Relena let some tears fall silently down her cheeks.

"Come on." The soldier said and Heero turned to follow him. "It's back this way." He said heavily.

Heero was walking past Relena and didn't even glance at her. "Don't cry." He said in barely a whispered tone.

The soldier behind him lifted a blade and placed it against his neck, Heero stood there, motionless with no fear in his eyes. "She's dead if you even acknowledge her, remember?" The soldier told Heero coldly.

Heero didn't nod or even say anything. He let out a small and weak smile. "Would it matter? I'm already dead." He said, making Relena cry and scream at him to try and get away, anything.

The soldier who was going to lead him to his quarters told the man to remove the knife. He grabbed Heero's chin tightly and jerked it up. He said something into Heero's ear, making his eyes widen a little bit and made him struggle against the guards restraining him.

Chapter 19: Empty Inside

The guard who spoke into Heero's ear grinned at his reaction and stayed where he was. "Insubordination will only lead to that." He said to him. Heero stopped struggling and then he lowered his head. The soldier threw a punch at Heero's stomach, making him clutch it from the force of it and couched up some blood.

They dragged Heero off to the prisoner ward where his comrades were being held captive along with Miss Peacecraft. The door opened and Heero looked up, unexpected by this.

Heero made his way down with the guard who escorted him slowly. One of the guards standing by unlocked the door and opened it. Heero stepped inside. The guard followed.

Heero stared at the people in the room: Trowa and the other's looked back at him, shocked. The guard looked around and then pointed to Sally Po. "Out, now." He said, Sally didn't move. "You stay here." The guard told Heero sternly. He nodded his head ever so slightly.

Sally got up slowly and as she walked by Heero she noticed the depressing look on his face: he had lost all hope. He was broken, utterly defeated and his face showed it. She let a tear fall. The guard noticed this and Heero turned to look at her slowly, his eyes flashing slightly, not turning to an emotionless stare.

The guard smiled. "We figured as much." He snapped his fingers and some guards came in. They got hold of the prisoners who struggled. Heero didn't move. He felt like he was stuck to the spot as they took advantage of this and gripped him tightly, making sure he couldn't even move really if he tried even. Sally was pulled back to the group and Relena shouted Heero's name.

He looked at her and she cried her heart out when she saw how he looked. He was broken, but he still had some fire let in h eyes, which he tried to hide. They had seen this and figured they wouldn't take any chances.

Navar walked into the room. "We figured that you would try to rebel, even just a bit when you saw these people again." Heero didn't move. Guards seized his arms even tighter and he clenched his teeth together. Their grip was so strong it was making his bones ache in pain.

"Stop it!" Relena shouted to the commander, but he looked at her.

He grinned. "Maybe we will get to have some fun with you. Oh, and I don't think I'll be the only one." He said sadistically. Relena struggled as they dragged her forward.

Heero looked at the commander who, in turn, looked back at him with evil evident in his cold eyes. "Don't touch her!" He shouted. He struggled in the soldier's arms. He felt his strength draining from him and he broke out into a sweat. The other captives struggled too, but the guards were too strong and had too many numbers.

He lowered his head, his strength failing quickly. His expression relaxed and breath quickened while the commander laughed at this. "It's good that we didn't give you that antidote to the nurotoxin just yet." He said smugly. The soldier's dropped him and he fell limply to the floor.

Heero's eyes flashed open as he hit the floor and he got into a crouch, knocking the others to the ground, unconscious. He stood, staggering a bit.

"Leave...her...out...of...this..." He said, exhaustion clearly in his voice.

"Oh, you know I would never. I will do almost anything to get you back. The board will be so pleased once I do." He snapped his fingers and Heero couldn't defend himself.

The gripped him tightly. "What do you say?" Navar asked, lifting Heero's head to gaze at him intently. 'So it did take more to break him. Pity. He has changed more than I thought.' He thought angrily.

"I'd rather die." Heero said, glaring at the commander, and spat in his face.

Navar stepped back and used his sleeve to wipe off the spit while the others held their breath's, both the intruder's and the guards. "Well, that won't be arranged. You're worth too much to die." He grabbed Heero's chin harshly and then punched his cheek hard, making it fly to the side, leaving a slight ringing in his ears from the force.

