Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters....blah, blah, blah. Man disclaimers suck. I hate having to admit that I don't own these characters. But if I did.....

A.N. - First of all, I'd like to say I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I was really busy getting ready to move into rez, and then I was busy getting all my stuff together for when classes start next week. Please don't kill me!

Secondly I'd like to remind you all that I love reviews, and that they help motivate me to update faster. This is not a threat, but now that I'm in university I'm not going to have as much free time, and reviews will help motivate me to use that free time to write more. :-)

Last Chapter:

"Yeah." Turning to leave, he was greeted by Sally, Noin and Zechs just outside the door.

"Why did you call us here, Heero?" asked Noin.

"I'll tell you in my office." The other three made faces at the thought of having to wait even longer to find out, but followed him to his office anyways.

When they all filed into Heero's office, he locked the door behind them before turning and saying, "the group that the base we destroyed belonged to is developing bio-weapons for use."

Chapter 16:

The group that Heero had just made his startling announcement to was stunned silent. Sally was the first to recover, and naturally her first question was a medical one.

"What kind of diseases have they been working on, and is there any way to cure them?"

"They have twenty-five diseases being developed at the moment. Most of them seem to be targeted to degrade cell structures, and cause quick, painful deaths. A few seem to be based on the disease Ebola, which had been a major problem in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly in underdeveloped nations. There is still at least one cure left for each disease, or was when I collected the information from that base. That may have changed by now which is why we have to act as quickly as possible."

"What's the plan then, Heero?" asked Zechs seriously.

"I'll explain it more fully when the rest of the pilots get here, but we'll all be leading teams to different bases." As Zechs was about to ask another question, Duo burst in the door; followed by Trowa, Quatre and Wufei.

"Hey Heero, I got some more information for you," panted Duo.

"Good, show me later. For now I'm going to explain what the plan is. Each of us is now a Preventer team leader. Sally, you're in charge of the medical team. I'll give you the list of diseases and potential cures, and it's up to you to make sure we can help anyone who gets infected.

Trowa, I'm putting you in charge of coordinating the attacks. You're too injured to be involved in direct combat at the moment, but if anyone needs backup it's up to you to provide it. The rest of us will lead our teams into separate bases and quarantine their labs before any diseases can be unleashed. If we can destroy the bio-warfare agents safely on site, we will. If not, we'll be bringing them back to Sally to be neutralized. For safety's sake, the medical team will be set up in a secure lab away from other Preventers buildings.

Once the biological agents have been removed, the teams will exit the bases. The team leaders will then use their Gundam or other mobile suit to completely eradicate the base, paying particular attention to the labs. We can't afford any mistakes on these missions. These diseases spread quickly once released. Any questions?"

"So we're going to just destroy the bases with everyone inside?" Quatre looked sick.

Before Heero could answer, Duo spoke up. "Do you really want the type of people who use these kinds of methods alive, Quatre? I've seen what these kinds of plagues can do to people. Death is a mercy to anyone who uses bio-warfare. True justice would be infecting them with their own creations." Most of the others looked shocked and more than a little horrified at Duo's statement. Although he called himself Shinigami, the God of Death, noone really thought that the braided trickster would go that far for vengeance.

"I understand how you feel, Duo, but that would be too risky. There's always the chance that they would spread the infection," said Heero, unaffected. He'd seen Duo's memories, knew a little of what the L2 plague had been like.

"I will not allow anyone else to experience what I have," Duo swore to himself. "I will not allow any of these diseases to be spread."

/I'll help you/ remarked Heero in Duo's mind. /When you were projecting your thoughts at the house, I saw you holding your friend as he died. We won't let that happen to anyone else./

/Were you listening to my thoughts?/ Duo asked, hurt and more than a little angry.

/Not deliberately. You think very loud when you're like this, and I can't help overhearing. I can't control my telepathy that well yet./

/Thank you then, for offering to help./ Duo felt the truth of Heero's words. Speaking mind to mind as they were, it was impossible to lie. The message was passed as much in emotions as it was in words.

"Are you sure I can't be of use attacking a base?" asked Trowa.

"You can't!" shouted Quatre, "I almost lost you!" Then flushed bright red as he realized what he'd just admitted.

"So, are you finally going to admit how you two feel about each other?" asked Duo.

"Ummm...sorry, Trowa. I didn't mean to blurt it out like that, especially at a time like this."

"That's ok little one. We might as well tell everyone else, although Heero already knows."

After the commotion generated by the fact that Heero knew, Quatre and Trowa's relationship was explained and they got back to the matter at hand.

"Aside from Quatre's objections, you're still fairly seriously injured. While that wouldn't stop you if we needed you, it's not really necessary that you fight so soon. There are six bases, and six healty pilots to lead the attacks on those bases. You'll be of more use coordinating our attacks. We should all begin at the same time so they don't have time to warn each other or call for reinforcements."

The next question came from Wufei. "Are you sure we need to use our Gundams? It seems like the job could be done as well by bombs."

"Normally that would be the case, yes, but in this case that wouldn't work. We'll have to leave the bases quickly once the bio-warfare agents are secured or destroyed.. The bombs couldn't be set beforehand either because there's always the chance that either they or we would be discovered. If the bombs were discovered they would be diffused, and if we were discovered the alarm would be raised. We couldn't afford to have even one bomb go off, and there's the potential of the lab being sealed off completely if we're discovered. The Gundams are the only way to safely ensure that the base and all the remnants of the diseases are destroyed. The bases will also likely have mobile suits, and the Gundams are the best way to defend ourselves from those."

