OKAY: LISTEN UP PEOPLE, I know you have been wondering where I have been but..... it comes down to this: me + boyfriend = computer time cut down almost fully. But it's summer now and I have time. I will post new chapters one after the other for a while. I WOULD REALLY LIKE FOR SOME PEOPLE TO REVIEW BECAUSE I WILL NOT CONTINUE IF NO ONE DOES.

Before you read this chapter, you should know that it gets VERY confusing at one point. I don't want to give anything away but Shannon gets referred to as a he and gets called Andy for a while. You may or you may not understand it. You can e-mail me and I'll explain it to you if you don't get it. Mylene_21@hotmail.com

Shannon pulled off her tee shirt and put on a tight tank top. Then she slipped into a pair of dark jeans and a pair of black leather chaps. Duo had insisted that she protected her jeans, he liked to borrow them.
"Are you sure?" Richie looked worried. Shannon chuckled.
"Richie… you know I can do this." She sat down on the bed beside him.
"I know you're capable… but are you sure you want to? 'Cause I know I don't want you to." She sighed.
"I know you don't… but I promise, ON OUR LOVE, that you will see me again. You can even page me. Whenever you want."
"What if you get captured? Or Killed!" He held her shoulders. "I love you. I don't want anything to happen to you. What would I do without you?" She smiled sadly.
"Even if I get captured, I can escape. I'm Houdini-ette remember?" She laughed but he just pulled her into a hug.
"I love you." He said again. She nodded.
"I know, I know." He held her as if it would be the very last time. Duo peeked in the door and smiled. He knew Richie would be upset that she was going alone. Richie was upset that she was going at all. //He doesn't seem to realize that she doesn't really have a choice.//
"Shannon?" He spoke quietly. The two looked up. "It's…time to go." Duo said this slowly, he was kinda hoping to ease Richie into the idea.
"I'm coming." She looked at Richie and smiled. "Wish me luck." Richie just kissed her and hugged her again.
"I love you." He looked so upset, she felt bad about leaving.
"I love you too." Duo smiled. Why couldn't Heero be like this? He loved the bastard, but Heero could be so cold. Shannon got up and walked down the stairs. Heero frowned at her as she walked by.
"Be careful." Quatre looked worried, but not like Richie was. Richie, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, was worried that he would never see her again. Quatre was like a little brother worried that his big sister would get hurt on her trip across town. Quatre seemed a bit childish to her, but she loved him very much. He really was like a little brother.
"Yes, be careful." Trowa was like a big brother, sorta. She smiled at him and Quatre.
"I'll be back tomorrow." She hugged Richie, then Quatre, then Trowa.
"Don't get killed." Duo was smiling crookedly.
"I won't" She laughed a bit and hugged him.
"See ya Wufie." She teased.
"Onna…" He growled in her general direction.
"Call if you need us." Heero's words were considerate yet, coming from him, they sounded curt and sarcastic.
"No." She smiled as she said this, which pissed him off. She put on quite a few straps with gun holsters. She dug through a large bag and put various guns in their designated places. Then she covered them all with a big jacket that went to her knees. She put on some orange sunglasses and grinned at everyone.
"You look like that girl from the Matrix." Duo commented. She laughed and leaned over to put her hair up in a black hair tie.
"See ya, guys." She waved and pushed open the door, braiding her ponytail quickly and wrapping into a bun. "I love you, Richie." She smiled warmly. He smiled too but his was uneasy. She walked out and hopped into Richie's Mustang.
"I love this car." She laughed as she drove away. Richie watched her through the window.
"I hope she'll be okay…" He sighed and sat down on the couch.
"She wouldn't be here if she couldn't do it." Duo sat down next to him. He smiled reassuringly at Richie.
"And besides, I had to have that big oak in the backyard cut down cause of her. She packs a punch." Quatre and duo grinned.
"I had to repair the front door because of her." Heero toned in.
"That was so cool! I didn't think she could actually do it!" Duo laughed.
"Why did you lock her out anyway?" Quatre questioned Duo.
"Well, we were arguing about how strong she was. I told her it didn't matter how strong she was, that if she was locked out, she couldn't get back in." Quatre laughed.
"That worked out real well Duo." Heero rolled his eyes.
"So what happened next?" Quatre urged him on.
