noin is losing it some too,” Sapphire noted. “She’s not there yet. Hilde is too wild, she almost pinned us down for good. Neither of them can see what’s wrong yet. If she hadn’t had after effects of the zero system, it could have ended bad for us.”

“What about Mei-Lin and Middie? They have been really quiet lately.” Blue Ruby went over to their gundams. “They might be excellent, they have little past to even remember involving the pilots. They both didn’t join until they were supposedly pregnant.”

“Middie’s a fighter, she can be taught better. Mei-Lin wanted to help with cooking. She genuinely wanted to help. It’s all falling apart.”

“You know, Mei-Lin never even got a word of encouragment to hang on by Wufei. He couldn’t find her. That’s how easily breakable those two are.” Blue Ruby smiled. “Unlike the others, she won’t be able to find herself on the internet anywhere. Nobody knows her. She was no one. We can’t let her go, she could be really loyal to us.”

“Same for Hilde. Nobody knew her, and she’s a really good fighter. Her and Noin both just saved someone without even being told to. Only thing wrong with that is obvious.” Sapphire walked around the gundams. “This would work. If we give them proper ID’s to let them wander around, this would work.”

“What?” Blue Ruby asked.

“We won’t destroy their minds. We won’t even bother their intellect, let’s focus on the brain where it matters.” Sapphire smiled. “This’ll work! I’ve got it.” Yes. “We will give one back, just as promised. We’ll give the one that we don’t need anymore.” The pilots would decide her fate. “We’ll give them the key to find the others. Crystalia.” The system was almost done with her anyway.

“Crystalia?” Blue Ruby groaned. “She knows all of the places that we could possibly go! She’s the creator, the one who did everything. Are we going to destroy her mind?”

“Not completely. We’ll let her guide them. Without Superior, we can end the zero system after this. They should already be starting, Crystalia called for emergency procedures. The more the pilots are seen to the average member? The pilots won’t kill anyone, they swore it a long time ago. We can make it an order for the others not to kill or hurt them.” Sapphire remembered that. “The pilots won’t know who’s bad or good. Using the ID’s. They will just be looking for their family like crazy. They’ll just keep searching and searching. One by one, clearing out everything involved in RTL’s messes. Making sure the innocent survive this mess, before it’s all fully dissolved.”

Yes! She got behind the communications. “New Orders From Crystalia from her second in command, Sapphire! No one is to kill or hurt 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, or Zechs Merquise, Millardo Peacecraft AKA Relena Dorlain’s brother! That is an ultimate order, and if you break it, you will be a failure! You will find the closest way to end your life and take it.” She heard the basic agreement of mission accepted of course. No disagreement, like always. “We need to start making ID’s for each group entrance they can be allowed into. We’ll send them with Crystalia.”

“I guess it’s manipulation at it’s finest,” Blue Ruby sort of agreed. “They are helping their worst enemy. What tasks do we give them to get the rest?”

Blue Ruby still didn’t understand. “We don’t have to give tasks. We give them Crystalia, ID’s, orders to RTL, and they can play puzzle searcher all they want. They’ll be coming everywhere to find them. Even when they find them, we’ll make sure they won’t go easily.”

Oh. That setting. It was a setting Sapphire didn’t like to use, but it was commonly used. Especially with new people. “I’m tired of all this senseless death. I thought it was bad when we were sending unborn children and five innocent women to their death. That’s nothing now, so many more have died. We need this to stop.” A couple of days after the adjustment of the zero system they experienced. Then they’d use it.

“They need to get them though through tasks. It’s an order.” Blue Ruby was always much more conditioned than Sapphire. “We have to, it’s Crystalia’s order. I’m not failing. Besides, even if they don’t remember them, it’s fair if we give them back. We have to. It can be big, but-”

“Okay.” Part of the order. “Let’s get started. I want them to have the information within 24 hours. Pull the women from the zero system, and follow emergency procedures Crystalia had laid out.”

About twenty four hours later . . .

Quatre stared at everyone in his biggest room. He had at least forty five children in his home now, of various ages, all eating and drinking. “Triple checked, Duo?” It was more than Duo originally thought. Shortly after visiting, Duo found out there were even more older ones that came and gone.

The older children suffered the most. Fifteen and over weren’t supposed to eat from the food stash for the younger ones until a JC Guardian came back. They could rest and get clothes, but they were supposed to go out and find their own food. Duo held himself together for a lot of things, but when he heard that? He definitely didn’t care there were very young kids around in the house.

He ranted for a little while, casting judgment against the whole of RTL, even stating the fifteen age limit was probably because that’s when they were sent to Earth with the gundams. He hadn’t really said a word to Quatre or anyone as he stood there and just made sure they all were safe, with food to eat. Especially the older ones.

Quatre had to think about what to do with all these children. He could give them houses on any of the Winner colonies that he had control of, but they were all too young. They needed someone official to watch over them. The official people that used to watch over them in their areas, were gone. They either lost the entities that were watching over them, or they were picked up by others that the entities had let through the doors.

This was going to take some time to get each one back into some kind of entities care, or back to their parents. Most of them had none, but some did say they still had their familes, but the ones who took them swore this would be better for them.

It obviously wasn’t better. “Duo. I can’t watch 45 kids by myself.”

“The older ones help take care of the younger ones, it won’t be all on you.” Duo finally spoke again. “Just make sure they get clothes and food each day. Check on them. Check the medications.”

“I’ll do my best to get them all somewhere safe, that can legally take care of them in much better conditions,” Quatre agreed. “I’m paying staff overtime to help. This wasn’t any of their jobs.”

“How much longer?” Duo asked. “They said they were dropping one of the women in the zero system off like six hours ago. They better not be lying.” He crossed his arms. “They really better not be lying.”

“Master Quatre?” Quatre’s intercom went off. “We have someone bound in chains up front.”

“Ooh, a surprise gift.” Duo left the room.

Quatre looked toward all the kids, and the servants trying to help, and then followed after Duo. They both headed to the front.

They saw what the guards brought out. Crystalia, bound in cuffs on the hands, the legs, and chained together with a small bag on her.

“ . . .” Quatre didn’t know what to say. “Bring her inside.”

“But don’t take those cuffs or chains off,” Duo added. “I knew that whole ‘woman of zero system’ wasn’t going to turn out well.”

When they got her in a decent room that she couldn’t escape, Quatre called Trowa. He should know first.

“So what are we doing? Being nice so Trowa can meet her before we keelhaul her off to jail?” Duo complained. He got more near to her. “Are you the one that left 45 kids to defend for themselves on a colony?”

“Yes,” she answered calmly.

“Why did you do that?” Duo’s voice was dark.

“No one would take care of them. Only the younger children and girls got placed. I got them a place and JC droppers to give them a chance to survive. Only a chance,” she said.

She looked out of it. This was Crystalia? Quatre felt her forehead. No fever. “They weren’t lying. They sent someone from their zero system alright.”

“I killed Superior,” Crystalia said. She started to blow some hair out of her face. “I shot her when she wasn’t looking. I made a joke too. Platinum liked it.”

“What happened when you killed Superior?” Quatre asked. “Who are the other people making the deal?”

“Sapphire and Blue Ruby,” she said. “They threw me in Wing Zero again. I hate it when they do that.” She blew at the hair in front of her face. “I shot Superior in the head. She deserved it. She ruined my chips.”

Duo waved his hand in front of her. “This bird is a long ways away, Quatre.”

“She’s a little scattered,” Quatre agreed, “but she’s still there. What’s happening with the others?”

“Nothing,” she answered. “You just have to search them out now.”

“Search them out?” Duo asked. “Fine, sure, where?”

“They aren’t going to lose themselves completely,” she said. “The zero system, in it’s raw form, affects differently. I made a joke. Platinum liked it.”

Duo hung his head. “This isn’t going well.”

“What was the joke?” Quatre asked.

“Beret, but spelled like bear mixed with beret. That’s a joke.”

Beret?

“Hilde’s beret.” Duo knew what it meant.

“She was fighting like a bear. In a beret. That’s how I made the joke,” Crystalia said. “Bearet.”

Duo smiled with a light sadness. “That sounds like Hilde.”

“That is Hilde. She will remain a bear in a beret,” Crystalia said. “They aren’t going to erase their minds anymore. They accidentally showed them how useful they were. Noin and Hilde had taken gundams and rescued someone.”

“They took gundams?” Duo growled. “Are you kidding? The gundam things we weren’t supposed to be involved in, was actually them?!”

“Yes. They will be out there,” Crystalia said. “In some capacity, your bear in a beret will stay out there. She is there. Her memory won’t be, but she will be there. You just have to reach them, or win them.”

“How do we do that?” Quatre asked.

“I created it all. I know all the emergency areas. I know how to find information. You have gundams, that are connected to the systems, to catch orders and what’s going on. You can try and get to them, convince them they are the women you know. Most likely it will fail, it takes time to convince anyone under the zero system. However, they will always be loyal to RTL. If you win, they will have to come to you by order, giving you all the time in the world to convince them of who you are.”

Duo tapped his fingers on the wall as he leaned against it. Quatre just gestured to the bag on her.

Duo outright grabbed it and looked in. “ID’s?” He started to dig through them. “You are going to send us on fetch quests?” Duo said bitterly. “Hoping that we do all your dirty work.”

“Not me. RTL,” she corrected him. She blew her hair again.

“It’s in the way.”

Quatre watched Heero and Trowa. They had both came into the room already?

“Didn’t feel like keeping your little twins at the circus, Heero?” Duo asked. 

“It isn’t a spot for them yet,” Heero said simply, holding two carriers. “That is less of a spot for them, I don’t trust it.”

Quatre looked at the twins. It’s good to see Heero taking care of them. At least. They look like him too.

Quatre watched Trowa go over to see Crystalia. For the first time. Mother and son, for the first time. Trowa came closer to her, studying her.

“I guess you two heard the whole thing, just being so quiet in a corner even a mouse would have jumped when you spoke?” Duo said, a little bitterly. “Seriously, how did those babies stay so quiet? Is it a family trait?”

Trowa tried to move his mother’s hair out of the way. “How much have you experienced the zero system, Crystalia?”

“Lost count,” she answered. “You got bigger.”

“What do you want to do, Trowa?” Heero asked. “It’s up to you.”

“We are keeping her, she’s got all the information to finding them,” Duo said, not quite understanding what Heero or Trowa was meaning.

Quatre definitely felt something between Heero and Trowa. They discussed something. Something important. “Are you more aware of what happened to Crystalia, Heero?”

Heero didn’t answer at first.

“Heero is going to spend some time alone with her,” Trowa told them. “I’ll tell you why outside this room.” Trowa took the twins from Heero before he headed for the door.

Duo and Quatre headed out with Trowa while Heero stayed. Heero got closer to her. Eyes. Gestures. He looked at his fingerless gloves on his hand. Hm.

He punched her, waiting to see how she reacted. No anger or vengeance. No pleasure. Nothing.

“Hi to you too.”

Humor? Maybe. Same kind of dead eyes looking back at him. He pulled out a switchknife. “Do you care if I kill you?” It looked like something sparked in her eyes.

“I’d prefer if you not.”

Interesting. He put the switchblade back away. “How many times did they try to . . .” It hurt more than he thought to say it. “Remove your humanity?”

She just stared at him. “How many for you?”

“Once and it was enough.” He watched her eyes. Watched her gestures.

“Five for raw, 125 with training wheels,” she answered.

Yeah. That made sense. She felt so much worse than him. Except, she made a joke. That was still some kind of emotion. Some form of joy. “Who’s been working with you?”

“Heero didn’t know what it was called,” Trowa explained to Quatre and Duo. “He showed too much empathy one time for a little girl and her puppy that he accidentally killed. The people he worked with, used something on him. It was supposed to remove his humanity. He suspects, that it might be similar to this strange zero system news. He is going to interrogate Crystalia to find out.”

“She’s not herself,” Quatre said. “I’m sorry that something happened to Heero. I thought . . . I felt something.”

“He gets better with time,” Duo added. “And he’s got a girlfriend, girlfriend helps.”

“No, it’s less a girlfriend, than who she is.” Quatre touched where his heart beat through his vest. He’d felt it a long time ago, shortly after his experience with Wing Zero. He didn’t know it at the time, but it was Relena. “She reacted differently with him.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Duo touched the top of his cap. “You should have seen how I first met them. I thought she was crazy.”

“She could reach him. Understand him,” Quatre agreed.

Duo looked toward Trowa. “So. What do we do about this?”

“Start looking. Keep our eye on Crystalia, and then turn her in when we get what we need,” Trowa said. “I can’t be gentle just because she’s my mother. I don’t even know her.”

Heero opened the door almost aggressively. “You really think it’s just going to be that easy? Trowa, your mother. Whatever happened to her, she’s almost gone. There’s a thin level of humanity in her. It’s real faint. I have a feeling she’s been in the raw zero system again.”

“Raw zero system?” Duo asked. “Is that what the memory loss the zero system causes is gonna be called?”

“We’ve all used the zero system,” Heero explained. “It triggers when things intensify, and it can cause anything from nightmares to visions of oncoming futures. It only affects you when you are running it. It doesn’t have long-lasting consequences. You can get used to it.”

“The raw zero system is gonna have long consequences then? Like, with what Quatre said about Dorothy?” Duo asked. “Is Hilde gonna eventually . . .” He gestured to the room Heero left. “She’s not gonna become like her, is she?”

“She would have, if Quatre hadn’t gone to the base to ask for a deal.” Heero glanced toward Quatre. “Thank you.”

Quatre wanted to accept it. He should, it was polite. But? Doing that.

“I know what it cost you,” Heero added. “You don’t have to say your welcome, but I’m saying thank you anyway.”

Quatre nodded.

“Listen” Heero explained. “They took them off the zero system for two days, then they’ll be on training wheels. This means there is a chance we might be able to reach them before there is irreversible damage to their character,” Heero stated as he took the carriers back from Trowa. “I’ve already got a list of places to check out. If I see someone that looks like your friends, I will let you know right away,” he promised right before one of his twins started to cry out. “I need to go. I have my ID share. She can explain it all to you. I have to go.”

“Character.” Duo didn’t look so well. “Are we all saying that they aren’t even gonna remember us? Them?”

“They’ll have their character, if we figure it out soon enough,” Heero stated. “Crystalia said they will eventually give them back after large tasks. Don’t grump. Don’t groan. Just do it, and get them back as soon as possible.” 

“Well, no sacrifice of our friends, boo hoo,” Duo mocked. “Geez, these women of RTL, even committing suicide to . . .?” It started to hit Duo. “It’s all the zero system, isn’t it? Is Hilde gonna hate me so bad she’s going to want to kill me?”

Heero didn’t answer his question, just headed out. “Update Wufei and Zechs of everything when they get here.” He did turn around one more time. “If you see your friend, do not waste time. Try to reach them as much as possible. Make sure they know you aren’t a threat to them. Be as honest about your emotions as possible. If you have to wait to get them from RTL themselves, it’ll be harder to reach them.”

Heero left, leaving the three pilots there to think.

Quatre went back into the room with Crystalia. There were a lot of ID’s and papers of tasks. “Any paper?” he asked. She nodded. “100 tasks from all these different sources.” The ID’s were from Emergency areas to different ID’s of different official organizations. RTL was really involved in much more than even Relena predicted.

“With maps, with circles.” Trowa sighed as he looked at it.

“All the locations, to try to find . . .” Yeah, Duo was right. “We have to clean up your messes and do your dirty work.” Quatre tried not to squish it all. “We get to play find the needle in the haystack, to find people you had no right to take from us!” Dorothy. Zara Amira. “I saw them for a car ride. Strapped them in. And.” Gone.

Crystalia didn’t say anything. She didn’t show one sign of empathy.

“It’s called forget your way, you give ID’s, we’ll be going straight to every place to find them!” Duo yelled at her.

“Okay.” Crystalia didn’t say anything else.

“We won’t do it RTL’s way,” Trowa agreed. “Thank you for bearing me, and thank you for the tablet. I have nothing else to thank you for.”

Heero waited in the rental car. He stayed in the back seat with Sophia who was fussing. Twins. It was either one or the other. It only made sense, they were human. They needed care. “I can’t do this alone.” Relena was right to have been prepared with a different kind of help.

He watched as Sophia beat on his fingerless gloves until she tried to put her mouth on it. He moved it away, but he caught Relena’s smile in her expression just right. “They need Crystalia, to play with us pilots. For now, the circus is where I have to keep you.” He left a finger in hers.

For him, because of the removal of his humanity, he tried to follow his emotions, when he realized what he wanted or needed. That wasn’t always easy. Accomplishing missions verses taking care of one's own wants and needs could cause some difficulty in detecting what one needed at the time.

No one out there was really like him. Quatre and Trowa seemed to have a small grasp, but even they couldn’t understand. Following what little emotion you could pick up, was important, to keeping what you could of humanity. It wasn’t fully removed, it was just harder to detect.

It would be five times harder for Crystalia. Yeah. He needed something else at that moment. To follow another emotion. “I’m going to do the best I can to bring your mother back. People will care for you at the circus. If I can’t bring her back right away, I will stop and see you once a month. I need to.” He tried to smile for Sophia. Nothing as big and bright as hers. “Your smile will help me get through this.”

He placed her back in her carrier, and carried them both toward Quatre’s home again. When he went back inside, he laid down the carriers by Trowa. “Take them to the circus with your mother. RTL doesn’t want to threaten her, she’s a key point of knowledge in what they want.” Then, he grabbed his gun and pointed it at Trowa. “If anyone hurts or kills Crystalia, I’ll kill them.”

Of course, the least likely to understand reacted. Duo. “Whoah. We didn’t plan on doing anything, she’s the key to finding them. Relax, Heero.”

“I won’t ever hurt her,” Quatre said to Heero, seeming to understand better. “Time will help, right? With the right person.”

Trowa was who he was aiming his gun at through. He had his arms up, trying to see. “I see. No jail then, but she would be better off in a facility with care, Heero.”

“She would be better off with her family and friends,” Heero said to her firmly. “Take her back to Catherine Bloom.”

“Heero?” Duo just had to interject. “Crystalia kind of played around with our lives. Hard. Like, real hard. She messed with the women too. Babies. Was part of RTL again? Created the damn thing?”

Heero glanced toward Duo. Nope, he wouldn’t get it. He could waste time and explain to him why Crystalia chose the things she did. He would only waste that time for Trowa. “She can’t feel her emotions as well. She fought between her humanity and her missions. Trowa, Alec is yours. She would accomplish her mission in that state to not get caught or it would put you and Catherine in more danger. There would be too much to lose.”

“There’s . . . no telling,” Trowa said to Heero. “About Alec. He doesn’t have a twin. It’s not a sure thing, but the drug usually attributes to twins. He is probably Duo’s brother instead of his nephew.”

Mmm. Heero heard that loud and clear.

“Oh god.” Yeah, and so did Quatre. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry, Trowa. I-”

“He has your eyes,” Heero warned him. “Don’t take everything on face value. What happened was after what Crystalia did.”

“I’ve tried to watch for her,” Trowa answered. “Now, I can’t. Now I have to watch over Crystalia, or I’ll be killed by you.”

“Just? Just, wait, everybody hold on!” Quatre demanded. “Okay. Heero? No one is going to hurt Crystalia. But. Trowa can’t just wipe this all away-”

“Then I’ll take her.” It would be even better, he’d have the keys to finding the women, and he could help her. Both mission and human needs taken care of at once.

“You want to take the woman responsible for giving you twins?” Duo pointed out. “That made you flee with Relena for so long?”

“Yes. Be careful with Sophia and Sora. I’ll come and see them every once in awhile,” Heero told Trowa. “Is your mom allowed to come too or not?”

“She knows where the troupe would be,” Trowa answered. “The circus will take care of them.”

Getting an answer, Heero left through the doors back to Crystalia. “She’s still in chains and cuffs, Quatre.”

“We thought she’d be a danger,” Quatre said. “If you are the one responsible though, I’ll get some assistance to take them off.”

Heero waited next to Crystalia. None of the pilots had left as he waited. “The twins do not get fussy together unless you take too long to address one of them. They need comfort right away. Sophia usually needs more comfort.”

He continued to wait until she was freed. He looked back at her. “You are staying with me.”

Crystalia didn’t seem phased at all. She just barely blinked her eyes like she was tired.

“You’ve done too much to your son and daughter to visit the circus or them again,” Heero stated to her. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You will have to stay behind at times from me. It can be dangerous,” he warned her. “You are in a fragile mind-state. When you are left alone, you can only do a specific list of instructions I set forth. No talking to anyone but me. I will have a codeword for you.”

Crystalia shook her head again.

Good. “You have a lot of fight in you. Keep fighting, and you’ll get a little better. It’s a long road,” he warned her. “I’m not the best coach in this kind of thing. I had a much better coach. If we get Relena, she’ll be able to help more. She has a really good grasp on things.”

“Oh. You should marry her,” she said. “Then you won’t lose your coach as easy.”

“She was more than a coach,” he said. “She was a friend. She stood up to more than one attempt on her life, by me. I was saving her on intuition before I could process what I wanted. She’s attractive and she has a beautiful smile. Sophia has that same smile. It’s keeping me going. We should go.”

