k2: Aheh. Well, I had to, erm...repost this. I added to it a bit, hope you don't mind. The chapter is, essentially, exactly the same and all except that I added two sections to it. It didn't really work well with the next chapter so I added it here and reposted. I know, silly really, but oh, well.

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Gundam Wing Generations:
The continued Epic of the Gundam Universe
St.1: Of New Types and Space hearts
Ch.9: Say What?.
Rating: PG-13 (T)
General genre; Drama, Mystery, Action as sub genre.

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Rashid pulled his car along the curb, parking it. He turned the ignition off and hesitated before pulling the key out choosing instead to let out a calm, steady breath of air. It wouldn't' do to go charging in, demanding answers before knowing exactly what he would be dealing with. AS it was the location itself was a little less then desirable. More like confusing, actually.

He slowly removed his key from the ignition and opened his door; thinking in a rather dismal attitude, Why did Noin want me to come here?

He could still remember their brief conversation on the phone. Noin had confirmed to him that there as, indeed, something wrong. She had put him on hold for a few minutes, saying she needed to check with something, and when she came back she told him to kindly meet her at 225 Merlin Ave. and to please look inconspicuous when he arrived, seeing as how Merlin Ave. was in the residential part of old Sank.

And now he was here.

What stood before Rashid now was what almost appeared to be a deserted and ancient looking, though no where near dilapidated, house. It wasn't quite deserted looking due to the light he saw inside, a sure sign that someone was in there.

The house itself was around six stories, the sixth floor he assumed to be the attic judging by the fact that it was essentially, almost anyway, a series of roof peaks (each one with a window, two of which were false balconies) connected together by a brown shingled 'wall'. Rashid guessed that the 'wall', as a roof, flattened out into some sort of upper deck because there seemed to be a fancy pike fencing, possible wrought iron, surrounding the top between each of the roof peaks.

The actual size of the house was anyones guess, it had a pair of wings taking off to either side of the 'main' structure, taking up nearly the whole of the large block (from what he could see) with enough room left over for a decent sized yard and each wing was about one story shorter, with the same type of roofing arrangement, as the 'main' body. Rashid gave them very little regard els while seeing as how he didn't' have proper enough time to examine details. The house itself, as he mentioned before, was old. Near ancient, really, he wouldn't' be surprised if it dated back to well before the UC era, a long time on it's own. IT seemed as if it had been fairly maintained for a number of years, at least until a little less then recently anyway. The paint, a deep teal that Rashid supposed was due more in part to dirt then the actual color, was peeling and chipping away. A few windows were boarded up, bu that was mostly due to a few random broken widows, the house looked like it was almost in the middle of a renovation as well. It had vines of all sorts, ivy and brambles and the such, that were climbing the walls, rails, and stairs, climbing in through holes and cracks, trying to tear at the fixtures. That was were the renovations were coming in, someone had been clearing them out here and there. If it hadn't been for those minor elements he would have assumed that the house had been totally abandoned, possibly even haunted, if you believed in that kind of thing anyway. Shaking his head with a heavy sigh Rashid stepped up to the sidewalk, grimaced at the possible reasons she would want to meet here, and made his way to the walkway leading to the porch. His spine chilling as he did so.

It still looked like a creepy house. The typical feel of 'the old cat lady's house' with a mixture of 'the old Witch across the street'.

When he reached the steps leading up he found himself testing their strength before climbing as a profound sense mistrust wedged its way into his mind. There a total of eight steps, each one a little more rickety looking then the next. The porch had to be at least 5 ½ ft. from the ground, he wondered slightly how large the basement must've been and, when he finally made it to the porch itself he began to look around. It was larger then he'd first suspected, enveloping nearly the entire width of the main body of the house. He gave a rough estimate of the porch being around 25 to 30 feet long, possibly leaving an eight foot respite on either side. An old fashioned porch swing creaked at the right end of the porch, adding to the spooky feel and there were a few potted plants, some hanging from the roof of the porch others scattered along the banister of the porch while others still settled on the floor boards, that looked healthy enough. The porch seemed to be decorated pretty nicely for the time of year, someone was definitely going out of their way to fix things up a little until actual repairs were finished. In fact, the lawn in itself was proof of that as he glanced back over his shoulder. IT was much greener then most of the other lawns he seen on his way over, and well manicured as well with a few trees and bushes scattered around nicely, most of which were coniferous. Those that weren't, however, were either blooming flowers or fresh leaves. Some of them even had plots of dirt dug around them while others still had fresh spring flowers growing around them.

