"Well they know we're up to something now." Hilde announced, looking away from the screen of her computer. Everyone looked her way.
"Wha'dya do?" Duo asked, leaning against the far wall. "I turned off their power. Of course the back ups will come on but I'll shut those down too." She announced, looking pretty proud of herself. They were now in two separate shuttles on their way back to the ship. In one shuttle were Zechs, Noin, Sally and Relena. Relena had decided she was coming along and no one seemed to argue with her. In the other shuttle were Quatre, Duo, Wufei, and Hilde. Une had returned to their main office. The plan was for them to leave the shuttles, once they got close enough to the ship and then get inside in order to take over. As long as one of them made it to the control room. Hilde was going to stay on one of the shuttles along with Relena and sabotage their own ship. They could always fix everything later.
About Twenty minutes later, Hilde nodded over to the others. Wufei leaned over the controls of the shuttle.
"Okay, let's go." He informed the other shuttle. They all except for Relena and Hilde grabbed their helmets and headed out towards the ship. Once they got outside the one hangar they stopped and waited. The one side began to open. Duo noted that they had already repaired the one door that had been damaged before. They all made it inside and Hilde ordered the door to shut. Hilde pulled a headset on her head.
"Anyone there yet?" She called into the mic.
"Hey honey." Duo called back. They all decided to separate onboard but each of them kept up communication.
"Okay everyone, first thing we do is try to find Heero and Trowa." Noin informed them over their headsets. "Yeah but what do we do when we find them?" Quatre asked her.
"Your gun is just a stun gun. That's the best we can do for now." Sally answered him. Hilde could tell where each one of them was on the ship since in each of the headsets was a tracking device. Relena leaned over her shoulder watching where each of them was on the ship. They all appeared to be taking different routes to the front. Noin ran into trouble on the way but managed to loose the two guards who were after her. She let Hilde know what was going on as well as the others. A couple of minutes passed before Wufei reported trouble where he was. But he also handled it by knocking each soldier out and then handcuffing them to each other. Once he hid the evidence, he continued towards the front of the ship. It was very quiet at that point. After awhile Hilde asked each member of her team to say something just to make sure they were all there. Everyone except Sally and Duo had answered her. "Hey are you two there?" She called again. Sally came on in a whisper. "I have to keep down around this section since there are a lot of guards are around." She answered. "Okay then. How about you, Duo?" She replied. Still no answer. She switched the headset to his line directly. There was nothing but static. A look of terror crossed her face. What if he got caught? But why didn't I hear anything? She thought to herself. Relena noticed her sudden change and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"You could always go in too if you wanted to." She suggested, trying to sound optimistic. Hilde only shook her head. "I have to stay out here for when they have to get out. I have to open the hangar door." She explained. Relena looked at the computer screen.
"Well can't one of them go to where he last was?" She mentioned. "None of them knew where he was. They don't have this layout on hand." She looked down balling her hands into fists. Relena straightened up suddenly.
"Then I'll do it. I know where to go. It's the only way." She decided. Hilde just stared at the screen now. "I can't let you do that. Heero would never forgive me." Relena put her hands on her hips. "He's one of the reasons we're here. I can't just sit out here while my brother and friends are risking their lives." She answered resolutely. Hilde finally conceded.
"There's a suit in the back. I'll open the hatch doors for you." She said back. By this point none of the other Preventer's could hear her over the headset. Relena headed for the ship. She wasnt used to being out in space. It was weird for her. She felt a little dizzy but shook it off. I have to do this for Heero. She reminded herself. She was quickly inside the hangar and headed in the correct direction. She also had a headset on in order to talk to Hilde. She got to the right area but there wasn't anyone there. "No one's here." She said into her mic. She found another headset on the floor. She went around a corner quickly and found Duo unconscious on the floor. Someone else was there. She looked up and was caught off guard. Heero stood there with a gun aimed at her. Even though it wasnt the first time, it still scared her.
"Heero..." She managed out. He didn't answer her. He remained where he was, his steady gaze never leaving her. There was no feeling in his eyes, just like before. He finally made a move, tugging her headset off her head. She turned her head away, causing her hair to fly in her face.
