Disclaimer: Neither myself nor Shinotenshi own the g-boys. If we did things would be very different and Relena wouldn't be around. ^_^ Also any original characters where created by us and are owned by us. Don't steal them!

Author's notes: Anything that is written in between these quotes ' ' is either said through the Zero System or telepathically.

Phoenix flew through space towards L2. The pilot had one of the monitors tuned into a TV station that was coming from L2 and was listening to the reports on the explosions. She was also thinking about how she was going to strangle her partner when she found her. Destiny was fuming over the fact that somehow she had managed to lose track of Angel and now that Nemesis had attacked, Angel was nowhere to be found. She set the coordinates to HQ, where she knew Heero and Duo would most likely be. Maybe they knew where their errant daughter was.

When she got close enough to L2, Destiny thumbed open a com channel to HQ and said, "This is Destiny, pilot of the Gundam Phoenix. Permission to dock in the hanger bay."

"Hey, Destiny." Kazu's voice rang over the channel. "Permission granted, oh lovely one."

"Shut up, Kazu." came the irritated response.

"Yeah okay." He said. The hangerbay door opened as she approached.

"Dare I ask what's wrong? Or will that get me shot?" He asked.

As Destiny brought Phoenix into the hangerbay she said, "It won't get you shot, but I'm going to strangle your sister."

Kazu, his headset still on, walked into the hangerbay to greet her. "What did she do this time?" He asked.

Destiny opened the cockpit door and climbed down. She looked at him and said, "She's disappeared on me and I haven't got a clue where she's at."

"Oh, yeah that sucks. She's not here." He said. "Haven't seen her in some time."

Destiny sighed and said, "Great. Are Duo and Heero here? Maybe they'll have an idea where their errant daughter is."

Kazu nodded and pointed over by Soul Reaver. "Right over there." He said.

"Thanks Kazu." Destiny said as she walked over to Soul Reaver.

Duo looked up as Destiny approached. "Hey, Destiny. What can we help you with?" He asked.

She looked at him and said, "I hope you can help, but I have my doubts. Do you have any idea where your daughter is? Thought once I find her, I'm going to kill her."

He looked to Heero who shrugged then looked back to Destiny. "We haven't seen her." He said.

Destiny sighed and said, "Thanks away. She vanished on me two days ago and she was supposed to come here with me. I figured she would be back, but she didn't come back. Now after hearing about the attack by Nemesis, I figured she might be here. Something doesn't seem right about all this though."

Heero shook his head. "That's unusual." He said. "Is she responding to com calls?"

She shook her head and said, "No. I can't even get a response out of Shadow Starfire and I've always been able to get something from her. Usually an automatic response, but a response all the same."

Duo started looking worried. He looked to Heero. Heero looked back calmly. "She lives. Calm down." Heero said. "Kazu, keep trying to contact Angel." He called to his son. Kazu nodded and ran off. "She'll show up eventually, I'm sure."

Destiny frowned and said, "I don't know about that anymore. She's always gone when I could use her help. Angel's hardly around anymore and she never tells me where she had been or what she had been doing. She has always told me, but now it's almost like I don't matter anymore."

Duo stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure that's not the case." He said. "We just need to find out her side of things."

She snorted and said, "Good luck getting her to talk. It's like talking to a brick wall. She doesn't talk much anymore."

"We'll try." Duo said.

Destiny shrugged and said, "Anyway, what happened today? I've only heard a little bit from watching the TV channels."

"Nemesis set off explosions all through the city and kidnapped one of Akani's classmates." Duo said.

She gave him a puzzled look and said, "Why would they take one of her classmates? Do you know if there was any specific reason for the explosions?"

"We're not sure about the explosions, but they took the boy because he's a chemical expert." Heero said. "We just sent Akani and Cai off to investigate a connection between the explosions."

Destiny stared at the two of them and said, "A chemical expert? Great, just what Nemesis needs. Let me guess. Nobody was seen around the explosions this time either."