"Well, she rose to the challenge. It was snowing outside so I told her that she had to strip down to her underwear and THEN do it. You know, cold clouds the mind. So she did and she went outside and turned on her altered insulator thingys while we locked everything. I signaled to her when we were done and she went back to normal body heat. She stared at me in the window for a while, shivering. Then she walked up to the door punched right through it and unlocked the door from the inside and came in." Even Trowa had to laugh at how duo had underestimated her.
"When my dad forbid me to see her, she used to beak into my house and kidnap me just so we could spend some time together." Everyone laughed again.
"When was that?" Richie thought for a minute.
"When she was about 14." Wufei stayed silent, something just didn't add up.
"How old are you?" Richie looked up at him.
"…Nineteen…" He was a little reluctant to answer.
"And you two are…?" Richie chuckled.
"Yeah, we are." Duo grinned and raised his eyebrows a few times in Richie's direction.
"When did you meet her?" Wufei refused to leave the subject alone.
"When I was about 15." He looked down.
"So, she was only thirteen. And did you pressure her into anything…? Is that why she's your girlfriend?" Richie's head shot up and he glared at Wufei.
"Are you asking me if I raped my girlfriend?" Wufei was taken aback.
"………No………" Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Because if you are, I would have to say no. We didn't even kiss until she was 15 and it was HER that put the moves on ME." Richie was still glaring at Wufei. Wufei looked down.
"That's…That's not what I was asking." Wufei racked his brain like mad, trying to find something to say. Because, that, in fact was exactly what he was asking.
"Then what were you asking?" Richie stood up and faced Wufei.

*RING RING*

"I'LL GET IT!" Duo and Quatre yelled in unison and jumped for the cell phone that was sitting on the table next to the door.
"It's for you, Richie. Someone named Terri…?" Duo held the phone away form him. Richie walked away from Wufei as if nothing had happened.
"Hello?" He answered the phone. "TERRI! I'm so glad you called!"
Duo didn't want to eaves drop so he went up the stairs and into the kitchen. He stopped at the end of the hallway when he saw Heero. He was sitting at the table with his head in hands. He took a few steps forward and looked closer. Glistening tears were falling onto the polished cherry wood of the table. He was about to step onto the tile when he heard a loud thump and Richie's voice.
"OWW!" He screamed. Duo jumped behind the door as Heero ran quickly down the stairs and then ran after him.
"What's wrong?" Quatre was saying out the door. Richie laughed and walked in with a man that looked allot like Wufei, except that he didn't wear those ugly white clothes and his hair was spiked. A girl with hair identical to Shannon's except brown followed them. (LONG, LONG, REALLY LONG hair. Like to her knees)
"Hello!" She said cheerfully. Quatre looked at Richie. "My name's Terri. Who are you?" She extended her hand to Quatre.
"I'm…I-I'm…." Quatre was more than a little shocked.
"Well, hello. I'm Duo."
"You guys must be those guys that Shannon was always talking about!" She shook Duo's hand gently.
"Umm…Yeah…I guess."
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shannon looked down the sterile hallway again. It had only been a few hours and this was supposed to take all night but she was ready to get out of there NOW. She typed words onto the large screen furiously. She heard footsteps faintly and then saw blackness…
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Duo laughed at Lao's joke. The guy wasn't so bad. He was Chinese like Wufei but he was MUCH cooler. His father owned the company that manufactured Nokia™ ® cell phones! Terri was a little shallow but she was nice enough.
"So…is Shannon on a mission?" Duo blinked rapidly. He was the only one who heard her. Everyone else went onto a different subject.
"W…What? I don't know…" What was he going to say? "I don't know what you're talking about"? That would just make him sound kinda dumb.
"Its okay. Our parents worked together. And Lao's best friends with Richie. So…is she?" Duo just nodded dumbly. "When will she be back?" Duo thought for a second, having trouble remembering.
"Tomorrow." She nodded and glanced at the clock.
"I'm tired." She yawned and smiled, cat-like. Duo laughed.
"I am too. How 'bout you guys?" Everyone looked at him, suddenly let in on the conversation. "Are you guys tired?" Everyone muttered their agreements and stood.
"We can sleep down here on the couch right, Lao?" Terri looked at him. He nodded.
"Yeah. We wake up early anyway. We wouldn't want to disturb anyone." The five boys nodded.
"I'll get you guys some blankets and stuff." Quatre smiled at them before disappearing up the stairs. Heero opened his bedroom door and looked at Duo who was chatting quietly with Terri. Duo felt eyes on him and turned to Heero.
"G'night, Ter." She smiled and nodded her agreement as Quatre returned with an armload of blankets and a pillow tucked under each arm. Duo walked to Heero and they closed the door behind them. Terri looked at Quatre.
