Title: Strength of Heart

Author: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Eventual Yaoi, Action, Adventure

Pairings: 1x4

Status: Work in progress (part 10)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun. Like that wasn't obvious. Still.

Nother long talky chapter, but some cool stuff as we go. Hope you like it!! Please let me know if you see anything huge like plot holes. I have the previous chapters from 6 to 9 beta'd but I have yet to post the corrections. I'll be working on that next.

So many happy and grateful thank yous to my wonderful Beta reader, Kasra. You are so wonderful to keep doing this even with your busy busy life.

Thank you as usual to all those of you who stick with me through everything. I hope that this meets your expectations and story wants. Really, you don't know how much your continued reading and feedback means to me.


"This is insane. I mean okay we knew something was up but mind control?"

Heero was seated at one of the computer screens, typing as they talked, pulling up data while storing it on the highest capacity movable drives available.

"Hey Howard," he said, not even breaking from his work on the computer. "Did you ever hear of a project called the ELF-MOC Initiative?"

Howard nodded. "Sure I do. I'm surprised you would even know about it. It was top secret, but highly controversial at the time."

Duo snorted. "Howard, you should know by now. Nothing is top secret to Heero Yui. You should see the things he's been able to get from government data stores."

"I see," Howard said, impressed. "Well it was a long time ago, but the project was eventually canned after someone was caught using it on prisoners. But they used the same technology for other advances, mostly medical."

"And the Zero system."

"Right," Howard acknowledged.

"Oh no, that system again," Duo sighed. "So what was it," He asked reluctantly. He really hated anything to do with ZERO with a passion. The fact that Heero and Quatre were able to control it both impressed him and worried him. He viewed the system with nothing but revulsion.

Heero turned the screen toward them both.

"An old program called HAARP started it. Radio frequencies that were created to manipulate weather patterns was eventually tested on the human brain. It was created by the military in the hopes of being able to attack large populations of people from far away and change their thought patterns. It was eventually classified with chemical warfare, and only advanced slowly. Eventually, they wanted to use it for mind control. ELF-MOC was the hybrid attempt."

"Right. They wanted to use it to control soldiers. They wanted to remove any compassion the soldier might feel and allow them to follow orders completely while removing any responsibility the soldier would have for war crimes. Extremely low frequency is what Zero uses to feed information directly to the pilot's brain."

Duo grimaced, and he didn't miss the look of distaste on the faces of the others.

"They wanted to control the soldiers?" Duo said. "There's a shocker."

"Yeah," Heero said. "But they had to abandon it. The program was expensive and they started testing it on humans before it was approved. The outrage it caused shut the program down for good. They never picked back up. They might have been able to continue it if they hadn't been hasty. Ultimately they were looking for emotionless soldiers."

Duo watched Heero closely, but the boy merely twitched and glared at him when he felt violet eyes scrutinizing him.

"As far as we know," Howard finished. "Obviously Zero was still being pursued by some of the top military scientists, but if if the mind control program was continued, it was hidden."

"There were a few attempts in various countries that were discovered, but they were all quickly snuffed out before they got far." Heero confirmed.

"So what does it stand for? ELF-MOC."

"Extreme Low Frequency Military Ops Conformance."

"So you think that's what they tried to do to Quatre?"

"That's my best guess." Heero said quietly, and Duo could see Heero's eyes pinch momentarily with worry. It was almost imperceptible, but he had spent enough time with the boy now, both undercover and in school to notice these things. It took a practiced eye to be sure.

"The question is, did they go after him because he's a Gundam Pilot? Or because he's the Winner heir?" Howard asked, drawing them both back to the conversation at hand.

"If it was the former, they sure did a lousy job." Duo pointed out.

"Duo's right. If they had known he was a pilot, they would have been far more cautious. He would have been locked up and heavily guarded. The fact that he escaped with such ease, means they probably weren't expecting him to fight back."

