ZERO

By: Sakura Lena Yuy

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Gundam Wing; they are products of Bandai and Sunrise.

Warnings: Not this time.

Chapter 6: Winner's Encounter (Interlude)

"She's been missing for the past month and I can't find her anywhere Winner," Howard sadly stated.

Quatre ran his fingers through his hair. "Why should I be concerned about Bloom's whereabouts? Really Howard, you know the bad blood that existed between the both of us. Then why tell me this?"

Howard chuckled. "I'm not looking for your concern I'm just stating fact. The only reason I'm telling you this is because you're the only other reporter I would trust with a job like this."

"You actually thought about sending Bloom to P.T.I," Quatre mocked. "They would have thrown her out immediately because the outburst she caused when the General landed at the docks."

Howard held up his hands. "Now Winner there is no evidence to that accusation and you know it. The Resistance appeared out of nowhere how could have Cathy known about that."

"Ok whatever Howard," Quatre bitterly replied. "So I'm going to P.T.I then?"

Howard nodded in disappointment. "I have to say I really wanted Cathy for the job, but I know you will prove yourself Winner. I mean at this point that is all you really can do."

Quatre stood up from his seat and snickered. "Yeah you're right Howard; Bloom has done everything to prevent me from getting the best. But the only thing I'm wondering is what hole she crawled into to miss this opportunity. Because we both know this is not like her."

Howard watched the young man strolled out of his office, and nodded his head slowly. He turned to the window and looked at the stormy skies in concern. He couldn't help but agree with Quatre, but the only thing he hoped was that she was no where near the Resistance.

"The World's Military hold on Neo New York is growing stronger, Cathy. God I hope you're not with them, because I don't think that even Heero Yuy save you this time if you're found with her," Howard remarked forlornly as he pulled off his glasses to massage his temples.

Quatre looked around cautiously as he entered the pristine white building that was the P.T.I Medical Laboratory Facilities. He noted immediately the large amount of military presence on the grounds. It seemed that on every corner there was a uniformed officer ready for action. This got to his nerves; he knew that they were there because of the General's recovery but he hated the way they stared at him and the ID card that had "Press" written in bold red letters. Quatre tried to convey the look of confidence as he walked, but his heart raced every time he saw the large rifles that each solider had strapped to his or her shoulder.

It was impossible to find a friendly face throughout the whole facility, until he rounded the corner of the hall toward the General's room. A bright eyed, smiling face greeted him at last.

"Mr. Winner, it's good to see you. I hope you didn't have any trouble," Relena Peacecraft stated as she extended her hand.

Quatre took her hand firmly. "No, no trouble at all Ms. Peacecraft. Here to check on your fiancé, I see."

Relena smiled back. Before she could respond a young russet hair man walked out of the nearby room. He gave Quatre a critical look; his eyes caught sight of the identification card and gave it a distasteful look before turning to Relena. Quatre immediately noticed that the young man was Trowa Barton, Khushrenada's right hand man.

"I'm pretty certain you know Commander Barton, Mr. Winner, but in any case this is him. He is also here to check on Treize."

Quatre nodded firmly. "Well how is the patient feeling?"

"Well he seems to be..."

"You can ask him yourself Mr. Winner" Trowa interrupted coldly. "The General does not like reporters interrogating Ms. Peacecraft."

Quatre raised his hands in defense and look directly into Trowa's cold emerald eyes. "I was just making pleasant conversation; I meant no offensive by it."

Relena watched the two with a curious eye. She had never seen Trowa this hostile before, it was side that he had hidden from her view. But in this situation that could make or destroy Treize's reputation to the World Military, so she understood why he was being extra cautious. The two men continued to glare at one another, unrelenting in their position to give up this childish game. Relena finally decided to take matters in her own hands, and cleared her throat loudly.

Trowa looked at her and back at Quatre before opening the door to Treize's room. Relena gave Quatre a reassuring smile before entering the room. As Quatre took a step closer to the door, Trowa held out his hand stopping him.

"Print anything that destroys his image and I will come after you myself."