"Are they…" She let her voice drift off. Quatre blushed and nodded.
"Quatre, are you almost done?" Trowa's soft voice came from up the stairs. Quatre blushed deeper.
"Are you…" He nodded, a small smile on his face. She grinned.
"You go girl." Lao and Terri cracked up. Quatre laughed nervously and hurried up the stairs. "Good n~i~i~ght." He turned deep red and tried to glare at her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's a girl?! Since when do chicks know how to hack into our database?" Shannon could hear voices distantly.
"Yeah. You can go look for yourself!" This voice was clearer. She opened her eyes and winced, despite herself.
"Nah, she's till unconscious. I'll wait 'til she's awake." They laughed cruelly. She rolled her eyes and sat up. The room was reasonable. It was like a federal prison cell…or so she heard…
"A girl…" She glanced at the sink and then at her bag in the corner. "They left that with me? How dumb are they?" She whispered and stood up with little trouble. She walked to her bag and pulled out some clothes and a pair of scissors. "Can't be a girl now…" She mumbled and took off her tight tank top. She pulled a roll of masking tape out of her bag and taped down her boobs as best she could. She put on a pair of loose jeans and slipped into a tee shirt bearing the Hurley™ logo. She looked at the scissors and grimaced. Was she REALLY gonna do this? She nodded firmly and walked to the sink, scissors in hand. She looked at her reflection for a moment, gathering her courage. She pulled the black band out of her hair and unwound it, letting it fall to her knees. She sighed. "I know I'm gonna regret this…" She put the hair tie back into her hair but looser this time. And then…cut her hair just above the band. Once it was cut all the way across, she shook her remaining hair. Shannon stared at the long ponytail in her hand that had once been attached to her head. She moaned in regret quietly but shut herself up with a quick shake of her head. She HAD to do this. Shannon cut her hair as short as she could with the scissors and then picked up the small disposable razor that was sitting on the sink. It took her a few minutes but she finally got it short enough on the sides and long enough on the top to be spiked. She ran her head underneath the faucet and spiked it with her fingers. She washed her face thoroughly to erase any traces of make-up and stared at her reflection. "I'm Andy…definitely a guy." She extended her hand as if she was meeting someone and then giggled. Footsteps became apparent to her and she ran to her bag to shove her womanhood (her hair, duh) into her bag. She sat onto the small bed and looked as dangerous as she could.
"Don't you know the difference between a boy and a girl, Sanders? I knew a chick wouldn't be smart enough to break in." Shannon laughed mentally. This was obviously the guy from earlier who had wanted to wait for "her" to wake up. The other man walked in and stared at her in shock.
"I swear that he was a girl before!" The other man smacked him in the head and turned to "Shannon".
"C'mon son. Our boss wants to see you." She stood up and glared at them. The man grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. She jerked his arm away from the smelly man and walked with dignity through the cold halls. Several men showed up in doorways to stare at them as they passed. "Andy" glared at each one individually and kept on until they reach two large metal doors. They pushed her inside and left.
"What were you looking for?" A man's voice said softly. She brushed her fingers through her hair and remained silent, taking a chance to look around. There was a large oak desk with a black chair (facing backwards) behind it. The room had no windows and a door on each wall. There was a plush red carpet underneath everything. "I said…" The chair turned around to reveal a man in an expensive Italian suit. "Oh…I was expecting a girl. The report states that you are female." He remained silent still. "I'm Vince. Who are you?"
"Andy." She said quietly. The man-Vince-smiled, satisfied. "I wasn't LOOKING for anything." She smiled dangerously. Vince frowned. He circled "Andy" like a vulture.
"Then…what are you doing here?" She smiled smugly. "Never mind. I'll just put you in… our special holding place…" He pressed a button on his desk and was silent as two large men lead Andy through one of the doors.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Duo yawned loudly and scratched his head. He was SO tired! He sat down on one of the cherry wood chairs and began eating his corn flakes™.
"Jeezus, Duo! Close your mouth. Nobody wants to see that!" Duo glared at Lao.
"I know *I* don't want to!" He glared at Terri. "I'll just have half-a grapefruit then we're going for a run." Quatre nodded and sliced a pink grapefruit in half. He gave her half and kept half for himself. He raised and eyebrow as Terri sliced it in half again and gave half of that to Lao. The two finished in record time and went upstairs to change. Quatre stared at Richie.
