AC 205 July | Manila, Philippines

Trowa rubbed his eyes as he waited for his laptop to boot. He stretched his legs out on his cot and pulled the computer onto his lap. Once it was up and running he logged into a secure chat and waited for Wufei to respond. It was midnight in Manila and only 6pm over in Copenhagen. Trowa was exhausted.

Three weeks ago he landed in Manila where his mission officially started. It had taken a few days to secure a mechanical job at Maytipan Metal Company, the alias for the New Battle Republic rebellion, an organization that was manufacturing weapons. Since he began working undercover there Trowa had been able to send Preventer the names of the key leaders in the rebellion, as well as confirmation on what types of weapons they were making. He had hacked into Maytipan's data systems and dug up where the weapons were being sent, too. It was clear that NBR was up to no good and gearing up to start conflict with ESUN to threaten the peace of the Earth and Colonies.

-Eternal Shenron here-

Trowa looked at his screen as some text flashed across it. It was Wufei at Preventer. He quickly typed back.

-Heavy Arms here. Ready for my nightly report.-

-What news do you have?-

Trowa stretched his fingers across the keyboard while he gathered his thoughts. He had some shocking new information to report but he was dreading having to report it. His fingers moved in a flash over the keys as he typed.

After his shift that night Trowa had lingered at the factory. He'd gotten a lead that Maytipan was working on some 'secret project' in the lower levels of the building so he had snuck down to investigate. What had found something unexpected, and they may have gotten in over their heads with this one.

-NBR is manufacturing mobile armor in the basement.-

- Are you certain it's mobile armor and not some sort of industrial addition? - Wufei stared down at the monitor with widened eyes as he reread Trowa's last message. He could feel Heero leaning closer over his shoulder and heard the other agent suck his teeth as he came to the same realization that he had. That this went way deeper than they had originally thought.

"Ask him how many units?" Heero growled over his shoulder. Wufei tensed. Normally he would have reminded Heero that he wasn't involved in the case and that he needed to keep out of it, but he was too preoccupied with the notion that there were bigger problems stewing in Manila. It was a question he wanted to ask Trowa himself.

- How many units did you count? –

-At least 100. Maybe 150-

Trowa frowned as he went over the numbers in his head. The overhead light flickered in his shitty rental room. He shivered and pulled his blanket up over his shoulders.

Wufei sighed. Heero was practically crushing him between his chair and his desk.

- Did you get any photographs? – Wufei asked.

-Sending them now- Trowa plugged a small micro SD card into the side of his laptop and pulled images off of it. He zipped them up into a single file and sent the transfer to Wufei.

Wufei received the images and quickly opened them. Three different models flashed across the screen. The images were surprisingly clear, which meant that Trowa had risked a lot to get close to even take them.

"Ask him if they're simply armor or do they have capabilities for shoulder mounted Vulcan guns and missiles..." Heero demanded. Wufei scowled over his shoulder and glowered at him.

"Yuy..."

"Just ask him," Heero said coolly. Wufei sighed and decided it wasn't worth the argument.

- Do they already have weapons mounted? –

-Some of them have weapons mounted. Preventer is going to have to take action sooner rather than later. They are shipping guns and ammunition out to third parties in space and on Earth. But it doesn't look like they've started to move the mobile armor.-

Trowa typed his recommendation and then leaned back and waited for a response.

- Understood. We will begin assembling units and forming teams for interception. How close are you to locating the leader of the group?-

- His name is Antonio Mendoza -

Trowa had just found that out that day when talking casually with one of the other mechanics.

Wufei wrote that down on a piece of paper beside the keyboard and began to type out -very good, report in tomo- when Heero grabbed his chair, flung it backwards with the Chinese man still seated in it and sent him rolling across the room.

"YUY!" Wufei barked angrily as he hit the far wall. Heero leaned down and quickly typed a message to Trowa.

- You're sexy when you talk mission. Come home in one piece. –

Trowa blinked at the message at first, wondering why the hell Wufei was saying that to him. But then his eyes narrowed as he typed back.

-Heero?-

- Affirmative. gtg, I love you. -

Heero managed to type and send before Wufei punched him in the back of the head. He chuckled despite the blast of pain that emanated through his skull and doubled over to rub the side of his head. It was totally worth it.

- You're going to come home to a dead man –

A laugh broke out in the tiny rental room, bouncing off the walls and causing the flickering light to turn back on. Trowa smirked and typed quickly, -Tell Heero I miss him.- He suddenly flushed once he realized that he was flirting with his boyfriend over a secure Preventer communication line. So much for not mixing work with pleasure.

