Chapter Four
The Encounter

Everyone had made it outside and away from the main building as smoke and flames shot out from broken windows and the rooftop. Wufei, Duo, and Watson along with Sally's team were able to stop the explosives from going off on the outer perimeter of the building, but the group of rebels had made sure to plant plenty of explosives inside the main building itself. It was obvious they wanted to destroy any trace they had been occupying the place.

The group was standing five hundred yards away on the rundown airstrip where the helicopters were preparing for take-off. There was no point in staying any longer. The local authorities were informed of the situation. Heero had already made sure Agent Brown contacted HQ to send a cleanup crew as well. As far as he was concerned their part in the mission was over with.

He was angry. He hadn't found anything that was good enough evidence in his eyes. Nothing he saw was going to explain who had sent the encrypted messages.

Putting his anger aside for the moment, Heero looked around counting everyone along with the few people from the base they were able to apprehend. The few who were apprehended looked as though they were trying to get out of the building and just happened to run into the wrong people at the wrong time.

Heero didn't think the people that were stationed at the location were well trained. The few they did manage to apprehend didn't put up much of a fight or they were too scared out of their minds with the base exploding around them. The rest would unfortunately burn along with the building. There wasn't much he or anyone else could do to save them. As Heero continued to glance around, he realized someone was missing.

Heero turned to Roberts, who was only a few feet away from him.

"Where's Barton?" Roberts shook his head. Heero gritted his teeth, turning back to face the building. He was about to make a run for it when another explosion erupted. Engulfing the rest of the building in flames. Heero's eyes grew wide. If Trowa was still inside, there wasn't any way for them to get in there now. Then he spotted a figure running towards them.

Trowa ran as fast as he could while carrying the girl in his arms. Brown had gotten him out just in time as another blast sounded from behind him. He tightened his hold on her as he continued to make his way away from the burning building. He noticed that she had a gunshot wound to her right shoulder along with some cuts and one not-so-good-looking one to her head. She most likely had a concussion and was probably banged up pretty good from what he could tell. He just hoped nothing else was seriously wrong with her.

Trowa ran by Duo and Wufei who were loading four of the men they had apprehended into one of the helicopters. Making his way towards Sally, he didn't even pause to look at Heero as he ran. The only thing on his mind was that he needed to get this girl to Sally before it was too late. As he approached Sally, he knew she had been watching him make his way to her. Slightly winded from the whole ordeal he tried to speak quickly and as quietly as possible to her.

"She needs medical attention. Gunshot wound to the right shoulder. Looks like it was a clean shot. Along with a cut to her head and possible concussion."

"Trowa, are you alright? You look a little pale. You're not hurt are you?" Sally questioned. Trowa shook his head.

"I'm fine. Just help her," he lifted his arms, adjusting the girl. "I also need you to look into something."

Sally arched her brow at him but motioned for him to place the girl down on the floor of the copper. Sally quickly climbed in after him. As she started to examine the girl she noticed right away that the girl looked a lot like someone she knew and someone she knew very well. But this girl looked slightly different. Pushing the thoughts aside she continued to look over her. Checking her wounds to make sure there wasn't anything else that was life-threatening at the moment.

Trowa had stayed by the girl's side the entire time Sally was examining her and Sally couldn't help but ask, "why is this girl so important? You found her inside the building, right? Am I to assume she works for these guys?" Trowa shook his head when she glanced up at him.

"I don't know if she works for them or what the case is. But she was in there and…" Trowa trailed off as Sally grabbed a small flashlight to check the girl's eyes. Sally opened one eyelid before shining the light over the girl's eye. Sally gasped as the light fell from her hand. Landing on the floor next to the girl's head.

Sally's head immediately snapped up to look at Trowa. Trowa's face was a mask as he gave her a slight nod. There was only one other person she had ever met who had those same eyes.

"I need you to look into something once we get back to HQ. I'm sure you understand why now?"

Sally could only gape at him. She didn't know what to say. She was in shock over what it could mean. She had a suspicion but was this even possible? Nodding her head slowly she decided to change the subject back to what needed to be done to keep the girl alive.

"Her shoulder is still bleeding. We need to apply pressure, could you possibly do that? I want to make sure she makes it back."

Trowa reached over, grabbed some gauze, and started to apply pressure to the bleeding wound on her shoulder. They locked eyes one last time, and Sally knew they had the same question, who was this girl?

Heero had watched as Trowa ran by without so much as a glance or a word to him. He noticed that he was carrying a female in his arms. Heero's eyes followed Trowa as he made his way to Sally. He had seen everything that had transpired between Sally and Trowa. His eyes narrowed after Sally dropped the small flashlight and looked at Trowa.