“Can we stop for chips later?” she asked. “I like these um . . .”

Like. She liked something, good sign. “Tell me about the chips you like.”

“They crunch. I can’t remember the name. They are like jelly for a little while, very moist when you bite into them, but still crunchy. Superior ruined my chips. I killed her.”

“That was good. Keeping memories of what you like, helps you. We’ll find your chips. Do you like anything else?”

“Popcorn. Plain or buttered,” she said as she grabbed one of the carriers instinctively. “Not always to eat. It’s one of my favorite smells. They don’t have popcorn for a room air cleaner.”

“No, they don’t.” His gut agreed with what she had just done too. Except. I can't risk them on gut instinct. “Leave the carrier." She easily placed it down. No, he needed to work more with her first. "Let’s go.” Finding the chips and the smell of popcorn would be beneficial in the future.

“Heero!”

Heero turned around when he heard Trowa’s voice.

“She is allowed to visit with supervision,” he corrected him. “Cathy would want to see her.”

Heero nodded. “Do you want to say goodbye to her?”

Trowa looked at his mother. “Goodbye. I will see you later.”

Right. Heero watched Crystalia. She jerked her finger slightly at the goodbye.

“I will see you,” she answered. She locked eyes to Trowa. “Triton.”

Okay. Heero grabbed her hand. It was time to go. Trowa would probably regret not taking her then and there. The pilots would probably play the 'ignore tasks and find the others on their own' game.

This wasn’t a waiting game. Getting to them all as fast as possible would ensure the best ending. He didn’t want to lose what made Relena, Relena. He didn’t even want her to lose her memories of him.

But if she kept her character, he should still be able to point a gun at her, and she’d be okay.

After all, he did it before she even knew him. First thing? Chips.

Crystalia remembered a certain kind of chip, it made her happy. A favorite chip. Before they went to the shuttle to go to Earth, he stopped in a convenience store. He took her to the chip section.

She browsed. He waited. She might need time to sort it out in her head. She walked from the right and left side of the aisle, studying the chips.

“I always find these. They are good. Similar. Can’t find the original,” she said.

Heero went over to look. It was a baked chip. Jelly chip. He never heard of any chip she had described before. Maybe it was in a chip bag, but not a chip? “Keep searching here. I’ll check elsewhere.”

Chip bag. Something like a chip. Fried fries, in the form of a chip? Heero felt his phone ring. Trowa. 

“It's Trowa. I am going. Are you sure you trust your twins at the circus? I need to be sure before I go.”

“Yes.” Chips. These baked chips were in a different area.

“How is Crystalia doing?” Trowa asked. “Are you watching her closely?”

“No.” There was no reason to. “I’m looking for something like chips.”

“Chips?”

“Chips with a jelly like sensation inside. I think it might be something different than a chip.”

“Why are you looking for chips, Heero?”

“Crystalia wants them.” Popcorn. He found a bag of popcorn. “Does your circus use more buttery popcorn or regular popcorn.”

“It’s regular popcorn, with a light amount of butter or no butter.”

Popcorn with light butter. At least he had something she liked. Still.

“I thought you’d jump straight to Earth. Why are you still here?”

“Why do you care?” Heero said right back to him. “Do you want her back or not?”

“She . . . I can’t.”

“Then don’t ask.” Jelly chips? “Did anyone else arrive?”

“Wufei came, and so did Zechs. Wufei already left with his ID’s and papers. Zechs wanted to talk to you about Crystalia and your twins.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to him. Take care of Sophia and Sora.” He hung up and picked up the bag. Not jelly. Manufactured cheese in the middle though, that might be like jelly. The label said it had a crispy crunch.

That might be it. He went back over to her and showed her them. “Was it these?”

Her eyes lit up. It was the first time he saw real, absolute emotion. She snapped it right up. “Superior ruined these. My jelly chips.” She looked at the package. “Cheese baked in chips. Huh.”

“Here.” He gave her the light buttered popcorn. “You can open those up and eat them, or just enjoy the smell. If you are done, we can go.”

“Did you take care of your woman and children?” she asked him. “You were watching over the house. I told Superior none of you would be caring to watch anymore. She would have eventually killed me for that.”

“I watched for her,” he admitted.

She looked at her jelly chips and her popcorn. “I don’t need this popcorn. It’s never the right smell. I like fresh popcorn.”

Fresh. “Okay, fresh.” He took the bag and put it back. He searched around and found a bag of kernels. Light butter. He went over to the microwave and ripped it open.

“I don’t think that’s supposed to be microwaved here,” she said to him.

“We need it. I’ll pay for it afterward.” He didn’t care, they didn’t have signs that said only certain food. It was the same reasoning he used for taking care of Relena’s needs. He grabbed it afterward and took it upfront to pay.

The register person looked a little confused, but they took Heero’s money for it.

Heero opened the popcorn bag for her.

“Light popcorn smell.” She looked pleased. “You found my chips and got me fresh popcorn. You had me uncuffed and unchained. You are taking care of me. You would take good care of your family.”

“I can’t until Relena is safe.” Sophia and Sora would slow him down and be more in danger. “The circus is safer. Trowa will help watch over them.”

Crystalia opened up the chips and popped one into her mouth. She bit into it twice. “No promises.”

No promises? “Of what?”

Then, the floodgates opened.

“Revenge of the Lost would have moved already with each of them. Relena isn’t a fighter, so they won’t move her from the Emergency Stations. They will move at approximately halfway from the enemy. Since we are on the colonies, that means that . . . they will just take the regular middle of 200. Emergency Unit 100. Relena’s mind, as far as I know is stable. She was fretting about her mother last I saw her. Probably triggered because RTL was all about mothers and suffering. Nothing else seemed wrong yet.”

Going. Heero didn’t stop her as she gave him more.

“Since Relena doesn’t have any training in fighting, she will be given a simple role of cooking or tending to those who can’t care for themselves yet, unless she has been there awhile. Since she would not be fully immersed into RTL, she’ll have a chain. The chains aren’t thick, you could almost pull them from the wall, it’s more of a scare tactic to follow the rules. RTL were using her for strategies at first, a key reason the zero system was flipped to training wheels. The impressions should overall be less against her.”

“There are some people who will look like your women, it was an earlier plan that fell through. None of the surgery members looked enough like Relena to confuse her. Some of them matched perfectly with others, but no one caught Relena correctly. If you see someone that looks like her, it’s her. You need to return to the St. Gabriel Institute and grab the gundam. Put in the code RTL100 when you get close to the Emergency Unit. There are too few members right now to have anyone on outside duty. Nobody will see you come in. The gundams work just fine, they are all made to the blueprint, just with the zero system added. The zero system does take more room, but that’ll be a good thing.” Another chip.

Heero didn’t breathe a word. He watched as she ate another chip. He didn’t make a sound. He didn’t ask any questions or disturb her in any way. If she kept getting him information, he might have Relena back that night.

“They won’t let Relena out since she is new. You can take her back to the zero system area, get her in a suit, and barely fit her into the Wing Gundam with the zero system removed. You’ll have to move slow, but not far. No one likes to look at each other after they enter the zero system, so we still have suits. The suits are darkened so no one sees each other. You’ll be able to navigate around undetected to reach her easily. Since she is a helping kind of person, she will probably go to the feeding area to volunteer for supper tonight. It should be two areas down from the zero room.”

He watched her eat one more chip.

“This will only work for one pilot. As soon as you secretly get her with the gundams and suits, they will become much keener on bringing them to their side quicker. They still won’t want me back, but they will call. It will irritate them, but they won’t stalk me for it because the fault was theirs in how they ordered it. They will also demand I can’t help again. They didn’t give that demand before, an oversight on their part. Rules would state I can’t help again from then on. Did they have these in nacho too?”

Everything. She gave him everything. “Thank you. I will check for nacho.”

“Thank you for the chips and the fresh popcorn. Thank you for caring for your woman and your babies. Relena will help me best. I was going to help Dorothy, but . . . my chips and fresh popcorn. Relena will help me best. Dorothy would actually prefer I help her.”

“Yes, she would. I’ll . . . check for nachos.” A little overwhelming. He had almost wanted to check out of the world altogether during the last three hours he spoke to her. He couldn’t bear to imagine her going through . . . I’m going to get her back now. He watched her check in the section he found the chips in and came over.

“No nacho flavors. Let’s go,” she said. “We might have her by supper.” She ate another chip. “No promises. Just a chance.”

Five Hours Later on Earth . . .

Emergency Unit 100

Heero kept Crystalia with a truck she had. There was a chance that Crystalia might be duping him. It was possible, but he didn’t see a reason for it. Crystalia was all about reason. That and, if he got shoved into RTL with Relena. Then so be it. He had to take this chance.

He had to trust her with the truck too, and to be there when he came back with the gundam. Once again, he needed Relena out sooner than later. He couldn’t risk later.

It had been awhile since he picked up the Wing Gundam. The original blueprint had everything working just the same. He ripped out the zero system from it, leaving barely enough space, but space enough for Relena. Crystalia was right.

There was an automatic landing pad that the gundams of RTL were able to use. Even though they were probably never used much, if at all, they still worked. He snuck in there easily, and moved around in a suit they kept nearby the gundams with ease. So far, everything Crystalia said was true.

That emergency base was semi-filled. And two doors down? He.

He couldn’t believe it. She had a weak chain on her leg as predicted, but she still smiled as she was scooping up some food for someone.

“Here you go,” Relena stated. “Is that enough or too much?”

“That’s plenty, thank you,” the young woman said. “Thank you, Barbara.”

“Not my name,” Relena muttered, trying to be as polite as she always could be. Then? Just like in the past, so many times. She spotted him.

Relena. Her smile. She didn’t forget him yet.

One stupid chain. A weak chain at that. He had been prepared and brought cutters that Crystalia suggested. He was ready to run straight for her and cut them, but he had to be smart. There weren’t a lot of women. Just wait. Let her pass. Once no one could see him, he dodged toward her. He pulled out the weapon to break the chain. It was weak enough he probably could have ripped it from the wall.

Free.

Relena tried to keep her composure as he whispered. “Relena, are you okay?”

“I think so,” she answered. “Have I really not seen my mother in years, Heero?”

Yeah, that really was it. “You see your mom all the time. She’s the one that helped you come up with the name Sophia.” A degree of relief ran through her, also with confusion. “I’ll explain later. We need to get out.” He left the weapon on the floor and casually tried to move through.

He took her to the gundam room and got her a suit on.

“How are Sophia and Sora?” she asked.

“Doing fine. I left them with Trowa.” He would be collecting them soon.

“These people need help, Heero.” He knew it was coming. “A lot more people suffered for-”

“It’s the former gundam pilots problem now, not yours. I just need you to help me with Crystalia. She’ll need coaching to become a better person again. She’s the reason I found you so fast.”

“I don’t know anything about these. How are we going to do this? Are two going to fit into one?”

“It’s going to be a tight fit,” he admitted. “I ripped out the zero system giving us enough give. It’ll be awkward.” He helped her into the positioning it would take. “Do not lean back forward more than that, and grip this. I’ll help when I get in my position.”

“Heero!” She said sharply as he tried to help. “This is impossible.”

“No, just awkward with someone who has no relationship. We got through the shower, we can get through this.” He couldn’t argue about this, he had to get her out. “It’s not safe to leave you here, and we can’t go through the front door.” he warned her. “We have to leave like this. It’s just long enough to leave a short distance from here.”

“How?”

“For your freedom. For your memories. For Sophia and Sora. For me. Will you start a relationship with me, Relena?” It was hard to tell through the suit, but it seemed like she was a little stunned.

“A-are you saying that so I get in that position for you?”

“Yes and no.” She wasn’t jumping fast, her head was still affected too. He should say something else. “Yes, because it will get you on my lap, but no because it’s not just that. I can see what the future would be like without you in it, as Relena, Relena. I want to do more than kiss your forehead and touch your hair.”

“Heero.” He wasn’t always good with his words when it came to feelings, but that seemed to reach her.

He pulled himself underneath her, and she sat and clung onto him. He would have to be careful. No one knew he was there, so he should be able to do this slow. Lift off slow because there was no seat belt for her, only her holding onto him on his lap. Carefully. Super careful. He would not fly any farther than he had to, just far enough . . .

That Crystalia would be waiting with the truck.

He got in the truck with Relena. “Go.” Crystalia took off. She moved efficiently through the woods, knowing the ways in and out of these emergency places. “I will call Trowa to have him bring them to us.” He wouldn’t even risk the circus now. “For now, we’ll get rest.” She still looked at him strangely. “You are fine?”

She seemed to ease up into a smile and leaned against him. “Heero Yuy. Don’t ever change.”

“That goes double for you.” Worth it. Worth the yelling. Worth the blaming. Worth anything the others wanted to throw at him. They probably wouldn’t even start that yet. They still wouldn’t get it.

He’d keep taking care of Crystalia until they did start to understand. Maybe, when Trowa could finally start to see the truth, he could take his mother. Until then, her best place was with him and Relena.

Someone who understood her, and someone who could see through the mess, and help her.

“Hello?” Crystalia answered the phone. “Yes, you did have to use the backup phone to get to me. Yes, I’m still alive, and I gave one pilot everything I knew. Oh? Oh, well you didn’t state I wasn’t supposed to give them that much help. Yep, that was very sloppy of you. Good thing Superior’s dead, she’d kill you for that sloppy order. Okay. Yes, only locations of places. I can’t control what the others already know, but I won’t say anymore. Just location. Yes. Okay, then do it right next time. Goodbye.”

Relena’s soft hair grazed against him as she sat up more to look at Crystalia. Just like he expected, she could see something in her. “Thank you for the help. Last time I saw you, I don’t think . . . you were you.”

“Illusion from the zero system,” she noted. “Surprised you picked it up.”

“The truth is in front of me now,” Relena said. She looked toward Heero. “We're fine. Everything had to be prepared beforehand for a reason. Revenge of the Lost can’t even take care of the people with them that well. It’s all falling apart, causing starvation and death.” She leaned back against him, clasping her hand in his. “They need help.”

“You helped enough,” Heero stated. “The other pilots will do whatever is necessary to get their women back. We just have to take care of Crystalia for awhile. We are no longer involved in this.”

“Even if you wanted to help, they wouldn’t know how to use your intellect in the right way,” Crystalia added. “I set out an immediate procedure and killed Superior. They saw enough possibility to take steps to save people better. That will have to do. We should have grabbed food. It’s dinner time.”

Relena. Home for dinner. “Go around to an empty cheap place. We’ll take it to a hotel. I’ll stay with Relena, and you can have your own room.” Next thing, the children. As promised, he called. “Trowa. Can you bring the children to Earth tomorrow?” Trowa agreed as he gave them an address. He hung up. “Tomorrow, we meet with Trowa to get Sophia and Sora back. Crystalia, you’ll stay in the car. Trowa doesn’t understand or appreciate you. You make him nervous, and you hurt someone he loved more than he lets on.”

“Okay,” she answered.

When they reached a hotel, she didn’t bother with greetings for good night. Heero opened his hotel room with Relena. “Welcome home.”

She turned around and smiled, giving him that smile he would have died to get again. “It’s only ever a home with you, Heero.” She went over and gave him a great big hug. “It was terrifying. I could feel things happening to me. I’m so glad I’m back with you.”

He held her back in the hug. “Don’t cry, Relena. Your mind is safe now.”

“I really thought I forgot my mother,” Relena muttered. “She stops by all the time, especially with the twins. She even helped me find Sophia’s name when she was born since we only had the name you chose for Sora.” A deep sigh of relief. “Noin was already referring to me as princess. I think Hilde was doing something, she tried to help, but. There was something wrong with them. I can’t remember.”

“You don’t need to. You are safe now,” Heero assured her. “Next to Crystalia is one of the safest places to be. They need her to stay happy and alive to finish out their games. They will take awhile.”

“There are so many things wrong, Heero.”

“Like I said, it’ll take awhile.” He stroked her hair and gave her kisses on her forehead. “I still want to watch over you in the shower, Relena.” He was graced with her smile again. How did it come so naturally to do that? “This hotel room is ours. I bought protection earlier.” She looked a little flabbergasted. “If something happens. I don’t mind Sophia or Sora. We don’t need more. Do you want to dance, without me trying to kill you this time?”

He had no idea which of his phrases triggered her to kiss him on the cheek. “I think a dance would be delightful, Heero.”

Narrator: After Colony 199: After losing all the women, Heero had stepped in, trying to warn the pilots what awaited the others if they played with RTL too much. Feeling an emotion toward Crystalia, he took him with her, and discovering a clue to reaching some humanity within, had rescued Relena that very night. Safe and warm in his arms, he finally started a real relationship with her, at the same time knowing the other pilots were going to hate him.

Three months later, it is now early morning in a regular post area of RTL. With a lot more groups in it than the pilots ever thought possible, it was a common site to find them on RTL grounds now. Some of them are getting closer to getting the women and children back, while they keep looking at different sites, to find their lost companions. Days get more stressed, knowing how much time has gone by. Heero's twins were now eight months old, and each picture seen of them, was a heavier reminder of how much time they were losing.

Little Alec, and Zara and Amira, would already be six months old, having last been seen at three months. The days drag on for the pilots, each trying to do what they can to not only satisfy what RTL wants, but saving the ones that RTL had once kept safe.

RTL Post 203

Duo cleaned his rifle while he waited in the snow. It was more than a little chilly at that moment. He stretched his legs and yawned. It was almost midnight.

He checked another box. “Clean and clean.” There were only two kids and one lady at the last place. Numbers never really mattered when escaping though, because she had twenty people shooting to kill her. Politician crap was the worse next to embezzlement hounds.

He was tired, but he was near another RTL centered place. He picked up signals in his Deathscythe before bed. He technically stayed in the Junkyard so he could stash the second Deathscythe when he wasn't actually on a duty. Even if it was illegal, it was more helpful at times.

Besides, they were all doing illegal stuff anyway.

The pilots even did some redesigning so they could take a passenger if they had to. Had to be restructured, zero system all ripped out, and the steering had to be moved around, but when a real emergency popped up, it was helpful. Especially since a lot of cases were just individual.

It was a lot less dirty work than they thought. The organizations and people they were tasked were usually people trying to flee for their lives, someone that needed food, someone that was currently trapped and being hurt they couldn’t get to. There was so much.

Hm? His phone went off again. Emergency. “Aw, damn.” It wasn’t too far, but it was a viscious one. No one would probably want that one.

He got up and got into Deathscythe one more time.

Johnny tried to hold strong as he felt his missing finger. Last time they threatened him like this, he lost it. He didn’t want to lose another one, but he couldn’t turn against his sister. “I really don’t know anything.” He felt a knife at his throat. He looked at Lucille, just weeping so much in the other room. He saw the sheen of the knife show against his vision, and he knew his finger was nothing to worry about. Everything else had been.

---

Lucille screamed. She struggled to get away, but all the people left from her brother went over to her now. She tried to bite too and stretched, anything to get away, but they still had sharp knives and-

She felt herself fall to the ground, but she was picked up. She found herself facing the window and then whoever held her darted to a different position. She was loose though with just an arm holding her.

She tried to get a grip around the arm holding her. She looked up and saw someone different than the people who held her. She still couldn’t stop screaming though. The people kept yelling to let her go, but she got swung into the big closet. Her feet touched the wall for a second before she was moved again.

There was a lot of swearing and loud sounds, but not from the person holding her. She saw a braid hitting her. Then, the swearing became much larger but the loud sounds weren’t around.

She watched as she was taken out of the front door and out of the apartment. Why was she being taken away? “Johnny!”

“You’re safe.”

The person holding Lucille talked to her as they started to run down the sidewalk. The house was getting farther and farther. She almost couldn’t see it anymore.

The person started to slow it down, panting heavily. “Okay.” He looked at her. He tried to smile. “It’s okay. You okay? You stopped screaming, that’s good.”

Lucille didn’t know what to say. “Johnny.”

“Yeah. Sorry, we gotta keep going. Try not to scream if you can, okay?”

Lucille didn’t scream anymore. She didn’t really know what to do. “Johnny.”

“Hey, hey. It’s fine.” She watched glass shatter in a car. She got put on the far side of the car. The person with the long braid was swishing the seat and started to drive. “Okay, there we go. Not bad. You didn’t see anything right?”

See anything? “I don’t know. I don’t know anything!”

“It’s okay. No more screaming, I’m not yelling,” he stated as they continued to drive. “Keep your hands up from the seat, okay?” he stated. “Now. My name is Duo. What’s yours?”

Mm. “Re . . .” No, she was being silly. Momma changed her name last year, said her real name was dangerous. “Lucille.”

“Lucille, that’s a pretty name.” He was fidgeting with the wheel and on the phone with someone doing the words thing momma used to do with the phone. He stopped fidgeting with it and just drove now.

“Johnny?”

“Oh a second team was coming for him,” he said. “They probably made it out in the kerfuffle.”

“Kerwhuffle?” she asked.

“Oh, come on.” He sounded bitter a second as he was texting again. “Sorry. I was going to drop you off to your mom again, but she’s kind of far. She won’t be back until morning.”

Oh. Momma. “Who are you?”

