***@---***
Meanwhile on the Preventer's ship, an alarm came up on Trowa's screen at his desk. He turned in his chair to get a better look.
"Not again." He thought out loud, quickly reaching for the keyboard. He was trying to stop the hacker from getting too far into the system. 'This guy's good.' He noticed, continuing to type hastily. Sally came in a couple minutes later.
"What's going on?" She asked him, seeing he was working so hard. She had also noticed the alarm going off.
"Someone's hacking our system again. I'm not sure how they managed to get this far without us knowing about it." He explained. She wasn't expecting such a thorough explanation from him when he was obviously so busy. He cussed under his breath. She went over to see what was causing his sudden anxiety.
"They managed to get into our locked files. Could this be the same group from before?" She asked him. He continued to type faster and didn't answer right away.
"No, they weren't this clever and didn't know anything about the new system here. Plus Duo sabotaged their computers so there's no way they could access us like this." He mentioned, trying hard to not get so unglued.
"Well someone must know our system pretty well in order to get so far. Can you trace where they are?" She asked him. He moved the mouse with one hand and still typed with the other.
"I'll try. Heero's better at this then I am though." He told her. She straightened up suddenly.
"Who would know our systems the best?" She asked him curiously. He actually glanced up at her for a moment.
"Well I'd have to say Lady Une because she's the head of the department and has to know the entire system. Then there's Hilde, cause she installed it and set up the security grid. And then Heero cause he helped with the installment too." She could definitely tell that he was concentrating too much on the task at hand, considering how much she was getting out of him.
"But only Heero would know where to really go in order to find the Zero files." She brought to light, picking up his phone.
"I don't think that he'd have any reason to do something like this." Trowa added.
"Well see if you can get a trace on this hacker. I'm going to call him at Duo and Hilde's to see if he can help." She explained punching in the number.
***@---***
The phone rang loudly in the small apartment. Duo was about to pick it up when he heard Heero yell from the other room.
"Don't answer it! It's probably Sally. They already know that I'm getting into the system." He ordered. Duo walked into the living room.
"If we don't answer it, she's going to suspect something IS going on." He told him. Heero let out an exasperated sigh and nodded once.
"Fine but don't say anything to let her know what's going on." He warned Duo.
"Yeah right like I'd do something like that." He mumbled, going back to the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the hook.
"Hello?" He called into it. He couldn't help but smile when Sally answered back.
"Hey Duo, why'd it take you so long to get to the phone?" She asked him.
"Oh, well I just got in the door when I heard it ringing. What's going on?" He said casually. He hated resorting to lying to her but it was all he could do.
"Is Heero there?" She inquired, trying not to sound like it was urgent.
"Nope, sorry. Relena and he headed out for the day. They weren't here when I got in." He lied even more. But Sally was buying it anyway.
"Oh then can I talk to Hilde? Maybe she can help. We're having computer issues today." She explained. He felt a sudden pain in his chest when she mentioned Hilde's name.
"Hilde's with Relena. Like I said, I'm not really sure where they are." He reiterated, trying desperately not to sound too down about the situation.
"Hey maybe I can help?" He offered cheerfully.
"That's alright. Trowa can handle the situation. You know your suppose to know where your wife is. She should let you know this stuff." She joked with him. He grit his teeth again at the realization of her joke.
"Yeah, guess I'll have to work on that. Well I have some stuff I really need to get done." He said, trying to end the conversation.
"Right, I don't want to keep you any longer. Thanks." She replied kindly.
"Good luck with the computer problem." He said and then hung up. He let out a low sigh. "Well!?!" Heero called from the other room. Duo stomped in.
"Oh would you hurry up with that! You're cramping my style here." He said, exasperated.
"Does she suspect anything?" Heero asked. Duo shook his head.
"No but if you don't hurry, Trowa is going to trace you and they'll know." He pointed out. Heero glanced away from the screen.
"I had a feeling he was the one trying to stop me here." He said with a slight grin. Quatre came down the stairs quietly.
"I cleaned up that mess for you Duo." He announced, cracking a smile. Duo nodded his response. Quatre just slipped into the kitchen. Heero noticed the tension that was still there between them.
