Chapter 27

"They called it Operation Natural Selection," Reiming began.

The entire group had gathered in her room, where Reiming was resting in bed. Even though her
life was no longer in danger, the poison has worked well: she had lost much weight and was
still weak."

"The idea was to abduct 200 children that seemed to have potential, but to do so so that
it wouldn't be discovered. Therefore, much time was spent faking deaths, and much time was
spent searching the streets for potential. And...of the two hundred children...they tried to
find children that would possibly have links to the candidates that would eventually become the
gundam pilots."

"They knew about Operation Meteor?" Quatre asked.

"They had a vague idea. Both Himmler and Atkins were very powerful men in high
positions...once they found out about it, they immediately began planning. So...when they
found me...after I had just run away...once they realized who I was, they took me also."

Sitting next to her, Trowa gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Steeling herself, Reiming continued, "The first hundred children were eliminated without
difficulty. They simply had no potential at all. However, once it came down to the final
hundred..." taking a deep breath, Reiming continued, "It...it became a fight for survival. The
remaining hundred quickly realized that only the strong would survive, and we all soon
resorted to any means possible to survive...we practically became animals," she finished,
hanging her head in shame. "I still remember...the first time I..." and she couldn't continue.

Letting her regain her composure, Heero waited until she was ready before he asked the
question. "Reiming, we need to know...who is Veylona?"

Hesitating, Reiming said, "Wufei...I need to speak to you alone for a minute."

Wufei looked surprised, but nodded. The rest of the group stood up and left.

"What is it?" he asked, as soon as they were alone.

Gripping her bed sheets, Reiming said, "Wufei...I know the identity of Veylona...she is
linked to you...like I am."

Wufei was surprised, but he didn't say anything. "Go on."

"I...I didn't want to say her name without your permission...because though you never
knew her directly...she was the sister to someone you knew...knew...quite well."

"Just tell me who she is."

"Her name is Meilai."

When Wufei didn't say anything, she continued, "Her full name is Meilai...Ron. Her name is
Ron Meilai." As soon as she finished, Reiming quickly looked to see how Wufei took the news.

Wufei had frozen in shock. "No..." he croaked. "She can't be..."

"Wufei...she is Meiran's younger sister. She supposedly died when she fell off a cliff
and into a stream several years ago, when she was a child...I'm sorry, Brother..."

"No..." he said, shaking his head. "NO!"

Reiming looked at her brother with pity. "Why me..." he moaned. "Why must I be the one to be
haunted with ghosts from the past? Why?"

"Heero knew no one from his past...he only had his father for company. It wasn't
predicted that someone like Quatre would become a pilot. Quite a few of Duo's friends were
taken, but they didn't make it. Trowa...well, it was hard enough to find out his real name,
but there were several of the real Trowa Barton's relatives that were taken. You were the only
one with a past...and they took advantage of that..."

Wufei had stopped shaking his head; he only sat there now, in a dumb stupor. "Wufei...is it
okay if I tell the other pilots?"

Wufei shrugged. "Why not?" he said dully, his face blank. "They deserve to know."

Reiming bit her lip as she looked at her brother, then nodded. Calling the others back in, she
said simply, "Veylona's true name is Ron Meilai."

"Ron?" Heero thought. Casting a look at Wufei's poker face, he knew, "So, she is
related to Wufei's late wife."

"I predict that the Seraphim is designed nearly identical to the Phoenix. Our
mobile suits were made to fit our personalities and fighting styles. Meilai and I, we have
very similar fighting styles and natures, so it is safe to assume that despite the different
appearances, our suits are about the same."

"Why didn't you know Meilai had survived?" Duo asked. "And why is it that you know
her real name, while she doesn't know yours?"

