Part Two: The Secret of 006

Date: December 26, A.C. 199

Place: Old Lunar Base, Moon

"Well, I can't say for sure whether she escaped or not," McCallister said as he and Liz approached the moon. "They said the shuttle appeared empty when it docked, which means that she's still on the Base…either way, Doc's not going to be happy when he finds out…"

"Look, I know you're really upset about this, but…honestly, it's not so bad she escaped, is it? I mean, it's what you've been wanting, after all…" came the reply over the comm.

"I know it doesn't seem that way, but she really is a risk, Million. She—holy shit."

The suits stopped moving.

Before them, where the Old Lunar Base had been not twenty-four hours ago, was a crater. It wasn't smoking, but it was black. There were debris scattered about, and amongst them, the remains of the Gundams.

"Wow," Liz whispered.

Nathan's eyes slowly became wider and wider, and his mouth began to tremble. What if 006 had still been on the Base? What if…what if she was dead? What if the pilots killed her? "They…they…"

"They could've bloody-well told us," said Liz. "I mean, come on. If they didn't want to stay, we weren't forcing them!"

"006," Nathan said softly. "What if she was still on the Base?"

"Oh, hell, McCallister," Liz began slowly, "she wasn't, you and I both know it. She probably distracted us so that she could escape for real…I mean, we don't even know if it was them who blew it to hell or not."

"It was them," replied Nathan softly. "I know it was…it's just too random for her style. It was them…and they killed her."

"McCallister, listen to me, they didn't—"

He swung his Gundam, turning it towards the colonies and screamed, pulling the triggers, "THEY KILLED HER!"

Electric arrows pierced the airless vacuum, gliding along, without anything to stop them as they disappeared into space.

Date: January 1, A.C. 200

Place: G-Colony Cluster, Apartment of Trowa Barton

He leaned back in his chair, tapping his slender fingers on the desk. He glanced over at his laptop, and then back at his homework. Finally he stood up and paced the room a bit.

006 hadn't contacted him. Not that he had expected her to, but still…it would have been nice to know that she had escaped unharmed.

Over the past few weeks since the explosion, Trowa had been questioning more and more the images he'd seen. Part of him wondered if he had just imagined the shuttle coming out from the explosion. Even worse was the thought that the shuttle had been empty, only flying outwards because it had been thrown aside by an explosive.

After all, Heero and the others wouldn't have known any better. They would have assumed that they only needed one shuttle, and might have set explosives in all of the others.

The thought terrified him.

Trowa returned to his homework, only to repeat his anxious pacing a few moments later. The rest of the night was spent in a similar lull, until there came a knock on the door.

Trowa checked the time. 2300. Who the hell would bother him at 2300?

He stood and walked over to the door, grabbing his spare hand-held from behind the jar of cider in his cabinet. He cocked the gun quietly and squinted through the eyehole on the front of the door.

Someone dressed in black with a black hat covering their eyes, and spurts of dark hair coming from under the hat was standing on the walkway.

Trowa relaxed and opened the door. "Duo? What's up? Why'd you come at—Duo?"

A maniacal grin appeared from under the hat, and the person lifted their head. It wasn't Duo.

"Eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, 'tis the gun I heard a shot, eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, kill the killer is what was taught."

"Liz?"

"Just call me…Jack the Ripper," she cackled and jumped at him.

BAM, BAM!

Date: January 1, A.C. 200

Place: L-Colony Cluster, Apartment of Heero Yuy

Heero lifted his head, the rapping on the door knocking him from his post-work lull. He stood up and walked to the door, still dressed in his rumpled work shit and pants. His black tie hung loosely around his neck.

He sighed and glanced at the clock just before opening the door. 2300. He frowned slightly, but figured it was another drunk. They liked to bother him at such hours.

The door slipped open, and the figure on the other side merely stood, silently, dressed in black, a black hat covering their eyes.

"Duo?" Heero asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

But the moment the word left his lips, he knew it couldn't be the ex-pilot 002. The figure lifted its face to Heero's, and Heero found himself staring into blank, cold, emotionless eyes.

"McCallister?" Heero asked, thinking maybe he was just having a nightmare. "What are you doing here?"

"You killed her," he whispered, hardly even looking at Heero. "You killed her. You killed her. You killed her."

It was blank, emotionless, lost, drowning in sorrow, the way he said those words.

"She wasn't on the Base," Heero replied, knowing all to well who it was McCallister was talking to. "She was gone. We saw her shuttle fly off the Base, and then you guys chased her."

"You killed her."

"I didn—"

"—killed her. You killed her. You killed her."

He wouldn't shut up. He was like some robot.

Heero shook his head and shut the door, locking it from the other side.

But, he could still hear the words, as if they were radiating from the door itself: You killed her. You killed her. You killed her. You killed her. You killed her.

"I didn't," Heero said matter-of-factly. "She was gone. She was off the Base—hell, as far as I know, she never even existed."

You killed her. You killed her. You killed her.

"No!" Heero said, a little louder, covering his ears. "I didn't kill anyone! Not anymore, not again!"

You killed her. Killer. KILLER. KILLER!

"I DIDN"T KILL ANYONE!"

KILLER! KILLER!

"I DIDN'T!" he screamed, falling to his knees. "I DIDN'T!"

The door burst open and McCallister walked in. He grabbed Heero by the throat and said, "Eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, 'tis the gun I heard a shot, eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, kill the killer is what was taught." He lifted Heero from the ground, to his keens. His eyes widened as McCallister tightened his grip.

"Mc…McCallister…"

"Just call me…Jack the Ripper."

Date: January 2, A.C. 200

Place: G-Colony Cluster, Apartment of Trowa Barton

Trowa sat up, sweat rolling down his body. He was shaking violently. He looked around, his cinnamon hair stuck to his sweaty face. He was in bed.

"LIZ!" he called, his voice cracking. "Anyone?"

His apartment, diligent as ever, was silent.

He tossed the covers of his bed back and raced into the bathroom. He whipped the faucet on and drenched his face in cold water, splashing it on with his hands. When he stopped, he leaned against she sink, his hair dripping water into the white porcelain.

Slowly, he looked up into the mirror. He had been reaching for the meds behind it, that would calm his nerves, but he stopped. On the mirror, written in blood, was:

I have seen your true self;

Murderer and killer;

Your time has come,

And you will pay your dues.

Jack the Ripper

Trowa stumbled backwards into the wall, his chest heaving again. He was very close to paranoia, and might have run to call the police, had his laptop not gone off in the next room.

He jumped at first, terrified that it might be Liz, or whoever had come after him the night before.

When he noted that the noise was only his computer, he walked to it slowly. He woke the screen, praying to every God in existence that it wasn't them.

His prayers were answered.

It was Heero.

"Heero," Trowa gasped, wiping the new layer of sweat from his face. "Christ. You scared me…"

"So they got to you, too, huh?" Heero asked softly.

Trowa could see he was wearing a turtleneck. "What do…what do you mean?" he asked, slowly sitting down. His entire body ached.

Heero lowered the collar of the turtleneck and replied, "McCallister came here last night. He…he wired my apartment or something, so that it would repeat the same lines…You killed her…killer…" he shuddered visibly at the memory.

"God…"

"Was it Liz?"

Trowa nodded, holding his own neck. She had choked him so hard, he figured he had probably passed out after firing the rounds on his gun. "I thought…" he cleared his throat. "I thought she was Duo."

"That's what I thought about McCallister," said Heero, his voice raw. He looked around warily and asked, "Did they…did they leave you a message?"

Trowa nodded.

"On the mirror?"

Another nod.

Heero didn't need to say what he was feeling. He was thoroughly freaked out. He had fought in wars, where the enemies were faceless, but here, he knew exactly who had come for him. They hadn't really been friends, but the extent to which they knew him—where he lived, his routine well enough to infiltrate his apartment unnoticed and so on, that was truly terrifying.

"Have you contacted the others?" Trowa rasped.

Heero nodded. "They were all fine, which makes me think that they were next on the list. I…I think they might even have gone so far as to try and kill one of us…"

Trowa nodded very slowly. Two of them a night, and then they would both gang up on the last person. The one they felt most responsible for 006's "death." Trowa wasn't sure which one they would have killed, but his gut said that it would have been either WuFei or Quatre. WuFei, because he had been "friends" with McCallister, and Quatre because he had just stood by and done nothing while the others planted the explosives.

Maybe they had been wrong in doing what they did, but now wasn't the time to stake regrets.

"We need to find somewhere to go—somewhere where they won't find us."

"Earth," Heero whispered. "Same place, same time, fourth day."

Trowa nodded, and the connection ended. The fourth day was Thursday, which happened to be the next day.

He pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a tee and coat. He grabbed his duffle bag, tossed some clothes in, but left his laptop where it was. Who knew? Maybe they were tracing them with their computers.