Wufei sighed. He felt Heero's eyes probing over his shoulder. "Did you get that?" he snarled at the other agent.

"Hn. Yes." Heero replied. The Chinese man nodded and typed back.

- Done. We will begin mobilizing units to your area. We've decided to call in 04 to assist. Will send you mission details in 6-8 hours. –

-Roger. Signing off.-

Trowa's eyes grew heavier by the moment. He shoved his laptop aside and flopped down onto his back on his stiff cot. The floor would have been more comfortable, but Trowa had slept in worse places. The moment his head hit the pillow he was asleep.


Duo felt his cell phone vibrate faintly in the pocket of his Preventer uniform beneath his Kevlar vest. He knew it was probably Heero. The guy had been blowin' up his phone all afternoon asking questions he had no answers for. He would probably kill him for it, but Duo began ignoring him three or four hours ago. He had forgotten to turn the phone off completely and now he was regretting it. He felt it tickle against his ribs as it pulsed with an incoming call. Heero really had it bad for Trowa apparently, and the guy was going insane back in Copenhagen. Duo thought it was pretty shitty of Une and Wufei to tell Heero he couldn't come. The guy needed to do something or he was going to crack, but they had insisted that he stay back in Europe. Duo had been secretly sending him updates despite direct orders stating that they weren't allowed to contact him. He felt bad. Heero was one of his best friends, and he knew the guy would have done the same for him.

He shifted his weight against a tree as he continued to crouch within the treeline outside of the factory. He saw Noin move slightly beside him. She was peering through a pair of binoculars at a guard who was smoking a cigarette on the roof with his back facing them, unaware of the massive operation coiling tightly around him.

"Fifteen minutes, guys." Quatre's voice spoke calmly in his ear. Duo reached up to tap his earpiece.

"Gotcha," the American replied. "We're locked and loaded, Q. You just say when."

Quatre stared down at the aerial display monitors that the silent camera drones were broadcasting. He could see Duo smirking up at the camera. The other agent flashed him a peace sign for good measure. Quatre couldn't help but smile at Duo's antics. Leave it to agent 02 to lighten the mood and break some of the stress. He glanced over his shoulder at Wufei and Une who were busy commanding the infiltration forces that had gathered on the opposite side of the compound. He sighed and clicked his communications over to Trowa before speaking, "Fifteen minutes."

-Roger. Mendoza is on the top floor.-

Trowa was inside the building keeping tabs on NBR's leader. His mission was to make sure the guy didn't get away. Right now he was in the stairwell on level 8, and needed to make his way up to level 12 where Mendoza's office was.


Heero tapped the screen of his phone to ring Duo again. The speaker buzzed as it rang but there was no answer. He watched as his computer monitor burst to life as it attempted to trace their location. He had been ringing Duo constantly for nearly an hour in an attempt to trace his partner's exact location. He finally managed to lock onto him and then hijacked the signal of the nearest electronic device. He knew it would have to be a drone. Quatre was supposed to be observing the mission from a remote location. Eventually Heero got a hit and locked the signature of one of Preventer's stealth camera drones. He stole it's feed and soon a small window in the corner of his monitor filled with the blurry, distorted image from the drone's camera.

The corner of his mouth perked with accomplishment. Visuals, check. Now he needed some audio. That would be easier. He rang Duo's phone again, locked his location and used the Preventer communication satellite to pick up the mission's broadcast. He knew all of the codes to access the secure frequencies that his agency used. Soon the bluetooth earpiece in his left ear burst to life with the sound of Quatre's voice speaking smoothly, "fifteen minutes."

He heard a familiar, hard and low voice reply. "Roger. Mendoza is on the top floor."

Heero released a long-held sigh, maximized the visuals and saw two blurry humanoid blobs in the center of the monitor. They were located outside the building. He assumed it was Duo and Noin, since they were the primary first line of infiltration for this mission.

So I haven't missed it yet , he thought anxiously. He glanced up at his and Trowa's darkened apartment, sighed and waited.


Duo was ready. He hadn't been out in the field on a real military-style operation in a long time. Chasing low-level perps in Europe didn't count. This was the big leagues. Weapons manufacture. Mobile suit enhancement. Mobile armor? Jesus, this was big. He was suddenly aware of the fact that his chest was no longer vibrating. I guess Heero finally gave up , he thought sadly. Poor guy, he must be going bananas. He checked his watch, shrugged his shoulders and gripped the stock of his rifle tightly and waited.


