Wufei let go of her and quickly moved away, "There is no way that can be true."
Jade stood wobbling a little, but quickly regaining her balance, "Wanna bet." She threw back her shoulders and stood straight up looking at all in the room and for just a split second Quatre could have sword that the two of them were identical. Her female curves and long hair that now fell only to the bottom of her shoulder blades was the only thing that distinguished her from her brother. They had the same icy cobalt stare, the same color and texture of hair, and the same fighting abilities.
"Well this explains the fighting abilities above all other things." was Trowa's whispered response. Jade move nonchalantly over to the couch and sat down where Wufei had been sitting before.
"I guess it does. But then how do you explain the fighting abilities of the other girls who protected you the other night?" she said.
"Who were they?" Duo asked pulling out a chair turning it backwards and sitting in it the wrong way. His violet eyes searched hers and she said.
"I think I will let them tell you."
"What do you mean by that."
"What I mean is that my crew are probably already looking for me. They already know who I am with so it is only a matter of time before they figure out where you are. As a matter of fact have you checked your EMail Heero?" Heero moved to his laptop and within minutes had opened his fake account and found a message. "It's from The Dragon?"
"I wouldn't open that. It's from Woo. She's got a virus in there that can only be detected by her. She was going to have you open the file and then once it had infected your entire system then it would contact her computer and send her back all of the data. She's been working on it for a while." Jade said a small smile on her face. Heero deleted the message. Wufei went white. "You know Woo?"
Jade just gave him a critical look, "Yes I know Woo. She and I met when we were thrown into an OZ prison after the self-destruction of 01 in Siberia. She and I escaped together. We have been practically inseparable since then."
"Woo is the Oriental girl from last night right. Then how do you know her Wufei?" Duo said giving him a quizzical look. Wufei seemed to get angry at that remark. "It's really none of your business."
"Woo is his sister-in-law." Jade said leaning back in her seat. Wufei shot her a look as if he couldn't believe she just did that. Everyone just sat in shock. "Wufei? Married? Now I know your making this all up." Wufei just shook his head. "I figured telling all of you eventually anyway. I just wish the time would have been up to me, " he shot Jade a nasty look, "But I see things can't go that way. Yes I was married. But I don't plan to go into details." They all knew what that meant. It was just Wufei's nice way of saying "the subject is closed".
"What about the other two?" Duo said trying to extract other information out of her. The idea of company appealed to him. Jade just smile. "If you want to meet them, Duo then I could arrange something. Anyone have any objections to that? I figure it is best this way for all of you to meet one another." She said, quite relaxed.
"So I guess your going to be here for another night?"
"Yep I concluded that your crew doesn't trust me Heero so I don't think they will let me out of their sights."
"You've got that right." Wufei muttered.
"Then it's settled. In the mean time Trowa hand me Heero laptop. I have got a system to hack into."
Four days later at a secluded, yet public, area the team of Stars meets their counter parts.
And so the two groups stood facing each other. Woo was in a loose Chinese kimono top with a dragon printed on the front that wound around behind her back. Its blue highlights accented her white shorts. Steph's brown hair floated around her heart-shaped face. Her purple top clung to her chest. The Lily's platinum blonde hair swirled around her china doll features. Her deep green tank top was almost a complete replica of the one Heero used to wear. All of their eyes were glued onto their leader the girl whose brown hair was bound up in a tall ponytail. Jade had borrowed Duo's clothes. In other words a white shirt, which she rolled up to her elbows and a black pair of loose pants. She crossed her arms across her chest shifting her eyes from the Pilots to her crew. "So what happens now?" she asked.
The staring contest between Woo and Wufei resumed. Duo looked hopeful and everyone else of optimistic. "So what are your guy's real names? You said at the club you would introduce yourselves properly later."
Jade looked at Steph. She nodded her head and stood up with every ounce of dignity in her body. She now had the stage. " My full name is Stephanie Kushranada but call me Steph for short." Wufei's eyes narrowed and everyone else's eyes widened. Steph knew those stares. "Yes, I am the younger sister to Treize Kushrenda."
Lily took her cue. "You try being the adopted sister to "the Lightening Count" for a day and then imagine doing it everyday for most of your life." Lily smiled.
"Wufei Woo. Call me Woo though. I took the name Wufei for my sister who married Wufei Chang over there," she indicated nodding her head in Wufei's direction," Nataku was the only family I had."
"Why do you still call her that?" Wufei asked angrily.
"Because that is what Meiran was. She took the name of a hero and in term became a hero. And if you think any less of her than that then you dishonor her memory Wufei." She bit back.
"What would you know about dishonor? Your nothing but trouble and always have been."
"I fought for justice and honor just as Meiran had always taught me. You on the other hand never took up the cause until she was killed. So what kind of man does that make you?"
"I didn't fight because I thought no one wins in a war."
"Thought? Wufei that thought was right. No one does win in a war. Wars are fought to teach people a lesson. That lesson we must take to heart because people like Nataku died to teach it to us that."
"Who are you to talk about learning, honor and war? You were not there fighting for one side or another. You're deceitful. You preach about these things but you have kept a secret from me. That was evident the last time we met. You thought I didn't know, but you never could look an adversary in the eye when you kept something from them. It is the same look you give me now. Tell me what is it that you have kept from me for so long. "
"You don't want this out here and now."