"Actually, the kids say they've met Shadow and her second." Duo said.

She did stare at them in shock this time.

"They've met Shadow and her second in command? Wait a minute, her? What exactly did they find out?"

"She's about your age, and rather attractive according to Cai." Duo said. "Akani said she was a complete bitch. Other than that there wasn't much they found out."

Destiny couldn't help it. She started laughing at what Duo had said. She managed to calm down a bit and said, "I'm going to have to bug Cai about that. As for Akani, Shadow must have done or said something to make her extremely angry."

She then frowned and said, "I would have never figured that she was around our age though. It always seemed like she had too much experience in terrorist activities to be around our age."

"You'd be surprised what a child can do if raised to be that way." Heero said. "I was younger than that when I started working alone."

Destiny nodded and said, "Yeah. You're right. Angel's a very good example of that. I don't think Akani and Cai will find out much about the explosions. They've been just random explosions. It seems to me as if Shadow might be leading up to something bigger then just getting attention."

At that point Cai entered, followed by Akani. Akani smiled cheerfully at Destiny, with a hint of sadness. "Hey." Cai said. "Well we found only a couple correlation's. The one bomb was just so what's his face could get away from Akani, but one of them was set off where Alex's mom worked." He said.

"The one appeared to be random and the last was to erase evidence at Alex's house." Akani said.

Destiny nodded to the two of them and said, "Well that about confirms what I just said. Shadow is leading up to something bigger then just random explosions. It seems as though, she's finally got what she's been after. I just wish I had a better idea of what she might be planning. Now is when I wish Angel was here. She might be able to fit the pieces together better then I can."

"Well, we'll just have to work with that we have." Duo said.

Kazu peeked in the door. "I'm getting nothing, you know." He said.

"Keep trying." Heero said. With that Kazu disappeared again.

Destiny frowned and practically growled, "I'm going to kill her, that's all there is to it."

She looked up at Heero and said, "Would you please try and find your daughter, so I can strangle her?"

Heero closed his eyes and focused on contacting Angel. 'Angel. Can you hear me?'

Back in the base, Shadow practically jumped as she heard Heero's voice in her head. She growled something about interfering partners under her breath and replied mentally to Heero.

'She's pissed at me, isn't she?'

'Very.' Heero replied. 'Are you alright? Was there a problem or something?'

'I'm just peachy. Everybody can't seem to get through their head, that maybe nothing is wrong. What the hell happened to make you try and contact me?' Shadow replied in a rather dark mental tone.

As she responded Shadow changed her appearance back to Angel's and made some slight adjustments in what she was wearing. She had a feeling that she was going to have to put in a rather abrupt appearance to shut everyone up.

Heero made a mental shrug. 'It could be that you told Destiny that you'd come here with her then you ran off. And that you haven't been answering com calls.' Heero replied, ignoring her upset tone. 'It's unusual for you. Can you blame us for being worried?'

'How the hell would any of you know if that was unusual or not for me? None of you know me that well.' Angel replied.

'Unusual, as in you've never done it to us.' He replied. 'I didn't contact you to upset you, Angel. I'm simply trying to hear your side of this. Do try to calm down.'

Angel laughed bitterly to herself before she vanished and reappeared in the hangerbay with the others. She glared at the assembled group and said in a rather dark tone, "You called and I came. What do you want?"

Destiny just flinched at Angel's tone and looked at her not saying anything.

Heero opened his eyes and frowned slightly. Duo smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you're okay." He said. "Destiny wanted to talk to you."

Angel shrugged and said sarcastically, "And yet, she's terrified of me right now."

Destiny narrowed her eyes and looked into Angel's eyes. Her eyes widened at what she saw and she tried to take a step back, forgetting that Duo and Heero were both standing behind her. Angel's eyes where perfectly clear. They have always been red when she's angry, but now there wasn't an ounce of color in them.

Heero stood. "Well?" He said.

Angel looked at him and said, "Well what?"