"Who would? Quatre looks about as dangerous as a kitten," Duo's eyes sparkled, as he saw a glint of amusement in Heero's returning gaze.

"But why? And who?" Howard added, expecting no answer.

Heero rose, heading for the door.

"I'm going to check on Quatre."

"No need," a weak voice said entering the room. Quatre supported himself against the doorway. He was pale and sweaty, but seemed at least to be more lucid than he had been.

"Quatre," Duo stood. "Are you okay?"

Quatre shook his head, a shaky hand going to support it. "Not really."

"You should rest," Heero said quietly. He caught Quatre's arm and guided him to a chair.

"I tried," Quatre said quietly, not needing to verify that it hadn't worked. "We'll need to leave here soon." Quatre said with a certainty that concerned Heero. "Have you talked to Rashid?"

"He knows what happened, but he's waiting for us before he leaves." Heero said. "He wants to come here. He's worried."

Quatre shook his head, slowly, wincing at the movement. "He can't right now. He needs to stay with the Gundams. We can't risk too much movement from that base right now."

"Quatre, did you hear anything? Did they give you any information?"

"No," Quatre sighed. "They didn't say anything. But Dr. Ansari told me... that I would understand. He's always been very compassionate, and he would be against something like this. He couldn't have been doing what he was doing of his own free will... I think. He felt... strange. I didn't notice it because when people are preoccupied or worried, that's how they feel. I try not to pry."

"So they were controlling him too," Duo said. "Whoever they were."

"It would make sense that they would go after him though," Heero said. "Dr. Ansari is a highly connected doctor. I've checked his history. He has connections with government, health officials and the extremely wealthy."

"Including Quatre."

"Right," Heero looked at the blond with concern. He was staring at the table wearily. He obviously didn't want to deal with any of this, but they had no choice.

"So what is the plan?" Duo asked. "They'll come after Quatre again. He can't stay here."

"No. We'll have to leave," Quatre agreed. "I have a few options that are funded outside of WEI at this point. i don't want anyone tracing us through my family."

"Trowa is on his way, Quatre. We can leave as soon as he gets here. It should be a couple of hours. If we need to go sooner, he's ready to meet us where we ask."

"Okay. We'll need to get all of you access to some of my accounts in case we get split up." He pressed his hands against the table shakily and moved to get up.

"Quatre. Just give me the information. I'll do the work."

Quatre was about to protest, but instead, nodded gratefully and sat back down.

"Okay," Duo said. "But where do we go?"

"L2," Quatre said. "It's easier to disappear and they'd be less likely to look for me there." Quatre said with certainty.

"Yeah. Who would look for a rich boy in my digs?" Duo said. Quatre looked at him with alarm, and apology already on his lips, but Duo grinned, waving his hands to let him know there was no personal offense taken.

"We still have to figure out who's doing it. Where did this start? How widespread is it? And why?"

"We have to stop research from here. We can't do anything until we're off the radar."

"Or maybe," Duo edged, "We should tell the proper authorities and let someone else handle it for once?"

At 3 identical looks, Duo sighed and put a hand on his neck. "Yeah I thought not. Why does this stuff always fall to us again?"

"Duo," Quatre said quietly. "I hate to say it but what I felt with Dr. Ansari? I think I felt it with Noin too."

"Quatre, are you sure?" Heero asked.

"No. But it wasn't just that she was lying. I think. She had the same feeling. I thought it was because Zechs had disappeared, but now..."

"Right! It started with Zechs... if you think about it!" Duo said emphatically. "Do you think he could be behind all of this?"

"Zechs would definitely be against something like that."

"Unless he's already part of it." Quatre said weakly. Heero frowned. "Zechs had the highest security clearance. He would be a perfect target for infiltration."

"But it doesn't make sense," Howard argued. "If the Preventors are involved, they would have known that Quatre is a Gundam Pilot."

Heero spoke.