“Duo.” He repeated the name. She remembered again since he repeated it. “Duo Maxwell. It’ll be okay. I’m part of the Burner Enforcers.” He dug around his neck and pulled out a little ID. It was too far to read, but she couldn’t read yet anyhow.

He had an official badge though, so that made him a good guy. “Good guys helping momma?”

“Yep. Good guys helping your momma.” He put it back away. “Hey, so we are going to be off on a fun little trip, okay?” He pulled over to the curb. “Don’t get out, I’ll help.” He got out and closed his door, then went around to her door.

He picked her back. “This way, Lucille.”

She looked at his really long braid. “Long braid.”

“Yep, I like long braids and saving the day,” he joked. He had her look ahead. There was a really big robot ahead! It was gigantic. “This is our ride. Hang on.” He messed with a rope nearby it. “I am going to climb this with you okay? I need you to just hang on as tight as you can.”

He put her on his back like a monkey. She tried to hold on as tight as she could as they started to go up. “You’re a monkey.”

“Pretty close.” He sounded strained. When they got to the top, he opened the front of the robot and put her in it. “Plenty of room.” There was a strap on her side and he snapped one across her chest.

He got into the robot and the front door closed. “This is gonna be like a bumpy plane ride. It’s not as fun as some people think,” he cautioned her. “Just hang on and it won’t last long. Then we’ll be somewhere real safe, okay?”

Okay. He was right, there was a scary shaking, but he was a brave man. She felt safe beside him. When they touched down somewhere, it was super cold now! He helped her back out, but this time, there were railings to get on. He held her hand and they went down a funny looking elevator.

---

Reachout 53

“Okay. Stay right here,” Duo insisted. “Welcome to Reachout 53. It's a safe kind of outpost place.” They usually had a full stock. “We’ll be getting a whole gaggle of women coming to help take care of you.” He looked at his watch. “Any minute now?” He looked at his watch again.

No one was coming. “Empty base, really?” he complained. He rolled his eyes and looked back at her. “It’s okay. I’m sure someone’s here. Let’s go look around. I bet we can find something interesting.” They both moved around through the facility. It was just them so far.

“Well, kitchen?” He opened up some cupboards. “What do you want to eat? Some chips?” He looked around the freezer. “You want some pizza?”

“Cold pizza!” Cold pizza for breakfast was good, but it wasn’t breakfast. “Hot pizza!”

“Yeah. I had a friend who liked to eat cold pizza or hot pizza with me all the time,” he noted as he brought out a delivery box from the freezer. “Let’s see what we got. Oh, pretty plain. You like pepperoni?” he asked.

She nodded and took a slice. He just gave her a slice without a plate. She made no complaints, just dived right in.

She watched as someone came around through the door and looked at them anxiously. The lady pointed at the braided man. “You!”

He held out his good guy badge toward her as he continued to eat his pizza. “Where is everybody?”

“Patrolling,” she stated. She looked toward her. “You have been okay with him?”

Lucille nodded. “Cold pizza’s good.”

“I will get you all tucked into a nice room to wait for your mom.” She went toward Lucille. “While the pilot leaves. Come on.”

“No.” She stayed closer to braided man. “Good guy.” She continued to eat her pizza. The good guy didn’t seem as fond of the idea.

“You know how heroes stick around in a game for so long, but they have to go in the end?” Duo said. “That’s because they are heroes because they keep saving people. I have to get out there and help someone else. This lady is going to take care of you here. Now, you take your pizza. We’ll get you something to drink, and then you’re going to spend some time with the BS Lady.”

“Burner Supporter,” the lady said out for him. “We don’t prefer the term BS, and he knows that. Pilot, you are not permitted in the nursery sections without permission here, only the kids area for her.”

Duo just chuckled as he stood up and grabbed her a can of soda. “There you go, Lucille. Take your pizza and soda.”

Lucille took another bite of her pizza and started to walk with the BS lady. The hero had to go save more people.

Didn’t kill them, but they are never walking again, carrying guns, or even carrying their own groceries. Bastards. He was too late to help the teen, but he did get the little kid in the other room. Not only did he have to deal with everyone trying to kill some harmless girl that was barely even in school for codes she wouldn’t know, but he needed to make sure he moved in a way that she didn’t see her brother’s dead body.

Since she was asking about her brother, he had accomplished what he wanted. He made a lot of disturbance with his guns, so he had to steal a car to bail further than just a gentle sprint to his gundam.

She was safe though. None of that was fit for one of his tasks, but he didn’t just work on his assigned tasks. Some time ago, after Hilde was taken, he was just solely looking for her at each base. The more time they each spent looking for their friends, the more all of the pilots realized, that this wasn’t going to be easy.

He finished his pizza and headed outside to see who was all on patrol over there. “Hey, Duo here!” he yelled out. He wanted more than just one person there tending to that girl.

It didn’t take too long for him to be out there doing an occassional ‘task’ for RTL to help his chances, to figure out these weren’t exactly legal tasks, but they were good. Every single one of them was good. RTL had changed back in AC 195 because of Superior, but before that?

It was an angel hiding in the fires of Hell. Stuff he just did today, was something they did. They took justice in their own hands, much like he did when he stole Deathscythe all those years ago.

Instead of running gundams, they ran their own underground associations and organizations, with just a few being seen above ground to look legit. What he was just a part of was the Burner Enforcers, people who took their own life in their hands to save others who had no hope from any kind of law to be saved.

Without going today, Duo knew that sweet little girl would be as dead as her brother. People took the tasks they wanted in the corner they wanted of RTL, and there were different positions for everything.

You could drop off food to people barely surviving. You could watch over kids. You could support monetarily some effort of something. You could distribute things. You could fight people. You could save people. You could treat people if you had the right qualifications mentally or physically. There was a spot for everyone to feel useful.

And like it or not, with RTL burning away because of STL’s profits going down the wayside, each of the pilots found their kind of . . . niche again.

They liked having a peaceful world. They liked maintaining a peaceful world. But choosing to ferry people across the stars or save a little girl from a band of mindless assholes just ready to kill? One of them felt more like the God of Death was still doing something.

Of course though, it wasn’t as strong. Less people could take on these emergencies. Less people could get paid to take on things. Most people that worked there that were either too programmed to quit, or just wanted to keep going, also had secondary jobs to survive in order to stay there.

If it hadn’t been for that stupid Superior bringing in the zero system, those illegal little devil angels would still be doing their job strong today. Hell, Duo might have even joined them if he knew they existed back then.

But, everything eventually died off. His only goal left was to find Hilde in the last of the burning embers somewhere.

Duo stopped to take a breather. A nice little drink from the kitchen he had definitely earned. He felt his phone vibrate and saw the text message. “Well, well. Isn’t that nice.” He put it back away and took a swig of his drink to stay warm. “Relena’s inviting me for a little get together with you and your fam? Fuck you, Heero.” He’d probably still go, but he’d hate it. They all hated it.

He put his drink away and continued. “This weather is terrible today.”

“Oh, I definitely heard it this way.”

Ooh. Duo watched as someone looking like Noin came around scouting with another person. Looks like her. Duo took a snapshot. Zechs knew her the best. There was usually something wrong that kept the lookalikes looking exactly alike. Not always though. He threw Zechs the text with the snapshot and location.

Then, because he wasn’t feeling so cheery, he asked how excited Zechs would be if Heero became a brother, and if he was coming to their eventual wedding in the future. It’d probably be awhile before he texted back.

Nope, it wasn’t awhile after all. Zechs ignored the second part, just wanted another picture of Noin. Duo waited until she turned to her other side. Sides of the face. The voice. The eyes. She really did look like Noin. Instead of a picture, Duo recorded her briefly and sent him that.

Zechs texted back that it might be Noin. He asked if he could maybe try and do something, he wasn’t far away. Ugh. Probably not possible, but Zechs would still try. Fighters could move back and forth a lot faster. They were actually using mobile suits for travel themselves.

Once again, one of those sticky situations that the probably future Mrs. Heero Yuy was helping out with politically. Okay, well? Whatever.

Duo revealed himself to the lady who might be Noin. “Hey there, so I did my part. Duo Maxwell, guy half of you want to kill but aren’t allowed to?” Yeah, she held a weapon at him. Of course. “So what’s your last memory, Lady?” She shot past him while he dodged. “Not much for conversation.”

“Nancy, don’t do that.”

That voice? Duo looked out toward the lady who might be Noin. Someone was holding her gun down. That person was . . .

The hair. The eyes. The mouth. Hilde.

“Let’s just go,” Hilde said. “I don’t want to get wrapped up in this.”

“No, wait!” Duo ran out toward her. “Hilde!”

Hilde looked at him bizarrely. “Sorry, we are sorry, we didn’t mean to mess with you, we were just guarding the perimeter?” She ran from him though, while the Noin lookalike was trying to shoot at him.

“Leave her alone!” Noin lookalike yelled.

Damn it. “Hilde.” Come on. He kept running after her. “What is the last thing you remember? It’s me, Hilde. Duo! I’ve been out here searching for you!” Anything, any kind of jarring memory.

“I’m not her,” she insisted. She turned around and held a gun at him. “Sorry, Mister, I’m not her. I’m just someone that looks like her. I was messed up in the head.” She was taking steps back. “I’m a little better now, and I don’t want trouble.”

“You aren’t a lookalike. You are the genuine deal.” Maybe a little off. Maybe the hair? But, it looked real close. It could be.

He hated when that happened. Those lookalikes usually weren’t perfect, but from a distance? Something usually gave it away sooner, like the voice, or the actions.

“Sorry.” Her hands were shaking. She was just a person slowly getting better away from the zero system. As more time went by, those women were starting to get better with no more zero system being used.

“Hands up!” The lady that looked like Noin also had her gun on him. “Don’t come barreling down on guards.”

“Noin!”

Great timing. Duo watched Zechs get involved with her, so he just glanced one more time at the lookalike Hilde. From far away, she was so perfect.

“She’s not her.” Zechs had that same kind of disappointment in his voice.

“Yeah, I know.” Just another night of dashed hopes. They both left, not bothering the women further. “At least you saw yours once.”

“Once, and she didn’t recognize a thing about me,” Zechs said. “If I only knew then what I know now.” He looked at the snow as he walked. “She is going to be plaguing me until the end of one of us.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Duo said to him. He was going to tease him about gaining a brother, but decided Zechs was feeling a bit too pathetic for it. “When you find the bright side, tell me what’s over there? Find out how much the rent is too, because I’d like to move in.”

“How far are you in your duties?” Zechs asked.

“I’ve got just 49 more to do. You?”

“I am almost done,” Zechs admitted. “They mainly gave me distribution duties. I wanted to take an emergency today, but I got two duties out of the way I really needed to get done. We are getting closer.”

“Yeah. I took the emergency. A little girl lived, but I was about five minutes late to save her brother.” Duo didn’t know if Zechs could have saved her brother instead. No one judged anybody. “She’s in the base eating cold pizza. You know, I used to never be known for lying.”

“They’ll deal with the lie in a better way,” Zechs encouraged his actions. “How is everyone pulling their weight?”

“Wufei is the second closest, he’s only got 15 left. Quatre has a whopping seventy, but that’s to be expected. They stuck him with rescue missions since he has connections. He really tries to help all these people find a decent place to call home. He has to help take care of the ones he was assigned, as well as helping whatever trouble we bring to him.”

“He is noble. It’s too bad he had to sacrifice his family in the process of helping,” Zechs commented. “No one had anyone except Heero. He watched Sora and Sophia so closely, they didn’t stand a chance to be taken.”

“Yeah. He was smart,” Duo agreed. “Wonder if Crystalia ever got any better with them.”

Zechs didn’t answer. There wasn’t much to say to that. It was just small talk.

They headed back to the base toward their gundam platforms to leave when- “hey, hey!” Aw man, one of those little vixens were actually trying to snag his gundam! “I call foul right there!”

“Sorry, Mister Gundam Pilot, but I have an emergency, I can’t stall. I’ll bring it back, I promise!” Wait. Middie? Was that Middie Une?

Duo looked toward Zechs. “Is that Middie Une? I’ve been wrong twice tonight, you make the call if you think it is.”

“I never met her,” Zechs said in his defense.

Well, either way, Duo climbed over toward his gundam. “Stay right there.” She couldn’t aim her gun, the position was too hard in her climbing. “Not very good for a circus performer." Then again, it was mainly paint she did.

“Back off!” She yelled as she tried to push him away.

“Hey, I put a lot of time and effort into this gundam, so it’s mine.” He took a picture of her. “What’s your name?” Nah, the hair was too curly and too colored. It didn't match her personality to do that. Too much seemed off. Middie was may more mellow than that. “Out, out.” He dragged her out and Zechs caught her briefly for a second look before letting her go.

Whatever. All the duplicates at one outpost was annoying. Usually there was only one or two. “I’m going home. I’m tired and I’m cold.” And? “And I dropped my wallet.”

Oh, man! He left his gundam. “I know I had it in the gundam after that rescue. I’m gonna go scan the snow for a single wallet.”

“Fine, I’m leaving,” Zechs informed him.

“Yeah, uh huh, you do that, I’ll just stay out in the cold looking for my wallet. All alone. Freezing!”

Zechs didn’t answer back of course.

Reachout 53

“I am tired and cold,” Heidi said as she watched the cards being played. “I want to go to bed.”

“We are in the middle of a game,” Pink Opal announced. “Straighten up.”

“I don’t want to.” She yawned. “I want to go to bed.”

“Just go outside so you wake up and appreciate the heat in here,” Pink Opal commanded. “Goodness. Do your job.”

Ugh. Heidi walked outside. It really was cold. While she walked she saw something on the ground. A wallet? She picked it up to see who the owner had been. Duo Maxwell. Oh. It was one of the gundam pilot’s.

Once upon a time, Heidi had family that was destroyed in war, and she blamed the pilots. She had even been so obsessed, she wanted to have surgery to look like a dear friend to trap them. These are things she knew about herself, but she didn’t feel that way anymore.

It felt shameful. She felt embarrassed and guilty doing so much because of war. Heidi didn’t have any memories of what she had done, having erased most of her memories away with the zero system. They rarely used that system anymore, which was good. She hated it.

All Heidi could do now, is make up for her mistakes. She could give the wallet to the pilot, if she didn’t have such guilt about seeing them. Oh, buck up! You have to do this. They need their wallet. It’s got their cards and money. She held onto it and kept going. Besides, the pilots hadn’t actually killed even a single member of the group. She could probably hand it straight to him.

“I swear, if I could channel all my anger into this snow, I’d suddenly be standing on a beach somewhere!”

Okay, that wasn’t such a safe phrase for her. He’s probably cold and tired. It was pretty loud, but the whole ‘standing on a beach somewhere’ kind of diminished the threat. I was made to look just like their friend though. I hate to trick him. I know! She went into the base and grabbed a suit. It darkened her up so he couldn’t confuse her face as much.

She went outside with the wallet and found him up ahead. He was really scanning the snow. He really needs this. She watched him kerplunk his butt into the snow, looking defeated.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s black, beige, or white. It’s all probably buried in the snow.” He looked toward the snow. “Just buried somewhere.” He flopped backwards. 

She moved closer, but even though he wasn’t super alert, he still noticed her. He didn’t pull out a gun. She just moved toward him and tossed his wallet kind of near him.

He looked surprised as he sat back up some. He grabbed the wallet. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“You're welcome.” She noticed him still eyeing her. “I’ll be off now.” Her phone started to go off. Oh, terrible timing, she couldn’t answer with a huge suit on.

“Wait.” The pilot stood up awkwardly, pocketing his wallet. He approached her slowly. “That’s an interesting ringtone. You like that kind of music?”

Uh? He was still coming closer. “Look, I’m sorry. You should stay away. I was consumed with hatred some time ago, so I did something really stupid to myself. Please don’t come any closer, I’m not her. I just wanted to return your wallet, Duo Maxwell.” No, no, no! She did not call him by his name! “I mean, Sir!”

“What’s your first memory of this place?” he asked.

Aw. “Um? My mind was kind of erased a lot by the zero system. I don’t remember much.”

“Then just do me one favor?” He held his finger in the air. “Just, one, okay? Take your helmet off.”

“I’m not trying to trick you. I don’t want to trick you.” It hurt. “I’m not the same person you would be looking for, and I don’t want to hurt you in any way.”

“I know Hilde Schbeiker in and out. I can’t be tricked,” Duo said confidently.

Huh? This guy is silly. “Look, according to communications around here you just thought you saw Hilde, and Zechs Merquise thought he saw Noin, and then you had problems in the zero room and thought you saw someone else. You are on a terrible roll right now. Why make it worse?”

“Because.” He actually sort of smiled at her. “All I am really doing this for is finding her, so if I mistake twenty people in a day for her, that’s just twenty more people that get me closer to finding her. I don’t drop it just because a nice person in a helmet comes by and I’m too tired to check out a nice voice.”

Mmm? “Okay, I guess I see your point.” She took off her helmet. She’d get this over with.

That didn’t help at all. His eyes actually lit up. Aw, they were kind of cheery looking. “Tell me about when you lost your memories?”

“Oh. I was with a group of four other women,” she said. “Around that time, the zero system was messing up. It was too much pull at once. So, here I am, all messed up in the head and running from the law while still trying to help people.”

“Hilde!” Oh great, he was convinced.

“Look, I’m not her. I don’t know anything about her. I’m just a trap,” she insisted. He didn’t listen and came up closer to her. “Sir, really, I'm not her.”

“I know that sound. I know that look. You are her.”

“I’m not, I don’t know you.” He looked at her oddly now. Was he starting to get it?

“Follow me,” he demanded as he grabbed her hand.

She followed him, though that was a rude gesture. It was better not to fight with him though. “Where are we going?”

“My gundam has something off in it. I want you to look at it.”

Gundam? “I don’t know anything about gundams.” Did she? “I guess I can look?” She was back in the zero room. The gundam was up ahead. She didn’t really want to get close. This place. Someplace just like it. “I can’t, I don’t want to be in here.”

“It’s okay,” Duo tried to persuade her. “I know, bad memories, right? Come on, it’s okay.”

Hilde moved toward the gundam. Slowly. This thing digested my whole mind. I want to run! Duo Maxwell was guiding her hand though. They reached right next to it and were taking a lift up. She could feel her heart start to beat faster. “I don’t want to look at this.”

“It’ll be fine, really,” Duo coaxed her as he brought the compartment door open.

She found herself involuntarily too scared and wanting to break free. No, no, this thing took everything, no, I don’t want to be near it! She tried to escape, but he wasn’t letting her go.

“There's no zero system, that's all been ripped out. Just look at it, you used to work at it all the time,” he said, showing her the inside. He lifted something up and pointed to some wires. “What’s this? Do you recognize this? Do you see what’s wrong?”

“Why are you making me look at the steering?” She wanted out. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“See. You knew what it was, and that it was fine.” He pointed back to her. “You are Hilde.”

“I can’t be,” she stated.

“It’s a little different visually, but everything else is still the same,” Duo tried to convince her. “Come back, Hilde.”

No way. “Look, out of every girl in all of RTL, how could you think I was this important? I don’t want to trick you.”

“You aren’t tricking me,” he said, even more encouraged. “You are Hilde Schbeiker.”

Hilde Schbeiker? “I’m not, you aren’t listening, Guy!” 

“I know your favorite thing to eat, your favorite places to go, what you like best in the world? Ooh! Cold pizza in the morning for breakfast, right?” he asked. “Yeah? Hey, I bet that was your pizza I ate.”

Heidi scratched her head. She did like pizza, but a lot of people did. But? “Someone ate my cold pizza leftovers I had in there. Was it you?”

“No, no. Innocent kid,” he said strangely.

“I was saving that for dinner too. Ooh, you just admitted that you definitely ate it,” she said. Dang, she didn’t make that much to go out all the time! “You are lying. That had my name on it and everything.”

“I shared it with a kid who lost her brother this morning,” he said. “I figured that would be fine.”

Oh. A little girl lost her brother that morning? “Oh, poor girl. Yeah, she could have a slice.” Oh no, no. What, what now? “Look, Sir. I was trained to be like her. I’m not her. I know my past, but I just don’t remember it.” Shoot. No choice. “I was a stand-in at the junkyard. I do sound like her, that was natural, which is why I was picked to try plastic surgery. You heard me once before.” She stuck her hands shyly behind her back. “At least I was dressed in your shower according to the files?”

Yeah. She finally saw him accept it. “You were . . . so much like her. I pulled a gun on you. You were the one in the shower.”

“Sorry?” Yeah, he looked really miserable now. “Really sorry there, Fella. I tried to tell ya.” Ooh? “I could tell you about someone you did get right. I even know when she comes around here?”

The poor pilot looked tired. “Fine. What’s your name?”

“The gem name is Tiger’s Eye for duties, otherwise I’m Heidi,” she told him. She moved a little closer to him. “I’m not allowed to say this, but there is something I’d like to tell you.” She tried to move closer to tell him, but he backed away. Made sense. “Do you have a piece of paper?” Nope, he had a different approach! He grabbed her and dragged her closer, his anger at being tricked again definitely on display. “Please don’t do anything rash, I’m a new mom, Mister!”

He loosened up his anger almost immediately, but he still kept her close. “Sorry. I'm just really tired of being duped. Just. Tell me what you know,” he whispered.

