Okay , this is just a POV from Shadow Fox's story called "Where were you" , it had started out as an interactive fic and could continue that way I suppose if we got him to set up an account so he could continue his wonderful interactive fics (which would be cool) but while his story is down I will put this up so you all can see how much I actually enjoyed it. As I said this has become one of my favorite stories so I hope I did it justice with my brainless babbling ^-^.

Oh no , I started a trend , is that a good thing ;^_^; Oh well , atleast I've managed to find a way and keep busy *snicker* Think I will try to keep these down to about every second or third update from Shadow cause well lets face it , there is only so much one can think while fighting , or hurting *snicker*

Hey Matthew , great idea , I know when I am writing I enjoy having something to bounce off of and it never hurts to explain a character out alittle more so no one thinks that it's all cut and dry

Yay Shadow , you go ..... we need more open ppl like you.

Okay , I blab to much so here you go


Where were you .... (Trel's POV)

Disclaimer: Own .... heck the only thing I actually own is Trel and her point of view on this story


~~~~~oO@Oo~~~~~

She had been down visiting her mother , not that she wanted to but it was the best way to keep them from warring , sure her boss didn't mind her taking some time off , the fact that she was so young kept him leery in the first place but she was a good worker so her request to take a month's worth in vacation time had been nothing , of course the classes had just started up but it wasn't the busy time of the year so he could squeeze by without her there.

Her father had driven her to Toronto to catch a plane and go down for the visit , he wouldn't say it but he hoped this would end soon , sure he would be all right , he had his brother staying at the house with him but it would be way to quiet without her there , after all she cleaned up after the two , he had done his own cooking since she was usually gone with her friend to work , she always walked out the door with a grin , which just made him feel more lonely , he had to face what everyone else knew , the time to move on and find himself someone was well past due. She'd never tell him that was the reason she had stayed with him , sure Mom had someone else and her brothers would be there but who would be there to see this man through , she sure as heck wasn't about to just let it go and after enough fighting she had won out.

She still remembered the first job she went on with him , she was well enough at ease after all he had been painting for years and she helped him at home when it needed done but later on he had told her that the contractor's crew had felt ill at ease with a girl on the job so she went out and found her own. Where else in the world could you go and make your own life doing what ever you wanted , oh sure she had classes in the afternoon but she was in no real hurry , after all half her classes she did at home to save wasting time in a class room.

Her best friend was the other reason she had fought so hard , she had known Reanne since they were kids and since all she got was brothers they had acted almost like sisters and done everything together so to leave her would have ripped Trel apart , they even got jobs at the same place and with their parents consent they held those jobs , but it was more like play then work as they usually got stuck together and covered other peoples areas when they didn't show up to work.

The news hit her hard , she walked down the stairs to see why her mother had called her down from the bedroom just in time to see the second plane crash into the tower , this confused her , that can't be real but what kind of movie was on at alittle after 9 am in the morning , her mother was covering her mouth and just stared in grim shock at the screen , the tears streaked her face as the others gathered around the screen , they lived across the street from the school so her brothers had not left the yard by the time she called after them to come back into the house.

Trela was aghast to all that she was hearing , there was news flash over the screen about the Pentagon , another plane crashed into the ground and they were still getting more information about that one , two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers and the disbelief in the announcers voice as a whole country watched and cried out in shock and all she could do was watch and feel so desolate as people jumped from the buildings , taking their chances that they may survive with broken bones then burnt to death in the flaming twin towers of death.

That night was a solemn one at work , her friend had called the next morning informing her that the District Manager had came to their work and they held a prayer as some of the members from their company were unaccounted for as well , Trel could hear the tears in her voice which did not help her much but she stayed on the phone trying to cheer her friend up , not an easy task and when Reanne finally did hang up it was more out of sheer exhaustion then anything else and all she could think was what would have happened if it had been the plane she had taken , what then , and what if there had been something that could have saved those people , how hard would that be , but things like that had only happened in the cartoons , the thought almost made her laugh as she planned it all out , but when it was all finished reality was still there waiting to claim that smile and any silly plan that she had come up with.

The next few weeks Trela had done everything she could to find out more , almost pushing herself to find some that has been rescued but nothing was really ever released , well nothing more then more having gone missing and the counts were going higher by the day , she even found tribute music which she promptly downloaded and burned to a CD , it was her way of remembering and yet she had done nothing but listen to it all till she had gone numb , that was when she started keeping to herself , after all her best friend had called and usually came over just to get into a good mood and here she was mopping over this , sure she could pretend it didn't hurt for her mothers sake , tell her brothers it was just a one shot deal and that it would never likely happen again in their life times , but saying and believing was two totally differently things , sure she could keep up her schooling online that was no big task but most of the time she sat at the computer she did nothing but day dream , she was happy just letting everyone else think that nothing could hurt her and like every kid she could just bounce back ,but it wasn't the tragedy itself that had hurt but the thought of the children , that was what kept her looking , praying that some could be spared the pain.

