Not a lot to say – just see you next week for all the excitement!

Enjoy!

Part 10: Something Like A Soul

Two days later, Sally found a tiny infection in one of Raph's deeper wounds, but she was able to clean it out in a matter of hours. She and Donatello were immensely relieved that Raph had otherwise avoided any greater infections or complications thus far – it meant they could begin preparing to fit him with a cover to protect his healing, weakened shell.

"When will he wake up?" Leo asked when everyone gathered outside the doors to the room that was filled with equipment and the sound of Raph breathing. Master Splinter and Heero were taking a shift in the room now that Sally had chased Don out to sleep again.

"Right now, we're not keeping him medically sedated." Sally ran a hand over her brow. "Whatever Quatre did to him, it's more than sufficient to keep him under. I recommend we keep him that way for at least a few more days." She smiled tiredly. "Honestly, he's healing at a remarkable rate."

"Donatello had suggested the turtles all have advanced recuperative abilities," Wufei said.

She nodded. "If Raphael were human, he'd be in bed for weeks before he could even think about sitting up. At this rate, he may be on his feet and ready for physical therapy within a month."

"So when are you going to wake him up?" Mikey turned to Quatre with the question.

Quatre glanced to Sally. "I think after we fit him for the shell cover. That process could be very painful. We don't want to stress him unnecessarily."

"He'd want to be awake for it, though," Leo said. "He would want to have some say over it."

"Okay, then. Compromise. Wake him up before the fitting, but put him back under for the actual process," Sally suggested. Then she put a hand on Quatre's shoulder. "I wish I could have you around for all my emergency surgeries. The fact that we haven't had to flood his body with suppressants means he's not trying to fight infection and injury as well as drugs. It's a lot easier on his system."

Quatre shrugged wordlessly. A minute or two later he excused himself to see to something vague.

Sally also excused herself. "I'm going to get back in there and take a few more measurements for the shield. I want it to be precise down to the micrometer if I can."

Leo and Mikey stared slightly awkwardly at Duo, Trowa, and Wufei. In the immediate aftermath of the battle and Raph's injury, the turtles had been happy to work with the Gundams. But two days of tension and silence and fear had almost reduced them to near-strangerhood again.

"Come on," Duo said suddenly. "Let's see if we can talk Rashid into ordering us something for dinner that isn't all veggies this time."

Mikey brightened. "I could really go for a pizza right now."

Duo smiled. "Meat-lover's?"

"With emphasis on the sausage and beef!"

Duo started to stride away, planning an increasingly elaborate pizza order with Michelangelo. They were just at the stairway access when Leo called after them, "Be careful, Mikey."

Mikey waved at him irritably and rolled his eyes, pulling the door closed before Leo could say anything else.

"Rashid will not harm your brother," Wufei said. "He is worthy of trust. Hasn't he proven that so far?"

Leo looked away with a scowl.

It was Trowa who said, "You don't trust us. That's why you don't trust Rashid."

Leonardo really didn't want to have this conversation, and even less did he want to have it right outside Raphael's sickroom within range of his father's legendary hearing. He stalked towards the other hallway, gesturing impatiently for Wufei and Trowa to follow. Down a flight of stairs and a few corridors over he led them to one of the building's big cafeterias. With two days of nothing to do in a huge, empty building, Leo and Mikey had shoved all the tables and chairs to one side to make a nice clear place to work off steam.

"Let's get one thing straight," Leo said as soon as the doors were closed. "Whether or not I trust you doesn't matter compared to what you all are doing for Raph. Okay? My feelings don't matter if it means he's okay."

Trowa smiled at him knowingly. "No. Your feelings matter even more because of what we are doing for your brother. You could hate us if we weren't responsible for saving his life."

"You are not without reason," Wufei told him, crossing his arms. "We misled you more than once, kept certain truths from you, and in the end we drugged you and your brothers to commit an act you deem dishonorable."

Leo considered challenging Wufei to a hand-to-hand duel right then and there – he certainly could use something else to think about. But he owed the Gundams too much not to answer, so he said, "It was dishonorable."

"Maybe." Wufei shrugged. "But that doesn't mean we were wrong to try to execute her."

Leo's anger swept through him. "Killing her is unnecessary! Unless it's in the heat of a battle and she goes down fairly, you can't just take her out like that. It's wrong!"

Wufei's expression went remote and cold. "Let me tell you about wrong, Hamato Leonardo." His black eyes burned into Leo's. "Wrong is people dying in battles that never should have begun. Wrong is an entire colony of people choosing to self-destruct rather than bend to an unjust authority. Wrong is good soldiers murdering one another because they are on different sides of a war."

Trowa stepped tight to Wufei's side. "Like it or not, Karai is a danger to your world. She is driven by vengeance and a loyalty to someone who would burn every living thing on Earth to ashes given the chance. And whether killing her is dishonorable or not, letting her live to do that is unacceptable."

"Your war with the Shredder was a small battle of tiny forces." Wufei's voice was sharp. "Your world has already faced an alien invasion and a demonic one. And yet you are too kind to see that for as long as Karai lives, you risk another war on that scale."