“Marilyn, the one who tried to take your gundam before, has a little boy a little over a year old. He matches the age of what Middie Une’s baby would be.”

There was a sort of smile? Sort of. “Thanks. I’ll check out the news. Sorry if I dragged you over too hard. You were saying that you weren’t her. But. You’re a whole lot like her.”

She shrugged. At least the scary part was over.

“Do you remember getting caught in the shower, or was that just in a report?” he asked suspiciously.

Uh? “My report. I told you, the zero system messed us up,” she said.

“You said you were a new mom?”

“I wasn’t lying, really.” She gestured behind her. “I was going to get some rest and then go see them when I saw your wallet on the floor.”

“Them,” he muttered oddly. “Love. To . . .” He just looked at her oddly. “Heidi?”

“Uh huh.” Strange. It was like all his defenses were almost completely gone.

“You have a nanny for them when you go out?”

“I don’t do many tasks right now,” she answered.

“Oh.” He shoved his arms behind his head. “Okay. Well, thanks for the wallet. I want to go see the little girl I saved one more time before I head off. Make sure she’s good. Might just spend the rest of the day here. Make sure she takes news and stuff okay.”

Aw, that was sweet. “Sounds like a good idea.” He might even be able to use the excuse to see Marilyn. She left back to her own room near the nursery and rested for about an hour. Afterward, she headed toward the nursery. Kids and babies weren’t allowed in other parts without guardian supervision. She needed to get back to her triplet boys, but they weren’t more than two rooms away.

She waved to her nanny, one of the other members who liked to make money by watching tikes. It was a good way to make money, as well as help when her quadruplets were born. “Thank you. Sorry I slept a little later, Mandy.”

“No problem, Heidi.” She stood up, so much taller than her. She was so tall and elegant, even in her condition. “Your boys were little dreams to watch. They slept the whole time. I’ll see you.”

Heidi went toward her triplets. Anxious little fellas were actually not anxious? Alright, it looked like she might get more rest.

“Triplets?”

The pilot Duo had been over by the door. “Yeah?” she answered. “Lucky me, huh?” She laughed. “It’s okay, they are all good boys.”

“All boy triplets?”

“Uh huh?” Strange he was still hanging around her after knowing the truth.

“Sorry. I wasn’t too far seeing the little girl,” he said nervously. “When did you have them again?”

“Not too long ago,” she said.

“You have them early or . . .?”

Really, he was fascinated. Hilde Schbeiker had only been gone from him for a couple of months. “Was your friend already heavily pregnant or something?”

“Nah. No,” Duo confirmed. “I’d have been able to tell, especially with triplets. Pregnancy takes way too much time.” Still, he was curious. "How long ago did you lose your memories?"

"Three months, but anyone could tell I was heavily pregnant." He really should have got it by now.

“Oh, I forgot my tea and milk.” Mandy came back in and grabbed her drink. She didn’t look pleased to see the pilot. “02?”

“You’re big,” Duo said to her. “You’re really big.”

“Guess so.” Then, she was typical Mandy. “Don’t get any bright ideas, gundam pilot, this didn’t happen in a couple months.”

“No, it wouldn’t. You’re a ballon, Lady. How many are you having?” Duo asked Mandy.

“Quadruplets.”

“Quadruplets. Wow. Wow, wow, wow.” Duo smiled. “Does that, um, run in your family? Er, uh what was it?”

“Mandy,” Mandy answered him, “Heidi, what’s he doing here?”

“He just saved a little girl this morning so he can visit here right now, I guess?” Heidi saw one of her boys start to fuss so she picked him up.

“I’m a BE,” Duo said as he snapped a picture of Mandy. “Aw, mothers doing their thing. Sorry for the fascination. I never had one, so it interests me.” He texted something on his phone. “Anyway, quadruplets. Being born soon.” He covered his face. “Um? Do you know the father?”

“Probably just some rando. No one ever contacted me,” Mandy said. “No one ever contacted Heidi either.”

“Oh. Huh.” Duo touched his head. “It’s been like 3 months.” He was muttering something to himself. “What was your gestation? The big numbers are born faster, right? Less room?”

“I am any day,” Mandy said. “Heidi’s was about a month ago. It was a little touch and go, but RTL always had the best resources. Even if it’s gone, some connections never burn away. They ended up great.”

“Yeah, but they are my super strong boy heroes,” Heidi said proudly as she looked at them.

“You like having your family?” Duo asked her strangely.

“Why are you hanging around here still?” Mandy asked suspiciously. “If you are visiting a little girl, then go visit the little girl, gundam pilot.”

“Most RTL members are ready to haul rocks off at me. Heidi’s actually been super polite, so why not stay a little longer?” Duo pointed out. “I’m a friendly guy. So? Question? Family boring, yes or no? Heidi? Like it?”

Of course she liked having her family. It was hers. There were no memories of the person she was before the zero system. Her brothers. Her sisters. The accidents. The terrible things she did. Nothing before or after. All she had, that was hers without a doubt, were them. She gave them all her biggest smile.

It didn’t matter who she’d been, every time she looked at their adorable little faces, it felt like a new start. “Oh yeah, they aren’t boring at all. It’s my three boys, Sir.”

Duo came a smidge closer. “Kind of big for just having them. How old are they? Triplets run in your family?”

“A month. The ‘new mom’ excuse wasn’t pushing it too much,” she insisted. “I don’t know if triplets run in my family. I don’t remember, you know that.”

“Three months old?” He was looking at his own fingers as he muttered again. “If said boyfriend did, which I doubt, wasn’t that whoopee with him, it’d been three months. Might have been four months.” He tried to look at them a little again from the doorway. “A month old?”

“Right,” she told him. “I had serious pregnancy weight already when I came out of the zero system for the last time. Yes, I was there for the brutal pregnancy part.” They were all hers.

“Yeah. It doesn’t line up.”

This guy. He was still believing? “You are just cruising for some heartache if you keep hanging around,” she warned him. “Oh? There she is.” She waved at Marilyn outside of the room as she passed by. “That’s Marilyn. She knows a Phillip is the father of her baby, RTL said so, so you won’t get straight answers out of her. She doesn’t want to get involved with that crime family, so she doesn’t talk to anyone. She only leaves for the barest of missions.”

“Not anymore,” Mandy said. “They were going to send her out to the only Antarctica post. Marilyn got blood tests to prove it wasn’t them, but they don’t believe her.”

“Oh, is that right?” Duo looked toward her.

“Don’t get any bright ideas,” Mandy warned him. “I know who you are, 02. She’ll scratch and bite to stay with Triton, don’t mess around with her.”

“Oof, oof, keyword there.” Duo continued to glance at her. “Why’d she call him that?”

“It’s in her profile,” Heidi told him. “We don’t know anything about ourselves, unless it’s in our profile.”

Duo stroked his face several times. “Mandy. Marilyn. Heidi. I’m guessing you guys don’t move around much in that condition. With all that responsibility. This is home sweet home, huh?”

“Well, we aren’t idiots. I can’t just drag my triplets out everywhere. I just do useful tasks when Mandy is babysitting.” This was what the outposts were like for women with families.

“And I am an excellent babysitter,” Mandy said toward Duo. “Didn’t you have a little girl to look in on again?”

“Right, yeah, better do that. Got sidetracked.” He finally left. Mandy went over, making sure he left the nursery area completely. All the way until he turned to the kids corner.

Heidi watched as another boy of hers started to cry, but she was still holding one. “Mandy?”

“Oh, Heidi. What are you going to do when I’m not here helping you anymore,” Mandy said as she picked up another one. “You shouldn’t get so close to that gundam pilot. That is not looked upon well around here. You know that.”

“There’s nothing wrong. He’s technically a member,” Heidi pointed out. “I feel bad for him, he just wants to find his friend. I don’t get where all the hate in this group comes from. I was broken before I was broken. Or more like broken, before I got fixed.”

“He might flip out and think you are his friend,” Mandy warned her. “What if he tries to drag you or your kids away?”

“Oh, come on. It’s simple math,” Heidi said. “If I were Hilde, I’d have been gone three months. No time to have my children.”

“He makes me nervous,” Mandy said. “We don’t need this following us. We are fugitives, and you are rubbing up against someone who can contact really high people.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Mandy really didn’t like it. “He was missing his wallet. When I gave it back to him, he asked questions. He’s just curious. They are never allowed in the nursery sections. They probably just think we are all the same gun-toting angry women.”

The zero system messed them all up so bad. They were trying to get their life together, but it wasn’t easy. Whether it was Mandy with her quadruplets, Marilyn with her secrets of a Phillips baby, Mae trying to find a husband outside of RTL while she was slim in her pregnancy, or Platinum with her twins doing her best not to go anywhere ever.

All messed up. None of them had futures. “Are we all going to live together when RTL is finally gone?” Heidi asked her softly. “So many of us rely on this place. For the kids, for resources, for shelter. Our little jobs, it just won’t cut it when it’s all becoming voluntary. Mandy?”

“Everything is getting thinner,” Mandy agreed with her. “I’m afraid something’s gotta give soon. With everyone working and sharing a house. I think we’ll be okay. I’d say we have a little more time left. I should be able to have the quadruplets safely here.”

“Do you realize if we all get one big house, it’s 11 babies?” Heidi pointed out. “Once your little herd is born, 11 babies and five women.”

“Five women can watch 11 babies. We just need a tight schedule and to get on a routine,” Mandy insisted as she balled up her fist. “We can manage this. It’ll be tough, but I know we can do it. We’ll decide who takes night jobs, and who takes mornings. Who watches who, and we’ll take any conditions into account. We’ll figure it all out until one day we can go it on our own.”

“With a powerhouse of five women, we can’t mess up,” Heidi agreed. “You’re right. We just need a good strategy.”

“A good strategy is always needed. With a good strategy, people can win anything. We’ll eventually make it out there on our own too. We’ll find our own ways in life,” Mandy smiled. “I know we will. We are strong, and I have faith we’ll pull through this, Heidi. Did you have any fun today?”

“I played cards,” Heidi said to her. “Briefly. It was more boring and colder down there. Heat is always higher up here with babies and kid corners.”

“I dream when I can play cards.” Platinum came into the room. “Tiger’s Eye. Purple Gem.”

“Don’t call me that,” Mandy told her. “You can go by your gem name, but I'd rather not anymore. Not like I'll be going on missions any time soon.”

Platinum placed her boy and girl down in their cribs. “Loyalty always holds a point. I noticed an interesting conversation as I walked by. Are you two really contemplating on us doing that?”

“Well, Heidi over here is becoming friends with 02, Duo Maxwell.” Mandy just had to call her out.

“Do you have a death wish?!” Even Platinum had to be angry with her. “Do not become friends with gundam pilots! You’ll be sent to jail after this is all over, idiot!”

“He wouldn’t do anything right now,” Heidi said. “I just wanted to give him his wallet back.”

She groaned. “Do you remember who you really are?” Anger poured out of her. “You better not tell him anything. They are not our friends. Mandy?”

“Yes, I can watch them for a bit,” Mandy agreed. “You’re right though, Catty. We’re all villains.”

“No, we aren’t,” Heidi disagreed. “We were messed up by the zero system. We are staying out of the way, so the pilots don’t get confused by RTL’s tricks.”

“It doesn’t matter the excuse, Heidi,” Mandy reminded her. “Every single member of RTL was arrested. Tried. Imprisoned. If you did it, justice says you pay. You’ve seen our rap sheets. There is no turning back from this, or we’ll lose everything,” she declared.

“So being friendly is a bad idea,” Platinum warned her. “Do not trust anyone.”

“Well, I told on Marilyn. She can’t survive in Antarctica by herself with Triton,” Heidi warned them. “I don’t get the sense he’d hurt her, I’m pretty sure she’s Middie Une. If she is, then she’ll be protected.”

The others all groaned.

“Her rap sheet is the only one that makes no sense. The dates. Nothing. She doesn’t match it at all, it’s like someone just grabbed a profile and threw it at her. She doesn’t match.” Heidi was certain of it. “Her son would be Alec Barton’s age too. A simple blood test, and she’d be safe.”

“And if she’s not her?” Mandy pointed out.

“She is heavy into her art. That really matches. Middie Une did art at the circus, and that doesn’t grace her profile at all. Her circus was destroyed. She got her son back shortly after losing him? How?” Heidi threw it all their way. “Her art is strange and special. It would clearly be in her profile. She is Middie Une, I know it.”

“Well then, we could have used that information for a safe escape,” Platinum chided her.

“It creates trust. If he sees that we really aren’t a threat, then maybe we can just . . . go?” she said hopefully.

“Sure, sure.” Platinum glanced over her with a thin sigh. “I’m glad we are getting along, Mister Gundam Pilot. By the way? Do you think you could do something about my rapsheet? I’ve just committed burglary, larceny, kidnapping, first degree manslaughter, second degree-”

“Stop it!” She didn’t want to hear it.

“We did these things,” Mandy said to her. “I’m sorry, but we can’t just pretend it can be wiped away. We are better now, but it won’t let us get past all the horrific things we did. All we can do is run with our families and try to give them a better life than we led.”

“If you don’t want the law to get ahold of your darling little musketeers?” Dorothy gestured to her boys. “You know what state the adoption system is in. You’ve seen work orders come through. They’ll end up living on the streets like strays.”

“They won’t.” Heidi went over to look at her boys. “I’ll stay in contact with Marilyn, and find a safe way to give her back to the people who love her.” She touched one of their little hands. “She doesn’t deserve this kind of life, when she did nothing wrong.” She started to wipe at her tears.

“Okay,” Mandy agreed. “I think we can get a blood test for her, find the truth, and then find a way to give her back if she is her.”

“Please, do not do that,” Platinum insisted. “Did you forget that Middie Une herself was a spy in the battlefield? She will have to be given directly to the pilot who wants her. No exceptions. Anything else will expose her to a world of prison.”

“Agreed,” Mandy said. “We would have to run a DNA test, and then give her back to Trowa Barton himself. But not until after a test. So? How are we going to manage one of those?”

One hundred percent. One thousand percent. One million percent. Duo relaxed in Lucille’s room while she chewed on a snack. He was trying to figure out what to do. That’s her, I know that’s her. But it’s not her, it can’t be her. Triplets? That would be so much longer than she’s been missing.

“You’re sad, Mister,” Lucille noticed. “Did someone take your toy?”

Heh. “I don’t really know, and I’m scared to leave until I know.”

Hilde.

Comfortable. Safe. Fun.

Hilde was trying to hit those notes after the whole zero system experience. It wasn’t quite the notes, but he had to give her a break. Not like she was going to be completely okay after all that. She even seemed to want to distance herself a little bit by getting a boyfriend. Still?

“Duo?”

He picked up a whisper behind him. It was the one outside before that he swore was Hilde. “Hilde?”

“Sorry, Duo. Everywhere still has cameras. I don’t know which ones are on or off, I just know the one place they never bothered were the children’s rooms.” She went to his other side. “I’ve been trying to figure out where you were, Duo. This was an insane tactic of RTL. I don’t know where the others are, but I want to get back already. Oh, but that’s the end of our shuttle course training for me probably. Does abducted fit for an excuse?”

She knew things. That had to be Hilde. Why would they let her remember? “Hilde?”

“Second time you said that, Duo,” she said sharply. “Come on, let’s go. I’ll move first toward Deathscythe.”

She was with me for six months. But the smile and the way I just wanted to . . . hang around the other one. That was the reason he liked staying with Hilde in the first place years ago. It was the reason he kept coming right back. He could have left, taken off, gone anywhere. He could have left the little sap of a new pilot as soon as he fixed Deathscythe.

He always liked being cheery, and not talking about the past. Just focusing on the present, cheerily. Even when things got rough, they never planned for the future. Only the present mattered.

“What’s wrong, Duo? I’m sorry I had to put on a show for you outside,” she said. “I had to make sure I could come here without being watched closely.”

He felt himself getting tucked away to run with her to the Deathscythe. It’s Hilde. This is Hilde. She went straight over to the Deathscythe and smiled at him. “Let’s go.”

How should I feel about this? Always being in the present. Only talking about the present. It made her . . . “Oh, you know I spaced it out for two people?” Duo asked as she moved away. Probably toward the zero room. It’s Hilde. This is Hilde. It’s gotta be Hilde. Is it? Yeah. I am a sick friend. I am a terrible friend. I’ll have to tell her one day that I can’t tell her from a bunch of others that look like her. He said bye to Lucille real quick and headed toward a gundam.

Starving for normality. Starving for someone to just have a good time with? Anyone to have a good time with? That’s gotta be it. Worried too, I mean triplets. But, that can’t be true. That lady was so happy with them. Hilde didn’t want kids. He moved up toward Deathscythe where she stood hiding around the lift. Plus, you don't have triplets in two months. “If you remember, how come you never left, Hilde?”

“Not now, Duo, we need to go,” she insisted. She took the lift up with him. She smiled all the way up there. “We are almost out, I’m so glad.”

“Yeah.” Duo looked at Deathscythe. Why is Deathscythe screaming at me? “Get in.”

Her smile was changing? “Well, hurry up, Duo.”

Duo opened the compartment and watched her buckle up. “Hang on, Hilde.” He grabbed her tightly. “Something’s wrong with Deathscythe, help me out.” He kicked open the steering compartment like last time. Seriously needed to get that fixed later. “What do you think’s wrong?”

“What, why are you asking now, Duo?” she asked. “Seriously, it’s been three months since I’ve been stuck here. Let’s go.”

“What is it, Hilde. It takes two seconds to say it.” No. This can’t . . . in fact? No? No. No?

“What’s wrong with you, Duo?” she stalled again. “Seriously? Hey, come on, Duo. We spent months together. We even spent so much time at the burner house.”

“You don’t even know you are looking at the steering,” Duo glared at her.

“My mind’s been through the zero system,” she glared back. “Forgive me for forgetting about your gundam, instead of retaining my own memories, Duo!” She grabbed Duo’s arm. “Let’s go already, before we are caught. I’m sorry, okay? I’m not me, anymore, I get it. Please? We need to go.”

“Why do you still have your memories?” he asked again.

“Because. I? I fell out of the Deathscythe. I had terrifying experiences and visions inside the zero system,” she wailed. “I didn’t . . . remember everything, but I knew who I had been. I’m Hilde, and you told me everything was okay.”

But, was she as okay as he thought? “That’s when you lost some of your memories?”

“I still had vague memories of stuff,” she admitted. “Really. I knew I would eventually have to tell you when something happened that I didn’t know.” She shrugged. “Nothing happened that I never knew, Duo. You never talk about the past or things I should know. We always just live in the moment. You know?” She smiled sadly. “Please? I just want to leave. I just, need to remember where home is again.”

Duo got it. “You forgot where we lived.” She forgot all about him way before he thought.

“I forgot where we used to live, yeah. I’m sorry,” she said as she rubbed her hands together. “My mind is fractured. I remember certain things, but not others. I waited patiently here, knowing you’d find me one day if I just stayed put. This reachout area is really good, a lot of women kind of look like me. It seemed like a good place to get some notice.” Another smile. “Come on, Duo. I really want to leave.”

“Later.” He had to think. “I’m watching over a little girl I rescued this morning. So, you can just wait around until I’m good and done.”

“Why so sour, Duo?”

“You didn’t tell me you lost memories.”

“I said I’m sorry, Duo. Duo?”

Duo went down, and walked back off. He walked back toward Lucille’s room.

He glanced backward. Hilde was right there, following him. But, was she Hilde? “Prove to me your Hilde.”

“Well, your brother is an insensitive moron,” she started with. “He treated Middie Une really bad for something that she did to try and escape torture. Shortly after that, you told me to go to our room.”

“Farther,” Duo insisted.

“Duo? Are you punishing me for forgetting?” she asked. “Do you really . . . ?” She started to tremble. “Are you going to leave me behind because I’m too corrupt by the zero system? You don’t even recognize me, am I that bad off now?” She showed him her arm. "Do I really have to show this to prove myself?"

“No!” No! What am I doing?! I’ve been waiting for her! I even made her drag out that damn soldier scar. “I’ll take you back!” He could hear Deathscythes screams again. Heero warned him they would be screwed up by the time they got them back. I should be glad this is all she forgot. “I’ll gladly take you back home, I’m sorry, Hilde-Babe.” He wrapped his arms around her. RTL just . . .

He put her in the safety of Deathscythe next to him. Afterwards, he’d let Trowa know exactly where Middie had been. He could use Lucille as basic permission to get over there as long as she was there.

Trowa would figure out how to befriend the little girl. For him? Done. No more twisted RTL.

Reachout 53

Lucille got out of her bed. The BS Lady said I could walk around the front with a guide. But, she’s gone. No one was there. She’d rather go and find someone. She didn’t want to be alone right now.

She walked down the hall, hearing funny sounds.

“Ooga ooga booga. Ooga ooga booga.”

Babies. She went toward the silly noise.

Yeah, someone had been in there playing with babies.

There momma turned and saw Lucille. “Hi, I'm Heidi. Do you want to see my boys?”

Lucille went over and saw them. Heidi started to tickle one so he laughed. “How do you hold all of them?”

“Usually it’s one at a time. Sometimes I can get away with two.” She knocked herself on her forehead and stuck out her tongue. “When it’s all three, I beg for help from one of my girlfriends around here. They are always around.”

