Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing

_Sorry for the delay but I have been battling a severe sickness. It's been going strong for about a week and is just starting to show signs of dying. Because of this I might be behind on my future posts.

Perfect Soldiers

Chapter 7 'Why did she cry? There was nothing that could change it.'

******************* Previous from chapter 5***********

Relena opened her heavy lips and took in her surroundings. Something inside her was begging to scream but she managed to bit her lip to suppress it as she tried to remember why she was so tired and why… "Heero." The world escaped her mouth like it explained everything. She saw him clutching his head, screaming, the man, Mace, Sarah. All of it was swimming around in her confused brain. So much that didn't make any sense. As the reality dawned on her she sat bolt up right in her bed and almost screamed. "NO!" Then she felt the hands on her pushing her back down, back onto the bed but she didn't want to stay down she had to help Heero. Heero he was going to take him.
"Relena, calm down. It's over. Calm down."

Relena knew the voice. It was her brother. Her muscles relaxed under his hold and she blinked trying to focus and saw him standing over her his hands pressing her back into the mattress. Her brother, a bed, hospital. As if to explain her brain produced an image of her flying across the conference room and hitting head first into the table. "What…happened?"

Zechs frowned as he ran his hand over his little sister's hair smoothing it out of her eyes. He would always see her as a little girl no matter what and he worried about her so much. "They took him Relena. I'm sorry. We're looking."

Relena went still as the news hit her. "Who…the man…Sarah's brother?"

"Sarah?" Zechs asked his hands leaving there restraining position and sinking his weight into the chair beside her bed. Is that who the girl in there with you was?"

Relena nodded. "How is she. I saw… I saw what he did to her."

"Still unconscious and in custody. We didn't know who she was and we couldn't find any records on her."

"She's…her brother he's the one who took Heero…He's Troy…" All of her thoughts came out in one jumbled mess and Relena cleared her throat. "She knows why they took Heero. She knows everything. We have to stop them before they succeed."

Zechs shook his head. "Relena you've been out for a week. We haven't heard anything about them. You just woke up and Sarah, as you call her, hasn't moved a muscle. We're at a dead end. We don't know where to go from here."

Relena went pale as he tried to lift herself but found herself too weak this time to do it. "No, it can't be. We don't have time, dragon they'll…you have to find him."

"What are you talking about. You're babbling." Zechs gripped her hand.

"She told me." Relena whispered. She told me everything. "Please you have to believe me."

*************************END *****************

~~~```` Preventer's base day after Lady Une and CO's encounter with the soldiers

Zechs looked up sharply as he heard the sound of a plane landing in the distance. It seemed that Lady Une and the others were finally. Sighing heavily, Zechs pulled himself to his feet and stretched rubbing his face as the worry washed over him. First Maxwell was missing, then Yuy and his sister was in critical condition in the hospital, Winner and Barton both were almost killed and they didn't have one lead. Perhaps the trip had been more helpful than he could ever hope for. They needed something. Anything to go off of. It had been almost two five days since Maxwell's disappearance and three days since Yuy's. The girl who they had found with his sister probably wasn't going to live.

"Zechs you there." Noin's overly tired voice came over his intercom and he pressed the button her face popping up on the screen.

"Yeah, how'd things go?"

"Better than expected." Noin responded. "I would like you to meet Anthony Talbin." Another man around his age popped up on the screen and smiled.

"Who the hell is that." Zechs asked.

"Well it seems we know almost exactly what's going on." Noin replied. "These men have been looking for George Hammond for a long time and I believe he's the one who kidnapped Heero and Duo."

"Why'd you have to bring him back with you." Zechs asked raising a brow.

"Well according to them we're going to have a war to fight and they're like an army of Yuy's."

"How many are there?" Zechs questioned.

"Only about two hundred." Noin reached out and pushed the screen around so he could gaze around the hanger. "Meet Dragon army." She announced and smiled off screen. "As soon as we get up there we have a story to tell you. One that I think might help us figure out how to get those two back."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```` Colony

"Put him back under. He's starting to come around."

Heero heard the voices knew that he needed to do something that he had to try and get away, but he couldn't make his body move. Whatever it was they had given him left him completely helpless. He blinked as he tried to make the men over him come into view. One of them looked so familiar. He squinted as his vision swam out of focus trying to see why the man looked so familiar.

"Who…" He whispered his voice sounding so weak.

"Huh." The one who looked the most familiar turned to look at him a sick smile spreading across his face. His voice was mechanical. "So it seems the perfect soldier can still talk. Didn't think that was possible, but wonders never cease."

"Who?" Heero asked again.

"Doesn't matter Troy. You're not going to worry about it soon enough." The man whispered and smiled wider as he lowered a clear mask onto Heero's face.

Heero wanted to say more. He wanted to say his name wasn't Troy, but the images came back and all the sudden he wasn't so sure of anything.