"Expediency is not always honorable or fair," Trowa said quietly, "but to protect the innocent, it may be necessary."

"That is the decision we made, the five of us, in order to survive our own wars," Wufei finished. "We will sacrifice our own honor and our feelings if that it what it takes to prevent good people from the horrors of war." He finally looked away. "How many children would learn to fight, to kill and die, if we did not eliminate the threats to them? How many families would rather pass into death than fall into the hands of madmen and dictators?"

"But Karai is..." Leo began.

"The fact that you have feelings for her does not make her any less of a threat!" Wufei shouted, his face curling into a sneer which melted quickly. "You are kind to want to spare her life. We understand that." He took a deep breath. "I killed a good man once, too. A man who was wrong about many things but who was honorable. Who spared me when I did not deserve it. Who revered life and honor and humanity. And I killed him."

And finally Leonardo understood. His voice fell to a rough whisper. "It's not that you don't think Karai could be changed. It's that...you won't risk being wrong. You won't risk her endangering people if you fail. That's why you wanted Quatre to read her before you killed her. To be as sure as possible."

Trowa nodded. "And he's still not sure. Even now, he's not sure. It's the reason she's still alive."

"He has some kind of idea," Wufei said. "We don't know what. He won't tell us. But he has a plan, a last try before we take her life." He finally looked up into Leo's eyes again. "If he fails, can you finally understand why we will kill her? Even though it's dishonorable? Because to let her threaten your world is far, far worse."

Leo nodded shakily. "We eliminated the Shredder. Twice. Two different Shredders. For that very reason. I just...Karai's always been different to me."

"And that," came Donnie's voice as he entered the room, "is what Raph's been trying to tell you. That she's different to you, but she might not be different enough."

Leo turned to his brother. "I know. I've always known that. I just..." He gulped. "I hate it."

"Because you see yourself in her," Don said. He approached slowly and put an arm around Leo's shoulders. "You don't want to see it in her because you don't want to admit it's in you, too."

Leo couldn't look at the knowing Gundam pilots so he turned his face to his brother's plastron. "She and I...we've always been so alike. Dedicated to our duty. Our family."

"But you chose honor, Leo." Don spoke softly and tightened his grip. "You've always chosen honor. You chose to protect people, no matter what. And you would never choose anything else."

"Are you...can you be so sure?"

"Dude." Don huffed a laugh and nudged him. "Take it as a scientific certainty."

Leo sighed. "Isn't that giving me too much credit?"

"That, at least," Wufei's tone was oddly warm, "is a battle we share. Honor is a sword that cuts both ways, and fear that you might lose your way upon its path is reasonable, even noble. But whether or not you suffer fear or doubt, there is no justice if you allow a sword to strike the innocent when you stand as their shield."

"And that's why you wanted to keep us away," Leo said quietly. "So I could keep my honor, not have to reconcile myself with Karai. Not be faced with the choice." He huffed and smiled slightly. "You were trying to be kind to me and I messed it up."

"To be fair," Trowa said, "if you hadn't been there, Ultimate Drako might have killed us all. So we've forgiven you."

Leo heard the wry humor behind the words and nodded. Then he turned to Wufei and bowed low. "I understand better now. I'm...I'm sorry, but I still don't want her to die. But if you have to kill her, if you have to save my world and my family that way...I understand."

"Excellent," Donnie said, grinning when Leo rose. "Raph will be thrilled to hear it."

-==OOO==-

Over the course of the next ten days, Raph was more awake than asleep to the great relief of his family. He was extra cranky, way beyond his usual gruff irritation with being bedridden after an injury, which his family – and Quatre, probably – understood to be based in his real fear about the extent of the damage to his body. But as the days continued and the swelling around his various wounds retreated, he regained more and more feeling in his extremities. What had begun as a concern about paralysis ended with great consternation from all sides about how soon Raph wanted to be up and moving around again.

The forging of Raph's shell shield ended up taking many hands – not because it required input, but because it seemed everyone wanted to have a part in it. Quatre had arranged for a small supply of Gundanium to be made available, and with the skill of those who had built and rebuilt their own Gundams more than once, the five of them took turns carefully shaping it; they did not invite the Maganacs to participate, quietly agreeing that this was meant only for themselves. Leonardo and Michelangelo and Donatello also added their opinions about how it would be most comfortable for Raph to carry, and Don himself crafted the harness that would hold it on. Master Splinter went over every square inch of it every day with his most critical eye for any possible imperfections.

When it was done, it was a shining piece so dark green it could be confused for black, form fitted to Raph's damaged shell as if poured over it.

"So," Mikey asked as they brought it to Raph for one final inspection before its first fitting, "since it's made of Gundanium, does this make him an honorary Gundam?"

He meant it as a joke, but the five Gundams exchanged glances. Finally, Heero looked up and nodded once, sharply. "He would have died for our sake."

"Wow." Sally smirked. "I fought in the wars with these guys and they've never said anything that nice about me."

Wufei rolled his eyes and said something rude under his breath in Chinese which made her laugh.

"So." Raph looked up eagerly from the hospital bed he had hated since the second minute he had been awake in it. "How soon do I get to put that thing on and start kicking shell as again?" He'd progressed to sitting up on his own.