"Meilai was too trusting...too naive...She willingly told me her true name, while I told
her a name I fabricated. And...I didn't know she had survived because...because..." Reiming
hesitated, unable to speak. Trowa squeezed her hand again, and Reiming cleared her throat.
"I didn't know Meilai had survived because I was too confident, because I was the one who
arranged for her death," she said flatly. Ignoring the horrified looks on the others' faces, she
continued, "Meilai and I had formed a temporary alliance...we helped each other eliminate
competition, and we protected each other when possible. Despite the situation we were in, we
became friends...we were inseparable, and therefore, we survived. Finally, it was down to the
two of us. Himmler and Atkins didn't want alliances; they were afraid that should we ever get
ideas of our own, we could overpower them, so they were going to force us to fight each other to
the death. I managed to find out about this duel ahead of time, so I prepared a poison and
slipped it into Meilai's food...I knew that she was as skilled as I was, and that there was a
chance that she would defeat me...and I was too much of a coward to fight her...I didn't want to
have to kill her...I didn't want to look in her eyes and then kill her, so I decided to eliminate
her in the cleanest way possible. So, when we were supposed to battle, Meilai collapsed. I
thought she was dead, but evidently now, I know she wasn't. Himmler and Atkins must have
carried her away and revived her, then hid her away from me, knowing that if I ever rebelled,
they would use Meilai and her thirst for revenge against me."

Reiming finally finished her story, and then looked down at her hands. "I'm not proud of what I
did...I deserve to die, I know I do. I'm a horrible person..." she trailed off.

Shaking off the shock of what she had just heard, Relena put her hand on her shoulder. "We
understand...Don't worry about it. You did what probably most of us would have done had we
been in your position."

"That's no excuse," Reiming said flatly, shaking her head. "Quatre said it himself,
life is the most precious thing in this universe, and I took several lives for the sake of my
own...I really deserve to die, and I really deserve to be killed by Meilai."

Shaking his head, Trowa said, "Stop it Reiming. You'll drive yourself crazy."

But Reiming ignored him, just continued looking at her hands. "My hands...they are so
bloodstained..."

Suddenly, Dorothy moved. Swiftly going to Reiming's bedside, she raised her hand and slapped
Reiming hard across the face.

"Dorothy!" Quatre gasped.

"Now you listen to me, Chang Reiming," Dorothy began sharply. "Stop this nonsense about
you deserving to die. You think you're the only one who has ever taken a life in cold
blood? Nearly everyone in this room has. Why, even Relena was willing to shoot Lady Une here
for killing her father. Okay, I admit it, your hands ARE bloodstained, but instead of
staring at them and moaning and groaning about how you're horrible and how you deserve to die,
which, may I add, is pure bull, you should focus on how to atone for your sins, and dying is
not the answer!"

During Dorothy's tirade, Reiming had sat there dumbly, one hand to her cheek. After Dorothy had
finally finished, Reiming still sat there, staring. Suddenly, she smiled and let out a wry
chuckle.

"Thank you Dorothy. I needed that."

Dorothy was gracious in victory. "Any time," she said sweetly.

This caused everyone in the room to smile. "But now, to more important news," Reiming said.
"Evidently, Himmler and Atkins have planted several atomic bombs in strategic locations. We'll
need to find out where they are and disable them, not to mention there is still Meilai to deal
with, along with Himmler and Atkins."

"What I don't understand," Noin began, "Is why Himmler and Atkins haven't fought us.
They have two immensely powerful suits, yet, we haven't seen them at all! Why is that?"

"They hate gettting their hands dirty," Reiming said in a disgusted voice. "Typical
aristocrats."

"Hey," said Zechs, mildly annoyed.

"Sorry, you're the exception."

"Thank you."

"So what do you think we should do? I mean, do you have any ideas on how to disable the
bombs?" asked Lady Une.

"Unfortunately, the program I had given you, the one that hacked into their main
computer, no longer works. Meilai probably discovered it and changed it. She is," Reiming
added, "as good with computer programs as I am."

"So now what?"