"What? They're very health-conscious people!" He exclaimed. Duo laughed, spraying crumbs onto the table. Trowa swooped down with a cloth to wipe them up.
"VERY health conscious. They only had water too!" Trowa exclaimed as he sat down with his bowl of cereal.
"See you guys later!" Terri and Lao jogged past them and out the door. Duo yawned and stretched.
"How can they be so…perky?" Quatre giggled and stood to clear the dishes. Wufei walked down the stairs, perfect as always.
"Morning, Wufei." Quatre murmured as he walked by.
"Where's the freaks?" Wufei sat down in one of the chairs.
"Wufei! They're not freaks…they're just… health conscious." Richie jumped to their defense. "And besides…Shannon's the same way." Wufei laughed.
"I rest my case!" Quatre giggled.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Shannon-or rather Andy-was angry. They had thrown her-him-into a room that looked somewhat like a hotel room that had no windows and told her that she would be staying there a while.
"I hate this place." She murmured, glaring at the dent she had made in the wall. Upon inspection, she found the walls to be solid steel. Footsteps became apparent to her and she jumped up to the bolted door. It unlocked with a loud clank and slowly opened. She almost fell over when a boy that looked EXACTLY like her peeked inside. This boy gasped.
"They…they said that you were a girl!" Shannon couldn't breathe. Maybe she was seeing things? She had to be! "Are you alright, dude?" The boy went to her side and was helping her up before she could answer.
"You look like me…" Shannon said in a breathy whisper. He frowned.
"Wait…you're a girl huh?" All she could do was nod. He was hugging her next. She just sat there, letting him hug her. He looked up at her with a huge smile on his face. "I missed you Shannon."
"Wha-?!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"DUO! Come on! We have a mission!" Heero bellowed up the stairs. A muffled reply came from the kitchen.
"Duo man, you gotta go! Hurry!" Lao said as he took an armload of wood from Quatre and set it down. Duo hurried down the stairs with a half-a sandwich in his hand. "Quit stalling." Lao said with a small grin. "And besides, you shouldn't eat peanut butter: Its fattening." Duo rolled his eyes, the words "Whatever, man" clearly in his mind.
"AIR is fattening to you two…" Terri rolled her eyes.
"Shut up Duo, just because we want to live past 50, doesn't mean we're weird…"
"What if she gets here while we're gone?" Duo picked up his coat.
"Then we'll be here to greet her, won't we?" Duo sighed.
"I know but…it's her first mission since we've known her and its kind of a big deal." Terri rolled her eyes in mock annoyance.
"We're leaving without you!" Heero called from outside. Duo waved goodbye to Terri and Lao and turned to the navy-blue jeep that the others were in when he caught site of what he thought was two blonde boys (identical) walking up the hill toward them. Duo made note that they were wearing exactly the same clothes. Heero followed his gaze and stood with gun in hand when he saw the two.
"DUO!" one of them yelled happily and attempted to run but soon stopped and looked pained, holding his leg. The other one rushed up and supported his weight until they reached the top of the hill. "Hey everyone!" The one with the hurt leg said. Duo glanced at Terri because… it just seemed like she would know them. Terri shrugged and stared at the two for a moment. "Guys…you don't recognize-" One of them started but stopped when a cold gun barrel was pressed against "his" temple. The "boy" rolled his eyes and turned to face Heero. "I thought we were past this, Heero." He frowned inwardly. What? The hurt "boy" stomped on his foot kicked him in the nads and pinned him in a matter of seconds. "Recognize me now?" Duo gasped and ran to the "boy".
"Shannon! What happened to your hair?" he exclaimed. Richie ran up next and hugged her tight.
"Yeah! What DID happen to your hair? And who's this?" Richie pointed to the boy that was identical to Shannon. Shannon pulled away from her boyfriend and put her arm around the other boy.
"Guys! This is my twin brother, Dean." Everyone fell silent.
"Umm…nice to meet you…" Dean murmured. He looked at Shannon, confused and kind of scared. Shannon frowned, exasperated.
"C'mon you guys! Say something!" Shannon frowned at Richie. "I thought that you would remember him but you obviously don't!" Richie just shook his head dumbly. "You WERE only six years old when he disappeared, and you hardly even spoke to him so I guess I understand." He frowned.
"Can we go in now? I'm cold…" Dean suggested. Duo's rational mind broke free of shock.
"We have a mission so…I guess we'll talk to you later…" Duo grabbed Heero's arm and the five boys drove off.