This mission was getting weirder and weirder.

The Preventer's intel had led Trowa to an old stone church that, judging from the dilapidated outside, hadn't been frequented in years. Many old houses of worship had been repurposed for other things over the years, especially in the past century or so, after so many humans had moved to space. Historic buildings like this one were getting harder and harder to come by. Outside, the stones were all weathered and covered in vines. The place had been abandoned for decades, probably.

He supposed it was as logical a place as any for a group of cult fanatics turned terrorists to call their HQ.

The building was large, but Trowa had infiltrated many large bases all by himself in the past. Like he'd thought earlier, this was going to be a cakewalk. It was a little scary, how easy this was all going to be. Namely because he happened to bear an uncanny resemblance to the group's leader.

Aiden Wardwell. Trowa felt he already knew way too much about him; way more than he wanted to know. At any rate, he would be using all of this gathered knowledge to his advantage.

He was seriously looking forward to dispatching this monster, although he wasn't allowed to kill him, which was unfortunate.

Trowa lowered his binoculars and looked down from where he was perched, across the street on top of another old abandoned building. This one had been a gymnasium, or some sort of hall. The whole neighborhood looked abandoned; there weren't even any cars. So Trowa had to assume that Aiden was all by himself in the church with Relena. That or the rest of the "congregation" had all arrived on foot. He knew how many people were members – roughly a hundred – but not how many could be inside the church at that point.

Unfortunately, he was going in blind, although Duo and Sally were rallying backup. However, they couldn't strike until Trowa had confirmed that the group didn't actually have a nuclear warhead; or, if they did, that the weapon had been secured. Luckily Trowa was also a demolitions expert. Unluckily, for him, he was going to have his hands full.

And he knew that rescuing Relena wasn't part of his mission, but… if he could find a way to get her away from this psycho, before he did the unthinkable, Trowa knew he would have to act. Otherwise, Heero would never forgive him. Trowa doubted the rest of the world would, either.

Pushing his rising anxiety deep down, the way he'd learned to as a child soldier, Trowa clambered off the side of the building and scaled down the vines that snaked up and over the side of it, landing with a near-silent "thud" on the ground. The clothes he was wearing made maneuvering the way he normally would a little more difficult, but so far he'd managed. If he were going to impersonate a cult leader, he would have to look the part. So, he'd donned a slightly oversized gray suit and black dress shoes, like what he'd seen Aiden wearing in many of his videos. Une had managed to locate items that were practically an exact match.

Before he left Preventers HQ to travel to what used to be New England for this mission, Trowa had taken photographs in this outfit and done side by side comparisons with photos of Aiden. He'd also watched countless videos to mimic his exact pattern of speech. Despite being a pastor and self-appointed prophet, Wardwell wasn't the most articulate person, but that made him all the more easy to mimic. Trowa practiced the wry tone of voice and slight regional accent until he had it down pat. It was weird, how someone who shared his looks and his voice could still somehow appear and sound so different from him. It was like having an evil twin.

As Trowa ambled along the street, he steeled himself for his upcoming encounter. His best bet was to disarm Aiden – assuming he was armed – quickly, then knock him out and cuff him, and leave him for the Preventers to interrogate later. He needed to find that bomb.

Something nagged at him to find Relena first, but he pushed it out of his mind. That wasn't his priority, at least not at the moment. He breathed through his nostrils as he approached the all-too-quiet church.

Maybe…this was going to be more difficult than he thought.

At the moment, though, he had at least one advantage; the church was closed off by two wooden doors that had definitely seen better days. That, and it was nightfall. At any rate, no one would see him approach. Of course, he still didn't know what laid beyond those doors.

The Preventers had dug up the building plans, so Trowa knew the entire footprint. This was the main point of entry, but there was also a set of back doors. What Trowa didn't know was whether either set of doors were guarded.

He was about to find out.

Trowa applied gentle pressure to the doors; they were locked. No matter; he could easily unlock them, but he decided the back doors were the wiser option. Silently, Trowa stepped down the stone steps, shuffling his way to the back of the church, sticking to the shadows. The full moon wasn't doing him any favors, though.

The moon was part of the group's plans; apparently there was supposed to be a lunar eclipse tonight, and the group's activities were planned around it. Which was part of the reason why Trowa had to wait for nightfall to attempt to infiltrate the church. He tried not to worry about whatever they might have done to Relena in the meantime. She'd been with them for at least a full twenty-four hours now; anything could have happened. His only hope was that they had their reasons for keeping her alive. But oddly enough, they'd taken her without any sort of ransom. All of the intel about their alleged weapons arsenal had been leaked on the dark web.

That made the situation all the more dire.

Trowa crept up to the back doors, which were made of glass. His cover would be blown if anyone saw him approach, but at least he could see inside. He peered through the doors and saw only a darkened hallway, with a light illuminated far ahead. No one appeared to be lurking anywhere nearby. Trowa knew they had cameras, but in his Aiden disguise, he wasn't worried about getting picked up. He just had to ensure that no one else in the group saw him and Aiden together at the same time.

Which would be a lot easier, once he had Aiden cuffed and locked in a closet somewhere.

Still moving silently, Trowa picked the lock on the doors and pushed them open gingerly, then stepped inside, shutting them behind him, making only the barest of sounds. He was quieter than a, well, church mouse. It struck Trowa that that was a joke Duo would make, which indicated that he had probably spent way too much time with the jovial Preventer lately.

As if he knew he'd invaded Trowa's thoughts, Duo's voice sounded in the tiny earpiece Trowa wore inside his ear.

"Yo, TB! What's good?"

Trowa rolled his eyes even though Duo couldn't see him. He wasn't in the position to respond yet. Duo should know better than to contact him while he was in stealth mode, but at least the earpiece was so small, only Trowa would be able to hear it.

"You mean Agent Gamma," Commander Gold's voice sounded next in Trowa's ear. "And, Agent Beta, I will caution you not to disrupt Agent Gamma while he's working." Her voice was clipped, annoyed. "Agent Gamma, if you're listening, and I assume you are, check in only after you're secure to do so."

Roger that.

Trowa crept down the darkened hall, following the light that glowed in the near distance.

A/N: Thank you to those of you who have reviewed so far! I hope you like where this is going... stay tuned for the next update in a few days!

Happy FriYAY!

- RFP