Quatre slipped his hands in his pocket and licked his lips. "I only the print I'm told and nothing else. So as long as you're great General tells me what he wants the public to hear, and then you have nothing to worry about."

Trowa stared at the reporter as he entered the hospital room not sure whether he could be trusted or not. Still Trowa didn't understand why Treize wanted to publish this upgrade. He had always hidden the fact that his condition was slowly deteriorating and he wanted to keep it as quiet as possible. But now Treize was willing to reveal all and tell the world that he was on the verge of a cybernetic shutdown with no means of restoration. It just didn't seem right to him, and an annoying little voice kept nagging Trowa to find out why.

With a defeated sigh Trowa entered the room and closed it shut to the outside world. But in a few short hours the contents of the conversation would be revealed to the world.

"The Rebirth of a Dying Man

Quatre R. Winner

The world was hidden from the dreadful and honest truth that the esteemed leader of the World Military Forces General Treize Khushrenada was dying. A slow and painful death that was certain because of the age of his cybernetic limbs and neurological connectors. Common knowledge dictates that cyborgs need annually upgrades and replacements to function properly if not their parts slowly begin to decay and become impossible to replace. This is sadly the case for older, more antique models, which are now housed in any museum of our choosing.

Models that date back nearly twenty years were placed onto patients without any thought of upgrades or replacements in the future. These patients shortly learned the horrible truth, that if they did not receive any treatment soon they would lose their newly found mobility. And many did, but a minuet percentage did not. With this small group a committee of the worlds greatest cybernetic minds joined forces to see if they could rectify the wrongs which had taken place. And the committee named themselves Project Genesis, in hopes of bringing back life to those who had become nothing but immovable shells of humanity. But these experiments proved to be fruitless. All the subjects suffer either states of shock, unconsciousness, or immobility, and in the most serious cases death –save one.

General Trieze Khushrenada, who at the time was a Lieutenant, was the sole survivor of these experiments. At the time he was only had limited use his legs and right arm; while his left arm was rendered useless, due to serve damage his neuron connectors sustained during a battle in his early military career. But with serious physical therapy and several operations later, General Khushrenada was able to gain more mobility in his limbs. But General Khushrenada was determined to gain full mobility of his fragile cybernetic limbs to continue an upward movement his budding career in the World Military Forces.

This determination was what allowed General Khushrenada a chance to move through the ranks, but it was ultimately leading to his downfall. Slowly his limbs were beginning to lose their responsiveness leaving him with no choice but to seek out aid. He went on searching in various places throughout the world where he only found quick remedies to his threatening problem. But soon General Khushrenada was diagnosed with the life-threatening condition known as the Ender Syndrome, which causes the systematic shutdown of not only cybernetic limbs but their neurological connectors, which eventually kill the connecting nerves and finally all other nerves in the body.

During this moment General Khushrenada was left questioning his life-expectancy. The diagnosis varied from several months to a couple years, depending on where the general sough aid. Every doctor refused any form of surgery to help alleviate the locking that his joints would undergo due to periodic shutdowns of the neuron connectors. The only remedy he was given were forms of physical therapy to assist in the joints to reenter the nerve pathways, which would give the connectors the needed jumpstart to work the cybernic limbs. These treatment where extremely more painful than the lost of immobility because of the displacement of nerves and connectors can be felt throughout the limb as it slowly pulls at the body. The General stated "The pain is quite similar to that when fleshly limbs are torn off, yet is more fine tuned due to the sensitivity core programmed in every prosthetic limb. This core makes the pain so precise that you can literary feel the tiniest pull of nerve and connector, even if it is by a few centimeters."

General Khushrenada had to undergo these treatments every week to help keep the limbs and nerves from dying. While he continued his search for cure or remedy to the Ender Syndrome the rumors began to leak about his ailing health. Although these rumors were quiet true, the World's Military did not want the world to know that the newly appointed General would die before he could bring forth his plans to stop the Resistance. And also to protect the General from any Resistance related attacks or assassinations. "The World's Military Leaders were aware of my diagnosis of Ender Syndrome before they promoted me. I did not understand why they would promote me when I was in the hospital nearly every other week due some complication or another. Yet it was not until I was introduced to the Specials Unit that I understood why they still needed me," said General Khushrenada.