"Trowa, you can start heading up to level 12. There are two men patrolling that floor, and another two outside Mendoza's office door." Quatre had hacked into the Maytipan security cameras so he could see where the guards patrolled. "If you head in through the east stairwell you'll be able to take them off guard. They are headed towards the west wing now."

"Roger." Trowa reached inside his jacket and checked that his gun was in place. His fingers traced over the cold metal.

The plan was to sneak up to the 12th floor, take out the patrolling guards on their way back to the east wing, and then make his way to the main office where he'd take those guards out before surprising Mendoza with an arrest. Under Noin's supervision, Preventer backup was tasked with securing the building and making sure that no one got out. Duo's would aid in securing the area and then hunt down and arrest NBR's second in command, Abian Reyes.

Agent Bloom made his way up the stairs headed for the 12th floor. Once there he opened the heavy steel door slowly and peaked around and verified that it was as clear as Quatre had said. He closed it quietly and made his way down the hall in a casual manner, hands in his pockets. The sound of the two patrolling guard's voices echoed in the distance. They had reached the west wing and were on their way back down the hall towards the Preventer agent.

"Hey, what are you doing up here? No one is supposed to be up here without an escort." The guards stopped when they spotted Trowa.

"Oh, sorry, I must be lost." Trowa played dumb and shrugged his shoulders. He removed his hands from his pockets when the guards approached him suspiciously, holding them up in mock surrender.

"The elevator doesn't even reach this level without a key card. How'd you get-"

The guard was cut off by a foot to the head as Trowa swung his right leg upward and hit the man just below the jaw. The force sent him flying into the wall where he slid down unconscious.

Guard number 2 had no time to react. Trowa moved with lightning speed and punched the guard's temple with his fist, causing the man's brain to swing violently against his skull lining, resulting in a blackout.

"Patrolling guards are down." Trowa updated Quatre.

Wufei was watching the security camera footage with Quatre as Trowa dispatched each guard. He nodded and glanced up at Une, who stood beside him with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed on the monitor. Despite how well things were going Une seemed perturbed. Wufei didn't blame her. After researching Mendoza and his past they had come up with some disturbing details about the man. He was wanted in more than ten countries under various aliases for a variety of extremely violent crimes. Wufei hoped this would go smoothly and that they could arrest the man quickly and be done with this entire thing. Months of preparation and research had come down to this.


Duo could hear what was being said through Trowa and Quatre's connection. He narrowed his eyes and watched the exit doors while while Noin peered at the main entrance gate through her binoculars.


Heero stared down at the grainy external video feed from the surveillance drone with a frown. He hated this. He needed to be there. He was going crazy just sitting there in the apartment alone, helplessly watching the entire plan unfold.


Trowa's lithe figure made its way down the hallway on the video feed, headed towards the main office doors. Quatre watched nervously, but he had full faith in Trowa's abilities to complete this mission. He glanced at the clock and then tuned in to Duo and Noin's feed. "5 minutes."

Trowa rounded the corner and came face to face with the main office doors. Guards number 3 and 4 were standing outside, leaning against the wall looking bored. This felt too easy, something didn't seem right, but the security cameras hadn't displayed anyone going up or leaving the 12th floor in over an hour. Mendoza should be in his office alone. Trowa focused on the two guards at hand. They needed to be taken out as quickly and quietly as possible.

One of the guards heard footsteps rounding the corner and had assumed it was Guard 1 and 2 patrolling. He was shocked when he saw a stranger standing there. His lips formed the word 'who' but nothing came out. Trowa raced towards them and made quick work of knocking them both unconscious with a quick uppercut and punch to the nose. The bodies fell to the floor at his feet and he pushed them aside with the toe of his shoe. He reached into his jacket for his gun, placed his hands on the office doors and them open.


Duo watched the seconds tick down on his watch. As the second hand met up with the twelve his aloof expression immediately transformed into that of maniacal wickedness. He pulled his black skull-print bandanna over his nose, jumped to his feet and began to sneak up toward the front of the building with Noin as his shadow. He gestured with a pointed finger to the guard on the roof, who appeared thoroughly engrossed in his cell phone game. Noin nodded, raised her rifle and shot. A dart smacked into the side of the man's neck. He fell forward and vanished on the rooftop. Once the man was incapacitated Duo skirted the shadows of the trees and made a mad dash for the now exposed door. It was now or never. Someone was going to see him on the surveillance cameras as soon as he exposed himself. Sure enough a high-pitched wailing alarm sounded as he touched the doorknob. He chuckled, turned the knob and kicked the door open.