"We've obviously done something to offend you." He said. "Are you going to tell us what we did, or are you just going to continue to punish us for caring about you?"

Angel turned around and mentally fought with herself. She crossed her arms over her chest and dug her nails into her arms, leaving red marks. She didn't say anything to answer Heero's question.

Heero narrowed his eyes at her slightly. Kazu, hearing people talking peeked into the hanger bay and spotted Angel. He waved to her. "Hey Angel. Glad to... see... you." His voice trailed off seeing everyone looked upset. Heero turned without changing his expression. Kazu sweatdropped. "Oops... Bad time... I'll come back later." He said with a timid tone. "Uh... bye sis." He ducked back out of the hangerbay.

Angel didn't acknowledge Kazu's presence. She looked up and took several steps forward and said, "I have no reason to be here."

"Hmph. Then why are you here?" Heero said emotionlessly and started walking off. 'Go if you want.' he said to her through his mind. 'But we do love you.'

'nakitai gurai ni anata dake ga itoshiki.' He added before he was out of the door.

Angel froze after hearing that and looked in the direction of where Heero had went. She reached out with one arm as if she was going to try and stop him, but then her arm just dropped to her side. She stood there not moving or saying anything.

Back at the base Donovan was looking into some data when Shadow Starfire said, 'Donovan, Angel is losing control of herself. Shadow's bound to show up if you don't do something!'

Donovan cursed under his breath and ran to her room. He opened the door and went inside only to find her room empty.

'Where is she Shadow?' he said.

'Angel teleported to the others. Heero was trying to find her.' Shadow replied.

Donovan closed his eyes and concentrated, 'Angel, come on. Get a hold of yourself. You have to get control back or you'll destroy everything you've worked so hard for.'

Angel didn't respond to Donovan but she was jerked out of her thoughts. She took a sudden step back and stood there shaking slightly.

Duo stepped forward and placed his hand on Angel's shoulder, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. He'd been shocked to hear Heero say that. He didn't know what was wrong with Angel, but he was determined to be there for her if she wanted him to be, even if she wouldn't tell him what was wrong.

Akani and Cai exchanged glances. They didn't know what to do... or if they should do anything at all.

Angel felt Duo put his hand on her shoulder and suddenly everything came back to her. She realized what had been happening and she reached up and touched her face. She was crying, something she never does. She looked at Duo, before she suddenly took off running after Heero.

Duo stared at her in shock at seeing her cry. He reached out his hand to her as she ran off but made no real attempt to stop her. "Angel..." He said softly.

Angel ran past Kazu and finally found Heero walking towards his room. She was still crying but she managed to say, "Wait, please."

Heero stopped and looked back at her. The struggle he was having with his emotions was clear in his eyes. He was fighting to keep them emotionless, though he was losing it this time. Going from pained to nothing then pained again. That stopped immediately when he saw her tears. He stepped towards her and wiped away a tear before wrapping his arms around her lovingly.

Angel wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. She was crying harder then she had been and she managed to say softly, "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

Heero held her tighter. "Please don't cry." he said softly. "I know you didn't." He ran his hand over her hair. "I just don't want to lose you. I love you, musume-chan."

At Heero's words Angel tried to stop crying, but she now felt guilty at what she was doing. She was betraying the trust her parents had in her, but she couldn't tell them. She continued crying lightly but she said softly, "I love you, dad. I always will."

Heero placed a soft kiss on her forehead. He'd waited so long to hear her say that. It melted any pain left away. He simply held her, wondering if she needed this cry to help her feel better and handle whatever was bothering her.

Angel slowly managed to stop crying and she looked up at Heero and gave him a weak smile and said, "I must look like a wreck. I feel a little better though. Thank you."

Heero smiled a rare soft smile and wiped away what was left of the tears from her cheeks. "You look fine." he said in a fatherly tone. "You're welcome. Thank you for coming for me."

Angel smiled and said, "I haven't been meaning to avoid any of you. I think I need to go apologize to Destiny though. I never meant to scare her or abandon her."

