Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. I don't own so don't sue.

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Chapter seven:

"Fine," He took out some papers "but no interruptions or bawling or you're gone. Understood."

The girls nodded.

"Lets begin then." taking a seat. 'Damn It! I didn't want them to hear this.'

Karen stiffened when she saw the papers. She could already guess what they contained, her background or what he could find at least. She felt Duo lean in towards her and saw Quatre's smile. 'Oy I'm going to regret this. Why did I tell him? Why?'

Quatre couldn't help but notice how protective Duo was of Karen and she appeared to be expecting the worst, not that he could ask her why. Heero had already started.

"Who or what is Death Strike?"

"Death Strike is a gang created by one man who would take in those left over from the war or those that just wanted revenge for something and applied it to their cause." She leaned back getting into the heart of matters, "Soon it built up to an army and is now a league that remains well hidden to all except those that have received a warning." after slight hesitation she added, "Such as you all."

"Warning?" inquired Sally.

"They've made several threats, but only one took it too far, the rest I'm sure you noticed did not result in anything dire..."

"Such as..."

Sighing Karen filled them in on everything that had happened from months before. It had started with just gathering information, then escalated when one went out of his way to make himself known. "They weren't prepared to let you know anything was happening yet."

Relena gasped, "Hilde..." she covered her mouth, eyes wide.

Karen nodded, "yeah, that's where it went bad." She glanced at Sally, "I'm sure all the Preventers were getting was just noise about a group or something but nothing concrete until that day."

One look to Sally confirmed it, just a simple nod was all that was needed.

"After that well their agenda had to be moved and the threats began, all carefully calculated enough not to kill, but as a warning that they could. They have not yet finished their planning so it's really a stall for time."

"Why did they come after us?" asked Quatre.

"The war is over, but their souls still remain in those times. They don't like the idea of peace. Especially the way it was earned at the expense of others. They know the gundams were the first to attack a peace conference and trickery or not, they will not let the matter die. As for Relena; she is once more, as always, the symbol of those eras. She stands by you pilots rather than the victims. She will be used in their plan as the 'tortured dove' for her decisions in these crimes."

"Excuse me!?" She screeched, "what 'tortured dove'?"

"If they get their hands on you, you will be tortured and it will be streamed live for all to see until you die." meeting her eyes to drive home her point. Karen hoped this information would make them all aware of what was really at stake.

"Over my dead body." Heero seethed.

"Exactly their point." switching to glance at him. "You would be one of those public examples for being called the 'perfect soldier'. They want others to see that you are not a soldier nor perfect, but a man-made monster created solely for destruction that the dove tamed." She sighed, "they've convinced people that she won't be able to hold your leash forever, that she is playing God and when she loses control of you; that all of you, but especially you, Heero, will wreak havoc again."

She continued, "The person that created them, trained them hard, they know what they are doing, but only a few. Some couldn't take it."

"What do you mean?" Trowa leaned towards her.

Before Karen could answer Heero input one of his own discoveries into a question. "You were one of those that were trained, weren't you?" Everyone looked from her to him waiting for an explanation. Heero then told them of the injuries that he had found out from the report.

Karen answered indifferently, but kept her eyes focused on nothing and hazed almost as if she were remembering and yet trying not to. "Yes, I was one of those trained. There are several foot soldiers and then there are the elite, which are the few I mentioned. They are the sole survivors of brutal training. Those chosen were supposedly stronger, but they were all older so they put in me."

Quatre was perplexed, "...to even the odds?"

"No, to further test the desire to live, to endure, to survive." she muttered coldly. "While the others died one by one, myself and another remained, it was like that for every group they obtained to subject to their 'training'. Darkly she continued, her lips pressed into a thin line, "We were put to the test of everything. Refusing to act was not highly looked on or even considered. You refused you were shot on the spot…"

Relena gasped and covered her mouth. Duo curled his fist in anger. All the others were silent.