Splinter pinned him with a look. "When you can stand without assistance, only then will we begin to help you recover your strength."

Raph was ready to grumble, but he caught a fierce glare levied his way by almost everyone in the room and settled back with an aggrieved sigh.

Of course, Don knew and Leo knew (which meant Mikey and Master Splinter probably also knew because Leo was awful at keeping secrets), and Quatre knew (which meant the Gundams all knew too), that Raph had been trying to get out of bed for the last two days – and twice had had to be hauled back into bed when he collapsed and couldn't pull himself up without help. Nobody was surprised, of course. Actually, the only person who probably didn't know about his ill-advised attempts was Doctor Po.

Raph figured if he could get up by himself before she figured it out, he would be spared at least one lecture. But probably only that one.

Quatre's head shot up unexpectedly and an instant later a loud alarm began to sound.

"What is it?" Leo asked, drawing his swords instinctively.

Quatre sprinted to the intercom on the nearest wall and hit the button. "Rashid! What's going on?"

"Master Quatre, the satellite system you left running has identified the woman called Karai. She is here on L1."

"And if Karai is here," Wufei began.

"Ultimate Drako can't be far behind," Don finished.

"What are we gonna do?" Mikey asked, fingers gripping the batons of his nunchaku nervously.

"Karai and Ultimate Drako have come to our world," Heero said, his voice going cold and his eyes burning. "They will not be permitted to harm the Earth or the colonies."

"But what can we do against them?" Duo wanted to know. "We can't drop a Gundam on them this time."

"We've been working on that," Quatre said, exchanging a glance with Donatello. "We've got, well, less a plan and more generally an idea."

"Quatre, your ideas are better than most people's well-thought-out strategies," Heero said impatiently. "What are your orders?"

Don looked to his brothers and then caught Quatre's eye. "It's all we can do," he said. He was proud that his voice didn't shake at all when he said it.

Quatre nodded. "We fight them with the only weapons we have. Swords and guns will not save us from the Time Scepter, but that's not what we're planning on using."

"Quatre," Trowa growled, not liking one bit what he was getting through their connection. "What aren't you telling us?"

"You all can handle Karai. It's Ultimate Drako who is the problem. And to combat it, we have to use the only tools strong enough to withstand his powers." Quatre sighed and closed his eyes. "I have my empathy and Donatello has his interdimensional portal stick. And if we combine those things with ZERO, we might just stand a chance."

After the initial silence that met Quatre's pronouncement, Trowa seized Quatre's hand and physically pulled him out the door. Quatre made no attempt to resist and allowed himself to be led around the corner and away from the others.

"Quatre," Trowa breathed his name. He was almost vibrating with tension.

"I know, love," Quatre said, squeezing the hand that gripped his. "I know, but I…"

"No, Quatre." Trowa's eyes fell closed. Using their linked hands, he maneuvered Quatre until the blond's back was to the wall where Trowa could press them together. Trowa bent his head and rested his forehead against Quatre's. With their bodies aligned, there was no room for doubt or hiding from within their connection. "Tell me the truth."

"Trowa…" Quatre's voice was a whisper but his heart was thudding in his chest.

Trowa said nothing for a moment, letting his emotions speak for him. He was usually content to remain in the background, to watch over Quatre and care for him but to stand aside when it was the Arab's time to shine – be it in battle or a boardroom. Trowa had no objection to being Quatre's silent shadow in the eyes of any who weren't clever enough to see the truth. But that silence, while maintained in hostile territory or to preserve a façade, was only that – a façade. Between them, Trowa might be patient enough to wait for Quatre to be honest, but he would never allow his husband to keep secrets of any magnitude forever. Especially not when there was so much Trowa could tell Quatre had not been saying in the last two weeks.

Under that insistent, loving need to understand, Quatre buckled. "All right, Trowa. What do you want to know?"

"Start with this plan about ZERO and work out from there."

Quatre sighed, his breath ruffling their entwined hair. "Ultimate Drako doesn't have any innate power according to Donatello and Master Splinter. All his magic comes from the Time Scepter. If we can get it away from him, or break his control over it, we'll be able to defeat him. And the portal stick seems like the right instrument to do that."

"Then why not just aim the portal stick at the Scepter and take it out?" Trowa asked. "Why do you need to be involved with ZERO again?"

"There's no guarantee something like that would work."

"Isn't it worth trying? Before you go back into that system?"

Quatre sighed and shook his head.

"When we were in the Nexus, the War Staff reacted to my empathy. I was able to control it, at least a little. Or maybe I asked it for help; that might be closer to the truth. Anyway. We need not just to separate Ultimate Drako from the Scepter – we need keep him from using it against us until we can subdue him. And I might be able to do that by neutralizing the Scepter directly. But…"

"You'd have to interface with the portal stick directly, and ZERO is the means," Trowa finished.

"Exactly."

"I will let you propose your plan without shooting it down right this second under one condition." Trowa nudged the forehead pressed to his own, his voice soft. "You have to tell me what really happened in the Nexus."