"What are YOU doing here?" He actually spoke. At that point, Relena had lost her nerve. What had caused such a change? She went to reach for him but he just backed away, gun still in hand. She got her nerve back.
"Heero, what happened? Why are you acting this way?" She said, in a demanding tone. His facial expression didn't waver. He just stared at her.
"YOU shouldn't be here." Was all he said back. He moved towards her. He pulled the hair in her face behind her ear. She was actually angry at this point. She quickly hit him across the face. She had never done that before.
"I don't know who you are." She said. He turned his head back to her and grabbed her forearm. She glared angrily at him. Angry tears came from nowhere.
"Heero." She looked down sadly. He loosened his grip on her arm and shook his head back and forth. He let go of her completely and slowly backed away.
"No, stop it." He muttered, covering his ears and stumbling backwards. He fell on the floor. Relena took a couple of steps. "Heero?" She wasn't sure what was going on.
"Stop it Zero! Stop it!" He remarked closing his eyes tightly. Relena was now right next to him. She was beginning to understand what was going on.
"Heero, come back." She told him, causing him to cringe even more and lean over. After what seemed like forever he squinted up at her.
"Relena..." He said. She smiled at that. "Where are we?" He asked her quickly getting to his feet. She told him what little she knew.
"They have the Zero system." He admitted, going over to Duo and setting him against the wall.
"How'd they get that?" She asked.
"The only thing they told me was they had connections in Luxembourg." He said getting her headset off the floor.
"This is Heero. Everything's fine here Hilde." He informed her. She let him have it anyway.
"You're the reason I've been on edge over here. I thought something bad happened to Relena and I'd have to explain why she was even there." She exclaimed.
"Why are you here anyway?" He asked Relena, handing her the headset.
"To find him." She pointed to Duo.
"Hilde was worried." She added. There was a sudden sound of footsteps coming their way. Heero heard it first.
"Come on, we've gotta get out of here." He pulled her into a side room and dragged Duo in, as well before shutting the door. Once inside with the door shut he turned back to Relena.
"Now that everything's okay, I want you out of here." He told her.
"Things aren't okay yet. The Preventer's still have to get control of the ship and Trowa Barton is still on the enemy's side." She explained quietly, so not to be heard outside.
"But that doesn't concern you right now. We can handle it from here. Your better off waiting in the shuttle with Hilde." He answered her. She finally conceded. He turned away from her in order to lean down. He shook Duo, hoping it would be enough to wake him up. "Come on, I didn't hit you that hard." He said as Duo finally seemed coherent. He glanced up at Heero and then looked over to Relena.
"Is he still bad?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head. "No, he's okay." She smiled. Once the commotion outside settled down Heero glanced back at Relena and then Duo.
"Okay, you can bring Relena back to the shuttle. That way Hilde can know everything is fine. I'm going to try to get to the leader." He decided. "This time try not to get caught. I never liked the idea of coming back here anyway." Duo answered. Relena handed Heero the headset. "Just be careful." She reminded him. They went their separate ways.
***
Heero met up with Sally. He quickly convinced her he was on her side now.
"So any ideas on how to get the ship in our control again? They seem to definitely have us at a disadvantage." She told him. "We've also got to find a way to get Trowa back. This 'Zero' system of theirs is very advanced. It something worth looking into." He mentioned. "Any idea's as to how they got their hands on it?" She asked him. "No clue, maybe Zechs might know. In any case, if the rest of the Preventer's take care of the guards, I can handle the leader as well as Trowa." He replied. "If you say so. I'll let the others know." Once Sally left, Heero made his way to the control room. The leader of the intruders was in there trying to gain control of the ship. In each section, something was going hay-wire. Heero realized that no one had even mentioned the leader's name. He could only assume that it was for confidential purposes. He turned as Heero came into the room.
"Where'd you go? I need your help with this thing." He told him. "That's not likely to happen." Heero answered, pulling out his gun. The man glared at him. "So it would seem you're no longer on our side. That's disappointing." He muttered.
Heero thought about replying but didn't. Once the leader was handcuffed, Heero went over to the panel and got in contact with Hilde. Once he found out how the others were doing onboard he called on the loudspeaker to the entire ship. "This ship is now back in the Preventer's control. Your leader has been arrested and most of the soldiers as well. Any more retaliating would be meaningless." He explained. Noin was the first one to make it to the control room.
