Ah, finally. Finished editing all of 'Once' so I can get it posted before we go out to sea. Last update until late July/early August, so I hope you enjoy!

Review replies! (and WOW! Thanks for over 50 reviews! (uncontrolled gushing) You like this story! That makes me so happy!):

MikaSamu: Ah, yet another person that's grown fond of James, eh? (sticks her tongue out at her best friend IRL who hates his arrogant guts and laughs) He's addicting. Due to the outcry when I flung this at the TQML, he HAD to be given a chance (death threats and all). I don't mind you being greedy; it encourages me to work! Here's the rest of the story – and you and the other reviewers have actually gotten me to work on the sequel again (it's been dead for a loooong time, so that's a shock).

GundamPilot03: I'm glad you're liking it still! Here's the rest, and more of this plot will appear when I get back from the briny blue.

YiyangYoung: Well, crunching out chapters quickly is easy to do when you're editing the crap out of preexisting stuff. Don't expect my next stories (with the exception of the first half of the sequel and 'Fall of Nobility' if you can bring yourself to read those) to come out nearly so quickly, as anything else actually requires me to sit and think rather than sit and critique my craptastic work. As for clarity on the three pseudo OZ soldiers, I can't say that we'll get any clarity and insight on them at all – until the sequel! (evil cackle) And as for the image of Trowa following vinyl-boy like a panting puppy, I couldn't help myself. (laughs)

Yurikitsune: Wow, a new reviewer! (and the one that put me over 50! (tackle, sloppy appreciative kiss)) I'm glad you're enjoying this story, and happy that you're finding my characterization to be in character (hard work to do that, you know)! Here's the rest of this story! (rings the announcing gong with all of her piddly might)

Disclaimer: I in no way own Gundam W. Don't sue; I'm simply an E-5 in the USN, therefore I have no money. Ha.

-BEGIN FIC-

03:01 Hours --

Duo's rambunctious cackle of delight broke the almost melancholic silence that permeated the air.

"Hell yeah, finally out! And not a scratch to boot!"

His chuckle seemed to be contagious, as soon Quatre was giggling as well. Trowa allowed the smallest hint of a smile to tug at the corners of his lips as relief over their finally won freedom flowed through the stolen vehicle.

As if in celebration, Duo laid his foot heavily upon the accelerator of the car, racing down the road towards his destination. "Heh! Only about, what, twenty minutes or so and we're home! God, never thought I'd be looking so fucking forward to seeing your manor again, Quatre!"

"You said it," the blond boy breathed in reply, lounging easily in the passenger seat.

"I want to get back into that fluffy bed that occupies my room," Trowa contributed.

"Amen to that, man! Amen to that!"

Turning in his seat, Quatre smiled at Trowa who was currently reloading guns in the rear seat of the stolen convertible. "Glad to finally be out of there, neh?"

"Aa."

"You're actually smiling."

Trowa nodded. "I'm pleased you're safe, Quatre."

Closing his aquamarine eyes lightly, Quatre laughed.

Trowa was fighting every muscle in his body to resist the urge to ruffle the boy's wind-tousled hair.

04:13 Hours --

All three pilots stared as they walked into the room that held Quatre's chessboards.

It was completely ransacked.

00:15 Hours --

"What do you mean we're going to have company?" Trowa whispered, his voice bordering on, for him, hysteric concern.

"That's what I mean."

Sure enough shadows began to course the dark floor of the room, created by the sudden light that had appeared in the hallway beyond that lead to the mansion's barrack space.

Gunfire burst into the cellblock.

Immediately having hit the floor, Duo, Quatre and Trowa raised their gazes before firing back at their unexpected visitors.

Two men immediately toppled lifelessly down the stairs as an alarm buzzer rang, its monotone note echoing shrilly throughout the entirety of the compound's corridors and rooms. Red light flooded the room as the emergency lights throughout the structure flicked on, alerting all who had not heard the warning to the breech in security.

Duo and Quatre were instantly on their feet, each taking a side of the cell's door, firing into the hallway beyond. Trowa remained poised by the bound captive, his gun cocked, intent on protecting him if necessary.

'Quatre decided his life is worth saving. He decided not to end his existence at the risk of blowing our cover. If I let him get killed now…'

'Quatre would never forgive me.'