Quatre could have prevaricated, but they both knew it would be ultimately useless. While Quatre could communicate with and read each of the Gundams acutely, Trowa could do the same for him because of the intimacy of their connection – particularly when in close physical contact. Quatre might be able to hide a fleeting emotion from his husband, but anything significant would echo across their bond like a siren going off. Even Heero, closer to Quatre's heart than the remaining two, knew something was profoundly disturbing their empath – but only Trowa could truly guess at how deep it ran.

Trowa knew something had shaken Quatre to the core, something that did not let up even weeks later. And whatever it was, Quatre could not prepare for this confrontation with Karai and Ultimate Drako with it coursing through him like acid.

"We don't have time…" Quatre tried, and the poor excuse alarmed Trowa as much as the secrecy had.

"Make time. The others will be preparing what we need already."

Trowa could feel Quatre's defenses give way with an intense release of pressure. The words came, but the emotions in front of them came too, pouring into Trowa from behind the walls Quatre had held so tightly for far too long. Walls that only now Trowa realized were miles thick to be concealing so much from them all.

"When I touched the War Staff, I saw our future, Trowa. I saw…Allah, Trowa…you can't imagine it. We…we hated each other. All of us. And…we were…what we were doing… Wufei had sworn a blood feud to destroy us all. Duo had lost himself to Shinigami and was going around killing for the joy of it. Heero had murdered Relena and was moving onto anyone she ever came into contact with. And…it was all my fault."

Trowa reeled from it – the feelings were so strong Quatre was practically sending him images. Images of colonies destroyed, of Wufei's hate, Duo's madness, Heero's emptiness.

Wait.

"What happened to us, love?" Trowa whispered as much with his heart as his lips. "Where are we in your vision?"

Quatre's answer left him shaking against Trowa, his heart screaming.

"It was…it was because of me. I…I went insane again. Like ZERO. And you died…you died to kill me. You hated me and you killed me and you died."

And Trowa could feel it. Could feel his own hate, his own desperate desire to kill Quatre, not just to save the innocent from his evil, but because he wanted nothing better than Quatre's blood bathing his hands. Could feel a sick glee at taking Quatre's life and feeding his own to the flames. Could feel himself laughing as he burned in the wreckage of Quatre's body.

Quatre was still talking, the words breaking from him like sobs.

"It was my fault. And our connection. I…I poisoned us all. I don't know how it happened. How it will happen. Allah save me, it's our future, Trowa."

Trowa wrestled himself away from Quatre's panic. "No. I refuse to believe that."

Quatre was cringing away from him, his arms up and holding himself, his shoulders high and curved inward. It was only the strength of Quatre's soul that kept him from collapsing in a breakdown of astronomical proportions.

Trowa understood, then, Quatre's odd distance. His conversation with Donatello on the New York City rooftop, which Heero had recorded and played for Trowa in a quiet moment. His flashes of doubt and shame and sorrow that had come and gone too quickly for Trowa to pin down. His avoidance of all but the most casual of physical contact between them.

Quatre had been, quietly, without dropping more than the slightest hints, trapped in an emotional feedback loop as profound as any of ZERO's hallucinations for weeks.

Trowa grabbed Quatre's shoulders and pulled him into his arms with a strength that bruised. "I refuse to believe it, Quatre. It will not happen."

"You can't know that!"

"Neither can you!"

Trowa's anger surprised them both. It brought Quatre up short, and he actually looked into Trowa's eyes, his own wet and dead – the light in them extinguished by despair he had not allowed himself to acknowledge for fear of spreading it to those who shared his heart.

"Trowa, I saw it!"

Trowa shook his head. "I don't know what you saw, love, but that is not our future. It cannot be."

Quatre's face twisted. "Why not? It's already happened once!"

"Quatre. I am not dead. You did not kill me." He followed the words with a push through their connection, a push of certainty and love and trust. It was a little weak given that he was still being bombarded by the horrors in Quatre's heart. But it broke through.

"No. I know that." Quatre's panic retreated slightly. "But…I'm a danger to you all. More than ever. That evil…it will come from me. I…I will infect you all…and destroy the world and everything we've ever believed in."

"You won't."

"But I –!"

Trowa tightened his arms, squeezing the breath from Quatre. "I don't care what you saw," he whispered fiercely. "I do not believe it."

And suddenly Trowa's mind made a leap. "Quatre. You saw all this while Karai was holding the Staff, didn't you? Karai, who is filled with evil."

Quatre froze.

Trowa pushed on into the momentary gap in Quatre's defenses. "I accept that the War Staff may have the ability to show a potential future. But with the both of you touching it at once, isn't it possible her demonic energy influenced what you saw? Isn't it more likely that evil came from her and not you?"

Trowa adjusted his hold on his husband, embracing him and cradling his head against his shoulder. "And the only reason you didn't think of that yourself was because this is your greatest fear. You never have been rational when it comes to your own guilt. Or us."

Quatre was shaking badly, but the panic in his heart was starting to recede. Trowa could feel it happening, could feel Quatre's brain seizing onto his words and pushing them into his heart, slowly taking control away from fear and putting it back into the hands of his true spirit.

"Quatre," Trowa whispered. "What did you tell Donatello about fearing the future?"