Reiming hesitated. "Well, one thing we do need to do is design a program similar to that of the
ANTI ZERO, only it will target the Xero program instead. That will take care of the other
mobile suits."

"But we disabled it before it had too much of an effect," Wufei said.

"That's why it needs to be designed so it CAN'T be disabled," Reiming said grimly.

"Do you mean...you mean...you're going to cause a brain aneurysm, is that right?"
Relena said, turning pale.

"There's no other alternative," Reiming said dully. "In a face to face combat, I have
no idea who will come up on top. Himmler and Atkins are both excellent pilots. But as for
Meilai," she continued, then hesitated.

"What?" asked Quatre.

"I will face her myself."

"NO!" shouted everyone in the room.

"There is NO WAY that you are going to throw your life away!" Wufei snarled. "I know
what you're going to do. You're going to walk up to her and tell her to kill you, and then
she will do so with pleasure. Forget it," he finished. "You are NOT going."

"Try and stop me."

"I will, thank you very much!"

"Wufei, when will you get it through your head that, despite the fact that you are ten
minutes older than I am, you can't tell me what to do?"

"Let's deal with your suicide mission later," Duo interrupted. "But now, what about the
bombs?"

"It will be nearly impossible to sneak into their station now. By now, they will have
discovered how Trowa stole the antidote formulas, and they'll know that I'm still alive. Also,
after the first time I managed to get in, they will completely rearrange security, so then I
won't be able to help you. However...unless we go to each of the bomb locations and disable
them, which is impossible, we will have to board their station. There is no other way."

"Can you access their computer from here?" Hilde asked.

"Wish I could," Reiming said ruefully. "They know that we know about the bombs, and will
be monitoring their computer 24 hours a day. At the first sign of hacking, they may detonate
the bombs. This is where Meilai comes in."

"Now what?" Wufei asked sharply. "I don't want you dealing with her!"

"Relax...in order to succeed, both Meilai and I need to be alive for as long as
possible. As long as I'M alive, Meilai will not allow them to detonate the bombs, because she
will want to face me in a battle first. After the battle, however, we're out of luck, because
if I die, Meilai will care less whether they detonate the bombs or not; for all I know, she'd
probably kill herself."

"Why is that?" Noin asked.

"Both Meilai and I were raised to have a strong sense of honor. She too cannot sleep
well at night, knowing that she has already killed so many people. Once she has her
revenge on me, she will have no more reason to live. By taking her own life, she will be
free from her own conscience AND the control of Himmler and Atkins."

"So they have underestimated her," Trowa mused.

Reiming turned, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Himmler and Atkins deactivated the security measures to room 11B only because they
thought you were dead. They didn't think Meilai would try to steal the information because
they thought she thought she was not expendable. However...now it sounds like she doesn't
care for her life very much, like Himmler and Atkins think she does."

"Could be..." Then, if that's the case...Reiming thought...Maybe, just maybe, before
I die, I can convince her to help...But she didn't say anything. Wufei would hate the idea,
she thought.

"So we still need to sneak onboard, is that right?" Heero asked. Reiming nodded.
"Well then," he said, "Let's start planning."

Chapter 28

As she headed towards the kitchen to pick a snack, Reiming decided to stop in the hangar
to see how Howard was faring with Phoenix.

"Hey there Reiming! Coming to see if we've completely torn apart your suit?" Howard
called out jovially in greeting.

"Hello, Howard," Reiming said. "I came to see how you were doing."

"Pretty good, thanks! Your mobile suit is full of amazing technology," he said
admirably, reaching up to pat the suit. "Hehe, won't throw me into a wall again now will you?"

"Phoenix threw you against the wall?"

"Yeah...probably woulda gone flying even further if that wall hadn't been there."
Reaching up to rub his head, he winced, "Ow...still hurts just to think about it!"

Reiming's mouth twitched. "Well then, I need to check something in Phoenix's cockpit right now,
okay if I go in?"

