Chapter 19: ZERO's Malfunction

Things were about to take a turn for the worse, but for now all of the factions involved in the war were in the process of recuperating.

Trowa stood and stared out a window on the Kusanagi.

Could the Earth Forces sink so low as to use nuclear missiles? We'd be out of our league if that were to happen… Romefeller, OZ, and all of the other factions we faced never even considered that, despite all the tactics they used…

He sighed before noticing Cagalli standing by his side. "What brings you here?" He asked.

Cagalli looked at the floor. "I was just wondering how your friends were able to survive so long within the Earth Forces and ZAFT without being found out…"

Trowa nodded as he resumed staring out the window. Half of his face was hidden in his reflection by his hair, and he was reminded of the mask he always wore in the circus. "We're well trained to blend in to our environment. We can fool anyone we choose and we can make the ruse as elaborate as it needs to be in order to survive in an enemy's faction…"

Cagalli glanced at him warily. "And how do we know that all of what you're doing now isn't one big ruse?"

Trowa closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "You don't." He said with a slight smirk, which faded quickly. "However, you have no need to worry. We fully understand the situation. We're on your side one hundred percent… with the exception of Heero. However, I'm sure he realizes that we've found those on the right path… he just needs some time to be alone right now."

Cagalli nodded in understanding. "Thanks for your help… this would probably be much harder without it."

"I highly doubt it. All we've been doing is dealing with the grunts most of the time; all of you have been doing the hard work. We're keeping our involvement to a minimum." Trowa said. He sighed and shook his head. "Anyways, we're going on patrol now. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you on the battlefield later." He said as he walked away. A simple backhanded wave was his way of saying goodbye.

She watched him leave before she decided to return to the Kusanagi's bridge, wondering how he knew that she was considering entering the next battle they would be in.

The Gundams hovered above the Eternal for a few moments, discussing what should be done about their comrade in enemy hands, before they reached a decision.

"Eternal… I'm sorry, but we're skipping on patrol duty. We're going to go and try to convince Heero to join us. He's been given plenty of time to think about whatever it was he wanted to think about." Quatre said as the others started in the direction of the Plants.

"We understand. Do what you can." Lacus' voice replied as the Sandrock waved to the Eternal before catching up with the others.

They quickly switched over to their private channel to avoid accidentally being picked up by anyone listening in to different channels for unsavoury reasons.

Duo sighed as he tracked the Wing Zero's last known co-ordinates thanks to the locator in each of their Gundams. "All right… I have his location. Let's bring back that crazy son of a-"

"Duo!" Quatre said in warning.

"What? I wasn't actually going to finish that sentence!" A small disagreement broke out between the two as the Gundams followed the signal to the Wing Zero's location.

The disagreement was finally broken up by some choice words from Wufei, much to the relief of Trowa. It was a volatile area they were entering and the last thing they needed to be doing was arguing amongst themselves.

"With all the nuclear weapons present, do you think it could force an anomaly to appear?" Quatre questioned.

"I wouldn't be surprised… we'll just have to keep a close eye on the situation and wait for one big enough to do so…" Trowa said grimly.

"And hope that nobody gets killed in the process." Duo replied with an expression equally as grim.

Shock froze the Gundams in their place just outside the radar range of the Plants. The sight before them was something they hadn't seen in years and had hoped to never see again despite all the carnage they had witnessed in this war.

The best they could assume was that some of the Earth Forces mobile suit forces decided to go rogue and attacked the Plants of their own accord. And there waiting for them had been the Wing Zero. The debris of several mobile suits littered space and the Wing Zero floated unmoving in the midst of it.

"Guys… something is definitely wrong…" Quatre said shakily.

"He's right. The Wing Zero would have either fired on us or Heero would have spoken to us as soon as we entered the Wing Zero's radar range…" Trowa's voice was steady, but he was pale with worry.

The Deathscythe Hell vanished from sight. A few moments later, the Wing Zero began to float towards the others. Once out of the Plant's range, the Deathscythe Hell reappeared behind the Wing Zero.

"Come on… let's take him back to the Archangel." Duo said calmly as the Deathscythe Hell pushed the Wing Zero away from the Plants.

"Do you think he's all right?" Quatre asked worriedly.

"He probably knocked his head against something… so he's more than likely simply unconscious. He'll be furious when he finds out we dragged him back to the Three Ships Alliance though. That's one thing you can be certain of." Wufei said as the Altron helped the Deathscythe Hell manoeuvre the unmoving Gundam.

Trowa nodded warily. "We should make sure to hide both of his guns. Blanks may not be real bullets, but they still hurt." The others nodded in agreement as they made their way slowly back to the Three Ships Alliance's hideaway.

All five Gundams were in the Archangel's hangar as the others stood around the hatch to the Wing Zero warily. As it opened, Heero's unconscious form tumbled from the cockpit.

"Heero!" Quatre yelled as Duo and Wufei reacted quickly, grabbing him before he could fall off the kneeling Gundam.

Trowa took the guns from beneath his uniform shirt and his leg holster, stashing them in the Wing Zero's secret compartment where Heero's clothes were hidden.