Quatre repeated the words barely enough to be heard. "If I let doubt creep into my decisions, someday I really will kill everything I love."

"Don't let this take you away from me," Trowa pleaded, his own heart aching. "The War Staff…when you were holding it…I felt you slipping away. I finally know why. And I won't let it happen, Quatre. I won't let your fear destroy everything we've created."

Quatre shifted in his arms, finally reaching up to cling just as tightly to Trowa. "Don't let me, Trowa. Please don't let me…"

"I won't," Trowa whispered. "I believe in you."

And Trowa's love, pure and strong and tested and true, poured like sunlight into the dark pain that had bound Quatre for so long. Quatre cried out in relief as warmth banished the ice that had grown where love and trust should be.

I'm afraid of myself.

I'm not afraid of you.

I love you so much. It would kill me to…

But you won't. You won't. It will not happen to any of us.

How can you be so sure?

Because there is no evil in your heart. Even if you see it there, even if you fear it. It's not real.

Then what is it?

Something just as dangerous. Your guilt and uncertainty and doubt. Your terror to become what your worst imagination can devise. But you never will.

You won't let me.

You won't let yourself. And I would wager myself and the others and the Earth and colonies on it. And we would all be safe because you will keep us safe.

I…I will try.

And that is enough. Enough for us all. We trust you. We love you. I love you.

I love you, too.

-==OOO==-

"How is this even gonna work?" Duo asked tensely. "Assuming you can even hook ZERO into that crazy portal-opening-for-no-mechanically-viable-reason flashlight, the closest ZERO is installed in Wing Zero on a different colony."

Don rubbed his beak awkwardly. "Uh, I'm not sure, but I think maybe Quatre downloaded it already?"

Wufei clenched his fists. "Winner…you've gone too far this time."

"What is this ZERO and what the shell is up with you guys?" Raph asked, feeling his chest constrict with something that had nothing to do with his injuries. If the Gundams were this worried…

It was Sally who answered. "ZERO is a computer system used in the wars to enhance a pilot's brainwaves in order to achieve ultimate victory in mobile suit battles. It was installed in several different mobile suits and…" she glanced at Heero and finished with, "for those pilots it didn't drive insane, made them unstoppable."

"Quatre mentioned it once before," Leo said, remembering. "He mentioned something about it before leaving for Foot Headquarters."

"Quatre is one of only four people to be able to use ZERO without losing his mind," Duo said. "And I wouldn't be so sure about the fourth one. She was sorta crazy to start with, though."

"But I don't understand." Sally looked to Wufei. "How could Quatre get ZERO here?"

"Horus," Wufei said. "Winner must have copied the program into the Horus network during the events of the Surd attack. Just in case he ever wanted to use it again."

"So…how come it's such a bad idea?" Mikey wanted to know. "'Cause it kinda sounds like a great plan to me. If this thing makes him kick shell more than usual, I mean."

The three remaining Gundams looked away and refused to answer.

Splinter coughed delicately. "We may not have time to argue the merits of this plan. Circumstances are moving quickly and we must move with them."

"He's right," Leo said. "Karai's already here. Ultimate Drako can't be far behind. We've got to be ready."

Suddenly Heero shot a look to Wufei and Duo and abruptly banged out the door after Trowa and Quatre.

Wufei spoke before anyone could ask. "Let us focus on a different problem. Even if this portal stick of yours can do something to Time Scepter, how will we stop Ultimate Drako and Karai themselves from doing great harm to the colony?"

"The Time Scepter is Drako's only source of power," Don said. "Take it away and he's still big and strong and a good fighter, but that's all the magic he has going for him."

"And what about Karai's little light trick?" Raph asked. "She's still got all that demonic stuff floating around inside her."

"Leave Karai's evil to me," Splinter said. As the others all looked at him, he sighed solemnly. "It was I who taught her to absorb such energies. I never realized they would remain within her and pose a later danger to one sensitive to them. It is my responsibility to remove them."

Wufei nodded to him. "Yes, it is." Belatedly, he added, "Splinter-laoshi."

"So, basically," Leo turned back to Don, "if Splinter takes away Karai's demonic stuff – which, by the way, only seems to hurt Quatre for now but who knows what else she could do with it? – and you and he can handle the Time Scepter with the portal stick and that ZERO thing they're talking about, that leaves the rest of us to take Karai and Ultimate Drako down directly."

"Not all of us." Duo shook his head. "One of us has to stay with him." He pointed at Raph.

Wufei nodded. "Maxwell is correct. We gave our word to defend him."

"I don't think so, bub!" Raph's anger had lost no sharpness with his injury. "I ain't keeping anybody behind to babysit me. You guys are putting me in that thing," he jabbed a finger at the shell shield, "and I am comin' with you!"

Almost every voice in the room became raised in objection in a cacophony of shouting. But Raph ignored them all and swung his legs to the ground, pushing himself off the bed. He wobbled for an instant, but drew himself upright with a stubborn effort.

Suddenly Sally was in front of him, looking into his eyes carefully. Her silent inspection stopped the other objections.

"What do you say, doc?" Raph asked. "Give me something to keep me from feeling every step and I'll be fine. Just let me out of here this once and then I'll lie around and be lazy for a whole month if you want."

