Author's notes: Wow, it's actually another update. Like, when do I ever update my stories? In any case, thanks for the kind reviews. I know it's not exciting yet, but I swear we're getting there.

Disclaimer: I don't own cries

Chapter 2

"Quatre here. We've found the Gundam in question…" Quatre's voice cut out and there was nothing but static.

"Quatre! Quatre, do you read me!" Sally Po shouted into the speaker. She slammed her hand down on the control panel in frustration. Damn it, she thought to herself. The last thing they needed is for this to turn into a giant mess so early in the game. And she felt so helpless just sitting at the base doing nothing but twiddle her thumbs. She should be out there scouting with the rest of them.

"Have a little more faith. They won't die that easily," Wufei said with a slight smirk on his face. The pilot of the Altron stood leaning nonchalantly against the back wall of the control room decked out in full Preventors uniform.

Sally Po frowned. "Wouldn't you rather be out there yourself, Wufei?"

"Don't worry about it. Une is right; we'll be needed here," he replied to Sally's rather confused face. Most of the fighting will be here in end anyways, he added to himself. After his fight with Heero he had acknowledged something inside himself. Fighting was as much a part of his life as breathing or eating was. It was how he could remain connected to his past and how he could defeat the injustice of this world. As long as he was on the right side and not confused about where justice truly lies. He owed Heero a lot for showing him that, though he would never admit it out loud. All I need to do is wait…

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The two boys in the shuttle had nothing to do now but wait. Wait until they were captured, killed, or their air ran out. They had tried resetting the system in hopes that the bubble thing had just interfered with the signals, but they found that the circuits had been fried thus rendering the craft completely useless. Duo had suggested they try to escape out of the back of the shuttle, but Quatre had shot that idea down after pointing out that they were too far away from anyone to just float around hoping to be picked up and that they would probably be targeted as soon as they left the shuttle anyways.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Duo demanded.

"I think that if we wait that Gundam pilot will come to us. Whoever it is didn't kill us right away, we're only disabled, so I feel as if that person is more curious than anything," Quatre replied calmly.

And, as if on cue, they heard a loud crash and the whole shuttle shook violently. Then the shuttle began moving again, but not of its own volition.

"Well, I guess you're right. Nothing to do now except relax and get towed along."

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30 min later

The shuttle finally heaved to a stop into a small docking station nearby. They watched and waited as the door was pried off the side of their incapacitated ship. As the door fell to the ground with a loud crash of metal on metal, a figure stepped into the space where the door once was. It was hard to make out who it was because of the darkness of the craft, but Duo could make out the gun in their hand.

"You're lucky I noticed the markings on the ship before I turned this into a screaming death trap," the voice said.

The two pilots looked at each other, startled. It was a woman! She stepped further inside and finally they could see that she was in fact, a woman. She was on the short side, but was exceptionally fit, as they could see easily with the form fitting black space suit. She had startling blue hair that was cut short in a bob with matching crystal blue eyes.

"Markings?" Duo managed to get out, breaking the startled silence.

"Yeah, this ship looks nothing like those other cargo shuttles, which was good news for you."

Quatre studied her for a few more moments before saying anything. "Wouldn't you be the pilot of that mobile suit, would you?"

She laughed. "You mean the Gundam? Isn't it obvious? Would you like to come out and meet her?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Duo replied, his voice strained.

"Of course you can come meet her. She's a great suit and you can ask my sister, I just love to show her off." With that the woman put the gun in its holster on her right leg, turned, and jumped out of the hole that was once the door.

Completely shell shocked, the two boys looked at each other, unsure of what to do next. This woman, who claimed to be the pilot of that Gundam, had completely thrown them off their stride.

"Is she crazy or something? She just left two unknown guys who could be armed for all she knows alone without restraining them as she put away her gun!" Duo said, looking at the opening and shaking his head.

"Maybe it's a show that she trusts us? Let's not betray her trust yet. We need to know what is really going on here," Quatre replied, as he stood and walked to the opening.