The day she had risen early it had been a nightmare , seeing it over again but not the way it had been , more like watching every child who knew their parent was in that building , the nightmare was her worst so she had feigned sick , that usually worked with her mother. Sure they had been assured it would never happen again but to face a child after a nightmare like that seemed impossible to her at the moment , ,as soon as she was sure everyone had left for the day she grabbed up some clothes and headed for the shower , hoping to wash her fear away , the thought of the radio almost .... but no , ,there was just going to be the real nightmare listening to that so she'd just have to stick to her own singing and really did miss hearing her father playing the guitar , but with the recent attack still fresh in her mind she just did not feel brave enough to travel back by plane , it just felt way to soon.

She towel dried her hair and dressed , wondering if she had gotten an e-mail from Reanne yet , that was sure to brighten her day , and if not then she would just have to send one to get it all going again , she was not about to leave her best friend up there to worry about her , even if this whole thing had ruined their plans of getting together one weekend and going to Darien Lake which was real close to where she had been living for the almost month and a half now , but that thought was lost as she found the floor fall out from under her , she screamed knowing no one was there to help her but that had mattered little as it escaped her mouth almost as her mind slipped away to blackness.

~

'Wow , I knew I had a nightmare , but I was sure I woke up , but I couldn't have , ,floors don't just get holes in them for a person to fall through and land on ...... metal?' was her only thought , of course she wouldn't be in pain if she had been sleeping so just where was she.

She stood up but it seemed nothing was broken , okay not the brightest idea but it wasn't like this was really going on was it , well reality showed she was awake so she may as well play along. " Hello, any one there?"

" Yeah, whose there?" was the answer she got , it sounded like a kid .... well not exactly a kid but that sure was no grown ups voice , she started walking towards it , not really sure of herself but right now what could it hurt to find someone friendly.

" Hey there, I'm glad to find some one else is in here by the way my name is Trela Armstrong, but friends call me Trel." she extend her hand out , taking a look at this boy , he sure didn't seem like any kid from her school.

The boy shook her hand and said, " My name is Matthew Miranda."

In turn others sought them out , Jason who seemed rather upset about lord only knows what , but he defiantly did not seem happy to be there , then came Savanna who seemed pleasant enough considering her friends demeanor , finally another voice shot out of the dark , it seemed the last member of their small group had found them and introduced herself as Amy.

In his impatience Jason had fallen to melodramatics and yelled for a sign , when the lights came on the sight was one that she had to stop herself from laughing at , ,poor Jason was on his knees with his arms up in the air but then she turned her attention to the ten figures by the light switch , oddly enough they looked so much like ....

" Greetings future pilots, I'm Dr. J." he said as he twisted his metal arm.

What a start that had been , of course she was good at detaching herself from this whole situation and trying to figure it all out , 5 looked familiar but the other 5 did not , and then the gundam , much like she had drawn when she was living her life in fantasy land , something that could take a direct hit from a jet plane and survive , or maybe to have cut the undamaged parts off the towers and save more then just those who had been lucky , of course it had all been a fantasy thing but here it was ..... right in front of her.

Up till the point where she sat in a car she had barely paid any attention to what was going on , okay so this was cool , real or dream she didn't care just as long as she seemed to be getting all her wishes it seemed like nothing was gonna burst her bubble , she picked out a Black Honda Accord because it looked almost exactly like her Dad's car , and this one sounded better , things were defiantly going her way , all good till she noticed doctors in her car .... and after the quick lapse in self control and having been brought back to terra firma (since she wasn't sure it was even earth) by other engines and shouts of glee this didn't seem so horrible , after all she got to drive without a licensee and this thing had a radio , almost wanting to turn it on but stopping herself , she was on an all natural high of a life time and she wanted to turn music on just to hear what might be bad news ..... oh lord she was going to have to figure out some kind of CD set up for this thing.

~

The drive had seemed peaceful enough of course she doubted that there really was a destination at first , this highway just went on for ever and that was just fine by her but Jason's Hummer pulled into a driveway , for reason's unknown , the chattering on the radio seemed to come all at once but if they were to follow then she'd have to find out soon , she slowed and asked " I guess we go in as well?"

The answer and explanation came soon enough but this was almost asking to much , they really expected her to believe the real Gundam Pilots where in there , if that was true then why where they there in the first place , to many questions and of course to ask would keep them out here all day , but really a cape with a hood , right about now she was sorely missing her silk coat , it had a big enough hood , this was just gonna make her look like some freak but then it wasn't like she looked any better with a wet shirt and hair that had been left to dry without a brushing so she had followed the request , not only to hide her hair but .... no , there was just no way she thought as she blushed at the thought , no way was Duo here , that was just crazy.