There was something about the girl. The nagging voice he had been experiencing for almost a month now was back, making him feel uneasy.

Deciding to let the feeling go for a few moments, Heero checked on the rest of the agents. Everyone was ready to go from what he observed. Trowa was going to go with Sally and her team, so that meant Heero was stuck with his thoughts for the ride back. He would question both of them once they got back to HQ. Heero climbed into the last chopper and signaled for them to leave. It was going to be a long four hours back, not to mention at the last second Duo decided to trade places with Roberts and ride back with Heero.

Heero sighed as his braided comrade plopped himself down in the seat next to him.

Once they had arrived back at Preventer HQ, Heero jumped out of the chopper just as Sally, her team, and Trowa exited theirs. Trowa once again had the girl in his arms as they rushed back into the building. They were no doubt heading to the Medical Facility located on the lower levels of the building.

Duo, who had still been trying to talk to him the whole ride back, was now ranting about the move to Earth with Hilde. Heero continued to tune him out, until Duo was standing next to him on the helicopter landing pad, talking about some ridiculous idea about how they should buy houses near each other so they could be neighbors.

Heero turned his head to face Duo, glaring at him and willing him to leave him alone. But Duo seemed to either not care or not notice. Finally, he had had enough.

"Maxwell, why don't you go help Watson and Roberts with the men we apprehended?" Duo stopped talking, one eyebrow raised.

"Seriously? We only managed to grab four guys. Two of which are hurting pretty bad. Took a pretty nasty punch to the face by the looks of it."

Heero could only manage to grunt something unintelligent. He was trying not to roll his eyes. A habit he had picked up from a certain someone.

"Just go do your damn job, Duo," Heero said as he stepped away from him, heading towards the door that would lead him into the building.

"Wow, why do I bother sometimes? He's been moody even more lately. He probably needs to get laid or something," Duo said aloud while shrugging his shoulders.

"I wouldn't push your luck, Maxwell. Heero's been moody, yes, but something about this whole mission has had him on edge ever since the intel came in," Wufei said, walking up to him. "Best to leave him alone for now. Whatever is going on we'll find out soon enough. Now go do your damn job and get those idiots inside and into some interrogation rooms."

"Not you too Wu-ie," Duo put on his best pout. "And where are you going anyway? You could help too, you know!"

Duo's words fell on deaf ears as Wufei continued walking away to the same door Heero had gone through. Sighing, Duo turned to go help Watson and Roberts. At least he could maybe help integrate them. That'd be fun, smirking as he approached the four men they had apprehended.

Heero made his way through HQ. He wanted to go speak with Trowa about the girl he had found. Taking the stairs down a few floors, Heero decided to enter one of the hallways and just take the elevator down the rest of the way to the medical facility where he knew he'd find Trowa. Walking down the hallway toward the elevators he saw the one person he didn't want to see at that very moment.

Commander Une had just stepped off the elevator along with another Preventer agent. They were speaking quietly when she looked up and noticed him walking towards them. She quickly ended her conversation and turned to him as he approached.

"Agent Yuy, glad to see you back so soon. Was the mission a success?" Une asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"As well as we'd hoped it would go. I'm sure Brown informed you of what happened?" Heero replied in a flat voice.

"Yes, Agent Brown did inform me. You were able to apprehend at least four rebels. Along with no casualties to our side."

"Hm," Heero nodded.

"Good. I am to assume they are being brought in for interrogation?" Une's brow lifted. Heero was struggling to read her. He wasn't sure if she was happy or pissed off at him about how everything went.

"Yes."

"Good. Then I expect a full report tomorrow on the mission and any information they give us."

"I'll let Chang and Maxwell know," Heero responded.

"While I appreciate that, I do expect you to be there to also interrogate them. This was your mission after all. I expect you to fulfill your duty as the lead on this and as an agent," Une said sternly.

Heero's eyes grew wide, but he couldn't fight Une on this. It was his persistence that got her to even give the green light on this mission. While he knew she understood the importance of why he wanted to act so quickly. Une, on the other hand, was willing to wait for a little more information before moving in.

"Understood," was all he could say to her. Une nodded her head.

"Very good, Yuy. I expect that information ASAP. Call if anything should come up," she turned away from him before he could even say anything else.

Heero knew everyone was tired and Une probably had been at HQ all night waiting to hear about the mission. He knew he couldn't get out of this and decided it was best to get the interrogations over and done with. Then he could go see Trowa. Or even the girl that was brought in. Stepping into the elevator, Heero realized one important thing. Une hadn't mentioned anything about the girl.

Which meant she had no idea that they had found a fifth person.