"It's useless to speculate. For now, we need to decide what we need to do, starting with erasing what we can of any public data out there on our recent activities. We need to disappear and head for space. Until Trowa gets here, I can work on wiping some of the data remotely. Duo, you have connections in L2 that can help us?"

Duo nodded. "Can't get in touch with them here though. We'll have to get to L2 first."

"We'll leave as soon as Trowa arrives," Quatre said. "I'll have Ahmed prep the jet. We can fly to Dubai space port. Once we're there, we can use the Winner shuttle to get us somewhere in space where we can easily disappear. The Winners use the shuttle often. I'm sure I can get one of my sisters to return it here."

"Let's get started," Heero said.


Hilde sat at a small vid screen inside a equally small freighter, rapidly scrolling through about two hundred pictures as well as a long report. She had long since given up trying to read everything as the report was dreadfully long. It was also immeasurably nauseating. She had never been privy to something this horrific, even in the army. Unfortunately she had not seen much in the way of battle until she was trying desperately to escape barge(?). She had seen wounded, but she had never been on the field, or seen the actual events occurring. But this was beyond the pale. This was unacceptable at any level. He stomach churned involuntarily.

"Would you like some water, Miss Hilde?"

She reached out gratefully, he hands shaking, much to her chagrin. Mbeki patted her hand comfortingly and met her gaze with a steady, friendly eye, which calmed her somewhat. He moved and took a seat across from her and next to Zechs. As far as she could tell, they were the only three on the ship. It was on autopilot, heading toward L3. Zechs observed her with his cool ice blue eyes. His gaze was a lot like Heero's. It held her. It was neither friendly or unfriendly, but hawkish and assessing. After reading what they had given her, she could understand why.

"How?" She said faintly. "How could anyone justify that?"

"It has been done before. No country is a stranger to rot from the inside," Mbeki replied softly. "Most of the time it is done under the guise of a greater good. No country is innocent of it. It starts out small and then spreads like a weed. It is no different now."

"Hilde shivered."

"And you truly believe the Preventors are part of it?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Mbeki confirmed. "We have enough evidence to confirm that. It also makes strategic sense. The Preventors are highly trusted right now. They are a powerful organization that has branched out. The countries accept them in the name of non proliferation and peace."

"But how did you find out?"

"The Preventors were never completely trusted," Mbeki said. "Several intelligence units from different countries and colonies are still working unofficially. Though the Alliance has worked with many countries to minimize the martial branches of the secret services, the intelligence agencies have remained active, both formally and informally. We have agents both within the Preventors and within the major governments still. A few of our agents have sent us disturbing communications concerning recent events. Eventually, we were able to infiltrate one of their moving labs. Sadly, he was captured, and our whole organization was compromised. Fortunately, we took precautions and were able to regroup."

Zechs continued the story. "I still have ties to White Fang. After some confusing messages, Mbeki's group cleared me and told me what was happening. Once I got some of the details, I realized that the Preventors had been compromised."

"How did you find out? What gave it away?" Hilde asked desperately, searching her memory for anything strange Duo had said or done. After all, he was a Preventor special agent. Was he already a part of it?"

"They began compartmentalizing in strange ways," Zechs said. "They started reclassifying information. I started seeing small gaps in my access. I had the highest access because of my rank. However, I realized that there were sections that I could see, but no longer had the proper securities for. They claimed they were merely archiving information and that I would have access, but they were vague on why. It was almost like they were starting a new shielded system within the system we were using. It was so gradual, I didn't realize I was being kept out. I didn't think much of it at the time since we were updating a lot of our old systems. Of course, lower ranks didn't even notice since their access was limited to begin with."

"So how did you know he wasn't part of it?" She asked Mbeki.

"Of course, we gave him a full medical examination. However, we also were able to discover that high functioning Newtypes are especially difficult to assimilate."