Karen went on, "The training consisted of various things. In one you were put into a room with a million soldiers who could use anything against you from clubs to guns. This was a game where you ran for your life. If you made it to the designated spot you lived. If not…" She didn't finish. Relena looked like she was going to cry. "Hence the injuries or some of them. Another was almost the same, but here they tried to run you down with various vehicles. Then hand to hand combat in an enclosed room with an audience and staff evaluating your every move." She closed her eyes, "These were not games where you get a booboo you're out. No, if you were hurt everyone went after you."

"But didn't the ones with you help out?" Relena asked worriedly.

"No," Karen glared in her direction. "this was not a 'one for all and all for one' situation if you dropped for any reason you died by all. It meant one less mouth to take their food, one less person to try to kill them. Of course it didn't help that you could trip and end up getting stampeded too."

Trowa blinked, "Huh?"

Karen was starting to get annoyed, how could she explain what they could not picture?

"It was near a forest that this was done. There is a path, one path, that you must take to get to where you wanted in order to live. You couldn't really go to the sides because it was a sheer drop on either side covered in rocks, boulders, and debris. You could wait to die by someone's hand or die right there by choice or misfortune by going over the side."

"Why would they choose to die after all, they got in the league themselves, right?" mocked Wufei. 'They had to know what they were getting into.'

Karen started laughing bitterly, everyone staring, "Oh," she coughed bringing her laughter into control, "didn't I tell you? Most of those people were kidnapped orphans."

Everyone froze. Wufei let out a cry of outrage, Relena tried to stifle her cries afraid Heero would make her leave, Sally buried her face into her hands, despairing at the thought, Trowa glared at her for attitude, Heero was growling, Quatre was mad and ashamed that people like that were actually still alive, Duo was quiet, very quiet and yet completely calm at the news.

Trowa switched his disapproving gaze to Duo, relaxing it into confusion. "You knew?" Duo nodded; he reached out and touched Karen on her arm, looking at Trowa, message clear. Karen was looking at Trowa, her face a blank, but her eyes said something different. "You were one of them?" He incredulously asked.

She only momentarily hesitated then nodded her confirmation.

"That's not true!" wailed Relena. "Karen, you were never an orphan."

"Relena!" Karen yelled in anger to silence her.

"You weren't!" she insisted, "You were always there with me!"

"What do you mean?" Duo asked not liking where this was going, looking from one girl to the other. 'Is this what she meant with she had more to tell.'

Karen sighed and glared at Relena. "I suppose I should explain." 'Now that the cat is out of the bag.'

"Please." Quatre leaned in to hear her.

"First of all Relena, my name is Karen, …but Dorlain was not my last name. I was not related to you in any way." Gasps all around, eyes shifting from Karen to Relena and back.

Duo was in shock, "Is this what you meant? You guys were family?"

Both girls nodded not sure to whom he was asking. Relena nodded as if to explain why she had threatened anyone, Heero, if any harm came to Karen and why she was so upset. Karen because of her earlier conversation with him in the gym when she told him that there was more to tell.

Heero moved to look at Relena, waiting. She weakly smiled knowing what they wanted. "When I was with the Dorlains I was alone, always alone. Then one day, when I was like five and able to comprehend more, my father told me that I had a sister who was away traveling. He was going to pick her up at the airport the next day and wanted to know if I wanted to go. Naturally I said yes. When we got there she walked up to us. Karen was a little younger than me…"

"By a year." Karen interrupted.

"Still. Anyway we grew up playing and were always together," Relena became quiet, pensive, "then you just suddenly disappeared." She gripped the armrest in urgency, tears in her eyes, "Father sent everyone out to look for you and search parties were sent out too, but…we never found you."

Karen snorted. "Of course you never found me." 'How could they have?'

"So you mean you do remember me?" Relena asked hopefully.

"…Yes." Relena squealed, ran, and threw her arms around Karen. Karen went rigged and sat still, not touching her. Relena backed up enough to see her, "I don't understand."

"Why should I risk getting too close to you when something is bound to happen." pushing her gently away.

"No! Karen, I can't afford to lose you again." she tightened her hold, shaking her in emphasis.

"Careful sis or you're going to make your boy angry." Sending a glance at Heero. She turned to look at Duo who was just staring at her in disbelief and a little mad. 'Uh oh.' She inwardly groaned. 'Why?'

"Karen, where did you go?" prompted Relena.

