Chapter Seven

Revelations

Dorothy leaned into the retinal scanner with her right eye, and waited to hear the click of the lock before she pulled open the heavy door. She heard the muted murmur of voices, too soft to make out clearly, as she stepped inside the large well secured room. She walked down a short corridor, which felt muffled by the soundproofing hung on the walls, and stepped out into a large space dominated by computer terminals and large screens on the far wall.

It was a veritable 'War Room' and had been called such by more than one over the years. This was the nerve centre of OZ's operations, and it was divided into two distinct sections. Off to Dorothy's left was a series of smaller screens, all blank now, and various computer terminals, also unused. That was where progress on Project ZERO had been monitored, where virtually ever aspect of 01's life was observed and recorded.

That there weren't some scientists still working over the data they'd gathered was a frustrating reminder of 01's parting shot to the organization. He'd managed to destroy everything they'd gathered, and had walked off almost completely unchallenged. Dorothy's teeth hurt from clenching her jaw in frustration at the incompetence that had allowed this to happen.

She pushed that aside for the moment, as there was nothing getting angrier now could change about it. Dorothy focused in on the other, larger section of the room, where men and women moved about their terminals, and the large wall of screens displayed the same image over and over again. Looking a little closer, Dorothy noticed that the time stamp on the images differed slightly, so it was the same location just at different points over a few days.

"Status?" Dermail's voice boomed as he entered the room from the door that lead to his private office.

"Just coming online," Tubarov Bilmon, the chief engineer, stated in clipped tones from where he sat at the central terminal. His fingers moved with confidence across the keys even if they lacked the smooth familiarity the younger engineers possessed.

Dorothy's eyes narrowed slightly as Nichol—who had followed Dermail into the room—came to stand next to her. "You worked fast," she commented dryly, eyeing the dark haired man for a moment, before returning her attention to the front of the room.

"It was amazing how responsive they were, once we threatened to pull our funding for their next big project," Nichol replied back in equally dry tones.

"There!" Tubarov said with a clear note of satisfaction as he struck the last key in his sequence, and the multiple screens changed suddenly. The shift was subtle, Dorothy almost would have likened it to a filter being added to the images, and she waited to see what would happen next.

Dermail took a step closer to the mass of screens. "Zoom in immediately," he ordered, "I want to see the site of the explosion."

Dorothy made a sound in the back of her throat. "I get chewed out for missing him at that stupid cottage," she hissed in low, dangerous tones, "and you get what? For blowing up a bomb in the middle of the city?"

"You honestly believe I'd have sent a bomb?" Nichol asked acidly, and that brought Dorothy's head around.

"I saw the damage," she fumed, "and I know how cautious you are of 01. You wouldn't ever choose to face him without a distinct advantaged."

"True," he replied with a tight smile, "but it wasn't a bomb. It was a frequency device, designed to project our failsafe, and leave 01 incapacitated."

Dorothy was more than familiar with the 'conditioning' 01 had been put through during his upbringing. They were creating a powerful weapon, they'd needed a way to collar him when necessary. She turned to face Nichol then, her eyebrows raised in utter disbelief. "How do you explain that causing an explosion?" she demanded incredulously.

"I can't," he admitted, "at least not beyond speculations." Nichol held himself very straight at that last, and Dorothy didn't doubt the man had several very valid and well thought out theories for what had occurred.

Not caring to hear any of them, Dorothy focused in on the next obvious mistake that had been made. "Why the hell weren't our operatives in position to take him?" she demanded.

She could actually hear Nichol's teeth grind at the question, but his voice remained low, if clearly indignant. "Our men were in position," he began firmly, "but the explosion held them back. Had the device worked, they could have taken their time. 01 wouldn't have been able to move."

"If the device had worked..." Dorothy muttered, not bothering to conceal her disgust.

"There's no reason why it shouldn't have," Nichol was quick to defend.

