Alright people! This is a considerably longer chapter then the usual! I think I wanted to get this part of the story out of the way so I could move on to the next, which I'm excited for.

I hope you like this chapter and PLEASE REVIEW. I really like feedback as it motivates me like crazy. Seriously I was re reading the same to reviews from last chapter over and over and over to type out this one.

It helps to know other people are reading this and it's not just for me. Being weird.

Anyeays hope you like it and On with the Fic!

Ch 24

Heero walked up the steps of the Preventer's owned apartment unit listening to Quatre following up the stairs behind him. They were in the beige hallways for a reason of course. Duo was staying here. It seemed to be a good sign that he had not simply disappeared after the way he had exited following their previous meeting two days ago. He had checked in a mere seven hours after storming off. Heero felt that Duo had already had an adequate cooling down period so they came to track him down. There was a mission and they needed him.

Heero arrived to room sixty four and knocked. Quatre stood unassumingly beside him. More and more Quatre had been less his empathetic self from the war, replacing it with a constant business strategist façade. Heero could appreciate the way he could now more easily follow pilot zero-fours thought process, but there was at the same time something distinctly unsettling about him. The lack of emotions driving his decisions was foreign.

The door swung open abruptly to violet eyes that looked at the two of them. There was no delighted smile that would have usually adorned Duo's face, just a sigh and an eye roll. He opened the door further to let them in. Heero looked about and noted the same clean modern facilities that all of the Preventer housing had, before turning back and assessing Duo as he shut and locked the door. He still had the blanket with blood patches on it that Trowa had gotten for him wrapped about his shoulders. He had clothes underneath, but Heero found it odd behavior. The only thing Duo normally held onto was his cross from his time at the orphanage.

Quatre sat on the sofa and Heero took the cue and sat next to him across from a chair. Duo came and sat down across from them, but remained stoically silent. Heero was unsure as to how to proceed. This was new territory.

Quatre spoke, "We need you for an assignment."

Duo snorted and scratched his scalp idly, "Of course you do." He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Heero frowned. This was not the normal Duo by far.

"We're requesting that you come in to assist on a field operation that is of utmost importance." Quatre stated again trying to move past Duo's obvious apathy for the conversation.

"Why should I?" Duo asked sitting forward elbows on his knees staring hard into Quatre. "Why should I after what I have just been through, after realizing how little you all care?" No one moved and the silence was hollow and dead between them. Duo shifted and pulled the blanket around him and leaned back again staring out the windows of the apartment.

"What happened?" Heero asked abruptly. Curiosity was filling him as to what would make Duo go from absolute rage to this lifeless person before him. Never had Duo been like this.

Duo shrugged and continued staring out the window. "You know what happened. It was in the report I sent." Heero nodded. He had gone over the report and tried to align it with the new problems they had been facing. The problems they needed Duo in order to solve. Nowhere in that report was anything Heero could conceive of that would make Duo change this much.

Quatre's eyes were cool and calculating when he questioned, "What was left off the report?" Duo's eyes fluttered shut and he shook his head. Quatre stated again, "What was off the report?"

"I worked for Donovan." Duo whispered. "Just for a couple runs. But he specializes in..." He swallowed deeply and inhaled sharply. "You know..." Humans. Donovan was involved in human trafficking. "I was with another guy on my first run and we picked up our cargo." Duo's eyelids shut tighter imploring the memories to leave. "It was a bunch of kid. From four to thirteen or so. Orphans."

Heero startled as Quatre suddenly double over grabbing his chest, whispering "Oh no, oh no, oh no" over and over to himself, obvious pain scrawled across his face. Alarmed Heero got up and knelt in front of Duo.

