Gunshots rang out in the seemingly deserted hallway. Cursing, then a girl ran out. The silver disk in her hand flashed under the florescent lighting. She breathed out a few more obscenities as she sprinted, her black combat boots making clomping sounds that echoed throughout the dim halls. Following her closely, too closely, were numerous soldiers. The youth spared herself a quick glance behind, noting the number of soldiers and their distance. "I can take out the leader before they realize I have a gun, and probably a few more, but if I slow down, well, lets not think about that just now." She thought. "Damn it, I can't outrun them forever! Since when was their security system so tight?! I cant take 'em all with my gun, I probably could with my knives, but then I'd have to drop the disk! I can't do anything!" So she did the only thing she could. She ran

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Gemini leaned against the hard cement wall, her black ensemble blending into the shadows. Her breathing came in fast, shallow pants, her throat was dry and sore, and her lungs felt like they were going to burst with flames. A small, black cell phone buzzed at her belt, she sighed, then winced in pain, and turned it on.

"Did you get it?" the voice on the other end asked without preamble.

"What do you think?" Gemini responded, grinning cheekily and spinning the silver disk in her fingers. "The mission was a success."

"Great, we'll come pick you up, unless you want to take Trinity Star."

Gemini looked at her mecha; it was completely black and armed with more firepower than an OZ fleet. "Yeah, I think I'll take Trin. Their security was tight, I barely got away. Looks like the OZies are cleaning up their act. I'll probably get some resistance, and I don't want to bring a passenger ship into it."

"Ok, and the explosives?"

"Taken care of." She thought about the carefully placed bombs and smirked. "That ought to show those OZ bastards for messing with me!"

The voice laughed. "I wouldn't expect any less from our best agent."

Although she knew the other person couldn't see her, she nodded. "Damn right!"

"Good luck."

"Thanks, not that I need it." Gemini clicked a button, and slipped the phone into her back pocket. She walked over to the towering, ominous silhouette of Trinity Star. It was blacker than night, and as cold and as hard of ice. The girl leaned against the solid, freezing mass, sighing softly to herself. Not as hard, charred, and frozen as she was. Gemini shook her head, trying to clear it of tortured memories from her past.

"Duo. . . . . ." she whispered into the night, "How could you die? I miss you so much." She looked up into the starry night, wishing that, somehow, someway, he were still alive. Gemini shook her head once more, swishing her waist long golden brown braid, and climbed up the giant, shadowy bulk that was her mecha. She reached the hatch, and pulled herself into the cockpit. She flicked a switch, causing all the controls to light up, and, with a muttered order, flew off into the vacuum of space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hn." Heero looked unblinkingly at the computer screen. "That's odd."

His roommate, Duo, walked across the dorm room and over to where Heero sat, a goofy, lopsided smile plastered on his face and his arms crossed over his black-clad chest. "What? Whats odd?"

Heero nodded at the screen, fingers still typing. "There have been numerous break-ins of OZ facilities in the past month or so. They haven't been able to catch the cause of them. Their only lead is that every time there is a break-in, a virus is left on the main computer, completely destroying the computer system of the whole base. On the main computer it says 'Don't mess with the Gundams,' and then the word 'SHADOW.'"

"So the guy thinks he's a Gundam pilot. Big deal!"

"Girl."

"Huh?"

"Shadow's a girl. They've only managed to see her once, during her last break-in."

Duo put his hands on his hips and tilted his head cockily. "They've only seen her once? The girl's better than the lot of us! She's probably a Gundam pilot, where else 'ould she get the training?"

"Not necessarily. I did a background check. She's pretty well protected; I couldn't find her real name anywhere. She's fifteen-"

"Well that leaves only a quarter of the girls in the galaxy-"

Heero continued talking and typing. "-And she was a first class bounty hunter at the age of 11."

Duo voiced a soft "Oh!" of surprise. "Well, are there any pictures of this 'Shadow' person?"

"Yes. Only one; it's blurry and dark. Pictures of her mobile suit were taken during battles. I'll bring them up." Heero typed with amazing speed on the keyboard. Pictures of the black mecha flashed on the screen, the weapons firing, laser sword blazing a silvery black.

Duo let out a low whistle. "Nice."

"It's called Trinity Star. Here's that picture of Shadow." A dark picture flashed on the screen over the pictures of the mobile suit. The girl showed up as a black silhouette on a slightly lighter background. The only part of her that could be clearly made out was the glint of light off her small glasses, and the same light reflecting off a silver cross at her throat.

The door creaked open, then was shut gently. A slender, sandy haired boy walked over to the group. "What are you guys looking at?"

Duo waved in welcome. "Hey, Q-man! New Gundam pilot." He pointed at the screen.

Quatre looked at the screen in awe. "Really? Whats his name?"

Heero glared lightly at him with piercing cobalt eyes. "HER codename is Shadow. I haven't been able to find HER real name. SHE-"

"I think Quatre gets the hint, Heero." Duo uttered in frustration.

