Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language, violence, death

Infiltrating Romafellor's Stronghold

With the lush green scenery of California passing by them, two helicopters, both carrying several armed men, tore through the air leaving only their telltale chopping noise behind them.

Neither of these aircraft had friendly intent as they headed straight towards the city of Los Angeles to join with the rest of the rest of their kind, most of which were owned by local news stations that were either reporting on a break story like a car chase or reporting on traffic conditions. Traversing the over the large metropolis of a city, the aircraft headed straight towards one of the largest buildings in the city, one that had a very distinctive logo on it.

It was almost too easy, really.

---

Romafellor's eyes gleamed as they traveled over his Board of Directors listened to his every word like the puppets that they were, hanging on each one of them as if they were holy gospel. The business tycoon was truly in his element as he sat back down, the last of his soft voice disappearing into the applause that the board members were giving him. There was no doubt in his mind what he and the company was going to do next; whatever the will of Romafellor was was the will of the Romafellor Corporation. It can even be said that the two were one and the same.

Even as he enjoyed the attention, his thoughts drifted back to where the Maxwell boy was and his condition. Taking samples of his tissues and bodily fluids would be simple enough as it was but getting anything else would be a problem until he woke up from his comatose state. His medical staff and personnel would work day and night until the boy's consciousness was attained and there would be no rest for the wicked until then.

A small red light emitting from an intercom embedded in the long boardroom table caught Romafellor's attention, alerting him to the fact that someone was either trying to reach him or one of the board members. As far as odds went, it would most likely be for him. As timing went, it was not the best of times and that served to irritate the businessman to no end, especially when he was on the verge of triumph.

Pressing the button, he said into the com, "What is it?"

Instead of hearing the timid voice of a secretary, he instead received the hesitant yet deep voice of the head of security alerting him that there were some intruders in the building.

Intruders? That certainly silenced the boardroom but Romafellor was far from amused. What did the man mean there were intruders? "Show me," he ordered into the com and spun his revolving chair around to look at the row of monitors peeking out from the wall.

In one screen, he saw a long haired teenager beating the living hell out of his security and no matter what his employees did, they were dispatched without the teen loosing any steam. Near this teen were two other young adults, one a man and the other a girl. What was special about them was that Romafellor recognized some of the plants that encircled them belonged in the lobby but were busy following this trio around.

Looking into another monitor, he just barely missed something that was huge that had passed by the camera but he was just in time to see three boys enter the screen, one of which noticing the camera and shooting something into it. On the other monitors, there displayed the images of where the intruders had been and none of it was pretty. His lobby was a mess, something that ticked the businessman off, and the docking bay was utterly destroyed.

There was no doubt in his mind that what he was seeing were the products of Project Maxwell and that they were here for something or someone, that someone more than likely being him.

He had expected some form of retaliation from Xavien but not this.

A low humming sound soon caught his attention and slowly he turned his head to look at the floor-to-ceiling windows, seeing nothing but clear skies and the construction site of a nearby building. Not looking away, a helicopter soon came into sight and he watch dispassionately as several men in the copter held submachine guns, all of which were loaded and ready to fire.

Not saying anything and ignoring the screams and shouts from his board members, he spun his chair around and shoved himself out of it and onto the floor just as a barrage of bullets shattered the glass and entered the room.

Romafellor laid on the floor, his arms covering his head as the loud sounds of gunfire filled the room. He could hear bullets impacting the table but the large piece of furniture held up against the rain of small projectiles. More gunfire was soon introduced as his security rushed into the room and began to return fire at the helicopter, not getting many shots off as a few of them were mowed down before they could get a shot off.

Looked as if Xavien was serious this time, Romafellor mused to himself. Another assassination attempt, as if he would allow himself to go out like this! When there was a lull in the gunfire, he began to drag himself towards the doors, the table keeping him from view of the helicopter.

---

Heero perked up as he swore he could have heard guns being fired off and he looked towards the doors curiously. He kept an eye on Tsubarov who had currently been saying something when the unmistakable noise reached them and the ugly man frowned as he got up and head towards the doors. Opening them slightly, he began conferring with the guards outside, his back to Heero and Relena who watched him.

Seeing this as a chance to escape, Heero picked up one of the revolving, wheeled chairs and hefted it over his shoulder. Making his way over to Tsubarov, he waited until the man had finished speaking to the men outside and closed the door. As soon as the larger man began to turn around, Heero struck with the chair, getting Tsubarov right in the middle of his face and stunning him.

Gritting his teeth, Heero rammed the chair forward again and forced Tsubarov's head back into the door harshly, causing the man to crumple to the floor where Heero smashed him one more time with the chair and kicked him in the head for good measure, making sure that he was unconscious.

Working quickly, he dragged the unconscious man out of the way of the door, ignoring the bleeding gash on the man's forehead that had resulted from the unexpected blunt force trauma. Releasing Tsubarov, Heero beckoned towards Relena with a hand, silently telling her to come to him which she did without question.

"Time to get the hell out of here," Heero murmured to the girl as he dragged her out the guardless door and out into the hallways in search of their freedom.

