Author's Note: Heya guys (girls too, i guess...)! DAY here! okie, onto business...i'm co-writing this fic with my friend butterflygurl...or maybe she's co-writing it with me...i don't really know... newayz, this is the first gw fic either of us have done. so, if there are little mistakes, bear with us, but point them out in your review, or summat. and one more thing...there will be absolutely NO YAOI in this fic, unless trin and raven manage to talk me outta my adamant standing against it... newayz, here...we...go...!

DAY: I'm Zara!

bg: And i'm Trinity!

both: And we're *drumroll* *cymbal crash* your authors!

DAY: So sit back...

bg: Relax...

both: and enjoy the fic!



Introduction

It's the year After Colony 198, only two years after the Mariemaya crisis. Ever since the mobile suits had been destroyed, peace reigned over the Earth Sphere Alliance. Indeed, peace reigned supreme. The five Gundam pilots went their separate ways, but they all kept contact with each other, and kept training. Who knew when the peace would finally shatter? Heero wandered the Earth Sphere and Space Colonies, researching and gathering information. Duo went back to the Sweepers, but regularly visited his close friend Quatre, who returned to his estate, and took over where his father left off in inter-colony communications and pacifism. Trowa stayed at the circus, and the only family he had ever truly known. Wufei worked as a Preventor to help keep the peace. But now, it seems too peaceful. Something's wrong, and all the G-boys know it. But there are others who know it too . . .



Nothing Lasts Forever . . .



Chapter One - Pillow Fights and Dynamite

"Zara, get up!"

Zara groaned and turned over in bed. "Go away, Trin!"

Trinity heard a muffled moan as she threw her pillow in her friend's face. "C'mon! Doc wants to see us. She says she's got a mission for us, something important."

Zara removed the pillow from her face and sat up. She definitely looked like she just got up. Her fiery red hair was all tousled and there was a certain grogginess about her movements that wasn't normally there. "Doc wants to see us?! Why didn't you say so before? Damn, Doc's gonna kill me if I'm late again . . ."

"Then hurry up and get ready, you stupid baka." (a/n - hey Trin, baka's the word for idiot, right?) Trinity's neatness was in complete contrast with Zara's look-at-me-I-just-woke-up-and-haven't-had-time-to-do-anything look. Her silver blonde hair hung straight, and brushed, around her elbows, and she was dressed, not in flannel pants and a T-shirt, as was Zara, but in her usual black. Black jeans, ripped at the knees, and a loose, long- sleeved black shirt. Her pale hair stood out in stark contrast against the black. Somehow, Zara managed to pull on a pair of tight blue jeans and a one sleeved, form fitting emerald green shirt, brush her hair, and actually be awake in about five minutes.

"Hey Trin?" Zara asked around her toothbrush. "Do you really think that Doc's got a mission for us? I mean, it's been too quiet for the last little bit. Nothing at all. Not even some stupid little 'kill the spy' mission. Someone must be up to something . . ."

"I know. Now, c'mon. We've got to go. Doc'll be furious!" Trinity walked through the bathroom to her room on the other side and put her right arm in a cage. "Out you come, Bob." A bright green snake slithered up her arm and coiled itself underneath her sleeve. "You too," she put her left arm in another cage and another snake slithered under her sleeve. This snake was very different from the fairly harmless Bob. This one was poisonous. Zara shuddered involuntarily. She didn't understand exactly why she still shuddered, even after watching Trinity do that every morning for the past 8 years.

She watched Trinity take a handful of what appeared to be darts and attach them to various points along her loose belt. Zara knew that those weren't ordinary darts. They were filled with poison from one of Trinity's beloved snakes. If one of those darts pierced or even grazed your skin, you'd die in less than 5 minutes. And not a nice way to die either, writhing in agony as the deadly toxin swept through your body, numbing your brain and paralyzing your heart. Zara shuddered again just at the thought of it. She still didn't like thinking about it, even if Doc had made sure that they were both safe by making them take an antidote that worked like a vaccine. She also made sure both of them carried a bottle of the antidote. In case Trinity accidentally hit someone she wasn't supposed to . . .

