Author's Note: Since you all probably have questions remaining from the last chapter, this one should answer a good amount of them. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language, violence

Pieces Fall into Place

It had been a long night for Trieze Khushrenada.

The early morning sun could be seen rising from the horizon, its light falling over the capital of the greatest nation on Earth and bringing it slowly to life. Yet that life did not reach the colonel who had not gotten a wink of sleep at all during the night and morning had come all too soon for him.

The normally composed and regal man looked like a wreck, his face buried into his hands and his hair so mussed up that it didn't look anything like the man's usually groomed do. Some would get concerned seeing him like this but he had closeted himself off in his private office, waiting for a call to come in that would tell him all he needed to know.

It wasn't everyday that your mentor and father figure was murdered and that you were a reason why…

---

Mr. Romafellor stared down at the comatose boy who was currently stretched out on a bed and covered with probes and tubes, all of which told the elder man that the body he was looking at was alive. Well, it was actually the machines that surrounded the room that told him that but he wasn't going to get into any detail now anyway.

However, that didn't explain why the boy needed to be hooked up to all this machinery in the first place. He had been vehement when he learned of this boy's condition, believing it to have been caused by one of his men sent in during the snatch-and-grab operation. Brain scans, though, told a different story and while he didn't understand half of the jargon, all he knew was that the boy's condition was done on purpose and not as a result of his own men.

There had been a report that Xavien himself had been at the Noventa estate at the time, though no one could say why, yet, and Romafellorr felt in his gut that that man was involved with this somehow.

Still, it was hard to believe that this boy was a survivor of Project Maxwell and capable of some incredible stunts that defied all logical explanation. However, he was still waiting for some confirmation of the identity of the boy and that would explain why he was here waiting for the Yuy boy and his girlfriend. If they recognized him, then he would know the truth and be one step closer to getting what he wanted.

The door to the small room opened, admitting the two children he had been waiting for and his hardened blue eyes snapped upwards to capture the boy and girl. The girl had a look of defeat, as if she was in resignation to her fate, whatever it might be, but the boy still had a look of determination and defiance, even as he held the Darlian girl's hand. It was the look on the Darlian girl's face that he had been looking forward to for quite some time; the girl had given up and would allow herself to be used however he himself saw fit.

Perfect.

"What do you want now?" the Yuy boy growled, his eyes trained on the elder businessman maliciously. "Haven't we already given you enough yet? What more do you want?!"

Ignoring the outburst as if it hadn't happened, he looked back down at the comatose boy on the bed and said, "Does this person look familiar to you?"

While the Yuy boy bristled, Romafellor noticed from the corner of his eye the Darlian girl approaching, stopping a few feet away as her body tensed. He looked up at her and saw the recognition in her eyes and he knew then and there that this boy was what he had been looking for. It was all the conformation he needed.

"Wait," the girl murmured, cutting Romafellor's thoughts off prematurely. "He's…different…"

"How so?" he demanded gruffly, focusing his complete attention on the girl. If his men had grabbed the wrong person…

The girl frowned as she closed the distance between her and the bed, studying the boy on the bed intently. Her hand touched the pallid skin on his cheek and slid down it, as if searching for something. Romafellor was not one who enjoyed being out of the loop, no matter what it was, and he waited impatiently for what the girl was going to say next. The Darlian girl tilted the boy's head to a side, continuing in her examination and her eyes widened.

"His braid's gone," she thought out loud, much to Romafellor's delight. Missing hair? He could get some analysts to look at that and determine the cut of the hair. Things were beginning to look up.

However, the girl's hand had gone up to the boy's face by now and pried open an eye to reveal a deadened violet iris. The girl removed her hand from the body as if she had been burned and she began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Relena? What's wrong?" the Yuy boy spoke up, coming to the girl's side worriedly.

The girl threw herself into the boy's arms, the boy wrapping his arms around the girl's torso and holding her up as she lost all of her composure. "It's Duo," she told the Yuy boy in a voice that was meant to be hushed but the elder man overheard easily.