Of course Hilde had learned a little about Newtypes in the academy. It was described as unexplained gifts and talents that the colonists had, but that people from Earth didn't. Unfortunately, there was a lot of propaganda attached to it, since the Colonies believed themselves to be superior to Earth. It had certainly been used in the military to convince soldiers that the colonies were suppressed because of the Earth's fear of their superiority and therefore they must defend themselves and maintain their freedom from the Earth.

A lot of her teachers and colleagues had merely passed it off as nonsense. Some had simply explained it a scientific change in subtle functions of the human body based on birth in space and differences in gravity. There were plenty of studies that pointed out differences between Earth physiology and space physiology, but nothing incredibly different. There were even some studies that demonstrated a heightened awareness in some classified as Newtypes. Some seemed to have extra sensory perception that was not found as often in the people of Earth. Most people didn't believe it however, or simply explained it as being like an animal's sense of the weather, or some animals' abilities to sense oncoming storms or seizures.

However it was well known that colonists tended to be stronger pilots due to their increased ability in lower gravities and their general tolerance. It was also true that being born and living in space tended to cultivate a hardier stock of human. However that came with a higher rate of death during childbirth and many health problems that had been rare on Earth.

Though she had believed for a while that the colonies were superior, she had quickly dismissed that as arrogance, and had chosen instead to fight for what she thought at the time was peace and freedom. Since then, she hadn't given a lot of thought to it. It However Duo was different enough to make her revisit these beliefs. His abilities, and those of the Gundam pilots seemed not just increased, as most who were classified as Newtypes, but almost super-human. When she had questioned him, he would roll his eyes and tell her that it was all a bunch of nonsense, and that as pilots, they had been exposed to a lot of intense training.

Duo didn't like to talk about it. Even with his seemingly cocky attitude and his competitive demeanor, he didn't like to be thought of or seen as special. Being someone who was supposed to be able to melt into a crowd and infiltrate, this made sense. It also seemed to bother him a bit, so she tried not to bring it up.

However she had noticed other things. He almost never got sick. When she told him so, he would simply say that he grew up on L2, and probably had an immune system of iron due to being overexposed to so many filthy environments and germs. Of course, there was his superior piloting abilities, which he would always explain by saying that he just had a "knack" for it. He admitted that he had a higher bone density and that he was able to handle more physical trauma than most people, but again he said it was simply because of all they had been put through in training.

But there were other things. For one thing, he had talked about Quatre's uncanny sense of the other pilots. In fact, Duo had said a lot of things about the other pilots that seemed extraordinary. However he said it with such an air of frank admiration, that it didn't really seem supernatural. He just seemed to think they were exceptional. But Duo was exceptional too. He was the best pilot she had ever seen.

"So Newtypes like you and Duo aren't able to be assimilated at all?"

Both men looked grim.

"These experiments were on Newtypes only. It seems like the technology was already successful on regular people. The difficulties began when they started trying to use the technology on Newtypes which there are quite a few of in the Preventors, including Lady Une. As far as I can tell they've been successful in assimilating her. I think Noin was also taken. I'm almost sure they were preparing for me next."

"So that's why you disappeared," Hilde breathed. Zechs nodded ascent. She leaned forward urgently. "We have to warn Duo. I want to help. What can I do?"

Mbeki grinned. "Patience. Our small group is working to distribute spies wherever we can. I'm afraid you'll have to leave your business. If they find you, they will most assuredly use you to get to your friend."

"We don't know if High Functioning Newtypes are easily assimilated. They seemed to be in a holding pattern for me. I think they're trying to perfect this technology even now. If the pilots have disappeared as well, it means they know something is going on, whether they know what is or not, we'll see. However the most strategic thing for the Preventors to do would be to target the people they know as a trap. Unfortunately, you and miss Catherine are the easiest targets, and the closest."

"We want you to send a message to Duo. I assume he has a general account?"

Hilde nodded. "He has a couple under different names. I know some of them, but not all. But I do know which ones are outside of the Preventors knowledge."

"Excellent," Zechs said.