Brilliant violet eyes looked at him shinning with unshed tears and Duo continued with a harsh raspy voice. "I was given specific orders on how to handle them…and I didn't want to blow my cover. So the first one to try and stand up for them...he had red hair...about eleven... I shot in the head. There was blood all over the others from that. Made them all quiet." He smiled a half smile that wasn't real as he remembered...seemingly blind to Heero kneeling in front of him touching his knee, oblivious to Quatre's gasping and the tears streaming down the blonde's face. "Then the ones too young and too weak I took to the airlock. Sealed them in. Looked through the window and spaced them."

Duo leaned back looking out the window eyes still shinny and unfocused, clutching the blanket around him. "It's okay though, right Heero? It'll be worth it in the end, right?" Heero stood up and didn't move. Didn't know how to proceed. Duo whispered to himself, "It was only four shuttle runs. Thirty three kids is nothing right?" Quatre was shaking in tears on the floor and Duo...

Heero felt a rising pressure in his lungs and bolted towards the door trying to heave a lung-full of air, grabbing his phone as he unlatched the locks and threw the door open crashing into the wall across from him and sinking to the floor he heard a voice answer on the other end of the phone. "I don't know what to do!" He yelled into it. "I don't know what to do." The line went dead and Heero shut his phone, looking at the door across from him that was open a sliver. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them trying to focus on breathing. He was no good to them like this. He was no good to any of them.

They were broken. They were all broken. Duo. Quatre. Wufei- the last name sent sharp panic through him again and he tried desperately to regulate his breathing. And he tried again. And he tried again.

He was broken.

The long eternity of trying to calm down was only stopped by a hand lain on his shoulder and he turned and looked into the concerned green eyes of Trowa. It had felt like hours, but in reality had been less than forty minutes since Heero had called him. He looked up at Trowa whose concerned eyes were trying to figure out what happened. Heero looked back to the door in front of them. Breathing normally. "They are in there." He shook his head, "I don't know what to do."

Trowa exhaled. "They are alive?" he questioned softly. Heero looked up sharply, but his brain kicked in before he could say anything. Trowa was walking in to a situation and had no idea what was happening. Where Heero had failed to inform him. He nodded in assent. Trowa kneeled beside him and turned Heero's face towards his. "Everything will be alright." He said and kissed Heero's forehead before getting up and heading into the apartment.

Heero waited staring at the cracked door, not hearing much of anything from inside. The minutes dragged on, but Heero just waited as he knew he should. Finally the door swung open and Trowa was half carrying Quatre out of the apartment. Heero rose quickly to help and Trowa let go as soon as Heero had the blonde teen. His face was streaked with tears and his eyes blood shot, but he still looked like he was in agony. "He cannot be around Duo right now. He's feeling too much." Trowa's gaze switched from Quatre to Heero. His eyes were sad. Heero could tell immediately. "You need to take him to his apartment and put him to bed. Stay with him. He'll recover. I'm going to stay with Duo."

He waited for Heero's confirmation. Heero nodded, but said, "The mission will be delayed." It was half statement, half question.

Trowa nodded. "Yes. The mission will be delayed." He turned and went inside the apartment shutting the door behind his tall form.

It had been three days before Trowa had emerged from the apartment with Duo, who still looked like he had not slept well. He was quiet and had lost the majority of his large grin. But he was functioning and recognizing what was in front of him, which was what had concerned Heero the most, the violet eyes staring at him without seeing.

Quatre by comparison had a much easier recovery, but it appeared that he was not able to gain his strong composure he had maintained since Wufei was detained. There appeared to be a level of unease or insecurity that Heero had not seen since Quatre thought he had to compete with the other pilot's skills at the beginning of the war. It was unsettling. And still Heero didn't know what to do. He had been unable to sleep.

But the problems the Preventer were facing before were still present after. And they were big problems.

It's what had them all two weeks later posted on neighboring buildings to a warehouse owned by the Preventers intended to store weapons that were going to be disposed. How Marcus's group had found these was unknown, because very few people had access to that information. There had to be a mole within the Preventers operations, but no one could seem to find the leak, despite multiple tests. But reflecting on Marcus's warning the undercover agents had been the people in compromised positions.