"Hmm. . . a girl Gundam pilot. It's about time we've gotten one!" Quatre said thoughtfully.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his laptop.

"I hope she's cute!" Duo voiced with enthusiasm.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his laptop.

"I'll go tell Trowa. He'll be so happy." Quatre said.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his laptop.

"Or as happy as Trowa gets. I swear he's not human. But don't tell Wufei without me. I wanna see his expression." Duo said with amusement.

"She's battling." Heero said, typing away at his laptop.

Quatre and Duo chuckled. Then they looked at each other, then back at Heero. "WHAT?!"

"I said, she's battling." Heero said, not even a hint of amusement in his dead pan voice.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Duo flashed a cheeky grin before sprinting out the door, his waist long golden brown braid swinging happily behind him.

Quatre sighed. "I hate battles. Why can't we have peace?" But he ran out the door too.

Heero clicked a few more keys, then walked out the door. On his way out, he glanced back at the picture of Shadow, still on his laptop screen. "Hn." He said, completely without emotion, as always.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero walked silently through the hallways, dressed in his usual green tank top and black spandex shorts. His mission was to destroy the OZ facility. This facility was the main supplier of Leo suits. He was to make sure they didn't supply anymore. He walked up to a wall-mounted computer terminal, punched in a few access codes, and the heavy metal door swooshed open. He was about to walk down the hallway when a voice piped up behind him, a little rough, low enough to be male, but with a musical undertone, as though the words were sung.

"That's the wrong way."

He was surprised. He was better at espionage than that, he should have heard someone behind him. But he wouldn't let the enemy get the advantage, so he didn't say anything.

The girl behind him pressed closer. "You're looking for the Leo hangar, right? It's down this way." She pointed to her right, and, when he didn't acknowledge her presence, she took hold of his right forearm. "I don't know who you are or where you come from, but I'm not letting you screw up this mission."

At the word mission, something clicked in Heero's mind. He turned around and looked at her. She was short, only about 5', and athletic looking. She was gothic; she wore a camoflauge halter top, black leather pants with fishnet stockings showing through the holes, black combat boots, and black leather fingerless gloves. She had a gold _ slung across her chest, and she was wearing a small pair of glasses low down on her nose. Her hair was golden brown and held back in a waist long plait, with spiky bangs brushed to the sides a little and hanging down to her cheekbones. Her ears had three small hoops in each lobe, and a little ball in one cartilage. She had a silver ball nose ring. Her face was heart shaped, almost elfish, and she had small features, except for her eyes, which were large, beautiful, and very light lavender. Her dark ensemble and makeup gave them a haunting effect and made her tannish skin seem paler. She looked like a pixie; short, pale, and almost too cute with those big watery eyes. She stood with one hand on his arm, the other on her hip. When she noticed him looking at her, she gave him a cocky tilt of the head and a cheeky grin. "Shadow." He said, more of a statement than a question.

The girl smiled broader. "Smart boy. Which one are you?"

Heero tilted his head lightly, a little confused by the question.

"Which Gundam pilot? What's your name?"

"I pilot Wing." He didn't intend on giving his name, but something about the way she waited, smiling, pastel violet eyes twinkling, made him want to trust her. "She's familiar." He thought. "She reminds me of someone I know, but I can't think of who. I can't believe this is the pilot that won that battle. I don't think she even needed our help." "Heero. Heero Yui."

She let go of his arm, and crossed her arms, apparently thinking. "Heero." She said lightly. Then she smiled crookedly again. "I like it. Heero." He smiled at the way she pronounced his name. She said it like hero, without rolling the "r." A distinctly American accent, the only other person he knew who said it that way was the braided Deathscythe pilot, and even he rolled the "r" now. "Well then, Heero, the hangar is down this way." She pointed to the right again. "Lucky I came across you. I have to go this way for a bit, then I take a fork. We'd better hurry, Dr. J isn't exactly known for tolerance." Then she took off at a sprint, and Heero quickly caught up. Heero marveled at her skill. She moved so fast he could barely keep up, and she was completely silent. She looked almost inhuman, like a shadow flickering on the walls. Silent, black, and fast. "Of course." Heero thought, "That's her codename, after all." They ran for a while, until she stopped at the hall she had to go down. "This is where we part ways. Thanks for the company, Heero Yui! I hope we meet again!" She gave him a two-fingered salute, and then was gone, as quickly and silently as she had appeared. Heero found himself staring down the corridor she had disappeared down. "Funny girl. I wonder where I know her from. I'm sure I know her. . ."

He continued running down the hallway, coming to the hangar. He quickly set the explosives, and, when barely a safe enough distance away, he clicked the detonator. The fiery explosion completely demolished the hangar, and part of the base. He walked calmly through the flames to his Gundam, Wing Leader. He held on to the black cord, letting it pull him 3/4 of the way up before simply jumping the rest of the way to his cockpit. He flicked a bunch of switches, his fingers moving in a blur, his mind barely even considering the choices he made. He was a soldier, a perfect soldier, and perfect soldiers don't need to think. The Gundam flew off into the sky.