"They're here," Duo yelled from the other room. Heero got up from his computer to go to the window. It was a good "they", fortunately.

A jeep had pulled up and two people got out. Somehow, Trowa managed to look cool even in this heat, though he wore cooler clothes, khaki brown shorts and a tank top. Ahmad was running to meet them already. They talked to each other and Trowa looked toward the house with concern. The other woman was a petite blonde woman. She was dressed in a light cotton shirt and pants and a headscarf, which blew in the desert wind. She carried a small black bag. Heero had never seen her before. However he guessed it was one of Quatre's sisters by her looks.

There was a small gasp beside him and Quatre stood unsteadily. He looked almost alarmed.

"Is something wrong?" He asked quietly.

Quatre shook his head, but a look of immense guilt tinged his features. It was a look Heero hadn't seen for a long time. He looked back out with curiosity. The woman pulled a cane out of the back of the car while Trowa grabbed two duffles and the three made their way through the wind and heat toward the house.

Duo had opened the door and there was a bit of scuffling as they set their things down. Heero went to meet them, Quatre following close behind.

"Duo, where is he? Is he okay," Trowa's soft but urgent voice rang through the front room.

"Can't be too bad, Tro, he's standing," Duo assured. He turned to the woman. "But just barely. I'm hoping you'll be able to figure that out. Name's Duo. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie."

The blond woman smiled, her eyes sparkling. She shook his hand heartily. "Good to meet you. Irea Winner."

"Winner?" Duo said. "Figures. Hey, Tro, good of you to join the party."

The woman turned accusing eyes on her brother, who stood in the doorway, holding it for support, though it was also obvious he was skulking, hesitant to move forward. He smiled weakly at his sister, looking for all the world like a little boy who knew he was in trouble.

"Irea. I..."

"Quatre!" In four small swift steps, she had her brother in his arms, leaving the cane behind at the door. Quatre stared at it, even as he was embraced. "I've been so worried. You really should have called."

Quatre's arms came up and he wrapped them around the petite woman. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"Oh Quatre. You need to stop blaming yourself. I don't hold you responsible at all, but I miss my little brother. You shouldn't feel guilty for things that weren't in your control at all."

Quatre's eyes watered and he looked down. It was obvious that there was a lot behind this statement. Heero made a mental note to research this girl and find out what happened.

"Irea," Quatre said softly, tightening his embrace.

Suddenly he sagged heavily and would have collapsed if his sister hadn't held him firmly. All three boys started forward, ready to assist, but Irea was ahead of all of them, turning him firmly and hooking his arm over her shoulder. She walked toward the labs downstairs.

"Trowa, could you bring my bag? Ahmad, we'll need to leave soon." She seemed to have no problem taking command of the situation.

"Right," The man said, grabbing the two duffles.

Trowa grabbed the smaller bag and followed the woman, turning to Heero on the way.

"Heero. Wufei is on his way and he can't be trusted. We'll need to leave as soon as possible. If he gets here before we go, we'll be in trouble. I'll fill you both in while she looks at Quatre, but we need to leave now.

Duo sighed and walked beside Heero.

"It's always Wufei What is wrong with that kid, I swear."

"This is bad," Heero said gravely. "Preventors can block air traffic. If he knows we're flying, he'll be able to stop us."

"Don't worry too much yet," Ahmad said. "Remember this is a Winner Jet. They're not beholden to the same rules as general public air traffic. It takes a pretty heavy warrant to be able to ground them. By that time, you should be well on your way."

"I've got some Id's we can use if we need to melt away," Duo added. "Heero I'm sure you have a couple. He got a quiet nod.


"Dammit!" Noin slammed the phone down and sighed heavily. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. A hot drink was set beside her.

"Don't get too worked up. You're doing everything you can," Une soothed.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "It's just without a signed treaty, it's almost impossible to get these guys to allow any sort of warrant. I can't even get a general warrant with the country and that doesn't even include the Winner's or the Maguanacs in particular. They're both neutral parties, outside of the government's influence."