Walking through this mansion was breathtaking , well she hadn't been raised as no poor man's daughter but this .... this was extravagant , the docs had done their best to hide them away but still there were gaps when the moved and catching sight of the other pilots was not a difficult task which just made her finally glad for the hood , and it did seem that they were attracting a great following , Dr.J sure didn't seem one for disgression on this part , but then how did you get 4 Gundam pilots out of the house and not make them suspicious was a hard question to answer. Sudden stop , it took all she had not to bump into the one in front of her , now wouldn't that be great on the first day , look like a total idiot but what was the hold up , she barely looked but knew the voice well , the last of them had found them which just made her cheeks burn hotter.

She had managed to stay pretty quiet , even with the Bugs bunny imitation she had tried to keep her snickers to herself , but just that puppy routine finished her off , she hit the floor laughing , the tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to control it , but failed miserably and just buried her face in the hood that had hid her face earlier but all to soon peace and quiet had returned to the room , water had been brought and she was sitting at a table , messy hair and all as they listened and found some of the answers that they were looking for , so this had all happened because of that one day , and the threat that it could happen again in this world , atleast now that the scum of their world had found a way to this world , sure she was no expert in anything but now they had the resources to stop that kind of thing from happening , what were they needed for. She stopped thinking like that . She had just had everything handed to her on a platter and the only request to pay it all back was to get someone that every american wanted dead , sounded reasonable enough to her.

" I don't know, but I think we should fight." Said Trel

The spirit was catching and soon she found herself in a weird course of Wizard of Oz with 4 total strangers in a big room god only knows where and could only think of the irony in the situation , they re-cloaked and covered their faces , intent on their decision to fight , hey where else would you find a chance like this , besides it was becoming fun , even if her Mom had found her and likely checked her into a loony bin who wanted to go back while there was all this fun here.

The door opened and it seemed everyone was waiting on them , the question was never a question in their minds from the time it had been laid out for them , sure they seemed determined enough , of course determination wasn't everything but there was something in them that made her believe it could be done , the only word to describe it was an unsaid commitment to one another and to their own world not to let that desert rat have a second shot at destroying everything they loved , sure they had only taken their attacks out on the US but there wasn't a single country out there that didn't fear that same thing happening to them , she knew which instructor was hers and he reminded her so much of one of her commanders from sea cadets but her mind was lost in her own thoughts so she just quietly followed him , it was about time they showed her what part of this was going to be the one she played.

After hours of training the only thing she wanted to do was curl up on the first soft thing she had seen , but they passed by many of them , having been left at a door , she opened it to see a bed which she was not about to argue about , she closed the door and took off the abomination she had been stuck in since sometime earlier that day , she seen the note and unpacked slightly , just a few things , surely not enough to give away her identity , if they were to be there in secret then she would abide by it for now , Patamon brought a smile to her face , her poor V-box that she had been working on to increase the range of it's signal was still in need of work , her camera .... well no one was going to think she was nuts ..... if she even bothered to show anyone , she may just keep them all to herself , the picture of Reanne and herself last year at a theme park in Canada , oh lord what would she think of this set up .... oh bad thought , she would defiantly lose it and tell the poor maids how to clean the floors properly , her CD player and 2 CD's , she looked them over and found one to be the burned copy that she had made a few weeks back , that one she would definitely have to hide so she tucked them back into her bag , not really sure what was on the second disk but what wasn't found couldn't be used against her later.

She laid down on the duffle bag and wondered if e-mails would reach Reanne from here , she would have to raise that question up later on she thought , listening to the water moving around outside which just helped her lull off to sleep , one that couldn't be caught by either nightmare or dream.

~

She was damned if she was going down to breakfast in a cape , this was not superman's world , she dressed quickly and grabbed her jacket , the hood was enough to hide anything that would show her face and well .... it was silk after all , it would definitely hide anything she had which just made her snicker as she walked down the stairs and saw everyone else in their cloak and hood , oh well , she could get reprimanded later but she was not wearing something that smelled down to breakfast.

Of course it was Jason who finally broke of the good puppy routine and dropped his cloak and started what looked to be a tantrum , it took everything she had not to make a noise but no one said she couldn't laugh so she kept it to herself and would have rooted him on but after the last time she violated the silence order and received a death glare she wasn't taking any chances just to find out their foul tempered friend was in charge of tactics .... this did not seem a good start then Dr.J called her forward , finally she could shake off the hood and smile , saying hi and waving , letting the blond hair spill out over the silk jacket that she loved so much as she almost skipped to her seat.