IS this Ms. Noin's house or something? Rashid thought to himself briefly before glancing back to for front.

The door before him was solid looking and a small window, 1 ft. by 2, was covered by a soft white curtain.

Clearing his throat Rashid squared his shoulders and stepped up the screen less door (the screen, of which, appeared to be taken down for some reason or another) and rapped upon the hard surface only to note after wards that a small doorbell button lay to the side.
The door opened sooner then he'd expected and he saw Noin smiling grimly at him. "I do have a door bell you know."

Rashid replied with a silent stony expression, waiting expectantly.

Noin shrugged, her grim smile turning into a grim grin, and motioned him inside. As he entered he couldn't help but give the inside equal scrutiny as the out and he noted how elaborate the fixtures were, the furnishings and general design were something out of the late UC era, nearly two hundred years ago when one Lex Peacecraft held office. A period of time reminiscent of, and compared to, the Victorian age from the early 19th century United States. The walls, painted not wallpapered, had no pictures on them, though they did appear to have had some at one point, recently removed, and barley any other decorations. There were a few wall lamps, but those were also antiques, what looked to be an ancient, and well maintained, grandfather clock sat against a far wall. A fire place, with a small fire, sat against a wall that separated a set of stairs winding up to a second floor banister.

"Have seat." Noin stated, breaking him out of his bemused trance as she offered him a rather comfortable antique royal blue arm chair with matching footstool. "Want a drink?"

Rashid cleared his throat, nodding at Noin. "Thank you and, no, nothing to drink. Thank you anyway, Miss Noin."

"Just Noin is fine." The woman stated with a smile, "Unless it's my rank, and then only by my subordinates. You sure about the drink? You may be here for awhile."
"I am sure." Rashid stated flatly, "And I really don't' think I will be staying that long.

Noin heaved a sigh, as if those were the words she had hoped he wouldn't say, and looked past him for a moment. Rashid glanced over his own shoulder, seeing nothing, and when he looked back Noin was looking at him again, a sort of soft sadness in her eyes, yet a determination as well.

"That is going to make things difficult."

"Are you telling me you can't tell me what's going?"

"It's not my call." Noin replied

"What do you mean it's not your call?" Rashid nearly shouted, but he managed to keep his voice level, though he was sure Noin caught the tone of his voice.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kurama," She began again, running a hand through her hair. "I cannot let you leave the premises, I have orders to keep you here until word comes otherwise."

Rashid balked for a moment, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping. The first words that flew out of his mouth, however, were, "I will not stand idly by while that boy is going through untold amounts of torture!", and with that fresh images began to flash through his mind, stronger then before.

"Your not going anywhere." Noin repeated, more firmly. "However, you have the clearance to remain at this safe house and use as many facilities as you desire, including access to information your security pass will allow you."

"What?" He was obviously confused now.

"You are, are you not, Mr. Winners personal valet by choice, head foreman of resource satellite...sorry, I forget the number...426 something, as well as the head of his security detail and highest ranking officer in his personal military detail known as the maganac corp.?" She hesitated for barley a second, then said, "Did I leave anything out?"

Rashid stared at her in total shock for a full ten seconds before saying,"Yes. I mean no. I mean..."

"I'll take that as a confirmation of my first question. That means you should have a security pass given to you by Mr. Winner himself. By Quatre."

Rashid, hearing her speak his first name softly, recovered completely and gave Noin a scrutinizing stare. He barley caught the affectionate glaze in her eyes before it disappeared completely, the eyes of a soldier replacing them firmly.

"You should be aware, Mr. Kurama, that Quatre was in the process of getting your clearance level to allow you access to this building. With the current situation Lady Une has allowed you emergency clearance as of now. Welcome, Mr. Kurama, to Delanay Manor, Safe house, guardhouse, and underground bunker/hanger combo with the added bonus of a manufacturing station and, well...recently a secret laboratory. Should be a fun place to raise kids."