He let go of his chin, which he grabbed tightly after the blow. "Give him the antidote and bring the girl with us. She'll prove more use to us yet." He walked past Heero, who was panting and hit him sharply in the neck as he let out a grunt of pain and lay motionless in the soldier's arms that caught him.

They dragged Relena out of the cold cell and the commander gave one last order, involving the fate of the other Gundam pilot's and Sally Po...

Relena watched the motionless form of Heero slowly stir and her heart sunk into despair. They weren't going to do anything to her or him while he was asleep.

He slowly opened his eyes and the door opened sharply. The commander's silhouetted form appeared and the door closed again. Heero's eyes were still only half-open and he barely moved, breathing. His strength was returning by the minute, the antidote in his system, neutralizing the drug. He heard the commander's voice and his eyes shot open after he closed them to clear his partially groggy mind when he heard the commander's voice.

"Good to see you're awake." He said, glancing at Heero who was once again suspended by shackles. He walked past Heero to Relena who was where she was when the commander first broke Heero's spirit. He stopped in front of Relena and turned to look at Heero, grinning evilly.

He placed his hand on Relena's waist whose skin crawled at the touch of the commander. "I'm not going to stop this time until you beg me to. Even then, I'm not sure if you'll be broken." He said as he turned back to Relena whose feet barely touched the ground. He gripped her waist tightly and touched a pressure point on her jaw line sharply, forcing her mouth open as he rammed his mouth with hers into a forceful kiss.

He pulled back, Relena gagging and gasping for breath at the same time, spitting out despising her mouth all the way, wishing for something, even a bar of soap. Relena's lip started to bleed from under the pressure and she spat out blood, hoping the salty sickening taste would get the remnants of the kiss out of the recesses of her mouth.

"Stop it!" Heero shouted at the commander, trying to break away at his bonds. He kissed Relena again, despite her trying to back away, though failing vainly because of her bonds and restraints.

"God, stop it!" He shouted. Relena screamed for someone to help her as he gripped her waist even harder, making her scream in pain as she struggled harder. Tears fell freely down her eyes. Relena called Heero's name vainly, hating herself for screaming for his help as he struggled even harder, it would only make him break more in the end.

Behind the one way wall, the Gundam pilot's, bound were watching the whole scene with disgust, understanding why Relena was crying the first time, understanding what she meant. It killed them to see Heero like this, knowing he couldn't take much more.

Heero stopped screaming and the commander turned to look at him. His body was shaking and his arms were red from trying to break through the bonds even some blood poured from his wrists where the metal clasps bound him together tightly. Amidst all this, his head was lowered as a tear fell from his eyes. Relena stared at him through her tears and noticed this was the first time she saw him cry, ever...

"So, you've screamed yourself hoarse, eh?" The commander said, grinning at this. He was defeated and at the end of his rope. He only had to do one more thing to make him shatter.

"Why are you doing this to him?" Sally shouted. "He hasn't done anything and he's already lived through enough of a hell without you people" She shouted.

"God..." Trowa said, not removing his eyes from the window where they had a clear picture of everything. He saw a tear fall from Heero's eyes and then another. He was crying, they were pushing him to his extreme limit, doing evil horror's to the person that had shown him kindness for one of the few times in his life. It was like a nightmare...a never ending nightmare that he called his life.

"H-He's crying..." Duo said, unbelieving this. "N-no way..." He said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Sally snapped her head back to the glass. She saw it was true. Something inside her died. "STOP IT!" She said, shedding tears herself. "JUST STOP DOING THIS!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Wufei lost it too. "You cowards!" he shouted angrily to the soldier's, struggling in his bonds.

Quatre was dumbstruck and then remembered and reached into his sleeve. They may have taken their gun's but he pulled out a concealed knife and cut his bond's, then Trowa's who attacked the guards lunging for them as Quatre removed Wufei's who was in uttermost rage. He attacked the guards, unleashing his fury on them.

