Hey everyone! Welcome back for a third chapter of Aftermath. The narrative may seem to be quite disjointed, as it is a series of interlinked studies to give some background for the rest of the story. Please bear with me, as this chapter is essential for the rest of the story….and the next chapter will be very good fun..at least it was for me writing it! (Alert for Heero and Relena fans – look out!)

Job Interview fans – am currently working on Chapter 12 but moving quite slowly due to work, etc. Will possibly be posted after the weekend so watch this space!

Thank you to all reviewers and please review this chapter too!

Wufei looked up sharply as the door to his office opened without ceremony. He locked gazes with the intruder for a few seconds before conceding the unspoken challenge and returning to the report in front of him.

Heero Yuy took the office seat on the other side of the desk and leaned back, waiting patiently for Wufei to address him. There were only a few people whom Heero would wait for and Wufei was one of them. It was almost a game of sorts to see who would break the silence first, but the relationship between the pilots had always been competitive.

Finally Wufei looked up, meeting Heero's faintly amused eyes with his own impenetrable ones.

"Okay, why are you here?"

Heero answered without pausing.

"I need your help"

A slow smirk spread itself across Wufei's face.

"Yeah right, Yuy. Don't waste my time – why are you really here?"

"I want to revive the Zero system"

The widening of Wufei's eyes would have been imperceptible to the casual observer, but Heero Yuy noticed and recorded the reaction.

When Wufei didn't reply, Heero continued.

"I need some materials to build the test module and I need you to juggle the inventory figures so it looks like nothing's missing."

"Why don't you just do it yourself? Security hasn't stopped you in the past"

Heero grinned, but it was a joyless expression. On his face, that grin promised nothing but pain.

"Yes, but if there were traces of hackers in the system an external assessment could be ordered and Relena doesn't want this action to become public"

Heero watched Wufei process the information that Heero had already cleared the venture with Relena and kept silent, knowing it would be better to let Wufei come to his own conclusions.

The internal security officer fixed Heero with a stare that could only be described as next-door to a glare.

"Just tell me one thing; are you sure that this is really going to help? Or is it some remnants of the Zero system telling you what to think? Remember, I've seen that system in action…we all have and some things…some things are better off left alone."

Heero nodded grimly, but didn't speak. Wufei searched his eyes for the answer before turning back to his computer and speaking casually, as if they were discussing the weather.

"Take what you need. I'll sort it out"

Wufei looked up once more as his office door closed behind Heero and frowned. He had agreed to Heero's request but something about the whole situation felt wrong. He had meant what he said – some things were better off never being reawakened and the Zero system was definitely one of those things.

Heero strode along the corridor purposefully, an inner monologue of calculations and lists running across the back of his eyes.

He had already researched rooms in the Preventer building and found the perfect place to set up his test module. It was on one of the basement levels that were seldom used for anything but storage. The level Heero had chosen was perfect for his needs, as it stored old and outmoded equipment and was therefore rarely, if ever, visited. There he could operate the system in peace and safe from detection.

Lost in his thoughts Heero barely noticed the people moving out of his way as he cut a path through the crowded corridor. Some looked after the silent Preventer, perhaps wondering what thoughts ran behind the impassive mask he wore.

Heero Yuy: rumoured to be one of the Gundam pilots during the war…making him one of the deadliest people alive if that were true. He was a human enigma as nobody had seen the man behind the uniform, but it only took one look in his eyes to know that he had seen far more than his years and that Heero Yuy was one man that you did not cross.

Trowa brushed sweat from his forehead as he stood up and stretched the cramped muscles across his back.

The team of mechanics and Preventer's around him were also sweating profusely in the heat of the summer's day. They had been working for hours on safety checks and updates for the patrol vehicles that would be needed for security at a political summit the next week.

Trowa shielded his eyes with one hand as he looked up into the cloudless sky outside the warehouse they were working inside.

He felt restless, like he was waiting for a battle to begin but didn't know when or where it would start.

Lady Une had insisted on more patrol vehicles being brought into the service, as the political summit would be exceedingly important to the continued peace of the world sphere and the colonies.

Trowa could see the cracks appearing in peace treaties the world over, and he knew others weren't blind to the problem either.

It was a situation where nobody wanted to admit to there being a problem, as if denying it made it non-existent. With regular coverage from the media, tension had been building steadily and, even if they didn't say it, everyone was aware that the next conference could make or break the United Nations' agreements for good.

Glancing once more at the untroubled blue of the summer sky, Trowa returned to preparations for the breaking of the storm. For now, that was all he could do.

