They're escorted to the third floor of Preventers where they meet up with Sally outside the elevators. She smiles at them brightly. "It's good to see all of you again."

"You're just saying that because you've been stuck with Wufei for two days," Duo replies.

Sally laughs before turning her attention to Heero. "Any problems I should know about?"

"No," he replies, arms crossed over his chest. Her gaze shifts to Trowa and he shakes his head.

"Glad to hear it," she replies and looks to Noin. "Will Zechs be joining us?"

"No, Relena is meeting with Dorothy and he wants to be there for it."

"Dorothy Catalonia?" Quatre asks, surprised.

"She was the one who brought the citizens to the battle and Relena wants to talk to her." She shrugs. "Zechs doesn't trust her."

"So, Zechs is really a Preventer now?" Duo questions. He shakes his head. "Man, I really thought he was dead." Quatre elbows him in the ribs.

Noin frowns, but Sally responds before she can. "We're just thankful he was on our side. It could've gone badly without him and, of course, you all." She looks up at Noin. "Shall we?"

Noin nods and leads them across the hall to a smaller conference room, taking a seat on one side of the oval table. Heero glances around, notes the security cameras in the corner of the room, the bullet-proof glass in the window. He takes a seat at the table and stretches his legs out as the other pilots take their seats around the table. Sally shuts the door and sits down next to Noin, pulls out a tape recorder and sets it in the middle of the table.

"There are cameras, as you've already noticed, but they're down for maintenance currently. This is the only recording device," Noin informs them.

"For confidentiality we will be referring to you by the pilot numbers OZ assigned to each of you during the Eve Wars," Sally adds.

"Is this really necessary?" Trowa questions. He's leaning back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest.

Noin shrugs. "Just following protocol." She leans forward and presses the record button. "This is Preventer Fire, along with Preventer Water. It is December 29, AC 196. It is 10:05am and we are beginning to interview the pilots of Gundams 01, 02, 03, and 04 on the events of the Barton Foundation Rebellion."

"This is Preventer Water, why don't you take us through the events, chronologically?" Sally asks. "State your pilot number before you begin speaking, for the record."

They all look at each other before Trowa shrugs. "This is 03; I was stationed on L3 X-18999 in early December. It came to my attention that there was something going on." He pauses, remembers seeing the Barton Foundation members in the meager audience. "I followed a couple of suspicious looking men one night and discovered they were working for the Barton Foundation."

Noin raises an eyebrow, a small smile in place. "Discovered? How?"

"They were carrying ID cards," Trowa replies flatly. Noin's eyebrow inches higher and Duo chuckles at the end of the table. "I decided to go undercover to see what they were up to."

"How did you find out where they were located?" Sally asks.

"It's no secret that the Barton Foundation has a stake in the L3 colonies. They weren't that hard to locate."

"Or that Dekim Barton was behind the original plan for the Gundams?" Heero asks. Trowa gives him a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Wait, what?" Quatre asks. "I thought-"

"I knew he was gung-ho on following the original Operation Meteor, but he was behind it?" Duo interrupts. He leans around Quatre to study Heero. He grunts as Quatre elbows him back into his seat.

Trowa nods slowly. "He was," he agrees. "It did help with locating his base of operations, they were recruiting out of the same factory that they built 03 in."

"So, you made your way to one of these recruiting centers and enlisted?" Sally questions. She gives each of the others a look to keep quiet.

"Yes."

"And?" Sally prompts.

"And they were planning to go through with Operation Meteor as you know."

"Did Dekim recognize you?" Quatre asks.

Trowa shifts, feeling five pairs of eyes on him. "Yes," he says, ignoring Heero's pointed look. "I hadn't bothered to change my name when I enlisted and he noticed, of course." Duo shakes his head at the end of the table. "He needed proof that I was still loyal."

"What did you do?" Noin asks.

He looks up and sees her watching him, face unreadable. He shrugs. "What I had to. 05 was already a member and shortly after I joined we were moved into a base within X-18999."

They continue taking turns, relating their moves throughout the Rebellion. Duo takes to exaggerating certain aspects ("Really, he told me to punch him, and what's the thanks I get? A punch to the gut and taken prisoner.") while downplaying the more questionable things they had done ("Once you live through a war, a rebellion's a walk in the park, right?"). Noin takes an interest in Quatre's retelling of retrieving the Gundams and using the gravity of Venus as a slingshot.

