"General Treize, there's something you have to see," Zechs Marquis said as they stepped into Treize's personal quarters. "There was an... occurrence at one of our research bases, less than an hour's ride from here."

"An occurrence?" Treize asked, raising an eyebrow at Zechs' choice of words. "Not an attack?"

"The Gundam pilots were involved," Zechs admitted. "But if it was an attack..." he shook his head slightly. "It was an amazingly inept one. The first alarm was called when there were gunshots in one of the storage rooms, the one containing the machine that was brought in from the base in the L2 colony yesterday. Our men rushed in and apprehended over two-dozen men, wearing an unfamiliar uniform. We've already debriefed them, and they all claim to work for an organization known as the Alliance that is in control of Earth and several extra-terrestrial colonies."

Trieze frowned. "The Earth-Sphere Alliance?"

"No, and they don't know anything about mobile suits, or our colonies. Their colonies are apparently located on other planets, not in space. But that's not what brought this to my attention."

"It gets better?" Treize asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes. These pictures were taken by a camera in the northern end of the facility." He handed Treize a folder. Inside were several grainy images of a strange-looking pair of people standing next to pilot 02, Duo Maxwell. The other two were both albinos, or so it appeared. He blinked and looked closer. The male albino was actually pilot 05, Chang Wufei. "What is our little dragon up to?" he murmured to himself.

"That's not all. They got separated, apparently, because we have pilot 02 and the girl in custody, and Wufei got away. But that's not why I brought this to your attention, either. Look at these. They are from the southern end of the facility." He handed Trieze a second folder, then stepped back to wait for his superior's reaction.

Treize didn't see what was so interesting with the images, although he'd never admit that to Zechs. He continued to study the pictures. They were of two other groups of Gundam pilots. It seemed that more of them than just Wufei were pretending to be albino, for some reason. Then he blinked and looked closer at one of the pictures in the second file, then back at one from the first file. What he was seeing was impossible. He checked the time that was automatically printed in the bottom right corner of every picture. No, he hadn't been mistaken. But what was this? It was right there in front of him, but he couldn't figure out what it meant.

Because right in front of him was the impossible - at 16:32, at the north end of the facility, there was the captured image of the two pilots and the strange girl. At 16:33, at the opposite end of the base, pilot 04 was seen along with an albino version of pilot 02. That put pilot 02 at opposite ends of the base, once with makeup (or so he assumed) and once without, in the company of two different groups, within a minute.

"What do you make of this?" Treize asked casually, tossing the folders onto his desk.

"A clone?"

"Possibly, but who could have done it? The Gundam pilots are strong, but it's an entirely different thing to create biological duplicates then it is to build a machine, even a machine as complicated as a Gundam."

"It was just a possibility. I have instigated a search for the clones, as well as the pilots, if they really are clones. I must admit I have a hard time picturing Wufei allowing that. It would never appeal to his sense of honor."

"No, it wouldn't," Treize said with finality. "But then where did they come from?" he wondered aloud, his gaze drifting back to the first picture. "Do we have any idea who the girl is?"

"No, but we're working on it. There's more. We have a number of soldiers who swear that they saw you on the base during the alarm."

"I was nowhere near that base."

"Nevertheless, they swear that it was you, but your hair was cut short and you were wearing some uniform no one had ever seen. There are over a dozen soldiers who attest to that fact. I've already sent a team to investigate."

"Good." Treize did not like the idea of someone daring to pose as him, but then his attention was drawn to something else. He was examining the girl's face very carefully. There was something very familiar about her, something he couldn't place... Suddenly he realized something else about the girl, and his blood chilled. "You said the girl and pilot 02 were captured?"

He could see Zechs frown in confusion under the mask. "Yes sir."

"How long ago?"

"Just over six hours, sir..." Zechs trailed off as the same thought occurred to him as had occurred to Treize, and he paled. "She's..." he broke off with a low oath.