Duo was talking .... oh lord he was talking to her , if he only knew how much she could tell him about himself he would be the one that was blushing but hey , to play it coyly seemed the best plan and finding out who everyone else was did seem top priority right now and the whole scene played out in front of her .... including Duo's teasing remarks , great , the God of Death and an Angel of Mercy , anywhere else that may have looked cute but it wasn't like this was gonna last forever so she would just have to concentrate on what they were there for and not on being a 16 year old girl with the hots for an anime cartoon who just was not from her world , oh well , there was always dreams for that kind of thing.

It had been just like a bunch of kids at the mention of going to the beach , but atleast it seemed more interesting that eating , but she did eat since it would seem rude not to enjoy what was put in front of them , the good part was no one said how much they had to eat so after a light breakfast she joined in on the excitement and got changed , putting her hair up in two braids , after all wet hair got clingy and with her in need of a hair cut it was better up and out of the way , the whole time she had wanted to talk to Amy but figured it better by putting it off till later when she could explain what she was in need of and where Amy could help her out on the V-box , she was more interested in looking out over the water and enjoying the sights on the way.

She had chosen to relax on the docks like a cat in the sun , oh she loved the heat that pounded down on her , even if it wasn't as hot as it was going to get atleast it helped to soothe some still sore muscles from yesterday but suddenly the warmth was gone and before she could even open her eyes she had been lifted up off the ground and thrown in , she came up and saw the joker , she should have known it too.

" Duo Maxwell!" she shouted she was fuming and splashed some water at him but missed him by a few inches.

Even as he laughed she heard the Jet skis coming in closer then they had since they took off from the dock , she looked to see Amy and Savanna bearing down on the docks and getting revenge for her as they soaked the pilot of Deathsythe and helped her up out of the water , she couldn't help but laugh at all the antics and playfulness , who would have believed that even some of the ever so diligent pilots could be reduced to water fights and tom foolery , but this was not a bad thing , it just came to show that this whole joining up thing may work in all of their favors.

Of course so much together time just gave her more to think about , she spied her kayak and grabbed a chance to catch some alone time , after all with 10 people it was likely to be a few and far between kind of thing , her main idea had been just to row and think until something had tipped her over , she popped out to find it more a someone rather then a thing.

" Duo!" she growled as she was about to splash some water at him but Duo caught her wrist.

" Now, Now don't you worry that pretty little face of yours?" started Duo looking at her closely.

" I have question for you?" he said plainly.

" Ok?" she asked confusedly

" Where are you from?" he asked

Oh great , the one thing she wasn't suppose to answer was the one question he had asked with a straight face , and people think women were difficult , she thought quick and said the first thing that came to mind.

" None'ya" she said looking away and closing her eyes.

" None'ya? Never heard of it?" he said

She slipped her hand away from him and started to swim away thinking she had gotten away with it.

" Oh, no you don't." said Duo as he grabbed her wrist again.

" Where is None'ya?" asked Duo as he slipped a hand around her waist.

She started to blush and tried to push way, but she was drawn closer to his chest.

" It." she started still turning her head.

" Yes," whispered Duo in her ear.

" It means none of your business!" she shouted and pushed him off and swam away.

Savanna and Amy picked up Trel from the water and started to head back to the dock. They parked the Jet skis they sat there a minute until the others came with similar stories , it was decided that if they wanted it so badly that they would have to win it , unfair as it was it was decided that water sports were going to be the main theme in a game of H-O-R-S-E , and anyone who knew basketball knew what that meant , the first team that got all the letters by loosing in a particular water sport would have to concede to the winner , the prize was the information , thankfully they had given her what they said was the easiest , it couldn't be that hard right , after all they were suppose to have gotten skills since they had come to this world but the thought of disappointing the group with her lack of skills just drove her into doing anything she could , after all she wasn't up first and had time to study the course alittle before this got underway.

Then Duo having the gall to call them on , well that was just the end of that , she was going to beat him , even if it meant breaking her neck to do it , which never happened in the show so surely she wouldn't ruin that long run of luck all by herself , but then it seemed Amy had a dose of bad luck on the first run , she strapped herself onto the board and was sure she looked more confident then she felt , but then when you were busy looking the course over you always looked in control , then there was a hand on her shoulder , she looked up to see her earlier tormentor looking down and smiling.

" Good Luck." He said

" Thanks, you too." She said smiling

Well atleast now she didn't feel like throwing up at the pressure she had brought onto herself , and if she had his luck then it was bound to be good , after all he had managed alot of luck when she watched the show , time to show the God of Death that he wasn't the only one that could pull off the impossible , besides they always called her the Queen of flukes , lets hope that was some help she thought as she gave a thumbs up and was pulled off the deck and onto the course , forcing herself to look and do it cause she wasn't gonna meet her maker with her eyes closed.

The punishment that the first team had been experiencing at their hands had almost been painful to watch , just thankfully it was nothing serious and only one event left to go , this was almost to much to hope for , just Jason and Wufei and since she was sure the Chinese boy was going to be more graceful then most even if the acrobat of the group had landed face first , it was still a good idea that she kept a good eye on it all , the last thing they needed was for one to get seriously hurt and that would make this team that they were working on weaker.