"Yeah sure, go ahead."

Nodding her thanks, Reiming floated inside. As she had half expected, an encrypted message
had been sent. Scanning it quickly, Reiming deleted the message. "Thanks Howard," she called
as she left.

an hour later...

"You're going to fight, aren't you?" an accusing voice said.

Surprised, Reiming looked down from her perch in the tree. "Mariemaia?"

The fifteen year old glared up indignantly at her. "I know that look...you're going to meet
her somewhere and then you're going to let her kill you, aren't you?" When Reiming didn't say
anything, Mariemaia's voice rose to a franctic pitch. "Answer me!"

Leaping agilely from the tree, Reiming looked at her. "Yes...I am going to go fight her, and
I will be going soon."

"Why?!"

"Trust me on this one Mariemaia...It's for the best."

"How is your dying going to help?!"

"Mariemaia...do you think someone like me would die in vain? No...I have a plan...and
it just may require my death to work."

30 minutes later...

"Going so soon?"

Reiming stopped and rolled her eyes. "Why is it so fucking hard to die?!" she muttered to
herself. Turning around, she saw Trowa, leaning against the wall. He had been hidden in the
shadows, and she had not seen him. "Yes...I'm leaving...and don't think you can pull a Wufei
on me and try to order me not to go."

Straightening, Trowa looked at her straight in the eye. Reiming squirmed a little, then stood
up straight and returned his stare. "And that look of yours isn't going to work either."

Trowa's mouth twitched. Though his face betrayed no emotion, inside, he was crying. "How
many times must I lose you?" he thought. Finally, he nodded, and said, "I can't stop you...so
just try to remember this," and leaning over, he kissed her.

Though she was surprised, Reiming threw her arms around him and kissed him back for all she
was worth. As she felt Trowa run his fingers through her hair, she half-thought, Maybe I
shouldn't go after all...But she shook off that feeling and removed herself from his arms.
"I have to go now...Goodbye." and she turned and left. As she walked down the hall, she
murmured, "Aishiteru, Trowa Barton. I love you."

At his end of the hall, Trowa said quietly, "Aishiteru, Chang Reiming..." After she was gone,
he reached in his pocket and pulled a small electronic device. A dot appeared on the screen,
blinking. Trowa smiled to himself. "Thank you Mariemaia," he thought, grateful that the
girl had come to him, begging him to stop Reiming from going on her suicide mission, and he
was grateful that he had managed to catch up to her in time and work a tracer into one of her
braids. Putting the device back his pocket, he started to walk to the hangar, ready to board
Heavyarms and follow her.

Chapter 29

Reiming flew resolutely towards the arranged point, unaware that Trowa was following
her; she was too focused to pay attention to anything else but her goal. Soon, she arrived at
the spot: a wide grassy plain somewhere in what was formerly known as China. She noted her
surroundings with interest; she had never been in the country of her ethnicity before. "It
was too bad the Changs were forced into outer space," she thought. "I would have liked to live
here."

Settling down to wait on the grass, Reiming ran her hand through her hair, then froze. Her
fingers wrapped around a small metal object in her hair, and she removed it. "Huh," she said.
"Clever Trowa, very clever of you," she muttered. "I underestimated you. Well then, it's too
late to change the spot; I wonder where you are hiding?" But no matter where she looked, she
couldn't see Heavyarms. Glancing at some boulders about four hundred feet away, she said, "I
guess that's where Heavyarms is...but where are you?"

Trowa was in fact in Heavyarm's cockpit, peering out at Reiming through binoculars. "She
found the tracer," he said. "At least she didn't find it until I arrived." Trowa then stopped
looking at Reiming and instead started scanning the sky.

Reiming was doing the same. Finally, after about ten minutes, she spotted a glimmer in the
sky. "She's here...finally," Reiming muttered. Standing up, she waited for Meilai to arrive.