"Better figure out why it didn't," she told him bluntly, her attention switching back to the screens at the far end of the room. "Unless you want to try and talk 01 into coming back in..." Dorothy heard the man scoff beside her.

"This is it," Tubarov said with excitement, and Dorothy forgot about the man who was standing next to her.

The screens before them showed a top down view of a street in the historic district, a row of brownstones lining either side of the street. The image was frozen, and zoomed in enough to see a box that appeared to be tossed from the apartment. Dorothy felt herself leaning a little closer to the screens, blinking her eyes and wondering if the rippled blur she was seeing was an optical illusion.

"That's the package," Nichol said needlessly.

"Advance the time," Dermail ordered.

The strange disturbance on the screen grew, the ripples building and intensifying over each other until it was impossible to see beyond them. As the timestamp advanced still further, but slowly, Dorothy watched as what might have been a spark of fire appeared, then another, and still more, before the explosion shook the very street.

The shockwave created by the event was clearly visible as it radiated out from the location. "Incredible..." Dorothy found herself whispering. The epicentre of the explosion had not been the box containing their failsafe device, but rather a point between it—still suspended in the air—and the door of the basement apartment.

"This is the power we knew he was holding back," Tubarov's voice was filled with awe as the footage continued, and the level of destruction was realized.

Dermail nodded his head, right hand absently stroking down his beard as he studied the screens. "I want to see the beginning," he said, standing straighter. "Show me 01 getting the device."

At his command, the satellite recording moved backwards, slowly at first, the shockwave dialling back to a central point, and the disturbance on the screen all but vanishing. A figure moved outside of the brownstone, and one of the techs didn't need to be ordered to zoom in the footage to do so.

"I want to know why the device failed," he barked and the room collectively jumped. "Was it flawed? Or somehow not turned on?" Dermail's anger cut through the silence of the room, as he continued to watch the footage slowly rewinding.

The figure turned out to be a woman, though from this angle it was hard to tell much beyond that. As she backed out of the basement apartment, 01's head appeared, and just as quickly disappeared back inside as the woman backed up the stairs.

"Play it forwards," he commanded, and the footages moved properly again. The woman carried the device down the steps and came to the door. 01's head popped out, and moments later he was pulling the woman inside, before the device was thrown out, and the explosion of powers occurred. "Who is this woman?" Dermail demanded then, "I want to know everything about her."

The leader of OZ didn't need to say anything more than that to have half a dozen techs scurrying to dig up every crumb of information on this woman.

"Ha!" Tubarov crowed. He'd been working busily at his station, and he stood suddenly, drawing Dermail's attention back to the front of the room. "I've isolated the signature of 01's powers," the engineer exclaimed with pride. "With the right program in place we'll be able to scan for any anomalous readings, and we should be able to pinpoint his location."

"Get to work on that," Dermail ordered, his cold gaze sweeping back to Dorothy and Nichol. "I want you and your team ready to mobilize the minute we have a location on 01." Dermail's cold blue eyes bore into Dorothy along with this words, before her grandfather switched his gaze to Nichol. "I want to know that our failsafe isn't compromised," he said firmly, motioning for Nichol to follow him from the room.

Dorothy scowled at their retreating backs, her eyes quickly going back to the screens at the front of the room and the distortion that signalled 01's presence on that street. She'd witnessed the one and only time 01 had risen to OZ's demands for destruction. She felt herself shiver now; it had been impressive, but had paled in comparison to this.

If they didn't have their failsafe over 01, how could they ever hope to contain such power?

…

Heero's attention split easily between watching the road Wufei was driving down at a good clip in the early evening, and the people in the car with him. Relena sat across from him in the back of the vehicle, and he could feel her attention flicker to him every now and then. She kept her left hand on the middle seat of the car, close to him. Heero found he appreciated the proximity; while he had initially pulled away from her, Relena had managed to show him more of the benefits of human contact.