She looked into the blond girl's eyes, searching. She sighed, "Relena, do you remember the last time you saw me?"

"Yes, we were playing tag when you said you'd race me to the house. Why?"

"No reason I just wondered what was the last thing you remembered." she waved off the question.

"Is there something you're not saying?" murmured Duo, pissed at the news.

She stayed quiet, still trying to pry Relena's hands off her.

"I have a question." Quatre interrupted. "Could you explain the electrical burns, the trauma, and the concussion, please?"

"Sure," finally succeeding and sending her back to her chair for the duration of the questioning. "I received the concussion when I fell on the path…"

"How weak can you be when you got one falling down? You are lucky you aren't dead from what you told us." interrupted Wufei, suspicion written on his face.

"…And over the side, and for your information I was eight at the time. The only reason I wasn't dead was because this was not during a test. It was during my attempted escape." She snapped at him. 'Rude!'

That got Heero's attention. He was wondering why she had never gotten away if she was the best. "So what happened?"

"I blew it." She ran her hand through her hair, frustrated, "I was still going through training and I was the most rebellious one on the force. I did what I had to do to survive, but I refused to follow most orders." sounding pleased. Then her eyes darkened with the memory, "One night I snuck out of my cell...I made it outside, but to get to the other side where I could get help and be free I had to cross the path they made us do every test day only this time instead of turning at the wall blockade I had to go over it...I never made it that far" she clenched her arm, lost somewhere in the past, "…as soon as I stepped onto the path, the alarms went off." she started rubbing her arm, paling, "Seems someone missed me and went to check on their prized sheep to see if it was still there. Probably mock me or just gloat. Well guess what? I wasn't there and now I had to run for my life, Alarms, the barking of dogs, and lots of yelling at my heels." she wrapped her arms around herself without knowing. No one dared interrupt but Duo was not liking how this was affecting her. And to know this had happened to her at eight, the impact of the event was manifesting in her body language even though she wasn't aware of it.

"I made it halfway," she continued, "running from the dogs they had released, when one of the jeeps came barring down the road."

Relena used both hands to cover her mouth, trying desperately not to make a sound. She couldn't believe how scared Karen looked. She was pale, her eyes wide, frantic, and she was starting to shake.

"One of the dogs jumped at me." Panic seemed to bleed out of her body engulfing the room, "I jumped to the side to dodge it, but at the same time the jeep increased it's speed…" her eyes started shifting, deep into the memory.

"Oh my god…" was all Sally could get out. They all listened almost entranced. Duo, as mad as he was about the whole thing, gripped Karen's hand to offer comfort. The touch startled her but it also centered her enough for her to gather her bearings, wipe the sweat from her forehead and try to relax her body. 'Finish it.'

"I threw myself to the side into the dirt and it drove past me," meeting their eyes, "unfortunately for me I started to slide down to the edge and there was nothing for me to grab on to." She leaned back, letting the armchair take her weight. "I went over and skidded down, rocks scratching at me, drawing blood, my clothes getting torn and doing nothing to protect me; somewhere sometime while I was falling I hit my head on a rock. "She closed her eyes. "I blacked out and later was told that I was found at the bottom surprisingly still alive."

"And the burns?" Quatre quietly asked, passing her a handkerchief.

She took it gratefully, "I woke up in the lab..."

"Lab?" ask Trowa.

"The lab was where they torture the cadets that were still not broken in." Karen paled complexion worried Sally. "I was first there when I managed to break from my chains..." she took a sip of water that Sally had brought to her. "I used them as weapons on anyone that came near me. It was on my first test day. I got the fire burns there. They heated up a poker and…well lets just say they didn't care that my screams vibrated the walls." She sighed, willing her body to accept that she wasn't back there in that time. 'It was a long time ago.'

Wufei's eyes narrowed. 'Bastards!' He disliked any idea of torture on a woman.

She blinked, "Anyway as I was saying, I woke up there. I was locked into a chamber, well more like a metallic wheel. I had my hands spread and raised at two and ten. My legs at five and seven."

"What?" interrupted Relena.

"She means the numbers on a clock Relena." Quatre explained ruefully.