"It's a good thing Howard installed Reiming's stealth program," Trowa thought. Up close, the
Seraphim impressed him. It was as massive as the Phoenix, and it seemed to give off an aura of
power. "Another very impressive suit." Then, Trowa jumped from his suit, and, crawling on his
elbows and hiding in the tall grasses, headed for the two girls.

Meilai flew in close and landed next to the Phoenix. "You're late," Reiming said in greeting.
"You were never late before."

"Things change," was Meilai's reply, jumping down gracefully from her suit. Landing, she flipped
up her hair and focused her gaze on Reiming.

"She hasn't changed in appearance," Reiming thought, looking at the Asian girl in front
of her. Meilai wore traditional Chinese clothes, with pale blue slacks and a matching top.
The collar was high, and buttons went from the collar down across the top of her chest and
towards the left at a 45 degree angle. The buttons were made of knotted dark blue fabric, and
there were flowers stitched on her shirt and the bottoms of her pants. She had a petite figure
and her eyes were large, just as her sister's had been, but dead, like Heero's used to be. Her
hair was also similar to that of her sister's, pulled into two pigtails, but her pigtails were
braided, then looped, similar to how Lady Une had used to wear her hair, only the loops were
larger and higher.

"Your appearance hasn't changed though."

"Neither has yours," Meilai said coldly. "But your personality has changed. Before,
you were too much of a coward to face me in a battle, but now you are willing."

"Yes...I was a coward Meilai...I admit that."

"Meilai, is it? And I suppose you've started using your real name again also, which,
may I add, you never told me; one more way you took advantage of me."

Reiming laughed a bitter laugh. "Yes...I am using my real name again...and you are right, I
took advantage of you."

Meilai's eyes narrowed. "What are you up to Lillith?" she demanded.

"I came here to offer you a deal." Ignoring Meilai's derisive snort, she continued,
"Meilai, I know the only reason you live is that you want to have your revenge. But I also
know that you despise Himmler and Atkins as much as I do. I refuse to believe that you are
cold and heartless enough to let them take millions of lives." When Meilai didn't respond, she
said, "Meilai, Himmler and Atkins have planted several atomic bombs on Earth and the colonies."

Meilai's eyes widened, but she kept her composure. "Your point?"

"The Gundam pilots are franctically trying to disable the bombs, but they can't hack
into the main computer. They can't even discover the locations of the bombs...but you can.
Even if you can't disable the bombs from the station, you can certainly discover their
locations. So this is my proposal. Kill me, right here, right now, but swear to me that you
will save the lives of millions by helping the pilots. Swear it to me, on your honor."

"And if I kill you, and don't keep my part in the deal?"

Reiming smiled ruefully. "Meilai...as much as you may not want to admit it, you and I, we are
remarkably similar. Our suits are even nearly identical. I know, that like I, you possess a
great sense of honor. You will not swear that you will do something, then not do it."

"What if I don't promise you at all?"

"I don't think you won't...but even if you don't, kill me anyway. It is your right."
And with that, Reiming closed her eyes. "Go ahead...kill me."

Meilai stared for a moment, then asked abruptly, "One more thing, before I kill you...what IS
your name?"

Opening her eyes, Reiming said, "You are not going to appreciate this...but we are in a way
sisters."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Meilai demanded.

"My name is Chang Reiming. I am the twin sister of your late sister's husband."

Whatever answer Meilai had expected, she certainly hadn't expected that. Her sword, which she
had drawn, slipped from her fingers. "No...you're lying..."

"You know as well as I do that I don't lie."

Meilai sat down with a thud. "You...you are my sister?!" she stammered. "But..." and she
could only stare mutely at Reiming.

Reiming, meanwhile, had gotten impatient. "Now, are you going to accept my proposal or
aren't you? I am still waiting for your answer."

Meilai shifted her gaze from Reiming then to her sword. Slowly standing up, she said
quietly, "If you believe that I am not heartless enough to allow the lives of millions to be
extinguished...then I am not heartless enough to take the life of my sister," and she
thrust her sword into the dirt.