He still shied away from touching that sensation of her there in the back of his mind. Heero could sense it there just on the edge of thought. It felt a little like the sun, shining just out of sight behind him. It was a temptation after that motel room, the connection he'd felt with her there before Sally and Wufei had come back. He'd touched that flickering sensation a few times while holding Relena in his arms, but hadn't managed to work up the nerve to open himself to it.

Heero grit his teeth a little as he looked away from the front of the car, where he'd been able to keep Relena in his peripheral vision, and looked out the driver's side window instead. It was coming on evening, and Heero actually thought he might be willing to stop for the night, if the suggestion was made soon. He felt a little more on edge now than he did when he got into the car this morning.

They'd been on the road for a few hours when Heero had noticed Sally casting more than just casual glances his way. She usually tried to conceal the importance of her look with a comment to Relena. But Heero thought it'd come out finally when Sally had begun to ask Heero a few questions, when they'd stopped for gas.

Heero got out of the car, and immediately stretched out muscles stiff from sitting in the car for so long. The jeans Sally had picked out for him that morning were a little loose on him, and Heero was forced to pull the waist back up after a long stretch, resettling the denim on his hips. The t-shirt she'd provided fit well enough, and Sally had included a light denim jacket as well.

"I'll get us some supplies," Relena offered as she got out of the car on the far side from Heero. She hoisted her bag higher on her left shoulder, and offered Heero a warm smile, before turning towards the store at the far end of the large gas station.

Heero's eyes glanced about the moderately busy station, before placing his back against the car door to survey the comings and goings. He felt his shoulders tense up almost immediately, even though they were on the far edge of the gas station rather than the centre. It wasn't a far enough separation for Heero from the strangers going about their lives.

"...can't have that."

"Please!"

Heero's eyes caught sight of a mother and child heading into the building Relena had gone inside, and he suppressed the want to shiver. He hated places like this, tactically vulnerable and with far too much activity going on around him at all times. His sharp senses couldn't help but snag conversations from all around him.

"Don't forget the gas cap!"

"What do you take me for?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Even as Heero's senses took in the strangers, and the noises of engines starting and stopping, the ding of the bell for the convenience store door opening or closing, he was aware of Sally and Wufei, who were on the opposite side of the car from him. He heard Sally's approach coming around the front of the car, and he glanced over, trying to relax his stance. All the while he was hearing the beginnings of three other conversations sparking up in front of him.

Sally came to stand near to him; her expression was concerned, Heero thought. She'd been looking that way at him for a while now. "Tell me, Heero," Sally said, after a moment of quietly regarding him. "Exactly what sort of weapon did OZ create?"

Heero looked back at the doctor, face expressionless. He wasn't surprised that this was what had been on her mind. He'd felt a shift in her since he'd mentioned how he got his name, a caution emanating from her whenever she glanced his way. She was unsure about him. Perhaps she had always been, and had only done what she had for Relena's sake.

He regarded the doctor carefully, as she watched him intently. He'd mentioned his being a weapon more than once, but clearly something about that fact had struck Sally differently this time, since she was now pressing him for information.

Sally offered him a somewhat tight smile at his continued silence. "We know you heal very fast," she said, keeping her voice low. "But did they fill your head with combat training and tactical espionage? A dozen different martial arts techniques?" she asked in rapid succession.

Heero heard a snort come from across the roof of the car, and glanced over his left shoulder to where Wufei stood filling the tank. When Heero looked back to Sally, he found her attention off behind him, no doubt sending her glare Wufei's way. "It's a fair question," she defended.

"For someone who reads too many spy novels..." Wufei muttered not nearly under his breath.

"Never mind him," Sally said with a slight huff, her attention settling back fully on Heero. And he found himself uncomfortable under that steady gaze. "I want to know what exactly you're capable of," she said, fixing him with her look.

Heero kept his expression carefully blank; he'd revealed a part of himself to Relena in that motel room. It was a part of himself that he'd never shared with anyone by choice before, and he didn't think he was ready to share it again now. That Relena trusted Sally completely was enough to have Heero follow her lead, but that still only went so far.