"I think you need to talk to him." He said, not looking at Duo.
"About what?" He demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"He's helping us out and you haven't been very nice to him. Plus the way you reacted before. He didn't deserve that either." Heero explained. Duo dropped his hands to his sides and slumped back to the kitchen. Quatre was sitting at the table looking over Duo's collection, that was all over the table.
"I'm surprised you still have all this stuff." He sounded impressed. Duo pulled a chair out and turned it around, sitting in it backwards.
"Look Quatre, you don't have to act like this around me. I'm sorry for what I did before." He apologized. Quatre met his gaze.
"You don't have to. I can understand why you were upset. It just threw me off, that's all." Quatre said with a smile. Duo shook his head and actually smiled back.
"I didn't think I still did that. Got that angry. And then I took it out on you and you didn't deserve it." He explained.
"I remember what it's like to have something like this happen. I went through it when my dad died." He admitted. Duo just sat there and listened.
"So you don't have to apologize. I'm okay about it." He added. Duo looked down at the floor.
"I just want her back." He said in a low tone but Quatre heard it anyway. It sounded just like what Heero said.
"Don't worry I think Heero's plan will work." He said confidently. Duo only nodded, going back to the weapons, lying on the table infront of him. They heard Heero in the other room. He was obviously frustrated. They headed in to see what was going on.
"Is there a problem?" Duo asked, leaning over.
"Yeah, Trowa's making this very difficult." He mentioned as he typed feverishly.
"So you mean Trowa's the one trying to block you?" Quatre thought out loud, only receiving a solemn nod from Heero. Duo went back to the weapons, seeing that he couldn't help in there.
***@---***
"Have you been able to locate the hacker?" Sally inquired, sitting next to Trowa's desk. He didn't answer again which only told her that he wasn't close enough yet.
"I need more time. This hacker is all over the place." He finally told her, exasperated. She sighed to herself and looked away.
"We need Heero here." She admitted softly. Trowa continued to type, still not regarding Sally. "Maybe we need to close up shop for today." She added. A hint of a smile crossed Trowa's face. She noticed it and looked at the monitor.
"Did you stop him?" She asked quickly, sounding somewhat excited.
"No, but I can locate him now." He said back, typing in the request. They both sat there, waiting to get the location. Trowa continued to try to stop the 'hacker' from getting into the locked files. However it was no use. He was now in the one locked file that had just recently been created.
"Check to see if we can find him now." Sally ordered Trowa. He did as she told him but they still hadn't gotten any information yet.
"If it doesn't find the location soon, we'll never find this guy." She realized. Trowa did everything he could but the information on Wing Zero was now being accessed. Suddenly the hacker was gone. Trowa tried one more thing to see what the computer picked up. The most it had received was the area, which the hacker was in. Trowa was trying to explain it to Sally.
"So what region is he in? That information can help us a little bit." She pointed out. "The signal was from the L2 area. But that's all I was able to get." He said regretingly. Sally smiled anyway.
"Don't worry about it. You did your best." She replied encouragingly. He went back to typing.
"Maybe I can find out more about what he stole. That might help us out." He decided going back to work. Sally stood up and left the room.
***@---***
Heero removed the disk from the computer and placed it in the pocket in his jacket. Quatre had retrieved the Zero System information for him from his office. He honestly had forgotten he still had it. Duo had finished setting their weapons, of course they couldn't bring all the ones he wanted to. The original agreement was for only Heero to go and to be unarmed. So they couldn't exactly come walking in 'armed to the teeth', so to speak. So Quatre was going to stay far behind them in case they needed backup. He would carry the extra ammunition and anything else they would need. Their main objection here was to get Hilde and Relena out and cause as much destruction to the group as possible. The last part was mostly Duo's idea.
