Dear Reader,

I'm sorry I took so long updating... I was having some... er... 'Technical difficulties'... I was also working on some other fics that I have going and I seem to be doing a lot of one-shots... This is not helped by the fact that I am now in love with Kingdom Hearts... And I just got back from the AnimeIowa convention! YAY! I didn't seen anyone cosplaying Gundam Wing, which made me sad. Next year I will definitly be going as Duo Maxwell. And Relena if I can get into character easily enough. This year I went as Aerith from Final Fantasy VII. To those who were there I was the crazy, blood thirsty Aerith whose vocabulary consisted of 'Prettypretty' and wore a rainbow slinky on my left wrist and an old shoelace on my right.

Here's to FOGDRAGON! One of my dearest friends who just had a birthday. You rock! You are also really warm, thanks for leaning the other night, I really needed it.

I do not own Gundam Wing...

What else do I have to say except that the spider population has risen while the asian beetle population has fallen. The crops are growing and the menu at my house consists of Sweet Corn, String beans and Zukini. As well as whatever pork we have at the town Locker. I'm going to be so sick of corn soon, I just know I am.
Huzzah for Rambling! Yaay!

Stay safe
Stay healthy
Sincerely,

Starr

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Quatre straightened his tie for the tenth time in the past five minutes. He usually wasn't one to figit, but Commander Une made him nervous. Duo still couldn't stand to be in the same room as her without getting all tense. He took a deep breath and let it out as he went over what he wanted to say as the elevater took him up to the top floor of the Preventer's HQ. It was Une he had to impress, charm and convince. If this plan worked they would have a powerful ally for Operation: F.H. If not... Well... They had worked on their own during the war. Quatre, unlike the others, hoped she would work with them. It would make his life so much easier for him. Quatre still had a high risk of an ulcer from the war, perfect soldier training or not, he just wasn't made for secrecy. Give him a map and he could strategize until there was nothing left, unlike the others who were made for under cover spontaneous guerilla work. But, like the others, a small part of him hoped that she wouldn't help them. This was the part of him that got a high off of the risk. Turned on by danger, enjoying the thrill of living on the edge. He had always wanted to test his skills again. This would be a great chance. No. Easier was safer. Easier was better, for both him and the others. No high risk. No disapointments. No impossibilities. Easier was safer. Une would agree with him. She would see his side of the argument and that THEY needed it. Relena needed it. Une was resonable. He could to this. He was the 'General' of the group. He could do this. Or so he hoped.

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A half hour later...

"WHAT! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MINDS!"

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"So... I'm guessing that was a 'No'.." Duo said when Quatre had returned to his apartment where the group had made their temperary HQ. Quatre was lying on the couch with a cloth over his aching eyes. His ears were still ringing as he related what had passed between him and the former OZ colonel.

"I swear the room shook." Quatre moaned, "I don't even remember getting back to my car..."

"We believe you already..." WuFei grumbled, crossing his arms, "Stop swearing..."

"So." Duo said, linking his arms behind his head, "What do we do now?" They all looked at each other then looked at Quatre.

"What!" Quatre demanded, "What are you looking at me for? I'm not the leader!"

"All those who favor say 'aye'." Duo said.

"AYE!"

"There... Now it's official."

Quatre glared at the former God of Death, silently swearing painful revenge. Duo just grinned and shrugged.

"My question stands." He said, "What do we do now?" The room fell silent. A few moments passed before Duo began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Trowa asked. Duo put a hand up to his face, burying his fingers into his bangs. To anyone else, it made him look psychotic, to the others, it was Duo's way of trying not to cry.

"I was just thinking..." He said, laughter taking on a bitter note, "I was just wondering how the hell Heero was able to pull it off for all those missions. All thos plans and snapshot decisions. Here we are, planning on pulling the biggest heist since OZ and we can't think of a damn thing."

"Heero was on a whole different level from us." Wu Fei said, "Like I said before, he knew things... And I want to find out what those are."

"Okay." Quatre said, leaning back and placing the cloth over his eyes again, "Let's take baby steps. Look at it all piece by piece. Where do we want to start out first?"