Heero glanced quickly up and down the deserted corridor before pressing his hand to the panel beside the door and holding his eyes wide open as a scanning ray ran past them. A computerised voice spoke to him.

"Please state name and authorisation code"

Heero spoke slowly and clearly, and then waited for the computer to process his information.

"Voice pattern confirmed. Heero Yuy. Fingerprint and retinal scan confirmed. You may now enter"

Heero glanced around again before stepping inside and the door closed with a soft sound behind him, leaving the corridor deserted once more.

Relena rubbed her hands across her eyes before resting her head in her hands and struggling not to panic. Deep, calming breaths.

The tide of paperwork was threatening to pull her under, not because there were lots of documents that required her attention but because she needed to be well informed on a multitude of issues to debate convincingly at the political summit the next week.

Relena was ready to hit her head off the desk or burst into tears in despair…everywhere she looked she saw the same thing.

Peace struggling to stop debates between countries turning into full-fledged war, military training camps being set up on the pretence of fitness facilities, scientific research patents that struggled to maintain a valid cover of peaceful applications when a slight change would render them deadly weapons of mass destruction…everything pointed towards the inevitability of another war.

And it wouldn't simply bet a war between two feuding countries, but a war that would involve the entire world nation and the colonies.

It would tear the fragile cobweb of peace treaties asunder and lead to thousands of innocent people losing their lives.

Sometimes the problems made her want to take a holiday to some deserted island where she wouldn't hear the news for a week…but that was the coward's way out and she had never taken that route.

Besides, she knew that if she ever did go on holiday she would probably end up hijacking a local radio station just to find out what was going on…her imagination would probably come up with far worse alternatives than the reality, especially with all the intelligence she had received regarding the state of the peace.

It was at times like these that she wanted someone to wrap their arms around her and tell her it was alright, just like her mother used to do when she woke screaming from yet another nightmare of burning to death.

Instead the person she usually chose to confide in was Heero.

He wasn't comforting in the slightest and he steadfastly refused to let her turn away from the harsh facts.

He never told her what she wanted to hear, but he did give her one thing she needed – the pure, unvarnished truth.

It was always a difficult thing to listen to and it was the last thing she expected to calm her worries, but talking with Heero was different.

Hearing his view reinforced her feelings that the world was spiralling towards chaos, but his factual approach made it seem more like an avoidable obstacle on their course to peace than an inescapable whirlpool.

Just being with him stopped her freefall into hysteria and made her think more rationally. Sometimes she wished he were the type of person who would just take her into his arms and provide silent sympathy, but that kind of support would probably lead to tears instead of resolutions.

And now there was his idea about the Zero system.

The thought of using the system she associated with the mobile doll troops made her slightly uneasy and the possible psychological effect it could have on Heero worried her even more.

Could a system that had been created with warlike intentions in mind possibly be used to maintain peace?

Heero thought it could so she was willing to give it a try, but she could not shift the feeling that reviving the system was a mistake.

At least Heero had agreed to keep her fully informed, a right she intended to exercise to its fullest extent. For now, she would watch and hope that they had made the right decision, but if it came to pass that the Zero system was more harm than good she would have no compunction in stopping the experiment.

And it wouldn't only be for the sake of the peace, but for the sake of Heero's sanity as well.

Heero stepped outside, the disc holding the last copy of the Zero system safely stowed in the inside pocket of his jacket.

He could feel excitement brewing in his stomach and for the first time examined his motives.

Was Wufei right? Would the Zero system actually solve anything or was his fascination with it some relic of the control it had once held over his mind?

After all he had been unable to think of anything else since that dream. Planning the system test module had taken over his every moment, waking or sleeping. After work the day before he had returned home and planned the layout of the room to the smallest detail, with the result that he had not managed much sleep but knew exactly what he needed to bring the room up to working order in even less time than he had anticipated.

The peace conference the next week would be an important turning point for all of the world and colony nations and Heero was determined that the Zero system could help them predict the outcome and perhaps help Relena steer the debates in the correct direction for peace. Her diplomatic skills, combined with an understanding of the consequences of each action taken could form a strong argument for peace.

She and Quatre had already been in touch to compare the differing complaints from the Earth and the colonies, but it was difficult to tell which direction the talks at the summit could take.

If the news and the growing number of reports building up on Relena's desk were anything to go by, things were likely to go downhill and Heero couldn't bear the thought of another war.