~~~~~oO@Oo~~~~~

All seemed to be going fine , the one she had the most concern about in their group actually seemed to know his stuff and soon finished up which just left Chang Wufei , the only one she was not really worried about , far be it from him to mess something up and it would be even less likely that he'd get hurt so she followed him closer then Jason , trying to catch all his moves as she had the previous skiers and started wondering just how many times they'd repeat this event to see who ended up with the letter. She backed off at the jump and let Wufei have his bit of fun but that final move had unaligned him and he was not recovering it seemed.

~SMACK~

She rounded and picked him up , mainly just trying to asses the aggressive pilot and see if he was any worse for the wear and after a frustrating moment she just brought him to shore where the party had seemed to have started without her , jumping up off the Jet ski and joining the others in their victory hoots and congradulating the other Gundams for a game well played. Of course it had been an interesting day but supper was up soon and going to the table in any state less then clean and warm was defiantly not a fun idea , she had been in favor of heading out for supper and soon she had managed to get showered up and almost unwrinkled from all the water exposure as they started down to the dinner table but were intercepted by Dr.J with interesting news.

" Your vacation has to be cut short you have a mission. Your mission is in and out mission. Get in the base and get out with the information and destroy the base with your Gundams." Dr. J continued on how to get in and what information the group needed. He explained that Osama Bin Laden might be there with his new Gundam.

She had been listening not only to his plan but also his voice , as telling physically whether he was happy or not could likely frighten little children out of sleeping for a few days she tried another way but like usual his voice gave away little to judge by , even when he started handing out big packages he seemed almost stodic by nature , well now she knew where Heero had picked it up from.

" Yes!" shouted Trel as she found her white/gray/black camouflage cargo pants, with a white T-shirt and black vest. She put on her black baseball cap and went to the nearest mirror she looked at herself and smiled.

She would have tore off as soon as she had opened it but that was not enforcing a group situation so she waited patiently for them all to go , and once she was done waited for the rest at the top of the stairs , when they came back down it looked like a whole weapons armory had broken open all over at the bottom of the stairs , she happily accepted her 22 cal. rifle and a small japanese short sword , not that she ever expected to get close enough to anyone to even need it but it would make a great back up incase fate decided differently.

Now came the fun part , well the loading wasn't that bad , and driving Ocasta to the base was easily enough done but after she was done hacking in to get some info she actually got to test Ocasta out which was something she had wanted to do since she had turned in the bay and seen him kneeling down. Just the thought of actually making the big guy move was enough motivation to move faster through the mobile suits bay .... well that and the fact that these things were way taller then she was without Ocasta.

Getting the information was easy enough once you figured out the code , downloading she always felt was a waist of time but when it was done she just said got it and started out , looking for a way out since the door had slid shut as she had first come in only to find that these guys hadn't been smart enough to shut all the bay doors and ran out the closest one , headed for Ocasta.

' New orders , go help Savanna , with the way Savanna carried herself this should be a breeze , if there was anything left for her to do besides try to keep out of the other's way ' and upon arrival all she found were pits and pieces which brought a smile to her face.

" I guess Savanna finished them off." She said her radar picked up something that was about to reach the surface of the water; she was excepting Silver Wing popping out but a black Eypon Gundam with a red sword.

'This does not look good at all , of course she was lax in the knowledge about Savanna's Gundam Silver Wing but if this jerk had managed to take her down then Ocasta had better be worth the metal they put into him' she though as she took a defensive stand and tried to hold the field till the rest showed up but was knocked to earth and laa laa land all in turn.

She vaguely heard Savanna yelling at her , or someone which drew her back to the pain in her head she was hoping to avoid , looking around didn't really help with all the lights going off and the yelling going on , she grabbed one of the thermal sabers , loaded and fired hoping to be of some help even if they did look like a turtle at the moment.

Once rectifying the huge mass to an upright position she had almost wished she had stuffed the CD player in the jacket before taking off from the house , anything was gonna be better then listening to this jerks voice , she came back up in time to see Savanna doing some seriously interesting moves on this new Epyon system as she brought out the other Thermal Saber , knowing she should have looked for the other but not that interested in leaving the fight to do so.

Soon after Amy came which just made these odds look better , well if anything was going to look better it was numbers. Tenshi had blocked another oncoming attack but with Ocasta and Silver Wing it was not long before Amy's attempt also ended in the same fate as hers had earlier .... and it seemed once again but this time she was gonna need more then just a few aspirins to get over this.