So she did recognize him; excellent.

"What did you do to him," Heero demanded of the businessman, glaring up…down at him, unaware that he was just solidifying all the information that Romafellor had obtained during this session.

"I did absolutely nothing," he replied, his voice in its usual softness. "If you want to know, why don't you ask Xavien? He would know better than I since he was seen with this Duo when my men grabbed him. But that is going to be something I will rectify; your little friend here is the key to busting open all the secrets that Project Maxwell has to offer."

Walking towards the two teens, he placed a hand on each of their shoulders and began to push them towards the door. "For now, I have no need for your services so if you will go back to your holding, I would be much obliged."

"You can't keep us here forever," Heero growled, his glare promising death to the man.

"On the contrary, I can keep you here until your old enough to wonder why Medicare isn't paying your bills," Romafellor replied. "You've been in over your heads for quite some time and only now are you understanding that you are drowning. You're playing with the big boys now, Yuy, and we play for keeps."

---

Once the Yuy boy and Darlian girl had been taken care of, Romafellor returned to his offices where he ordered his secretary to patch him in to Washington, specifically the office of one Colonel Trieze Khushrenada.

"As of now we have the weapon," Romafellor stated into the phone. "Your information was indeed invaluable but you cut it close. Xavien almost reclaimed him. Had you waited any longer, we would've lost him."

"What about Noventa?" the uncharacteristically haggard voice of Trieze asked, almost sounding desperate.

Sighing, Romafellor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Xavien got to him first, Khushrenada. I've received word that Admiral Noventa is no longer among us. It's a pity really; he was such a worthy adversary if I don't say so myself."

There was a sigh of disappointment on the other end. "Is there anything that you require?" the colonel asked, his voice dull.

"Not at this moment," Romefellor stated. "Just keep an eye on WEI for me. They're just beginning to sniff around and already one too many people are involved or have a stake in this. It's bad enough that XAI's already involved but I don't want that self-righteous bastard Winner and his self-centered family getting into any of this."

"As you command, Mr. Romafellor," Trieze said, hanging up a second later.

---

The doors banged opened and a furious Xavien stormed into the room, his face expressing the pure fury that held control over him and clouded his mind. Personnel scrambled out of his way as he entered the labs, a glare of his anger clouded eyes striking terror into the men and women that had worked for him on Project Maxwell since its conception.

Adverting his eyes to the one-way mirror where he could see the large hulk that was #14376, a.k.a. Sigmund, he demanded, "How far along is it?"

Stultified by his unexpected question, the staff of lab technicians and staff remained silent, just staring at the furious man before them. This only served to increase Xavien's irritation as he nearly exploded.

"Answer me!" he barked. "How far is 14736?!"

"H-h-h-he's-s-s-s n-n-nearly d-d-done," a scientist squeaked out nearly cowering behind a clipboard as Xavien leveled his glaring eyes on the man.

Turning to look back at Sigmund, he glared at the twitching mass of muscle, thinking to himself in silence as all those around him regarded him with the same type of caution one would associate with a ferocious predator.

"Increase the dosage," Xavien suddenly snapped.

"Sir?" a technician inquired.

Not having any of it, Xavien stormed his way towards the controls just under the glass and shoved the technician out of the way. "I said, increase the dosage," Xavien growled out as he grabbed the dials that controlled and managed the flow of Solution 1051 and electricity into Sigmund's body and twisted them violently.

Sigmund jolted and strained against the restraints holding him back, grunts of pain howling from his mouth as he was electrocuted and pumped full of the purplish-clear liquid. Due to his regenerative abilities, he wasn't killed outright by the over-dosage and slowly his body began to change.

As the XAI employees backed away from the sight in horror, Xavien remained standing where he was, a teeth-baring smile giving him the look of a man who had lost all reason.