Treize had given orders that the Gundam pilots be brought to him unharmed, but he in no way believed that that was any guarantee of the pilot's safety. Strange that he was trying to kill them while they were in their suits, but trying to protect them on the ground. Not so strange, actually. He respected his enemies, even if he was obliged to fight them. And despite everything, they were children. He wanted them to cease fighting him, but he loathed the thought of them being tortured, which was why he had tried to protect them from the worst of his own men. And the girl didn't even have the slim protection his orders provided. And she was beautiful...

"I want to see the prisoners now," he said coldly. "In fact, let's pay the base a visit..."

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

"They've been captured," Andrew said, staring intently at Heero's computer. If it was possible, he was even better at hacking then Heero - it had taken him less than an hour to get into Oz's main computer. "Pilot 02 and an unidentified female were captured at base 02341 at 16:43 yesterday. They're currently being held at the base." He frowned slightly and leaned back. "No injuries reported," he murmured. "It's not like Diana to allow herself to be taken so easily. She should have taken out at least two or three of them."

"They were unarmed," Quatre felt constrained to point out.

"It doesn't matter with us," Andrew replied. "She killed off a dozen Alliance soldiers when they caught her by surprise at her fifteenth birthday party. I can't see her getting captured and not getting at least two or three of the guards, even if she was unarmed."

"She might have been trying to conceal her abilities," Quatre suggested, but Andrew shook his head.

"I can't explain it, but something went wrong..." he stared at the screen for minute more, then made a disgusted sound and roughly pushed his seat back, standing up. His frustration was easily apparent. He walked to the window and stared out it silently for several minutes, then shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm pushing myself to my limits, but I can't find her. I can't even figure out what's wrong. I can't..." his voice cracked slightly from the strain, and Quatre finally realized what was going on.

"You're trying to... to use your gift," he said, stunned. "Use it like a weapon."

Andrew glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, a haunted expression on his face, but he didn't say anything. Devin moved to comfort him, speaking so softly that Quatre couldn't hear him. But after a moment Andrew nodded and left the room.

"Fuck," Kane cursed. "He's doing it again, isn't he?" he asked Devin, who nodded, a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Doing what?" Quatre asked as Heero took his place at the computer, examining whatever it was Andrew had done and grunting in satisfaction. Then Heero started typing as Wufei looked on.

"He... he was punished more than any of us combined, either when he failed to do something, or just whenever our commanders felt like it. Our project head was a sick, sadistic psycho. Sometimes when he fails to do something, Andrew just... goes somewhere else. Devin can usually help him, but he needs time to be alone. Killing the Director was too good for him."

Quatre nodded sympathetically, wondering what they would think of a few scientists who gave people who were essentially children weapons of mass destruction. Quatre didn't consider himself or any of his companions children, doubted that any of them had ever been children, but they weren't genetically engineered the way their doubles were. Did that make the scientists better or worse?

Quatre stood up and left the room, trusting his instincts to lead him to the right place. He followed them outside, to where he'd hidden the mobile suit they'd stolen. Somehow Andrew had managed to climb up the outside of the suit and was now sitting on it's head. Quatre could dimly see white-blonde hair waving in the wind on top of the suit. With a sigh, he started scrambling up himself, nearly falling several times, but he made it to the top in one piece.

"Hi," he said uncomfortably, not sure of what had brought him up here.

"She's hurting right now, I can feel it," Andrew said. "Nothing more specific, but she's in pain. And... and something frightened her before, when we were escaping. I don't know if I've ever felt her that frightened before. But I can't do anything for her, can't help her at all..." his voice was thick with self-loathing.

"It's not your fault she got captured, and I've never heard of anyone being able to do as much with their kokoro no uchuu as you do."

"Space heart?" Andrew asked with a bitter laugh. "That's an interesting word for it. No, I know it's not my fault. But... it's been very hard to throw off the training. Sometimes I feel that when I fail to do something, I should be punished."

"That's terrible," Quatre breathed, horrified.

"It's all I knew for the first fourteen years of my life. It's amazing we aren't all even more fucked up than we are," he commented, and then his eyes went distant again.

"You're worried about Diana, aren't you?"

"Yes. You're worried about Trowa, aren't you?"

Quatre had been trying not to think about that. "Yes," he admitted. "But worrying about it doesn't help. We're Gundam pilots - we probably won't survive the war. I just try to enjoy each day."