Lucille smiled as she tickled the foot of the baby Heidi was playing with. “Babies are cute.”

“Babies are work, but they are cute. Especially my boys.” She laughed and rubbed his nose.

“What’s the babies names?” Lucille asked.

“I couldn’t think of three cool names together, and I really didn’t want them to have gemmy names,” Heidi said. “So I called them Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.”

“Your babies have weird names,” Lucille told her.

“I’m surrounded with people named after gems,” Heidi said. “No one can complain if I name them after the three musketeers.”

Oh, that’s what the funny names were. Three musketeers. How cute and silly. She would have to tell the braided man when he came back again about the silly names.

She heard more baby sounds. "More momma's?"

"There are a lot of momma bears around here," a very large woman said as she came. She was extra tall but really round. "Or future momma bears."

Lucille looked around "Pretty " She pointed at paintings.

"The artist is just down there," Musketeer mom said to her. 

"Do you know Johnny?" She still got no answer.

"Not our department, so we don't know," the big lady said again.

Oh. Lucille continued on her way to the momma who made the drawing. She was feeding her baby. "Pretty art."

The lady smiled. "Thank you! I like it too. I just really like art and I was really good at it. The others really love it too." She rocked her baby back and forth. "This is Triton. What's your name?"

"Lucille," she said. "It used to be Relena. Momma changed my name."

"Yeah, I can see why she did that," the art momma said. "Maybe when you get older, you can use it again. For now, Lucille is a really pretty name. Mine is Marilyn." 

Lucille waved. "Do you know about Johnny?"

"I'm not part of your case, so I don't know. I'm really sorry." The art lady grabbed some paper. "What kind of things do you like?"

"Balloons. Pretty dresses. Pink."

"Keep going. Tell me more." She was writing something with one hand while she fed her baby with the other.

Lucille told her about animals she liked. About her pets. The woman was nice. She was balancing the stiff paper.

"Hello?" Another woman came in.

Ooh. "I like your dress." She was pretty in her dress. "Do you know Johnny?"

"Who is Johnny" she asked her.

Lucille told her about her big brother. About riding in a big robot. About trying to find Johnny.

The lady actually bent down to her level. "I have no idea what happened to him, it is not our area. However, I will look into this personally for you."

"Thank you," Lucille said. "Can I stay here? Everyone is nice. It's lonely over there."

"For so long, but we all need a little privacy at times," art momma said as she handed her the paper. "Since you like my art."

Ooh! It was her with her pet kitty, and doggy in a pretty dress with balloons. "Thank you. It's pretty." She hoped she didn't lose it.

"Over in the corner are some crayons," art momma said. "You can color it if you want."

That would be fun. But. "I'm not good at staying in lines so well."

"It's a sketch of fun, just for you. Don't worry about the lines. Just enjoy," she insisted. "If you don't like it as much, I can make another one for you later with color. When I have a wee bit more time."

"Thank you!" Then she wanted to color herself. She got the crayons and got on the ground to color. This was nicer. Being with people while she waited for momma.

Another momma stepped around her. "Pardon me, I just need around you." She went down further. Lucille heard pretty music. She got up and looked over. "You have two?"

"Yes, my little girl is still sleeping. My boy wakes less grumpy if he hears music when he wakes up," she said as she walked away. "Mandy?"

"Yes, please." Some of the momma's held a rocker steady while the really large woman sat down.

"Are you having a baby?" Lucille asked her.

"I wish. I am having four little munchkins," she said to her. "It looks like I swallowed a beach ball, doesn't it?"

Lucille touched her tummy. "It's bigger." One of the mom's laughed. "How can you mommy so many of them?"

"We are probably gonna move in together when this place closes for good," Musketeers momma said. "We'll manage."

Oh. It was such a funny place with so many moms. "Do you do other stuff than baby stuff?"

"We go out on duties sometimes," the musketeer mom said. "Sometimes. It depends on what it is, where we have to go, and who can watch over everyone."

"I go nowhere like this," the beach ball future mom said. "I can barely sit down by myself. I mainly help watch over things." She tried to scratch her back lightly.

Oh. "Did you used to go on more adventures? Like the long braid man?"

"Don't really need to name drop in here." the white haired long momma didn't seem fond of talking about it.

"We don't know," the beach ball mom told her. "We don't remember much of our selves at all."

"How do you not remember yourself?" That didn't make sense. "Like your name?"

"Our group used some corrupted technology, so our past feels more like facts on a page," the beach ball mom said.

"We just kind of figure things out." Musketeer mom brought out some yarn to show her. "We try to learn what we like. What we don't. What we can do, and what we can't. It's like starting all over again."

"That's with everyone here?" Lucille asked. "How do you learn language again?"

"It's not like that. We don't start like brand new babies. We have certain abilities," the beach ball mom said. "We try to build up from there, to figure out ourselves."

"I have this paper I printed out." Musketeer mom said. "I typed up lots of things and questions."

"When you remember, will you go back home and leave like mommy will with me?" Lucille asked. None of the mommies looked very happy at her phrase. "You got konked on the head. If you konk it again, you'll be better."

"Oh, if that were true." The beach ball mom rocked. "Life isn't cartoons unfortunately. How can I explain this to a child?"

"A lot of times, there are some memory losses that happen. They come because of accidents and stuff," musketeer mom tried to tell her. "This isn't the first time in the history of this place, that the mind got hurt by this technology. In reality? The mind is . . . different. No one here has ever gotten better, only worse."

"Even if we could get those memories back, that same technology had messed up our heads before that. We were like . . . not good people." the beach ball momma slowed her rocking down more. "Not good people at all."

Oh. "So you wouldn't want to remember anyhow?" Lucille asked. 

"We have profiles with our basics," Musketeer mom said to her. "We have our ID's. That's enough for us." She smiled, but it seemed sadder. "We are just all huddled up together trying to get through one day at a time." Her baby started to cry, so she touched his foot, making him kick. "We all have a lot of responsibility too, but it seems to help keep us going. Going and going, right Porthos?" She picked her baby up and put all kinds of mommy kisses on his face. 

"Right," art momma agreed as she brought her baby up closer on her. "A day at a time works."

"It's miserable," the lady with the nicest clothing said. "They are all lying to you. Whether we were evil or villainous, to start back from scratch and not know anything about who you are is in no way good. Knowing that we can look up all the facts we want to about our past, doesn't help." She brought out her ID. "See? I am Mae Morgana. I lived at this address. I had a certain weight and height. I have two brothers that are deceased. I feel nothing about any of this, it's all just information."

"Will you not get so serious with an impressionable child in the room?" the beach ball mom called her out. "She misses her home and family. We all know how that feels, so don't get it all twisted."

Lucille didn't know what deceased meant, but she did understand the home thing. The nursery was bright and cheerful and warm because each mommy or future mommy was trying to make it like a home. They didn't have a home anymore. Maybe that's why they were so nice to her when she came over? "So, you make a new home together? As new people?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," musketeer mom said as she held her son closer as another one woke up. "Looks like my peace and quiet is going to be gone for a bit."

"It's a little less lonely when you have friends that are there with you through it," the beach ball mom answered her.

Oh. "I'm getting hungry Beach Ball Future Mom, can Musketeer Mom, White Hair Lady, Pretty Lady in Dress, or Art Momma help me?"

They all laughed.

"Now I don't know if I liked Mandy, but Beach Ball Future Mom is definitely not a favorite," the beach ball mom said. "Do any of you have something for her? I'm not leaving this rocking chair."

White Haired Momma grabbed her boy. "Amira is still sleeping, so I'll take Zara and be back soon." She held her little boy who looked like he had really white hair too and held her hand with her free hand. "Let's go."

As they walked, Lucille looked at the white haired lady. "I like your hair."

"Thank you. It's platinum, not white," she corrected her.

Platnum then. Pretty, it sounded like a silvery word. "Can I have pizza?"

"Oh, I think Heidi will tear me a new one if we take that from her," Platnum said. "I bet you are more than ready to go home, aren't you? Not much here for children. No one to interact with at all except some strange people you don't know, who don't even know themselves." She reached the kitchen and looked in the fridge. "What do you want?"

Lucille got closer. There wasn't much. "Can you make something?"

"I can try, but Heidi got sick last time I made breakfast. She can't stand cheddar cheese." She grabbed white cheese and eggs and she closed the refrigerator. She bounced her baby in one arm while she did everything with her other hand. "No, no, Zara. Not for you."

"Did you name your babies after musketeers?" Lucille asked.

"No. I looked it up one time, they are Hebrew or Arabic. Amira is something like princess."

Pretty.

"Zara is also feminine for some reason though," she admitted as she continued to cook. "I have many things I don't understand, but that is one of the highest. I keep telling myself I was probably expecting twin girls, but why didn't I change it afterward?"

Hmm. "My name is Relena but I can't use it. Maybe the baby name is like me too."

"A secret name?" She flipped the food. "Do you have a hidden, mysterious name Zara?"

"You can call him Johnny," she suggested. "Johnny is a brave name." 

"I know you miss your brother." She served her the food. "We will find out what happened soon. Mae took it up, so I am sure she will find out more for you."

"What about your baby boy having the wrong name?" She asked.

"My son and daughter were given these names for some purpose. They aren't gem names, they are genuine." Platnum seemed sad. "There's nothing exciting about a mystery when your whole life is one. I'll take you back to your room for now to eat. Okay?"

"Okay." She didn't mean to make Platnum sad. "It's not easy to stay happy for the momma bears who forgot."

"There are worse things in this world," Platnum said to her. She didn't tell her what was worse though, just helped her back to her room.

Platinum returned to the nursery. "She is eating in her room."

"I found out about Johnny," Mae said to her. "Her mother will break the news. She will be arriving late tonight."

Oh no. Poor Lucille. "We will respect her wishes." Amira was starting to wake up. Now it would be harder to navigate around with Lucille. "Hi, Honey. Let's go to Momma's room, it is getting crowded in here."

Hilde's boys were all up. One was getting attention from Mae who was reading it a soft book. One was being fed and the other was sitting on her lap waving it's crinkle toy around. Triton was sitting up and playing with his favorite punch toy that never stayed down.

That place would be twice as crammed when Mandy's quadruplets came. We aren't all just momma bears who forgot, we are humans trapped in a vicious circle we can't break or it will cost us everything we hold dear. "We need to move soon. What if we are still here when everything falls apart?"

"We only move if we are forced to," Mandy said. "I have four babies coming any day. We also really need to save every paycheck. We all have to agree what to do too. Mae?"

Mae looked at her clothes. "I don't know yet."

"We will be off better together. You can't just get promised away," Hilde warned her. 

"They could be good, and what kind of place are we getting to handle everyone?" Mae disagreed. "Jobs. Money. We won't get much more space than we do now."

"Not so," Marilyn said as she held Triton's toy safely for him. "I heard a rumor there was something about severance pay. The more we did, the more we can get."

"Mm?! Hilde, yours!" Mae gave her boy right back. "I need to make calls. We are getting a cut if we deserve it."

Mae was on the phone for some time before she said something. "We can separate. I am on hold for more news and account information."

"Well, at least Mandy the Manslaughterer Purple Gem was good for something," Mandy said. "Each of us will have some money."

"We've done enough we would spend life in prison if anyone finds out RTL activities," Mae said realistically. "Yes, our dedication better pay well. I will take my share and leave soon." 

"I want to know my share too." It would be smart to start looking for a home and head out.

"I don't," Heidi disagreed. "I don't want to be alone."

"Yes!" Mae stood up and yelled. "Pay day!"

All of the babies started to cry while everyone glared at Mae. She showed them the number she wrote down, making the glare disappear.

Mandy smirked. "I'll take a pregnancy suite please, doctor."

"I am moving to the city," Mae insisted. "A busy one. A big one."

"Somewhere simple. Tranquil," Platinum said as she held her crying boy and girl. "Somewhere far away from the world."

"We need to meet them in a day at a certain location. We each have cards they put the money on," Mae insisted. "We can't yank more than a certain amount at a time. Once a year, we can yank up to a certain amount." 

"Of course," Mandy said. "Uh huh. Well, depending on the amount . . ." Mae showed her the numbers. "Yeah, okay."

"Somewhere warmer," Heidi said. 

"I will leave with Triton after I get it," Marilyn insisted. "There are no rides or vehicles anyone will let us use but one, and I know I can't-"

"Nope!"

-take it," Marilyn finished. "I need to get a group food. No one has come for two days except someone with a gundam. I tried to take it. It didn't work out."

Heidi laughed. "Duh. I saw that on the security footage."

"I had better chances with someone who hasn't killed any members yet. I will get them a good degree of food before I leave for good." Marilyn kissed her boys head. "Don't worry, we'll take Mister Giraffe." Triton babbled a bit as he leaned on his little punch toy.

Lucille looked at a picture book when she started to smell popcorn. Fresh popcorn. Like, circus popcorn. She moved away from her bed to look out the room.

There was a tall man with funny hair over one eye with a fresh bag of popcorn that looked like it was from the circus. He went from standing, to standing on one arm. Ooh!

“Hello,” he greeted her. “My name is Trowa. You met my friend, Duo, right?”

“The braided man.” Yeah, she knew him.

“I am his friend.” He bounced back up again and handed her the bag of popcorn. “I was wondering if we could talk for a bit?”

Lucille walked around with him and found out he was a clown in a circus, and a performer. He did all kinds of tricks. He was cool!

“So. The nursery is down that corner?” he asked. “Have you visited it?”

“Uh huh. The ladies are nice and the babies are cute,” Lucille said. “One of them named them after the three musketeers. They were funny names.”

“Any others?” he asked. “What about a Marilyn?” he asked. “Did you meet her there?”

“Art momma?” Lucille just shook her head and ran back to get her drawing. “She drew this for me.” Circus Man was really interested in it.

“Can we go see her?” Circus Man asked. “I’d really appreciate it if we could.”

“Babies could be sleeping.” There was a reason she wasn't there.”

He reached in his pocket. “How about free tickets to the circus? With a free popcorn? You can even come back and see me?” Circus Man looked desperate.

“It’s a lot of babies sleeping.” But? Maybe? “When’s my brother and mom coming back?”

“I’m afraid your mother is delayed still,” he answered her.

“Then Johnny? When is Johnny coming back?” She stopped. “Duo said someone would tell me what happened to him.” No one had said anything.

Circus Man bent down toward her. “I believe it is best for your mother to talk to you about that.”

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” Would someone just say it already? “They cut him before. His whole finger was gone. He screamed last time. This time, there was no scream. Just, Duo coming in. I never even saw anything.” Please? “He’s gone like daddy?”

The silly man didn’t look nearly as silly. “You’ve probably known since the moment Duo saved you. When someone tells you yes or no, it won’t make you feel better.”

“Please?”

“Yes,” he answered her truthfully.

Really? Really? “He didn’t make it out.”

“No, only you did,” he said. “He was a very brave brother though, wasn’t he?”

“Yes!” He really was gone. Just like daddy. She started to scream and cry as she stomped her foot. The mommas who couldn't tell her anything had come over. “He’s dead, he’s really dead!” She felt the silly circus man hug her.

“It was for her mother to say!” The Platnum woman came straight out toward the circus man, grabbed her, and smacked him. “You, you, you pilot! Have no right to even be here!”

Lucille didn’t care who held her. Johnny was really gone.

Lucille felt herself getting taken into the nursery. She looked at the Platnum woman as she stroked her hair.

“There, there. Losing people hurts, I know.” Her eyes were so filled with something. It felt like?

Lucille started to cry again. It felt like she felt just like her. She held her tighter. Even though she seemed so mean and powerful against the Circus Man, her eyes and touch were sad and gentle. It was really easy to cry on her.

The Platnum lady had sat down with her, rocking her. It reminded her of her mother. “You can take as much time as you need to cry. Lots. Little. I’ll hold you for every moment.”

Lucille hugged on tighter to her, thinking about her brother.

“I’m sorry, but she already knew deep inside, it was only hurting not to confirm it.” The Circus Man was trying to come in. “Middie.”

Lucille rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t see much anymore. She didn’t want to get up off the lady any time soon. She just thought about her brother while everyone talked around her.

“Keep your distance, pilot! Do not get any ideas.”

“I need to talk to her.”

“Not without a DNA test. If she isn't her, you’ll arrest her.”

“Middie. I am Trowa. I knew you from the circus. Do you remember anything about a circus? The paintings in here, you did those, didn’t you? You used to do paintings at the circus. Are you holding Alec?”

“What is going on?”

“You are here too?”

They continued to talk as Lucille grasped the long almost white hair of Platnum. It was long and soft. She didn't think her hair was long, but it was to her. Her other hand rubbed it as she continued to cry.

“This is? How? Everyone has been right here, together?”

“No way, we’re just lookalikes, Circus Boy.”

“You are Lucretzia Noin.”

“Get out of here!” One of the ladies scream. “Get your funny butt out of here.”

“It’s okay, I’m not here to hurt anyone. I just want to talk to Marilyn.”

Lucille started to get double anxious when she heard alarms go off! “What’s happening?”

“It’s okay, I have you,” Platinum promised. “Marilyn, go with Trowa Barton, it’s your best bet.”

“What?”

“You are probably Middie Une, you have to go!”

“You have to trust me. There’s no time. Please?” Circus man begged. “Please?”

Art momma left with Triton while everyone started to move.

“To the emergency vehicle, just the babies and needed carriers! Nobody take anything that's not important, grab two babies, and move, move, move!” Beach Ball momma yelled to everyone. “Heidi, you’re in charge of Athos and Porthos, Mae take Aramis and Zara! I have Amira, Platinum bring the girl too. Hurry, hurry, move it! This is not a drill, go, go, go, go!”

Lucille felt them all moving quickly while trying to be careful with the babies. The commanding beach ball lady was last having to move slower.

“Don't look back, I can take care of myself, just move! We know our destination.”

Trowa had his hand in Middie’s as they ran. She held Alec in her arms. His Heavyarms only had enough room for them. He caught others scattering, but there was no time. He went straight with her to the zero room.

But it was no good. Someone was ready, and nailed his leg. He tried to keep going and hold out his gun, but he was grabbed and drug into the center with his leg.

“Why did you have to get in the way?” A different woman came up. Not a lookalike. She was one of the women he thought had murdered Dorothy Catalonia. “This almost went off without a hitch.” While she spoke, a Noin lookalike shot him again.

Both legs and his arm were now hit.

“I would kill you,” the Noin lookalike said, “but I don’t get that pleasure. Someone else does.”

What? Trowa saw her point the gun right at his head.

“If I could, I would kill him like his mother died.”

Trowa watched as a lady with fine clothes, gloves, and a hat came over. Losing a lot of blood.

“Do you know how she died?” She asked him.

“… she never died.”

“She died when Heero Yuy killed her.”

“Heero. Would never.”

“He killed my daughter,” she said. “My sweet innocent daughter. If it hadn’t been for him, I would have simply been a beloved mother, a normal woman who watched her family grow and die naturally over time,” she said. “You see? When someone owns colonies, and they decide to sell their entire fortune for information, and said information is found? It gets used. When that happened, I saw the future. I joined a group that mattered, gave everything to it, and then I killed their weak leader by throwing her into the raw zero system. Over and over and over.” She grinned wickedly. “Lady Zero made her experience her biggest trauma over and over and over. By the time she came out, the woman that got pushed in was-

Trowa just glared. “-Just die already if you are trying to play out your last moments like they mean something.”

Oh, she was enraged now. She grabbed him by his shirt forcing his feet to move and him to bleed out more. “All of the women have finally been impregnated with most of them already having each pilots baby. I tested your little bastard too, to make sure I didn't have to waste any more money than I had to.”

She let go of him again. “RTL’s profit is gone. Everything I do for the pregnancies was from my own wealth now, so not even Crystalia knew it. Looked like number five with Lady Zero was the final punch for her head.”

She took off her gloves and dropped them in his pooling blood on the floor. “The only thing working now is one account with an incredible amount of wealth in it. Only so much per month. Funding six women with their children and it is the timer.”

Timer. The women. All children.

“Thank your mother for this one. When I checked out her last meeting records on her last day at RTL, I heard her beloved input to just let the ladies run with their children. I of course needed to add tweaks. Like make sure they got decent severance pay. They could raise their children with no problems at all. Until each one runs out of their severance pay. Do you want to know how each one will die? Do you think you'll ever find them for it to matter?”

Trowa nodded. Best chances.

“Hilde and her little musketeers will be killed by sepsis with stabbing pains of sliced metal. Mei-Lin and her child will be asleep at night comfortably in their home and then set on fire. I hate explosions so a fire will have to do. More? Say yes please.”

Damn her! “Yes. Please.”

“Noin and her little quadruplets will be taken into space, and then shoved out into it. Now Dorothy was a real tricky one to figure out. Quatre Winners mother died in birth. That's not an option, so I am changing it to how his father died. Suicide. Sacrifice. Whichever way you really see it. I am placing Dorothy and her children in a situation where either Zara or Amira have to commit suicide to save their mother, or she has to sacrifice one for the other. Afterward we will just kill the survivors. Last but not least. Relena Peacecraft.”

Will never be caught.