~~~~~~~~~```

Duo held the bars between his finger as he looked through him trying to catch sight of anyone, but the place was empty. "What'd you do with him?" Duo yelled to no one his voice echoing in the silence. "What the hell do you want with us!" It was a question he would probably never know the answer to. Sinking back to the floor Duo wondered if he would ever get out. He wondered if he would even remember not remembering like he did now. He knew that if he did he would kill himself. He hated this. He knew there was something missing but for the life of him he couldn't grasp hold of it.

Duo sat his back leaning against the cell door and closed his eyes as he banged the back of his head on the hard steel door. All it accomplished was making his headache and a loud banging to echo through the halls, but it was all he could do. Duo knew that the next time they came for him there would be nothing left. He didn't have a way to remember anything. Reaching to his side he pulled groped in the darkness for something. His fingers hit a tray that he had found in his room upon awaking and he grasped the end of a plastic knife. Gripping it he brought it back to his face and glared at it. Not enough to kill himself with, but maybe… Bringing it to his arm Duo began working biting his lip when it hurt the most, but refusing to stop, not until he was finished.

The knife slipped from his fingers and to the ground stained in his blood. Hissing, Duo looked at his arm and pulled the sleeve down over the wound and breathed steadily for a moment trying to re grasp control. He was tried and he didn't want to deal with this anymore. Letting his eyes close he fell into a deep and troubled sleep. Not long after he drifted off the door to his cell opened and he was given a sedative and taken to finish the job that had been started. He never even knew that it was over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~```

Hammond smiled as he gazed at Heero. The man was perfect. He would do anything they asked. Heero was the strongest human being on the planet and he was under Hammond's control. Grinning he watched as the youth's eyes flew open.

"Troy." He whispered addressing Heero by his real name. "Get up."

Heero stood his eyes never leaving his superior's. "Yes, sir." He barked loudly.

Hammond grinned. It wouldn't be long now. The Maxwell kid was already having his memory erased and now that Hammond knew how to rebuild the chip nothing could stop them.

"Follow me." Hammond commanded.

Heero glanced at him something flickering through his cobalt eyes and he nodded. "Yes, sir." He fell into step behind Hammond.

~~~~~~~~~~```` A day later

Heero pulled his gun from the holster and aimed it at the sleeping child to his right was Mace his gun also drawn as he took aim at the child sleeping beneath the one Heero was looking at. To his far left was Duo an angry expression crossing his face as he cocked the trigger and held the gun mere millimeters from another the child's head. 'Your mission is to destroy all those that know about us. Starting here. Kill the people in this bunk.' The orders ran though his mind as he looked at the sleeping boy. He knew what he had to do; yet something was holding him back.

"Now!"

Heero didn't turn. He knew that voice it was his master, his superior. Heero pulled the trigger. The smell of three discharged weapons reached his nostrils as the sound rang in his ears, and then he heard the screams. He didn't stop though only the words echoing his mind. He had to follow orders. He took aim again his eyes falling upon a trembling little girl with midnight blue eyes. Her hair was the color of honey her lips trembling as tears spilled down her rounded cheeks. His hand shook for a moment as he looked at her and then it steadied and the girl shut her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~````

"Bury everything." Hammond whispered as he peered into the room his eyes shutting and he turned away. "It's time to do what you were trained for your entire lives. It's time to fulfil your destiny."

Heero, Mace, and Duo stood staring blankly into the hallway as they saluted. Smith walked up beside Hammond and smiled. "I didn't think this would work, but Hammond we pulled it off."

Hammond smiled. "The Preventers will never know what hit them."

~~~~~~~~``` Preventer's base the day Relena woke up

Raven crouched outside the facility. There was no one running around the outside. It wasn't as if he'd seen the place before, but he figured it would be busier than this. He frowned and shrugged his shoulders within the suit. His muscles were starting to ache, just the way Mitchell had said they would. Raven frowned as he thought of him. He didn't know what he supposed to be feeling. He had never been raised to feel, but as he thought of him something welled in the back of his throat and threatened to spill. He didn't know what it was, but the feeling was strange and he didn't know if he liked it or not.