Reiming's eyes widened, as did Trowa's from his spot in the field. "What? Why won't you kill
me?" Reiming sputtered. "You should."

Looking at her, Meilai said, "If what you have said is true, then you have a brother. You have
family...someone you can return to. Yet...you still came here, willing to forfeit your life
in a desperate gamble to preserve the future. You were willing to break your brother's heart;
you were willing to throw away your life, even though you had discovered you had a reason to
live. How can I take your life? You have a future; you care for humanity. I...I just can't
kill you," she finished.

Reiming stared at her, then sighed. "You are more human than I ever will be," she said
quietly. "Even what you've been through, you still have a heart."

"Don't give me too much credit," Meilai said wryly. "I came here fully intending to
kill you, and I wouldn't have lost any sleep over it either."

"So...will you still keep your end in the bargain, even if you refuse to kill me?"

"I don't see why not...maybe by doing so, I will be able to make up for all those I
killed before...I can hopefully make up for my sins before I die."

"Die? You're going to kill yourself?"

"Essentially. If Himmler and Atkins poisoned you, then that means they've poisoned me
as well. Once I turn against them, I'll die, since I will no longer have the daily dose of the
antidote they probably give me."

Hesitating, Reiming put her hand in her pocket. "I don't know if I'm doing the right thing...
but just as Heero's been known to say to live by your feelings, I'm doing the same now. Here,"
she said, holding out a vial with a clear liquid. "Take this. It's the substance that will
reduce the poison to harmless substances that will later be purged from your body."

Meilai took the vial. "You know...you are taking a huge risk trusting me, you know...What if I
turn against you?"

"Then humanity is screwed," Reiming said sardonically.

Chapter 30

The two women stared at each other, neither moving. Finally, Meilai pocketed the vial and
nodded. "Fine..." she said quietly. "I will find the locations of the bombs and tell you," and
she turned around to leave.

"Thank you."

Both Reiming and Meilai whirled around. "Trowa..." Reiming said furiously, trying to count to
ten and take deep breaths, "You have some nerve...planting that tracer when and where you did..."

"Didn't matter that I came, didn't it?"

Meilai looked at the two humorously. "He managed to plant a tracer on you without you
noticing? This guy's good." Suddenly, realization dawned. Letting out a chuckle, Meilai said,
"Well well well Reiming. Very good; I see you've snared yourself one fine guy." Ignoring
Reiming's furious glare, she continued, "So, when did he plant that thing on you? When you were
too, ah, busy, shall we say, to notice?"

"Not exactly," Reiming muttered darkly, angry at the fact that she knew her cheeks
were flaming. "I just let my guard down for a minute, that's all." Sneaking a glance at
Trowa, she saw his half smile. "You find this amusing, don't you?" she growled.

"Somewhat."

Looking at the two, Meilai could see, despite Reiming's angry look and red cheeks,
that the two were very much in love. "You were willing to throw away your life, even
when you had this?" she thought. "You truly have changed."

Turning to face Trowa, Meilai said, "So, what were you planning to do?"

"Use this on you if necessary," Trowa replied, revealing the gun in his hand.

"Trowa, if you had dared to do that, I would have killed you."

"Relax Reiming. The important thing is that I didn't have to. But," he added, and his
smile disappeared, "You ARE going to help us, aren't you?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes."

"Well then, I choose to help you," and with that, Meilai turned and left.

Once Meilai had left, Reiming turned back to Trowa. "I still can't believe you took advantage
of that moment and planted a tracer on me!" she said indignantly. "How am I supposed to
trust you now?"

"The same way we trusted you, right after you woke up from being knocked out by Wufei."
Trowa reasoned.

Reiming opened her mouth to protest, realized that she didn't have single snappy comeback, then
shut it again. Trowa regarded her with humorously. "Out of smart remarks, little miss?"