Sally was freed after all this and they rushed out of the room, grabbing the key's to unlock the door where Heero and Relena were. Quatre rushed back into the room and grabbed a disk out of a machine and then ran back with the other's concealing the disk among his clothing.

Heero let some tears fall. The commander smiled evilly at him. "I'm not done just yet." He said. He turned back to Relena who screamed in horror, but stopped when Navar took out the keys and unlocked her, pushing her down. The door opened sharply as the commander was getting Heero's shaking form down from the shackles. "Damn!" He hissed as he dragged Heero with him to a secret passageway and shot the keypad so they couldn't follow.

"Where is he?" Duo said through clenched teeth as Wufei wandered around the area, trying to look for any traces incase he was hiding in the shadows. He stumbled over Relena's huddled crying form.

Sally rushed over and asked Relena after she calmed down. "Where's Heero?" She asked again, making sure Relena was finally calmed down after some time.

"He took him and ran off." She sobbed; hugging herself and drawing her legs up as if they would protect her from the world.

"Crap! Quatre shouted, punching the wall angrily in his fury, ignoring the pain that shot through his arm.

They heard a muffled 'crap!' behind the wall that Quatre punched. He stared at it. A door that camouflaged with the room fell off and there laid the form of Heero, without Navar anywhere to be seen.

"Heero!" Duo shouted and pulled the limp 01's pilot from the doorway that was collapsing. "Great job Q-man!" He said happily.

Relena got up and ran to Heero whose eyes shot open and he moved away from everyone, a mixture of emotion's in his eyes, mainly fear for the people before him. Relena moved closer as he moved back more and more until he hit the wall. "Heero!" She shouted as she moved towards him slowly.

"Don't...don't...come any closer..." He said through exhausted breathed. "Go away!" He shouted at them angrily. His body was shaking tremendously, the stress and everything was too much for his abused body to take both mentally and physically. "Don't come any closer!" He shouted once again before collapsing into a heap against the wall.

"Heero!" Relena cried with tears falling from her baby blue eyes, which housed pain and fear. She ran to his sweating body and hugged him tightly, crying all the way.

"Relena..." Duo pulled her off Heero's form as they check to make sure he was sill alive from the suffocating hugs Relena was giving him.

They found a faint pulse. Sally picked up his body, which was surprisingly light and quickly ran off with the other's following behind her, Wufei carrying Relena who was too weak to walk piggy back style.

"Stop! Stop or we'll shoot!" A personal running down the hall with a sub-machine gun called out, gaining on the small group of captured escapees.

"Keep running!" Sally shouted, glad that Heero wasn't heavy. Relena turned her head slightly to see their pursuers.

Bullets went flying into the air to try and hit some of their target's and the captives ran for their lives, firing aimlessly from machine guns that had been stolen from other guards.

TBC

Excerpt from next chapter: Into the Lion's Den

"Hang in there!" Relena told Heero strongly. Duo had been shot in the leg, but was forced to walk on it as Trowa half-dragged him. For soldier's, they d excellent aim. They were even better than the former Special's, a secret organization of soldier born for the battlefield h excellent skill.

Wufei turned a bit while running and let some shots flying, not hitting any of them but hoping to discourage the people following them.

They let some shots fly and one hit Trowa in the arm and same for Wufei, the one holding the gun. He lout a stifled cry of pain and dropped the gun while running.

"We have to make it out of here...alive!" Quatre shouted, pointing to a nearby shuttle that was ready for take off.

"Hurry!" Duo shouted, helping Sally and Wufei carry the extra weight that they were burdened with.

Quatre ran up the platform and opened the door quickly as the other's jumped into the darkness of the shuttle passageway.

"Are we all okay and safe?" Quatre asked with concern. He could make out everyone's faint silhouettes and he saw them nod at this. He let out the breathe he been holding surprisingly.

Little did they know they were far from harms way. With Heero utterly broken, it killed them to see him like that, but what would happen when he woke up? What would be install for them...

Author's note:

Wow…I kinda never realized how long this story was! It's kinda all jumbled together also, ;; my longest but not my best work.

Feedback is always loved!

Love, Red Tail