“Heero Yuy’s mother died by a huge theater sign that was put up wrong in their colony. Too rushed to make everything I suppose. Cruel fate once again. Had she just not gone to a show, he would have grown up a good boy that didn't kill innocent girls. I am afraid I could not use my original plan of broadcasting her stranded in a birthing saddle in the middle of the room with nothing below her so when she gave birth it would die as a measly red mess on the ground. Then she would have been pressure killed. With three new people in this plan, we are just going to use a high amount of water pressure and never stop until the unending brutality ends them. Now, that just leaves your precious Middie Une the Spy and her terrible son.”

Oh, that gleam. He read her wrong. She wasn't ending herself. She was ending him.

“So, Mister trapeze performer. If you haven’t guessed? Your revenge is up first, and we are using how you died, Triton Bloom.” The Noin lookalike pried Alec from Middie and . . .

Threw him. Trowa saw his fragile body sail in the air, and Middie scream, while he was hit with another two bullets in the chest.

How many times can I shoot you in different locations before you bleed out? Stomach? Arm? Maybe I should just blast your legs so bad they won't be savable? I know it does nothing since I am killing you now anyhow, but just the-”

Trowa watched her fall to the ground.

“You . . . always . . . talked too much.” Crystalia was there, wavily standing with a crying Alec as shots rang out, striking the other woman.

Heero! Trowa couldn't believe it. “How did you know?”

Heero had been prepared to treat wounds. “People under the zero system can't be who they were before,” Heero said as he became. “They can make progress though. She made enough that when she got a text from Superior, she followed me instead.”

Superior started to yell on the ground until Crystalia shot her in the legs and an arm. The yelling changed into screaming and crying. “Heero. What should I do?” Middie went to take Alec away from her and ran.

Of. Course. That trust she would be okay was blown.

“Relena and I guide her now,” Heero said to Trowa. “I’m sorry to everyone. I can't risk my family.” Heero gave the order. “Eliminate the target, Crystalia.”

Crystalia ended all the screaming with a quick gunshot to the head. “Did I do it this time, Heero?”

Heero went over to check. “Yes. It is no trick by the zero system. Superior is dead.”

“We did not win though.”

“No, but I didn't lose Relena or the twins. You didn't lose Trowa or your grandson. It was enough of a win,” Heero compromised with her. “No committing suicide. Understand?”

“Yes,” she answered as Heero continued to treat his wounds.

Trowa stared at her. She looked different now. She trembled. She talked the same but there was something different.

“Is it okay to come out now?” Relena Dorlain’s unmistakable voice came from the doorway to the zero room.

“Yes. I am tending to Trowa. Crystalia, shoot on sight if anyone threatens them,” Heero instructed.

“Yes, sir.” She watched her environment.

I’ll be. Heero turned Crystalia from a worry, into another soldier watching over his family. “The women in the nursery. Heero, it's them.”

“Yes, they were the real ones. We tried to make it in time,” Heero explained. “This place will be crawling with authorities soon. I need to get what I can for info now.”

He knew they were the real ones? “A phone, Heero!” Why didn't he call?

“Heero didn't want to trust that Superior texted the truth,” Relena answered as she picked up one of her children.

“You guys already hated me because I used one chance tactics to save my family,” Heero reminded him. “Telling everyone where they were at, and it being lie, would only hurt more. We should have had more time. You weren't supposed to be here.”

“Duo thought he found Middie. I wanted to check.” Oh no. “Duo isn't with Hilde.”

“From what we gathered,” Relena said, “he hasn't been with Hilde since they were imprisoned together.”

“Someone switched her off. It's gonna hurt when he knows, but everyone is gonna hurt,” Heero reasoned.

“I know.” Relena closed her eyes. “Heero? What will happen now?”

“Trowa needs to get to the hospital,” Heero said. “I will tell the other pilots.”

“How are we going to get them back?” Trowa asked. “Superior was the owner of one of the colonies Heero had his tragedy on. If we track her real name, we should find them.”

“It is a very good start,” Relena agreed. “Thank you for helping me save my friends, Crystalia.”

“No problem.”

The sweat on her brow said otherwise. “Middie didn’t know me. She renamed Alec, Triton.”

“They are using Crystalia’s past for hers?” Relena went over toward Crystalia closer. “The hurt just never ends.”

“RTL worked best in small groups,” Crystalia said again.

Crystalia was . . . badly damaged. Badly. Mistreated. Her mind wasn’t her own. But? “There’s . . . traces.”

“I told you,” Heero chided him. “I am glad you didn’t take her though. I would have lost Relena and my family if I hadn’t taken Crystalia. Twice she has saved them. When you want her back, it’s not going to be as easy to make me say yes now, Trowa.”

Yeah. Trowa understood. If I had taken her back. Then maybe . . . No. He couldn’t think about that right now. Especially since he could see a real medical emergency team coming. Relena must have called for the help. “There’s a little girl inside. She’s waiting for her mother to arrive. Duo helped her yesterday, she’s in the kids corner.” There was no telling what anyone would do once they reached the reachout. They needed to be warned.

“Thank you,” Relena thanked him. “We’ll be sure to let them know.”

“Wait!” Marilyn yelled as they almost took off. They stopped and she ran, opening the back doors to sit side by side with Triton. She buckled him in his carrier as Platinum took off.

“Didn't work out?” Heidi asked her.

“I didn't even reach outside and some woman tossed Triton as far as she could!” She yelled. “If it wasn't for another woman catching him, he’d be dead.” She kissed her baby’s head and couldn't stop crying now that it was over.

“It’ll be safer when you can prove your identity,” Heidi encouraged her.

Marilyn didn’t answer back.

Damn. Damn. Damn! Heero couldn’t curse his humanity, but if he could have just texted or called them instead. He wanted to check, he didn’t want to make them feel worse. “If I had called, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“If Duo hadn’t saved a little girl’s life, this wouldn’t have happened today,” Trowa said as he was being lifted to a stretcher. “The alarms going off. What happened?”

“Proof of every other organization that had been working with RTL leaked through,” Relena confirmed. “All of the secret areas will no longer be safe. All women are on the run. I’m sorry, Middie Une ran scared and no one could chase after her safely.”

Correct. Heero had gone over several scenarios with her. She knew full well what she should and shouldn't do. Though she was often reckless, by giving her more personal words and concern, she usually followed his directive. Usually. "From what we can tell, the women were never made to be our enemy,” Heero said. “They are going to stay away simply because they don’t know who they are. To them, they are criminals, and they aren’t going to risk their children to turn themselves in, just in the name of justice.”

Trowa didn’t answer. His blood loss was knocking him out. He hadn’t been shot anywhere that would end his life right away, but it wasn’t pleasant. He would be down for awhile.

Now? For the tough part. “Relena.”

“I am here, Heero.” She placed down a carrier and took her hand into his. “We can tell them together.”

“Where?” This was going to hurt them all.

“At the defeated site of the previous Sank Kingdom,” Relena declared. “They’ll already mentally prepare themselves for any news if the meeting place is there.”

“This is worse than ruined chips,” Crystalia said.

“Yeah,” Heero agreed. “It is.”

Sooo . . . Heidi just stared at the other women. “This isn’t fair. I already have three kids. Mandy?”

“Look, you are the only one who made connections to one of them,” Mandy said to her. “I’ll hold your card for you and your boys. You can take the vehicle with her. I’ll even watch your boys for you if you want.”

“No one is watching my boys!” She didn’t want to risk separation. She tried to smile at Lucille. “This sucks. Um? Hi.” She waved at her. “Which one of us did you form a tighter bond with?”

“The one who befriended a pilot enough, should be the one who goes,” Platinum insisted. “She needs to be taken back to her mother by someone.”

“You suck. You all suck. Every single one of you suck big time!” She grabbed Lucille’s hand. “You better come back for us. I mean it.”

“You better do the exchange right,” Mandy insisted. “Your boys and your freedom are on the line.”

“Shut up.” Grr. Heidi watched as they all left her with a rental car, helping to put her boys in it. After they started to walk away, Heidi put the little girl in the car in the passenger seat. “Okay. Obviously, things happened and we can’t quite meet your momma.” The girl stopped being talkative now. Probably too nervous. “It’s not over though. It’ll be okay. I’m going to make a small phone call . . . and we’ll get it all back on track. Okay?”

Lucille at least nodded at her. “Are you calling Duo?”

Oh man. “Yeah. Yes, I am.” Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. But? The little girl couldn’t just hang out with them forever. He was her best bet she had.

Colony Junkyard:

Duo tried to relax and watch a movie with Hilde. He even ordered her favorite pizza. He tried to smile.

What was wrong with him? He had no problems with Hilde before. Was it just because he saw so many lookalikes that he had trouble believing?

No reason for this. Zero system hurt her head but she knew him. The one that felt like Hilde, had triplets. Why was he still thinking about that?

He answered his phone as it rang. Heero wanted to have an important meeting with all the former gundam pilots.

Earth. On Earth of course. But the kicker was it was to be at the former site of the Sank Kingdom Institute. That? That was serious business then.

They also said to bring Hilde.

She wasn't fond of the idea. She didn't see what it had to do with them.

“Oh.” She seemed sad. “Maybe someone got hurt so they all want to support each other. I can understand that. Still, why should I go, Duo? I never had anything to do with the Sank Kingdom.”

It was her. “Just come and get it over with.”

“I’ve spent enough time on Earth. I just want to be at home, Duo,” She complained right back. “You’re okay, aren’t you?” Her eyebrow raised. “Seriously, I’m getting worried. You don’t look right.”

“Oh, I’m good,” he lied. “I’m just getting used to sharing the junkyard place again.”

“Yeah, what a mean trick. A chance to move on to something cool, and it was just a con.” She folded her arms. “I don’t think that’s it though. You’ve been kind of weird since you found me. I’ve proved thousands of times I’m me?” She gestured to herself. “I know I tricked you at first, but the fact I have to keep doing this, even after the time in Deathscythe and this?” She pulled up her sleeve. “Do you really think this is nothing?”

“No, of course not.” It wasn’t. “I’ll be back.” He took his phone to the bathroom with him. He called Heero again. “Hey? So, Hilde doesn’t really want to come. She’s had a rough three months.”

“Bring her. It isn’t optional,” Heero said to him. “It’ll be easier if you bring her with you.”

“But, why?”

“Trowa was shot five times.”

“What?!” Trowa got shot. “How? When?”

“Superior was doing things we didn’t know. The zero system is a master illusionist. Come with Hilde. She can relax at the hotel but we need to test her and you for some things.”

Oh man, testing? “Okay, I’ll bring her.” Heero hung up on him. “Goodbye to you too.” He put his phone away. He smiled as he went back in the room with Hilde. “So, you really have to go.” He shrugged. “Not too big of a deal, but something happened to Trowa. We should listen.”

“Oh no, poor Trowa,” she said. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to have to go to see. I’ll pay for your ticket and everything,” he insisted. “It’s serious, I have to do some testing too. I guess RTL’s environment was pretty bad.”

“Oh. Okay, I better come then,” she decided.

“Good, I’m sure it won’t take too long since Heero is dating the former Queen of- ” Another call? It was different. He answered it.

He could hear light breathing. It couldn’t be another pilot, they always said their name first so they could recognize each other. He was about to hang up from the wrong number when he heard-

“So, I have something of someone’s I need to give back?”

Hilde’s voice? “Hang on.” Duo looked back at Hilde again. “One more second.” He headed toward the back to finish the conversation. “Who is this?”

“Umm? Look, I don’t know how this works, but that girl Lucille you saved? Something happened in Outreach 53 and we had to bail. Her mom was supposed to come get her tonight, she was running late.”

Hang on a second? “Triplet copy?”

“Yeah,” she said awkwardly. “I know, I know, how do I have the number? It’s a standard kind of walkie talkie thing I’m doing. It’s only because you got RTL emergency signals on it. I don’t know the actual number.”

Triplet copy?

“What do I do with Lucille?” She asked. “I can’t call out for help just anywhere. I don’t know what to do, she needs to get back to her mother.”

“She there?” Duo asked. He heard Lucille’s voice.

“Duo? I’m with Musketeer Mom. Oh. Heidi, I’m with Heidi. I need to get home.”

Right. She took her to be safe. This might actually work, Middie might be in that mess somewhere. “We should meet and I can take her.”

“Uh? He he, no?” She answered. “Look, I don’t know how to do this, but I can’t risk some authority getting to me. The outreach alarms went off.”

“We should meet. You owe me Middie, remember?” He reminded her. “You said she’s probably the real thing.” 

“Trowa Barton came to see her just as the alarms went off,” Heidi said. “We were all rushing out, and we broke apart from her, but then when we were taking off, she came right back. Her baby was flung in the air and almost killed while Trowa Barton was shot up.”

“Shot up.” Yep, he had to get to that meeting. Trowa might be gone, fighting for his life, of it could be about something related to the shooting. Either way, he had to take care of getting back Middie Une and Alec.

“So she might be her, but now she’s justifiably scared. We all are. Look? We’re not . . . doing anything wrong. Can’t you just take the little girl back for now?”

“Trowa Barton is a friend, and if she has his baby, then she can’t just run off.” No way. “I want her location too. We are meeting.” He heard a familiar little grumble in her voice. “Where are you?”

“This isn’t easy,” she insisted. “I’m just a mom now. I just want to live with my family. I don’t want to go to jail, and I haven’t done anything bad since I lost my memory.”

He could hear her starting to panic. “That safety place gave out. You need help. I can do that, just give me your location.”

“I have something coming. Like a severance pay kind of thing,” she said. “I’ll be okay once I drop her off.”

“No, don’t do that, that’s stupid!” He had to lay into her. “It’s probably on some card. As soon as the authorities get wind of that, it’s over for you. They will track you down. Anything from any account related to activities is going to be found and monitored.”

“Are you sure? But all of the nursery moms are getting it soon.”

Oh, man. Kind-hearted idiot. “I am heading to Earth. Where are you exactly and we’ll meet?”

“No, I can’t. That’s too scary. I don’t want to lose my boys, Sir, please? I’m trying to do the right thing, but I’ve done a lot of bad, but I was messed up. Please. I can try to leave her somewhere maybe?”

“Could you really do that to someone so young?” He knew that answer. She just had to think about it.

“Someone could easily pick her up and it’d be my fault if she got hurt.” Her voice was panicked and sorry. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Okay. Now.” She did give his wallet back. She didn’t feel mean. She was just manipulated by the zero system. She also had the means to get back to Middie Une somehow. “I know you are a good person deep inside. The zero system just messed you up. You are a mom of three and . . . I’m not gonna say a thing,” he promised. “Just get the girl back to me, tell me where to find Middie, and I’ll let you live your life. Okay?”

“I’m meeting back up with her,” she said. “Ooh! You can only find her, if you let us go free? Is that a negotiation, can I use that?”

Heh. “Sure, got it. Where are you?” He got the location. They found a local fast food place they could meet up at tomorrow. “Okay, if I’m late, just stay there a bit. I’ll be there as soon as I can get a flight and a car ride . . . I might be a little late, just keep in contact.” He hung up and went back toward Hilde. “So, we actually should go to Earth. Like, now?”

Oh yeah. Not a pleasant look. “For what, Duo?”

“To pick up a girl from a clone of you?” he said casually. “Not a big deal, innocent girl, don’t know how else to do a trade off, and she’s got news about Middie Une. At the very least, I gotta get that kind of news to Trowa.”

She groaned. “Fine. Okay, but I am not riding in any Deathscythe.”

“No more Deathscythe,” Duo promised. “Just the long boring fun of a shuttle.”

“Okay.”

“And a rental car for a few hours. And a nice hotel to spend the night, and then one flight and one more rental to go to the meeting.” Yeah, she really didn’t look pleased. “Hey, isn’t it good to be back home?”

“Nevermind, we can take Deathscythe.”

“Not a choice, Hilde.”

“Damn.”

“Besides, like I’m really going to leave you here while I go strolling on Earth?” Not on her life.

“Hey,” she said, “I was trying to act like I had a choice like a decent human being? Besides, RTL is getting flattened right now.”

“Still not gonna risk it.” No more risks. “The meeting won’t last long. Maybe we can get the tests done first before it to get it over with?”

“You are lucky you are my best friend,” Hilde warned him. “That, and I guess I’m a little spooked to be alone yet again. They keep getting me whenever my guard is dropped.”

Duo wouldn’t be dropping his guard. Not this time.

Local Fast Food Restaurant

Okay, relax Heidi, it’ll be fine. She rocked one of her boys to keep him quiet while she fed the other. Lucille was entertaining the other one. Waiting anywhere all day with triplets wasn’t any fun.

“Nervous,” Lucille said to her.

Understatement. I’m fraternizing with the enemy! He’s a nice guy, but he’s still the enemy! A quick exchange. It’d be done and over with. He’s going to want Middie. I can get him the number to her, that’ll be fine. Is he really right about the danger of the cards? If so, we’ll have to rip off as much money as we can at once. Then, run from the area? Would that be enough? She saw Duo walking straight to them. “So if we rip off as much money as we can on the card and just take off, is that enough?”

Duo just looked at her like she was stupid. “Hello to you too?”

Ugh! She spoke her words out loud again! She winced as Lucille waved hello to him.

“Brought the whole family? Probably a good idea. A better idea than yelling the first thing that comes to mind. You’re a nervous type, aren't ya?”

Hmph. He just sat right next to her. “She’s right on the other side?”

“Yep, I’ll get her. What’s good to eat around here? That was a long drive,” he said way too casually. “Burger place. This is different. So? Middie Une?”

“I have her number,” Heidi insisted. “Here. I just have to write it down.”

“A little scatterbrained? To be expected.” Boy, he was just being mean. It didn’t put her at ease. He got a napkin and got up to ask for something to write with from the cashier. He sat back down with it. “There.”

Um. Heidi pulled out her phone and looked at the number. She started to write it down, but he just snagged it instead. “That’s my phone.”

“That they are going to trace.” He looked at her like she was a child again, turned it off and put it away. “I got her number now, but don’t do that. They will trace you by accounts or by phones.”

“But, I have to get back to them.” Heidi didn’t know what to do. “I can’t just be out here with my children like this, I have to get back to them and-”

“It’s prison,” Duo said firmly to her. “Look? You’re . . . good. You are really good, I can see it in you. I don’t want you getting caught either.” Phone. “You did give me my wallet back. Don’t you have anywhere else to go?”

“There . . . used to be a local shelter around here, but it lost a lot of funding.”

“Your still not too far from the outreach. If they hit that place, they are going to check into that,” Duo also warned her. “Your stuff is in that computer, you’ve got to be more careful.”

—

“They have everything though. I already accepted the rental. They could be following it. They could be following me?” She started to look around.

“No, not that quick. Look? I’m not letting anyone turn you in,” he said more confidently. “I won’t give you anything that will get you caught, that’s why I took the phone and warned you about everything else,” Duo insisted. She looked downright terrified. Like a crazy little nervous bunny. So unlike Hilde, I can see that now. Since the first day he knew Hilde Schbeiker she was gungho. She even risked herself to let him get to the moon.

She wasn’t frazzled to a bunch of kids in a fast food place. Only reason this one is adventurous is because she’s got no choice but to be. “Hey, it’ll be fine. Do you have any other communications on you?” She shook her head no a lot. Damn. He really didn’t want anything to happen to her. All of them are taking big risks, but they need that severance pay. “I hate having such a kind heart at times, totally doesn’t fit me.” He looked toward Lucille while he showed Heidi his card. “You want to ride with me again?”

“Johnny died,” she answered.

“You can ride with me again, Lucille, then we’ll talk.” Duo would touch on that conversation better in a ride back with him and Hilde, not in a fast food place.

Duo looked back at Heidi. “I’ll trade you rentals. Go reach your friend, get your card, but don’t do anything to it. Just come right back here. I know my way around a lot of accounts and stuff. I’ll get off some of it, enough to get you started.” She brougth out a paper to show the numbers she had. “Geez, that is some severance pay. You’ll be good to go. Just one transaction though. You’ll have to meet me next year to do this again, if that account isn’t frozen or found by then. You’d also have to find me, which isn’t as easy as you might think.”

“Well, I could get your real number?” she said. “Oh. That sounded creepy, forget it, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, you should probably have it. You don’t always have your wits about you, and you’ve got three newbies to the world.” Duo went ahead and wrote down his number on a different napkin. “If my phone changes, forget it though.” He gave it back. “And just one shot with the money, okay? Or maybe sweeten the pot if I have to come all the way back to Earth for it.”

“One shot, I get it,” she agreed. “Are you sure you can?” Heidi asked him.

“Yeah, of course, not a big thing for someone like me.” Eh, if not, he’d rope Heero into it.

“What about the others?” Heidi asked. “Mandy and Marilyn and-”

“I can’t do everyone, I don’t know everyone, and really? Let’s just say this makes us even if Marilyn is Middie,” he told her. “Besides, I doubt they’ll trust me anyhow so no guilt, right?”

Yeah, that was a resounding sigh. “Right. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.”

“Can I look at my phone for the rest of their numbers? Please?” she asked.

Oof. “Names to look for? After this, you get the napkin, but I keep the phone.”

“MB1, MB2, MB3, MB5,” she said.

“What is MB?” Duo wrote down the names.

“Momma Bears.”