"Once it became obvious what the Barton Foundation were up to there was no question on not getting our Gundams back. The only question was whether we would have time," Quatre explains. "Using the gravitational force around Venus was a way to make sure that we were light enough and didn't waste necessary fuel."

"And you chose to go because…?"

"It was my idea to send them to the sun, it seemed only fair that I go get them."

"Plus, we were kinda busy getting shot at," Duo adds. "And some of us were even locked up."

"You escaped, stop complaining," Trowa replies. "It's not like you were there long."

"Yeah, but I got to miss out on all the fun."

"And what led to you deciding to drop your Gundam onto the Presidential bunker, 01?" Sally interrupts. "While the Vice Foreign Minister was still a hostage."

Heero shrugs. "Wasn't really a choice," he replies. "The systems were failing from the fire it was taking and the beam cannon was overheating. It was less drop and more crash."

"What happened once you landed in the bunker?" Noin asks.

Heero hesitates a moment. "Lady Une was already inside with Mariemaia Khushrenada and Relena. Dekim Barton fired at Relena and Mariemaia got in the way. One of the rebels executed Dekim."

"The kid got in the way? Intentionally?" Duo scoffs. He fiddles with his braid and shakes his head slowly. "You sure about that?"

Heero shrugs. "From where I was it looked that way. She pushed Relena out of the way."

"Perhaps she saw the error of her ways?" Quatre replies. "She's only a child, it isn't hard to imagine that Dekim filled her head with stories."

"Maybe," Duo replies, voice still doubtful.

"Prior to the abduction of the Vice Foreign Minister and attempted coup by the Barton Foundation, were any of you in contact with 05?" Noin questions. Sally looks at her sharply but Noin ignores it. "Had you been aware of what he was planning?"

"Nah, he's more of a lone wolf than 01 is." Duo pushes back from the table so that his chair is balancing on two legs.

Quatre leans back in his chair and runs his thumb over the buttons on his shirt cuffs. "05 prefers to keep things close to the chest. After the war some of us struggled with peace and purpose. I extended invitations to everyone to visit, but…" Quatre shrugs helplessly. "Sometimes you need to work things out on your own."

"05 has his own moral code and the Eve Wars challenged that," Trowa states. "We all went our separate ways."

"01, there were reports that you fought him directly. How was his mental state?" Noin asks.

"The same as before. He wanted what we all wanted, to make sure that the War wasn't pointless." Heero stares at the tabletop. "Would people say enough was enough, or would they fall in line with whichever new power took over?" Heero shakes his head, reaches over and turns the recorder off. "Are we done now?" he asks.

Sally sits back, nodding slowly. "This should satisfy Lady Une."

"Great," Duo enthuses. He lets his chair fall back into a normal position with all four legs on the ground. "So, do we get to see Wufei in his prison cell now?"

/

Noin and Sally call for a break, summoning junior agents to bring refreshments and escort Wufei in before hastily retreating and closing the door behind them. Overall, Wufei doesn't look bad, considering he's been in custody for two days now. He's dressed in a more casual Preventers uniform, one that looks more like a training outfit than an official uniform. He looks at them all evenly.

"It's about time," he mutters.

"Good to see you too," Quatre replies, smiling.

Heero glances over Wufei's attire, eyebrow raised. "Did you decide to join after all?"

"I'm taking a break from enlisting," Wufei replies. He sits at one of the empty chairs around the conference table and grabs an orange from the fruit basket the agents brought in. "They bring you in to debrief?"

"Yup," Duo replies. "How're they treating you?"

Wufei shrugs. "Better than OZ did."

"Well, anything's better than that," Duo replies. He punches Wufei's arm, flopping down into the seat next to him. "It's good to see you again, man."

Trowa leans against the wall and sips the tea one of the agents had provided. "I hear you were intimidating the junior agents."

"They're all morons," Wufei replies. He has a smile as he says it though and Quatre rolls his eyes. "If I had wanted to I could have escaped three times in the first hour." He shakes his head sadly.

"And then I would've had to track you down," Sally replies as she enters, carrying a stack of folders. "So thank you for making my job a little easier." Wufei frowns and she just smiles in return.