"Because it's better than being alone," Andrew said, finishing his thought. "And you always could have never met him. And even just today is one more day that you have him." He smiled, a wry one. "It's the same with me and Diana. We started seeing each other almost immediately after we got her back from the Alliance. So far it's been... I'm happier than I can ever remember being, and I think she's enjoying it too."

"Are you... I mean do you..." Quatre trailed off nervously, unsure of how to ask this question. He and Trowa were in love, there was no question in either of their minds. He couldn't imagine getting together with someone for anything less, but Andrew was from another universe, on top of everything else. He might not view it the same way.

"I don't know," Andrew said with a sigh. "I... I'm not used to feeling anything - none of us are - it's all too new. The things that I feel now, I don't know if I can trust them. But I do enjoy being with her, and I'm more comfortable with her than anyone else."

Quatre smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure things will work out."

Andrew looked at him like he was some sort of interesting specimen in a lab, his eyes traveling from head to toe and back again. "How do you do that? Remain so positive? It looks exhausting."

"I just am this way," Quatre said with a smile. This wasn't the first time he'd gotten this reaction, and it wouldn't be the last time, either.

Andrew turned back to staring at the sky. "It's beautiful here," he murmured after a few minutes. "The last time I was on Earth, I didn't have a chance to appreciate it. I haven't been back since I left the Alliance. It really is... wonderful. There's something here that just can't be reproduced on a domed colony."

"That's what I said, the first time."

"There are a lot of colonists from my universe who are... not afraid, but very uneasy when they visit Earth. Too much open space, the environment is too unpredictable, too much blue sky. Shin's like that. Brian too. Not me. I loved Earth the second I saw it. There's just something here that feels right to me. It's the same for Devin and Brian. I think, maybe, we weren't meant to be colonists."

"How about Diana? How did she react?"

"Diana? I don't think she's ever been to Earth. Travel between Earth and the colonies is pretty limited. I think this is her first time on Earth. An Earth, anyway." Once again there was a worried frown on Andrew's face, and the vagueness of his eyes indicated that he was no longer looking at the sky, or anything really. He was looking for Diana again, Quatre could feel it.

"Don't worry. We know where she is. As soon as the majority of the troops move back out of the area, we can go in and get them."

Andrew continued to stare into space, and Quatre wondered if he'd even heard him.

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

Duo paced back and forth across the narrow confines of the cell, wondering if it was possible that the cell was getting smaller, or if it just seemed that way because of the waiting. He'd never been great at waiting - he could do it, and appear more patient than anyone else (God knew he'd done it often enough in Deathscythe) but that didn't mean he liked it. And at least in Deathscythe he was in control, he knew what was coming, and he could prepare for it.

Well, he knew what was coming here, too, in a general sort of way. It had been nearly six hours since the soldiers had taken Diana away, and he knew that they'd bring her back when they were done with her, assuming she was still alive. She ought to be, she was tough enough, but you never knew... He was more worried about her mental state. He'd grown up on the streets of L2, he knew the look in the guard's eyes when they came for Diana. He'd half-expected them to come after him, but then again, Diana was phenomenally beautiful - she'd been designed that way, and given the choice between his scrawny ass and her, he could see why they'd chosen her. But the choice didn't make him happy - he'd grown up on L2, he could deal with rape - she was an ambassador's daughter, not the sort of person that knew about such things. She's also the leader of a Rebel organization who was in the hands of the enemy for months, he reminded himself. She's not the naïve fool that Relena is. Still, he worried.

Suddenly the door was open, and while his eyes were mostly blinded by the sudden light, a figure was pushed through. The figure stumbled once, then righted itself. As his eyes cleared, Duo could see that it was Diana, arms still cuffed in front of her, wearing nothing but the loose black shirt she'd worn for the mission in the other universe. It barely covered her, but the fact that she wore nothing else was evidence enough of what had happened.