Heh. “Well, it works for code words I guess.” He gave the napkin to her and then turned the phone back off. He’d ditch it soon. “So, will you freak out if the real Hilde comes inside now? We needed to eat anyway.”

She just grinned. “You found your real friend? I’m so glad to hear that. You don’t think she’ll freak out when she sees me, do you?”

“Nah.” He went outside to get her. He also told her they’d have to be switching rental cars.

“I really hope she is good, Duo,” Hilde said as she went inside. “I’d freak out if I hadn’t seen so many that already looked like me.” She waved. “Wow, you do have your own little army.”

There. It looked like bringing in Hilde made her relax even more. “Now for some food. What do you want, Heidi?”

“Regular anything,” Heidi said, “no cheese. I hate cheddar cheese, I just like the mozzarella here.”

“No cheddar cheese, got it. What about you Lucille? You want a little cheeseburger?” Yep, great. “Hilde-extra cheese?”

“You know it, Duo,” she answered back. “And two extra. I can order for myself.”

“I can do that, I got another job for you.” Duo had Hilde volunteer to get the seats for the babies in the other rental.

Duo went to order the food. Heidi’s tummy was probably nervous, but he was glad she accepted the food request. Boy, if I had told myself four days ago I’d be here? He ordered a simple number meal for Heidi, a little cheeseburger for Lucille, a great big meal for himself ‘cause food was good, and thre extra cheese’s for Hilde. She’d probably eat one (maybe two) and then when she got hungry again she’d eat the third.

She was good in shuttles in space. She was not so good in dead end areas on Earth where there was nothing to see on the horizon for hours. She wasn’t used to the dead spaces of Earth where fifteen minutes felt like five hours just watching brush pass by.

Yikes. Hilde was not going to be a happy camper about having to return there again tomorrow before home. Couldn’t be helped.

After he got the food, he took it outside in seperate bags since he just had to get one burger to Heidi. Then he came back in and helped with the last carrier.

He looked at the tiny size of it while the carrier seemed so massive. “This guys really tiny in this carrier. Don’t they come smaller?” Seemed unsafe.

“They’re all the same size. Thanks for the help,” she insisted. “Really. It’s good. To know all the dangers.” Heidi was ultra nervous. Her whole body was shaking but she was trying to deal with it.

“I got this one too.” Duo picked up both carriers to give her a break. He looked down at a name crudely stitched into the blankets feet. “Aramis? Porthos?”

“Three musketeers,” Lucile said to him.

Seriously? “Great joke?” She didn’t actually do that, did she? He carried the carriers out with Lucille tagging along. Heidi was trailing behind, watching his every action. “This way.” He went to the car he had rented. It was all the same company, it should be fine. “Lucille, you are going to be with me and Hilde in the other car, okay?” She nodded and took off.

Since Hilde put in the childseats where they belonged, he just had to move the baby to the seats. Heidi was quicker at it, and ended up getting her second one in there too before he managed to get the first one snapped in there.

Duo looked at that last blanket. Athos? “What’re their names?”

Heidi looked back at him. “Uh. Um. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.”

No way. “You seriously named your kids after the three musketeers?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t see the problem with it and headed to the driver door and got in.

Holy crap. I really was losing my mind. This lady is nothing like Hilde. But she was still someone that needed help. “Tomorrow. Here. About . . . 1:00. Maybe 2:00?” he said. “Eh, I’ll call you. Follow me to where I’m putting you up for the night.”

One quick hotel trip. He talked to Lucille just a touch, wanting to get the hotel out of the way first before they deep dived into conversation.

“Do we get to stop too?” Hilde looked back at him and his smirk. “How many more hours of this?”

“A few. Or ten. Something,” he said. “Buckle up for a long ride again.”

Then, there was a loud crack in the silence of the dead weight of a journey beginning. Oh man, those kids were loud. It started with one, then became two. Not even the same car. “Maybe a few minutes longer trapped in there somewhere.”

He waited five minutes. The crying went from two to a third new voice. Oh, man. “I’ll be back Hilde. I’ve gotta help or we’ll never get to take off.”

Duo went toward Heidi’s car. She was on the side bouncing one of her babies, while the other two were crying on the inside. “Need some help?”

She immediately thrusted the one she was trying to soothe at him and took out another one. She was trying to hum to it and walk with it back and forth gently in a rocking motion.

Duo looked at the little nipper. It felt so much smaller than he ever dealt with Alec. Alec was a heavyweight compared to this thing! Okay, it’s still just a baby. He tried to hold it closer. “There, there. You’re okay. You just wanted to make a fuss before we left somewhere because you’ve got to fulfill the contract of a typical baby. I can’t get mad at you for doing your job.”

Heidi laughed at his joke. “Yeah, they take their job real seriously. Come on, Porthos, it’s okay. We are going to be on that nice soothing car ride in just a few minutes. You guys love car rides. Nice motion, better than momma walking around.”

Trying to comfort two, while the third hollered their heart out wasn’t easy. He was debating asking Hilde to help out, but Heidi placed a semi-happy Porthos back in his seat and put a pacifier in his mouth.

She reached for the last one hollering again and did the same thing. Told him a lullabye. Duo just rocked the little guy he had. He didn’t know much of what else to do, and it seemed to be what he wanted. Just some attention. With two other brothers and one momma, gotta compete for that atttention.

He was starting to calm down though. Duo looked at his little hands. Geez, so small. If this is how small they were a month later, that whole birthing thing must have terrified someone like Heidi.

Aramis grasped his finger. Well, that was normal. You’re okay. He handed him back over after Heidi put the second one away. After she had pacifiers in all three of their mouths, she closed the doors as gentle but hard as he’d ever seen.

She opened her driver side door. “Thank you so much, Sir, for all your help.” There was something in her eyes, almost . . . melting. “If you ever need anything, please let me know. I’ll be happy to help. I can’t do a lot, but I’ll be there, just say the word.”

“Uh. Yeah,” he stumbled his words for no reason. “I’ll see you here tomorrow. Just wait for the call.” He wanted to ask if she’d be alright handling them, but then realized he shouldn’t ask that. She was on her own. At least until her friends came back.

Why ask something he already knew? Why ask at all? He watched her pull out and move away. Okay, now that that was over. He had to get out of there. There was a long, empty road to deal with.

He laughed as he saw Hilde stuffing her face already when he made it to car. “Couldn’t wait for even the road, could you?”

“You were gone for like fifteen minutes. I got fast food right next to me. I was good enough to make it to the five minute mark,” she teased. “Almost.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He closed the door. “My burger please, unless you ate it accidentally so you could have four?”

“Like I could eat four,” she said as she handed him his burger.

“Probably could.”

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find a hotel. He payed for a decent one, not wanting a charge by the hour type of place.

“This place is really fancy,” Hilde said as they all walked in. “Do we get to stay too?”

“Nope, gotta keep moving,” he insisted. He had to get to the remains of the Sank Kingdom Institute. It wasn’t going to be easy to get to by some destined plane ride. There weren't many ways to go that way now. Even getting the hotel near enough to the Sank Kingdom was tough. Not many to choose from.

“Pretty Musketeer Mom,” Lucille said as Heidi came over holding three carriers. Damn, how did she manage that? She slid one of them on the base of her arm. That would be tender if she did it for too long.

She sat two carriers down, the ones bearing the most weight on her. She was almost out of breath as Duo got her checked in and gave her the key. “Thanks.”

“You need an extra hand getting to your room?” Hilde asked picking up a carrier.

“Yes, thank you,” Heidi said as she took a carrier in each hand.

Duo just took Lucille’s hand. This was almost over. The day may have been crazy, but tomorrow was going to be crazier. Please be okay, Trowa. Five shots. Man. Whatever they have to say, putting it on the remains of the Sank Kingdom isn’t good. It’d be serious.

“Thank you again, really,” Heidi said as she went in. “This place is really nice. Spacious. I will use the space.” She probably wasn’t kidding. “Can you watch them for two seconds while I go get the other stuff?”

It was nice to ask, but she was already out of the room and soaring to get the other stuff. Moments later, one already started up seeing his momma gone.

“Aw, man, I should have just grabbed it,” Duo complained.

“I got it, it’s fine.” She was out of breath again. She moved fast, probably knowing they couldn’t last long. No wonder she didn’t bother for an answer. She just had two cans of formula and one bag of diapers. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Duo waved at the fussy little Athos while Porthos just relaxed and Aramis was still asleep. “Tomorrow. Not too bright and early. Gotta go.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll be there,” she promised.

He walked away with Hilde and Lucille. She still had to deal with Athos. As they turned the corner, one cry turned into two. I really should help again. “Should we help?”

“Why? Duo, she’s a mom of three,” Hilde smiled at him. “She’s got it. She has them in a hotel room, and they are just going to stir up a fuss again. Come on, let’s get out on the road already.”

“Right, right.” She was right. Heidi had it. Even now, the cries were starting to lessen. She was probably rocking one while she soothed the other, something she couldn’t do in the car but she could in the carriers. He heard her laugh though. Yeah, she was good.

Time to get going. “So, Lucille, you sit in the front with me this time? I’ll tell you more about Johnny.” Besides, he had something that was going to be way harder than taking care of babies.

Explaining to a preschooler what happened to her brother.

---

Hotel Lobby

"I am so worn out," Hilde complained as she put down the luggage to check in. "Why did I have to come again?"

Duo didn't answer, just paid for a room for two adults and one child. They didn't have those though, so he had to share a bed with Hilde. "Aren't you lucky, Lucille? You get a bed all by yourself."

Lucille just tried to smile.

---

Hotel Lobby

"Oh, geez," The hotel lobby attendant called up the manager. There was definitely something that was in the ventilation system, it reaked. They had someone from an air conditioning repair place come by and fix it. It didn't take too long. The rest of the evening went by without a hassel. The lobby attendant was replace with another attendant. 

Then in the dead of 2:30 in the morning, the lobby attendant just went unconscious. The air conditioner staff came back, and didn't mess with anything except keys to the doors of the hotel room Duo rented. Dragging them out, they piled them up into their van.

It was time to return to the colonies, with the others.

Narrator: After Colony 199: With the pilots all having worked for RTL, Superior being dead, and the authorities closing in on the rest of RTL's places, it didn't make much sense to be cautious of something as simple air ducts while on route to an important meeting. A meeting that would probably draw several tears and misfortune. Yet, everyone finds themselves right at the base of the Sank Kingdom, not even thinking about how they got there. They would continue to do things on instinctive impulse, each leading their own way down paths.

But perhaps, the path is not what they actually believe it to be. 

---

The Previous Site of the Sank Institute in the Previously owned Sank Kingdom

Special permission didn’t take long to get granted once she asked for it. Others still remembered what she had done that day when she dissolved that kingdom. 

Duo should have been there by himself, but it looked like he had brought the imposter Hilde after all. When they arrived, Relena wasted no time to learn at least part of the truth. Hilde didn’t act weird in the test, like it was completely normal. Except, the results? Showed the truth.

Wufei was there, wearing a long white robe he hadn’t worn in a very long time. He was probably expecting news of death.

Quatre also dressed nicely, keeping his head down and his eyes closed. Steeling himself for bad news.

Milliardo just stared straight ahead at her, yet his eyes felt more vacant.

Crystalia was on the other side of Heero, as dedicated as ever, holding Sophia while Heero held Sora. Relena would switch with her later but she would take the lead for this part. “Thank you everyone for meeting with us. I wish it had been on better terms.”

“Yeah, I was expecting like a marriage invitation by now,” Duo teased her. It was his way of dealing with stress and anxiety. Not knowing why he was called, when he just got ‘Hilde Schbeiker’ back not too long ago.

“Duo,” the fake Hilde scolded him lightly.

“We invited you all as just friends. This is not involved with the preventers, colonies, the Phillips family, colony successors or any projects. Just, as people. As friends,” she urged each of them.

Now, to begin. “Authorities have been given information in a similar way as the tablet with RTL,” she said. “It has all the people involved with BS, BE, JC, and so much more. As of now? They are all being arrested, tried, and imprisoned in much the same way as what happened to RTL.” She raised her head higher. “Crystalia’s zero system memories had been too fuzzed up to understand what was going on. Before anyone cries foul of her, I am to blame too. I couldn’t make sense of many things correctly. However you may feel, know that she is the only reason my children and I stand here today. Instead of working with Superior, who had still been alive, she helped us try to wreck this plan before it started. Unfortunately, a little girl was in need of help, and it brought too much attention to the wrong area for it to work.”

“Hey, are you talking about the little girl I saved not too long ago?” Duo asked. He moved slightly. The girl was still with him? “Need to drop off a delivery to you by the way.”

“Yes. That’s okay. Events happen that can’t be planned,” Relena said to him.

“Sorry.” From Heero, that carried a lot of weight. “You all know the zero system wasn’t used much anymore. All the RTL places were just dying, barely communicating much.”

Heero went on. “We have found information on them. They don’t know you anymore, or they have faded memories but can’t put together who you were. The zero system wasn’t used enough to destroy their character, but it took their memories.”

“I understand that,” Quatre spoke. “Please just tell us what happened.”

“Just tell us,” Wufei added, “are they dead or not? Don’t drag this out like some official conference meeting.”

“Superior was still alive,” Heero continued. “She had her own extreme wealth before RTL and she used it to keep another end going on away from everyone’s eyes.”

Relena stood right beside the possibly fake Hilde. Results hadn’t come back yet that soon, but with the way it all went? “Come with me.”

“Where do you think you are taking her?” Duo called her out. “Hilde is always by my side. Even for hours and hours of boredom.”

Relena bowed toward him. “I am sorry. I need to speak to her.”

“A big old meeting to come see you, and you want to speak to just her?” Duo was still causing problems.

“Duo Maxwell, it’s Relena Dorlain, just let her go,” Wufei said irritated. “Let this continue so we can move on with our lives.”

Relena brought her away from the prying eyes, having Crystalia watch her a small distance away. She returned to the front with her daughter. Heero was done, and that was fine. She squeezed his hand and continued. “The women have forgotten you, and unfortunately, they are on the run due to the horrific crimes committed in the past, that they believe are theirs.”

She heard Quatre slightly make a sound, still steeling himself for the news.

“Superior never gave up on Plan A,” Relena continued until Duo interrupted again.

“There’s no way Hilde is just going to stand back there with that woman,” Duo said. He was heading toward the back.

“Duo.” Heero moved in front of him. “Stay back. We’ll get to her.”

“Maybe I don’t want to stay back.”

“Duo Maxwell, knock it off!” Wufei yelled.

“Duo,” Heero repeated. “It’s not Hilde.” He shoved a copy of the test results to him. “We checked her as soon as you arrived yesterday. We have the evidence. You’ve been tricked into believing it was her. Hilde has been gone for more than three months."

Duo stared at the results. “Uh? But? No, this isn’t possible.”

“Yeah!” The fake Hilde insisted. She hadn’t been far enough. “I’m Hilde, I’m not a fake! No one could ever fake me.”

“The zero system is good at manipulating the brain. She probably studied Hilde to replace her if she hated you enough to have surgery to look like her,” Heero told him, ignoring the fake Hilde. “Think about it, Duo. The results are right there.”

“When?” Duo looked absolutely lost as the fake Hilde tried to insist it wasn’t true. The zero system in the junkyward was too hard on her. “Look, she got a little fuzzed up after the zero system. It fuzzes people up. She told me that before today too. She’s just a little messed up, but she’s Hilde.”

“The zero system does a lot of things, but it doesn’t fake DNA test results,” Heero told him.

“Well it has to, because this isn’t right!” Duo yelled back at him.

“Believe what you want.” Heero grabbed the copy of the test results. “Let’s continue with the meeting. Relena?”

Relena continued. “As I was saying, Superior never gave up on Plan A. Records indicate they kept trying over and over to get everyone pregnant to complete their revenge. The guaranteed way didn’t work, and they switched fertility drugs for the women they could not get pregnant easily. They eventually got it, but Hilde Schbeiker in particular didn’t go the full nine months. They were premature, but okay.”

“No.” The sound from Duo was so remorseful. He shook his head. He was starting to get it. “No.”

“Comparative blood matches will show you the truth,” Relena added. “She is not Hilde Schbeiker.”

“She’s got soldier right on her arm,” Duo said weakly.

“She could have started as a plant, or she could have been brainwashed into believing she was Hilde,” Heero pointed out. “Relena said she didn’t react in any negative way to the testing.”

“But . . . the zero system. Deathscythe.”

“Crystalia didn’t know. Most likely, they switched her out at the zero system,” Heero said. “Superior didn’t want to give up the chance of a winning chip, so they put in a substitute. They only needed the data to see how everyone else would handle the gundam control system. No need to risk the real thing.”

Duo rubbed back his hair, along the top of his braid all the way down. “No, no, no, no.” He let go at the end of his braid. “No, this is not happening!”

Relena waited for Duo’s wave to subside until he just started to shake and not yell anymore. “Everyone. Superior made the experiments continue to run. I’m sorry. Every single one of you has a child, children, or something on the way soon.”

“RTL won,” Heero said. “It may almost be dead, but it won.”

“It won, against everyone? Children on the way?” Milliardo asked. “This isn’t possible.”

“We checked out the data before we were blocked off by authorities. Mei-Lin is two months pregnant,” Relena said to Wufei. “Her true self has been with you the whole time, until she was finally kidnapped.”

She looked toward Milliardo. “From what we can tell, Noin was replaced with someone who looked like her shortly after RTL had been discovered. She is six months with quadruplets expected.” Millardo was quiet. “The one who came was only a con. She was tested. The children will be here soon.”

Relena continued onward to Quatre. “Dorothy has lost all knowledge of who she had been. The vagueness of what she could and couldn’t remember is completely gone.”

She went over toward Duo. Poor man was still shaking. She placed her hand supportively on his shoulder. “She had triplets not more than a month ago-”

“Yeah, I know, I don’t need details. I saw them.”

“Alec was also Trowa’s,” Heero spoke up. “They didn’t want to waste money making Middie Une pregnant again, so they checked it.”

“How do we get them back?” Quatre asked. “What’s the plan? What are we doing?”

“Superior has left what is left of her wealth into six accounts,” Relena told him. “The extra was probably for me. At some point, they will meet up with someone to activate them. The women can only have so much at a time. The more they extract, the faster it goes. They will live fine with the children, nothing will happen to them at all, until it runs out.”

“Then they will take the revenge,” Heero stated.

Relena held out cards. “I’m not callous enough to say it out loud. Here are the cards for what they want to happen, just in case it can provide you a clue in the future.” She handed them out to everyone.

“I was right there.” Duo was still stuck in his own head as he took the card. “I mean, how could she ever be? She was there for so much longer. Can’t have triplets in two months and they are a whole month old. I didn’t want to think, because she’d have to have been gone for, so I . . . she was so jittery. So unlike my gungho Hilde.”

“The zero system, as a whole, is soul crushing,” Heero said to Duo. “There’s a good chance the woman still hollering about being Hilde, does believe she is Hilde, even with the evidence. These aren’t cute rip-offs. They were all trained by the zero system itself in their goals.”

“If Superior owned the colonies, that made her a big enough name, we can definitely trace those accounts,” Quatre countered. “We need to do everything we can to trace those accounts!”

“I already located them,” Heero said to them. “Unless they treat them like personal cards for every purchase, I wouldn’t lay back and wait for when it’s convenient. They can take a large amount off once a year, and so much each month. We don’t know how comfortable or trusting they will be of these cards. Get to them as soon as there is activity. The more they take off at once, the more likely they'll wait years to take more ”

Yes, all of them were starting to talk and moan. Each one, including her brother. “One at a time, please.”

“We can’t just leave this in terrorist’s hands!” Milliardo demanded. “We must do something!”

“Heero is tracking the secret accounts we found. Everything else of hers has been spotted and stopped by authorities,” Relena stated. “I believe she blew the whistle on everyone.”

“Put more on the case, this is sheer terrorism, Relena!” Milliardo was not giving up. “Why are we even discussing this out here?”

“The women are not speaking up,” Relena said to him. “They don’t know they are innocent, and why should they? They will all hide like they are guilty. No one has walked away from their involvement in anyone associated with RTL once found. They’ve been arrested, tried, and imprisoned.”

“There is a countdown, that is literally a bomb,” Millardo said again. “We should be able to get someone to take action.”

“Who?” Heero had to speak up. “People fought wars, lost thousands of lives, strategized battle plans that were designed for success at the cost of lives. Those people were pardoned. Even we walked away free. This isn’t war. As much as it may hurt, it’s only a missing persons.”

“There is a countdown before something happens, that can be showed to take action to save lives,” Milliardo said again.

“To prove that, we would have to share the accounts, and risk the authorities making it there before us,” Relena repeated.

“DNA testing will clear their name,” Wufei said. “Why aren't we letting authorities like the preventers handle this?”

“They have lists of all their activities. If they are found to be someone else? It’ll get nasty,” Heero warned them. “They'll find their prints in activity they were involved in. A few fingerprints in their duties and instead of headlines saying an innocent was arrested by mistaken identity, they just caught an ex-preventer who worked for RTL.”

“The best approach is just to find them. No one will tie them to any crimes, if they don't have a reason to,” Relena said. “Does this make sense to everyone?”