Noin follows her in, closing the door behind her. Heero takes his seat again, grabs an apple from the middle of the table. He takes a bite of one as Trowa takes the seat next to him again.

"Now that we've finished the official part of this visit, time for the unofficial part," Noin announces. She fans out the folders, each labeled with a number between 01 and 05. She opens 02 through 05. "Your Gundams."

"Yeah, what about them?" Duo asks. He slouches lower in his chair, but his shoulders have noticeably stiffened.

"The President of the ESUN has asked Preventers to look into them," Sally replies.

"They're of no concern to him," Wufei replies.

"Well, they're weapons. Preventers is supposed to monitor weapons."

"There's no need for that," Quatre replies quickly. "We've been talking, Duo, Trowa, and me. We're thinking it might be time to get rid of the Gundams for good."

Wufei looks up in surprise. "Don't tell me you're sending them to the sun again."

"No," Quatre replies. "We were thinking of self-detonating them."

The room is silent except for Heero chewing on the apple. "Are you going along with this, Yuy?"

"Zero's not in the best condition to self-detonate," Heero replies drily. He glances at Wufei. "It's already out of commission."

Wufei shakes his head and frowns at the table. "It seems foolish," he states.

"Maybe," Quatre allows. "But as long as they're around someone will always want to create something stronger."

"So you'd rather weaken yourself prematurely."

"What do you mean self-detonate them?" Noin interjects. "When are you planning to do this?"

Duo shrugs and leans back on his chair legs again. "We have to find a good location first. Somewhere away from the general populace, you know?"

Sally looks at each of them. "Do you really think that's the best option?"

"The whole point of the Gundams was to fight for peace for the colonies. We've achieved that," Duo states. "The Gundams have served their purpose, theoretically."

Sally leans back in her chair and studies them. "This is your decision," she says finally. "But if you change your mind…we can offer a facility for you to keep them at secretly."

Quatre shakes his head slowly. "No, if you did that and someone found out they wouldn't trust Preventers again." He glances around at his fellow pilots. "It's okay; it'll take some time to pick a location. We do plan on moving them out of Brussels soon though, before anyone gets curious."

Noin nods. "That would probably be wise. We can at least create a diversion; send Tallgeese and my Taurus on to another base so it isn't as obvious."

"Thank you, Miss Noin," Quatre replies, smiling.

Noin nods, sets the four folders aside and opens the one labeled 01 and skims it. "Heero, we're having issues with your Gundam."

"Of course," Duo mutters. "That thing never makes anything easy."

"The structure's too unstable to remove it," Heero replies, ignoring Duo.

Noin smiles at him. "So Zechs was right, you did hack the database." He frowns and she laughs. "It was only a suspicion. Agent Leon couldn't find his ID card."

"He should be more careful with his things."

"Don't worry, Leon's an ass. I won't tell him. But you're right. Zero's crash severely jeopardized the structure of the bunker. We've managed to retrieve the survivors we located, but if we try and move Zero it causes another collapse."

"Not just of the bunker itself," Sally adds, rubbing her temples. "The surrounding area is prone to sliding as soon as anything is moved. The recovery team needs to reinforce the walls and different levels before we can begin to remove Zero otherwise it can mean a mess for the city in general."

He nods and looks at Noin. "I'll still be notified when it's freed?"

"I'm sure you'll know at the same time we do," she replies, laughter still evident in her eyes. "Though you'd probably know before us if you bothered to sign on." He crosses his arms, frowns at her. "Still stubborn? Alright."

"Aside from that, you're all free to go," Sally states.

"All of us?" Duo asks. "Even Public Enemy #2 over here?"

"Maxwell…"

"All of you," Sally agrees. "How long will you need before you move the Gundams?"

"It'll still be a couple of days. I have friends who are arranging the transfer," Quatre replies. He looks over at Wufei. "There's room for yours as well."

Wufei looks momentarily surprised before he shakes his head. "I'll think about it," he says after a moment.

Sally nods, looks at Noin. "We can convince Une to keep the room for you all through New Year's, if that works?"

"That would be perfect, thank you both," Quatre replies.

Noin smiles at them, collecting her folders. "You still don't get it," she says. "This is our way of thanking you."