Raven wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do here. He guessed that Mitchell had wanted him to come here so he could warn the base about Hammond and hopefully get him stopped. Frowning, Raven pulled further from sight wondering how he was supposed to get in if the base was on lockdown. He shifted through his training, but as Mitchell had pointed out he wasn't very advanced. His skills were limited. He was only nine and had just started his training three years ago; he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do.

"Don't move kid."

It seemed as if his problems were solved for him. Turning slowly he held up his hands and swallowed. He had been found out. He wondered if they were going to kill him, or perhaps they would only think him a child. When he saw the end of a gun pointed at him he figured he was wrong. He swallowed hard.

"Don't move kid." The tall man with long bangs coving one eye demanded. He wasn't shaking wasn't nervous. He knew what he was doing.

"I just came…" Raven started, but he didn't know how to explain.

"You're the one who robbed the Minister a few weeks ago. Aren't you." He narrowed his eyes a something dangerous flashed through the emerald.

Raven swallowed. "No." He mouthed. "It wasn't me."

"That's the suit though. Whoever did that was wearing that suit." The man pointed out.

"It wasn't me okay. I came to warn you." Raven whispered feeling very venerable at that moment. "I just came to warn you."

"How do I know you're telling the truth kid." He asked.

"I came to tell you about the two Gundam pilots. I can tell you where they're at."

Trowa narrowed his eyes. "Take off the suit first."

Raven hesitated for only a moment before stripping the bothersome suit off leaving him clad in a pair of short in a tank top. His muscles immediately sagged and he almost fell over, but he managed somehow to stay standing. The tall man reached out for it and pulled it toward him all the while never taking his eyes off of him. He was good.

"Come toward me." The man demanded as he beckoned him with his gun. When Raven was at his side he lowered his gun. "Now walk ahead of me. We're going to see someone."

"What's your name?" Raven asked.

"Trowa Barton." He said stiffly.

Raven paused. The pilot of Heavyarms no wonder he was so good. He was a Gundam pilot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````

Relena pulled her aching weak body out of bed and tried to make her muscles work, but she had been out for a week and everything felt like jelly. After placing one leg on the floor and trying to stand and almost falling to the floor she decided she'd better wait for Zechs to bring the wheelchair. She couldn't help but think of Heero as she sat there. Her hands gripping the sheets, she remembered the pained expression on his face. She remembered the way the man who had taken him had looked, soulless. Relena shuddered involuntarily.

"Relena. Are you sure about this?" Zechs questioned, as he appeared in the doorway the wheelchair in front of him.

"I know what I'm talking about. You can verify it with what you've already told me." Relena said pausing for a moment as her thoughts drifted to him. 'God I hope they couldn't do it.'

"Just, don't strain yourself all right. You're awake for four hours and you're already demanding a meeting." He smiled forcefully. "I think you need a vacation."

Relena couldn't think of a cheerful reply so she kept her mouth shut.

"Hilde wants to see you." Zechs said breaking the silence and picking her up.

Relena wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered her into the chair. "How is she?" Relena whispered as she thought of the ebony haired girl. "She must be taking this bad."

"Yeah, she threw herself into her work Relena. They won't let her work on this case, but she hasn't had a free moment since it happened. She's working herself to death." Zechs paused a moment and pulled the blanket from her bed and draped it over he legs. "She needs someone to talk to." As if on queue Hilde stuck her head in the doorway a small smile spreading across her pale face.

"Rel." She whispered her voice bordering on tears. "God, I can't believe you're finally awake." Hilde bounced into the room and threw her arms around Relena's neck and hugged her. "I haven't had anyone to talk to. I was so worried."

Relena hugged her back almost shedding some tears of her own. She motioned for Zechs to leave and pulled away from Hilde to look at her. Her eyes were bloodshot and sunken in surrounded bay dark circles. Her skin was pale and red and puffy around her cheeks from crying. "Hilde Duo wouldn't want you to do this." Relena told her sternly.

Hilde released her hold on Relena and immediately turned away from her. "I don't want to talk about this Rel. You just woke up. We have time to talk about this later." Hilde frowned and sniffed as she turned back around and took hold of Relena's wheelchair and wheeled her into the Preventer's base hospital hallway.

Relena was silent the rest of the way as Hilde led her toward the conference room. It didn't take them long to get there but the silence between them made it seem like an eternity.

"Well, I'll see you when this is over." Hilde smiled and waved slowly. "I really want to talk Relena, just wait okay."

