Author's Note: This is actually a full re-write of my first GW fan fic. Hope you enjoy it. Multi-parts. Enjoy. Constructive criticism welcome.

Heart of the Storm

Prologue

~Flashback~

"Mommy...?" The five-year-old boy rubbed his tired eyes as he was woken abruptly. He didn't get an answer as he was tugged out of the bed. He looked through chocolate bangs at the older ten-year-old girl pulling on his arm. "Neesan?" he asked, sleepily.

"Shh," she shushed him, placing her forefinger on her lips. She looked at the bedroom door as they both heard shouting coming from downstairs. She grabbed his slippers and roughly placed them on his feet. "We have to go," she whispered. "Now!" She tugged him on his feet and threw his jacket around his shoulders.

"Where? Why?" he asked in a whiny voice. He dragged his feet as he followed her to the bedroom door, which she cracked open just a bit, just to peek out and listen.

"Shush," she shot at him in a demanding tone, still quiet. She shut the door, quietly, and turned, grabbing his arm, loosely. "Know the big tree outside?" she asked in a whisper to him as she guided him over to the window. They weren't supposed to climb the big oak in the back yard that stood next to the house, but both of them did anyway.

He looked up at her and nodded. "Why are we going outside to play, now? It's still night time. I'm sleepy." She let go of his arm long enough to force open the window. It had a tendency to get stuck in wet weather. "And it's raining."

"Hush, Monkey," she whispered as she zipped up his jacket, sliding his hood over his head. "I'll explain later, just do what I tell you right now." The shouts were getting louder now, as she helped him out the window. "Hurry, now."

"That sounds like Daddy," he said, now in a whisper. "Why is Daddy here?" He grabbed hold of the tree, ignoring the rain coming down. He scrambled down through the limbs, occasionally looking up to make sure his big sister was following. It was hard enough with his slippers on, and the rain just made it even more difficult; but he was determined to do his best.

"I don't know," she answered. "And I don't want to, either. Now hurry." She sat on the window sill for a few more moments, making sure he made it down alright before she started out onto the limb. She turned her attention just briefly to the door as she heard the shouting approaching.

"Run, Monkey. Run!" she shouted it, now, down to him as she climbed out of the window. She looked over her shoulder as the door was thrown open.

A very large man stepped through the doorway, flipping the light on. He roughly shoved a smaller woman down to the floor as he scanned the room, eyes falling on the open window and the girl crawling out of it.

"Trinity!" shouted the woman as she reached to stop the man, who was now approaching the girl. "For God's sakes, run!" She wrapped both arms around the man's legs and held tightly. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold him, but she'd hoped she'd at least stall him, giving her daughter time to get away.

Trinity sat on the limb for a moment, looking into her mother's bruised face. It was apparent their fight had started long before Trinity had woken in the night. She looked up to the man, who was supposed to have been her father. He had kicked the woman in order to get his legs free and now had a gun trained on her. Trinity just watched his face. She saw no emotion, whatsoever in his eyes. She was sort of mesmerized at how calm he was while the woman on the floor cried and screamed at her to run.

Her trance was broken, finally, with the sound of the gunshot. It was enough to make her jump and lose her footing on the wet tree limb. She fell, bouncing off of several other smaller limbs on the trip down from the second story. She finally hit the muddy ground, unconscious.

Heero had just made it to the base of the tree when he heard his mother shouting. He stopped to look up, waiting for Trinity to follow. He thought about going back up, to get her when he heard the gunshot. It was so loud, he had to cover his ears, he closed his eyes too. He hated to think about what had happened up there. His eyes opened again when he heard the thump of her landing beside him.

"Neesan..?" He leaned over her, shaking her gently. "Wake up, please?" He looked back up at the window, looking the man right in the eye. It was enough to make him shudder. He hated the lifeless eyes of his father. You never knew what he was thinking, not until it was usually too late. He shook his head, shaking away all discomfort. He looked back down to Trinity and gave her another gentle shake. "I'm sorry." He turned and ran, giving not one look back. He knew neither Trinity nor their mother would have wanted him to be there when his father got down there.

~End Flashback~

Heero opened his eyes, staring out into space. Nightmares from the past were frequent these days. He had hardly given that night another thought for many, many years. But in the last five years, since the last real war, he thought about his lost sister nearly every time he closed his eyes.

Slowly but surely debris, from war after war, was being cleared away. Progress seemed to constantly slow because of other attacks, which of course left more debris for clean-up crews. Wing Zero floated along with recently scattered debris. The battle was quick, hardly a challenge as they rarely were at this point in time. The experienced soldiers had learned their lessons, leaving the fighting for those with blind ambitions, and little skill. And of course, it was the Gundams that were left to put them in their places, if only for a little while. It got annoying at times.