"It's not a good idea," Sally said. "But I don't think I can stop you." She sighed. "Duo, how long was it between when Heero self-destructed and when he fought Zechs in Antarctica?"

"Six weeks, I think," Duo answered.

"You've only had two." Sally looked at Raph critically. "On the other hand, you heal even quicker than Heero does. And you've had actual medical care, not just lounging about on somebody's couch for a month hoping the body would knit itself back together."

Duo leaped to Trowa's defense in his absence. "Hey, Trowa gave him soup!"

"I'm underwhelmed." Sally rolled her eyes at him before returning her gaze to Raphael. "Here's the truth. You can obviously stand. The shield is light enough for you to carry, and it will actually hold your shell together better than the bandages you've got on now. Because of the nature of your body's structure, there is less possibility for you to bend or twist in such a way that you will break open the sealant I put inside you to hold you together than if you were human."

"But?" Leo asked.

"But there's still a chance you'll move wrong, or just extend something too far, and then you'd be bleeding internally again. And your inframarginal scutes are still weakened. If you got crushed again, they might collapse. Then we wouldn't just be looking at bleeding – your organs themselves could be smashed between your shell and your plastron if those scutes give way."

"Raph." Don held out his hands. "It's just not a good idea. We barely saved you last time."

Raphael turned to Dontello and his face softened. "Donnie, I know that. I know I'm lucky as shell to be alive right now, and I know it's because of you that we ever got here for the doc to do her magic. I'm not throwin' that away now."

But he looked up and met Sally's eyes unflinchingly. "And I'm also not sending my family in to handle that pair of whack-jobs without me. Even if I don't throw a single punch, I have to be there."

"Raphael." Master Splinter's voice hit the air like a blow. Sally stepped aside for the rat to face his son.

"Sensei." Raph tried to face him squarely. He knew he would only get one shot at this.

"Your forbearance and loyalty do you great honor, my son." Splinter looked at him critically. "If I ask you to give me a vow, will you uphold it?"

"Yes, Master Splinter."

Splinter nodded. "I fear for your well-being as well, my son. But my heart tells me I cannot ask you to remain behind when we face such danger. So I offer you this compromise – and you will abide by it or you will remain here sedated and under guard. Do you understand me, Hamato Raphael?"

Raph nodded. "Yes, sensei."

"Then you may accompany us. You will never stray more than the length of my tail from my side, however. And while I battle the demon within Karai, you will stand watch over me. No matter the plight of your brothers, you will remain at my side."

Leo could understand his father's reasoning. With Raph within reach of Master Splinter at all times, not only would he not be able to get into the thick of the battle unless it went so badly it didn't matter if they were risking lives anymore, but Master Splinter would also be able to defend Raph if he were unable to do so himself. It would be torture for Raph to watch his brothers fight Ultimate Drako and Karai without leaping to help, but at least he would be in the safest place on the battlefield they could design.

Raph bowed his head. "I give you my word, father. I will not let you down."

Splinter nodded sharply. "I trust in that, my son." He turned to Sally. "Doctor Po, if you would be so kind as to fit my son with his armor, we have much work to do."

-==OOO==-

In the hallway, Heero listened with half an ear to the conversation he had abandoned, but most of his attention was forward on Quatre and Trowa. He hadn't quite been forced to Quatre's side to stop whatever that pain and fear was that burned and scraped at his soul through their connection – but it was a nearer thing than any of his brushes with death in either Eve war. That was why he was there in the hall, ready to step in if Trowa faltered, ready to face down those inner evils plaguing Quatre himself if it would save him.

And it wasn't because he knew he needed Quatre clear-headed and strong to win this battle.

I would fight to the death to defend this colony from any enemies, including Karai and Ultimate Drako…but I do not want to know if I would watch the colony burn to save Quatre.

-==OOO==-

Within fifteen minutes of fitting Raphael into the Gundanium shield, he was down in the cafeteria with Master Splinter and Michelangelo, carefully working through a few moves to check his stamina and mobility. Wufei and Sally had vanished to put in a call to Preventers – they needed to evacuate as many people as possible from the colony nodule. Duo had run off to find Rashid and brief the Maganacs on what they might be facing if they joined the fight against Ultimate Drako and to get more eyes on the problem.

Which left Leonardo standing over Don's shoulder, watching him fidget with the portal stick.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Leo finally asked.

Don looked up at him, face creased. "No! Of course I'm not sure this is going to work!"

Leo took a step back in surprise. "Donnie…"

Donatello sighed. "Look. Obviously we can at least drive Ultimate Drako away because he already showed up in the lair once before. But…I have no idea how this ends for anybody but us."

"Anybody but us?" Leo asked.

"When Drako showed up in the lair, he didn't say anything about having already defeated us. And, believe me, if he'd killed even one of us in his past but our future, you can bet he'd tell us all about it. And if he'd killed all of us here in the future, he wouldn't have bothered to go back to the past." Don had a private fear about that, but he continued anyway, "He didn't mention this fight at all. Which I think means it doesn't go well for him. So I think the five of us must get out okay."