Heero nodded. "I think that's a good idea." He said.

Angel nodded and pulled out of Heero's hug and said, "Are you going to come back with me?"

He nodded. "If you want me to I will." He said.

She looked at him and grinned.

"Well, then let's go." Angel said acting almost child like.

Heero laughed slightly and followed, though he let his smile fade before he got near the hangerbay. That smile wasn't for them. Though he didn't completely return to his emotionless facade. He still looked happy.

Duo, Akani, and Cai watch them return with a look of concern. They all wondered if everything was okay.

Angel walked into the hangerbay and had managed to calm down some, but she still looked fairly happy. She walked over to Destiny and said, "I'm sorry about earlier. I never meant to take off on you or scare you. A lot of things have been happening and I guess it just gets to me after awhile."

Destiny looked at her and smiled, before she smacked Angel upside the head. Angel rubbed her head and looked sheepishly at Destiny.

"You're my best friend and my partner. I will always be there for you. I forgive you, Angel."

Duo smiled, satisfied that whatever Heero did it had made Angel feel better. Akani tried hard not to giggle. Cai elbowed her in the ribs to help her not laugh... which worked but got him glared at. He looked away innocently.

Angel looked at them and said, "Before I get back to what I was doing. What did happen today?"

Akani looked at her sister. "Nemesis attacked today." Akani said. "They came killed a bunch of people with some bombs and that bitch Shadow kidnapped Alex."

Angel winced slightly at Akani's words and said, "Ouch. You mean you actually saw Shadow? Who's Alex?"

"Yes we did. She came and taunted us for a while." Cai said calmly. "Alex is chemical expert from our school. Akani decided to befriend him today shortly before Nemesis attacked. He refused her help. She blames herself for Alex's abduction..." At that point Akani brought her heel down hard in the middle of Cai's foot, ending his explanation.

"Thank you Cai. That's quite enough." Akani growled.

Angel shook her head and said, "I'll see what I can dig up for ya. It sounds like Shadow is up to something, other then the usual random attacks. Since she now has Alex, Shadow has a chemical expert in her hands and that could spell disaster."

Akani nodded. "Not to mention we don't know what they'll do to Alex. She said he won't be in his right mind." Akani said. "If something happens to him I'll never forgive myself." She mumbled softly.

"I don't think she would do much to him Akani. Especially if she wants to use his skills." Angel said to her sister.

Akani nodded but looked like she didn't quite believe that. That look disappeared when a hand smacked her upside the head. "Stop pouting." Cai said.

"I'm not pouting." She growled.

"You are too, now stop it." Cai said. Akani frowned and silently glared at Cai.

Angel snickered and said, "Like I said. I'll see what I can dig up. In the meantime, I've still got a few things to finish. I don't know when I'll be back, but it hopefully won't be to long."

"We appreciate that Angel." Akani said.

"We'll be looking forward to your return." Duo said. Heero nodded. Kazu peeked in.

"Is it safe to come in yet?" He asked.

Angel rolled her eyes and said, "Yes Kazu. It's safe to come in. I was just getting ready to leave."

Kazu entered. "So soon?" He said. "But you just got here."

"Yes, well. I've got a few things to do yet. Not to mention I've got to go get Shadow Starfire. It's kinda hard to teleport a gundam." she said looking at her brother.

"Well yeah, you got me there." He said with a smile. "Well, take care then sis."

"You stay out of trouble yourself." she said.

Angel walked a short distance away and turned around to face everyone again. She looked at Destiny and said, "You have my permission to hit him if he doesn't leave you alone while you're here."

Destiny smirked and Angel laughed.

"Hey, now." Kazu said. "You're such a killjoy, shimai-chan."

Angel smirked and walked over to Kazu. She placed her hand on his shoulder and said sweetly, "I hate to break it ya, but that's what little sisters are for. They are supposed to bug the living daylights out of their older siblings. And I've got a lot of time to make up for."

Kazu smiled at his sister. "Yeah, well, I love you anyway, sis."