Not that he really minded; it kept him busy. But he couldn't be everywhere at once. And it seemed these guys were popping up like weeds. Five years ago, however, the Storm appeared. The Preventer Storm: Tempest, Lightning, and Thunder. And with them, they had three Gundams: Maelstrom, Illumination, and Thundershock. Not one of them knew where they came from, they just appeared. And there was only one person who knew who they were, the Lady. Heero had to admit defeat at not being able to find out. And it irked him to no end. Especially since that was when the nightmares first appeared.

He looked down to his consol as an alarm went off, signaling an approaching suit. He gave a small, rare smile. This was what he had been waiting on. He was going to find out who the Storm was one way or another. And it would begin by learning how they fight.

"You're late, Tempest," he said, watching the suit come to a stop in front of him. This was his first good look at the Maelstrom Gundam. He had Wing Zero scan the suit; he wanted to know exactly what made up that thing. All attempts, though, were being jammed, by Maelstrom.

There was no audio reply. True to the mystery surrounding the Storm, text appeared on the screen in front of him. ~ I knew you could handle it. I came to accept your challenge. I've been looking forward to the day we might meet. I'm certainly glad it's not against each other. ~

Heero sat back slightly as he read. "I'd rather be meeting face to face."

The text was slow in coming, that time. Heero sensed some hesitation in the reply, which ignored his comment, completely. ~ Let's get on with it, then. Show me what you've got. ~

The two Gundams went at each other in a grueling duel. While the strength of their sabers were almost the same, the power behind Maelstrom's attacks and the strength of its armor were significantly greater than that of Wing Zero. Heero knew in the first attack that he was defeated.

~ Mission failed, Major Yuy. But it was a good try. ~ The text appeared on the screen. Then, after a pause, there was an audio response as Maelstrom took off on a return trip to Earth. "Better luck next time, Monkey."

He gasped. "Trinity..."


The Preventer Tempest ran a hand through her dark chocolate bangs in an attempt to push them away from her face as she stepped out of Maelstrom's cockpit. She completely skipped the ladder and jumped down to the ground, landing skillfully, on both feet. She stood and straightened her black Preventer jacket.

The identities of the three Stormers, as they were informally called, were secret from the rest of Preventer Headquarters, even the Gundam pilots. But everyone knew of them. And while the normal Preventer uniform was a khaki-ish green-ish mess, the Storm's uniforms were all black, a thin red stripe running along the seams. Each one had also had a special emblem both stamped on their IDs and a patch sewn onto the right shoulder of their uniforms, identifying them as a Stormer.

She shot a glance to a nearby maintenance worker as her bangs fell right back into her face.

"Fluid levels are low. Take care of it pretty quickly?" Though she meant it as a request, it often came out as a command. Her tone was deep, as monotonous as Heero's, and always full of authority.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded, immediately dropping whatever it was he was working on and climbed Maelstrom's ladder to get straight to work on it.

Was that wise, Trin? She heard the voice in the back of her mind. It was the voice of one of her counterparts, the Preventer Lightning. There was another unique quality of the Storm. They were telepaths. They were in constant mental contact with one another. Their mental strength differed. Tempest's mind was capable of much more than just mental speech, though she'd never let anyone know of it, only Lightning and Thunder.

To let Heero know about you, now? That was Thunder. The three of them were like sisters. They had been together for so many years; working together for so many years, to be apart was unthinkable, if it were ever possible. They were never alone because of the mental connections.

She shrugged her shoulders as she walked into the hallway, out of the restricted area of the hanger. Probably not. But we'll all be revealing ourselves before long. It's time we stopped hiding from our brothers. We'll need them soon.

There was a pause, for a few moments, before a reply came from Lightning. Are things advancing that quickly? I thought everything was under control.

It was Trinity that paused this time, carefully planning her words. Everything was under control, but Sarris is growing more suspicious. He's also got more experienced soldiers under his command than I originally thought. I can't keep the charade up much longer. If we want to put out this fire... She left the thought unfinished for a moment as she stopped walking and took a deep breath before continuing down the hallway.

What are you going to do? asked Thunder.

Desperate times are calling for desperate measures. She paused a moment before one more reply as she blocked all incoming thoughts. I'm going to see Heero… After a long talk with him, I'll be taking off again. Sarris is going to have to think I'm completely devoted to him. There was another pause. I'll be taking Maelstrom this time.