Besides, he couldn't wait at customs for three hours like he had previously. The next day was when they were meeting, and he had little time to get to the Antarctica Base. He grabbed his gun, which had fallen to the floor the previous night, and some spare rounds. Without looking behind, he left his apartment, shoving his keys into his pocket. Things had gone in the wrong direction, and to be honest, he was starting to get scared.

Date: January 3, A.C. 200

Place: Dead Base, Antarctica, Earth

After managing to get through customs—even with his gun—Trowa arrived at the Antarctica Base just on time. The others were already there, and needless to say, Quatre and Duo looked pretty freaked out.

"I told you we shouldn't have done that!" Quatre said. "I told you we should have just left well enough alone, and now look! They came and attacked you!"

"What I don't get is why they used the alias Jack the Ripper," said Duo, shaking his head. "I mean…maybe I can understand Liz using it...but that's a big maybe."

"Who was he?" WuFei asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"In the pre-colony days, as in the 1888-1891 Before Colonies," replied Duo somberly. "He went around killing prostitutes, cutting of their ears and leaving them in boxes for the police to find." He shuddered and looked over at Heero and Trowa. "Good thing you aren't prostitutes…"

"Well, we know that it wasn't really Jack the Ripper," replied Trowa softly. "It was Liz and McCallister."

"Which, by the way, is just as freaky," Duo pointed out. "I mean, how the hell do they know where you live?"

Trowa shook his head. "I was wondering that myself…I mean, it wasn't as…awkward…when they just knew how to contact us, because almost anyone can, but knowing where we live?"

"That's not awkward," said WuFei softly. "That's just downright creepy."

Heero turned his eyes to Duo. "McCallister was dressed like you. Any idea why?"

"Liz was, too," said Trowa thoughtfully.

Duo shrugged. "Maybe they knew you guys trusted me, and that I would be the only one weird enough to come to, not only your apartments, but your colonies at fucking eleven o'clock at night." He shook his head, his braid waggling behind him.

"Okay," said Quatre softly, "I'll buy the trust thing. I mean, they both have dark hair, and they needed a hat—who better than Duo to fill that outfit?"

"Not to mention, it was nighttime," WuFei added.

"Good point," nodded Heero. "Next round of business: What did Liz say to you?" He turned his cobalt eyes onto Trowa.

Trowa closed his eyes, trying to remember anything he could. Finally, he said, "She said, 'Eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, 'tis the gun I heard a shot, eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock, kill the killer is what was taught.' And then she just said, 'Just call me…Jack the Ripper.'" He shrugged.

"Word-for-word," said Heero softly. "McCallister said the same thing."

"Call him Nathan," WuFei said suddenly.

All eyes turned to him.

"What are you talking about?" Duo asked.

"Think about it: If you call him by his last name, not only are you treating him as a superior, but you're also letting anyone who hears you know you're afraid of him. Just call him by his first name, and even if you are afraid of him, that fear will lessen in time."

"Makes sense to me," Quatre said.

"Yeah. I guess it does," replied Duo, with a nod.

"Nathan said the same thing," said Heero.

"Do you think it means anything?" asked Quatre.

"No," replied Trowa. "He's just saying that he's planning on killing us."

"But he didn't," Duo said, his eyes growing wider. "Maybe…hey, hey, maybe he just wanted you guys to get scared. Maybe he wanted all of us to get together. Maybe he—"

"Stop," WuFei commanded. "I knew Nathan, at least a little. That's not like him. I don't know what he was up to, but maybe the destruction of the Base caused something in him to break. Especially if he thinks we killed 006."

Trowa shifted uneasily, but kept his silence. After all, he didn't even know if she was really alive or not.

"Speaking of which," Duo said suddenly, "Did they mention anything about Doc?"

"No."

"I mean, you'd think he would have come back and found the Base in ruins and then sent them out after us, but neither one of them said anything about him," Duo said.

They all considered this, but Quatre was the one who spoke up what they were all thinking, "Do you think he experimented on them? Do you think that's why they're acting all funny?"

"I don't know," admitted Heero, shaking his head. "But if they knew where we all lived, I think it might be safer for us to stay together."

"He's right," said Trowa. "Do you guys remember the safe house in the Congo?"

"The one no one could see except you?" Duo asked sarcastically.

Heero just nodded. "We can hide there."

"Wait, let's think about this," Trowa said. "The pilots we're facing…I read their specs. Nathan does really well in ground-based situations where he can use his mobile suit and not have to fly, whereas Liz won't use her weapons and is willing to fly."

"The Congo it is!" Duo said, clapping his hands together.

Trowa shook his head.

"Think about it, Trowa," Quatre said, "The safe house is deep enough in the Congo that they'd have to know its exact coordinates to find it, and even then, they might not be able to find us in it. It has all of that room for our mobile suits—all we have to do is go underground, and we'd be safe."

"Not to mention the incredible heat," Duo said. "Liz might be a pilot, but she's still more of a crumpets-and-tea kinda person."

"And," WuFei said energetically, "they don't exactly get along, do they? Even if they patrol different areas, they aren't going to communicate well for very long."

"All we have to do is undermine them, and we're safe," Quatre smiled bitterly.

Trowa nodded. "Alright. We'd better get moving, then, incase they find us…"

They moved, almost as a unit, across the snowy fields and towards the newer base nearly a mile away.

Date: January 6, A.C. 200

Place: Congo, Africa, Earth

They all stood before the hidden face of the safe house. They were hot and sweaty, each one dressed in a tank top and shorts, boots, and with canteens strapped around their chests.

Trowa wiped his hair from his face, damning himself for not bringing a hair-tie like Duo, who had easily pulled his long braid into a thick bun on the back of his head.

"Duo," Quatre began with a grin, "You know, if you had two of their buns, you could look like Lady Une."

"Or better yet, Princess Laeya," said Trowa. The others laughed softly, keeping their breaths in a place this humid was nearly impossible, and don't even get me started on the bugs!

Duo just shook his head. "I don't know which is worse—scary bitch or scantily-clad slave woman."

The others weighed the choices as they entered the safe house, replacing the façade of trees before it mechanically, and descended into the basement hanger. They finally came to a conclusion.

"Lady Une," the majority decided.

"She wasn't that bad," said Trowa.

"She was out of your league," said Duo drawly. He sighed as the temperature dropped nearly twenty degrees. "God, it feels good down here!" He collapsed into one of the chairs in the dining area off of one of the suspended bridges. The others followed suit, Heero only stopping to fill his canteen with water.

For a long while, no one spoke. They felt at least a little better, hidden away where no one could easily find them. But, all of them were terrified nonetheless. Nathan and Liz obviously had the resources to find them before, so what was stopping them from finding the pilots again.

Besides, the safe houses weren't exactly lost to their memories. Many a time had the pilots spent nights within the confinements of these havens, only to be shoved onto a bloody battlefield the next day.

"So, now we wait," said Heero softly. "Before you all go to bed, we need to make a few things clear: One, no one is to use the computers. At all. They could alert Nathan and Liz to our whereabouts. Two, no one goes outside during the daylight hours unless we all go. Three, don't turn on anything unnecessarily. We want to keep energy usage as low as possible for the same reason we're not using the computers. We should have enough food in here to last us a few weeks. After that, we can go to the nearest market and get more supplies."

The others nodded. It made sense.

Date: January 8, A.C. 200

Place: Congo, Africa, Earth

They knew that for the next few weeks, they would try and gather their wits to come back with a strategy, as it was not their way to just hide forever. However, as Trowa sat, curled up in a chair in his small cubical, he couldn't help but feel the terror seep into him.

He didn't know why he was so scared, and doubted that Heero was this scared even. Maybe it had something to do with his past, maybe not. The fact that it had been Liz, and not McCallister—yes, he still called him McCallister in his mind; the terror ran deep, even now—that had attacked him should have made him feel better about his situation. But, it didn't. He was used to being attacked by men, but having a woman surprise him like that…it scared him.

He looked up into the mirror across from him. He hadn't slept in days, and had kept his entire room locked tight. He hadn't left, and he hadn't eaten. His eyes were beginning to get dark rings around them, and his hair was oily and scraggly, falling in every direction.

No one had bothered him. Perhaps they figured he was just sleeping, or maybe he was recovering. They didn't know. Heero, also, kept to himself, so they didn't really think it odd that Trowa was locked in his room constantly.

Yet, today, after nearly two days on the base without food, Trowa was beginning to wane.

Clunk, clunk.

There came a knock at the door, and Trowa jumped. He reached for his gun, aiming it with an unsteady hand at the steel doorway.

"Trowa? It's me, Quatre," came the blonde's soft voice. "Are you alright? Can I come in?"

For a moment, Trowa didn't reply, but then, the door swooshed open, and Quatre walked in, the door closing and latching tightly behind him.

Trowa lifted his thumb from the controls on the table beside him and curled up, looking at the window, the gun dangling from his fingers.