Diana was silent for a moment, gazing steadily at him with no hint of emotion in her eyes. She walked a few feet over to the wall and then gracefully dropped to her knees, leaning against the wall and arranging her shirt so that it covered as much as possible. "We're not going to be able to escape today," she said quietly. "Sorry, but they worked me over pretty well, and I need a day or two to heal. I don't think there's any internal bleeding, aside from the obvious, but I don't want to take any chances. We can leave tomorrow."

Duo wasn't sure what to say. "Diana... are you..." he hesitated before using the words 'all right', because he knew from personal experience that she wasn't 'all right' and probably wouldn't be for some time, but he wanted to know how bad it was.

"I'm fine. Well, not fine, but I'll live." Her voice was still perfectly calm, and her eyes were clear of any emotion.

Duo didn't believe a word of it.

Some of what he was thinking must have showed on his face, because she continued. "Really, I am fine - well, as fine as I always am after torture. This emotionless calm was engineered into me - I can't help that. But I will live. This isn't the first time this has happened to me," she added as an afterthought, still with that eerily blank expression. "The Alliance held me for months, trying to break me with every torture method they knew. Gang rape was one of them. But I'd prepared myself - it was just another form of torture to me."

"How do you do that?" he asked, trying to keep her talking.

"Certain self-hypnotic techniques work," she responded mechanically. "And the fact that I wasn't a virgin when they did it. I made sure that my first sexual experience was at least marginally pleasurable, so the experience didn't sour me on sex altogether." She smiled faintly. "As you've probably guessed from my relationship with Andrew."

"How?" Now he wasn't just asking to keep her talking - he wanted to know what the hell she had done. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"Dev. He was the only one I trusted enough. I didn't have the boys yet, there was no one else. He's a lot stronger than most people give him credit for. I don't know if I could have done what he did in the same circumstances - I looked like a child at the time. A pretty child, but he's no pervert. I was only twelve, when I took command of the Rebels, I knew that I was exposing myself to more danger, knew that the Alliance might catch me someday... So I asked him. He refused at first, but I can be very convincing when I want. It still wasn't easy for him, but it got the job done, and I didn't break later. That's why he's still a little sensitive about that particular subject around me, especially after what happened to me on the Alliance base."

"Aw shit," Duo said, remembering some of the tricks he'd convinced Kane to play on Dev.

"It's all right, he realized that you didn't mean anything by it. He was irritated, but nothing more," Diana assured him, a little bit of life returning to her eyes.

Duo turned bright red as he remembered that Diana had seen one of those little notes. "I... ah..." he stammered, for once at a loss for words. "I'm sorry..."

Diana actually smiled at his predicament. "It's fine, really. I need people to act normal around me. I'd be more upset if you or Kane or Dev or anyone else suddenly started treating me as if I was made of glass or something, that would upset me. Dev knows that you didn't know, and neither does Kane."

"He doesn't? Who does?" Unlike his little group, their doubles were all extremely close, and shared just about everything. That was a very big difference - except for between the couples, his group shared very little.

"Andrew knows, of course, and I think Brian and Devin know too. Devin saw me when they first rescued me and Brian makes it his business to know things like that. Kane doesn't know, neither does Shin or the rest of my command staff." She frowned. "I need to get back at the next juncture. They can make it a day or two without all of us, no more. I should do something about that," she added thoughtfully, and you didn't have to be a genius to see that her mind was already far away from what had just happened to her. She really didn't care. Amazing.

Suddenly she turned her head towards the door, and a few seconds later it opened, flooding them both with light, but whoever it was waited long enough for their eyes to adjust. While they waited, both Duo and Diana stood up, Diana pulling at her shirt to give herself maximum coverage. When his eyes did clear, Duo gasped and took a step back, recognizing the masked face of Zechs Marquise. "That's Zechs Marquise, the Lightening Count," he murmured to her, hoping she remembered him from their discussions.

"He's Dev's..." she trailed off, leaving him to fill in the rest of the question, and not giving any useful information to the Oz soldiers.

"Yes, but he's not on our side," Duo murmured as quietly as he could. "Remember that."

Diana nodded slightly, her eyes fixed on the double of the man she'd trusted enough to take her virginity at age 12. He had no idea what was going through her mind right then, and he didn't have any time to figure it out, because Zechs stepped into the room, looking first at Duo, then at Diana. Duo cursed him for wearing the stupid mask - he couldn't even tell if Zechs was really looking at Diana, because he couldn't see his eyes.