The Specials Units, or the Khushrenada Unit as many know it, is a small highly trained, elite group placed under the general's watch. The Specials were the team that plagued the Resistance during the Cambodia Gorilla Wars several years ago. And this unit was filled with many soldiers that Khushrenada had befriend during his early years of service and they were the same individuals that help pace him through his time in Project Genesis. Seeing these familiar and trusted faces was the catalyst that prompted him to seek aid from P.T.I. Shortly after he underwent a simple upgrade procedure, preformed by Doctor Millardo Peacecraft, to help alleviate the locking problems the general had. But this procedure was in fact the first of many that P.T.I. performed on the general and used him as an unidentified test subject in their Revitalizing Project. The Revitalizing Project, headed by Dr. Peacecraft, was an answer to the world's epidemic of Ender Syndrome.

"Ender Syndrome hits more cyborgs each year than the statistics will show," commented Dr. Peacecraft. "The government feels that hiding this fact will stop world panic, but in fact it will only induce it when the truth is revealed." Many statistics have shown the growing trend of Ender Syndrome, but many feel that those numbers have been greatly reduced to stop any scare. The Earth has suffered many different viruses throughout the centuries, each worst than the last, and now Ender Syndrome is being added to that growing list. With over eighty percent of entire world's population, with the exception of naturals, having undergone some form of enhancement this matter is of great concern. And now with General Khushrenada's confession of suffering from E.S. himself, perhaps the world will begin to reevaluate their priorities.

General Khushrenada just recently underwent a replacement surgery which clocked over fifteen hours, due to the serve deterioration that his neurological connectors experience due to the joint locking. But once Dr. Peacecraft was able to remove the failing connectors the surgery went on without a single complication. Although the general is doing fine he still has a long road to recovery. He is set to have several more operations in the following weeks to add upgrades and fail-safe features to the limbs to help prevent any relapses of Ender Syndrome in his nervous system. "Only time will tell if there is a cure to stop E.S. And I'm proud to be a part of the search for a cure, because in the end all I want is to live long enough to my children grow up," commented the General Khushrenada in light of his upcoming marriage with Relena Peacecraft. The general and his fiancée are looking forward to the end of the surgeries and therapies that follow. "It will all be worth it, to know that he is safe and healthy when I'm walking down the aisle this coming winter," stated Relena Peacecraft.

The wedding has been set for Christmas Day in an undisclosed location for the protection of both parties. Although the general is now in the safe hands of P.T.I. it does not mean that the Specials Unit is relaxing. Under the joint command of Brigadier-General Une and Lieutenant-Commander Barton, the Specials are attacking at full force. In fact their war on the Resistance is at its zenith with on-going attacks on Hong Kong-Beijing and their growing presence in Neo New York, General Khushrenada hopes that by year's end the top leaders of the Resistance will be in their custody."

"Gotta love Winner," PiXiE said as she finished reading the article.

Catherine sucked her teeth. She knew that was her story but this was not the time cry over lost articles her friend needed her. "So what do you think?"

Dorothy hissed in pain as she grabbed the article from Catherine's hands. She sat on her bed surrounded by numerous machines that monitored her vitals. All her cybernetic limbs exposed to the eye. The prosthetic parts were unpleasant to look at; their shiny silver hue contrasted with pale pallor of her skin. The limbs linked around her human flesh in a band where some of the neuron links were visible. They would remain exposed until they would completely merge with her existing nerves. Her flesh was still swollen and raw from the pulling and locking the prosthetic parts did to remain attached to the body. Every cyborg underwent these pains and Dorothy knew her cousin was in the same condition.

"Now," Dorothy bit back a tremor of pain. "Now this battle is getting interesting. So cousin," she looked at Treize's photo in the article. "We are now finally equals."