Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, as much as I want to. I'm just borrowing them. I'm not making money.

AN: Another new idea. I don't think I want to continue the ideas unless I get reviews, because it'll be pointless if no one reads them...*sigh* is my writing THAT bad?!?!?!
Oh, and 'blah blah' denotes thoughts

Crystal Clear
Part 1: Being Watched


For the past few OZ missions, the pilots were stumped as to how OZ was able to predict what they were doing and had more mobile suits meet them than they ever had. In fact, OZ was predicting everything they had planned beforehand, so the pilots were forced to act instinctively, and spontaneously. Then, there were the child disappearances before each of their missions, a total of 7 missing children that all reappeared exactly 5 days after each disappearance, in the exact place where they had last been seen. The 5 pilots have long since caught onto the pattern. One missing child would reappear in 5 days, only to have another child disappear within 12 hours. They all knew that OZ had something to do with it. Now, they just had to find out what.



"10-year-old Jasmine Lin has re-appeared, back at the ice cream stand where she was last seen 5 days ago before she disappeared. The ice cream stand owner, Jamie Newman, had been rummaging under the stand for a new box of cones when he stood and met the eyes of Jasmine, handing her money to him, asking for the vanilla cone she had asked for before she disappeared in front of Jamie Newman's eyes. As the 7 other children that have disappeared and reappeared, Jasmine Lin does not remember anything that has happened from the moment that she had vanished. The pattern has been confirmed that all children that disappear will re-appear exactly 5 days after the disappearance, exactly where they have vanished. Police officers have yet to tell what leads they have leading to the kidnappers, but many citizens do not believe the children were kidnapped, as they vanish into thin air with what they define as a waver. No witness has seen how it happened. The Head of the Police Department here in Toronto ensures citizens that-"


Quatre looked up to see Duo, who had switched off the news report.

"Duo?" He asked.

"We know this stuff. And we know it's OZ." Duo said, serious for once.

"Why?" Quatre asked, looking at the other people in the room, the rest of the Gundam Pilots: Heero, Trowa, and Wufei.

"I agree with Maxwell." Wufei said. "But we don't know for sure that OZ is doing this…disappearing act." Heero and Trowa nodded. Heero held out a few sheets of paper, passing them around the room.

"I got these from an OZ database." He said. Before he could continue, the door opened, and the 5 boys looked up to see Sally Po.

"What is it Sally?" Trowa asked when Sally didn't speak.

"Another child has disappeared. At a convenience store 20 minutes from this base."

"Any information?"

"Her name is Nicole Andrews. She's 12 years old, American, and on a school tour when she disappeared. Her classmate, who was with her at the convenience store, said she just vanished into thin air. Poor girl is hysterical."

"All right. 5 days right?" Duo said. Sally nodded. "We don't want to let OZ soldiers, or the local police to know you guys are also on the case. You ARE the Gundam Pilots here."

"There will be another mission coming in tonight then, for tomorrow. If we can somehow do the mission and find this child at the base before we blow it up, we may crack the case of the missing children. Sally, please get us pictures of the missing child."

"Right." Sally turned and left the room, and the group turned back to Heero and the papers he had handed out.

"OZ has new technology?" Quatre asked, eyes wide, scanning the paper.

"New silencer technique. To silence all witnesses so they cannot speak, or remember what happened to them." Duo read. "This is cruel."

Heero's laptop beeped, and he scanned the mission before typing the acceptance.

"Infiltrate the base in Pickering. Take the blueprints of a new machine, and blow it up."

"I thought that was the first base we blew up after the first child disappeared!" Duo said. "Not that I mind blowing up places, but, you know…"

"There's another base up."

"Already?"

Heero nodded. "Quatre and Trowa, you guys will stay outside and be the back up. Wufei, you and I will go in and take the blueprints. Duo, you'll plant the explosives in the control room, and one explosive in every 5 rooms. You'll have about 15 minutes, maximum, to do this, before Wufei and I get out and detonate."

"How big is this base?" Duo asked with a grin.

"20 rooms, control room, and basement lab." Heero read off the screen. "All locked."