He saw the corners of Zechs mouth turn down slightly as he observed Diana's half-clad state (or so Duo guessed) but he didn't comment on it. "Bring the girl," he instructed, and turned and left, his cape fluttering behind them.

Diana glanced once at Duo then followed obediently, and once more Duo was left by himself in the dark, wondering why he was being left out of so much.

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

Treize had just barely settled himself into his seat in the office that had been vacated for him when Zechs arrived with their prisoner. It had none of the opulence of his usual quarters, but he didn't intend to stay here very long. This base's prison facilities were close to nonexistent - the pair they'd caught had been locked in an empty room with a lock on the outside - that was the closest thing to a cell here. Completely insufficient for holding a Gundam pilot and whoever this girl was. He intended to move them to one of his military bases as soon as he'd taken a look at this girl, to see what she was made of. Was she merely an innocent who had somehow gotten caught up in this, or was she something else?

He gave permission to enter, and the door opened. Zechs marched through and took up a position at his side. He was followed by two guards holding guns, and then a young girl - she couldn't be older than fifteen - walked in. She was astonishingly beautiful, despite the oddity of her coloring. Her hands were bound together in front of her, and she was wearing nothing but a large black shirt that barely reached the tops of her thighs. Treize's lips tightened with displeasure - it looked as if his fears had been legitimate. He nodded to Zechs, who, after a moment, took the long coat he'd worn on the way over and slung it over her shoulders. She didn't even look at him - a cool expression on her face, she merely raised her manacled hands to adjust it slightly, so that it covered more of her.
It didn't cover all of her, but it did a better job then the shirt did, and once she'd adjusted it, she let her hands fall back down, which covered even more of her. All through this, she looked neither at Zechs nor Treize, keeping her eyes fixed on a point in space right in front of her, a disinterested expression on her face. Not an innocent caught by accident, then, he decided. An experience player of the game. His interest was piqued.

"I apologize for the actions of my men," he said, leaning back as far as he could in the chair while not appearing to slouch. "I gave orders that all prisoners were not to be touched," he said, stretching the truth slightly.

"If you believe that will keep your soldiers from abusing prisoners, you're more of a fool than you look," she replied with a toss of her head that sent her long braid flying.

"And just how much of a fool am I?" he asked, torn between amusement at her audacity and anger at her rudeness. He stared as for a moment her eyes flashed with a vivid emotion - complete hatred - before they returned to their blank state.

"I wouldn't know - I've never met you before. But anyone who gives such an order and expects it to be followed is a fool," she replied casually, throwing out the words as if she really didn't care what he thought. Maybe that was the truth, but he doubted it.

"Why do you bear such hatred for one you claim to have never met?" he asked in a polite voice, watching carefully for a reaction. There was - a slight flicker of something in her eyes before she regained control.

"I know you only by reputation, sir. I bear you no personal enmity. No more than anyone else who had me captured, beaten, and raped."

"Your eyes beg to differ."

This time she had full control of herself, and her eyes did not change as she steadily regarded him. "You remind me, vaguely, of a personal enemy of mine. It was to his memory that I was reacting, not your own. My apologies."

Treize barely stopped himself from raising an eyebrow. She was more skilled than he'd thought. Her first comments had been honest, made in a fit of anger, but now she'd managed to cover for that quite neatly, and he didn't know if it was the truth or not. It could very well be - he didn't remember ever meeting her, and she was distinctive enough for him to think he would remember if he had, but at the same time he distrusted this conclusion. He couldn't believe that she'd just give him the truth, it was too neat. So then what was the truth.

"And you have my apologies on your... treatment," he said, choosing to glaze over what had been done to her in a way that she hadn't. "If you need medical treatment please say so and I will have some of Oz's doctors see to you."

There was a flash in her eyes again before she primly replied, "That will not be necessary."

"Very well. I look forward to talking to you further."

She sniffed slightly and averted her eyes, as if he was too insignificant for her to notice. "If that's what you want."