The other two had already established that fact that he wasn't about to let these guys off, at all. Although Heero was now regretting letting them off so easy the first two times. He was trying not to dwell on that too much. This situation could have been avoided though, if he hadn't ignored the events that led to this point. He pushed all the guilt he placed on himself away and continued to plan. The night went by slowly, no one actually slept much either. At one point Quatre got up just to see if he was the only one with insomnia. He slowly glanced downstairs and Heero was up working at the computer. He went down the hallway to the master bedroom. The door was slightly opened. He peaked in and Duo wasn't sleeping either. But he was at least attempting to. He tossed and turned, finally settling down with the pillow over his head. Quatre headed back down the hall to his room, Duo's old bedroom. Despite all three of them being awake, the house was quiet. It was the same the next day at breakfast.
***
"Hilde, what are you doing?" Relena asked her as she was doing something to the lock. "I am not going to just sit here waiting for the guys to save us. I'm getting out." She told Relena as she picked at the lock. "You're gonna get caught." Relena said sitting back. They had been locked in the baggage storage compartment of a shuttle. There was little light to work with. "If I figure this right, we can be out of here in fifteen minutes and make a break for it. Then we can brag about it to everyone else." Hilde said as she worked. "But that still won't make things any better. These people will still be out there. I'm worried about how Heero will react to this." Relena mentioned. There was noise coming from outside. "Someone is coming...get ready to run." Hilde told Relena. The door opened and the morning light came into the compartment. Hilde jumped out slamming her shoulder into whoever it was. Relena went to follow her but took her time getting down. They both turned to leave when two men stopped them. Hilde let the breath she was holding go and Relena glanced over at her. "Now what's the matter ladies? Don't like your quarters?" Relena caught on to who was speaking. He walked up slowly. "Now I of course expected trouble from the Gundam Pilots but not you two. Guess we'll have to keep a closer eye on you." He said leading the way inside the shuttle, the two soldiers taking the rear.
"I thought we could all have breakfast together. The two of you should be returned to your men this evening, assuming they do what we ask them to." Hilde smirked a little. "I wouldn't count on that." She said softly but he heard it anyway. They all sat down at the table inside the shuttle. "Well yours is pretty crazy but Heero doesn't seem to want anything to happen to his fiancée" He answered smiling at Relena. She quickly turned away and looked out the window. After breakfast, the leader instructed his men to separate Hilde and Relena. That way they couldn't escape as easily.
Meanwhile on the Preventer's ship, an alarm came up on Trowa's screen at his desk. He turned in his chair to get a better look.
"Not again." He thought out loud, quickly reaching for the keyboard. He was trying to stop the hacker from getting too far into the system. 'This guy's good.' He noticed, continuing to type hastily. Sally came in a couple minutes later.
"What's going on?" She asked him, seeing he was working so hard. She had also noticed the alarm going off.
"Someone's hacking our system again. I'm not sure how they managed to get this far without us knowing about it." He explained. She wasn't expecting such a thorough explanation from him when he was obviously so busy. He cussed under his breath. She went over to see what was causing his sudden anxiety.
"They managed to get into our locked files. Could this be the same group from before?" She asked him. He continued to type faster and didn't answer right away.
"No, they weren't this clever and didn't know anything about the new system here. Plus Duo sabotaged their computers so there's no way they could access us like this." He mentioned, trying hard to not get so unglued.
"Well someone must know our system pretty well in order to get so far. Can you trace where they are?" She asked him. He moved the mouse with one hand and still typed with the other.
"I'll try. Heero's better at this then I am though." He told her. She straightened up suddenly.
"Who would know our systems the best?" She asked him curiously. He actually glanced up at her for a moment.
"Well I'd have to say Lady Une because she's the head of the department and has to know the entire system. Then there's Hilde, cause she installed it and set up the security grid. And then Heero cause he helped with the installment too." She could definitely tell that he was concentrating too much on the task at hand, considering how much she was getting out of him.
"But only Heero would know where to really go in order to find the Zero files." She brought to light, picking up his phone.
"I don't think that he'd have any reason to do something like this." Trowa added.
"Well see if you can get a trace on this hacker. I'm going to call him at Duo and Hilde's to see if he can help." She explained punching in the number.
***@---***
The phone rang loudly in the small apartment. Duo was about to pick it up when he heard Heero yell from the other room.
"Don't answer it! It's probably Sally. They already know that I'm getting into the system." He ordered. Duo walked into the living room.