She opened her eyes in time to catch Miranda's Gundam come into view but she certainly was not about to fish around in the haze that was her mind for the name ...... ' Okay , number 4 but where is Jason ..... haven't seen him yet' she thought as she watched a sec before trying to get Ocasta up off his back and soon got an answer as something lit the outline of Osama's Gundam up like fireworks and a scream followed immediately afterwards.

With some effort she managed to get Ocasta back up on his feet and finally knew how a clam felt after being hit enough times by the waves. But atleast she wasn't the only one that was doing some serious grumbling about a rough landing as it seemed the others were well on their way to starting a lynch mob just for Bin Laden.

" Lets head back and see what we got on the disk." Said Matthew as he transformed into Neo-bird mode the others followed and headed back home.

' Yeah , and after we see what we got on the disk ...'she checked , making sure it hadn't been damaged in all the tossing about '... I am gonna see if there is a fry pot at Quatre's place , after a beating like that I feel like poutine after another shower ...... a long shower .'

Upon return to the main base that they had used to store the Gundams she wasn't sure if she was relieved to see it or if she should just hide in Ocasta in shame , she had designed the poor thing to take a few good hits and still keep going all right , that much showed in it's unwillingness to just shut down after a beating like that but the Epyon , she had not taken into account fighting anything more then mobile dolls , well it had been more so designed to cover and take the defensive with the abilities to fight if needed , not lay on it's back like a street walker in a brothel. Seeing the fault was not the Gundam that left the blame to the one that piloted him . The base was an easy thing , sneak in .... which meant doing so without notice and generally ended not encountering anyone , hence no actual confrontation , she had a whole house full of fighters and five of which had fought most of their life just to get where they were , four others seemed more then able to handle themselves from what she had seen and all she could do was defend or throw her thermal sabers at him , that and a dollar would get her a cup of coffee but not much else.

As the other pilots shed their metal overcoats she looked around the pit , shutting down a few breakers so Ocasta wouldn't overload before the repairs could be tended to and was almost ready to stay till she noticed repair crews showing up , and right now she just wanted to be alone to try and figure out where she messed up.

As they had returned to the mansion and it seemed her mood wasn't the only one of it's kind she just sort of hid out with the others , after all she had heard misery loved company but had not been expecting Matthew to bring a slide show with him , he pointed out the enemy and the offending Gundam which almost made her want to go back to the lab and sulk there instead , atleast she wouldn't have the blasted thing in her face again , then he dropped the bomb , they had another mission which just about sank her further into work mode.

" Hold the phone anther mission we just got back like what 2-3 hours a go." Said Trel looking through the folder.

She poured through the folder , of course she was in no mood to read it all so she looked for the paragraphs that may hold any interest , not that she had any at that exact moment , and the worst part was it seemed to be an up close and personal kind too , that really did not improve her mood any as the one that did not fail was likely to stand out way to much in the crowd which just left her to do it without her partner as she had deemed Ocasta.

The last part really did make her take a second look at their leader to see if he was joking , Relena was going to make a speech at a ball .... okay besides the fact that they all likely had enough bruises on them from tonight to ensure that they would definatly not blend in well with the priss crowd that would likely gather at such an event , she definatly was not educated in the formalities of ballroom ettiquete nor dancing and doubted anything that they'd have found at her mother's house would even resemble anything close to a ball room dress but the main question crossed her mind , how effective would they be in dresses if it turned out to be more then just a sniper shoot , it would definatly be a hard job to conceal a shortt sword in a ball dress let alone any weapon with a positive effect. After processing all this and more then a few minutes had passed the only thing that even sounded reasonable to ask finally came from her lips.

" Does that mean we get to go into town and do some shopping cause I don't think my sneakers are gonna look right in a ballroom , even if I did find something to dress up in "she couldn't believe it but she almost felt like smiling as she tried to figure out what one would wear to a ball.

After waiting for Jason to vacate the computer she looked up some gowns and dresses , well an hours worth and just felt more uncomfortable then before , almost wondering if she could sneak a tux instead , after all Quatre had to be the same size almost. With the thought of food forgotten and an hour worth of staring at a computer screen having made her pain turn into a headache and an unpleasent feeling in her gutt she went to look through what had managed to follow her over to this side , even the evening gown her grandmother had bought her would have been welcome but she knew it had stayed at her father's place in Canada. Ballroom gowns usually consisted of long gloves and fancy dresses.