"It is. Zechs, please see that the young lady and her companion are transported back to the Crifton Base - separately - as soon as possible."

"Yes sir," Zechs murmured, then nodded to the guards, who took her by the upper arms to guide her out of the room. She took two steps before shrugging them off to walk by herself.

"Quite an interesting young woman," Treize observed as soon as the door had closed. "Do we have any idea who she is?"

"One of the soldiers who captured them thought he heard pilot 02 call her Diana right before they were captured," Zechs offered. "Other than that our searches have come up blank. And we did find something unusual in the base."

"What is that?"

"A hole in one of the walls."

Treize frowned. "The Gundam pilots tend to leave a lot of holes in buildings, if they leave anything at all. Why do you mention it?"

"They usually use explosives to do it."

"What?"

"There was no explosion used. The closest the soldiers could come to describing it was that it was as if someone tore a hole in the wall with their bare hands."

Treize's frown deepened. "I want to know how that happened."

"Yes sir."

Trieze returned to the original topic of conversation. "What is your impression of her?"

"She hates you, and it goes beyond mere transference. And... she dislikes me as well, although I do not know why. But it is not the hate that she bears for you, Treize. I would be much happier if you did not talk with her again." The tone of his voice indicated that he already knew this was a hopeless quest.

"She intrigues me, Zechs," Trieze told him. "She is a contradiction. What she went through would have broken many men, and she's just a child, and she just shook it off. She's played the court games, but she's a fighter, too. And no one knows who she is. This could be played to our advantage, if we can find out who she is and what her connection to the Gundam pilots is."

"And who those others are," Zechs reminded him with a frown. "And who it was that the soldiers thought was you. There is far too much here that is unknown. Do you want me to try to force answers out of either of them?"

"No."

"No?"

"You've seen them both. You've fought pilot 02. Do you really think that you could force information out of him?"

"And the girl?"

"Don't touch her. Not yet. I am... intrigued by her. Let me try to get the information out of her another way." He could practically feel his subordinate's frustration. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm just remembering the last time you decided that someone was intriguing. We ended up sleeping with him."

"Are you complaining?" Treize asked patiently.

Now Zechs did sigh in frustration. "No, of course not, but you must admit it's complicated things. I don't know if this is a good idea..."

"She is a beautiful child," Treize remarked, not really meaning it. He got the distinct pleasure of seeing Zechs' mouth drop open in utter astonishment.

Once, twice Zechs' mouth opened and closed. "Please don't tell me you're serious."

"No. One illicit, underage lover is enough for me," Treize replied with a low laugh. "But I do want to try to get information out of her my own way, first."

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

Shin cursed. He'd stolen a normal colored shirt to go over the pure black he had worn for the mission. At least it hadn't been a jumpsuit - that would have been harder to explain. He'd also stolen sunglasses to hide his all-white eyes, but it didn't seem to matter. Already the enemy soldiers were out combing the streets, looking for him. He'd seen the pictures they were circulating. So far he'd managed to elude them, but for how long? His eyes fixed on an Oz truck that was coming down the road towards him. Well, it was a way out of here, and it was headed away from the base. He'd spent more uncomfortable days before this, and would again. He quickly ran up to the truck as it slowed down and then swung himself under it, clinging to the bottom and pulling his body up against the bottom to keep himself from being seen.

After a few seconds, the Oz soldiers who were supposed to be searching all vehicles leaving the city cleared the truck without so much as a glance at the underside. Sloppy. Very, very sloppy, but he wasn't going to complain. Of course, he was now stuck where he was. Getting off of the rapidly moving vehicle was more trouble than it was worth right now, and he had no desire to trek through the wilderness for days to get to another city, one less infested by enemy agents. However, this did require him to hang onto the underside of the truck for several more hours. Usually when he did this sort of work he had along some sort of equipment with which to brace himself. Hanging here with just his muscles holding him up was going to be a challenge.

But not impossible. Shin knew his design specifications would allow for the strain. It wouldn't be fun, but he could hang on for over twelve hours if he had to. Gritting his teeth, he settled in for the ride.

