Chapter Nineteen
Finally Stepping Up

When they arrived back at HQ, Heero hadn't said anything to Serena as they walked back into the building. Trowa tried not to read too much into it at the moment. But not even a minute after they had stepped back inside the building did Une stop them.

"Barton, Lowell, Yuy. My office now," she said before turning on her heel and walking to the elevator. She held the doors as the three filed in. Heero had pulled Serena's hood over her head again. Gaining another glare from her.

Heero and Serena stood as far apart as possible. Une stood at the front with her arms crossed glaring at the numbers as they rose. Trowa ended up being pushed into the middle since Serena and Heero were trying not to be within arm's reach of each other.

The silence in the elevator was deafening and the tension was so thick, that a knife could cut through it.

Trowa placed a hand on Serena's back for a moment to try and reassure her. She didn't acknowledge him verbally. Only glancing at him before the doors opened.

Une stepped off the elevator first, turning left towards her office. Heero followed after her while reminding Serena to stay close. Trowa dropped his hand as she pulled away from him. She kept her arms crossed as they walked down the hallway. A few people stopped to stare but no one said anything until after they had passed by. Trowa could hear them whispering before they entered Une's office.

Trowa had barely gotten the door shut before Une let loose on them.

"Do any of you care to explain what the hell happened?" She locked eyes with each of them. "I got a lovely call from the President. While normally to get any kind of praise from him is a good sign that we're doing our jobs right, this time it isn't. He has asked for a meeting with the agent who stopped Watson. What am I supposed to tell him? Hm?"

When no one said anything. Une sighed, sitting down in her chair.

"Look, Serena, while I appreciate what you did, I cannot have you running around playing Preventer. I've allowed you to stay but you need to be staying under the radar."

"With all due respect, Watson would have killed Relena. You're lucky he didn't just do it in her office," Serena said. Trowa caught Heero stiffening next to her.

"Why do you think that?" Une questioned.

"Relena was never supposed to be killed. Her role in their plans is too valuable to just simply kill her. The organization needs her, and they need her alive," Serena barely finished speaking before Heero turned, grabbing hold of Serena.

"What did you just say?" He asked her in Japanese.

"She was never supposed to get hurt. They need her to sway the people of Earth and the Colonies."

"Heero! Enough!" Une yelled. Trowa watched as Heero tightened his grip on Serena's sweatshirt.

"Why didn't you tell me she was a target?"

"You think I'd let them hurt her? When you said Watson had taken her, it set off alarms in my head. I didn't know they had sent someone to infiltrate Preventer."

"Are you telling me the truth or only half of it?" Heero growled at her.

"I didn't know someone was going to target her! If I had I would've said something," Serena prided his hands off of herself, pushing him away. "I wouldn't let them hurt her!"

Trowa moved to pull Serena a few steps away from Heero. He kept his hands on her shoulders as Heero and her stared each other down. Not knowing what they had said to each other, Trowa wanted to make sure they kept some distance between them.

"Tell them what you just told me," Heero said, keeping icy eyes on her.

"Edwards is the leader of ROE," Serena started as she turned to face Une. "I know of Watson but I'm not sure he knows who I am. Chances are he won't give up any information. I didn't know they were sending people to infiltrate Preventer. Though it does make sense in the grand scheme of things. Their goal is to take control of ESUN but Relena was to be a key figure in their plan. No harm was to come to her."

"Keep going," Heero said in a low voice. Serena glanced at him before looking back to Une.

"They need her to sway the Earth and Colonies. They know the kind of influence she could have over them. Once they have control of her, I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" Une asked as Une pinched the bridge of her nose.

"They want to become the new ruling government. Which shouldn't surprise you. After the wars, Edwards started forming his own body of soldiers. With each dismantling of other organizations, he gained more people. It didn't matter whose side you fought on. If they were against the current ruling of ESUN, they joined his cause-"

"And who is Edwards?" Une asked, stopping Serena.

"Unfortunately I don't know who he is or if he even exists. I never met with him. Only his subordinates. They all claimed to be the leader of ROE."

"Are you saying that Edwards may not even be an actual person?" Une frowned.

"Yes. My orders were always delivered by someone else. To be honest I think ROE is made up of several leaders."

"How involved were you before you left?"

"I was heavily involved but I wasn't allowed access to certain files or operations. I only know the raw basics of their plans. I was kept in the dark even before going on any missions."