These disposal facilities had been the assets. Assets they failed to protect.

It had taken some time to discover three facilities in space had been hit. They had tied up all the workers and cleaned out the weapons, followed by wiping the camera footage. Amazing planning had gone into it. And no one had been killed which was unusual for gang related activity. The entire operations they seemed to be running were flawless and effective. It was inspired work really.

In the time that the pilots were… out of commission… five bases had been hit with four agents dying when they attempted to intervene. Those had been mainly in the Americas and South East Asia. Each one had been systematically cleared out. Nearly every day was a different hit.

Une had assigned a team to each of the remaining bases, giving the one that specialized in mobile suit destruction to the former Gundam pilots. They were highly suspecting a hit and soon. If their informant knew the locations of the warehouses they obviously would know that the weapons were set to be destroyed on a monthly schedule. This was in three days for the facility the pilots were currently watching.

The warehouse they had been staking out for two nights in the Nordic region of Europe looked fairly undisturbed. Through the upper windows the lights were on, which was normal despite it being night time. It was standard procedure for weapons holding facilities within the Preventers to be lit up at all times. It allowed for high visibility.

Heero squeezed the throat microphone and whispered, "No signs of forced entry or large movements."

Quatre concurred, "I'd imagined they would have a large force. One that was unmistakably stealing weapons. It doesn't make sense. How can these facilities be hit without a team bigger than fifty?"

"They haven't shown up yet? Are we sure?" Duo questioned. He had been placed on the opposite side of the warehouse scanning for movement as well. They each had been posted for over three hours since sundown and there were minimal signs.

Trowa interjected, "They should hit this one either tonight or tomorrow. If they know about the facilities they know that the schedule indicates disposal soon. They'd have to get the weapons out before then."

"Well I'm bored." Duo said quietly. It was the most Duo thing that Heero had heard all week.

Quatre replied almost jokingly into the mic, "Well you know what Wufei would say if he were here,"

"He's not." Heero interjected. The conversation over their communication units went dead. Good they should focus on the mission. It was hard enough knowing that they had been unable to help Wufei when he had been locked away in a prison and not being able to find him, but the thought of their missing pilot made Heero restless.

Every time someone brought him up was a reminder of their failure to assist their fellow pilot, their brother, his…. his what? Once these emergency missions for Une stopped he would…

What would he do? He had no idea anymore.

Wufei had escaped and not bothered to contact any of them. None of the pilots, none of his old contacts knew where he was, or else they weren't talking. But there was no reason to believe that. Even Sally didn't know where he was.

A noise crackling in his ear piece brought Heero back to focus. "Repeat last."

"Focus up." Trowa spoke softly. "I've got a warehouse manager tied up next to the propane tanks. He's told me that over an hour ago six men went in the south entrance with trucks. Visual confirmation shows video equipment surveying that side of the ware house, but not the north side."

Duo dropped in "North side it is. Anyone taking watch? There are only six of them."

"Is there roof top access?"

"Negative. Two doors north side. Bay doors south."

"We'll call back-up for south side once we determine the threat level, but I think we are already a go for observation and disarmament." Heero suggested. The sooner they went in the sooner they would be done and could move on to other tasks.

Trowa spoke up, "Quatre, tactical advice?" Heero felt irritation at Trowa for questioning his plan, but didn't comment. It would be best to follow what Quatre said.

There was silence for some moments, before Quatre spoke hesitantly. "It would be more prudent to have someone on the exterior of the South side, but perhaps a back-up squad will be alright. Une did want us diffusing the situation before we lose anymore agents…." After the seconds ticked by he spoke again, "Fine. Let's rendezvous north side in five for primary entry."

Heero stood from his lying position and stretched quickly. He checked to make sure his guns were still in the correct positions before taking off from the neighboring rooftop and into the rat like maze that was the warehouse yard. As he moved closer a prickle along his spine began to tickle and goose-bumped his skin. It was quiet.