Angel smiled and said, "I love you too, Kazu. Is there anything else I should know about before I disappear on everyone?"

"No I think that was about everything." Cai said. "Comeback when you can't stay so long." He added jokingly.

Angel rolled her eyes and stepped back away from Kazu and said, "Keep it up Cai. Just keep it up."

She then said, "Later everyone." Angel then vanished from the hanger bay.

Cai smiled at her reaction, laughing slightly. "Well she seemed to be in a much better mood than when she got here." He said.

Destiny nodded but said, "I still think something is bugging her though."

The others nodded. "I just wish she'd talk to us about it." Duo said.

Destiny snorted and said, "Talk? Her? Forget it.Think about it. Have you ever seen her act anything like you, Duo? Angel acts so much like Heero, it's creepy at times. No offense Heero, but she does. This isn't Angel, no matter what happens. She never acts like this."

"I'd say it was unusual for her but I've already been yelled at today for saying that." Heero said.

"Yeah, well. We aren't going to yell at you for that because I think it's safe to say that is something we all can agree on." Destiny said.

Duo nodded. "But it was good to see her smile." He said.

Destiny smiled faintly and said, "It's been a long time since I've actually seen her smile. Unlike the rest of you, I know what she was like before her training and I can't help but wonder what she would have been like had she grown up fairly normal."

She paused a moment before she laughed and said, "When she was growing up, her favorite past time was to torment the scientists and anyone foolish enough to fall for her innocent personality. She was one of the best pranksters that I've ever known. Angel was one of the most cheerful and easygoing people I have ever met. Hard to see her that way, isn't it?"

"She doesn't get that from me." Heero said. "What happened to her? Why is she now so like me that I worry about her?"

Destiny smiled sadly and said, "The Zero System hit her like ton of bricks. She managed to control it and keep her personality the way it had been. But then the training began. Her first mission scared her to death. She couldn't handle the pain induced by the training or the killing. On her first mission, something went wrong and many innocent people got killed as a result. They started punishing her severely when she messed up."

"I see. Thank you, Destiny." He said.

Destiny shrugged and said, "You're more then welcome. I have one question for you though. Did you ever wonder why she looks nothing like either of you?"

Heero and Duo exchanged glances. "No." They both said in unison.

Cai laughed a bit. "I've wondered." Akani said

"An explosion that nearly cost her life. She absorbed too much energy and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. She managed to survive, but it changed her appearance to what it is now. Originally Angel had dark blue/dark violet eyes and her hair was an amazing color. It was long honey colored with dark brown, chestnut and reddish highlights. Angel definately took after both of you with her looks." Destiny said.

"Sounds like she was quite the looker." Cai said. "I mean, not that she isn't now but... um.." Kazu gave him a glare for talking like that about his sister. "Yeah, open mouth insert foot." He mumbled.

Destiny snickered and said, "That's one way to put it. Alexandria Lynn Maxwell would have been very attractive according most people's opinions."

Cai smirked and looked at Kazu. "See, she agrees with me." He said. Kazu narrowed his eyes at Cai. When Cai turned back to the others he punched Cai none to gently in the back of the head.

Duo smiled. "So she took my last name?" He asked.

"She didn't get much choice. One of the scientists working on the project gave that name to her. At the time, they only knew who one of her parents were and that was you Duo. It's her real name, but she doesn't remember it. The scientist didn't think it was right for her not to have a rightful name, so she gave her one. One thing you did learn when she did remember that name was that, you never ever called her Alexandria. That was a surefire way to get hurt." Destiny winced slightly as she finished what she was saying.

"Noted." Duo said with a smirk. Akani meanwhile was breaking up a fist fight that had broken out between Kazu and Cai.

Destiny looked at them and said, "What are they fighting about now?"

Cai smiled at her while having Kazu in a headlock. "Nothing." He said innocently before Kazu pulled out of the headlock and tackled him. Akani continued, in vain, to try to break them up.

Destiny glared at Cai and said, "I don't believe you."