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"I don't understand." G stated simply as he stood in the middle of the street, his eyes scanning the area while looking at his device. "There must be some strange form of interference in this area."

Une frowned, not quite happy with what she was hearing. The area of which G was referring was about a square mile, nothing but abandoned buildings that where either falling apart or nearly there. Nothing was safe to use as a hide out, the moment you stepped into a building it would began to crumble beneath you.

They only managed to bring in a small handful of personnel. The locals refused to allow more then two dozen officers within the confines of their city, especially since Une's people refused to disclose what it was they were searching for. No one seemed to be able to trust anyone around here.

Une regretfully agreed to the terms, however, and made sure that the pilots were not numbered amongst those that were to be a part of the over all search. That gave her twenty-nine people n all, plus both G and H, who had insisted on coming, (and Dr. Sally Po, just in case) to aid in the search.

"Can you at least pinpoint a general locale for this vicinity?" Une asked as she brushed a piece of her brown hair behind her ear.

"Yes." G murmured softly, nearly to himself, "Yes, I believe I can, actually. Let me see…." G trailed off as he began to fiddle with his device and Une surveyed the area again. "Ah! Yes, here we go. Come here Une."

Une wandered over to the old man and looked closely at his locater (or whatever it was called, she couldn't' quite remember). However, what she saw, a big black surface with a few blinking dots, didn't' make much sense to her. "And what am I looking at?'

"As you can see,": G began patiently, "there are three points blinking on the screen. That is them. I just can't seem to place exactly where this blank area is. But they are here, by all means they are here. That is a certainty."

"Very well. IF that is all we have to go on…are you sure the is no other way for you to find the location? You can't link to the satellites or anything?"

"Well, since you asked." G smiled at Une grimly, "I have been using the satellites all along, I simply did not wish to reveal that information."

"So you played dumb. Of course."

"Of course. The older of the two Peacecraft children would not have been happy with the knowledge that me and my four fellows are prone to that sort of hacking."

"Does Noin at lest know of this?"

"Oh, yes, my dear Une. There is not a single aspect of what we do that can seem to pass her by, she has grown increasingly sharp witted. IT has also become rather tiresome, and annoying."

"Good, that's why I gave her the position." Une turned on her heel and began to walk back towards the outer walls of the 'location' where the rest of the group awaited her orders.

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"You guys can't possibly be serious about this!" Duo threw his hands up in aggravated irritation. "It's bad enough Sally's coming along on this operation, but them? You've got to be $4!tting me!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sally asked quickly, "I'm a qualified field doctor, and have proven my worth more often then you would like to admit! I've got experience in the field and I can take care of myself."

Wufei, keeping his eyes on Duo, put a hand on Sally's shoulder and pushed her back a little. "You know we need her Maxwell."

"Yeah, yeah." Duo stated, "But if Quatre is found in one area, and she's way on the other side?"

"That, Duo, is why G and I are coming along." H replied skillfully, "Just in case."

Duo wheeled on Instructor H, his eyes narrowed and his jaw tight. "Neither of you two have any business here! You don't' even have a medical licence! You're both scientists!"

Instructor H eyed Duo levelly for a moment, the first words he spoken still ringing in his ears. When he spoke, however, he spoke in a low voice, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Whatever grievances you have with Professor G, Duo Maxwell, please leave me out of them. Quatre and I have a special understanding with each other. I need to be there for him, and besides. As medically appropriate as Dr. Po is, she is still far from scientifically adept enough to help Quatre if his case is as bad as I fear it is. G and I will have to research Fue's data, that is something she cannot do properly."

"Say what?"

"Fue is a specialist in genetics and, while neither of us are, we do know our equations. And, knowing Fue, or at least what G has told me about Fue's idiosyncrasies, it is safe to say that Dr. Po will be far out of her league on this one."

"Face it Duo." Trowa stated calmly, "There is no way you're going to talk us out of the decisions."

"Great, just great!"

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"Lady Relena?"

