Disclaimer: same as always and forever.

Sorry for the wait life's been really busy, and I'm not sure if I can type all this out very quickly I dumped coffee on my left hand this morning and it hurts. It's not a major burn but it'll take a day or to heal up probably. I'm just glad it wasn't my right hand. Now that would have been bad.

HDTQWHDTQW

After his defeat, Wufei climbed up from the floor, and went to make the first pot of tea for the day as usual.

'Was she right?' He didn't know. He had lost and she had proven her strength, but did that make him weak? Not if Solaris was right.

With a confused moan, he slumped at the table a freshly brewed cup of tea clasped in hand. Another filled cup steamed at her place.

'Nataku, am I weak? Am I worthy to pilot in your place?'

"There is no shame in losing."

Wufei started, tea waving dangerously close to the rim.

Solaris curled into the chair across from him. Wet hair knotted in place but unbraided it hung to her waist. "Losing a battle doesn't make you weak. It just means the winner was stronger or luckier." She picked up the tea he had unconsciously poured for her and inhaled the steam appreciatively.

"I lost to an onna," he said sourly.

An eyebrow rose. He wondered how he had become teammates with the two people who could do that. However, Trowa could be raising both of them under his hair. Who knew?

"If it really bothers you so much then become stronger."

He hated feeling so lost. "How?"

Her voice was gentle, "Find that one thing worth protecting."

The conversation had taken long enough for their tea to be sipped gone. He was rising to pour more when he saw Solaris glanced towards the door and away again. A long moment later Trowa stumbled blearily into the kitchen. He only got up because he always seemed to live a life where rising early was expected. First the mercenaries and then the circus. Now he couldn't break the habit.

Quite familiar with this routine Wufei guided the graceful acrobat to a chair and wrapped his hands around a large mug of bitter coffee. Solaris's eyes held a glimmer of amusement at the state of their resident night owl. Unless under dire threat Trowa refused to function before two in the afternoon without at least two cups of coffee if not five or six. It was seven-thirty now. Duo should be next. The kid loved to sleep, but he was the opposite of Trowa. He loved mornings. Wufei knew Duo actually got up at about the same time he did he just didn't put in an appearance till after Trowa was up.

'Right on cue.' Wufei sat down and Solaris picked up her cup as Duo waltzed happily into the room. Wufei pointed to the black mug on the cream tiled counter.

"Thanks, Wuman! Morin' zombie dude." Duo plopped into his chair beside Wufei. "Solaris, you're up early this morning!"

Trowa didn't even acknowledge the chipper baka. Wufei just gritted his teeth and ignored the slight.

"I'm always up this early," Solaris said.

"Really? Maybe we should gang up on Wufei then. Of course if we did then I wouldn't have time to take a shower before breakfast." Duo had his headphones pulled down around his neck and they could all hear the steady beats of hard rock pouring out.

"You mean it takes you an hour and a half to take a shower?" Wufei asked in disbelief.

"Maybe," Duo drawled, "it is hard to take care of this much hair ya know."

Wufei snorted in disgust.

"He's right you know. It takes a lot of work," Solaris stuck up for Duo. "Long hair is hard to keep neat. Why do you think we keep it braided?"

"If it's so much work you should just cut it off."

Trowa still in his zombie state didn't join in, he just got up to get a new cup of coffee.

"No!"

Wufei winced at the simultaneous shout, "Fine then. When you get caught by your long hair don't come crying to me."

"We won't," Duo snapped, "besides I can carry a lot of stuff in my hair."

"I have needles and lock picks in mine. If anyone tries to grab my hair, they are going to get their hand sliced open. When I'm on a mission, I braid in a razor wire. It has saved me before." Solaris bared her teeth in a dark smile.

"Doesn't it cut your hair?" Duo asked.

"Some, but if you do it right, not a lot."