Quatre slowly approached him. "Trowa…I wish I could have been there to help you…" he looked over at the bed. It had remained unused since the taller boy had arrived with the others. It seemed Trowa had taken his seat in the chair and hadn't moved. Granted, he had changed his clothes, but that had to have been as soon as he had been alone, because they were crumpled and looked rather dirty. "Have you taken a shower?"

How foolish it made Quatre feel to ask the obvious, but Trowa wasn't giving him anything to go off of. He was trying his best just to get his friend to talk to him.

Slowly, Quatre placed his hand on Trowa's shoulder. Trowa didn't flinch, relieving Quatre a bit. Had his friend moved away, then that meant that he was afraid of mere touch, and that Liz had more than scared him.

"Do you want something to eat?"

He shook his head slowly, burying his head into the crook of his arms. He began to shake softly.

"Oh, Trowa!" Quatre gasped. "Please, don't cry! It's going to be alright, I promise!" Quatre knelt beside Trowa, pulling his friend into his arms. "Whatever she did…we'll get her back, don't worry…we'll get her back…"

Trowa shook his head, wiping his eyes. "It…" his voice was raw from dehydration. He swallowed a few times to get it back, and was finally able to speak again, "It's not tha…that."

"What is it?" Quatre asked softly. "Whatever it is, I'll help you, I promise…"

"006…" said Trowa, closing his eyes. On the verger of confession, he didn't know how to say the words, how to bring them to his dry lips. He licked his mouth, attempting to make it easier. Finally, he stuttered out, "I…I saw her, Q-Quatre. I saw her…before everything…"

"Did she escape?"

Trowa didn't nod at first, but then he did, slowly. "But…I helped her…Quatre, this whole thing—it's my fault…it's all my fault…"

"Oh, no! No, it's not!" Quatre replied. "I promise Trowa, no matter what happened, none of this is your fault. None of it."

Trowa shook his head and stood up slowly, his joints popping and cracking. He let the gun slid to the tips of his fingers. "She…somehow got me into her room, and she wanted me to help her, so I did. She couldn't escape by herself…"

"Electrocution," Quatre whispered with a nod.

Trowa nodded back, though he was looking at the slats of sunlight that drifted through the window shades. "I helped her into my room, so that she could rest, but…I don't know…she told me a lot of stuff. About how she wasn't allowed to feel. I mean, she can, but…if she did while hooked up to that machine, she was electrocuted. She knew I would pity her and help her out."

Quatre remained silent, waiting for his friend to continue. Obviously Trowa had been blaming himself for everything since this had happened.

"When McCallister searched our rooms, she hid above the ceiling tiles," Trowa added. "After he left, she hacked into the system using my laptop, and launched a shuttle, putting it on autopilot, so that it would go towards the shuttle docs of Colony R123. After McCallister and Liz left, she hid when Duo and you guys all came in…and then, after we decided to blow the base up, she came out…" Trowa looked down at the floor. "I don't know…I gave her my card, so she could find me…I was worried about her…and when the base blew up, I thought I saw her shuttle leaving…but maybe it wasn't…Quatre, what if she never got away? What if she did die and it's all my fault?"

"Trowa…" Quatre whispered, approaching the taller young man. He pulled his friend into a tight hug and said, "None of this is your fault, I promise. None of it…"

The gun dropped from Trowa's fingers, landing on the floor with a hard clunk. He relaxed into his friend's arms, his head resting on Quatre's short shoulder. He let the overwhelming guilt roll off of him, releasing him at last from his prison.

xxx

"Rise n' shine!" Duo called, opening the door into Heero's room. "Come on, up n' attem!" He stalked across the carpeted floor and to the windows, throwing them open. The braided ex-pilot then turned and looked around the room. Heero was hunched over by an old pre-colony dry erase board. He had been trying to figure out what Nathan and Liz would do next, and what their plan of attack should be.

Duo sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Awe, poor guy…" he shook his head and walked over to his gangly friend. Gently he managed to get the sleepy Heero onto his feet and help him over to the bed.

"You know, sleeping upright isn't good for you," Duo said as he put Heero down on the bed. "I guess it's bad for your heart, or something…maybe it was your spleen…liver? Whatever." He smiled and walked back over to the drapes, shutting them. "Sleep good, Heero." He shut the door behind him as he left the room.

"I thought you were going to wake Heero up?" WuFei asked from his meditation corner in the gathering room when Duo walked in.

"He was up all night trying to figure out what their next move is," Duo said, leaning against the doorframe. "It just doesn't feel right to wake him up after that."

WuFei nodded and closed his eyes, returning to his meditation.

"Wonder what could be taking Quatre and Trowa so long?" Duo asked.

WuFei shrugged.

"Think maybe they're alright in there?"

Again, a shrug.

"I hope so. I don't want them to get eaten by the boogie man or something."

WuFei opened an eye. "Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"You deal with your tension by talking. I deal with mine by meditating. Meditation doesn't work well with irrational noises like the ones you're making. Could you either be quiet, or leave?"

"Heh, yeah, no problem," Duo said with a soft smile. "Sorry about that…I guess we all need some time to unwind still." He left the room.

WuFei closed his eye again and relaxed into his own world.

xxx

Duo was walking down the hallway, headed towards the main hanger, when he spotted Quatre coming out of Trowa's room.

"Hey, Quatre, is everything alright?"

Quatre looked up and smiled slightly. "Yeah, thanks, Duo."

"Is he coming out?"

Quatre nodded. "Yeah, but he's going to take a shower, first. I think he was just a little shaken up by what happened."

"We all are," replied Duo, leaning against the wall. "Man, I wish we'd all been there, you know? Then we could've helped each other, and maybe this wouldn't've happened."

"I know what you mean," replied Quatre, taking the other side of the hallway. "But even if we had been there, do you think Nathan and Liz would have been any less violent? I mean, what if they're just planning on getting us all together in one area?"

"Better that we're all together than being alone half-way across the Earth from each other," replied Duo.

"True."

There was a moment of silence between them before Quatre spoke up again, "Is Heero okay?"

"That guy? He's gonna be just fine, I think," Duo smirked. "He was asleep at his desk when I went to get him…looked like he'd been up all night trying to figure out what they're gonna plan next."

"Sounds like Heero," Quatre said. "You can always rely on him to come to an answer."

"Yeah, I guess."

Another pause.

"I just wonder whatever happened to 006, really," Duo said finally. "I mean, she wasn't on the base, was she? To tell you the truth, I'm not really all that sure, anymore, if she was even on the shuttle in the first place."

"I know what you mean," Quatre said, nodding. He knew more than what Duo meant, but wasn't willing to break Trowa's confidence to tell him so.

"Still, I mean…we did the right thing, didn't we? Blowing that hell-hole sky-high was the least we could do," Duo continued, playing with the end of his braid. "If we had just…left…do you think they would have come after us again? I'm beginning to doubt it, to be honest."

"You don't think they would have kept coming after us?" Quatre asked.

"No, I don't," replied Duo. "I don't know what it is…they're both submissive, but I'm not sure Doc would have wanted them to continue harassing us, especially since most of us work for the government and could cause a lot of trouble from him."

"Maybe you're right," Quatre said. "But there's still no guarantee…I mean, look at us…we're all still attached to the pre-E.P.A. era as it is…we still think like soldiers, retreating when we're in a bad spot."

"Maybe we should've just gone to the government after what they did to Heero and Trowa," said Duo softly. "I mean, heaven knows Heero's job alone would pay for any kind of protection, instead of him just disappearing for days on end."

"I think they kind of expect it," replied Quatre. "They knew who he was when they hired him, and so there was always that chance that he might disappear. I know I put those same words on my resume…'May disappear without warning and return at a later date due to ex-pilot conflicts.'"

"No kidding?"

"Yeah."

"Wow," laughed Duo. "So you actually kind of expected something like this to happen."

"We're the Gundam pilots, Duo," Quatre said. "What'd you think was going to happen? We can't just say, 'Oh, the wars are over. Time to be normal.' We're never going to be normal."

Duo laughed, shaking his head. "For us, normal is this stuff happening…" he glanced away. "To be honest, I missed it."

Quatre just nodded.

"Hell, I had a great life after the wars…but damn, I missed it. I missed the random missions, the break-neck way we did things…I even missed Deathscythe's cockpit. I missed the feel of him working with me on my missions…" Duo leaned back and continued, "I tell you what, no hover-car or any other vehicle is ever going to be as nice as the inside of a Gundam."

"Amen to that," Quatre smiled a small smile.

Duo sighed and said, "So…you remember back in the Middle East, when you told me about…that guy…?" He quirked an eyebrow.

Quatre rubbed the back of his neck and replied with a nervous laugh, "I thought you forgot all about that…"

Duo just winked. "I never forget anything."

"When's Heero's birthday?"