"Have you been able to locate Trowa anywhere?" She asked him. He just shook his head.
"Really. No one else has been able to find him either." She looked down at the floor. "We'll find him soon enough I'm sure." At that point, Zechs came in. "Everyone is in the confinement area. Sally, Wufei, and Quatre are there as well. Considering that half of them are part of Preventer's and were affected by the Zero system we can't arrest them." He reported to Noin. She nodded back.
"Guess we'll just have to wait for the side effects to wear off." She said in agreement. "What about their System? Where'd they get it from?" Zechs asked Heero. He didn't respond but looked over at the indignant leader, hand-cuffed on the floor.
"He'd know more about it then I would." Heero mentioned. The man closed his eyes and laughed. Once he stopped he looked up at them maliciously.
"Sure I'll tell you about that system. We got it from Luxembourg. We changed it though in order to make the effects last longer. Since the colonies used it to take over earth it seemed appropriate. Not only do the effects last longer but they probably aren't very beneficial to one's health. Those mind-warping side effects can be pretty bad." He started to smirk again. Noin went over to Heero, no longer facing the ex-leader.
"Any idea how to get someone out of that state of mind?" She asked him. "I don't know if there is a specific way to. Each time it's been something different." Zechs went over to get into the conversation.
"Maybe we can find the location of their system and destroy it. That might do something." He suggested. The three of them looked over at their prisoner.
"No way am I saying anything." He decided. "Things might go better for you if you did." Noin mentioned to him over her shoulder. A red button began blinking on the control panel. Heero hit the button next to it.
"Hey it's Wufei. We found Trowa. He's still acting weird though." He said to Heero. He looked over at Zechs and Noin. "I'm going to where they are." He decided and left the room.
***
When Heero got there the first person to come into view was Wufei, then Sally and finally Quatre and Trowa. Quatre looked tired and worn out. Heero figured it was because of the state Trowa was in. At that point he wasn't doing anything that would seem out of character. He was just sitting there not paying much attention to anything. Heero went over to the other three.
"Well?" He asked them.
"I gave him something to keep him quiet but that's not going to solve the problem. I don't know what else to do though." Sally explained to Heero. He walked over to Trowa.
"Can you hear me?" He asked him but got no response.
"That's how he reacts to all of us." Quatre said sadly. Heero turned back to the others.
"And we have about fifteen other men just like this too." Sally pointed out.
"According to their leader, if we don't do something quick, there could be serious consequences." Heero said to Sally. Her expression became graver then before.
"Then what are we going to do Heero?" She asked him.
"Well for starters you could stop standing around and worrying about it." Duo said from the doorway.
"This really isn't the time to be sarcastic, Maxwell." Wufei told him.
"Oh don't get so uptight." He answered as he saw Hilde running their way.
"I found it!" She announced as she came in. She was carrying a piece of hardware under her arm.
"Where'd you find that?" Heero asked her taking a look at it. "It was in their shuttle the entire time." She explained. Heero opened it up to find a screen and a small keypad. He typed in end task and the whole thing shut off. Trowa suddenly grabbed his head and fell back against the wall.
"What did you do?" Sally asked, going over to Trowa.
"Ahhah, Zero...stop it...err..no." Trowa yelled out.
"I turned it off." Heero said back. Trowa finally stopped and shook his head a little.
"Trowa? You okay now?" Quatre asked going over. Trowa looked up, trying to focus. He finally nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay Quatre." He answered. Duo went over to Heero. "Relena's still in the shuttle. It's all ready for you to leave whenever you want." He said with a grin.
"Where do you think your going?" Heero asked him. He grabbed Hilde by the hand and headed for the door.
"I'm going on a vacation. This job is too much sometimes." He replied leaving the room. Hilde just gave a weak wave before she disappeared into the hallway. Heero tossed the 'Zero system' hardware against the far wall. It smashed into millions of pieces.
"That shouldn't be a problem anymore. Guess I'll take off now too." He added, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaving for the hangar. The entire incident was pretty much forgotten about. The leader was imprisoned and anyone else responsible. The Preventer's ship was now safeguarded against any more attacks in the future.