"If we don't answer it, she's going to suspect something IS going on." He told him. Heero let out an exasperated sigh and nodded once.
"Fine but don't say anything to let her know what's going on." He warned Duo.
"Yeah right like I'd do something like that." He mumbled, going back to the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the hook.
"Hello?" He called into it. He couldn't help but smile when Sally answered back.
"Hey Duo, why'd it take you so long to get to the phone?" She asked him.
"Oh, well I just got in the door when I heard it ringing. What's going on?" He said casually. He hated resorting to lying to her but it was all he could do.
"Is Heero there?" She inquired, trying not to sound like it was urgent.
"Nope, sorry. Relena and he headed out for the day. They weren't here when I got in." He lied even more. But Sally was buying it anyway.
"Oh then can I talk to Hilde? Maybe she can help. We're having computer issues today." She explained. He felt a sudden pain in his chest when she mentioned Hilde's name.
"Hilde's with Relena. Like I said, I'm not really sure where they are." He reiterated, trying desperately not to sound too down about the situation.
"Hey maybe I can help?" He offered cheerfully.
"That's alright. Trowa can handle the situation. You know your suppose to know where your wife is. She should let you know this stuff." She joked with him. He grit his teeth again at the realization of her joke.
"Yeah, guess I'll have to work on that. Well I have some stuff I really need to get done." He said, trying to end the conversation.
"Right, I don't want to keep you any longer. Thanks." She replied kindly.
"Good luck with the computer problem." He said and then hung up. He let out a low sigh. "Well!?!" Heero called from the other room. Duo stomped in.
"Oh would you hurry up with that! You're cramping my style here." He said, exasperated.
"Does she suspect anything?" Heero asked. Duo shook his head.
"No but if you don't hurry, Trowa is going to trace you and they'll know." He pointed out. Heero glanced away from the screen.
"I had a feeling he was the one trying to stop me here." He said with a slight grin. Quatre came down the stairs quietly.
"I cleaned up that mess for you Duo." He announced, cracking a smile. Duo nodded his response. Quatre just slipped into the kitchen. Heero noticed the tension that was still there between them.
"I think you need to talk to him." He said, not looking at Duo.
"About what?" He demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"He's helping us out and you haven't been very nice to him. Plus the way you reacted before. He didn't deserve that either." Heero explained. Duo dropped his hands to his sides and slumped back to the kitchen. Quatre was sitting at the table looking over Duo's collection, that was all over the table.
"I'm surprised you still have all this stuff." He sounded impressed. Duo pulled a chair out and turned it around, sitting in it backwards.
"Look Quatre, you don't have to act like this around me. I'm sorry for what I did before." He apologized. Quatre met his gaze.
"You don't have to. I can understand why you were upset. It just threw me off, that's all." Quatre said with a smile. Duo shook his head and actually smiled back.
"I didn't think I still did that. Got that angry. And then I took it out on you and you didn't deserve it." He explained.
"I remember what it's like to have something like this happen. I went through it when my dad died." He admitted. Duo just sat there and listened.
"So you don't have to apologize. I'm okay about it." He added. Duo looked down at the floor.
"I just want her back." He said in a low tone but Quatre heard it anyway. It sounded just like what Heero said.
"Don't worry I think Heero's plan will work." He said confidently. Duo only nodded, going back to the weapons, lying on the table infront of him. They heard Heero in the other room. He was obviously frustrated. They headed in to see what was going on.
"Is there a problem?" Duo asked, leaning over.
"Yeah, Trowa's making this very difficult." He mentioned as he typed feverishly.
"So you mean Trowa's the one trying to block you?" Quatre thought out loud, only receiving a solemn nod from Heero. Duo went back to the weapons, seeing that he couldn't help in there.
***@---***
"Have you been able to locate the hacker?" Sally inquired, sitting next to Trowa's desk. He didn't answer again which only told her that he wasn't close enough yet.
"I need more time. This hacker is all over the place." He finally told her, exasperated. She sighed to herself and looked away.
"We need Heero here." She admitted softly. Trowa continued to type, still not regarding Sally. "Maybe we need to close up shop for today." She added. A hint of a smile crossed Trowa's face. She noticed it and looked at the monitor.