She turned instead to get herself ready. She threw aside the shirt she had worn yesterday and picked up her belt. That belt, the one she always wore, had the holsters to her twin pistols on it. The pistols themselves were in easy reach of where she had been sleeping. She walked over and took one off her nightstand and the other out from under her pillow. She twirled them around her fingers a few times, then stuffed them in the holsters.

"I don't understand why you do that," Trinity stated as she came back through the bathroom. "You could accidentally set them off. How many times have I told you . . ."

"I feel just the same about your snakes and spiders and poisonous whatnot," Zara replied nonchalantly as she pulled on a pair of thick, stiff, black leather gloves which had the fingers cut off. The leather may not have been much of a barrier against the hard bones of a face or ribs, but it was better than nothing.

They left their rooms and walked down the stairs and into what appeared to be a normal kitchen. A tall woman with long, silky, black hair was waiting for them there.

"Hey Doc. So, what's up?" Zara was never one for long conversations when there was something important to talk about. She sat down on one of the hardwood chairs and crossed her ankles on the table.

"It's about time you showed up. Did it take you this long to wake her up Trin?" Trinity nodded. "Where were you last night?"

"What do you mean?" Trinity and the woman, apparently Doc, had sat down at the table when Zara made this statement in a voice that was just too innocent. "Would I disobey you, Doctor Miranda Gatwick?"

"When you talk to me like that, I know something's up," Doc replied coolly. "You know I don't like you out partying, and God only knows what else, all night. Especially if there are guys involved. It takes your concentration off your work. Speaking of which . . ." She took a sip from her cup of coffee before continuing. "I've just received word from a colleague of mine that there's trouble. Real trouble. Here's the email I received from him." She took a laptop off the kitchen counter and flipped it open on the table. She clicked the mouse a couple times and an email opened on the screen.

'M,

Something's seriously wrong. Have you noticed how there's been nothing, absolutely nothing, going on lately? It's disturbing. The guys are getting restless too. So I asked 01 to do some digging. He turned up some disturbing stuff. For the past year or so, there's been nothing going on. He found out that about a year and a half ago, a coalition was formed. It was called the Earth Sphere Freedom Coalition, or ESFC for short. Their intentions were to break from the Earth Sphere Unified Nations by force when they had enough power to be too much trouble for the ESUN to bother with, or to take it over completely. So, for the past year and a half, they've been gathering every fighting man available. In essence, building a small army. That's why everything's been so quiet. For once, none of the people who want to separate from the Unified Nations are arguing. He found where a couple of their bases are, and the plans too. On 11-3-198, at 2230 hours, I'm going to send 01 and 02 to destroy this base. The plans are in the attached document. 01 and 02 will take the right side, and I'm counting on your girls to take the left. They'll rendezvous at point A (marked on the map) after the explosives are planted, and detonate the explosives, then head to Safehouse #3 in the L2 cluster. You won't mind if we borrow your girls, will you? I think the guys will need their help to figure this all out and get it sorted. You are welcome to come as well, and your presence would be much appreciated.

Yours, J'

Trinity and Zara read the message quickly, then gaped at the screen for a second. Finally, Trinity shook her head a little and ran her fingers through her hair.

"You mean, we finally have a mission?" Zara asked incredulously.

"Yep. And by the looks of it, you're both going to be staying with the Gundam guys for a while."

"Guys?" Trinity piped up, rather nervously. "Guys? Are they all guys? H- How many are there? You know how I feel about guys, Doc."

"Hm . . . you know what? I don't know. There might be a girl or two, but the majority are definitely guys. And don't worry, Zara'll be there to protect you." She smiled slightly.

"Like that's any comfort. She'll probably end up with one of them in bed."

"HEY! Trin, that's not nice. And just so you know, I haven't slept with a single person . . . yet . . ."