Silence fell over the soldiers for a while. Duo was reading a manga and the others lost to their own thoughts. Trowa's second cup was nearly empty. Quatre should be making an appearance soon. Then Trowa would start breakfast, as it was his turn. The routine followed a similar schedule every morning varying only by who cooked. The breakfast duties rotated between Trowa, Quatre, and himself. Nobody wanted to eat Duo's cooking and Heero never got up until the food was started so if he were on breakfast duty they would never eat.

Trowa was leaning into the fridge when Quatre walked happily into the room. "Good morning everyone."

Plates were sliding onto the table before they heard the grumpy footsteps of their leader. Antagonist and cold at the best of times even Duo left Heero well enough alone until he had eaten.

Quatre put down the paper they had gotten in town yesterday and took Duo's manga from him.

"Hey! I was reading that!"

"That hardly qualifies as reading material, baka." Wufei smirked into his teacup.

Quatre tapped the book on Duo's head. "Be polite and eat with us."

"Fine." Duo picked up his fork, piled the bacon and eggs onto his toast, and squirted a good amount of ketchup over the worked. Proceeding then to inhale it. Heero and Trowa ate their food in a precise, steady rhythm. Heero wielding chopsticks like Solaris and Wufei, and Trowa a fork.

Not pausing in his suction of food Duo eyed the others. Wufei sat up straight and ate quickly though not with the trained precision of Heero. Quatre ate neatly without being dainty. As always. He was good at judging people's moods by how they ate. This was why he figured Solaris was depressed or something. She was just picking at her food. From what he had seen, she normally ate as a cross between Wufei and Quatre.

"Don't like the food?" he asked hoping for more insight.

"Hmm. Oh, it is fine."

He watched her for a few more minutes stuffing in the last of his self-made sandwich.

"You gonna eat all that?"

"Maybe not. I'm not really hungry."

"Can I have it then?" The only reply was the scrapping of the plate across the table. "Cool, more food!"

By now, they were all eyeing her carefully. Having only known her a short time they didn't know her well, but something was bothering their female team member this morning.

"What is bothering you, Solaris?" Quatre asked pointedly.

A wry smile twisted her lips. "That obvious huh? Fine, there are some things about me you should know and I've never really told anyone before."

A subtle tension sprang up around the table. Seemingly oblivious she continued.

"First, for your own safety don't ever grab my hand unless it is offered to you. I tend to scratch upon reflex and my claws are almost always tipped in poison." She paused to let them absorb the new information.

"Claws?" Duo asked blankly.

She extended her hands across the table, and as they watched, metal, cat like claws unsheathed themselves from beneath her fingernails.

"Whoa," Duo breathed.

"You used those on Wufei when we first fought, correct?" Heero questioned.

"Yes. There was actually a mix of poisons on them, but the only potent one was the nightshade."

"How did you get them?"

Solaris glanced at Quatre and withdrew her hands ducking her head. "They were spliced into my muscular system when I was three."

Quatre gasped, "But that's horrid. Inhuman!"

She laughed, a cold bitter chuckle. "My family is all trained assassins. There is nothing human about them. On to the next warning. I would guess that at least one of you has seen the metal imbedded into my neck." Nods answered her around the table. "Right, that is an AI integrated into my nervous system. It controls the chemical flow in my bloodstream and the signals from my brain. Basically, it keeps me sane and stable. I will fight or not as the situation demands. Without Control, I could do anything from going berserk in a nursery room or completely passive in a firefight. My family trained me so well they became scared of me, so they decided to break me. And, they did. Doctor K saved me and gave me Control."

"It controls you completely." Heero said flatly.

"Not quite. Most of the time I am on a percentage level of 45 in a fight it lowers in situations that require a more passive me, it raises. I also have an override. That is what I wanted to warn you about. When I override Control, I kill everything around me. I cannot really discern friend or enemy. My eyes turn golden when I am in override."

Heero grunted, "Your eyes were gold that time we found you then."

"Right. I was severely weakened at the time or at least one of you would be dead. I don't think I could kill all of you though." Solaris uncurled from her chair. "I have told you what I will on the subject. Do what you will with the information."

Then, she was gone leaving them all to sit there in stunned contemplation.

TBC

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