Hey, yo, I'm sorry I'm late!" BANG! BANG! "You've met my lady friend, Lucrezia, I see."


Wufei checked his watch. Duo was on schedule. He frowned and glanced over at Quatre, whose wide blue eyes were locked onto the camera feed that showed Trowa preparing to enter his target's office.


Heero watched Duo and Noin enter the building. Now he had nothing to go on aside from the audio feed. He could hear shots being fired over the sound of his American partner's unique, excited battle cackle. "Come on, boys! We're over here! Yeah, that's right! Seriously, you didn't even TRY to aim at me just now!"

The doors swung open to reveal a large and rather luxurious office with floor to ceiling windows displaying a panoramic view of the city of Manila. Trowa strode in while steadying his gun in his hand. There was a desk in the middle of the room occupied by a burly man who looked to be in his mid 40's. Dark brown eyes narrowed and glanced up at the sudden intrusion.

"Antonio Mendoza. You're under arrest." Trowa pointed his gun at the guy and gave him a steely look. He was confused when the man's lips spread into a sinister looking smile.

"I knew Preventer would catch up with me one of these days. I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon." Mendoza stood up, his fingers steepled against on the surface of his desk. He studied the agent in front of him and thought that he looked familiar. Hadn't he seen him working in the factory? So Preventer had sent an undercover agent to scope the place out. He could hear the faint sound of gunshots and commotion from the floors below. It was clear that they were being invaded.


"Oi, Quatre! Three floors clear!" Duo yelled into his earpiece as he ran up the staircase with Noin, Sally and a handful of other special operations agents in tow. He hopped lightly onto the landing, nodded to Sally and waited for her to check the hall for targets. As she did bullets whizzed past them from a pair of men huddled at the end of the hall. Duo smirked and tapped his earpiece again. "Looks like we got a couple of douschebags slowin' things up. It's gonna be a minute."


Heero couldn't hear anything being said between Quatre and Trowa. He tried to clear the channel and reset it but all he could manage to pick up was Duo, Sally, Noin and their team. He cursed under his breath and began working irritably to fix it.


Quatre wasn't able to give Trowa any more strategic direction. Mendoza's office wasn't covered by the surveillance cameras. Agent Bloom was on his own and all Quatre could do was listen.

Mendoza got up from his leather office chair and slowly made his way around his desk, hands clasped behind his back. "What am I under arrest for this time?" He looked amused and Trowa was annoyed by that.

"Manufacturing and supplying weapons, including illegal mobile armor. And leading a rebellion against the ESUN." He said coolly, gun still pointed at Mendoza.

Mendoza laughed. Damn Preventer always had to get in the way. The NBR was planning on taking care of Preventer as soon as their mobile armor was up and running. "So you think arresting me will dissolve the New Battle Republic rebellion? How naive." He wasn't sure if he should be insulted that Preventer had sent only one kid to take him down.

"Funny," Mendoza said in a low voice, his tone betraying his attempt to keep cool by reflecting his anger. "This new generation thinks it can make Total Pacifism work, and yet here you are with a gun in my face." He walked around his desk and came within a yard of Trowa's and glared down the barrel of his gun at him. "You're all just like us, even if you want to deny it."

"Are you done talking now?" Trowa wasn't entertained by this conversation. Sometimes you had to use force in order to gain Total Pacifism. He didn't back down, flinch, or move an inch when the older man came closer, trying to intimidate him.

Mendoza laughed before he peered menacingly into his face. " Preventer isn't the only group who thinks they have the world figured out. You think you can just wipe us out as easily as erasing a slate, but it isn't that simple. There are more of us than you can ever imagine."

"Save the speech for your trial." Trowa said apathetically. His finger was perched firmly against his trigger.

Mendoza wasn't going to let Preventer take him in this easily. He gave Trowa one last threatening smirk before reaching out to try and knock the kid's gun out of his hand. Let's test his reflexes, shall we?

Trowa shifted to the side and just barely dodged the attack to his right hand. With his peripheral vision, he saw Mendoza strike out with his other hand, and Trowa swirled around to evade the flying fist.

"Not so bad!" Mendoza chimed, then reached into his tailored jacket to pull out a knife with a 6 inch blade. Enough fucking around. He lunged at the tall Preventer agent, jabbing through the air and pushing the young man further back into the office.