Sally was watching him intently, and seemed ready to wait as long as she needed to get an answer out of him. Heero's eyes left the doctor's questioning face, and watched as a woman placed her coffee on the roof of her car before fussing in her purse, then climbing inside the car without the coffee. His body tensed further as an old truck backfired as it was coming into the station.

Heero drew a breath; he wanted to be away from this place. He glanced back to Sally just as she was about to snap a finger before his face, and his expression darkened. "Heero, this is important," she said with that authoritative note to her voice.

He barely acknowledged the tone, as Heero saw Relena exit the store behind Sally. He didn't know why just the sight of her made his shoulders relax a fraction, and he felt like he could breathe a little easier. Without a second thought for the questions Sally had posed to him, Heero pushed off the car and strode towards Relena. He heard Sally make a disgruntled sound behind him, and caught her throwing up her hands in frustration at Wufei through the reflective glass windows of the store Relena was coming away from.

The sun was well past setting when Wufei pulled into a roadside motel, not too dissimilar to the one they left that morning. Heero was more than ready to be out of the car again, and not just for stiff muscles, but for the awkward tension he'd felt building in the vehicle since they'd stopped for gas.

Sally hadn't tried to press him for details since, but Heero felt certain those questions were still very much on her mind. And perhaps on Wufei's now too, if the glances he'd sent into the back seat had been any indication.

"I'll get us a room," Wufei said, casting a quick glance towards Sally, before opening the driver's side door.

Relena quickly opened her door, "I'll get a second for us," she said around a slight yawn as she pulled her purse from the seat between them.

Heero didn't miss the way Sally's shoulders appeared to tense a little, though the doctor did nothing to stop either Wufei or Relena as they made their way into the motel office. Heero pushed his way out of the vehicle, wanting to stretch his legs and put a little distance between himself and Sally's penetrating gaze.

The air outside was a little chilled, especially compared to the temperature in the car, but Heero breathed deeply of it. He stepped towards the two storey line of rooms, shifting around a cement blockade near the hood of the car. Lights near each room's door cast a warm glow and made it impossible for anyone who moved along the pathway to be hidden.

Heero heard the door of the car close behind him as he turn to place his back against the wall, and saw Sally moving towards him. Her expression was as serious as Heero had ever seen it, and she quickly closed the distance to him, nearly coming into his personal space. Heero knew that whatever she had on her mind, Sally was convinced he wasn't going to like it.

"I'm not sure it's a wise idea for you to share a room with Relena," she said, a firmness to her voice that was almost an order.

That raised an eyebrow on Heero, and he stood a little straighter, looking down at Sally a little. He'd known something was on her mind the entire day, had thought she was concerned for the threat he might possibly pose. But she thought he was a threat to Relena? Heero felt his heart beat a little faster at the implication.

"I promised to protect her," he said flatly, and saw Sally plant her feet as though readying herself for a fight again.

"You're the one who calls himself a weapon," the doctor returned.

Heero drew a sharp breath, his hands clenching into fists at his side. Yes, he was created to be a weapon, but he wasn't without thought and control. Heero's heart thundered in his chest at the thought of injuring Relena, as he had the targets he'd been brought. His left hand unclenched and Heero felt himself reach out into that part of his mind.

Sally jumped in alarm as the cement blockade behind her cracked loudly, a large chunk from the corner breaking off. But the piece didn't fall to the ground, it hung there in the air, slowly crumbling to dust in the grip of Heero's mind. The doctor's eyes flew wide and she looked to Heero with a wild look in her eyes.

Heero's chest was heaving a little at the force he was pouring into the destruction. How could Sally ever think he could do this to Relena?

"Heero?" The sound of Relena's voice pulled Heero up immediately, and he nearly forgot Sally was even standing there as he turned to look at Relena.

"Relena," he breathed her name, his heart rate slowing almost immediately at the sight of her.