The only good thing about the war ending fairly recently was that people still remembered the atrocities they had seen or committed and were therefore less likely to want to fight again. However, the way the war had ended had thrown up multitudes of political factions, each trying to shape the new world to their ideal mould. And there were always going to be border disputes, power struggles and those convinced that war was the only solution to their problems.

Heero believed that the policy of complete demilitarisation was a mistake. In the short term it would work to accustom people to living in a world without weapons, but in the long term, the threat of weapons to back up the Preventer's actions would lead to peace while if they had no weapons rebel groups would have nothing to fear and it would likely end in a bloody revolution.

He thought Relena was beginning to see that possibility too, and had been opening her eyes to it from the moment she decided to give up her Peacecraft name and take the name of her more pragmatic foster father.

Her decision to allow him to reactivate the Zero system could break her career and shatter the tenuous peace…but she had still given him her permission. He still found the trust she placed in him surprising but had come to accept that she saw something in him that he couldn't even see in himself.

Besides the fact she was perfectly aware that he could do it with or without her permission.

All extraneous thought was pushed from his mind as he arrived at his chosen location for the Zero system test module.

The storage level had been unused in so many years that it didn't have an electronic lock – simply a key.

At first Heero had seen this as a problem as he didn't want any unauthorised access to the system. But in fact it would probably serve his purposes better than the tight security in the rest of the compound. This way, nobody would suspect the door concealing anything important and, if he were to fit the door with an electronic system, the door would show up on the central security computers who would log all access.

A secure room on an abandoned level and accessed only by him would look suspicious and suspicion was the last reaction he wanted.

Also, he would need to access the room out of normal office hours and lack of real security in the area would make his job a little easier.

The room was almost empty, a few desks piled in one corner, some old metal shelves and a broken office chair. Everything was covered in a thick, undisturbed layer of dust, evidence of the room's neglect.

Glancing quickly at his watch Heero began dragging the furniture about and noted power points, etc around the room on the plan he had drawn the night before. Cleaning the dust took longer, but he would have to keep the room as clean as possible as the dirt could interfere with the efficiency of the health monitors that Relena had insisted on.

One more day's work and he could have the basics connected up. The room had proved even better than he had imagined, providing him with a large number of power ports; it had obviously been used as a computer suite or something of the sort in the past.

Heero felt more involved in this experiment than he had in anything since his missions during the war.

Just a little longer and the Zero system would live once again.

Hello again!

Horizontal lines had to be used to show breaks as this website seems to have something against large spaces between blocks of text...oh well, hope it didn't bother you too much!

I don't mind saying I've been disappointed with reviews for this story, especially as I feel my standard of writing is higher than that in Job Interview (especially the first few chapters of that fic…make me shudder!)

But a huge thank you to those who did review and I appeal to everyone to give this story a chance and let me know when you're reading. Trust me when I say that Heero x Relena fans will enjoy the later chapters (i.e. from next chapter onwards when Heero starts using the Zero system)

Individual thanks to reviewers below:

Pureevil230 – It wasn't your threats that made me write but the fact that you cared enough to make them – thank you once again! Anyway, this fic is Heero x Relena and that will become more apparent after the next chapter…had to give more background than in Job Interview as this follows on from the series, etc. And I'm afraid the Zero system will be messing with Heero's mind…
Oedipus Tex – Your review made me laugh…nothing like insanity to get things rolling is right! Lol Happy I've caught your interest and hope I continue to hold onto it as things are going to get more interesting!
Sakura123- As always, thank you for reviewing! Really glad you're giving this fic a chance too as most people are just sticking to Job Interview. Happy you like Lady Une…she's quite a cool character to write. More Heero and Relena interaction in the next few chapters…I've had so much fun writing them, lol. Sorry I didn't update sooner, but next chapter will be out more quickly!
Darkfairy88- Thanks for your support…I really wish more people would review as well- there's nothing like a review to make you write faster, lol. I'm beginning to think everyone is just waiting for the next Job Interview chapter so this one is a disappointment – hoping for an update from the other fic in their inbox instead, lol Hope you like this chapter too!
Nubia – I will continue to write and hopefully you will continue reading as well! Hope to see you again soon!
Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your reviews or beg you enough to please review this chapter (I really enjoy writing this story so I won't give it up but I have to admit that it's discouraging not to get much feedback…though that I have received has been brilliant so thank you very much!)

Okay, I'm off but will see you again soon for Chapter 12 of Job Interview and a little later for Chapter 4 of this fanfic.

Thanks! Please click below and review! (Even if it's just to say hello!)