"Ah, that's beside the point," Duo said, "Now come on! Tell me!"

Quatre shrugged and replied, "Nothing happened. It was after I met you that I met with Trowa, anyways." He was trying to change the subject, but it ended up backfiring on him in the end.

"You two make a good team."

Quatre shook his head. "We're just friends."

"So you think…but watch out, he'll get you when you least expect it!"

The blonde just laughed. "Come on, we should probably go make dinner. Trowa'll be hungry, and chances are, WuFei's probably hungry, too."

"Yeah, you're right…"

The two of them walked down the hallway and into the kitchen to make the meal.

"Still…you ever seem 'em naked?"

"DUO!"

Thunk!

"OW!"

xxx

Trowa toweled his hair off. He looked up into the mirror, his heart skipping a beat when his eyes caught a flash of flesh. He turned around, but no one was there. The room was empty.

He turned back to the mirror, thinking that maybe it was just his mind that was playing tricks on him, but he was mistaken. There, was, indeed, another person in the mirror. It was 006.

Trowa whirled around again, the towel about his hips flustering with him. He looked back and forth for a moment before he let his eyes stay on her face.

"006? How…?"

Trowa approached the mirror and touched it, the image disappearing. His eyes went wide and he screamed softly, gripping at the glass with his fingers.

"Where…where'd you go?"

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and Trowa hurriedly opened it, thinking it might be 006. Instead, it was Heero. He had apparently awoken from his nap and was standing, his expression unreadable.

"Heero?" Trowa asked softly. "Did…is everything okay?"

Heero looked beyond Trowa and into the steamy bathroom. He shoved the taller boy back into the room, and then turned and locked the door behind them.

"Heero, what the hell—?"

"Shhh," Heero said, lifting his finger to his lips. He leaned against the door, listening. When he was sure they were alone, he turned back to the other young man. "I think Liz and McCallister know where we are."

"How can you be sure?" Trowa asked, adjusting his towel uncomfortably. "And couldn't it wait until I was dressed?"

Heero shrugged. He hadn't really noticed Trowa's state of undress. "I intercepted a transmission on the wireless radio…the pre-colony one. They're using a really low-tech frequency. My bet is that so we couldn't trace it."

"What did they say?" Trowa asked, pushing his damp hair from his eyes.

"'They're in the jungle, coordinates…' and then it damped out," hero replied.

"Even though you might be right, I doubt it," Trowa said, shaking his head. "They could have been referring to anyone."

"I thought that, too," replied Heero. "Until I realized who was talking."

"Well?"

"It was Liz. English accent."

"Doesn't mean it's her."

"Trust me, it was. She has an unusual voice."

Trowa shrugged and said, "Well, okay, tell the others. I guess we can move out soon…just, please, let me get dressed first."

Heero nodded and left the bathroom to tell the others.

Date: January 8, A.C. 200

Place: Congo, Africa, Earth

"Are they doing anything yet?"

"Christ, McCallister, we don't even know if they're here for sure!"

"They are."

"How the bloody hell do you know that? We've been sitting here for hours, and I'm starting to get all sticky and shit."

"I just know."

"You think they intercepted our transmission?"

"We made sure it was on a radio frequency they could pick up without having to use a computer or anything high tech."

"So yes, then?"

No reply.

"Bloody hell, McCallister, you're more boring than my ant farm."

He didn't care.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. They were in the area surrounding the suspected safe house where the ex-pilots might have been hiding.

"Oy, Jack the Ripper! Jack-Jack-Jack the Ripper! Jack-Jack-Jack the Ripper! Jack—"

"Shut up," Nathan snapped.

She laughed. It made her so happy to annoy the crap out of him like that. "Look, buddy, you're beginning to bore me, and I need to be kept amused if this mission is going to succeed."

Images suddenly flashed up on her monitor, and she gasped, her face turning red. "How'd you get those!"

They were of her and Duo, cooking and eating together. He was always looking at her between glances.

"I can play vids, too, so either shut up, or I'll transmit them all over the world," Nathan said calmly.

Liz pouted, and then asked, "Why are we doing this, McCallister? I mean, I know they killed 006, but it was an accident…they just don't seem like the kind of people to murder someone…"

"Shut up."

"I'm just telling you the truth, and you bloody know it!"

"No, I mean shut up. They're coming," he said, and Liz looked through the screens and to the façade jungle. Indeed, five figures were emerging from the forest.

It was them, alright.

The two waited until the five ex-pilots were in clear sight before they moved in, their mobile suits exploding outwards from the trees.

"FREEZE!" shouted Liz, giddy at finally getting some action. "Bloody hell, I've wanted to say that for so long!"

"You're to come with us—either by choice, or by force," Nathan said, lifting a net from the back of his Gundam.

Heero and the others began to run towards the forest, not having expected them to be there, waiting for them.

"RUN!" shouted Quatre.

"He's not kidding!" Duo shouted back.

Trowa and Heero just stood, gawking at the giant mechas, as if they had never seen them before.

WuFei turned around and shouted, "Move it, guys!"

Nathan laughed and dropped the net onto the other three, Trowa and Heero still unmoving. The hatch of his Gundam opened and he appeared, a smug look on his face. "You are now the prisoners of the Earth-Colony Reform Alliance."

"The what?" Duo asked.

"Nice name, huh?" Liz asked, also emerging from her mobile suit. She grinned and said, "Doc came up wit it. Hell, we're the E.C.R.A. Erca." She laughed.

"Heero! Trowa! Help us, you morons!" Duo screamed.

"Oh, they won't help you," said Liz, jumping down from her suit and approaching the two boys. She put an arm around Heero's narrow shoulders and said, "He and your buddy Barton were implanted with tracers when Nate and I chatted with them."

McCallister also dropped to the ground. "They obey only us, when we're within a ten meter radius. Oh, don't worry, Maxwell. They can hear and feel everything that they do, but they can't do anything about it." He dawned a smirk and said, "Like this: Yuy, kick Maxwell in the ribs as hard as you can."

Heero left Liz and approached Duo.

"Hey, now, buddy…come on, remember me? I'm your bud, Duo," Duo said feebly. His violet eyes were wide, and he watched as Heero drew back his leg and kicked Duo in the side as hard as he could.

Duo let out a gasp of air as his ribs cracked and crunched under the pressure Heero had put on him. He collapsed from his hands-and-knees position to his good side, breathing hard.

"You bastard!" shouted WuFei. "You have no honor!"

"You, of anyone, should know what I'm going through."

"I didn't seek revenge!" screamed WuFei. "I fought the bad guys. You're just being violent for the sake of being violent!"

"I'm exacting my revenge, just like any good soldier would," Nathan replied blandly.

"Then get your revenge on the man that started this whole thing!" Quatre said bitterly. "Doc's the one that started experimenting on her, so go after him!"

"Yeah," grunted Duo. "We did you a damn favor by blowing that hell-hole up…"

"We didn't know she was still on the base," added WuFei softly. "We were under the same impression as you were."

Quatre's eyes shifted to Trowa, but the other boy didn't look back. He merely stood, completely still and silent.

"Orders, Sir?" Liz asked softly.

"Barton, Yuy, load them in the truck," said McCallister. He turned to Liz and said, "We'll get them to Hero Mountain and go from there."

Liz saluted, though it looked half-hearted.

Nathan returned to his mobile suit, while Heero and Trowa moved the other three pilots to their feet, finally shackling them together by their wrists and ankles.

It was then that Duo began to understand why Liz and Nathan had gone after Trowa and Heero. He grunted in pain as Heero pushed him in the direction of a hidden truck. The two of them were, to an extent, the strongest of the five pilots, meaning that with their forced help, McCallister and Liz could get the other pilots into their clutches without really trying.

Duo grunted again, this time from frustration. He wished that they had never accepted the invitation to the Old Lunar Base.

Date: January 10, A.C. 200

Place: Hero Mountain, Moon

Duo landed in the dark cell, his cracked ribs causing pain to rip through his body. He cried out softly.

Quatre and WuFei were put into their own cells on either side of Duo's, and the doors were all shut with a terrible clanging sound that resounded in their ears hours after the doors had shut.

Duo coughed, blood coming from his lips, splattering on the dark stone. There weren't any lights in the cell, nothing but the empty darkness.

"Quat!" he coughed again, trying in vain to get the others to respond. "Wu! You there!"

"Yeah!" Quatre's voice came back through the cell walls, but it was very, very dimmed.

"That arrogant asshole!" WuFei shouted in response. "I can't believe he did that!"

"I'm with you, Wu," replied Duo, leaning against the cool wall. Their cells were very narrow—perhaps four feet wide, so they were all able to hear each other without much trouble. "I wish I knew why he was doing this…"

"Poor Trowa…" said Quatre sadly. "And Heero…"

"Yeah…" Duo replied. "They've got it worse than we do…they may not be locked in these cells, but they have to watch everything they're forced to do, and they can't lift a finger to stop it…"

"Where are we?" WuFei asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

"They said Hero Mountain, right? The one Liz flew us past the other…um…week. I think it's where the E.P.A. has their newest base," added Duo.