She offered him a smile, one that was concerned, not scared, and her eyes flickered to Sally before coming back to rest on him. "I got our room key," she told him, coming closer and lightly placing her hand on his right arm. He nodded mutely, sighing out a breath as he allowed her to guide him down the line of rooms.

…

Sally released a shuddering breath, and she watched, heart pounding in her chest, as Relena disappeared inside the motel room with Heero right beside her. She turned herself, with some effort, to look at the cement blockade and what was left of the piece that had been held suspended in the air as it was crushed to dust. She could hardly believe what her own eyes had shown her.

It was impossible, and yet she'd witnessed it with no way to deny what had been done. Sally shivered to think of the change that had come over Heero at her suggestion. She had sensed a little of the danger in the young man from the moment she'd first laid eyes on him in her clinic. But he had been injured, and clearly lost, and Relena's desperation as much as seeing the injuries had spurred Sally into action that day.

He had since recovered, and that danger emanating from him was more than just a sense. It was a real, palpable thing, and Sally couldn't help but be concerned for Relena. Could she possibly realize what she had gotten herself into? That she'd merely spoken Heero's name, and touched him, led Sally to believe Relena had seen evidence of these powers already.

"Sally?" Wufei's voice broke through Sally's tightly wound thoughts, and she found herself crouched down near the piece of concrete, her right hand touching the cold cement. What was left of the solid piece, which had just moments before—she reminded herself—been floating in midair, felt no different than she expected it to, though there was a significant layer of finely ground cement on the surface.

"Hey," Wufei's hand nudged gently against her right shoulder, and Sally pushed herself back to her feet.

"We need to talk," she said, attention darting back to the room her friend was now inside, with that 'experiment?' or 'weapon?' Both words he'd chosen to describe himself as.

"What happened?" he asked, a note of concern entering his smooth voice.

Sally looked over to Wufei, seeing the key to the room in his hand. "Not out here," she said, feeling the need for extreme caution. Wufei gestured towards the room next to the one Relena and Heero were in. Sally slipped her hand into Wufei's free one as they walked to the room, and he unlocked the door.

Once inside the room, with the door securely bolted, Wufei turned to face her. "What's got you as white as a sheet?" he asked calmly.

"Wufei," she spoke his name, ready to tell him everything, but the reality of what she was about to say jumbled the words on her. Sally realized her hands were shaking slightly, and she clenched them into fists to stop the movement. She couldn't help thinking of Relena alone with Heero, and she wanted to go pounding on the door to pull her friend out of that room.

"Must be really bad, to leave you speechless," Wufei grunted.

Sally glared at her man, but it was just the sort of comment she'd needed to snap her out of the memories of what had happened. "Wufei, I think we're in over our heads," she admitted, drawing a calming breath. "He doesn't just heal fast..."

"I'd doubted that was all they'd done to him," Wufei said pragmatically.

"You saw the chunk of concrete?" she asked, and when he nodded, she drew a breath. "He broke it off the blockade, without touching it."

One eyebrow on Wufei's face raised slightly as he studied her face intently. "He threw something at it?" Sally shook her head, still able to clearly see the cement floating in the air beside her, being ground into dust by a force she couldn't see or feel. "Sal," Wufei growled, "just tell me what happened."

"I don't know what happened," she fumed back, tossing both hands in the air. "One minute the blockade was a solid piece and the next, a chunk was hanging in the air, slowly being ground apart beside me."

Wufei stood a little straighter at that, and he pushed off the door to come stand in front of her. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Wufei asked, searching her face as his hands came to rest on either shoulder.

Sally drew a breath, offering Wufei a small but genuine smile. While not a demonstrative man by nature, Wufei still managed to let her know how important she was to him. "No," she told him, and watched him breathe his own sigh of relief. "But he's dangerous, Wufei." Sally wished she had Relena here in the room with her right now.

"Dangerous is a relative term," Wufei said, as he released her shoulders and drew her towards the bed. "I'm dangerous in the right situations, and I know you can be too, when your back is up." She would have glared at him for that, had his expression not told her he was thinking of one very specific time, and he even had the decency to blush a little about it.