He caught sight of Duo across the yard slinking along one of the bordering warehouses as well. Quatre and Trowa were already in position. Heero moved quicker. Something was wrong with his functioning. It wasn't in his nature to be the last agent to a rendezvous sight. "What did you do with the manager?" He really needed sleep after this mission. It had evaded him since… well for a long time really.

Trowa whispered back, "I released him and told him to run to the dock and wait." He was looking at the door and the window that was to be their entrance." Duo moved away silently, maneuvering himself under the window.

"The door alarms should be unarmed since they didn't break in and we didn't get a notification. We can split to different angles once we are inside." Quatre was looking at the distance between the warehouse and their current position in the shadows of some dumpsters. He nodded, seeming to come up with a conclusion in his head that he appreciated.

Duo bounded near silently towards them. "There are crates blocking the windows view, but it has a gap a foot wide on the other side. The door is blocked from view." He paused and frowned, "The Preventers really need to organize these warehouses better. It's asking for people to do this without being seen."

Trowa smirked, "I will make sure that recommendation is in the post-mission report."

Duo remained serious, but sent a ghost of a smile at Trowa, "I recommend door entry. We will just have to fan out once we are inside."

Each nodded in understanding and proceeded out into the open with the barest to scuffle on the pavement to cross the lot. Duo knelt in front of the door and pulled out lock picks from his braid and began working on the door, while the others looked around them for signs of the group they were hunting.

They didn't even have anyone patrolling. Normally they would have run into someone by now. Perhaps the group was just too small. Not enough man power. But it didn't make sense as to how they were clearing out the facility.

Heero heard the tell-tale click of Duo's success. This was it. They filed in and shut the door quickly. His ear piece made a slight whine as the door clicked, but it evened out. These warehouses had standard blast shield that sometimes interfered with electronics. They were facing large wooden crates that were stacked on top of each other three high. Far too high to scale, even for Trowa's acrobatics. Probably filled with mobile doll parts that were set for destruction. They had to go left away from the dead end on their right, looking for a way to fan out and any sign of the group that was cleaning out their weapons stores. Any information would be vital as Une made so clear, so this was strictly a no kill mission unless absolutely necessary. They each moved in spurts, switching off lead and changing positions as they moved further into the warehouse. Heero started having the prickle of alarm fire along his nerves more acutely.

Then he heard it, the first sign of the thieves. Heero turned ahead and hid behind a corner of another tall crate. He held up his hand in a warning not to advance any further. "We're almost done here." It was a deep voice that belonged to a tall black male. Heero could not see his face from this angle, without exposing himself. "Get the boss to come check." He tensed. This is what they needed to know, the man behind these very precise strikes.

A tap on his shoulder almost sent Heero into the crate in front of him. He turned around gun drawn. Trowa had come up behind him despite the hold position signal. Heero glared at him. Trowa whispered, "Com units are out." The prickle on Heero's neck that he had felt earlier turned into a spike of anxiety. This was too coincidental. No one around, the maze of crates that was too tall to climb over. His thoughts raced back to the whine in his ear as the door closed and he saw the dilation of Trowa's eyes. He knew it too.

There was an electronics jam set up specifically to be within the warehouse. That was not an easy thing to do. This was organized. This was an excellent plan.

This was a noose. And it was tightening quickly.

Heero turned back to look at the scene before him that was a little past halfway down the warehouse. This was their main target. But it didn't seem like their cover was blown yet. He didn't hear shouts of alarm.

The leader was almost in sight. The black man led and was blocking the view of the shorter man, who was the organizer. Black pants and red top of some sort. Muscular build. "We've removed everything, from this half as you've designated."

The man was about to move, when running footsteps from further down the warehouse caused both of them to turn away. Beside Heero, Trowa exhaled a sharp, "Fuck."