"Well, obviously they aren't here, now," replied Quatre.

"Why?"

"Because they'd know we were here, and they'd do something," replied the blonde. "WuFei and I have really good contacts in the senates, and if the E.P.A. had any idea of our kidnappings, we'd have been rescued by now."

"Unless McCallister and that woman eliminated them using the Gundams," sneered WuFei.

Quatre had a sudden feeling of pain. WuFei really felt betrayed by McCallister's actions towards them. He felt that maybe their friendship had run deeper than any of them would ever know, and that McCallister's rash actions were causing the Chinese boy an immense amount of regret and emotional pain.

"Now, now, Wu, they're a bit moronic, but I don't think even they're that stupid," said Duo, and he laughed to himself, immediately regretting the action, because his side exploded into pain. He groaned.

"They said they were planning on fighting the E.P.A.," said Quatre slowly. "What if they really did fight them, and they won?"

"Somehow, I highly doubt it," replied Duo. "It just doesn't strike me as their style."

"They have a style?" snorted WuFei.

"Yeah, it's called: Being complete morons and not listening to a word we say and attacking us when all we did was blow up the crazy-mans base."

"You think Doc might have the same chip in them that they put into Heero?" Quatre pondered suddenly.

The others were silent for a long moment. Finally Duo replied softly, "That could be."

"It might be why they're acting like such jerks," WuFei added.

"And that whole 'Jack the Ripper' thing, too," Duo added. "I mean, Heero told me that McCallister didn't exactly act normal when he attacked him. But anyways, what is normal anymore?"

Quatre smirked and said, "We're as normal as you get, right? Everyone else is just abnormal."

Duo nodded and leaned his head against the cold wall. He was so tired…he was sick of running, too, and now they were captured, held hostage by two people that might have once been their friends.

Duo figured that maybe Quatre was right. Maybe Doc had implanted chips in McCallister and Liz. Maybe that was why they were acting so fucked up.

Then again, who was he to say any of this?

He didn't know what McCallister was feeling, or if McCallister felt anything at all anymore. Other than rage. Oh yeah, he felt rage, but that was about it. He also didn't know, really, anything about McCallister's past, other than that he and 006 had been very, very close.

Mulling this over, Duo wondered why he had never heard of the Million's during the was, anyways. If they had been as influential as the Peacecrafts, and the Earth-Sphere Alliance had killed them also, then wouldn't it have made sense that they might have been just as well-known as the Peacecrafts? Maybe not…

Duo paused in his thoughts, straying to a new one. McCallister had said that Doc had brought Million to get revenge on Oz, not on the Earth-Sphere Alliance, the one's who had actually been behind the assassination of the Peacecrafts.

So, had there been a hole in McCallister's historical accuracy, or had Doc lied to Liz? Or, had Doc been in lead with the Earth-Sphere Alliance, and had lied to Liz just so that she might one day fight against Oz?

None of that made any real sense, though. He thought that maybe, somehow, some tiny, little bit of that information might make sense. He knew it should, but still, it didn't, and it bothered him more so now than it had before. He began to twist his braid lazily around his fingers.

The other two had fallen silent also, probably too scared and nervous to sleep. Duo understood. He was exhausted, down to the very core of his being. That, and his side hurt like hell.

He'd have to kick McCallister once or twice to get back at the bastard for ordering Heero to do it.

Finally, just as he was drifting off into a light sleep, the door to his cell snapped open and a figure stood before him. It was Heero.

He was shoved into the cell by McCallister, who had been behind him. McCallister smirked, though Duo, who had caught the staggering Heero, was too blinded by the sudden light to see the others face.

"Come on, Maxwell. It's your turn."

Duo was shielding his eyes with one of his hands, Heero resting against him, shaking violently, sweat rolling down his neck and along his back. He had bruises and scratches all over his body.

He had been interrogated.

"D-Duo…" Heero gasped, grasping onto the other boys shirt. "I-I'm…sorry…"

Duo looked from the wounded boy up to McCallister. No doubt the apology had been for the painful beating, not for anything that he had given up. Heero just wasn't like that. He was one who would rather die than give any enemy information.

"Get your ass off the floor, Maxwell!" snapped McCallister.

"What're you gonna do if I don't?" snarled Duo. "Shoot me? 'Cuz somehow I don't think you want me dead."

McCallister stalked into the cell and grabbed Duo by his braid, literally dragging the pilot from the dark, confined area and into the lit hallway.

Duo kicked McCallister in the shin, but Nathan, though he stumbled and growled in pain, only pulled Duo's braid harder, winding it around his hand. He forced the other boy to his knees, looking him in the eyes.

"You will do as you're told, Maxwell," Nathan snarled. "And, should you decide to be gutsy like that again…"

THUMP.

"Ugnnnn…" Duo landed hard on the floor, his skull throbbing in pain. McCallister had a great right hook.

"Now get up."

Slowly, Duo got to his feet, thinking that maybe McCallister was going to take him to get the chip implant.

Duo squirmed at the thought. He didn't have any desire to get one—besides, wouldn't Liz and McCallister have already forced them to get one by now, if they were going to at all?

Again, Duo was forced into a world of questions he didn't know the answer to, and answers he wasn't sure of what question had been asked to get them.

Just as Duo became aware that he was no longer shackled and could easily escape, he was shoved into a blinding white room.

In the center, was a chair.

"Sit," commanded the familiar voice of Doc.

"Why?"

Nathan shoved him towards the chair. Hard. "You don't question what Doc tells you to do. You just do it."

"Hey," Duo said, turning around. He curled his hand into a fist, and swung at McCallister, hitting him right across the face. "Thanks for that gift earlier. Now, don't thank me. I'm just glad I can return the favor." He emphasized the word by kicking Nathan as hard as he could in the stomach, the other boy stumbling backwards and into the doorframe.

He lifted his head, wiping blood from his mouth. His eyes were filled with anger. "You little…"

"McCallister, you may leave now."

Nathan lifted his eyes to the room where he knew Doc was observing them from. He nodded once, grinned evilly at Duo, and left, the door swishing shut behind him and locking.

"Mr. Maxwell, please, take a seat. This shouldn't take long."

"I think I'll stand."

"If you wish," Doc replied nonchalantly. "Now then, I must ask you—whose choice was it to destroy my laboratory?"

"All of us decided to," replied Duo bitterly. "After all, you were experimenting on people there. We had to stop you."

"You were free to leave," replied Doc softly.

"Obviously we weren't, or else you wouldn't have sent Bonnie and Clyde after us. Did you know they claimed to be some manic-sick-o from the 19th century? I mean, come on! How gross can you make them?"

"I did not "make" them do that," replied Doc in his disgustingly calm tone. "They wished for revenge, and so I granted them their wish. They only have kept you alive this long because I am curious."

"About what?"

"About how my experiment ended up in Mr. Barton's room just before my laboratory was destroyed."

Duo paused. He opened his mouth and closed it, not quite sure what to say. Trowa had never mentioned anything about that. Finally he asked, "You mean 006, right? Not Nathan, not Liz, but 006?"

"Yes, Mr. Maxwell, I mean 006," replied Doc calmly. "Judging by yours and Mr. Yuy's reactions, I can only guess that neither of you knew she was in there…interesting…I thought Mr. Yuy was merely putting up a façade all this time…"

"So that's why you tortured him!" Duo roared.

"Oh, heavens no. Me? Torture anyone? How unpleasant to even think so. No, Mr. Yuy and McCallister had a…brief disagreement on the way to your cell."

"YOU LET YOUR OWN MAN DO THAT TO HEERO!" Duo screamed.

"I am not responsible for McCallister's actions."

"Bull shit."

"We have been through this before. I am, in no way, responsible for the actions of Million and McCallister. They merely do what they feel they need to do to accomplish their mission."

"Okay, fine," snapped Duo. "Whatever. If 006 was in Trowa's room, then you know what happened to her, right?"

"Oh, yes, I do."

"So why the hell do you need us?"

"Because one of you might know where she is."

"So, she's not dead?"

"No."

"THEN LET US GO."

Doc remained silent, and the door behind Duo swished open. This time, it was Liz standing in the doorway. She was covered in sweat, and looked winded. She said hoarsely, "Follow me."

For a moment, Duo couldn't believe his luck. They were really going to let them go? Just like that?

Well, it made sense, right? Because none of them knew the location of 006. None of them had ever even seen her before—well, other than Trowa.

Duo felt his heart stop when he reached the door.

Trowa.

"Where's Trowa?" he asked, turning to look at the glass above him.

Doc replied, "He is being questioned."

"Are you going to do this to Quatre and WuFei, too?"