"I have wanted a true fight with you for as long as I have known you. You can't give it to me until you tell me this secret." That did it. Woo ran straight at him and plowed him in his side and took off running past him. Wufei got up shouting, "Come back here." and took off after her.
Quatre took off after them. "Don't go after them Quatre. Woo just gave Wufei an official challenge and he just took her up on the offer. Let them work those problems out on their own." She led the way outside of the park and the others simply followed. Duo, who was clearly shaken from what had just gone down, tried to find out more information from the other pilots.
"So you are really Treize's little sister?" Duo said nervously
"That's what I said isn't it." Steph said.
"So how long have you know Lily?" Duo questioned.
"Since we were little." Lily answered for her. "You see I was adopted by Zech because he was afraid that someone would question if a man didn't have any family at all. He still wanted to keep his Peacecraft name a secret. So when I was found in an abandon hotel Zech took care of me. He often would leave me with Steph and her family though because he was always gone on missions."
"So how is it that you came to know Jade?" Heero asked. They reached the end of the park and slowly made their way to a nearby restaurant. The conversation halted while Quatre arranged for them to be seated outside on the veranda alone. Once they were seated Heero asked again, "How did you meet my sister."
"Well we were actually looking for them. This story goes back to the original war between OZ and the Gundams, the war between Earth and Space. Even before that war Lily and I were already accomplished mobile suit pilots. Both of us were very close to our brothers and their friends, but neither of us enjoyed being in the public eye. Of course we were always there, but we managed to keep a low enough profile to stay out of most of the propaganda. We studied under our brothers and when we weren't serving as mechanics or assistances to them we were improving our mobile suit abilities. I had heard of Jade through my brother Trieze before he was killed in the war. After the final battle with Libra, Lily and I came back to Earth and worked as a private business of investigation. Most of our cases involved countries or colonies that were organizing revolts. When the Preventors couldn't be there, we were there picking up the slack." Steph said with an amused smile on her face. Trowa's face never changed but his smoldering emerald eyes glinted with insult. He had worked hard for the Preventors and was hurt when people said that they hadn't done enough.
"Anyway Steph and I came across critical information while working in the Kai Kingdom. We learned of a plot to kill the royal family by Dawnity. We had planned to go to the authorities for this one but Dawnity got to us first. They destroyed our home and business. They hunted us down and we used all of our influence and contacts to get up into the colonies. Steph remembered Jade from what her brother had said and we came to the decision that we were going to need help for this one. I realize now that then we were more after revenge on Dawnity for what she had done to our lives than we were at saving the king and queen. When we found out where Jade and Woo were we contacted them and arranged a meeting. Little did we know that Dawnity's forces had found out where we were. They shot up our meeting place the 8BallBlack club and we all tried to defend it but we were out numbered, out manned, and out armed in every way. We lost that battle but we got away with our lives. Woo and Jade agreed to help us saved the royal family but by the time we got there it was too late. They had killed the king and queen. We managed to save Kari. Since that day we have protected Kari and basically become a team fighting against Dawnity's forces. We all had a lot in common not to mention we worked well with one another." Lily said.
The gundam pilots sat shocked and stunned. They didn't know what to say. The princess was alive and had been in the hands of these women all of this time. "We also dug into Kari's past too so don't go stupid on us just yet. Kari's mother was your Aunt, Duo. The two of you are cousins." Jade went on to say in a laid back tone of voice. Duo looked as if someone had just knocked the wind out of him. The usually non-stop talker for once was speechless. He blinked several times before he could come up with a coherent response. "How did you... I mean it I didn't know how did you?"
"In the information that Lily and Steph had obtained it also stated the past of Kari's mother. She had found you once when you were living at Maxwell Church but you were happy there and she choose not to remove you from your home. She often visited you as Ms. Clair Martin one of your temporary social workers." Duo's eyes widen. He suddenly remembered and it some how made some sense. Duo's face widened in a gleeful smile. "So when do I get to met the royal side of my family?"
"You and Kari shall be united when we fully trust you." Steph said her voice growing suddenly cold. "Calm down. Steph you must understand that Kari belongs with her family. But she also belongs to our family Duo and you must understand that we would do any thing and everything in our power to keep her out of harms way. She is a part of our family now and let me tell you even if you did mange to get past Steph, Lily, and I, then your going to have to go toe to toe with Woo. She is a mother tiger, a cool, calculated, martial artists with a hard right hook all wrapped up into one." Jade said eying Steph from under her bangs.
"So Princess Kari is with you?" Trowa asked.
"Not at this moment. She is staying with a trusted friend. We couldn't take her with us on this mission."
"Mission? Jade you are on a mission?" Heero said.
"Yes. That night at the 8BallBlack club we were suppose to meet an agent of ours. Basically we were on the same mission as you guys." She said moving her hand indicating all of the Gundam Pilots. Quatre nodded his head and understood that they had a common goals, missions, and skills. There was no reason he could think of as to why they shouldn't become one large team. "We are all too alike. All of us should work together."
Duo nodded his head. Heero contemplated this for a few minutes looked at Jade. Jade nodded her head and they came to an unspoken agreement. Lily and Steph exchanged looks with each other and Quatre and Trowa. "There is only one trouble with this. Woo and Wufei."