She sighed and decided on another shower to help bring the bruises out so they could heal faster while contemplating all black , after all some of her jewelry had made it and while ear cuffs were not likely to be the perfect thing her thin dark blue cross necklace had made it and a pair of long silver dangly earrings had managed to worm their way into the bag so she had a start , best to keep it plain and simple , less likely to draw attention to herself and likely easier to run in then some big fluffy thing , with it decided she was going out to try and find a long black sleveless dress and black gloves to match.

~~~~~oO@Oo~~~~~

As they checked in on their illustrious leader all they seen was two figures sitting in complete silence and looking out windows that were not even the same ones , well it looked like he was going to need help in the social area so the whole group joined in to try and break the ice , at least something till they could get to the ball where it should all happen without their help.

As they left the limo in triumph they made their ways to places that were of concern , Trel had taken the punch bowl and wondered what Loch Ness monster was likely to jump out at her ,but at least she had a good view of all the entrances and even if it was just an assignment to some it still was a life for her so she was trying to keep her mind on what they were here to do , but at least Relena looked happy out on the floor with Matthew and seemed to be having the time of her life finally.

The song ended and all she could do was sigh , she had been to many dances and usually just stuck with her friends so this was bound to be the dullest party she had ever been to , especially without Reanne around to liven it up , she turned as another song started , intending to freshen her drink then find a seat before someone took interest in her watching the floor like a hawk but was interrupted from both her thoughts and watching by a smile that could melt ice attached to one very charming Duo Maxwell as he held out a hand and asked to dance , she set her cup down and took up the offer , at least she wasn't alone and looking like an idiot sitting at a table all night.

As the two of them danced she had managed to keep an eye on their leader and was trying to keep a casual watch on the entrance ways , but she was more worried that whom ever was being paid for the dirty work had already made it inside when once again Duo broke her from her concentration.

" Is something wrong?" Trel closed her eyes and turned to face him.

" No, nothing is wrong." Was her reply as she opened her eyes to be staring right into those orbs that she had seen so many times in pictures alone looking at her with a mix of expression pooling deep within them , she felt like a fool having committed herself so much that she was almost ignoring him till now , where there was nothing more then those amazing eyes so close to her own.

Then the crash came , drawing everyone back to their senses unexpectedly and a rather unwelcome shock to all there , she turned in time to catch a cloaked figure on the stage as Duo took a defensive position to shield her from the glass that seemed to be falling all around , and after a small storm from the guests and the removal of the gutter trash that had blocked the doors all that remained were 10 pilots and Relena with what she could only assume was Bin Laden himself.

" You have something I want." He started " and that is the Gundam Pilots." He said as he pointed to Duo. Duo blinked confusedly , but the words had almost dropped Trel into a panic fit as he faced Duo " Not you boy, the girl behind you." He said Trel stepped in front of Duo with a smirk look on her face , hoping to keep Duo safe and well out of this.

She watched with slight amusement as the others stepped forward but kept an eye on their cloaked guest , not sure as of yet if he had a weapon or not and not willing to play a life or death game if he did.

" I want you to come with me quietly. Is this understood?" She was about to give him exactly what he wanted so keeping her hands where they could be seen she slowly walked up to the stage in her best blonde manner.

" Um Mr. Cloaked Figure guy sir, um I was just wondering." Trel trailed off , trying to keep that innocent look upon her face.

" Wondering about what?" he said as he looked at Trel confusedly.

" How you like this!" she shouted as she put the figure in a headlock her pulling her tanto out from the place she had hid it and putting it against his throat.

It hadn't taken long for him to start causing problems and trying to get out of the head lock , between her inability to just take his life and trying to fight in high heels he was swiftly winning , but she had to hold him till the others came and almost did , just before Savanna had made her way over Trel felt him buck enough to send her flying and was not happy at the sudden stop the wall had provided She had been able to clear her head by the time he had pulled out what looked to be one of the famous detonators she might have expected to see Heero with but when nothing but smoke came she stood and tried helping Savanna to her feet.

As they ran from the nose diving Gundam she eagerly lost the shoes , easier to run without them and was more then glad to see Ocasta , that was about the only place she felt detached from the fighting and had held no regret about killing , he was so going to pay for putting the others at risk of being hurt but her charge had done no damage it seemed to this plague that had constantly seemed impervious to anything they had done to it.

Lord only knew what had stopped her , the sound as the building fell down around them was deafening , the fire still burned , the screams of earlier and the absolute hatred in her own heart just seemed to break her as she looked over what was left of the serene place that they had been dancing in just an hour ago , her mind just shut down as the whole nightmare came back , just like it had the night before she had first arrived and met the others.

Nothing else mattered at that moment , she wanted out , she had to make sure everyone got out alive which was her first concern over the pain in her gut , or was that her ribs , whatever it was it would have to wait as she quickly climbed out looking through what was left but seeing nothing but embers of the chaos that had come to this building because of them. Nothing had been left unscathed and it didn't take long for her thoughts to turn to what would have happened had that stunt been pulled while the place was full of innocent guests unable to escape , they had just been lucky and even that hadn't kept them totally from harm.