---

"Beautiful," Pike nearly whistled as he entered the main lobby of the Romafellor building, his eyes planted firmly on the marble replica atop the fountain. Ignoring Stone and their scaly companion, he approached the statue, heedless of the fountain water that drenched his uniform up to his knees. Climbing up the thin column that held the statue above the fountain itself, he eyed it critically, nearly sighing in disappointment. "This isn't the original," he muttered, his fingertips lightly sliding down the sides of the statue.

"Freak," the scaly one uttered, looking away from the art fan in disgust.

"I'm not a freak for admiring the beauty of manmade sculptures, Astaroth," Pike said aloud, startling the other. "At least I can appreciate someone else's hard work and effort unlike you."

"Like I would want to look at some dumb carved rocks," Astaroth said snarkily.

The pitter patter of running feat caught Astaroth's attention as he looked towards several security guards approaching them, their guns held out and ready to be used. Pike, however, was oblivious to it as he continued his inspection of the Marcus Aurelius. Stone, though, had put his lute down and was starting to play on a small harmonica that he had brought along with him.

The psionic he emitted froze the security guards in their places; not a single one could twitch or move their bodies with the exceptions of their eyes that were snapping from side to side in panic.

Smirking, Astaroth said, "Ripe for the picking."

"Not so fast," Stone spoke up, removing his harmonica from his mouth. "We gotta find out where that guy the bossman wants us to kill first and these guys oughta know."

"Mr. Romafellor," Pike piped up, not turning around for a second.

"Yeah, that Mr. Romafellor guy," Stone added, walking towards the captured guards. Playing a few notes on his harmonica, he lessened the hold he had on a guard he was approaching, enabling him to use his vocal cords so it could answer the boy's question. "Do you know where we can find Mr. Romafellor?" Stone asked the man, giving him a winning smile.

"What are you?" the guard managed to say, looking with horror at the boy.

"Well that's not good," Stone pouted and played one more note on his harmonica. In response, the man's head exploded in a splatter of brain, bones, and blood. "How about you?" he asked another guard, loosening his hold.

"Thirty-sixth floor," the man gasped out.

"Thank you," Stone chirped and blew this one's head up as well. Looking back towards Astaroth, he said, "They're all yours!"

"Now you're talking," Astaroth growled as he grew spikes out of his scaly body and approached helpless guards to bestow on them his own brand of "fun."

Pike, meanwhile, had not taken his eyes off the Marcus Aurelius and was only now beginning to take hold of the energies that was running through it. His hands spasmed and with an aerobic backward flip that put some distance between him and the statue, he watched as the Equestrian statue came to life, the horse that was apart of it jostling and bucking as it moved fluidly, its rider remaining on his perch without difficulty.

Clearing his throat loudly to get the statue's attention, Pike said, "Lead us to where your owner is. We believe him to be on the thirty-sixth floor of the building so will you please lead the way?"

The statue stared Pike down with empty eyes before looking upwards, directing the pale boy's attention up towards the glass ceiling above.

"Marvelous," Pike whispered.

"Don't see that everyday," Astaroth agreed as he came up from behind Pike, covered in blood.

With a neigh, the marble horse took off, heading towards the elevators, its stone hooves clattering loudly against the marble steps that led to them.

Before any of the other three boys could follow, they paused as a low growl came from behind them, Pike turning his head to look at their guest.

"Going up Sigmund?" Pike inquired.

---

"Still pouting, huh?"

"Not pountin'."

"Well you're gonna have to come out of there some time."

"Dun have ta. Gonna stay here forever."

"Do that and we're dead meat."

"Don't care anymore."

"Oh? What about Solo? Sister Helen? What about them?"

"They ain't here."

Reaper growled in frustration. He hadn't meant for things to go this far, only meant to shame him into getting some sort of backbone. Maybe he had but it wasn't what Reaper had been planning on. Right now Kid was being a stubborn ass in their corner of their mind and was refusing to have anything to do with the other personality anymore. In a place that was utter boredom incarnate, that was pure sadistic torture.

And now that Reaper had figured he had given Kid enough time to pick himself up from his verbal abuse and wanted to do something that could get them out of this mess, things were going in a whole different direction. It was so frustrating! Especially since he didn't know how much time they did have left until it was too late for them to do something.

Kid being a stubborn ass wasn't helping either.

"This isn't the best of times to be doing this," he said wryly.

"I thought I was just a little shit who doesn't wanna face da truth."

"Great, you're putting my own words back in my mouth; good for you," Reaper retorted.

When no response was forthcoming, Reaper groaned. This was going nowhere, nowhere at all. He'd rather try his luck with that third personality of theirs but knew that he wouldn't be able to shove it aside. He was never able to do so without some sort of sharp, external stimulus, one strong enough to make the third pause and allow Reaper to steal control.

None of that was occurring this time around and the only time there was enough stimulus to make it through, Reaper was unable to break the third's control like all the other times before. That reset button Xavien had spoke of was really something…

Speaking of that asshole, how long was he going to wait to get on with this. As long as Kid was being uncooperative, they might as well give up now and let Xavien have his way. That seemed to be the only course of action now.