Lifting his gun, he contributed to the gunfight, blasting the hand off of a newly appeared guard who'd entered from one of the other two alternate entryways to the cellblock. The man had but a second to squeal before one more shot ended his life.

Trowa cast a glance back at the captive and scowled as he saw the man slump against the wall. Cracking open one hazel eye, James snarled, "Go! Protect him! If you remain here any longer, you're fucking dead… and if you leave it to Quatre to lead you out, you're gonna be stickin' here forever…" Grimly smiling, he coughed.

Arching a brow, the tall pilot frowned. 'Blood upon his lips. He's wounded internally. Let's see… yep. Shot right through the right side of his chest. Punctured a lung. Not fatal, but truly serious.'

"Quatre… sees it, he's going to…"

"Force us to stay here and defend you."

"Which'll kill me. I'll be better helped if you leave…. They won't want me dead yet… have yet to get anything valuable outta me…"

Trowa frowned as he heard the beginnings of gurgling infiltrating the man's voice. 'His lungs are starting to fill with blood. If we don't get out of here now, he won't get the medical attention he needs…' "Makes sense. I get your hint."

Carefully avoiding the few stray bullets that managed to make it past the paired defenders, Trowa roughly grabbed Quatre's arm. "We're leaving. Now."

"But…!" Quatre attempted to protest, even as he was yanked free of the cell.

"No time! Now!" Trowa said as he broke into a run, aiming for the one corridor out of the cellblock that he prayed was unguarded.

Sparing one glance back, the green-eyed pilot mentally sighed in relief as he noted that a team of the soldiers he was expecting to pursue them had remained behind to care for the wounded prisoner.

03:05 Hours --

Duo carefully angled the rear view mirror of the vehicle as he accelerated. A scowl immediately took his lips, canceling out his boisterous laughter.

"Trowa, look behind us."

Trowa turned in his seat.

"Please tell me that's not fucking pursuit I see back there."

"If I told you what you wanted to hear, I'd be lying."

Quatre eased away from Duo as the longest, most creative string of curses ever heard by the young Arab burst from his mouth like a river freed by a suddenly demolished dam.

Moments later, both Quatre and Trowa were holding onto the car's armrests and seats for dear life as Duo wrenched the car off the paved road in a desperate attempt to out maneuver and hopefully lose the distant OZ vehicles that were chasing them. Flicking off the car's headlights, he leaned over the steering wheel, racing blindly through the pitch black that dominated the world around them.

Trowa closed his eyes as he heard a faint, light voice whisper something softly that involved the word "Allah."

'Same here,' Trowa thought with a nod.

He barely remembered to duck when a piece of cactus flew by his head.

"Watch out for the native shrubbery, Duo."

"Fuck it!"

Thump.

04:14 Hours --

Slowly walking into the room, Duo stared around, his violet eyes huge upon his face. "What the fuck happened here?"

Trowa, meanwhile, was staring wide-eyed at the descended ceiling panel that hung cockeyed from its one intact support, the other having been snapped. The chandelier was in pieces, as was the glass table. Coral was lying scattered about the room, salt water soaking into the Persian rug and delicate reef fishes laid dead upon the ground. The computer terminal that the hidden panel had held was lying on its side on the ground, static dominating its screen, the keyboard that accompanied it snapped in half with its keys scattered aimlessly about the room with every chess piece that had previously been set up upon a board.

Quatre calmly walked over and picked up a pawn that had been carelessly scattered to the floor with the rest of his chess pieces when the tables and chairs had been overturned. Turning it over and over with his slender, pale fingers, he sighed softly. "Damn."

Trowa stared at Quatre. 'I can't believe he's remaining so calm!' Walking to the computer, he picked up the smashed remains of the keyboard, frowning. 'So much destruction… maybe out of frustration? Or…'

Quatre shrugged calmly. "Maybe they supposed that this would derail whatever I was planning. Like stripping the blueprints to a building away from the foreman in charge, thus halting construction, they seem to have been attempting to erase my plans."

"Have they?" Duo quietly whispered as he knelt, slowly picking up a shard of glass that was obviously once a part of the chessboard table.

"Hardly. I use the chessboard to visualize, not to plan. It's what's already in my head that matters. And there, I'm always seven steps ahead of what I have laid out."

03:11 Hours --

The Honda Civic De Sol bounced over rocks and bramble, powering its way as well as it could through the desert sands.