"Wufei is moving fast, though. If he can't get to them, we'll just have to do some damage control. All five of them are registered with the Preventors I doubt they can move around too much quickly."

Noin shook her head. "These boys are resourceful. We've lost sight of them more times than I can count."

"Of course. They are Gundam Pilots. But a lot has changed since peace was declared. They're hopeful for the future. They'll understand once we can actually get to them. Those boys are our biggest hope for peace."

"You're right. But they could be our biggest threat, if we don't find them soon."

"We don't know of all of their resources, but I doubt they have many anymore. Winner's funds are too traceable. They wouldn't be likely to use those."

Une saw the doubt in Noin's eyes.

"Don't worry," she said gently, "We won't do anything to harm them. Once they understand the truth, they'll be on our side." She scrutinized her second in command. "It's not just that though, is it. You want to look for Zechs."

Noin nodded. "I haven't slept much since he ran off," she said dejectedly. "I've tried all the contacts I know, but unless I can go undercover, I won't be able to find him. The communication channels are just too old. But I know White Fang is still alive, even if they're scattered."

"I understand. If his trail hadn't gone cold, I would have let you try. However we need to try to get the rest of the Gundam pilots before they disappear. Once we have them, you can use them as your direct resources if you like."

Noin nodded gratefully. "You're right. Thank you, commander."

Lady Une's eyes hardened.

"Keep trying. Even the Winner family isn't above the law. We just have to pull some more strings. Once they move outside of Arab influence, we may have a better chance of cornering them."

"Yes Ma'am,"


Howard and the three boys sat once more in the small computer lab, watching the recorded message of Wufei.

"Somethings funny about it. It's Wufei though," Duo said.

"I agree. I knew something was strange too. So I dug through all my recorded messages and did a sound analysis. I would have sent something right away, but we don't exactly have a high tech computer system in the circus."

Duo chuckled as Trowa continued.

"But I found a school with a pretty good lab. Take a look."

Trowa played part of the message. Then he played the same thing over.

"Part of the luxury of being of high rank."

"So?" Duo said, squinting.

"Check out the time stamp this time," Trowa said. He played the message again, seemingly twice.

"I'll be damned," Duo said now, understanding.

"It's the same recording," Heero confirmed.

"It's fake!" Duo said emphatically. "Damn, it would take a pretty skilled sound guy to put that together."

"So then where is Wufei?" Heero asked.

"He sent me one more message after that and I couldn't find anything strange in the analysis. He looked bad though. He was pale."

"You think they got him, Heero?"

"Yeah," Heero said quietly. They promptly filled Trowa in on the things they had found, including the new Gundams, showing him the data and the new schematics. He seemed surprised, but unconcerned.

"What do you think, Trowa?" Duo asked.

"What's there to think about? I trust Quatre."

Heero regarded Trowa thoughtfully. It seemed that the three of them were committed to joining Quatre, whether to stop him or help him.

Irea entered, looking perplexed but satisfied.

"How is he?" Trowa asked softly.

"He's all right, really. He's heavily sedated. His mind can't handle the signals he's getting from the nanobots. Their frequency is mismatched so it's effecting his brainwaves. It's good that you froze a sample, but I'm afraid we don't have a way to transfer them in this heat. I took as many slides as I could. If I can get to some better equipment I can analyze them.

"Is it mind control?" Duo asked.

Irea nodded. "I've never seen anything quite like it. I want to keep Quatre asleep until we get to Dubai where I can get a resonator to break the rest of them up. These are much like the nano's we use for highly refined medical treatments but much more complex. Until we break them down, they'll continue to work until they can't sustain their activity or until his body naturally rejects them. Since they work on the brain, it's dangerous to wait."

"We're ready to leave now," Trowa said. "The jet is prepped. Can you get what you need quickly, once we reach the space port?"