Relena, reading a file on Old Sank while waiting patiently at Dorothy's side for her to awaken, looked up at the doctor as he entered the room. "Yes?"

"There are some men here to move the guarded patient to the hospital now. Would you like to wait in the other room?"

"No, it's fine. How much longer will the sedatives be working on Dorothy?"

"In truth, they should have fully left her system a half hour ago. I believe her own inner exhaustion is what keeps her asleep now."

Relena frowned. Dorothy was taking this a lot harder then she had previously thought, and that's saying something considering the she'd been acting earlier. "I can't leave Dorothy all alone," She mused after a moment's hesitation. She spoke more to herself, though, then the doctor. "She is going to need someone to keep her out trouble when she finally does wake up. If I leave her alone she'll just run off to old Sank and get into trouble. But I do have to get back to my own work, I had planned on taking Dorothy home with me so Mother could watch her."

Getting the idea that Relena was now thinking aloud Norton patted the young womans shoulder, smiled reassuringly, and said, "Everything is going to be fine. She will wake up in her own time, within the next half hour I am sure. Until then. Why don't come with me for a cup of hot java?"

Relena thought about this for a moment, giving it enough thought to suggest she was humoring Norton, then shook her head firmly.

"I shall stay with Dorothy. Go ahead, however, and continue to remove that man."

Norton nodded in understanding and left again, presumably to attract the attention of the 'removal' crew. Relena, however, focused her attention back onto Dorothy whose face seemed calm enough on the surface, but in the end Relena wondered if the older woman was feeling more of what Quatre felt then Relena could even imagine. And if so, exactly how in tune to him was Dorothy?

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"The subjects adrenal levels are exceptional!" The demented little man in the white lab coat announced in awe as he examined his charts, the excitement of his research welling within his shriveled little heart. "It's almost as if the is a never ending supply of energy within him, waiting to be exploited!"

Cole watched grimly as Fue set the chart down and began typing something into his computer, a computer that was hooked to many monitors that were in turn hooked to the large cylindrical glass bio tank filled with crimson fluid that contained said subject, the young, illustrious Winner heir that was sure to cause a universal uproar once the news of his disappearance became fully recognized. And, as Cole watched the bio tank, as he watched the young man within it, he saw as the body began to react violently again as Fue introduced more nerve sequences into the electrodes connected to the youth.

"If he is not fully unconscious where does that leave him in regards to his psionic abilities?" Cole asked suddenly.

Fue cocked his head and glanced at his youngest 'son', almost contemplating the query. "At most, if he even has that ability and I am sure he does, he may be subconsciously emitting a telepathic plea for help from his closest of kin. However, at the same time is in only in the long range and once they get within close proximity any real contact with whoever he has managed to find is, well...too vague to be of any use to anyone. A steady thrum of emotions stemming from the boy, depending only on how close a person is to him, will be felt but there will be no 'getting closer' feeling whatsoever. In the end, anything that could be useful to him is essentially purely on the conscious level and while he is rather unconscious, though concious, he will only have subconscious abilities to work with."

"In other words it just doesn't matter." Cole responded shortly. "A short answer to a simple question."

"Concise and to the point." Fue agreed, "Try not over step your boundaries, dear Cole, I may just have to punish you."

Cole fell silent and continued to watch.

"however..." Fue began after a moment, "I must add that the emotion of 'love', a combination of hormones and other varied chemicals within the brain, appears to have a profound influence on the psychological nature of a persons abilities. A psychological bond may be formed from one of these so called influences of nature and therefore strengthen a psionic pathway. In short, as you so wantonly insisted upon, if he has a deep connection with someone they could very well find him..." Fue rubbed his chin for a moment. "Bah! Such cases are rare. And the influx of adrenal levels that I am introducing is most likely hampering any such connection accurately enough. We should be fine."

Cole said nothing though he made a mental note to throughly check through all of Fue's files and access all information to psionic research he could get his hands onto. It was high time he learned a little something new, and evolve his knowledge past his dear old daddy's.

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k2: Better? Hope so.

MK: Told you not to trust her, the next chapter is still being worked out thanks to this move.

k2: (shoves Kit's head into a wall)