"Alright then. When are we meeting with our teams?"

"They're being selected by Une. She knows the capabilities of the different Preventers best. We're supposed to meet with them in the main briefing room at 1600, which is in," he looked at his watch quickly, "forty-five minutes. I've printed off the layouts of all the bases from the disks I had. They're all in Europe or Asia, so it'll be relatively easy to coordinate our attacks.

"Duo, if you give me the additional information you found, I'll give it to a separate Preventer team to act on. Sally, your team should be down in medical right now. Here's a printout of all the information you need, and here's the disk that the original is on. Once you've collected your team, take them to the lab in Xiaolang. It's the closest one with the kind of contamination protection we need.

"The rest of you, take this time to look over the plans of your respective bases. I labelled all of the maps according to who's attacking what. It's up to you to plan your own way in, you're all team leaders now. Meet up again when we're due to meet up with our teams."

The pilots separated, reconvening in the main briefing room in time to see the Preventer agents they would be commanding filing in, confused but concerned expressions on their faces. Heero had used his time well. He had compiled a list of diseases and overviews of the bases to show the agents. Their expressions changed from confused to shocked and horrified, finally to resolute as Heero explained the problem and the plan. Then he split them all into their respective groups, allowing the team leaders to explain the details of their individual missions.

Showing his own team of ten into a side room, he asked, "could you all tell me your name, rank, and skills. I need to know what you can do so I can appoint specific tasks." In the other rooms, the other pilots were doing much the same.

"Sergeant Jane Raphael, sir. I'm a sharpshooter and stealth expert."

"You're on point then. You go in first along with me, and we'll take out all the guards in the way." Heero told her.

"Private Elric Jameson, computer expert."

"Good," said Duo. "You hack into their system before we go in and disable as much of their security as you can."

"Lieutenant Aritomo Hiei, Captain. I'm a weapons specialist, but I also have a degree in microbiology."

"Do you know anything about disease containment?" asked Quatre.

"Enough to be of some use, sir."

"Good. You'll be helping make sure all the bio-warfare agents are either destroyed or secure for transport."

Each group had roughly the same kinds of specialists, and a few excellent all around soldiers. Heero assigned a few of his general agents as a distraction off site so it would be easier for the rest of the team to sneak in. Wufei was unused to planning for anyone but himself, and felt somewhat uncomfortable in command of a team. In the end however, he came up with much the same plan as the others. Noin and Zechs felt somewhat nostalgic, memories of commanding OZ units surfacing after being long buried.

In the end all the units were ready to leave the Preventers base by 1800. They all boarded fast transport shuttles large enough to carry the mobile suits of the team leaders. All headed full speed towards their assigned base, and Trowa set up his coordination team at a central location. Once that had been established, he was in constant communication with the team leaders.

"Dragon here, my team is in place."

"Roger that Dragon," Trowa responded. "How about you Sand?"

"We are a few minutes away from our destination."

"Fire's team has landed," came Noin's voice a few minutes later, followed closely by Zech's confirmation. Heero and Duo had taken the bases furthest away, but their arrival communications came in about ten minutes later.

"Is everyone in place?" Trowa made the final check.

"Roger," came the rapid response from the others.

"Go!" And the operation began.

Lord Aries Greymon - Thank you. I'm glad you still enjoy my story. I quite liked writing Quatre and Duo in that chapter, it was a lot of fun. And Duo will be blowing up lots in the future. Keep reading!

shinigami88220 - Sugary substances are so good though! Late nights aren't bad either. It's currently 4:32 am and I'm just finishing off this chapter. I love that quote. I had to use it for my MSN name.

Clarobell - Thanks. Yup, you're going to have to wait and see. But they're immortal now, so they won't die of it.

Windy River - Grrrrrrr. Stop saying that. ;-) lol

Griffen - I don't think there's any kind of warfare I'm going to leave out. It would get boring I think if I always had the same kind. And I think genetic is the same as bio, but maybe I'll make up a new definition of genetic. I'm glad that none of my chapters have been dull. Thanks for your wishes for school. It shouldn't be too bad, since all the subjects I'm taking are ones I enjoy. It'll just keep me busy.

The Chaotic Ones:

Chaos - Wow, I wish me and my dad had burned down an entire city! Did you make s'mores over the flames and dance around chanting? The thing that's up with Duo is the whole L2 colony thing. I touched on that a bit more in this chapter, and I think there'll be even more in the next chapter (although I never know for sure what I'm going to write until I write it)

Aaries - Thanks for returning the pilots, I needed them. A bit more Duo and Heero in this chapter. In the future Heero will be very supportive when Duo's dealing with the plague thing. 'wink wink' Hooray, plushies! I'm very sorry I didn't update sooner. Life happened.

Angel - It's all your fault that Wufei isn't in this chapter much. Yours and Jef's. I couldn't use him very well when you'd stolen him.

A fan under the fan - I was thinking about making it a threesome, possibly a fluctuating one. I think I'll let Treize stay dead though. He seemed pretty determined to get that way. :-) I always like hearing from new readers.

Death Phoenix - Maybe I'll do a better job of updating quickly this time.

Katreda - Thanks. My inspiration is pretty weird, my imagination's messed up and overactive. I'm going to cheat a bit with the eternity thing, although probably not in the way people would expect. After all, I don't want to be working on this story for the rest of my life, and stories get boring if they go on too long. This story isn't one that would be good to leave people hanging on either.