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

Brian silently marveled as he looked through the schematics that were being displayed on the screen inside the Gundam. This was about the only place that he was going to find Gundam blueprints, Trowa had told him. Good planning on their part - he definitely approved. It was because Diana had full access to the Alliance's computers, and because the Alliance put so many of their project and orders and information on those same computers that they'd been able to take Alpha colony from the Alliance. Knowledge was power.

While it was still amazing to think of a world that had been at war for two hundred years, he was beginning to believe it. They might not have discovered faster than light travel, but what they hadn't done in *peaceful* scientific discoveries they'd more than made up for with what they'd created in these massive machines of destruction. The technology behind them was astounding - the programming alone, just to allow the machines to walk and fight was far beyond anything robots in his world could do. On the other hand, they were still in this solar system, they hadn't advanced nearly as far in the field of genetics as his world had. The very advances that had brought about his existence hadn't occurred on this world. There was no possibility that Oz or anyone else would create something like him. The thought was comforting.

On the other hand, two hundred years of war wasn't good for anyone. Brian never thought that he would be grateful to the Alliance for anything, but they had brought stability to the galaxy. They were firmly in control on Earth, and on most of the colonies. While the Rebels fought back, most of the fighting was limited enough that it didn't affect the everyday lives of the majority of the population. The same couldn't be said for ordinary citizens here.

He exited the files and then carefully shut down the system, locking it down so that no one except Trowa or himself (or someone else who knew the codes) would be able to get inside. He was beginning to understand what a sacrifice it had been for Trowa to allow him access to his Gundam. The huge machine was more than just a tool, more than just a weapon. It was... part of him, somehow, and him letting Brian learn on it... it was like the five of them letting an outsider in their group. He didn't think about it much, but when it came down to facts, Diana was not part of that group. She had a unique relationship with them as a group and individually because of what she was, but she wasn't really part of their group, at least not in his mind. They'd been raised together by the Alliance in exactly identical circumstances (to preserve the integrity of the project), and she hadn't. No one could understand what it had been like... no, that wasn't quite right. Diana could understand, but she hadn't been there, and it wasn't the same. There was something about living with people for fourteen years, almost without any breaks, that couldn't be duplicated. He knew them, and he didn't... he still didn't understand emotions at all, but they'd been together so long that it didn't really matter.

Diana knew this - knew that she was apart, and that there was nothing she could do about it. She accepted this the way she accepted everything else that life had thrown at her, shoving away her personal feelings, thinking through and understanding the problem, accepting the fact that she couldn't do anything about it, and then moving forward. He suspected she'd done this when she first realized how different her mind was from a human's, again when she realized her body was not normal either, when she was pressed into taking control of the Rebels, when she found out about them... There was a long list, and that was only the most obvious things. He probably didn't know half of the things that life had thrown at her - she was a very private person, trained herself to be that way. He doubted even Andrew knew all of her secrets. He only knew this because he'd seen the last time life smacked her, when she found out from Andrew that the Alliance had killed her father while she was in captivity.

He'd seen the emotion drain from her face as the triggers her creators had implanted kicked in, saw flickers of emotion in her eyes as she struggled against herself, and then... calm acceptance. He knew this wasn't a normal response, or anything close to a healthy human response, but they weren't human, and no one wanted to face her when she did it. She was the only being alive who could cow him, and he wasn't talking about physically. She was the only one of them who'd been raised as a human, and she was the only one who could smooth things between the five of them and the human Rebels. They'd been without her for six months when the Alliance captured her, and although we managed, it was not easy. They needed her, and she knew it, accepting that it separated her from them with a wall that could never be breached, because it was *necessary*.

How many times had Andrew said that he hated that word, because she used it so often? She did what was necessary, and never complained. She understood that she would never really be one of them, accepted it, and then built a different type of relationship with them. He'd spent a good deal of his free time analyzing their group, analyzing Diana, analyzing the humans they worked with. It was something like a hobby, but more intense, closer to an obsession for him. He saw the connections, saw their group, saw the way Diana interacted with different groups, how she changed her speech patterns and attitudes at will, almost automatically, so that people understood her, he saw all of that, but he couldn't understand how she knew what to do, because he couldn't understand emotions. He had a thought floating around in the back of his mind that if he watched long enough, one day he might understand. Until then, he observed every type of human interaction he could find.