Trowa ducked and moved out of the way with each jab, light on his feet as he countered the attacks. He used his gun to block the knife blows that came too close for comfort, noticing how Mendoza was trying to keep him busy and within bad range to use his gun.

The two men moved across the room as they fought, Mendoza landed a punch to the side of Trowa's face that sent him staggering. The leader of the NBR was trying to tire him out, trying to slow down his reflexes. Trowa panted as he straightened up and re-focused, wiping sweat that had started to form on his forehead with his forearm.

Mendoza launched again, trying to use force to overpower him. He grabbed Trowa's arm and pulled it tightly against his back, twisted it into an unnatural and painful position. It appeared as if he was getting pleasure out of making the Preventer agent cry out in pain.

Quatre was listening to all of this and with each passing second he was becoming more and more concerned. When he heard Trowa hiss in pain his chest tightened. He dug his nails into his palms, frustrated that he could only listen and couldn't see anything.

Mendoza yanked on Trowa's arm again and laughed when he heard a popping sound. He knew he had successfully dislocated the agent's shoulder.

Pain seared through Trowa's body and he bit down on his lip so he wouldn't cry out. His adrenaline started to kick in, and he used force to stomp down on Mendoza's foot before swirling around to punch him in the gut with his uninjured arm.

The older man groaned and stumbled back, but wasn't deferred for long. He gripped his long knife tightly and lunged at the agent one more time with all of the strength he had left. He grabbed Trowa by the front of his shirt and thrust him forward.

As he was backed up against the large scenic windows, Trowa suddenly had a feeling he knew where this was going. He kept his composure and narrowed his eyes on the older man's.

Mendoza shoved him hard against the glass. Trowa's head bounced off the shiny surface while the other leaned in close to snarl in his face. Trowa looked into those dark eyes and could tell Mendoza was one crazy motherfucker, as if all the reports he'd read hadn't been proof enough.

"Seriously, why did Preventer think a kid could take me down?"

The next thing Trowa felt was the stab of a sharp blade piercing deeply into his left side, all 6 lovely inches of it. He tasted copper in his mouth and bit down on his lip again, refusing to cry out in pain. His fingers trembled as he tried to regain a firm grip on his gun.

Mendoza looked like a cat that was suddenly done playing with its prey. He lifted Trowa off the ground by his shirt, pulled him back, and then shoved him with brute force against the window again.

As the glass cracked and shattered around his body, Trowa reflexively raised his pistol and aimed. He was halfway out of the window when he pulled the trigger. Now that there was enough space between them he had managed to shoot Mendoza square in the center of the forehead.

He fell backwards.

The last thing Trowa heard before everything went black was the sound of Quatre's frantic voice, calling out his name in his ear. "Trowa? TROWA?!"


Duo tripped over his own feet at the sound of a gunshot from above them, followed by the sound of Quatre's voice yelling Trowa's name over their shared connection. They were on the eleventh floor and still had one more to go. He had already managed to knock out and cuff the second in command, who was lying in a heap at the end of the hallway by the stairwell. He snarled under his breath and broke away from the team as they struggled to take out and arrest the remaining organization members, ran down the hall and jumped over the man lying unconscious by the stairwell and began to take the steps three at a time. He bounded as fast as he could to the twelfth floor, skidded around the corner and saw the unconscious bodies Trowa had left behind in the hall. He followed the trail of bodies to the office and immediately saw the broken window and a body hanging limply out of it. He raised his rifle and trained it on the back of the figure lying across the shattered glass of the window frame and slowly approached and scanned the room for Trowa.

"Trowa? Hey... " he said loudly as he neared the still figure in the window. As he grew closer he could smell blood and saw that the back of the hunched figure's head had been blown completely open. Bright red and grey chunks of brain and skull littered the ground around it. It wasn't Trowa. He leaned out the window and looked down. His breath hitched in his throat and his body tensed. He tapped his earpiece and said in an unusually shaken voice, "02 here, 03 is down. We need a medevac, NOW!"


Heero's eyes widened as he heard Duo's wavering voice fill his ear. His entire body went cold and his fingers began to burn and tingle. His body began to act of it's own accord. He snapped to a stand. The laptop clattered to the floor but he made no attempt to catch it or pick it up. Instead he walked to the front door, grabbed his keys and the emergency backpack he had kept packed beside the door, shoved his feet into his shoes and left.