"No, I know what I needed to know."

"And that was?"

"How many of you knew 006 was still on the base after Million and McCallister left to find her."

Duo nodded slowly, and followed Liz down the hall. He knew he could easily escape, but then Heero and the others would be left behind, not to mention what might happen to Trowa. The guy probably felt like the entire thing was his fault.

Duo felt that maybe he could blame the boy, but really, would he have done anything different? After all, McCallister, the only friend she had ever known, wasn't exactly helping her all those years. He had just stood by and watched as she was tortured, not lifting a finger.

Duo felt that out of anyone here, this entire mess was his and Doc's faults. Doc for conducting the experiments, and Nathan for just standing by and watching.

"So," Duo asked suddenly, "why Jack the Ripper?"

Liz paused and replied calmly, "McCallister thought it was funny."

Well, at least they were still on speaking terms.

"You think it's funny?"

"No."

"Why do you go along with him, Liz?" Duo asked.

"Because one day, I know I'll need him by my side," she replied softly. "To get revenge on those who killed my parents."

"Doesn't this make everything you do an oxymoron, then? I mean, your family was nothing but pacifists, right? So why fight, when all they wanted was peace?"

"Because they died doing what was right, so I'm going to avenge them by doing what I believe is right."

"Oz didn't kill your parents; you do realize that, don't you?"

She was quiet until they reached his cell. She opened the door and said very softly, "I know."

She shoved Duo into the cell, closing the door quickly. He could hear her footsteps as she shuffled away.

When Duo looked around, he noted that he was not in the same cell as before. This one was much larger, and this time, everyone except Trowa was present.

"Did they interrogate you, too?" Duo asked, though he already knew the answer.

Quatre shook his head. "No. Are you alright?"

"Fine," replied Duo, rubbing the side of his head, wincing as he felt the tender lump, reminding him where Nathan had struck. "Just picking pieces of my pride off of the floor."

Quatre nodded.

WuFei motioned to one of the small, narrow bunks. "Heero wasn't so lucky. He's asleep now, though."

"Doc told me that he got into come kind of argument with McCallister," replied Duo.

"Must have been some argument," said Quatre softly, shaking his head. He looked sad. Worried, even. "Did you see Trowa?"

"No," Duo said, shaking his head. He took a seat on the floor and continued, "Doc said that he saw 006 before we blew the base to hell. He also said he knows that 006 is actually alive, but he doesn't know where she is. I think he wanted to know if any of us knew that Trowa and 006 met…and because I didn't, and neither did Heero, he decided to let you two go."

"So Trowa's probably being questioned," said Quatre sadly, his aqua eyes looking to the ground.

Duo nodded. "That's the impression I got."

"Great," whispered Quatre. "Just wonderful."

"This whole thing is a mess," WuFei said. He also took a seat, looking at the wall. "What I don't understand is how 006 could have been with Trowa—we were all in his room right before the explosion, and right after McCallister started throwing his fit."

Quatre remained silent.

"Well, maybe something happened," Duo replied. "Maybe Trowa managed to free her, or something, and she was in his room, but left in that shuttle, before we went in, and after McCallister and Liz went into his room."

"That could be," replied WuFei. "Still, I'd like to know…"

"We can ask Trowa when they let him come back."

"If they let him come back," muttered WuFei.

Quatre squeezed his eyes shut, praying that WuFei had no idea what he was saying. "Don't say that…please, just…just don't…"

WuFei looked to Quatre, his eyes saddening. "I'm sorry…but…we have to be prepared…you never know…"

"Yeah, well, I know that if they hurt Trowa, they'll be sorry," said Duo, clenching his fists. Needless to say, the entire thing was beginning to screw them up more and more with each moment that passed by.

Hours passed, and still Trowa was not back. Quatre had fallen asleep, WuFei's arms wrapped around the younger boy. He had felt at fault for the blonde's intense worry, and so took it upon himself to try and comfort the boy.

Even when Duo moved, WuFei wouldn't lift his eyes. He merely stared at the door, waiting.

Duo closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, his neck stiff and aching. Where're you, buddy? I swear, if they hurt you, I'm gonna make their lives hell.

They waited the entire night, but Trowa never showed up.

Date: January 11, A.C. 200

Place: Hero Mountain, Moon

"You just enjoy your little cell," sneered McCallister, shoving Trowa into the single-cell.

The tall boy landed hard on the floor, hardly able to move. When the door didn't close, he turned around. McCallister was still watching him, an intense look burning in his brown eyes.

"She's alive," said Trowa hoarsely, trying to find someway to get his dry throat to work around the words. "So why keep us here?"

"How dare you question Doc," Nathan snarled, raising his hand and entering the cell, the door closing behind him. Once the door was shut, he lowered his hand and knelt beside Trowa. "Listen to me," he said softly, "Doc knows you gave 006 means of contacting you. He was waiting for her to find you, but when I got antsy, he decided to let me take Liz and go after you guys." Nathan's brown eyes shifted to the door, listening and watching for any abnormalities. "He's keeping you separate from the other pilots…I don't know why, but I think he thinks your special, since 006 let you into her room."

Trowa, needless to say, was astonished into silence. Here was the young man who had, not even twenty minutes ago, been questioning him ruthlessly.

"I know a lot of this doesn't make sense," said Nathan quickly, "and I'm sorry for what happened…but…" his eyes darted again, a look of sheer terror in them, "You have to understand…Doc has Liz and I on a tight leash. He doesn't like it when we aren't in his view."

"He put a chip in you, too?"

Nathan nodded, wincing slightly as the chip sent a zap of electricity through his nerves. "He means well, I think, to better humanity…but his vision was fogged up a long time ago. He's really lost sight of what he was originally attempting to do." Nathan suddenly looked down at his hands, his eyes closed. "I…I don't know what came over me, but when I saw the old base…and it was just…gone…I flipped out. I thought for sure that you guys had tried to kill 006. I mean, I guess you all would have thought she was off of the base—well, except for you," he laughed bitterly.

Trowa tensed uneasily. He had never heard Nathan laugh before. It was forced, and almost inhuman. "She's going to be fine," he said, trying to find a way to ease Nathan's pain.

He nodded. "I know. It's just hard, not knowing where she's at…"

"Have you suffered from any heart problems?"

Nathan nodded once, his lips curling into a smirk. "Yeah. I figure it's sort of like dying, though. Eventually it'll all come to an end." He looked up at Trowa and asked, "Tell me, do you worry about her like I do? Do you care about her like I do?"

"I don't think anyone can care for her like you do," replied Trowa carefully.

"There are different kinds of caring, though," said Nathan slowly. "The way I care for her, I'm envious of her, and yet, I can't bring myself to hate her completely, or to admire her completely…It's all mixed up inside."

Trowa nodded once.

"How do you care for her?"

Trowa was shocked by this question. Really, before he had met Catherine and the pilots, he hadn't cared for anyone other than Middii Une, and that had been years ago. For a moment, he found himself thinking that he and Nathan had been in similar positions, only Nathan hadn't been forced to try and shoot 006. Or maybe he had. Trowa wasn't sure.

Finally he shrugged. "I don't know her very well. I guess more than anything, I was just worried that I hadn't seen her leave the base, and that she had been killed."

"But there's a bond there, isn't there?"

Trowa nodded, wondering why. Finally, he asked, "Does she have a name?"

Nathan shifted uncomfortably. "I…I don't know. Doc always called us by our numbers, so that we couldn't differentiate between each other until later."

"Were you ever sent on missions?"

"Of course."

"Without each other?"

Nathan shook his head vigorously. "No."

A long pause of silence.

Suddenly, Nathan continued, "At least, I don't think so…I remember having a dream where we were apart for months upon months. I remember thinking how painful it was, being alone and so far away from her." Nathan looked over at the door. "It was just a dream, though."

"How long ago?"

"We were nine."

Trowa nodded.

Nathan slowly stood up. "I have to go…the others need to know that you're okay…or, at least, what can pass as okay."

Trowa nodded again, and watched and Nathan paused before he opened the door. He drew back his fist and hit the wall, hard enough that when he drew his hand back, it looked as though he had been in a rough fight.

He opened the door and left, letting it lock behind him.

Nathan walked down the hallway, making sure that Doc could see his bloodied hand as he walked, though he was careful not to show it off too much. He wanted the elderly insane man to think that he had been beating Trowa up the entire time he was in the cell.

It helped that the cells were soundproof.

As he walked down the hallway, questions ran through his mind repeatedly. He couldn't quite remember if that mission had been a dream or not. He only remembered intense pain coming with it.

When he had been younger, even just the thought of the mental separation had been enough to throw him into a state of blinding pain.

He had been knocked unconscious by it on a number of occasions, directly following 006's involvement with the experiment, and had been in the hospital wing for nearly three months at one point.