"Don't call me that," she said sullenly. Trowa just laughed. "Well then, we'd better
be going back then." Reiming nodded, then, on impulse, whirled back around and kissed Trowa.
When they finally parted, Trowa asked, "What was that for?"

"To prove to myself that you can truly kiss me like the way you did back on the station
without having any ulterior motives," she said smugly.

"And...?"

"Don't push it," she growled.

Laughing, Trowa turned back to Heavyarms, and Reiming turned back to Phoenix.

30 minutes later...

"You're still alive!" Mariemaia cried, hurling herself at Reiming.

"We all thought that you were dead!" Relena cried, as she and the others hurried down
to greet them.

Turning towards Trowa, Mariemaia said, "Thank you! You saved her!"

"Um...not exactly," Trowa said. "In fact, there's a good chance Reiming has just
saved us all."

"What?" Dorothy said, shocked. "What did you do, torture the information out of
Meilai?"

"No no. I offered her a deal. She could kill me-" Reiming was cut off by a cry of
outrage from the group.

"Well, I'm certainly glad that THAT little scheme didn't work!" Wufei snapped.

"-and in exchange, she would swear to me that she would assist you by discovering the
locations of the bombs."

Zechs snorted. "You actually believed that she would fulfill her promise?"

"Yes. Meilai's sense of honor is as strong as mine, and don't give me that look!" she
snapped when Zechs rolled his eyes. "Regardless, the plan worked. It was a twist of fate, but
once Meilai found out my real name and how we are related, she couldn't bring herself to
kill me, but she still agreed to help. It's her idea of atoning for her sins."

"Related?" Noin asked. Cursing to herself, Reiming struggled to figure out how to cover
for her words.

"Ron Meilai is the sister of my late wife, Ron Meiran," Wufei said simply. After the
shock of that statement wore off, Quatre cleared his throat.

"Well then," Quatre said. "I'm relieved. I personally think that if Meilai follows
through with her side of the bargain, I think we should give her the antidote, since she
won't receive the medication from Himmler and Atkins anymore."

"We-ell..." Reiming said, hesitating.

"What now?" Wufei said wearily.

"I already gave it to her."

"WHAT?!?!" the group shouted.

"That was unbelievably STUPID on your behalf!" Duo howled. "Of all people, I least
expected YOU to do something as risky as that!"

Reiming shrugged. "I know Heero has been known to say that we should all live by our
emotions, so that's what I did."

And with that, she turned around and left.

next day...

"Well, looks like she DID keep her end of the bargain."

Heero said nothing, only looked at the list of locations displayed on the screen in front of
him. "Of course, we'll have to check these locations to be sure, but I think we've got a chance
now after all," Duo said gleefully.

"There's more than I thought there would be," Quatre said. "Looks like a total of
about thirty."

"Thirty bombs..." Relena said, shaking her head. "I can't believe this."

"I find it amazing how they stockpiled this many," Lady Une said.

Duo continued to scroll down the list. "Geez...there's one in Los Angeles, California; one in
New York City, New York; three in China; several scattered across Russia; one in
Australia; one in Berlin, Germany; one in Paris, France; one in Spain; two in Canada;
one in Mexico; three in South America; even one in the North and South poles;...and at
least one on each of the space colonies...I can't believe this! They have some nerve...Hey,
what's this? Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Reiming, you better have a look at this."

Reiming hurried over. "What? 'I have destroyed the antidote because I have decided I have no
reason to live?!' What is this?!"

Trowa continued reading aloud for her. "'I have left Himmler and Atkins already to die on my
own. Don't worry; though I was unable to disable the bombs from the station, I have set it up
that certain groups bombs can only be activated by going to specific locations, which have been
marked with astericks. However, at those locations, the computers still must be hacked into
to gain control of the bombs. Good luck to you all, and don't try to find me. Reiming, this
means you.'"