Watching the four lost faces she just wanted to go , either it was to watch water flow over a fall , lay somewhere dark like her father's place and look up at the stars , she just had to go , she couldn't deal with the loss on everyone's face , that kind of thing was buried away until there was time for it and yet everyone was effecting her , this she did not like . It was Matt's anger that had broke her thoughts on what had just happened as she looked out over the other 4 pilots , she looked to have been in the best condition out of the whole lot but knew her ribs were severely protesting that thought.

Then it seemed as a group the decision had been made , they had failed and worse was that they had caused the distruction of this building , or more to the point they had been the reason it had been caused. She stayed with Amy as she was unsure she would be much help to Savanna with her anckle the way it was and even less help to anyone else without a patch up kit on hand , she'd have been better off carrying a doctors bag then a sword in the first place , atleast it was something she would have use for.

Pain resonated from everyone around her , the pilots she had come so close to had it physically , and those she had come to admire on a television had pain from being rejected as they were. Neither was caused by the other but they seemed to increase a rift between the groups that only made it worse especially since they genuinely wanted to do nothing more then help , it had shown in their actions and the words and that made it that much more painful to push them away.

Maybe that was where the original Gundams had won where they had not , the originals had learned to be strong alone and when they finally did come together they ended up as an unstoppable force that struck fear in the hearts of the soldiers , and her group had stayed together and had failed miserably against this new Epyon version that Osama Bin Laden had managed to maneuver so well , or was it the Zero system that had made him impossible to beat , the whole thing was giving her a migraine and her ribs were complaining sharply to the lack of attention she had been giving them in their irritated state.

The next morning had been easier to deal with , she could hide away almost any pain as long as she could still laugh without contorting her face but her and Amy had decided to tinker which was just fine with her , less movement involved and soon after Savanna joined them , looking worse for wear so they had entered almost like a sharing chat , but that was always a good thing , it helped one to forget the pain when things threatened to over power you. Even that had ended up being interupted by another knock at the door pulling the whole group together for a meeting and drawing more then just a few forced smiles from her as she tried to help the others down the stairs.

Matt had a plan and it sounded reasonable , the fear that he might try to pull a self destruct move concerned her more then anything else but they had to do something , if they let fear rule them then they'd end up with a repeat of the night before ..... or worse. But they had been offered a vacation , on a beautiful island even , two whole days to do nothing but train. The thought was a welcome idea , no one to hold a mask up for , time to be alone and enjoy the pain , test her tolerance levels and forget that they were just second rate pilots.

Matt opened the door and all she heard was a loud thud , drawing her eyes and her anger as Duo picked himself up off the floor , but then what did she expect , that's what they were good at was gaining information and breaking secrets , why would this seem any different , the question was how much had they heard , the whole plan had been said in that room and now all 6 of them were standing there trying to gain information. They walked to the rooms they had been in for the last few days and she was suddenly glad she had not put anything away from her bags as that would make this easier , she picked the few items that she had left out of the bag and put them back but stopped when it came to the CD that she had not played since she made it , it was a whole CD of tribute music she had downloaded after the attack on the towers themselves and had always kept in memory of what had happened , but this time it wasn't comming with her , she put it back down on the desk , picked up the V-box and looked over the room , she had left the dress Quatre had paid for there at the end of the bed and looked at the tanto still right where she had dropped it the night before , considering leaving it as well but reluctantly picked it up , if she was going to train she would need something to defend herself with.

She came out and waited till all the group was there , they knew they had to disable the gundam pilots from following , sure they may have heard the whole thing but they would never find them if they couldn't follow the trail , after leaving the mansion she felt guilty having helped in the sabotage of their transportation but if they looked around outside hard enough then the missing parts would surely be found , unless they cut the grass before they were found.

On the way she had refused to listen to any radio or television , once again it had become tainted with the acts of war , instead she sat and listened to the other CD that she had with her , knowing it would draw her into a place where she could not be touched , where nothing could effect her but that was dangerous , to be caught off guard could mean her life and result in trouble for the team , and that was the only commitment on her plate right now was to listen to any and all incoming communications just in case of trouble. If they needed her they knew she'd be there but to drop her guard at any point would feel like abandoning them , and now Osama knew about the others which was worse , if he tracked them down they all were toast , of course the other team was resourceful enough to manage some how but that was not about to put her mind at ease as she opened the modified V-box and had it scan the frequencies just in case.

~~~~~oO@Oo~~~~~






Shadow:
Okay , to answer your questions (hopefully in order) 1) Unicorn or Dolphin (okay so the dolphin isn't mystical or magical , but it has been known to heal the heart with it's playfulness) , 2) I'd go comet , 3)Training .....I'd go survival as in a physical type , you know kill or be killed , she is not the best at that and in the one place she hates , the colder the better and finally 4) Definatly purple and black ....*looks back over how many times she has listed for black things* I am pathetic really *G*