Heero looked at him inquiringly, "That's the warehouse manager that was tied up." That was their lookout. Disguised as a hostage. How had they been so stupid?

"They're here." He breathed out harshly, after running from wherever Trowa had left him.

"Go to the trucks, get them prepped." Commanded the boss.

Heero froze at the voice. The large black man moved and he couldn't help it. He inhaled sharply. Shocked. Beside him Trowa echoed his actions. Suddenly a head with long black hair whipped around and dark eyes were locked onto them and narrowed dangerously.

It was Wufei.

He whipped around quickly and slammed a button on the wall before running to the other half of the warehouse. Alarms began screeching instantly yellow lights flashing and a large steal walls unfolded and slammed down barricading them in at both ends. Fire safety walls. They were effectively locked in with no chance at communicating from the electronic jam. Of course Wufei knew how to do that.

They had played straight into his hands. Had taken the bait. It was the perfect set up to have walked into. It all made sense.

He would know where to get the Preventer security codes and he had access to all of them, he probably had them memorized along with the weapon dumps. He knew which agents Une would send in after them and he knew how to plan it to trap them exactly where he wanted them to be.

Heero stood up fully and punched one of the crates in rage. It flew off the other crate and hit the warehouse floor sounding hallow. Quatre, Duo, Trowa and Heero all looked at it shocked. Trowa reached out and pushed another crate easily.

They were all empty.

They had emptied out the supplies and set up the maze. Quatre had his hands over his ears against the squealing of the alarm. Duo looked at him and went to the nearest safety alarm and began disarming it. Soon the echoing squeal from the alarm was gone, but the flashing yellow light still pulsed, steal fire doors and blast shields were still in effect.

Quatre sighed and sat down. "We can't send a message out and we can't open the blast doors. They are wired to be opened from the exterior. We're going to have to wait until Une sends a team after us."

They were all silent. Absorbing what they just saw. They heard the sound of engines from trucks on the other side of the door start up and move away. Wufei and his team had managed to clean them all out once again. This was supposed to be so easy. Just in, detain and move on from the assignment.

Mission failed.

Heero dropped into a squat position and stared into space. It was obvious there was no threat to them. There was no impending attack. They were boxed in. Trapped.

Duo moved off to the controls again trying to shut off the bright flashing yellow light of the fire alarm. There was no hope of getting the blast doors open. They were designed to take massive explosions for a reason. It was building code, that if you are storing that quantity of high weapons grade explosives it had to be stored in this type of shelter.

Quatre wandered around checking all the crates. Trowa went to listen at the blast doors to try and see if there was any movement left. Heero covered his eyes, running his hands through his hair.

This was a disaster. It had been so long since that meeting, since Wufei had glared at them in rage. And nothing had changed. In that one flash of his eyes Heero had been seared all over again. Wufei was not interested in joining them. It was obvious. He had created the perfect trap. Lured them in and counted on surprise at seeing him as his safety net and they took the bait.

No wonder he had not tried to contact them since the break out. All the immaculate raids on the disposal units. They had been comprised, but it wasn't by an insider. Wufei was very much not working for them.

But after Duo's lecture to them all post undercover-ops and witnessing the breakdown of two of his close friends who still remained fragile versions or their former selves…Heero couldn't blame Wufei for not wanting to come back.

Mentally he knew should be trying to help categorize with Quatre on what had been taken. He should try and look for weak points in the circuits for the blast doors. They usually had a safety release. Sensors of some type. Hell, even standing would be better while he was on this mission to make sure he could react instantly if it was necessary. But he couldn't. He just couldn't.

Duo walked back over shaking his head. "The manual override has been removed. They knew what they were doing. I can't even get the alarm lights off, but I guess that lets outsiders know something is wrong through the upper windows. They kindly let the alarm circuits open so the noise could be cut." The yellow orange flashing was staining his skin sickly yellow every five seconds. Either that or he was really sick with what he saw.