*The*End*
"Wha'dya do?" Duo asked, leaning against the far wall. "I turned off their power. Of course the back ups will come on but I'll shut those down too." She announced, looking pretty proud of herself. They were now in two separate shuttles on their way back to the ship. In one shuttle were Zechs, Noin, Sally and Relena. Relena had decided she was coming along and no one seemed to argue with her. In the other shuttle were Quatre, Duo, Wufei, and Hilde. Une had returned to their main office. The plan was for them to leave the shuttles, once they got close enough to the ship and then get inside in order to take over. As long as one of them made it to the control room. Hilde was going to stay on one of the shuttles along with Relena and sabotage their own ship. They could always fix everything later.
About Twenty minutes later, Hilde nodded over to the others. Wufei leaned over the controls of the shuttle.
"Okay, let's go." He informed the other shuttle. They all except for Relena and Hilde grabbed their helmets and headed out towards the ship. Once they got outside the one hangar they stopped and waited. The one side began to open. Duo noted that they had already repaired the one door that had been damaged before. They all made it inside and Hilde ordered the door to shut. Hilde pulled a headset on her head.
"Anyone there yet?" She called into the mic.
"Hey honey." Duo called back. They all decided to separate onboard but each of them kept up communication.
"Okay everyone, first thing we do is try to find Heero and Trowa." Noin informed them over their headsets. "Yeah but what do we do when we find them?" Quatre asked her.
"Your gun is just a stun gun. That's the best we can do for now." Sally answered him. Hilde could tell where each one of them was on the ship since in each of the headsets was a tracking device. Relena leaned over her shoulder watching where each of them was on the ship. They all appeared to be taking different routes to the front. Noin ran into trouble on the way but managed to loose the two guards who were after her. She let Hilde know what was going on as well as the others. A couple of minutes passed before Wufei reported trouble where he was. But he also handled it by knocking each soldier out and then handcuffing them to each other. Once he hid the evidence, he continued towards the front of the ship. It was very quiet at that point. After awhile Hilde asked each member of her team to say something just to make sure they were all there. Everyone except Sally and Duo had answered her. "Hey are you two there?" She called again. Sally came on in a whisper. "I have to keep down around this section since there are a lot of guards are around." She answered. "Okay then. How about you, Duo?" She replied. Still no answer. She switched the headset to his line directly. There was nothing but static. A look of terror crossed her face. What if he got caught? But why didn't I hear anything? She thought to herself. Relena noticed her sudden change and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"You could always go in too if you wanted to." She suggested, trying to sound optimistic. Hilde only shook her head. "I have to stay out here for when they have to get out. I have to open the hangar door." She explained. Relena looked at the computer screen.
"Well can't one of them go to where he last was?" She mentioned. "None of them knew where he was. They don't have this layout on hand." She looked down balling her hands into fists. Relena straightened up suddenly.
"Then I'll do it. I know where to go. It's the only way." She decided. Hilde just stared at the screen now. "I can't let you do that. Heero would never forgive me." Relena put her hands on her hips. "He's one of the reasons we're here. I can't just sit out here while my brother and friends are risking their lives." She answered resolutely. Hilde finally conceded.
"There's a suit in the back. I'll open the hatch doors for you." She said back. By this point none of the other Preventer's could hear her over the headset. Relena headed for the ship. She wasnt used to being out in space. It was weird for her. She felt a little dizzy but shook it off. I have to do this for Heero. She reminded herself. She was quickly inside the hangar and headed in the correct direction. She also had a headset on in order to talk to Hilde. She got to the right area but there wasn't anyone there. "No one's here." She said into her mic. She found another headset on the floor. She went around a corner quickly and found Duo unconscious on the floor. Someone else was there. She looked up and was caught off guard. Heero stood there with a gun aimed at her. Even though it wasnt the first time, it still scared her.
"Heero..." She managed out. He didn't answer her. He remained where he was, his steady gaze never leaving her. There was no feeling in his eyes, just like before. He finally made a move, tugging her headset off her head. She turned her head away, causing her hair to fly in her face.
"What are YOU doing here?" He actually spoke. At that point, Relena had lost her nerve. What had caused such a change? She went to reach for him but he just backed away, gun still in hand. She got her nerve back.