But Reaper was a fighter, a survivor, and he would be damned if he gave up without a fight. He could only do so much by himself, though, and he needed all the resources he could gather, including those that Kid possessed.

Now if only he could word it right to him so that some action could be taken. Damn it, he wasn't a politician! He liked the direct approach, not this pussy-footing around bullshit! Sigh, but if that was what it took, he was going to have to do it.

Suddenly struck with a flash of inspiration, he spoke out loud in a pondering tone, hoping to provoke what kind of reaction he was looking for. "I wonder what Solo would think if he were to see you right now."

"But he ain't here," Kid responded but there was a tenseness in his voice, something that Reaper caught on to quickly enough.

"Yeah, he ain't," Reaper agreed, beginning to spin his web, "but what if he finds us and asks why we won't wake up or whatever? Then what? Don't think I wouldn't tell him you were too busy being a pussy to do anything."

"You wouldn't!" Kid suddenly manifested with a look of horror on his face. Soon, though, that look contorted into a glare. "And I'm not a pussy!"

Jackpot.

---

"Somebody's tryin' ta compensate for something," Solo muttered, frowning at the sight of a disembodied marble head that was sitting on a podium.

"Didn't know you knew such big words," Dorothy commented from behind him, arms folded in front of her chest.

"Looking at the blonde girl, he said, "That was an insult, wasn't it?"

"Company," Trowa suddenly spoke up as two guards appeared at the end of the hallway, locked and loaded.

Shoving Dorothy behind him, Solo grabbed the statue head and threw it at the two guards, forcing them to get out of the way to avoid it, buying him time to get in close and bash their heads together. Growling as he tossed the two bodies away, he said, "How many of these guys are there?"

"This is the headquarters for one of the largest firms in the world," Dorothy said dryly. "I'm not surprised they have enough security guys to fill an army battalion."

"How would you know this?" Trowa asked, looking at her curiously.

Turning away from him and folding her arms tighter, she answered, "It's just common knowledge, that's all. Where have you been, under a rock?"

"Does bein' in an underground base count?" Solo asked, raising his hand in the air like a grade-schooler.

"I'm not even going to ask," Dorothy said under her breath.

The sound of gunfire stopped all conversation, each of the trio cocking their heads to a side as if they were trying to figure out where it was coming from. Ignoring Dorothy, Solo made eye contact with Trowa who nodded at him in response. It seemed like something else was up it seemed, especially since none of the fire was aimed at them.

The floor under their feet trembled as something underneath it hit it. Neither of the two males knew what it could be but they braced their selves, ready for anything that might come at them.

The floor before them rose up as the thing hit it again and on the third time, whatever it was broke through, sending debris and dust everywhere. As the air slowly clear, the three found themselves facing a large behemoth.

Monster would have been an appropriate name for it as it was massive and hunched over due to all the overdeveloped muscles in its back. Speaking of muscles, this thing had plenty of them and any shred of clothing it had only covered the necessities. With an animalistic growl, the thing turned a small head that seemed to stick out of the body and revealed a familiar, though bloated, face.

It was Sigmund, Solo realized. Though Sigmund's eyes were bloodshot, Solo could see remnants of the once gentle giant that he had fought once before. But he thought he had been killed, or so he was led to believe from the story he got from Trowa earlier.

Those bloodshot eyes landed on him and some guttural noises came from within the giant's swollen neck of muscle and in an instant he lunged at him. Acting quickly, Solo shoved both Trowa and Dorothy awake just as the giant crashed into him and slammed into and through the wall behind him like it was made of cardboard.

Solo gritted his teeth together as he felt himself going down and back, something thin and solid ramming into the base of his spine harshly and actually sending a twinge of pain through his body. Not willing to take this easily, he let himself fall backwards at an accelerated rate and felt his back come into contact with a wide, flat surface. Seeing as there was no where else to go, he kicked his legs, getting them both in-between Sigmund's legs and continued to lift up, sending the giant overheard and away, giving the blond some breathing room.

Rolling onto his front, he nearly groaned as pushed himself off a long table that looked like it was about to collapse and readied himself to tackle a recovering Sigmund who was getting back up onto his feet. Solo's fist was right in the giant's gut in no time, followed by a barrage of them as the blond sought to beat this latest opponent into a bloody pulp.

Initially stunned, Sigmund gained his wits back quickly and with a large hand, he wrapped his fingers around the other's torso and plucked him off the ground. Solo was more than surprised that Sigmund could literally get his fingers and thumb to touch each other while in the giant's grip, something that disappeared as Sigmund raised him up so quickly that his head went through the ceiling.

Stunned, Solo did nothing as he was pulled back down and then thrown through another wall, breaking through it like it was nothing but styrofoam and flew through the air until he crashed onto of a paper laden desk, the desk crumbling beneath his body and papers clouding all around.

Ignoring the screams of the nearby people, Solo pushed himself up just in time to see Sigmund charge through the newly made hole and heading straight for him.

Boy, this day was really becoming shitty real quickly.