"I would suggest the Winner Data Bank." Trowa said, "It's served us well in the past. We may not find much, but not much is better then nothing at all."

"Good idea." Quatre said, eyes still covered, "Then what?"

"We should try a few simple hacks into the more complex Banks and see how far that gets us." Duo offered, "I could do that easily from almost any computer. Relena has them everywhere."

"I would be careful with Darlian computers. "Trow said, "They could be bugged. And we all know Relena is forever keeping an eye on us. "

"Leave that to me." Duo shot back ,"I'll take care of it."

"I"ll give you some Tricks I learned Duo." Quatre said, "You still remember the code?"

"Yes, yes." Duo said, "What next?"

"If those don't give us any good leads we should try sneaking into Preventer's HQ." Wu Fei said, "Give our undercover skills another go."

"I don't think so." Quatre said, "I think we should use Preventers as a last resort. Next."

"Lunch?" Duo asked, "All this thinking is making me hungery!" As if as one they all glanced at the clock.

"The little burger place near the Tent?" Trowa offered, "They make good onion rings."

"All those in favor?" Duo asked.

"AYE!"

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"I think we should change all of our codes, just to be safe." Quatre said later on as they ate, "If Une had agreed we wouldn't have to worry about it, but since the Preventers are now 'enemies', we can't trust the old books."

"So what should we do?" Trowa asked, nibbling on a french-fry, "What is more complex then the codes we use now?"

"Simplicity." Duo mumbled through his burger, of course to the others it sounded like 'Impulickity'.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to talk with your mouth full, moron?" WuFei snapped. Duo swallowed and stuck his tongue out.

"No. Nobody was around to tell me to, Idiot."

"Asshole."

"Better to be an asshole then an entire ass." Duo shot back.

"Children! Peace!" Quatre cried, "What did you want to say Duo?"

"Simplicity." Duo repeated with one last glare at WuFei, "If we can't go more complex, we make the code so simple, yet so chaotic that no one but use will understand it."

"Nice..." Trowa murmured, "Remember the time we made up an entire language of codes from that one movie? What was it called..?"

"Lord of the Rings..." WuFei answered, "I was there..."

"Hell yeah." Duo said, slurping his soda, "It was Elvish with a triple A1Z code. Simplicity at it's finest. They'll never discover a thing... And if they try, all they'll get is gibberish."

"Which is what we want..." Quatre said, "We should give it a few practice runs first before we try anything. We don't have to rush."

"Haste makes waste, waste pollutes and pollution kills the trees which gives oxygen back to the Earth." Duo state.

"Thank you, Confuscious." Quatre said sardonically, "Wo... What now?"

"We look for something to get our codes from but other than that I think we have a pretty good start. We should just stick with what we have for now." Trowa said.

"Sooo... Meeting adjourned?" Duo asked.

"I believe so." Quatre answered, "How'd I do?"

"Pretty good." Duo said, "A good start." He stood and streatched, showing off for the appreciative glances he was getting from the waitresses.

"Well, I better be getting back." He said, "I promised Relena I would take her to a movie." The others shared a look.

"What?" Duo asked, noticing their glances, "What's with the 'Uh-oh' look? I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. It's not like that."

"Yet." WuFei snorted. Duo swallowed hard and shook his head.

"It's not." He protested, but now it sounded lame, even to his ears. Shrugging into his leather jacket he flipped his braid out and turned.

"Relena needs to get out more as it is, you all agree with me."

"So long as that's all it is." Trowa said softly. Duo snorted.

"Whatever. I'll catch you guys later." With that he walked out of the restaurant.

"You know, I've never understood that saying." WuFei murmured.

"I think it comes from a police cant." Trowa said, "You know, when the bad guys get away."

"Oh-no!" Quatre gasped.

"What!"

"Duo didn't pay for his share of the bill!"

"That asshole!" WuFei growled.

"Like Duo said, "Trowa murmued, leaning back in his seat, hands linked behind his head, "It's better to be an asshole than an entire ass."

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