"Oh." she suppressed an urge to gag from the disgust she was feeling. Swallowing deeply she motioned for Karen to continue.

"I was contained by metal clasps that trapped my hands, enclosing them, and just straps around my ankles." She pulled her heel off a little so they could see the scar that had stretched with age and time. "They had removed my clothes except for the bandages covering my chest and underwear."

"So they knew you were a girl?" Heero inquired. He was familiar with scars so he wasn't surprised by the nearly invisible mark, he had no trouble spotting it confirming her age in the story by it alone.

Karen nodded putting her shoe back on, "Just the medical personal, the top chief, and one other that found out by mistake."

Wufei wondered, "How bad was the mistake?"

"Cost him his life." she drank some more water.

The girls' mouths dropped. 'Just cause he found out?!' The guys were only mildly surprised they knew it could happen, except Heero, he knew extremes, it also confirmed why in her file she was still listed as Danny McAllister.

She cleared her throat and continued getting more uneasy and tired by the minute. "The top chief doesn't take chances." She shrugged, "He goes all out. So when he found out about my escape and that I had survived he decided to put me through a test when I woke up. My survival intrigued him." She stated nonchalantly, "Once I did wake up, it made me wish I had never opened my eyes." She refused to allow herself to back there in her mind so she stated very harshly that, "He ordered that I receive jolt after jolt of electricity. Only when I passed out did they stop and check to see if I was alive. Stupidly I was." she muttered, scowling.

"No way!" yelled Duo seething. "There is no way you could survive that!" 'Not a child!'

"Calm down it probably didn't last long." Wufei voiced, brushing aside Duo's outrage.

Sheepishly she glanced at Wufei, interrupting him, "It took three hours." She leaned forward in her chair, adjusting.

"What?!" It was Wufei's turn to jump to his feet in anger.

Looking down at her hands, "Well you didn't expect them to just give me maximum bolt did you? They started from the bottom up." refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

Relena almost fainted from all she had heard. 'My sister...' Heero bumped her, raising an eyebrow. She straightened, no sense getting kicked out now.

Sally was frozen, stupefied with horror. 'So young, what monsters!' Trowa too.

Quatre was surprised and he felt sick. He thought of his own children going through any of that and he knew he'd kill whoever dared. 'What about her real parents?'

Duo and Wufei were pissed as hell. There would be no calming them.

While Heero remained indifferent; he already knew to what extreme most 'training' went. Complaining, crying, whining, nor protests would stop whoever was doing the 'training.' He shifted his weight from one leg to another still watching Relena, "And the trauma?"

"Enough!" exploded Duo jumping to his feet, bracing himself in front of Karen slashing the air with his arm. "I refuse to let you ask her anything else about her past right now. Stop making her relive it!" Startling the girls, causing them to jump in their seats.

Sally assessively took in the pale texture that Karen had and her eyes looked hazed and unfocused. She looked much older and tired.

Suddenly Duo grabbed Karen's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Hey!" she protested.

"Come on!" he dragged her out of the room to the stairs heading straight to his room, not looking back.

"I think everyone got carried away." Quatre ruefully admitted. "Sally, please take me back to my room. I'd want to rest." 'And think.'

She nodded and moved to do it when Trowa took hold of the wheelchair handles and started to wheel him out of the room. She smiled gratefully 'til she noticed the couple at odds, "Heero, take Relena to her room please." He nodded and gently probed her, to get her to move, then led her out.

Wufei still didn't move too enraged to even think. He was mad more on the fact that they had done that to a girl, a child, a female child! And that he even cared. 'Injustice!' he snorted.

"Wufei?" Sally touched his arm lightly.

"There is no way she could have gone through that." he adamantly stated. He refused to believe it.

Sally took him into her arms, surprised he came easily, "Well most girls aren't as weak as they look."

"But she was a kid." he murmured, hugging her back.

"Then maybe she had a reason not to give up." She reassured, holding him.

Wufei pulled away gently, "Maybe." He left the room too mad to even think straight and confused. He knew Sally was bound to ask more questions and he didn't want to answer any of them.

AN: In celebration of my birthday today, I wrote up this long chapter, enjoy ;)