"Heero, what happened? Why are you acting this way?" She said, in a demanding tone. His facial expression didn't waver. He just stared at her.
"YOU shouldn't be here." Was all he said back. He moved towards her. He pulled the hair in her face behind her ear. She was actually angry at this point. She quickly hit him across the face. She had never done that before.
"I don't know who you are." She said. He turned his head back to her and grabbed her forearm. She glared angrily at him. Angry tears came from nowhere.
"Heero." She looked down sadly. He loosened his grip on her arm and shook his head back and forth. He let go of her completely and slowly backed away.
"No, stop it." He muttered, covering his ears and stumbling backwards. He fell on the floor. Relena took a couple of steps. "Heero?" She wasn't sure what was going on.
"Stop it Zero! Stop it!" He remarked closing his eyes tightly. Relena was now right next to him. She was beginning to understand what was going on.
"Heero, come back." She told him, causing him to cringe even more and lean over. After what seemed like forever he squinted up at her.
"Relena..." He said. She smiled at that. "Where are we?" He asked her quickly getting to his feet. She told him what little she knew.
"They have the Zero system." He admitted, going over to Duo and setting him against the wall.
"How'd they get that?" She asked.
"The only thing they told me was they had connections in Luxembourg." He said getting her headset off the floor.
"This is Heero. Everything's fine here Hilde." He informed her. She let him have it anyway.
"You're the reason I've been on edge over here. I thought something bad happened to Relena and I'd have to explain why she was even there." She exclaimed.
"Why are you here anyway?" He asked Relena, handing her the headset.
"To find him." She pointed to Duo.
"Hilde was worried." She added. There was a sudden sound of footsteps coming their way. Heero heard it first.
"Come on, we've gotta get out of here." He pulled her into a side room and dragged Duo in, as well before shutting the door. Once inside with the door shut he turned back to Relena.
"Now that everything's okay, I want you out of here." He told her.
"Things aren't okay yet. The Preventer's still have to get control of the ship and Trowa Barton is still on the enemy's side." She explained quietly, so not to be heard outside.
"But that doesn't concern you right now. We can handle it from here. Your better off waiting in the shuttle with Hilde." He answered her. She finally conceded. He turned away from her in order to lean down. He shook Duo, hoping it would be enough to wake him up. "Come on, I didn't hit you that hard." He said as Duo finally seemed coherent. He glanced up at Heero and then looked over to Relena.
"Is he still bad?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head. "No, he's okay." She smiled. Once the commotion outside settled down Heero glanced back at Relena and then Duo.
"Okay, you can bring Relena back to the shuttle. That way Hilde can know everything is fine. I'm going to try to get to the leader." He decided. "This time try not to get caught. I never liked the idea of coming back here anyway." Duo answered. Relena handed Heero the headset. "Just be careful." She reminded him. They went their separate ways.
***
Heero met up with Sally. He quickly convinced her he was on her side now.
"So any ideas on how to get the ship in our control again? They seem to definitely have us at a disadvantage." She told him. "We've also got to find a way to get Trowa back. This 'Zero' system of theirs is very advanced. It something worth looking into." He mentioned. "Any idea's as to how they got their hands on it?" She asked him. "No clue, maybe Zechs might know. In any case, if the rest of the Preventer's take care of the guards, I can handle the leader as well as Trowa." He replied. "If you say so. I'll let the others know." Once Sally left, Heero made his way to the control room. The leader of the intruders was in there trying to gain control of the ship. In each section, something was going hay-wire. Heero realized that no one had even mentioned the leader's name. He could only assume that it was for confidential purposes. He turned as Heero came into the room.
"Where'd you go? I need your help with this thing." He told him. "That's not likely to happen." Heero answered, pulling out his gun. The man glared at him. "So it would seem you're no longer on our side. That's disappointing." He muttered.
Heero thought about replying but didn't. Once the leader was handcuffed, Heero went over to the panel and got in contact with Hilde. Once he found out how the others were doing onboard he called on the loudspeaker to the entire ship. "This ship is now back in the Preventer's control. Your leader has been arrested and most of the soldiers as well. Any more retaliating would be meaningless." He explained. Noin was the first one to make it to the control room.