Irea nodded. "I can even have some of our staff waiting with the supplies. We wont even have to leave the port. We can use the Winner's space plane for transport to the lunar base."

Heero nodded. "After that, we'll go underground."

"I would like to go with you," Irea said. At the impending protests, she held up a hand. "I have to get back to my office, but I can arrange to travel later. I spent a lot of time studying nano-med research. I think I can use my lab to do some analyses. I'll go with you to the moon. After that, if I'm sure Quatre is okay, we'll part ways. But I'd like to stay in contact. You'll need some help. Unless you think you have the medical resources to handle this. You need some sort of medical expertise to be able to counteract this."

"We will need you. But we don't want them to know how much we know already. If you disappear, that will be pretty clear." Trowa said, reasoning out the situation.

"We'll find a way to contact you," Heero said. "We'll need someone who understands this."

Irea looked doubtful, but Trowa took her hands.

"Trust us, Irea. We won't deceive you."

"But you better be careful," Duo said. "I'll give you a way to get in touch with us if something happens."

Irea agreed.

With that, Duo and Trowa left to load the jet.


On the large screen, Noin did not look happy. A pale hand reached to adjust the volume.

"You don't look happy, Lady Une."

"No. We have let you down."

"You tried your best. Our research was just too slow ultimately. This was not unexpected." The voice answered. "Peace is never easy."

"We have one of the Gundam Pilots now. So far the process seems to have been successful."

"Yes. I'm sorry it had to be so painful for him. And how about yourself. Are you having any problems?"

"As long as I take the medications, it's not a problem. The side effects are minimal."

"Excellent. You must make sure you continue the medications. I don't want you getting sick."

"Yes."

"Don't worry about the other pilots too much for now. I have planned for every contingency. There will be other opportunities."

"Thank you, leader."

"For ultimate peace."

"Yes. Ultimate peace."


Trowa took the short flight of stairs up to the second level two at a time. As he reached the door at the end of the hall, he found Heero, who was strapping the remaining sandal on Quatre's other foot. Trowa watched in silence as Heero then sat the sleeping boy upright, being overly careful to shift Quatre's head to lean on his shoulder. He had already wrapped Quatre in a light blanket and secured it over his legs before slipping a hand under Quatre's knees and sliding him off the bed. Trowa blinked as he turned and looked at the taller boy, gingerly shifting Quatre a bit higher as he raised a questioning brow at Trowa.

"The jet is ready," Trowa said softly. Do you need any help?

Heero nodded at a bag on the desk. "That should have the rest of our belongings. Rashid told me what to pack, so we should have most of what Quatre needs."

Trowa nodded, grabbing the bag and followed Heero and his blond burden down to the jet, musing on the way as to what he was seeing.

In the jet, Heero slipped into the back, letting Irea help to strap Quatre into a seat. Irea gave the blond another shot of sedative as Trowa climbed in the passenger side. As he shut the cockpit door and grabbed his radio, he looked over at Duo.

"Duo, are Heero and Quatre..."

Duo chuckled.

"Honestly, I don't know what they are. But I see you've noticed it too." After a moment, Duo asked, "Hey. Does it bother you, Trowa?"

"It's not like I haven't thought about it." Trowa said seriously. "Quatre and me that is. But Quatre still feels guilty for what happened to me. It's hard to explain. But somehow, this feels right."

"Well than you're a far better man than me," Duo huffed. "I'm jealous, and I already have a girlfriend."

Trowa smiled softly at his friend.


Notes: HAARP is an actual program that this is all based on. ELF is also a current known project. If you look it up, you'll find quite a few theories around what it does and what it has the potential for. Pretty wild stuff.

If I've made any serious blunders as to what Newtypes are or what they might be defined as now, please let me know. I really mostly know Gundam from Gundam Wing and don't know most of the series after it. If they've ever elaborated on it, if you let me know, I'll do my best to change to accommodate that, or at least stick with it ongoing.