"This isn't the same at all," she wanted to argue.

Wufei sat down on the edge of the bed and began removing his shoes. "What caused him to react?"

Sally folded her arms beneath her breasts, "I told him I didn't think it was a good idea for him to be in the same room as Relena."

"So why is he?" the Chinese man asked, that quizzical eyebrow raised again as he straightened from his feet and regarded her.

"Relena came out," Sally said, unwinding her right hand so she could place the fingers against her forehead. "All she did was say his name, and..." Sally didn't think she'd ever forget the change in Heero's expression when he heard Relena's voice. It was as if Sally had briefly witnessed a different person than the one Heero had been up till then.

"And?" Wufei prompted, standing up to pull his shirt over his head.

"He stopped whatever he'd been doing," Sally sighed, her eyes absently trailing down Wufei's toned chest. "But he's unpredictable, we know practically nothing about him, and it's not like he's been very talkative about himself, really."

"But Relena was able to calm him?" Wufei pressed, as he tossed his shirt onto one of the room's chairs and reached for his belt next.

Sally nodded slowly. "So it seemed. I also don't think she was unaware of what he's capable of; she didn't give the floating chunk of concrete a second glance."

Wufei stepped out of his jeans and sat back down on the mattress. "You planning on sleeping in your clothes?" he asked, and he sounded unconcerned.

"How can you ask me that?" she demanded, staring down at him.

He shrugged one muscular shoulder, "it's a legitimate question."

"My friend is locked in a room with..." she trailed off, unsure what descriptor to use at this time. "I'm not okay with this," she said flatly.

"You were okay enough to let them walk away," Wufei pointed out.

"I was a little stunned at the time," Sally defended with a huff.

"Obviously," he agreed with a nod, "I've never known you to back down from anything." He smirked a little and added, "ever!"

Sally glared at him, and strode around to the far side of the bed. "How can you be so calm about this?" she demanded, beginning to undress, and feeling Wufei's eyes following her every move as she did.

"Would you feel better if I ran around the room in a panic?" he deadpanned, and Sally actually found herself laughing despite the way she felt at the very thought. She balled up her shirt and threw it at Wufei's head. "I'll take that as a no," he muttered tossing her shirt with his own clothes before pulling back the blankets of the bed.

Sally kicked off her shoes before shimmying out of her pants, and heard the creak of the mattress springs as Wufei stretched out on the bed behind her. "At this point we don't know enough," Wufei said, and Sally turned to see he was laying on his side of the bed with his left arm stretched out across her pillow, waiting for her.

"I've so many questions," she agreed, lifting the sheets and slipping herself under them, before turning towards Wufei's warmth.

"Well, you won't get your answers tonight," Wufei said, wrapping his arm about her shoulders and pulling her close. "And don't let yourself get carried away with the 'what ifs,' you can drive yourself nuts that way."

Sally looked into Wufei's nearly black eyes, the only light in the room spilling through the sheers from outside in the parking lot behind him. He'd pulled loose his smooth black hair and it spilled down the side of his face and across his neck. "I'm worried about Relena," she admitted softly, eyes moving past Wufei to the door.

His hand came up from under the sheets to toss her twist of hair back behind her. "The man took the brunt of an explosion to protect her," Wufei pointed out in a low, smooth voice. "Not something I'd have done, if I was just going to turn on her after. If he does have abilities, I'd imagine it's the people looking for him right now who have more to worry about than your friend."

She mulled that over for a minute, before turning to snuggle her cold back against Wufei's warm chest. He stretched his right arm around her and she felt him release a comfortable breath against the back of her neck. "Gotta let the children grow up sometime," he murmured into her hair, "and trust their judgement-ow..." he muttered the last as Sally's right elbow connected with his middle.

"Comedy isn't your strong suit, dear," she said sarcastically as she tried to relax into his arms.

"Your elbows have lost none of their points..." he huffed softly, settling warmly against her.