"Cut it out, you two. If it makes you feel any better Trin, I'll drop by from time to time to check on how you're doing. But I have other things to do, so I can't be there the whole time. You'll be fine. So come on, get ready. The mission's today. You guys need to memorize the plans, figure out where you're going to bomb the place and get there. All by about 10:30. Can't start too soon."

/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/

Several hours later, Trinity and Zara were standing in front of the building that was supposed to be the base. Zara's face dropped as she gazed upon what appeared to be a warehouse.

"I can't believe we had to come all the way out here to the L2 cluster for this!" Zara exclaimed. "It sure looked bigger on the plans."

"Oh please shut up! Someone is going to hear you. Remember, we have to keep quiet. This is stealth. You're supposed to be the stealth specialist," Trinity hissed back.

/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/

"There! The bombs are set. All we have to do now is go and meet Heero and Duo, right?" Zara stood up and looked satisfied about what she and Trinity had done so far. They had planted all the bombs, and hadn't been detected yet.

"Heero and who?"

"Duo. Didn't you know? All the Gundam guys had a number, like a code. It was easy enough to look them up and find out who they were. And I'm not even a techie like you are. Remember J's email? He was sending 01 and 02. 01 is Heero Yuy and 02 is Duo Maxwell."

"Heero Yuy? The politician? He died in an assassination years ago, didn't he?" Trinity was perplexed, and not happy about it. It wasn't often she had to turn to Zara for answers.

"Don't be stupid. Not the politician. Must be some sort of code name. Now c'mon, let's get going. We don't want to be late, do we?"

Trinity punched the exit code into the door. It hadn't been hard for Trinity to find the entry and exit codes for the control room of the base. A little hacking when they prepared that day made it no big deal. The door slid open with a slight hiss. Zara scanned the hallway for movement. None. She motioned for Trinity to follow her. Her pistols were already in her hands, ready for trouble. They crept around the corner as quietly as they could. Suddenly from behind them, there was a soft hissing noise. Trinity turned around to see a man in a black uniform with yellow bars across the sleeves of the jacket and a black beret come out of a room somewhere down the hall. She noticed a symbol on the left side of the chest of his jacket, in yellow. It was an eagle.

"Who's there?" the man called after them. "Answer!" he cried when they didn't respond. Zara holstered her pistols and the girls started moving away casually, as if they had every right in the world to be walking down that hallway. The man took out a walkie-talkie and pushed the button on the side, all the while keeping a close eye on the girls. "Hello? Security? Yeah, I've got a couple girls down here. Yep. Nope, not in uniform. Okay, sure." He put the walkie-talkie back and walked to right behind the girls. "Sorry girls, you're gonna have to come with me." Zara turned around and raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, really?" Zara landed a punch right in the man's solar plexus. He groaned and fell to the ground, unconscious. "C'mon Trin, we've got to get out of here! Those guard people are going to be here anytime now, and I'll bet you they aren't as push over as this guy."

They turned and walked down the corridor for a couple minutes. Then Zara stopped abruptly and motioned for Trinity to keep quiet. She had heard voices from further up the hall, the way they had just come from.

"Hey, Steve, what's the problem here? Steve?"

"Jesus Christ! What happened?"

"I don't know, but I'll bet those girls are the ones that did it. And I'll

bet they aren't far away."

Zara and Trinity exchanged glances. "Oh, shit. Run!" Zara didn't wait for a reply, but ran as fast as she could, without losing Trinity, towards the rendezvous point.

/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/

"Hey, Heero? How long do ya think those girls are gonna be?"

"Don't know. Now would you shut up? We don't know who's out there. Anyone could hear you."

"Ok. Sorry." Duo pushed himself up from his squatting position and leaned again a wall instead. He managed to stay still for a whole minute before fidgeting and talking again. "What do ya think they're gonna look like? Will they be hotties?" He smiled, then frowned as another though crossed his mind. "What are they gonna be like? I mean, if they're all as serious and silent as you . . ."

Heero gave Duo a shut-up-or-I-will-kill-you . . . painfully glare. "You don't want to finish that sentence, Maxwell."