"Easy enough. 15 minutes is too much." The boys went separate ways to gather what they need for the mission. Quatre and Duo stayed behind in the room, and Duo looked around them, uneasily.

"What's wrong Duo?" Quatre asked looking around as well.

"Those eyes. I feel eyes watching us again."

"There's no one else in here, but I feel them too." Quatre glanced around. "We're in a Preventers base. No one but Preventers will be here. And I doubt anyone will be looking in on us, why would they?"

"I don't know. I know Heero did a check to see if we were watched before we were free to talk in this room, and I know we aren't being watched, but I just have that feeling."

"I do too."

"Ignore it you two. Don't be weaklings." Wufei huffed, re-entering the room. "We aren't being watched here. We're leaving this base in 1 hour and 20 minutes."

"Right."



* * *




Exactly 1 hour and 17 minutes later, the pilots were all in their Gundams, getting ready to take off. Pickering wasn't far away, and with their Gundams, only about 20 minutes away before they had to go on by foot. Duo sat, waiting for his take off signal, looking at the picture of the missing girl. She had light brown and blond hair, light skin, dusting of freckles across her face, and was skinny. He slipped the picture into his pocket, and took off after the other pilots.

Half an hour later, he was in the base, picking the first lock, when he heard a footsteps, soldiers, he assumed, and he jumped into the room, closing the door to a crack, listening to the conversations.

"I wonder how His Excellency is telling us when those darn Gundam Pilots are coming. He's always sure, and we can do nothing but follow orders. But how does he know? He's always right too!" One person was saying.

"Spies." Another said haughtily. "We all know that His Excellency is always talking to this little girl. She's a cute one too, long brown hair, small, skinny, but smart. Her eyes are cold though. Caught me staring at her. Her name is Crystle. The name suits her; her eyes are icy blue."

"How does she know?" The first asked.

"She watches. Her eyes see everything. Sharp."

The two soldiers' conversation died as they walked away.

A spy…a young girl named Crystle. Watching eyes… Puzzle pieces clicked in Duo's mind as he glanced at his watch. 8 minutes to detonation. He had to work fast. The feeling of being watched made Duo's skin tingle and he spun around, searching the dark room with his violet eyes. Two icy blue orbs looked at him from further in the room, but when Duo blinked, they were gone. He flicked on the light for a moment, and saw he was in a small room, which was empty apart from him. He shook his head, and stepped toward the opposite wall, planting the bomb under the only table in the room.

"I'm watching you…everything is crystal clear…" A voice whispered in his ear. Duo whipped around, but saw no one by behind him. With a shake of his head, he finished his task, and went on to the next room. But he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

There were no more interruptions that night, and the base went up in flames, despite the desperate attempts of the soldiers to stop it. There were a few mobile suits to fight on their way out, but with 5 Gundams, they were easily overpowered and destroyed.

"We didn't find anything. Just the prints we had to find. No girl, no commanding officers. There was a bunch of mobile suits waiting for us. They seem to know where we were." Quatre said as they gathered once again at the base. Duo looked around, feeling eyes on him again.

"Duo? Do you know something?" Quatre asked. Duo looked at the blond, and then shook his head. It wasn't safe to talk. At least Duo didn't think so.

And hidden in the shadows outside the base, in the trees of a small garden, a pair of sharp, blue eyes gleamed, the owner of them nodding to herself.

The pilots aren't that dull after all. She thought to herself, before she vanished into thin air with a waver. Much like the way all the other children disappeared…

Duo was just stepping outside for fresh air,mumbling to himself about what he had overheard at the Pickering base, when a voice reached his ears. He looked around as he listened, detecting a presence in hidden in the trees.

"I'm watching you…everything is crystal clear…" It whispered, before it disappeared with the presence. Duo paled.






Saori: What puzzle pieces clicked in Duo's mind? Read on to find out as soon as the next chapter is up! Review please people! And what is the silencer technique...I dunno yet...^.^''''' sorry...um...is it really confusing? It'll straighten out soon...I promise..just...support n keep reading..please?? Review for anything you don't understand..it'll be answered either at the bottom of the next chapter, or at the Authors Note at the beginning. Thanks!