“How do we know this is really their trap?” Wufei asked. “The accounts could be fake, something they are using for something else to hurt us. This could all be a fake too!”

“It could be,” Heero said.

“It most likely isn’t,” Relena said.

“But it could be. It was made by an insane genius, which bordered closer on the insane at the end,” Heero said back to her. “Everyone should be tested to know for sure.”

“Superior was planning on killing Trowa, Heero, so she exposed everything, revelling in the moment,” Relena countered again.

“Her mistake gave us her real identity, which does let us watch these accounts,” Heero told them. “I agree with that. If I were 100% positive I wouldn’t have been checking it out, I would have called everyone to take action.” Heero looked back at everyone again. “If I were all of you, I would start running my own investigations, locating anyone that matches their description, find the ones using the cards, and getting at least a fingerprint.”

“Sure,” Duo muttered. “Sure. Nobody wants to help. Nobody wanted to help before, why would they help now? They would much rather get evidence and put them away. Just guinea pigs. Scapegoats. Not like they were important to the world.”

“To the world, no, to you, yes,” Heero said. “Crystalia says it best. RTL is a lit match. It only burns where it needs too and it burns hard.”

“If I was brazen enough to say no to all the colonists and my sisters, knock everyone away and sell it all from beneath their feet? Then maybe I would stand a chance of finding them very quickly by bribing officials and getting hurried exams,” Quatre spoke. “It doesn’t matter how much I have, I could never do that!” He touched his head. “Even if I did possess a heart so cold, I wouldn’t have any guarantee it would work. I’ve also got a ton more kids to deal with. They need homes, even if RTL ended, I still have my duties. I still know where the others are at. I still have to help.”

“It’s almost over,” Heero said as he readjusted Sora again. “The authorities will not allow you to help much longer.”

“If this is the truth, and this is no trick? They won against me,” Wufei cut in. “They won against Milliardo Peacecraft. They won against Quatre. They won against Duo. They almost completely took out Trowa to his total defeat.” He bowed toward Heero. “They never won against you. Relena Dorlain is still Relena Dorlain.”

Oh. Relena really didn’t want it to flip into this again. Please someone change the subject? Heero took the moment to use the best things that Crystalia could provide to save her. As unfair as the advantages were, they freed her, and she was glad of it. They may have all felt a little bitter inside, but she had tried to smoothe it over by inviting them to come see them.

It only served to make things worse. They never said anything bad, but it was in their tone. It was in their isolation from him.

“He’s teething, isn’t he?” Quatre asked Heero, finally changing the subject. “He bit your finger too hard, and he keeps chasing it. You look a lot more used to taking care of them, Heero. I’ll bet you are a great father.”

Heero didn’t know how to answer. Relena knew he wouldn’t know how to answer. Heero was a very good father, and he had taken good care of all of them. With RTL’s threats weakened from Crystalia, he was able to spend time with Sophia and Sora.

Now wasn’t the time Heero wanted to talk about them though, even if it was brought up. In a moment, he would eventually just say-

“Thanks.”

“Noin is a Preventer, it might give us some leeway to get more help,” Milliardo said. “It was all lies that those tasks would give them back.”

“Crystalia didn’t mean for it to be, and she was no longer in charge. Of the two she thought had been in charge, one had been murdered by the other. If this had not happened, it would have all been resolved when RTL ended. She had no way of knowing about Superior.” Relena had to defend her.

“But she miraculously isn’t facing any charges?” Milliardo asked.

“Right. The authorities don’t know about her, and they don’t need to know about her,” Heero threatened him. “Which is the only way you're going to save the others without incarcerating them. Find them individually, and get them out. Assume until a test says otherwise, they could be your real friends.”

“I was on task seventy anyway,” Quatre said glumly. “I was trying. What about what we did in RTL?”

“The extortion and proof is clear. You are not involved in any crimes,” Relena told them. “The others had no extortion against them. They had payment, shelter, and supplies. That is what the law sees.”

“Well, try to talk to them?” Quatre reasoned.

“I have been. I really have been,” Relena stressed. “When STL fell, so much embarrassment and shame fell on so many. The fact such large figures were manipulated has created a witch hunt to find and convict everyone.” Her fists trembled. "Everyone, even if they were unaware of everything involved."

She felt Heero grasp onto her fist.

“Not everyone in every organization of theirs even knew what was going on. Relena has been trying to prove orphanage workers, including janitors, were unaware of the crimes in the buildings. They are all still in jail. There is no evidence to find them guilty, but there's no evidence to find them not guilty. It's been a battle. You don't want to get them in this situation.”

It was cruel. They were doing everything to block her path. Like a janitor would even know! And now, even more side corporations not understanding the involvement were getting involved.

“Nobody cares about innocent people getting used,” Heero said. “They are focusing on arresting, stopping, saving the people that were involved which was hundreds of thousands. You’ve all seen the entire mess yourselves. Nobody cares about the problems of five individual women.” he scoffed. “We were just fine again because the public know us as the gundam pilots. We’re apparently heroes to a lot of people. Such strong evidence of their evil only worked in our favor.”

“Lit match,” Crystalia said. “RTL is a lit match. It only burns where it needs too. It burns hard.”

“I already pulled what I could before everything went nuts,” Heero told them. “I sent you downloads of all the profiles involved. They could have been in any branch. Most of RTL is gone. STL were never hiding, but a huge sum are still going to jail or have smear campaigns against them. That leaves about twenty six organizations left, some direct and indirect only with funding from Crystalia or Superior. So? There are about 245,291 possible profiles.”

“It does little to narrow down the search,” Milliardo insisted. “I need to get started on this. If the full release of everyone involved also has surgical data, then it’s a start. Finding anyone that looked like Noin, tracing the profiles family and friends or interests, it might lead to something. Without troubling Noin . . . during her vacation time.”

“245,291,” Quatre repeated. “Dorothy could be one of 245,291 people now running or possibly arrested.”

“Right. So. If anyone asks, they are just on vacation,” Heero agreed with Milliardo.

“Nah. They aren't on vacation. They just visited your local fast food joint,” Duo sneered.

What?

Duo went straight up to Heero. “Can I punch you, Heero Yuy?”

“No,” Heero said, “not without good reason.”

“I did something else besides save a little girl that day, I also lost my wallet. Someone found it for me. She swore she wasn't Hilde, and I accepted when I saw her triplets. Still, she stayed pleasant. So, when all hell broke loose, they took the kid. As you can see?” He gestured to the little girl. “She trusted me enough, to return her to her mom.”

“You met with her yesterday?” Relena said surprised.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did, and I took her phone full of all of her friends numbers. You could have found them under MB for Momma Bears before I ditched it in a random dumpster!”

“We had no way of knowing that,” Heero said. “You should have said something. Do you have something with a straight fingerprint?”

“Their numbers are on there?” Quatre moved right to Duo’s side. “Whose is whose? Tell me where the random dumpster is, I’ll go find it! Even just the city, Duo!”

“I don’t know, I just have her number and Middie’s on a napkin. Maybe I can ask her today when I fix her account card like I promised.” Duo gave Heero a push. “One more day late and you would have been sorry. 245,000 times sorry! Any suspicions, whether confirmed or not should be shared from this day forward between us!  Otherwise, we might just lose something important in the process. Agreed?”

“Okay,” Heero agreed. “You can punch me.”

“Duo, you still have a-”

Heero didn't fall to the ground or react much as he was punched. “How we handle this next, depends on how you handle Hilde Schbeiker. You probably want to deal with the imposter first.”

“Yeah. I’m sure, because she isn’t just going to bring her dearest friends to me.” Duo looked bad. “It took some persuasion to even meet or trust me with this. I don’t want to do this.”

“The imposter first,” Heero insisted. “Then we’ll discuss the best strategy with the Momma Bears.”

When? Duo tried to think. When? Hilde always seemed like Hilde. Carefree. Sweet. I always liked her because she was an every day, average kind of girl. That apparently any every day, average kind of girl could replace. He started to head behind everything, over to Crystalia.

Hilde. Not Hilde. “When did you take over?” Duo asked her. “Were you really at the burner house with me?”

“Yeah!” she said from the other side of Crystalia. “I’ve been with you for years, Duo.”

“Then? Were you just luring me-”

“No, of course not, Duo!” She explained. “I mean? I don’t think so? I remember being shoved into Deathscythe most of all. But? You made things better. I had my life to latch onto again.”

“But it wasn’t your life.” When did she switch? “Do you like kids?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I don’t want to think about it. I just want to live in the moment. It’s easier. More delightful.”

Duo smiled sadly. “Yeah. I’m the same way. You had that same kind of personality,” he admitted. “Your more Hilde than Hilde is now. No wonder I was duped.”

“Why did you ask me about kids though?” She asked. “Is it because she’s stuck with triplets? You really shouldn’t worry about that, with no past memories, I’m sure she’s grasping for anything . . .” She stopped talking at first. “Well. If there was a reason in the past she didn’t want them, and she forgot. Then, everything’s a new beginning. She’s a whole different person now. Things she likes. Things she hates. I think? I kind of . . .” Her eyes danced around. “I kind of know that. That the zero system can really change a person. Not just memories. She’s not really like me at all. She was jittery and weird and she didn’t like cheese. I mean, she named her kids after the three musketeers, I would never do that. Sorry, Duo.”

“Maybe she’s not like the old Hilde.” Maybe she had changed. “She looked really happy with her babies. She liked being a mom. But?” She also gave him back his wallet. “She’s still Hilde.”

“But? Well, if she is Hilde. Then, who am I?” she asked. “I mean, are we really sure anyhow?”

“DNA test,” he said. “They’re pretty steady proof. Can’t change DNA.”

“But, Duo? I mean, is it all . . . sure? Am I really not . . .”

Duo nodded. “I don’t know your real name. I can’t even say if all of this has been one huge act by the greatest actress on the face of this planet, I’m just the worse friend of all the colonies. I don’t even . . .”

“Duo? I’m still your friend,” she said. “Seriously. I’ve been your friend since I left Deathscythe at least. I remember that terror. And. Look, I’m Hilde. The Hilde you remember, that you know! Besides. That other woman is gonna have responsibilities up the ying yang, I mean triplets? Come on, Duo. You know that wasn’t Hilde. Let’s just . . . keep pretending? I’m Hilde. I mean, if I’m not, then who am I?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure they will run some tests to find the real you,” he said. “I gotta go.”

“But, Duo-”

“I don’t know if it was your fault or not, but I’m not going to cast anything against you, and I think that’s being merciful enough!” He hollered at her. “Don’t come back. Don’t see me again. Just walk away.”

“Duo.”

“And don’t call me by my first name, don’t call me period. This is over,” he said. “I should have listened to Deathscythes screams.” He walked off. The imposter tried to talk to him, told him they could still be friends, and so much more. Just trying to comfort him. But it was all fake. Heidi’s smile. I knew it was Hilde’s smile. No matter how much she changed, a part of Hilde was still there. He looked toward Heero. “Don’t arrest the woman. Don’t let them get her. Just, I don’t want to be near her again.”

“Understood, we won’t let her near you,” Heero said as he moved his hand from Sora again. “Is the suspect Hilde Schbeiker moving toward the Momma Bears, or are they coming toward her?”

“I’m fixing a card she’ll give me. She’ll stay until I get it fixed. Then, she’ll be off,” Duo insisted. “I meet her around 1:00 or 2:00. Same place.”

“We need to follow them,” Zechs said as he came over with Wufei.

“From a distance, we should all follow. That way if they split up, there is backup down the line,” Wufei agreed. “Duo. You cannot reveal the truth to her.”

“Yeah, I know,” Duo said calmly. “Not yet. She can only trust so far, there’s no way she’s going to squeal on them or just let me give her some random DNA test. I got Middie’s number and I ditched her phone. She wasn’t going to give me any physical contact. I could tell her and get her out of there . . .”

“But it will screw up the rest of our chances.” Quatre wasn’t quiet as he came over. “I know, it’s really, really hard to not just grab her and hang on. I really do.” Quatre’s eyes said a lot about it. “We’ve got to do things for the greater good sometimes. Please?”

Quatre knew more about that sacrifice than anything else. Relena had to add her own opinion. “Duo Maxwell. If you care for any of your friends, you can’t just grab her. She will lead everyone to the rest.”

“That and I need a fingerprint,” Duo muttered.

“If you fix her account, then you can get a good fingerprint off of her,” Heero insisted. “Take her somewhere nicer, you can get a fingerprint off a glass. Before she leaves tomorrow, we will know whether she was the real Hilde or not.”

“Nicer, huh? Really, that’s not suspicious. She has three kids with her. Triplets!” Duo yelled at Heero. “It’s like your insanity, but with one more added to it. What kind of nice place am I going to take her to that has glasses but a low bar for screaming babies?”

“Then, you can give her a glass gift?” Quatre recommended.

“Why would I do that? She found my wallet and returned the kid. Meanwhile I am fixing her account, switched rental cars, and- “Oh. Can we get fingerprints from a rental car?”

“If we have to, we could try, but it is a rental,” Heero reminded him. “We should stick to figuring out a way to get it directly from her.”

“Yeah, it’s going to have lots of prints on that wheel and the handles.” Anywhere she touched, he probably touched too. They would need- “Ah, the nursery!”

“It’s probably been trampled by authorities already,” Heero confirmed. “They’ll hit everything once. We’d have to dust all over, and we don’t want to sneak into there for too long. You can try if you want.”

“I think Duo’s got a good idea,” Quatre agreed. “I am not losing this lead on Dorothy. I’m taking a flight and heading straight to the nursery first at the Outreach. I can get a rental car afterward. There might be more clues too, or maybe some fingerprints that aren’t smudged,” Quatre said coming toward him. “Since Trowa isn’t allowed visitors yet, there’s no reason to stick around. If they had just wanted to shoot to kill, he wouldn’t even be alive anymore.” His voice was so soft. His eyes were definitely jaded. “I want to do something useful. Since all the authorities are spaced out everywhere, I’m just gonna dive the authorities and get into that nursery. Do you want to come with me, Duo?”

“Break the law some more?” Oh yeah, Duo was in the mood. “Sounds good, I’ll come. Flight and a rental sounds better than another ten hours by car. Used to be direct flights to the Sank Kingdom.”

“Kind of dissolved,” Quatre chuckled. “From there, we can head straight to where I’ll meet her at.”

“Duo, wait! Please! Let go, Heero, I want to talk to Duo! Let go, Wufei, knock it off you guys! I’m Hilde Schbeiker, I am!”

Yeah. He couldn’t look back at the woman he thought was Hilde for so long. That part of her? Was gone now. “What kind of friend am I, Quat? When someone so close to me is replaced for so long?”

“I think you are an excellent friend,” Quatre said back. “It makes sense why you don’t talk about your past. She probably has one she doesn’t talk about either. Plus, the zero system is pretty powerful. With the right research in the right areas? I think anyone could be fooled for awhile. I don’t think it made you a bad friend. I think you might have even helped that woman by being her friend.”

“No.” No. “I don’t know for sure if she’s legitly sorry and doesn’t know, or she’s just the best con-woman I’ve ever seen. Doesn’t matter. This is the last time I see her.” That was final. She needed to find her own true self. “I’ve replaced Hilde for months and gave someone else her life, while she was trapped. I just . . .” He needed to save the real Hilde from the horror that being his friend had caused her.

Quatre nodded. “Nursery?”

Nursery.

---

Zhang Colony

"What do we do about the nursery, Da Cao?" Andrew Shuttle asked. "I didn't expect their minds to want to go there."

"We have pictures we snapped. Enter it into the system," he insisted. "Just a little extra feed like at the Sank Kingdom."

"We don't have much feed. What do we do about the fingerprints and things?" Andrew asked.

"It works itself out. It always works itself out. Keep them all in synch."

Nursery of Outreach 53

There were authorities but not much. Quatre and Duo easily ducked them and headed toward the nursery. None of them was concentrating on the area much.

They tried to dust for some fingerprints, but there were so many. They didn’t want it to look like anyone was trying to dust for fingerprints, that’s the last thing they needed.

They took the best ones they could find, with what time they had. In the meantime? They searched around it.

“This is so cute.” Quatre touched one of the bears holding a triton. “They look like they were all well loved.” The area wasn’t extremely beautiful for a nursery, but it had something in it that made it look that way.

“Middie Une’s paintings.” They were really sweet, with each of five of them on a Merry Go Round horse. Each picture had one of them on it, with the shadows of the others in the back. “It’s like they actually took pictures on a Merry Go Round.” Pretty amazing.

Quatre went over to the other side. He expected to see some kind of dark paintings, Trowa said she drew perfect fantasy and dark reality, but there weren’t any. He looked back at the merry go rounds. “They aren’t perfect fantasies. Maybe the reality of the pictures, is enough for her now.” She wasn’t painting only positive things. Noin had some scars on her. The dressing wasn’t the greatest, probably what they did wear. There was some grime and some tiny tears here and there.

Dorothy didn’t even wear a dress. She wore blue jeans and a T-shirt. So unlike her. When he saw her last time, her clothes weren’t the best but she still had her charm. A way of moving. Certain airs. This person had nothing like that. No, no, Quatre. I can’t be like that, whoever she is now, I have to accept her. I won’t make her feel bad when I meet with her, because she isn’t exactly who I remembered.

“I found something.”

Quatre moved away toward Duo. “What did you find?”

Duo held up a journal. “A diary. Might help.”

Quatre looked at the other cribs. Oh. This was theirs. Amira had a princess doll on her side, while Zara’s was covered in stars. Even the mobile was all stars. He moved it around.

“Hey,” Duo said to him. “Did you ever start to like Dorothy?”

Quatre smiled. “That’s a silly question. I like a lot of people.”

“I mean, to start asking her out,” Duo asked as he started to wipe up fingerprints too, to make it less detectable by others. “Did you ever get those tingly feelings that you should tell her how you feel, but straight up ignore them?”

Oh. “We just, we feel each other out. We sort things out by being near one another. She sees into me, and I see into her.” He looked back toward Duo.

“Okay, good job dodging the question,” Duo muttered.

“What about you?” Quatre knew what he really wanted to discuss. “Did you ever want to ask Hilde out?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “but I didn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t. My heart just wanted to attach itself to anything good. I probably would have started to like anyone, as long as they were fun and comfortable to hang around. New Hilde though. I don’t think. I mean?”

“Life, gets kind of confusing with things like that.” Quatre checked the vacant cribs, set up but nothing there. He still wiped them down anyhow.

“Yeah. I just don’t know where to start with this. I like . . . being around her?”

“That’s a start,” Quatre said. Quatre moved toward the set of cribs that had to be Duo’s triplets since he was hanging around it. He couldn’t help a small laugh. “She was more than a typical girl, Duo.”

Duo picked up all the tiny pillow names. They weren’t for sleeping on, they were more on the foot of the blankets. “Yep, she really did that. She pulled through a joke all the way. These are terribly made, definitely her work. She hated sewing so much, she’d only do it for something important. This one likes kids.”

“This one?” Quatre pushed.

“The real Hilde wanted us to just be Aunt and Uncle if we had one,” he admitted. “She didn’t want to get wrapped up in parenthood anymore than I did. And look at her now. It’s like, she reinvented herself. When we had stuff we had to patch up, I was the one who always had to do it.” He found some more knitting and crocheting on her side. “Weird. Who knows what else is different.”

“She’s just learning how to live again with what she has,” Quatre said. “I don’t know how different she’ll be. I don’t know how different Dorothy will be, but if I can just see her, I know I can reach her.”

“She might be ready to have a stabbing session with you.”

“I can convey I’m there to help. She’ll feel the truth. If I could just get to her for a little while.” Quatre looked at Duo. “I know it’s hard.”

“But if I just grab her before she’s ready for it all, she won’t give us anything on the others until they are far gone,” Duo finished. “I know. I’ll be good. I’ll play my part.”

Quatre moved back toward the crib with the triton bear. “Things in the distant past might be remembered as comforting for them. Childhood maybe. Where did they grow up? Where did they want to live when they were small? What did they want to see when they grew up?” Hmm.

“I wouldn’t know,” Duo said casually. “I don’t know anything about much of anything. I’m useless when it comes to Hilde’s past. I know the basics of ‘had parents, stuff happened, now free’ and then that’s it. She didn’t want to get into anything more than me, and I wasn’t going to pry. I know she always lived in the colonies, so maybe some part of her will remember that and want to travel back up there. Then again, Earth is like a breath of fresh air down here, she always wanted to visit. Maybe she’ll stay down.” He held the three little pillows before tossing them into the cribs. “I’m taking Hilde’s diary, but I’ll try not to look into it. We really shouldn’t, unless we lose track of them.” He looked at the Merry Go Round picture with her. “That’s really stunning. Love how she once again has long sleeves and I didn’t notice until now.”

Yeah, that probably didn’t sit well with him.

“We should probably find some scrap of Mei-Lin around here,” Duo said. “She’s not very pregnant yet, but maybe there’s a clue about what she’ll want to do.” He looked around the beds. “She kept to herself. She’s actually got some fancy clothes. Instead of eating better, she bought nicer clothes? Oh, she’s got some numbers over here. Better yank those. Think Wufei could use these numbers?”

“Wufei . . . I can’t say, maybe they will help?” Quatre said honestly. “We can get the numbers to Wufei.”