"What can you tell me then?" Une asked.

Serena was silent for a moment.

"There were shipments of metals being brought in so they could manufacture their weapons," Serena said. Trowa glanced at Heero who had narrowed his eyes at Serena. "While the black market has a sustainable amount of weapons still flowing through it, it wasn't enough to meet the demand of what the leaders wanted."

"Based on what you've said it seems they're building something other than just weapons," Heero stated, gaining everyone's attention.

"They also needed the ability to transport those weapons. They were able to buy out a small shipping company and make the repairs needed to the ships."

"What company and where would they be able to do so under our radar?" Une asked, redirecting Serena's attention from Heero back to her.

"There was a small company based in the L3 cluster. Meyer I believe was the name. All operations were moved once ROE bought them out. There are still several resource satellites that are unused and have been made available for purchase since the wars ended. If you want the locations, I don't have them. A lot of the materials they had shipped were used to repair some of the satellites. It allowed them to move them from one location to the other," Serena stopped, lowering her head.

Trowa looked around the room. Une had sat back in her seat, closing her eyes. The situation was turning more severe as Serena shared information with them. Heero looked downright pissed. His eyes were glued to Serena and if Trowa had to guess, it was a combination of Relena's life being threatened and everything else Serena had said.

"There's also one other thing," Serena's voice broke through the silence. Une nodded for Serena to continue. "There may be others who have come into the agency. I don't think Watson is the only one who may have been sent to infiltrate. It's also possible that they sent others to even start working their way through ESUN. If you want, I can go through a list of personnel and see if any names match those of who I know in ROE?" Heero was about to interject when Une held up a hand.

"I'll think it over. We have Watson and I want a full interrogation done on him. See if he's willing to say anything," Une said to Heero before looking back to Serena. "As far you go, Serena, I want you to return to your room and wait for my decision on what the next course of action will be."

"May I make a suggestion?" Serena asked. Une nodded her head in approval. "Increase security on top-ranking officials," Serena turned to look at Heero. "Especially Relena and the President."

"I agree with you, Lowell. Thank you for your time. You're dismissed."

Serena nodded her head again, turning on her heel, she headed for the door. Heero and he thought they were to leave and escort Serena back to her room. Heero wasn't happy based on what Trowa could read from the expression on his face.

"Barton, Yuy. Both of you are to remain. I trust that Serena can find her way back," Une said pointedly to them.

They both stopped in their tracks as they watched Serena turn around quickly. She gave a curt nod before opening the door. After she exited the room they both turned back to face Une.

"Do you think that's a wise idea?" Heero asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Sally is aware of the fact that Serena was coming to my office. I have her waiting."

"What if someone sees her?"

"Yuy, at this point it's been made aware that she is in this building along with the fact she has been seen with the both of you. Hiding her isn't going to help," Une pinched the bridge of her nose again. "I'll figure out what to do with her. For now, she's talking. She's willing to give us information, which is a starting point. Whatever information she tells us needs to be looked into regardless of whether it's something small. She may be telling us the truth about not knowing everything," she looked at each of them.

"You both know that first hand. You were given orders and you followed through. You knew the basics of what Operation M was, but never fully knew the finer details. Just remember that" Une paused for a moment before continuing.

"See what Watson has to say and report anything back to me ASAP. I'll hold off Klein for as long as I can, but it may come down to where we may have to set something up. I'll see if Relena can pull any strings to keep him away.

Yuy, go find Chang and Maxwell. Have them handle Watson. Barton, go make sure Serena has returned to her room. I'll let you both know my decision in a day or so on what we'll be doing with her. Until then, I want her to stay in her room, no matter what. Understood?" Trowa nodded his head along with Heero. "Dismissed."

A/N

Happy Wednesday!

There will only be one chapter today since I uploaded three on Monday. I know this one is very short, sorry. In this chapter, there are more hints at what's going on. Serena isn't fully telling them everything which is clear, but she's starting to talk at least. I also left the part where Heero and Serena are only speaking to each other, even though we're technically in Trowa's POV. I did this on purpose. I wanted you the reader to gain some more insight into Serena and her reasoning behind what she did when she basically ignored what Heero had told her to do. I might do this again down the line and break the rules... I'm not sorry.

Have a great rest of your day and I'll see you all on Friday!
-MM