Relena nodded and twisted the doorknob and herself through the doorway. She was surprised to find a few people she didn't know, particularly, a large gun welding green-eyed man sitting beside Lady Une. He had a boyish grin on his face and didn't appear to be any older than her brother. "Who are you?" Relena asked not really looking forward to being polite.

"Anthony." He said simply and grinned at her.

"The one from Dragon?" Relena asked as she remembered the story her brother had told her.

"Yeah."

Relena nodded. "Well I know why they took Heero and Duo and I can't tell you as much as I would like, but when Sarah wakes up she'll be able to tell you more."

~~~~~~~~~```` Colony

"It seems odd to start an offensive with only three soldiers." Smith observed as he watched the three sparing each other with deadly accuracy. They were instructed not to kill, but that didn't stop them from drawing a little blood.

"It'll grow." Hammond smirked. "All the prisoners we take will become one of us. This is only the beginning."

They both watched as Heero, the most skilled of the soldiers, attacked Mace and Duo at the same time. All his blows were perfect everything he did was perfect. He was what Hammond had been striving for his entire life. This was what was supposed to come out of all the failed attempts. Mace and Duo were wonderful as well, but Heero's abilities surpassed them. The only thing that seemed a bit off with Troy was the way his eyes looked. When he was given an order they would darken and something would flicker behind them. He had noticed somewhat of the same occurrence in Mace, but not Duo. Faintly he wondered if he should have tried erasing his memory again, despite the possibility of killing his brain. Something about those looks unnerved him completely.

"Get them out of there." Hammond told Smith as Mace fell to the ground. "We have a mission to brief them on."

Smith didn't answer but turned back to the small window looking into the white training room and called into the mike. "Stop." Immediately all three of them froze in what they were doing and turned to look at him. There gazes were intense and Smith had to look away for a moment to compose himself before he turned back to them. "We have a new mission for you. Clean up and come to the briefing in the conference room." All three of them nodded and walked out of the room, mindless drones, grads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~```

Troy sat his hands on both of his arm rests and his feet flat on the floor his back was pressed against the seat as he looked straight ahead. The only thing that moved were his eyes as they scanned the room for his superiors. They were late. Troy narrowed his brow as he thought of the imperfection but remained quiet. Before too long the door to the room opened and both of them walked in Hammond with his mechanical voice, and Smith with his overly excited attitude.

"Listen men we have a job for you. This is what you are here for, this is what you've been training for." Smith started and placed a potent look at each member of the room. "The invasion and take over of the Preventer's base." As he was speaking the light went out and the room was plunged into darkness until an overhead projector produced a bright 3-D image of the base in front of their eyes. "This is the base."

Troy stared as something in the back of his mind twitched. He knew this place, but that wasn't possible. He'd…for a moment there was a bright white light and everything was different. Heero stared at the 3-D model. He knew what was in every room. In his mind he was running through every corridor. Heero looked to his side he saw Duo sitting next to him. That wouldn't have been so odd if it wasn't for the fact that his head was shaved almost completely bald. There was only a small amount of hair covering his skull and a long white scar across on side of his head and half way across his forehead. Turning quickly to his other side he saw a man he had never seen before, no…Heero squinted. It was the man who…Heero stood his brain in overload. What was going on?

"Troy? Why are you standing?"

Heero turned at the sound of the voice. It was obvious they were talking to him, but he wasn't Troy. 'What the hell is going on?' Heero backed for a couple of steps and stopped as his eyes fell on the building again the light filled his vision and he blinked.

"Troy? What's going on? Sit down!" Smith almost yelled this time and Troy turned his gaze to the doctor. What was he doing out of his seat. He couldn't remember getting up.

"Sorry sir." Troy said in monotone and lowered himself into the seat the outburst forgotten as he turned his attention to the screen again and listened for the rest of his instructions.

A smile animalistic lust spread across Mace's face as he thought of the bloodshed. He liked to watch it run. He liked how it splattered when he fired his gun. He wanted to cause as much bloodshed as possible. There was no remorse in his eyes. As long as he was able to do what he wanted, as long as he was able to quench his thirst he didn't care what he was doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```` Preventer's base

"So kid, Raven, where'd you get this suit." Trowa asked as he tossed it over the side of a chair in the conference room next to the one Relena was in and sat down beside and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Mitchell." Raven said slowly and flipped his long bangs out of his eyes. "Mitchell told me to come and find you."

"Why is that?" Trowa asked not taking his intense gaze from the boy's.