Duo took one look at his friend's face, and opened his mouth to respond, when both of them heard what sounded like a herd of elephants coming towards them followed by several gun shots and stifled curses in a female voice. Heero looked at Duo with raised eyebrows that clearly said, 'This what you expected?' Duo shrugged and stated the obvious.

"Guess they're here."

Zara and Trinity burst out of the hall the noises were coming from, followed by 5 guards. Zara spun around for a second and got a couple shots off, two of the soldiers fell and the thudding of their bodies hitting the floor was all too real. Trinity threw a dart behind her, and it hit another of the black-clad guards in the neck. After a couple seconds, he was sinking to the ground, and starting to sweat. 2 shots cracked from behind Zara, and she watched as the final two guards fell. Zara spun around to see Duo standing behind her, smoke still rising from his gun. He gave her a roguish smile and spun the pistol around his finger before putting it away. She raised her eyebrows as if to say, 'Oh really? Beat this . . .' Both her pistols were still out, so she whipped them around her fingers and crossed her arms in front of her to place them both in the holsters on her hips.

"Heero, Duo," it wasn't a question; it was a statement. "C'mon guys. We've got to get out of here. There'll be more where those came from. I'd much rather blow this whole place and get our asses out of here."

"I'm assuming that you two are Zara and Trinity. Now, which one's which?" Heero asked.

Trinity, who hadn't done anything yet, spoke up for the girls. "I'm Trinity, this is Zara, and this," she pulled down her right sleeve to reveal the small, bright green snake coiled there, "is Bob."

Zara, who was standing closest, saw Duo visibly gulp. "Oh God," he muttered, and it seemed that Zara was the only one who heard him.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Now come on unless you want to be trapped here when this place gets blown to hell!" She took a couple of steps, but winced when she put weight on her left leg. Her breath came in through her teeth with an almost hissing sound. She put her hand behind her thigh, and when she took it off, the black leather of her glove and her fingers were covered in blood.

Duo, being the closest, rushed to her side. "God dammit, you've been hit." It sounded sort of melodramatic, but it was Duo after all. And he was talking to a young woman the likes of which he had never met before.

Zara shoved him off. "I'll be fine. Now c'mon. I sure don't want to be here when they realize we're going to blow the whole joint up!"

The four of them made their way to the entrance of the base. Sitting not far away from the exit were two motorbikes.

"Huh. How convenient," Zara remarked flippantly. "They won't mind us borrowing them, will they? I mean, it's not like they're going to need them any more . . ."

Duo immediately hopped into the driver's seat of one. Trinity immediately walked towards the other motorbike, but when Heero walked towards it she resigned herself to riding with Duo. After all, if he was afraid of Bob, a rather harmless vine snake, he couldn't be much of a threat. Heero was about to climb into the driver's seat of the second motorbike when Zara pushed him aside.

"Oh, come on. You're not going to drive. I'll bet you drive like a granny. Besides, you have the detonating device, right? How can you blow up the base if you're driving?"

Heero rolled his eyes and let her clamber into the driver's seat. He sat behind her. Both motorbikes revved and started out onto the street. When they were between half a mile and a mile out, Heero pressed the button on the detonating device. "Mission accomplished."

Heero turned towards the front again so he wouldn't have to watch the base explode in a series of orange and red flashes behind them.



DAY: There ya have it! First little chappie! okie, maybe not so little... I wrote most of this chappie, and normally my chaps are 1000- 1500 words long... i don't think i've ever written a 3000 word chapter before! oh well.

bg: Don't expect my chapters to be so long...

DAY: Don't worry Trin, i can help you! ^_^

bg: ...

DAY: okie... oh yeah! um...i know you all think Heero's way outta character (or he will be...) but my philsophy on that is...after sharing an apartment with Duo for 2-3 years...who wouldn't change... also, i think trowa, quatre and maybe even wufei will be a little ooc, just for humor's sake... newayz, ya'll have a nice day now! And don't forget to review on your way out! (constructive criticism is encouraged and appreciated...just no flames...those are bad...)