Leo nodded, suddenly understanding. "But there's no telling what happens to our Gundam friends or to their world."

"Exactly. Just because he didn't mention it doesn't mean they come through this okay. And if this ZERO program fries Quatre's brain and the portal stick or something, he might not even have noticed." Don closed his eyes.

Leo patted his shoulder. "You can do this. I know you can. You always pull through for us."

"Yeah." Don grunted, sounding suspiciously like a grumpy Raph.

Leo's eyes narrowed. "Don't you trust yourself?"

"Honestly? Right now? Not really." Don shook his head. "And I kind of wish you didn't, either."

"Well, I do trust you. I'm trusting you to be there when we need you and to do what you do to help us get through. Just like you trust me to do the same." Leo's voice was soft but firm. "Continue to trust me, Don. Even if you can't trust yourself. Trust me to know that I can rely on you for all our sakes."

Donatello sighed and opened his eyes. "I'll try, Leo."

Leo smiled at him. "That's good enough for me, bro. It always has been."

-==OOO==-

Sally was coordinating with Preventers to get the colony evacuated to the rest of the L1 cluster when Wufei, who had been monitoring Horus, swore and leaped to his feet.

Sally turned. "What is it?"

"We have no more time to delay." Wufei's eyes were narrowed with what Sally recognized as barely-controlled rage. "Karai has penetrated the secure areas around the power supply for L1."

"How did she get there? How did she even know to go there?" Sally wanted to know.

"Ten minutes ago, she vanished into an area that is still under construction. The colony's plans would have been made available to them to ensure the workers did not disrupt the power supply." His scowl darkened. "I also fear there may be casualties on the site – no one has emerged since she entered."

"The colony isn't even halfway evacuated yet," Sally said. "It'll be another hour to get the rest of the people to safety."

"It doesn't matter." Wufei shook his head. "From the main power station, Karai can trigger a detonation. L1 is one of the tightest clusters. If she self-destructs this entire colony, it may trigger a chain-reaction to the nearby neighbor colonies."

"How much time do we have?" Sally was on her feet.

"I estimate she can initiate the sequence within thirty minutes. We must stop her."

Wufei hit the button for the intercom to the rest of the building. "This is Chang. We must go after Karai now. Drop whatever you are doing this instant. I will be leaving the building in ninety seconds. If you are not with me, find your own way." He flicked the intercom off.

Wufei turned and strode through the door, Sally following him. The Maganacs were scrambling to assemble, shouting to one another in the hallways in which they had taken up residence – a few floors from where the turtles had spent most of their time, but close enough to help in an emergency.

"What are we going to do?" Sally asked.

Wufei shook his head, increasing his speed to the nearest elevator. "It doesn't matter. Either we will have a plan for that monster when he arrives or we will not, but even if it means we go in blind, we have to go now."

"Yeah, I know that." Sally jogged to keep up with him. "But what are we going to do?"

The elevator opened, revealing Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. Quatre's face was as pale as Wufei had ever seen, but his eyes were diamond-hard. He raised his chin and spoke with a ringing authority.

"We're going to stop Karai and save the colony by any means necessary."

Heero finished. "Mission accepted."

On the ground floor, Duo came running with the turtles and Master Splinter in his wake. The Maganacs were spilling out of the stairwells and other elevators as well. The turtles froze for an instant as dozens of strangers turned to them, but Quatre and Rashid had briefed them upon arrival and the Maganacs had a lot more on their minds than mutant turtles. One or two might have stared for a moment, but most were too busy worrying about the situation.

Besides, their Master Quatre had given orders to protect and respect the turtles, and there wasn't a Maganac alive who would ever disobey him in anything – other than an order to abandon him to death, of course.

Rashid was bellowing orders, sending men to their transports at top speed to set off for the main power terminal.

"You should evacuate, too," Quatre said, sprinting at his side. "You and the others should clear out safely and take as many civilians with you as you can."

"No, Master Quatre." Rashid never even broke stride. "You are here, and we will stay with you until the end. Besides, we cannot save nearly enough lives if we flee. We may save more if we help."

Quatre nodded sharply, too busy to express his gratitude. Instead, he darted to the head of the column and raised a hand. The Maganacs fell silent to a man.

"You all know where the power terminal is. Get there by any means necessary. Karai may not be alone. If you see the creature known as Ultimate Drako, don't engage unless you have no choice. Your priority is to secure the safety of the colony. If you can, leave Karai and Drako to us."

"Yes, Master Quatre!" came the resounding response.

Quatre gestured to the Gundams and turtles. "Come with me. I had this brought in, just in case." He turned down a corridor and made for a different door than the main one where Rashid was funneling his people. Quatre hit a stairwell and hopped the railing, dropping to the landing below. Everyone, even Sally Po, followed easily. Around one more corner, Quatre led the group to an underground parking garage.

Sally stopped as soon as she saw what they were approaching hidden back in the shadows. "Quatre, is that…a mobile armor unit?"

"No." Quatre shook his head. "It's a personal conveyance. On paper, anyway."