All of which brought him back to Trowa allowing him access to the Gundam. He realized that none of the Gundam pilots were prime examples of normal humanity, but he didn't really care. He was observing all types of humanity, not just the norms. The relationship Trowa had with the other pilots and his Gundam was... unusual. If what he'd heard and observed was correct, the Gundam pilots were a team, but not the way the five of them were. The Gundam pilots were used to working on their own, at least at first. While they were capable of working together, they relied on themselves first. That was the opposite of his team. They always assumed that they'd be able to lean on each other - they could operate on their own and had, but they always knew the group was there, too. A subtle but very big difference.

And the way they treated their Gundams... it was as if they'd assigned personalities to their Gundams, especially Duo and Wufei. Maybe that was the result of the way they were alone, the way they kept themselves apart where his team drew together. Maybe it was more than that. He tossed the idea around in his head for a moment as he sat in the silent cockpit of the Gundam. Maybe the 'personalities' that the Gundams had were more along the lines of hidden parts of their own personalities that they either wished to face or reject. The thought had possibilities, based on the evidence he'd seen, but not for all of them. Wufei, for example. It was more likely he was trying to punish himself for something than revealing a hidden part of his personality. Heero, well, he was the only human Brian had ever met who came close to his lack of emotion and drive to complete the mission without any regard to personal well being. It was... interesting to see that in another person.

His attention was diverted away from the interesting but ultimately useless pastime when the light indicating a waiting message started to flash. Brian immediately stood up and jumped to the ground with no regard to the distance. "You have a message," he told Trowa, who was cleaning his gun.

Trowa nodded silently and climbed up the side of his Gundam to reach the cockpit. He looked at whatever the message was for several minutes before climbing back down.

"There were two messages. I have a mission, and I received a communiqué from the others. They're at a safe house right now - I can give you directions on how to get there before I leave for the mission. I will return there after we complete our mission."

Brian nodded, not surprised that Trowa wasn't going into any more details.

"Quatre and Kane managed to steal a mobile suit and got together with the other group, and they all made it safely to the safe house, but Shin is still missing, and both Diana and Duo were captured by Oz. They've just been moved to a more heavily guarded base. Your friends are working on a plan to get them out."

Brian nodded again, seeing no need to comment out loud, so he didn't. After a moment Trowa dropped to his knees and started drawing symbols in the ground. "A crude map," he explained after a moment. "I have to leave right away, and I have no paper. You'll have to memorize this."

Brian nodded again, having already fixed the image in his mind. It didn't matter, he had a perfect memory anyway. "Walk that way," Trowa gestured. "Five miles, you'll come to a road. From there it's about ten miles to a town called Benton. Take the main road out of Benton for thirty-two miles, and there is a small road, not much more than a dirt path, to right. Take that to the end and you'll find the safe house. If you can hitch a ride part of the way, do it. It's almost fifty miles total. I've told them you're coming - someone may come out to meet you, or they might not." Trowa's voice evidenced no preference for either choice - he was just stating the options.

"Hn," Brian finally commented, nodding once more as he stood up. He looked around the 'camp' to see if there was anything he needed. Seeing nothing, he nodded once towards Trowa and then started off into the woods at what was, to him, a moderate jog. Anyone else would have called it an all-out sprint. He didn't bother to look back, but if he had, he would have seen Trowa quickly climbing back into his Gundam and taking off, wasting no more time on meaningless goodbyes than he did. They both had their missions to perform.




Sorry I got so introspective on this last part. I knew that I had to have at least one section more with Brian and Trowa, but once I got there, I realized it was almost the same as putting Heero and Trowa together - they just don't feel the need to chatter to cover silences, or to talk at all, or to communicate beyond the bare necessities. That almost ended up being the first section I've ever written without any dialogue at all. But it did get kinda interesting - I didn't realize Brian had all that going on in his head. Still waters run deep, I guess. Once I get them back with the others it will get better, I think - no more endless silences.
C&C welcome.