"They're gone." Trowa shook his head walking over and stood beside the hunched over Heero.

Quatre wandered through, "Judging, by the weights of the boxes, they took everything." Heero twitched below the gathered pilots. They. It wasn't they. It was him. "Suit parts, rifled, explosives...They got-"

"It's not they." Heero whispered.

Duo looked at him sharply while Quatre kneeled next to him. He pulled his hands away from his face. "It's not they. It's Wufei." Heero ground out, anger rolling off him palpably.

"Wufei." Trowa agreed and Heero's strain dropped considerably with Trowa's agreement like letting air out of a balloon.

Trowa and Duo joined the other two pilots on the floor. They all knew they would be stuck until Une realized they had not checked in at the correct time. They were defeated and it was bitter. Each pilot sat quietly for an hour lost in their own thoughts. Until Quatre said, softly in the silence of the garage, "Still. It was good to see him." He smiled slightly looking up at the rest of them. Duo nodded and Trowa let a small smile pass his face.

"Red is his color." Duo smiled genuinely for the first time that week.

Trowa nodded, "He's muscled out. I've never seen Wufei looking so big. Not like overly so, just a lot more than what he was before."

They fell silent again. It had been too long since they saw him. A year. Between prison and no contact. Of course he'd changed.

Trowa lay back on the cold concrete and said, "On the plus side he doesn't want to kill us. He could have easily done so today." Heero finally came out of his squat and sat on the floor leaning against the crate behind him. It was true. Wufei could have easily had them executed. Perhaps this was a good sign. Maybe he didn't want them dead. He obviously wanted to hurt the Preventers in some way.

"I miss him." Duo looked at him and looked away as his eyes started watering.

"We all do."

No. Each pilot may have missed him, but Heero was the one that spent countless hours, scanning through prison complexes. Attempting to track all the fake prisoner transfers and canceled court appearances that were all a set up. Someone wanted him buried to rot.

"What did you do?" He spoke deadly soft. "I searched by every means I possibly could at every spare moment I had. I went through every electronic record known for all prisons and chased phantoms. I tried to visit three times from the first transfer." Indeed Heero had started to look gaunt, almost strung out over the last couple of months. Une had multiple times threatened him with forced leave, only to realize that the only times he actually slept decently was on a mission, because he would not search for Wufei while on a mission.

Trowa spoke trying to reason with him, "You know that we all have been looking for him. Before and after the break out. Duo sent care packages, talked to every known criminal who was available that had been in the system. Either no one talked or no one knew him. Quatre tried to visit countless times and got his entire law staff to try to gain access rights to all the prisons in the ESUN. I infiltrated three different prisons; until we thought to start back at prison one. We all miss him, Heero. It's not just you and you need to realize that."

Quatre nodded, "I agree. We've all been very concerned for you. You need to take care of yourself. We've now seen him and you know he won't be found unless he wants to be. You know that."

Heero looked at zero three and zero four. Duo had remained ominously silent. Heero exhaled loudly and admitted, "I am not at my optimal efficiency. I would have recognized this as a trap."

Quatre nodded. "We've all been stressed out." That was putting it mildly. "I'd guess at least another five hours before Une sends a team after us. Everyone just needs to rest."

Heero nodded and leaned back against the crate and recounted the week. Duo was still not himself; the incidents with the orphans were obviously tormenting him. Quatre though functioning couldn't seem to function as the usual high level strategist. Trowa seemed sad constantly, but was trying to be strong and help everyone. Even now Duo was leaning on his shoulder with his eyes closed. Heero just sat quietly. He didn't know how to proceed after this.

But Heero could admit his thoughts to himself. Even though Wufei had been working for Marcus, it had been good to finally see him.

TBC...

Alright people! That was a long one I know. I thought about splitting it into two, but thought why not give it to you all at once.

Please review! It's just that little box down there. You took the time to read it, what's alittle bit more to type a :)

Thanks,

Silverserpent