He reached the cell where the other four pilots were being kept and opened the door. Everyone in the cell, save Heero, awoke from their light naps and jumped to their feet.

"Where's Trowa, you bastard!" screamed Quatre.

Nathan put his hands on his hips and replied bitterly, "He's fine." Now just give me an excuse to come in there and talk to you…

"He'd better be," snarled Duo from Nathan's right. His hands were curling into fists. "Cuz if he's not, I'm gonna make your life hell."

"I told you, he's fine."

"Then where is he!" Quatre raged.

"He's being kept in a separate cell." So far, no reason for Nathan to have to enter their cell. He couldn't just go around, pretending to pick fights. Doc wouldn't be pleased if he even pretended to beat the others up.

"Heero's out cold," sneered WuFei, "and now Barton's missing. You expect us to believe you, you dishonorable jackass?"

That would do.

Nathan strode into the room, hands curled into fists. He let the door slam shut behind him and hissed once it had shut, "I didn't do anything to Yuy."

"Then why is he all beat up!" Quatre screamed.

"Be quiet!" snapped Nathan. "I have to talk to you guys!"

"GET OUT!" Duo screamed, shoving Nathan into the door. "We don't have anything to say to you!"

Nathan stumbled forwards, shielding himself from another onslaught of Duo's strikes. "Hold on a minute! Wait—I!"

"SHUT UP!" WuFei screamed, joining the other pilot. "We don't want to hear your excuses! Just get out of here!"

Nathan eventually had no choice but to curl into a ball at the base of the door. He couldn't reach the controls, which had been smashed by one of Duo's better-aimed high-kicks.

He squeezed his eyes shut, thinking to himself that they would tire soon, and that he might be able to tell them what he had to say.

"Jack the Fucking Ripper!" snarled Duo. "I mean, what…the…HELL?" He was breathing hard, but was hardly close to becoming tired.

Nathan began to regret training them so well. They were at the peak of their lives, as was he, but at this point, he had no desire to take on the two of them at once.

He was good, but he didn't know if he was that good.

"Wait, guys," Quatre said suddenly. He approached them, and the kicks and punches stopped, leaving Nathan a bruised mess of flesh and cloth. The blonde looked down at Nathan, his aqua eyes almost glowing in the dim room. He knelt down and grabbed Nathan forcefully by the neck of his attire, hoisting him from the ground.

McCallister marveled at the strength of the young Arab.

Quatre pressed him into the wall and said coldly, "You will answer our questions, or I'll let them go back to beating the crap out of you."

Nathan nodded, feeling the side of his head ache dully from the number of strikes it had taken.

"One, why did you chose the name Jack the Ripper?"

Nathan shook his head. "Doc…" he spat some blood from his mouth and continued again, "Doc assigned it to us. He said it had pertinence to our mission…don't know why, though…"

"Do you and Liz have those chips in you?" Duo demanded.

Nathan nodded, the motion making his neck ache. "Yeah. When Doc commands us to do something, we can't refuse, or we'll get shocked."

"How long ago did he plant these in you?"

Nathan winced as said shock erupted through his body. "O-one week after you l-left…"

He relaxed as the electric shock passed by.

"Where is Trowa?" Quatre asked, nearly heart-broken.

"In a single cell," replied Nathan, his fingers tingling. "Just down the hall."

"Did you hurt him?"

"No," Nathan replied, relieved that he hadn't been shocked for that answer.

"Is he hurt?"

"Y-yes."

"Who hurt him?"

Nathan gritted his teeth, finally managing to get one word out, "Doc."

Here Duo and WuFei exchanged glances. If Nathan was under the control of the chip, maybe he wasn't really trying to hurt them. Well, of course, at some point, he had, but if he had been under the chips control at least, some of the time, then maybe he wasn't as ruthless as the others had made him out to be.

"If Doc asks you a question, do you have to answer it truthfully?" WuFei ventured.

"Yes."

"Are you on his side, or ours?"

Nathan looked away, still in Quatre's grip.

"Well?" Duo snapped.

Nathan shook his head. "I-I don't know…I just don't know…"

Duo gave out a cry of frustration. "God fucking damn it!"

"What about Liz?" asked Quatre. "Is she also under the chip?"

Nathan nodded once.

"Does she trust us?"

"More than I do," whispered Nathan. "She wants Doc dead, I think."

"Do you?" asked WuFei.

Nathan again looked at the ground.

"Will he know if you answer us?"

Nathan nodded, flinching again.

"You swear you didn't hurt Trowa?" Quatre said softly. "You absolutely swear it?"

Nathan nodded again.

"Fine," Quatre let him go, and stalked over to one of the bunks. He curled up on it, closing his eyes tightly.

Nathan felt his boots hit the floor and gently he rubbed his neck. He looked at the others. "I want to help you get out of here."

"How can you, if Doc'll know that you were involved?"

Nathan smirked and replied, "He'll only know if he asks me directly, and he doesn't tend to do that."

"Either way…"

"I understand your suspicions," said Nathan. "But I want you to know that I'm not trying to hurt you. I don't really know about Liz, but as for me? I just want you guys out of this mess as soon as possible. If any of you know where 006 is, tell me, and then Doc'll let you go."

Before the others could ask anymore questions, Nathan left the room, managing to get the controls to work with his thumbprint.

He went down the hallway, limping slightly. He turned a corner sharply and ran into Liz.

"Hey, Nathan, I—Bloody hell! What happened to you?" she gasped, looking his bruised and battered body over.

"Got into a spat with the others," he replied with a shrug.

Her blue eyes were wide, and her jaw dropped open. "McCallister, you should go to bed…I mean, wow…they really did a number on you, didn't they?"

He smiled weakly and replied, "It's alright. I got them back."

She nodded, though she didn't look entirely convinced. "If you say so…"

"Trust me," he walked away.

She smiled and replied in a soft whisper, "With all my life, McCallister, with all my life."

Date: January 19, A.C. 200

Place: Hero Mountain, Moon

It had been over a week since the five pilots had been brought to the base, and since then, they had been planning to escape the next time they were let out of their cell. However, it seemed that Doc had heard of their plans, as he never sent Million or McCallister back to retrieve them at all. They were given three meals a day, and a bathroom had been found to be attached to their cell.

Still, Trowa was locked away from the others. None of them knew where or why he was still being kept away from them.

At some point, Quatre had thought his friend was dead, but that most likely wasn't the case, as they sometimes found small scrolls of paper with their meals. They were from McCallister, giving them silent updates on their friend.

The last scroll was in Quatre's hands, and he merely stared at it. It said Trowa was fine, but Quatre still couldn't help but wonder.

Heero had come to, and usually found ways to amuse himself by using the higher bunks as pull-up bars. When he became bored with that, though, he had started to just sit in the corner of the room and watch the rest of them with his cold eyes. He hadn't spoken since coming back, and even though the others had relayed everything that had happened since he had gone out, he still didn't speak.

Quatre felt bad for him. Doc must have done something terrible to him when he had been interrogated.

Duo sat near the door, as always, WuFei on the other side. They had tried a number of times to open the door, but couldn't, even with the partially-broken controls.

BOOM.

Everyone jumped to their feet, even Heero.

The alarms on the base began to sound, and the light in their room changed from its dim white to a flashing red.

The base was under attack.

There was another explosion, and Duo leaned his ear against the door. "Sounds like Nathan and Liz are gonna go check it out!"

"What do you think it is?" Quatre asked.

"Not what," Heero said hoarsely, lifting his head, "but who."

xxx

Trowa jumped to his feet at the shaking of the ground and the sound of an explosion coming to his ears. He could hear Nathan and Liz yelling outside of his door. They were under attack!

Trowa raced over to the door, leaning against it, thinking he might be able to break out, or something.

There was silence, and for a long time, the only sign of anything happening was far away. Smaller explosions distracted Liz and Nathan from whatever was going on in the cell block.

Trowa leaned closer to the door, hearing footsteps outside.

He jumped when the door suddenly beeped at him, and slid open. On the other side was none other than 006. She was dressed in a white tee shirt and a pair of baggy military briefs. She nodded at him, a hint of pleasure at seeing him in her vacant eyes. She turned and began to run down the hallway.

Trowa followed. "Wait!"

She stopped, turning to look at him.

"The others! We have to get them, too!"

She paused and reached for the nearest computer. She typed.

She typed fast.

The information she needed came up on the screen, and she came back towards Trowa, grabbing him by the wrist. They ran back down the hallway, stopping outside of another door. She pressed her fingers to the controls, and a few seconds later, the door beeped at her, but it only opened halfway due to the busted panel on the other side.

She lifted her foot and kicked the door in until it gave. On the other side were the other pilots, their eyes wide.

She looked at them, and then down the hallway. Nathan and Liz were coming. She lifted her gun and shot at them, motioning the others out.

They ran.

She followed, pulling a grenade from her hip, tearing off the pin, and hurling it down the hallway.