Their pursuit, being in Jeeps and SUVs, was easily catching up.

"Fucking hell! This damned car can't go any faster!"

"Duo, watch it!"

The braided boy screamed viciously in rage as he yanked at the little convertible's steering wheel and felt the car's unwillingness to respond to his commands. "Turn, you fucker!" he screamed one last time, right before they barreled hood first into a steeply swept sand dune.

All three piled out of the car and proceeded to run.

Turning back, Trowa opened fire with the rifle he'd remembered to bring from the car and fortunately reloaded.

After one vehicle detonated in a blaze of orange fury, he tore off after his comrades.

'Nine shots left with the .12 gauge. Then all I've got left is my 9mm, with its ten shots. Duo's got his ten shot 9mm. Quatre… I saw him load .50 caliber bullets into that thing, meaning he's only got seven. Thirty-six shots of ammunition against all of our pursuers?'

Trowa mentally groaned.

01:02 Hours --

Huffing and puffing, the three boys finally made it into the garage.

"Duo, get us a car. Quatre, get the bay door. I'll hold the hallway."

Quatre stared at Trowa for a few moments before nodding and running off to the nearest computer terminal. Sitting down in the chair at the desk, he cracked his knuckles and began typing feverishly away.

Trowa spared one final glance at the boy. 'How he's managed to fight and run in that outfit and not split a seam is beyond me…'

The roar of an engine interrupted his reverie. 'This quickly!'

Duo waved. "You don't mind a convertible, do ya? I don't have to bother with doors that way…"

Trowa shook his head as he watched the boy slip a knife into the folds of his braid and out of sight. "That'll be fine. Quatre?"

"Getting it!" came the harried shout.

"Just make it quick!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

The door swung open even as Trowa's pistol was emptied of its last shot.

"Hurry your ass up!" Duo shouted, even as Quatre vaulted into the car.

Running as the car began to peel out of the garage, Trowa barely managed to plop into the back seat as it raced out into the darkness of the predawn morning that dominated the desert beyond.

03:37 Hours --

Quatre staggered in the sand.

Catching him by his arm, Trowa pulled him as tenderly as he could back to his feet. After receiving a nod of affirmation that the boy could indeed stand again, he resumed his running along the sand.

'Of course he's tired. Coming out of that hell, coming away from… that… and now running through the desert in vinyl and combat boots…'

Suddenly, they were barreling down yet another sand dune.

And Trowa's feet were splashing in water.

"Stop!" Quatre shouted, grabbing Duo's braid to bring the other boy to a halt.

Trowa turned back to watch for their pursuit as Duo cursed a blue streak about his braid not being a leash.

Then Trowa heard a grumbling and grinding racket behind him. Turning one eye, he stared. Turning his body, he gaped.

Duo was already running down the stairs that had been revealed by the hydraulically powered platform that lifted a portion of the desert sand away.

Leaning against a palm tree that now seemed a bit more tilted than it had when they'd first arrived, Quatre winked. "Going below?"

"Aa."

Bolting down the stairs as quickly as he safely could, he turned and watched for his blond partner.

Quatre bounded away from the tree, which suddenly snapped upright. The panel began closing.

Trowa caught the smaller pilot in his arms as he ducked and rolled under the lowering lift, barely making it into the hidden passage without being crushed.

04:18 Hours --

Trowa sighed, staring at the disaster of a room. "The only problem is that they may have figured out what you were planning."

"Maybe. But then why destroy it all? Why not wait to see what move I would make, then attempt to use my strategies against me?"

Duo scowled. "My biggest concern isn't over the plan, the room, or none of this shit…"

"Hm?" Glancing over, Quatre raised a brow. Trowa quickly mimicked the move.

"It's that whoever did this is most likely still here."

A quiet groan interrupted their thoughts.

"The floor panel," Quatre softly hissed as Trowa yanked his gun from his holster and readied it.

Nodding, the taller pilot sneaked to the dropping portion of the floor that was once stationed below the chess table, and poked it with his gun. "How do you lift it?"

"The safety latch, right where that tear in the rug is."

Reaching into the tear, he felt the circular device, and gave it a good counter clockwise wrench. He brought his gun to bear as the floor panel dropped.

All three stared in disbelief as the grisly scene unveiled itself to their eyes.

Duo was the first to whisper, "Xavier…?"

The beaten, bloodied body didn't respond.

tbc...