"I suggest for now that we take him to our room, Duo. It will be easier as we're the only ones in it." Quatre instructed shakily as Duo and Wufei climbed carefully from the Wing Zero, still holding Heero's unconscious body between them. "Trowa, please go alert the Archangel's medical crew to come examine him. There is something very off about this and I don't like it." Quatre's voice became calmer as he instructed the others what to do.

Trowa nodded and ran from the hangar as Wufei and Duo followed Quatre to their room.

The doctor shrugged as he stood from examining Heero. "Physically he's fine. There are no external or internal injuries..." The doctor said as an expression of confusion crossed his face. "I guess the best thing we can do for him is let him rest and see if he comes to. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

The others shook their heads as the doctor left. "So that means it's a mental thing…" Trowa muttered beneath his breath as they looked at him.

"Could it be the strain of being in a strange universe?" Quatre threw out as an explanation.

Wufei scoffed dismissively. "I highly doubt Heero's so weak that he'd let something like that affect him. In fact, I suspect he'd be the last of us standing if that were the case." The others reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"So what the hell would knock him out like that?" Duo muttered.

"I don't know… but I suggest we don't leave him alone just in case he wakes up. However, we can't crowd him… so I'll request that the room next to this one be commissioned into use." Trowa said calmly before leaving the room.

"I guess I've got first watch on him." Duo said as he sat in the bed across from Heero.

"I'll take over in about two hours." Quatre volunteered, with Wufei agreeing immediately behind him.

When Trowa returned, Quatre and Duo shifted their belongings to the room next to Heero's while Trowa and Wufei went to the Kusanagi and Eternal to gather their belongings, wanting to be near their comrade in case he happened to wake up.

Duo sat across from Heero, keeping a watchful eye on his old friend.

Heero began muttering something, causing Duo to jump up and listen closely. The mumbles ceased as Heero fell back into a deeper state of unconsciousness.

Duo cursed under his breath before summoning the others from the next room.

"What's wrong Duo?" Quatre asked worriedly as they came in.

"He muttered some things. I couldn't understand most of them, but I did manage to get two words… and it could explain everything that's happened to him." Duo said grimly.

"Well spit it out already." Wufei snapped impatiently.

"He said: 'ZERO' and 'malfunctioning'."

"So, what? Is the Wing Zero experiencing a malfunction?" Wufei questioned in annoyance.

Duo shook his head. "The way he said 'ZERO'… I think he was talking about that…" He said grimly.

The others suddenly paled as they caught on to what he meant: the ZERO System. The system designed by the original Gundam scientists and implemented in the original Wing Zero that enhanced the pilot's ability in battle by showing the pilot all possible scenarios for the outcome of the battle and allowing the human pilot to choose which course of action to take. There was a massive flaw with it though: the mental strain it created on the pilot was enough to literally tear the pilot's mind apart if they weren't mentally strong-willed enough.

All of the Gundam pilots were fully experienced with the menacing system and could control it, however only the Wing Zero had been implemented with the ZERO system before they had been rolled out for guard duty. The others had been scheduled to receive it at a later time, although even one Gundam having the system was deemed one too many by other politicians.

"That would explain a lot… remember: Heero said he feared to use it here despite it being in perfect working order. We didn't know what kind of effects it would have in this universe." Quatre said as he glanced down at Heero, fearing now for his sanity.

"I'm going to go check to see if I can figure out what the hell is wrong with it to see if there's anything we can do to help him." Duo said. He left before any of the others could stop him. So they were left to wait and worry about him and Heero.

An hour had passed before Duo stumbled back into the room: pale, sweating and shaking. He was caught by Wufei before he could collapse.

"What happened?" Quatre asked worriedly as Wufei sat him on the bed across from Heero.

Duo shook his head and took several minutes to recover before he could speak. "Heero was right… I don't know what's wrong with it, but it's like the system went into overdrive. I began running a simulation with the ZERO system activated and it went berserk. It attacked my emotional centre instead of feeding me battle data." He explained shakily as he tried to get control of himself.

The others paled as they looked at him. "What do you mean by 'attacked'?" Trowa asked.

"I can't understand it myself, but that's the best way I can describe it. A few minutes into the simulation and suddenly my emotions went out of control. I couldn't even bring myself to shut down the system until I managed to get control enough to do so. That was fifteen minutes into the attack…" Duo glanced across the room to Heero. "There were probably a hundred or so mobile suits there, right?"

The others nodded.

"Even with the ZERO system, it'd take a lot longer than fifteen minutes to bring them all down without using the twin buster rifle… and it was never fired. The energy chamber for it was fully loaded. We all know that it takes a day before it's fully recharged from the empty state, and Heero wouldn't hold back any of that energy in a space battle."

"For a man like Heero, who rarely shows emotions, if that were to happen to him for a prolonged period of time… who knows what kind of mental damage he took?" Trowa frowned down at Heero as Quatre helped Duo to stand.

"Go get some rest. I'll take over the rest of your shift." Trowa said as Duo was helped out of the room.

Trowa and Wufei exchanged grim glances with each other before Wufei left.

Author's Note: I'm baaaack! =D Still on my dad's computer, but hey, it's better than not uploading at all. Hopefully I can come by every Wednesday or so to upload. In the meanwhile, enjoy the new chapter. I don't have much to say about it. The ZERO system is a fun little thing though.