"006!" Liz screamed. "It's her! Come on, Nathan! Get your ass in gear!"

"006, wait!"

She turned at looked at them, paused, and then gave them a stiff middle finger before tossing another grenade at them. She turned the corner with the other pilots, taking them to where she had docked her shuttle.

She ushered them aboard, and clambered in herself, shoving the gun into Duo's hands and the rest of her grenades into Heero's. She jumped into the cockpit, closed the door, and blasted towards the closed bay doors. She pulled a switch, yanked a handle towards herself and pushed a red button. Rockets exploded from her shuttle and towards the bay doors. They exploded in a shower of debris, the shuttle blowing out into space through the flames.

Behind them were two mobile suits.

She grabbed at another pair of controls, preparing to fire on them.

"WAIT!" shouted Quatre. "006, they're our friends! Don't shoot them down!"

She looked to Trowa, who nodded. "McCallister has been working with us, trying to help us out. He hasn't been able to, because Doc implanted the same chips in them that are in Heero and I."

She cocked her head to the side, not liking that one bit. However, she loosened up on the controls, eventually putting her hands back on the steering mechanism on the shuttle.

"Did you kill Doc?" asked Heero suddenly.

She looked back at him, and made a soft noise, turning the shuttle around. She was still close to the mountain. Without hesitating, she pulled the handle again and pressed the red button, and another two rockets exploded forwards, hitting the old mountain without mercy.

She then turned the shuttle to face the two Gundams. She pressed a switch under a screen, and two faces appeared. Liz and McCallister.

"What the bloody hell!" Liz screamed. "006, you just…you just annihilated Doc!"

Nathan's eyes were filled with tears and he smiled. He looked up at her and said softly, "Thank you, 006."

She nodded once, and then shifted her brown eyes to Liz, who was chewing on her lower lip. Finally, she rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand. The chip's effects were finally wearing off of her. "Wow…what the bloo—006! Where've you been?"

006 just shrugged, and she steered off towards the Earth, the two mobile suits in tow.

Date: January 20, A.C. 200

Place: Antarctica, Earth

The shuttle landed in the Antarctica region of Earth, where few people cared who landed where and what they did. The two mobile suits landed behind it, miraculously not having been spotted at all by anyone.

006 and the other ex-pilots exited the shuttle, dawning warm coats and stepping into the frigid atmosphere. The two mobile suit hatches opened and McCallister dropped from it, running over and tackling 006.

"You're alive!" he shouted joyously.

She shrugged, though a small smile played in her eyes. She was, at that.

Liz also hurried over. She looked at the pilots and said, "I can't believe this is happening! God damn, we've been under those chips for nearly a month now, haven't we, McCallister?"

Nathan nodded, pulling his arms from the girl's thin torso. "Yeah."

She looked over at the other pilots, her eyes landing on Trowa. She approached him and pulled something from her jacket. It was a broken cross and a broken communicator. She held them up, and opening her mouth, she said, "I…I am…sor-ry, Na-Nanashi."

He just stared at her as she dropped the cross and transmitter into his hands. Slowly it dawned on him who this girl was.

"But…you had blue eyes…and blonde hair…"

"Was…hologram…" she said. She hadn't spoken in years, and though her jaws felt stiff, the thick words felt nice in her throat and mouth. "Was not me…"

He nodded slowly, and dropping the cross and transmitter, her threw his arms around her, holding her tightly. "Middii…"

She paused before hugging him back, her face relaxing into the first real smile she had given in years. "Yes…I am Middii…"

Nathan looked from one to the other and said calmly, "You two…you know each other, then?"

006, or rather, Middii Une, nodded. She went into the shuttle and brought out a small laptop. She held it softly, and the words appeared, explaining everything:

When I left for that mission, you became increasingly ill, and had to spend the three months I was on mission in the hospital wing. You told me later that you thought you had dreamt it, but couldn't remember. I couldn't tell you that it had really happened. Doc made me swear, and the chips he had in you, he had the prototypes in me, so if I tried to speak or contact you other than through electric pulses when I was "hooked up," I was electrocuted.

Nathan nodded, relaxing. It made sense—there was an enormous three-month gap in his life that he had only just recently mentioned to Trowa.

Trowa looked down at Middii. It was odd, seeing her like this…an adult. "I thought you had three brother's and a sick father?"

She turned the screen to him.

I did.

"What happened to them?"

My father and two of my brother's died.

"Where's your last brother?"

Middii's eyes shifted to Nathan.

He was saved by Doc…they all would have been, if the medications would have worked. Doc was trying to save them all, to give me a home, but they all died. 007 was the only one to survive.

Nathan's jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. "I'm…I'm your brother?"

She nodded.

My twin, Sebastian Une.

For a long time, no one really seemed to speak. Finally Nathan asked, "How do you…how do you remember this?"

You were very sick. You probably lost most of your memory from that time period…before that, you remembered me talking, but it was after that mission…after father and the other two died…I just couldn't handle it anymore.

"So you stopped talking," said Quatre sadly.

She nodded.

"How awful…"

"But things are getting better, right?" Duo asked. "I mean, you're not hooked up anymore, and the two of you are family again, right?"

"Besides, it explains all of your heart problems, Nate," said Liz softly. "I mean, there were always rumors and studies where twins had a hard time being apart…no wonder. You two must have been really close up until your dad died…"

Nathan nodded, and he wiped his eyes. He hadn't thought he could cry anymore, but he could. He could cry, and that was all he wanted to do. He had found his sister, where he belonged…everything made sense now, and now, they were free to take on the E.P.A. in a way that suited them the best.

Date: November 21, A.C. 200

Place: G-Colony Cluster, Apartment of Trowa Barton

Trowa leaned back in his chair, his elbows popping and snapping. A year ago, things had seemed to spiral into madness, yet now, everything was calm, and the colonies and Earth were under the bustle of preparation for Thanksgiving.

Middii Une walked into the room, her hands resting on Trowa's shoulders. She leaned her chin on top of his head and read over what he had just written.

"You misspelled his name," she said. "It's supposed to be S-E-B-A-S-T-I-A-N, not S-E-B-A-S-T-A-N."

Trowa laughed and shook his head. "You'd think with all of this technology, no one would need to know how to spell anymore."

"Everyone needs to know how to spell," she replied, walking into the kitchen. "Or else what's the point of words themselves?"

He smiled. Middii had been working intensively on her speech since they had moved in together. Sebastian, who had discredited the name Nathan McCallister a long time ago, lived only a few blocks away. Since his sister wasn't in pain, he was able to live his life free from the heart-problems Doc had all but forced him to endure over the years. He had even let Liz move in with him, though the constant phone calls to Trowa's and Duo's apartments suggested that they weren't getting along all the time. But, the calls had begun to lessen, and so Trowa was hopeful that they were getting along better now.

Heero and Duo had found that by keeping an apartment together, they had to pay less rent, and so they had more money to buy cool gadgets that both of them loved. Heero had had no problems moving from his own colony cluster to Duo's, understanding that Duo couldn't bear to leave behind the children in the orphanages.

Quatre remained away most of the time, his new experiences with the darker side of the E.P.A. (who had, in fact, hired Doc to do research on the human body and its effects when put under the conditions to make the "perfect soldier.") helping him to move aside most of their illogical and distorted issues. Needless to say, WuFei was beside him the entire time, fighting for the rights of humanity.

They had made enormous progress, those who had been involved with Doc from the beginning being fired and placed into an Alliance-Military prison.

Trowa's smile grew wider. Not all wars needed to be fought like the ones he had seen. This new political war made more sense to him—less death, less casualties, and so on.

All-in-all, things were becoming better by the day.

Trowa and Middii, though. He wasn't sure where they stood. It had been a long time since he had seen her, all those years ago. Granted, she no longer had the blue eyes and blonde hair, but her features had remained similar.

He figured Doc had wanted to test his new invention for the future E.P.A. (which at that point had been a smaller organization within the Oz-sided men (the Specials) of the former Alliance.) and so she had been sent with the holographic projector—her wristwatch—to infiltrate those who opposed the former Alliance.

Even now, he hadn't forgiven her for everything, though he did understand that not all of it was her fault. Some of it was the fault of the chip, and most of the blame lay on Doc himself, the twisted bastard.

Trowa was glad he was dead.

The brunette leaned forward and fixed the mistake before sending the letters out to all of their friends (and miniscule family). He felt the world slowing into a time of peace, into a time when the colonies and Earth could live together in harmony at long-last…

Bring!

Bring!

"Hello?"

"Middi? It's Liz…you've to help me! Your brother's a fucking loonie! He keeps calling me a prat and little Miss Crumpet—what the bloody hell is a crumpet, anyways? Hello? Hello? Hey, Mid, you there?"

Middii looked up at Trowa and blinked as he began to chuckle to himself.

Or maybe peace was further off than he had thought.

Owari?