---

It was in the early morning hours that Quatre found himself in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by his loyal and trusted "personal guard." That was just an exaggeration since these large, burly, Arabian men were his direct employees and reported to him and only him. His father had no say what went on among these "black ops" of WEI and the less he knew, the better

"Glad you could make it, Master Quatre," Rashid greeted him, the large man bowing before the much smaller and younger man. "We have the area secure and the target is unaware of us."

"Good," Quatre said as he led the way towards the saloon in which his intelligence dictated that their target was busy getting drunk off his ass. He had no picture of the target but he did have a description and the individual was quite unique.

It shouldn't be too much trouble to simply grab him and take him to a secure location.

"I'll go in first and see if I can't lure him out," he said aloud. "If it's no good, then he's all yours."

"Be careful Master Quatre," Rashid cautioned him but made no objection to the plan. The Winner heir had made similar plans before in the past and never had they backfired before. Plus, the younger blond had this charm about him that was hard to ignore and had a tendency to wrap the unawares in a web of intrigue.

"Don't worry, I will," Quatre replied, throwing a small smile to the large man.

With that, he entered the bar that, though large, was smoke-filled and decrepit, at least to a man of Quatre's caliber. More than one pair of eyes looked up at him and remained focused on him but he ignored them with ease. Used to such stares in the past, it would take a lot more to get him to even consider looking at one of these…homely folk.

Plus, it was the loud fellow at the bar who had his full, undivided attention.

Studying the drunk, he matched him to the description he had and smirked. Looks like he had the right man. Now to work his magic on him…

Taking a seat on a stool next to the drunk, the Winner heir ordered a beer and waited politely for it. Once he had the bottle of Budweiser in his hand, he chugged half of it down like he drank such crap all the time. In truth, he preferred wine and champagne over beer but he wanted to make an impression first before he went in for the kill.

Setting his beverage back on the bar but still retaining a loose grip on it, he turned his head towards the drunk right next to him and just stared.

It took a bit but not even someone as inebriated as this fellow could ignore the hair-raising feeling of eyes staring at them. In fact, as the drunk leveled his bleary eyes on him, he slurred, "Whaaat aaarree yyyou looookin' aaaaat?"

"You," he answered boldly, smiling slightly.

"Yyyoouu gottttaaa deathwisssshhh buddddyyy?" the drunk slurred, his aggravation dulled by all the alcohol he had consumed.

"Not really," he replied. "Just noticed you're drinking quite a bit. If you're not careful, you might get alcohol poisoning."

"Whhhhaaaatttt do yyyooouuuu caaaare?" the drunk sneered.

"Just some friendly advice," he shrugged. "Hey, how about you join me outside for a bit? The sunrise should be starting soon."

"Wwwhhhhooooo daaaa fuck ccccarrrreeesss 'booouuuutttt thaaaaatttt?"

"So you're not interested?" Quatre said, blinking innocently.

"Noooo. Noowwww get da fuck awaaaayyyy from meeeee!"

"Can't say I didn't try," Quatre sighed, eyeing up the other critically, measuring him. Coming to a conclusion he nodded to himself and spoke, pointing to something just on the other side of the drunk. "What's that?"

The drunk looked to where he was pointing and with his other hand, Quatre grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the bar harshly, leaving a slight dent in the smooth wood. The drunk blinked stupidly as he lifted his head back up and Quatre slammed it back down again, this time effectively knocking him out.

By now, the bar was entirely silent and a whole stunned audience was watching him keenly. Standing up after downing the rest of his beer, Quatre raised his hands up and clapped twice, a sound that easily cut through the silence in the room

As if on cue, Quatre's men entered the bar, heading straight towards him and the knocked out bar patron. As they took the dead weight away, the Winner heir took out a few bills and dropped them onto the counter, leaving a "keep the change" behind him as he headed after his men.

Pausing in the doorway, he turned around to the captive audience and said, "This goes without saying that none of you will mention any of what happened, right?"

Everyone nodded their heads robotically, still staring at the blond.

"Good! Have a nice night!" the blond chirped as he left the bar, closing the door behind him.