Down in the Preventer Medical Facility, Trowa paced the waiting area of the small lobby. They had rushed down, Sally taking the girl into one of the ORs. From what they could tell it was a clean shot through her shoulder, but Sally wanted to make sure the muscles inside would heal properly and to make sure the bullet didn't do any damage to the surrounding bones. Almost two hours had passed before Sally had finally come out into the lobby. Trowa had stopped pacing to sit but he immediately jumped to his feet the second he saw her.

"Is she okay?" Trowa asked. Sally nodded her head.

"Lucky girl, the shot was clean, no real damage to the bones. I think she'll make a full recovery. She has a concussion and some bruises and cuts to her body, but nothing major. She lost some blood, but a few days of rest should be able to fix that." Trowa let out a breath and a small smile formed on his lips, but slowly the smile disappeared as Sally continued. "I took some blood samples and ran a few scans... I think you should come to take a look for yourself."

Trowa was about to speak when Sally shook her head. Stopping him.

"Just come look before you start asking questions and jump to conclusions."

Sally led him out of the lobby and back deeper into the medical ward. Trowa was half expecting to be brought to her office or the girl's room at the very least but Sally led him to a lab that was down one floor and at the end of the hallway. Once inside Trowa's eyes went wide and he felt his anger start to build.

"Why is she strapped down!?" Turning sharply to Sally, "why the fuck is she strapped down!?" He seethed through his clenched teeth. Sally put up her hands.

"She's still unconscious, at the moment, but I want you to see the results we have so far. It's for her own good, and ours if she's restrained."

Trowa couldn't believe Sally had the girl restrained for any reason.

"Trowa, if you give me a few minutes to explain, I'm sure it would clear the air and you'd agree this is the best for us and her," Sally motioned towards the girl. "To be honest this isn't the first time I've had to do this to someone," Sally said as she walked over to a desk, waving him over to join her. Sitting down in front of her computer she started to pull up charts and files on the results that she had so far. Starting with what looked like to be a basic chart of the patient's health.

"Overall, she's pretty healthy. Her shoulder should heal with time and her head didn't sustain too much damage. A mild concussion. I would be surprised, but in this case, I'm not. Her body has seen more damage in the past than what it's going through now. Based on what I see she'll be healed within a month tops.m," sighing, Sally continued, "her muscle mass is incredible for someone her size. But yet you'd never know. She's tone but not overly toned. She's probably spent years training to get where she is," Sally glanced over her shoulder at him.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Trowa questioned but part of him already knew the answer.

"I know you're aware of who she looks like. I can't deny the resemblance so I've ordered a DNA test to be done along with a few other tests."

"What other test did you order?" Trowa questioned while continuing to read through the preliminary reports on the girl.

"I want to know if her DNA was manipulated in any way," Sally spoke softly. "If my gut is right, chances are she's been genetically enhanced just like Heero was. But to what extent I won't know until the tests come back. It should take a few more hours till they come in. From there we can try and figure this all out. Along with who she is and why she's here. But some of that information we'll have to ask her directly," Sally sighed as she looked from the computer to the girl. "If Heero had a sister why didn't he say anything to anyone?"

"Heero doesn't have a sister. From what I understand he was an only child. My guess is either he doesn't know he had one or she's a clone," Trowa winced at the thought. Sally spun her head around to face him. "You voiced your question out loud. I gave you an honest answer. You and I know those are the only two options," Trowa replied to the unspoken question.

"Oh. I guess you're right. Those are the only two possible answers to this. But… something just isn't right," shaking her head. "I think it's time for us to get some rest. We won't have any answers till the morning anyway." Trowa nodded, standing back up to his full height.

"I'll stay here and watch over her," he said. Sally arched a brow at him.

"You don't need to, nor should you. I plan to have guards stationed outside and inside the room. I think it's best if you go and try and get some rest, Trowa. It's been a long night."

Trowa shook his head as he grabbed a nearby chair dragging it over to where the girl lay. "I'm staying," was his response before he sat down, crossing his legs over one another, then his arms. "I'll see you in a few hours." He never turned back, keeping his eyes focused on the girl, maybe if he looked at her long enough she'd wake up. He needed to know more about her, who she was, where she came from, and most importantly why she was at the base.

"Fine, but if you get tired, leave the room and head across the hall. There's a small cot I keep in there. I'm still sending guards to watch over the room." Trowa never responded as Sally said her goodbyes and left.

A/N

I forgot to mention that the chapters do get longer. I probably could've combined two and three, but whatever. I'm sure I had a plan when I set up my docs... a while ago. But here's to chapter four and if you can't figure out what's going on... I don't know what else to say. But we shall move on to chapter five now!

-MM