"Did you stop him?" She asked quickly, sounding somewhat excited.
"No, but I can locate him now." He said back, typing in the request. They both sat there, waiting to get the location. Trowa continued to try to stop the 'hacker' from getting into the locked files. However it was no use. He was now in the one locked file that had just recently been created.
"Check to see if we can find him now." Sally ordered Trowa. He did as she told him but they still hadn't gotten any information yet.
"If it doesn't find the location soon, we'll never find this guy." She realized. Trowa did everything he could but the information on Wing Zero was now being accessed. Suddenly the hacker was gone. Trowa tried one more thing to see what the computer picked up. The most it had received was the area, which the hacker was in. Trowa was trying to explain it to Sally.
"So what region is he in? That information can help us a little bit." She pointed out. "The signal was from the L2 area. But that's all I was able to get." He said regretingly. Sally smiled anyway.
"Don't worry about it. You did your best." She replied encouragingly. He went back to typing.
"Maybe I can find out more about what he stole. That might help us out." He decided going back to work. Sally stood up and left the room.
***@---***
Heero removed the disk from the computer and placed it in the pocket in his jacket. Quatre had retrieved the Zero System information for him from his office. He honestly had forgotten he still had it. Duo had finished setting their weapons, of course they couldn't bring all the ones he wanted to. The original agreement was for only Heero to go and to be unarmed. So they couldn't exactly come walking in 'armed to the teeth', so to speak. So Quatre was going to stay far behind them in case they needed backup. He would carry the extra ammunition and anything else they would need. Their main objection here was to get Hilde and Relena out and cause as much destruction to the group as possible. The last part was mostly Duo's idea.
The other two had already established that fact that he wasn't about to let these guys off, at all. Although Heero was now regretting letting them off so easy the first two times. He was trying not to dwell on that too much. This situation could have been avoided though, if he hadn't ignored the events that led to this point. He pushed all the guilt he placed on himself away and continued to plan. The night went by slowly, no one actually slept much either. At one point Quatre got up just to see if he was the only one with insomnia. He slowly glanced downstairs and Heero was up working at the computer. He went down the hallway to the master bedroom. The door was slightly opened. He peaked in and Duo wasn't sleeping either. But he was at least attempting to. He tossed and turned, finally settling down with the pillow over his head. Quatre headed back down the hall to his room, Duo's old bedroom. Despite all three of them being awake, the house was quiet. It was the same the next day at breakfast.
***
"Hilde, what are you doing?" Relena asked her as she was doing something to the lock. "I am not going to just sit here waiting for the guys to save us. I'm getting out." She told Relena as she picked at the lock. "You're gonna get caught." Relena said sitting back. They had been locked in the baggage storage compartment of a shuttle. There was little light to work with. "If I figure this right, we can be out of here in fifteen minutes and make a break for it. Then we can brag about it to everyone else." Hilde said as she worked. "But that still won't make things any better. These people will still be out there. I'm worried about how Heero will react to this." Relena mentioned. There was noise coming from outside. "Someone is coming...get ready to run." Hilde told Relena. The door opened and the morning light came into the compartment. Hilde jumped out slamming her shoulder into whoever it was. Relena went to follow her but took her time getting down. They both turned to leave when two men stopped them. Hilde let the breath she was holding go and Relena glanced over at her. "Now what's the matter ladies? Don't like your quarters?" Relena caught on to who was speaking. He walked up slowly. "Now I of course expected trouble from the Gundam Pilots but not you two. Guess we'll have to keep a closer eye on you." He said leading the way inside the shuttle, the two soldiers taking the rear.
"I thought we could all have breakfast together. The two of you should be returned to your men this evening, assuming they do what we ask them to." Hilde smirked a little. "I wouldn't count on that." She said softly but he heard it anyway. They all sat down at the table inside the shuttle. "Well yours is pretty crazy but Heero doesn't seem to want anything to happen to his fiancée" He answered smiling at Relena. She quickly turned away and looked out the window. After breakfast, the leader instructed his men to separate Hilde and Relena. That way they couldn't escape as easily.