The two pilots stepped out of the shuttle and found themselves in a busy docking bay. People were hurrying this way and that on different errands. There were people busy fixing things and selling things. It smelled like grease and burning fuels. The amount of noise in the hanger was manageable with the large volume of the room taking up most of the noise from the machines. Still, with all the hustle and bustle of the hanger, it wasn't hard at all to find the woman in the crowd. Her blue hair certainly stood out.

She waved the two over. "My name is Kira Mizuno. And this," she said motioning to the giant blue Gundam towering over them, "is Gundam 07, better known as Bubble Blaster." Kira rolled her eyes as she watched Duo struggle to keep a straight face. "Yes, yes, I know. Stupid name. But hey, I didn't name her, so I take no responsibility."

"I'm Quatre Rebaba Winner. And this is Duo Maxwell," the blond haired one spoke up.

"I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. That's me a nutshell."

Kira grinned. "That's cute."

"You may find this hard to believe but we are also the pilots of Gundams ourselves. I piloted Sandrock. Duo piloted Deathscythe Hell."

"I figured as much," Kira said with a smile in her eyes. "Do you know how long I've waited for you all to catch on to what was going on around here? I've risked my cover to show you were I was."

Duo crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you know? We must really be famous if the people out in the middle of nowhere know who we are."

"I suppose. But I have had several years to watch you all."

"You mean, this Gundam isn't new?" Quatre asked.

Kira shook her head. "No, in fact, she's the same age as your Gundams. But enough of that," she said before Quatre and Duo could inquire about that piece of information, "I want to show you around."

As Kira gave them the grand tour, Quatre was lost in his thoughts. It was hard to believe that this Gundam around for this long and was in fact piloted by a woman. It wasn't that woman couldn't be pilots of mobile suits; no, Quatre didn't believe that at all. It was just the training needed to go through to pilot a Gundam was so much more intense that it just made sense that men, whose bodies naturally stronger and built for more physically demanding things, were the ones chosen. And her comment about being as old as their Gundams brought up a whole new round of questions. Who was she really? And if Bubble Blaster existed while Operation Meteor was supposed to go off, why didn't she participate? What was she doing all this time?

"Quatre?"

Quatre looked up with a start and realized they had stopped moving. Kira and Duo were looking at him strangely.

"Are you alright?" Kira asked, looking into his face.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just distracted. I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to meet my sister."

"Of course," he agreed quickly.

The blue haired girl broke into a smile. "Great. Let's see if we can find her then. But with any luck, she'll be around here somewhere."

They didn't have to look far at all. Just as they turned the corner it was like seeing double. Duo wondered for a brief moment when Kira had gotten over there, when he realized that she wasn't wearing a black space suit and this new girl's hair was longer.

"Jen!" her sister called out to her.

The girl looked up and started to wave when she saw the two boys with her. Kira could see she was hesitant so she bounced over to her, grabbed her by the hand, and almost dragged her over to where the two were standing.

"These were the two Gundam pilots I was talking about. This is Duo and this is Quatre," she said to her sister. "And this is my twin sister, Jennifer Mizuno."

If Kira was the sun, then Jen was the moon. It was true that they both shared the same facial structure, same crystal blue eyes, and even the same dark blue hair color, but that's really were the similarities ended. Jen's long blue hair was tied back with a pale yellow ribbon and ended around mid-back. Thin, silver oval glasses framed her blue eyes, which had found something interesting on the floor to stare intensely at. She wore denim overalls over a short sleeved purple shirt with a tool belt around her waist.

"H-hello," Jen said as she smiled shyly at the G-boys.

"How are the repairs coming to Blaster?" Kira asked her sister.

"They're almost completed. You didn't mess it up nearly as bad you did last time," she replied. Then she blushed as if she had said too much.

"Great! Can you start working on their shuttle when you're finished?"

Jen nodded. "I'll start that right now. It was nice meeting you," she added to the two boys, as she hurried off towards the shuttle, clipboard in hand.

"She may not look like it, but she's our chief mechanic. She's the best that I've ever seen. It's like she has a gift," Kira said, leaning in as if she were telling a secret. "Some say that she can almost hear what their saying."

Then Kira laughed, seeing the looks on the pilots' faces. It looked like it was just too much for them to take in at once. "Alright, alright. I'm sure you have lots of questions for me. Let's go someplace a little quieter and I'll let you ask anything you want to know."