But it certainly looked more like one of the underwater Cancer Mobile Suits than anything else. It was a sort of hybrid between a jet and a mobile armor, capable of atmospheric or space flight. It didn't have any obvious weapons on it, but it was solid and clearly built with the same precision and defensive technology as the Gundams Sally knew all too well.

"From what Wufei said was Karai's last known position, we have approximately eight minutes to get ahead of her," Trowa said. "This is the fastest means to do that."

"Even we can't get all the way across the colony to the power station in eight minutes, no matter how fast that thing is." Sally shook her head.

"If Duo pilots, we can," Heero said.

Sally winced. "God help me, you're right."

Duo grinned manically and doubled his speed, heading for the hatch that was opening at their approach. The turtles and Master Splinter followed into the strange vehicle, crowding around Raph protectively. He hadn't made a sound on the entire run, but his face was tight with pain and he was sweating slightly.

Wufei swung to a stop right in front of Sally, almost so close she would have run into him if Trowa hadn't seized her arm. "You will stay here."

"Not a chance!"

"No choice," Trowa told her. "You're a Preventers agent. There are some laws you can't break."

She glared at them both. "And you can?"

It was Heero who gave her a flat look as he went by. "It doesn't matter for us."

Sally opened her mouth to object, but stopped – there was nothing she could say. He was right, even if that wasn't technically how the law supposedly worked. All five of the former Gundam pilots were Preventers agents, theoretically held to the same laws and regulations that bound all other agents. But on the other hand, there was nobody who could tell the Gundams what to do or what not to do. If a situation required them to break laws, they would do it without hesitation. They always had. And no one outside of Lady Une really ever knew everything they did or why they did it (and sometimes even she didn't find out until long after). The Gundams had received amnesty after the wars for their actions from the ESUN, and Lady Une had continued to provide it while as part of Preventers by the cunning tactic of simply not stopping them from doing what needed to be done.

"Continue to evacuate the colony," Wufei ordered. "We will contact you if we need further assistance."

And then he was gone and the doors of the personal conveyance closed. Sally could clearly see Duo in the cockpit through the windshield and she sighed. I hope Raphael takes it easy. I wonder if those sealant sutures can handle however many Gs Duo's about to pull.

With Duo piloting and the state of emergency declared, the craft flew through the colony as though it were the Earth's sky, screaming above buildings and narrowly avoiding environmental controls. Wufei and Heero flanked Duo at the pilot seat, feeding him information about where exactly they thought Karai had gone. Duo, to his credit, didn't need more than that for directions; he had a habit of memorizing things when he got bored and had nothing to build with – he'd started on the layouts of various colonies back during the wars and already knew this particular L1 colony by heart. Trowa wanted to be beside Quatre, feeling something in their connection he still didn't like, but Quatre had ordered him to stay in contact with Rashid to coordinate their efforts. And the turtles and Master Splinter were mostly hanging on for dear life. Duo was not a nice pilot when he was in a hurry.

In the back corner, Quatre reached into the bag he'd grabbed as soon as he and Trowa had emerged from their moment in the hallway together. His goggles had been perched on his head, but he slipped them down slowly, regretfully, to hang around his neck. With a deep, steadying breath, Quatre drew forth the small circlet he'd made. Much less cumbersome than a full cockpit or even a simulator and helmet, once he'd uploaded a version of ZERO into Horus he had condensed the mechanical needs of the system and keyed them to his specific brainwaves.

I remember the Doctors testing me after that first flight in Wing Zero, he thought to himself as his fingers flew over the tiny controls. They said then that my brainwaves hadn't been changed. But by the time I used it to lead the Gundams, there was no going back. I wonder what they would think if they were alive to see the results of my scans now. Quatre was glad they were not alive – he was sure if they could see him pulling on the metal circlet of neural transmitters and other miniaturized hardware, whatever they would have said would not have been flattering.

Then, invisibly, using the bulk of the turtles and everyone's distraction, he slid a flesh-colored wire from the headpiece over an ear and down his collar, threading it inside his shirt-sleeve where he could plug it into the watch that was the most secret Horus module of them all. ZERO was too big a program to run on even the best tiny computer – Quatre would need the full power of Horus to help him this time.

The last piece was a specialized visor that went over his eyes and snapped to the circlet above his ears, affixing the whole thing in place (and further concealing the cord to Horus). This would give him not only a visual output of ZERO's calculations, but also direct access to Horus's surveillance. The click of the visor as it locked into the ZERO circlet and the flashing words "System Ready" it displayed made the pit of Quatre's stomach churn.

I can do this. I have to do this.

Then he picked his way through the bouncing craft to where Donatello had taken shelter against a bulkhead and was making some final modifications to the portal stick.

"I'm ready," Quatre said.

Don looked up. "You want to hook it up right now?"

"There's no telling where or when Ultimate Drako will be. We need to be ready."

Donnie could only nod. He was right. "Okay. I'll let you hook it up. And as soon as you boot up your crazy program, I'm sticking to you like glue."

Quatre smiled, though it was more of a grimace. "Thanks. But it's not necessary." Either this will work or ZERO will fry my brain. Whichever happens, there won't be anything anyone can do to save me.

But it's either this, or there won't be anything anyone can do to save this colony and everyone on it.