She then smiled a rather sadistic smile and said, "You know. I could always get Angel to come back. I'm sure she'd love to see the two of you fighting."

Kazu hit Cai hard and smiled up at Destiny. "Ignore us... male bonding and all that junk or something." He said before getting thrown by Cai.

"I swear, I'm going to knock you both senseless if you don't cut it out!" Akani growled.

Destiny snickered and said, "They both have to have sense first Akani. They're guys, what more do you expect from them."

"That was harsh, Destiny." Kazu said looking up, leaving himself open for the sucker punch from Cai.

Akani glared at them. Her eyes flashed green and the boys slammed into a wall. She folded her arms over her chest. Cai, used to this by now, jumped back to his feet and walked back over as if nothing had happened, content to end the fight there. It took Kazu a bit longer to recover but came back over peacefully.

Destiny shrugged and said, "And your point is Kazu?"

"What did I ever do to you, Destiny-chan." He said.

"Let's not get into that." Destiny said before she mumbled under her breath, "Why me?"

"You know you love me." He said with a smirk.

Destiny narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Like hell I do!"

"Metaphorically speaking." He said with a laugh.

"Shut up, Kazu." Destiny grumbled.

"Anything for you, hun." He said smiling brightly.

Destiny looked at him with an unholy gleam in her eyes and said, "I have one word for you, Kazu.....Run. Cause I'm gonna kill you."

Kazu laughed nervously taking a step back. "You're just kidding... right?"

"Now why would I do that?" Destiny said taking several steps towards him.

Kazu stepped back again, fearfully. "Um... I'll just go now." He said taking another step back. "It's time for me to get back to my post anyway." He said and ran (literally) off.

As soon as Kazu was out of sight, she started laughing and managed to say, "That went better then I thought it would."

Akani giggled softly. Heero shook his head but smiled. "Destiny, please stop scaring my son." He said. Duo laughed.

"You're a bit late on that request, Heero." He said. Heero shrugged.

"You're point?" Heero asked.

Destiny just snickered and said, "But he's so much fun to scare. Like I would actually try to hurt him."

"He's paranoid cause I always follow through with my threats." Akani said smiling brightly.

She smiled and said, "I know better. I'll have to deal with Angel later. She won't hurt you, but I'm another story."

"Though Angel did give you permission to hurt him." She replied.

"Yeah, well. This is Angel we're talking about. You really think I'd hurt him, even if she gave me permission?" Destiny replied.

"No." She said.

"Point made. Anyway, I should probably get going. I was going to go check out the sites of the explosions, just to see what I could find. I doubt I'll find anything, but I figured it couldn't hurt." Destiny said.

"You're leaving now too?" Cai asked. "You girls come then leave before we ever get the chance to see you. Fine, I see how you are. Off with you then." He said waving his hand in a playfully dismissive manner. "Unless you want company... I'd be happy to go with you if you'd like."

Destiny rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever Cai. You know we both usually only show up when something's wrong. However, I would appreciate the company. Thank you."

Cai smiled. "You know I'm always willing to offer my assistance to a lovely lady like yourself." He said. "Though you're the only one who ever excepts."

Destiny mentally groaned and said sarcastically, "Gee, I wonder why Cai and keep it up and I'll personally pound you into the ground myself."

Cai laughed slightly. "You know I'm just playing." He said.

"Yes, I do. Now lead the way to the first stop on our tour, since I don't know where the explosions happened." Destiny said.

Cai smiled and started out of the hangerbay.

Destiny waved to the others as she followed Cai and said, "See ya all later."

"B-bye." Akani said.

"Later." Said Duo. Heero just gave a curt wave.

Any Japanese words or phrases are translated below:

Nakitai gurai ni anata dake ga itoshiki - Line from "Just Communication" by Two-mix.

Translation: You're so precious to me it almost brings me to tears.

Musume (-chan, -san, -sama) = Daughter

Shimai (-chan, -san, -sama) = Little sister.