"I don't know. I think he was planning to stop the doctors." Raven said slowly and broke the gaze with Trowa and looked at the floor.

"What does this have to do with Heero and Duo?" Trowa asked in a straightforward manner. He knew for a fact that the kid was more than he seemed. He appeared to be small and naïve but Trowa could see the loss of childlike innocence in his eyes. This boy had been trained to fight, and it seemed he had seen death as well.

"The doctors got them to fight in their new army." Raven said slowly. "Mitchell wasn't good enough. They just wanted the three."

"Three?"

"The one you call Heero, Mace, and Duo. They're all part of his army now."

"How do you know this." Trowa asked as he leaned forward on his elbows.

"Before I left the facility I saw them slaughter my army." He looked up briefly and gave a wayward smirk. "They'd just promoted me." Raven closed his eyes for a moment as if remembering something. His eyelids twitched as if he was dreaming and then they flew open. His violet orbs were burning intensely.

"Why would they slaughter your army."

"They were done with us. They were done with Mitchell too. He was the one who stole the files. I saw Hammond shoot him. I watched him die." Only a brief flicker of emotion ran through his eyes as he said the blunt and morbid statement. His eyes didn't water his voice didn't quaver.

"Let's go talk to the others." Trowa said suddenly and got up from his chair beckoning the boy to follow him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````

Relena was exhausted. Her brother had been right about her condition. She was hardly ready to take on war she could hardly keep her eyes open. Once she had finished her statement Anthony filled her in on everything else she was missing. They had all the intelligence they would need. They knew who was behind this. They knew what they were doing, but they missed the most important elements. They didn't know the capabilities of the soldiers. They didn't know if they had managed to turn Heero and Duo. They had no idea where their base of operations was and what their plans were. They had so much but none of it brought them any closer to their goal.

"So can we rule out the fact that they're not after the Gundam pilots?" Wufie asked. "I'm sick of sitting in a steel bunker."

Lady Une turned her attention toward him. "I think that we can let you guys out of confinement and hiding. By the look of things we have a war brewing and unfortunately we have no idea where our enemy is going to attack."

"I might be able to shed a little light on that." Trowa said from his position in the doorway. "I found something lurking outside the building." Trowa opened the door wider and out stepped a small raven-haired boy. His face held the same haunting expression Heero's did when he was completely focused on something. "This is Raven, escaped from the base Heero and Duo are at."

Relena's eyes went wide. 'Heero?' She reached around her neck clutching her necklace reflexively. She didn't know what she would do if they had turned him. What if he was dead? How would she ever bring herself to fight the one she loved?

Raven nodded at them. He wondered if the rest of the Gundam pilots were present and if he would stand a chance against them in a battle. He narrowed his eyes at the group for a moment and frowned. There was no guarantee they would believe him.

"Who is this?" Quatre asked.

"Raven." Trowa said steadily. "I found him lurking outside and the turned himself in. He says he knows where the base is and I believe him."

Anthony raised a skeptical brow and frowned. "How do you know he isn't a spy."

"I have extensive experience in this field. I know a spy when I see one. I can tell just by the way they look, the way they carry themselves. He is not a spy."

Raven felt a small smile of satisfaction stretch across his face. "I can tell you about the pilots you're missing."

Lady Une looked at Trowa for confirmation and when he nodded she beckoned the boy to sit at the table with them. "Tell us, Raven, what have you seen."

With an impeccable tone of no emotion he recited his gruesome tale. His eyes never did flicker; his voice never did waver. He told them how he had come to be with Hammond. He told them about Mitchell's death and he recounted the last thing he'd seen before he left.

"I was in the air ducts on my way back to my bunker. I wanted to say goodbye to them and tell them to cover for me. I didn't want them getting in trouble because of me, but if they didn't know I was going to get them out they would loose hope. Mitchell had promised us a way out, but he failed. I was to make sure it didn't happen again. I was sitting over the beds about to lower myself into the room when a light in the hall filtered in and I became deathly silent. Three figures came into the room. Smith called them Troy, Duo, and Mace. They all had guns. I watched as each of them took aim at my bunkmates and fired. They killed every last one of them. I watched until the end knowing that if I moved they would detect my presence and I would die. One of them looked up at me, but he didn't shoot. I don't know why. They did everything Smith and Hammond told them to." Raven scanned the room after his little speech and found most of them sitting motionless an expression he didn't recognize on their faces. One girl in particular with long blonde hair seemed horrified. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. 'Why did she cry. There was nothing that could change it.'

So what do ya think?