"Have you been able to locate Trowa anywhere?" She asked him. He just shook his head.
"Really. No one else has been able to find him either." She looked down at the floor. "We'll find him soon enough I'm sure." At that point, Zechs came in. "Everyone is in the confinement area. Sally, Wufei, and Quatre are there as well. Considering that half of them are part of Preventer's and were affected by the Zero system we can't arrest them." He reported to Noin. She nodded back.
"Guess we'll just have to wait for the side effects to wear off." She said in agreement. "What about their System? Where'd they get it from?" Zechs asked Heero. He didn't respond but looked over at the indignant leader, hand-cuffed on the floor.
"He'd know more about it then I would." Heero mentioned. The man closed his eyes and laughed. Once he stopped he looked up at them maliciously.
"Sure I'll tell you about that system. We got it from Luxembourg. We changed it though in order to make the effects last longer. Since the colonies used it to take over earth it seemed appropriate. Not only do the effects last longer but they probably aren't very beneficial to one's health. Those mind-warping side effects can be pretty bad." He started to smirk again. Noin went over to Heero, no longer facing the ex-leader.
"Any idea how to get someone out of that state of mind?" She asked him. "I don't know if there is a specific way to. Each time it's been something different." Zechs went over to get into the conversation.
"Maybe we can find the location of their system and destroy it. That might do something." He suggested. The three of them looked over at their prisoner.
"No way am I saying anything." He decided. "Things might go better for you if you did." Noin mentioned to him over her shoulder. A red button began blinking on the control panel. Heero hit the button next to it.
"Hey it's Wufei. We found Trowa. He's still acting weird though." He said to Heero. He looked over at Zechs and Noin. "I'm going to where they are." He decided and left the room.
***
When Heero got there the first person to come into view was Wufei, then Sally and finally Quatre and Trowa. Quatre looked tired and worn out. Heero figured it was because of the state Trowa was in. At that point he wasn't doing anything that would seem out of character. He was just sitting there not paying much attention to anything. Heero went over to the other three.
"Well?" He asked them.
"I gave him something to keep him quiet but that's not going to solve the problem. I don't know what else to do though." Sally explained to Heero. He walked over to Trowa.
"Can you hear me?" He asked him but got no response.
"That's how he reacts to all of us." Quatre said sadly. Heero turned back to the others.
"And we have about fifteen other men just like this too." Sally pointed out.
"According to their leader, if we don't do something quick, there could be serious consequences." Heero said to Sally. Her expression became graver then before.
"Then what are we going to do Heero?" She asked him.
"Well for starters you could stop standing around and worrying about it." Duo said from the doorway.
"This really isn't the time to be sarcastic, Maxwell." Wufei told him.
"Oh don't get so uptight." He answered as he saw Hilde running their way.
"I found it!" She announced as she came in. She was carrying a piece of hardware under her arm.
"Where'd you find that?" Heero asked her taking a look at it. "It was in their shuttle the entire time." She explained. Heero opened it up to find a screen and a small keypad. He typed in end task and the whole thing shut off. Trowa suddenly grabbed his head and fell back against the wall.
"What did you do?" Sally asked, going over to Trowa.
"Ahhah, Zero...stop it...err..no." Trowa yelled out.
"I turned it off." Heero said back. Trowa finally stopped and shook his head a little.
"Trowa? You okay now?" Quatre asked going over. Trowa looked up, trying to focus. He finally nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay Quatre." He answered. Duo went over to Heero. "Relena's still in the shuttle. It's all ready for you to leave whenever you want." He said with a grin.
"Where do you think your going?" Heero asked him. He grabbed Hilde by the hand and headed for the door.
"I'm going on a vacation. This job is too much sometimes." He replied leaving the room. Hilde just gave a weak wave before she disappeared into the hallway. Heero tossed the 'Zero system' hardware against the far wall. It smashed into millions of pieces.
"That shouldn't be a problem anymore. Guess I'll take off now too." He added, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaving for the hangar. The entire incident was pretty much forgotten about. The leader was imprisoned and anyone else responsible. The Preventer's ship was now safeguarded against any more attacks in the future.
*The*End*