Chapter Nineteen

Trowa and Quatre made their way swiftly. This mission had an extra difficulty. They did not really know whether this was the right base, although it was quite likely, nor if the gravitational device was actually there and above all, they had no idea where it would be. Since they did not know the lay out of the base they had to take an extra risk and check every single room. All of this without getting caught and avoiding any casualty. It was definitely a difficult mission.

All of them had a radio on them so they could communicate whatever information they thought may have been useful for the rest.

Quatre, with his extraordinary memory, tried to map out every section they had seen. Now they were hiding in some kind of storage room since there were a few guards coming their way through the corridor.

Meanwhile Wufei and Duo went the opposite direction doing the exact same thing. Wufei, taking a more aggressive approach, kept knocking out every single guard they had found along the way. Duo, frowning, had no option but to copy his fellow Gundam pilot's behaviour.

Finally they arrived in what it seemed some kind of control room. They could hear some voices coming out from it. Then they heard Milliardo's voice in the radio:

"Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to get Mr Valliant until Quatre and Trowa confirm the disconnection of the gravitational device".

"Damn! I hate these kind of approaches. The best defence is the attack!" complained Wufei.

Duo was worried, it was no good if Wufei got restless, he became totally unpredictable when he did so. In any case they hid in a small space located right next to the door waiting for further instructions.

At the same time Milliardo kept checking every room he saw till he found one with a locked door. Forcing it he saw the thing he wanted to see the most: his sister was laying on a bed, sleeping.

"Relena…wake up…we've come to take you home…" whispered.

Relena heard her brother's voice. She thought she was hallucinating. There was no way her brother would find her so quickly…she was almost afraid when she finally opened her eyes. Looking up she saw Milliardo's concerned face.

"Milliardo? What…what are you doing here…I mean…how?" started asking.

"Shush…now, don't ask any questions, we'll have time to speak later, now…let's go…I have to get the two of you out of here…" said Milliardo shocking Relena.

"What…how do you…I mean…Lucrezia has…told you?" said Relena blushing deeply realising her brother knew about her pregnancy.

"Yes, but don't be mad at her, I'm not mad at you…but wait till I have a word or two with Heero…" Milliardo said trying not to get angry again…

They were about to leave when Trowa informed everyone that they had located the gravitational device. They had tried to disconnect it but it had a computer algorithm that prevented any kind of interference. They needed a password they obviously did not have. Quatre decided to put a bomb on it, they would blow it up the second Duo and Wufei had found Mr Valliant.

After receiving this message, Duo and Wufei entered the room where they had heard the voices coming from. Inside the room they found Mr Valliant, Mr Taylor and Mr Lacroix. They pointed their guns at them and told them to get up slowly with their hands up. Wufei gave Quatre the green light while Duo handcuffed all three men. Then the American pilot told them to start walking towards the shuttle launch platform, followed closely by the Chinese one.

A common thought in all five men was that it had been easy, too easy…and, as usual, in these kind of situations, when something went wrong, it went very wrong.

All of three groups met half way. They had almost made it to the platform when they met Heero. He was standing in front of the shuttle. Relena gasped when she saw him. He looked awful. His face was all scarred and he had bruises all over the place. The worse thing were his eyes. They had absolutely no emotion whatsoever. It was like a robot. Like he was not alive. Even worse than when she had met him on the beach…

Suddenly Dr Pieter coming from behind the group shouted at Heero:

"Project Zero, your mission is to kill Relena Peacecraft. Kill her and then kill the rest…".

Then something strange happened, Heero, after hearing the girl's name winced,…that name…it was so familiar…where had he heard it before…Heero's face cringed like if he was in pain… He couldn't execute the order…could he?