The call came in. He put aside his wrench and plans to upgrade his Gundam to take it, knowing it will be a task. Blow a storage facility up. Wreck a Mobile Suit. Maybe assassination. He never knew. This time, it was a video that greeted him.

The victim was maybe nine, ten years old. An orphan, by the look of his clothing and gauntness of features. There was something attacking him, something so fast that even slowing the video down to a crawl only revealed a blurred female face. She had white hair, even more so than the Catalonia girl. It was unnatural, nothing that could come from age or a bottle. The woman, no, girl was strong. She ripped one arm off and tossed it down the alley, the other being taken to beat him savagely. His femoral artery was pierced, and wouldn't live... no. How she just ripped out his... his head lifted as the final snap echoed in the cockpit, signifying the end of the torture he was watching. The creature bounded off away from the camera, still moving too quickly for any features to be recognized. The video came to a close as it was replaced by a secure feed of a familiar scientist.

"Are you aware of what that could be?"

He hesitated, thinking. His mind came to only one conclusion, or at least the only one that would cause the scientist to call. "A new soldier, out of control. OZ created her, and lost her."

He nodded, grimly. "She seems to have no concept of civilian or soldier. This boy is only one of many in the area. Given the current residence of a very high profile young woman, one that you are very aware of, it was decided that we must take her down. It would create more war if she were to kill our high profile in that way."

Her. HIs eyes narrowed at that, knowing who the high profile target was. She was a nuisance, and a pawn. One that needed to be silenced before her handlers used her idealistic words against her. But in the public eye as she was... no, he couldn't kill her quite yet.

"Understood."

"I'm sending you the details now. 01, I expect this taken care of quickly."

"Understood."

Chapter 4

The blanket was warm and soft. The tea was just as warm in her hands. Relena looked at the tea blankly, knowing it would be delicious. It was the tea she always took, and it would be nice and warm after Elaide just made it. But she couldn't bring herself to raise it to her lips. Every time she did, she remembered how easy it was. How easily a person... no, that wasn't a person. She had to remind herself that what fell apart into pieces like that wasn't a person. It was a monster, one that was going to kill Elaide and herself. Relena tried to raise the tea to her lips again, and hissed as her shaking hands caused the hot liquid to slop over the sides and over her front. And she has just changed her clothes to something not so bloody...

A scream built in her throat, and Elaide's hand touched hers. "I know, my lady," the woman whispered, guiding the mug back down onto the table. "It's hard. But now you know. You can see now that the universe needs you. This colony needs you. You're the only one that can fight them."

"I can't," Relena choked out, watching the quivering surface of the tea. "Elaide, I'm not... I can't be the one that can... I'm not strong like that. I've never hurt anyone before. I've never wanted-"

"You must have known," Elaide pushed, her voice gentle. "Even just one event, where you did something you didn't know you could do before."

"I-" There wasn't, was there? "I never-" No, that didn't ring true. She had done something before. She- Relena freed one hand, her stomach suddenly twisting and stabbing pain through her torso. It hurt so much, it-

A rose came into her memory. Worn by that lady Colonel, broken apart by a bullet fired... The pain relaxed as she remembered firing the gun at her, leaving a sick feeling behind. "But I..."

Elaide's arms surrounded her, enveloping the distressed girl in a motherly hug. "Shh. You won't do this alone, my liege. I promise. I know it's a lot to take in. But I'm here. I'll help you. I promise." Relena looked down at the table, a sick oily feeling sliding uneasily through her veins as Elaide let her go.

It was too easy. His lips quirked into a grin as he came up behind the unsuspecting victim, looking for any weapons. It wouldn't do to do this and suddenly be fired upon or stabbed or-

Wait, there was something on the screen. He stopped, frowning at the screen. It was gruesome, whatever it was. Someone being killed in a very disturbing way, and he had seen a lot of death. His victim rewound the footage and slowed it down, trying to get any sort of clean look at the attacker, then paused. Strange, but the attacker was almost too fast for any human eye to see. If he squinted, he could almost-

"I know you're there, Maxwell."

Duo cursed mentally, outwardly leaning onto the chair now that Heero had caught him. "So, is this a new mission only your scientist gave you, or did I interrupt you during a private moment?"

It was always so satisfying to watch Heero's hand twitch like that. "It's none of your business," the other teen said coolly. "If it was, then your scientist would have given you the same orders."

Duo tsked, looking at the paused screen. Something about the figure was almost disturbingly familiar. "You know, fresh eyes can sometimes help."

"Sometimes, mouthy Gundam pilots get shot."

Duo raised his hands, stepping back. It was almost too far that he had pushed Heero. "Fine, fine. I just stopped by your hidey hole to try to help you, maybe exchange information. You know, maybe if your head was to stop trying to compete with living space next to the tree up your ass, you might actually get somewhere."

Heero's fist was almost too fast to see. Duo just managed to block that one, but not the one aimed at his stomach. Damn, but Heero was almost too strong for his own good. The pilot managed a solid hit across the other youth, but Heero didn't even seem to register it, another fist coming in to smash into Duo's nose. He tasted blood, but he couldn't stop. Not now, not-

And now he was forced backwards across the tiny room, his feet stumbling over themselves as a blond head came between them. "I thought I felt that you two where being stupid," Quatre said, his voice filled with heat. "I wasn't going to come this way but damn it, Duo, I should not see Deathscythe flying off in this direction and know this was going to happen."

Duo grinned fiercely, knowing his teeth were bloody from the hits Heero had given him. It was always strange to hear a boy with such a face curse like that, but right now, it fit with the other inanity going on. "Just had to figure out what was causing our dear Wing to stay in his hanger when the rest of us were going out on real missions."

Quatre raised a hand at Heero as he was about to dash towards him, glaring until he lowered the clenched fist. "And that's none of your business, Duo. You have a mission you should be on yourself. Whatever Heero is doing is his own way of helping."

The boy raised his hands in surrender. Quatre's speeches about peace within the team was something he didn't want to hear, and actually, he was kind of not wanting to continue the fight anymore. "Fine. Anyway, it's not like I was interested in figuring out who that girl was." Duo quickly hopped upstairs out of Heero's designated safe bunker, wanting to get away from that. He gently tested his nose as he walked, hissing as it was revealed it was broken. "Damn it. Yuy, are you just getting stronger and thicker every day or is it my imagination...?"

Just probably a good thing the other pilots were out doing their own thing. Hearing Chang's speeches or seeing Barton's almost creepy stare until they broke apart would have been even worse.

But the hairstyle he saw on that female attacker... hadn't he seen it before?