Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 27: Shifting Loyalties

Zechs stared out the window of his office and grimly monitored the transfer of Wing Zero, the two Star Suits that Une had kept, the remaining five star pilots, and the pilot of Wing Zero from Une's command ship to hanger eight. Une had been ordered to continue her diplomatic mission and Zechs had no wish for anything to happen to the six pilots because he feared he'd loose what little control he had over Taliesin as a result. The key would be to keep Taliesin from finding out that the other five teens he called his brothers had been transferred to the base because he had a sneaking suspicion that the kid would stop at nothing to free them.

Turning from the window, Zechs glanced down at the single monitor displaying the kid in question.

He's not moved once since I took him back to the isolated bunker two days ago, Zechs mused silently as he frowned at the boy laying motionless on the bed. Why did he go from defiantly angry to absolutely terrified in the space of a heartbeat? Was it just because I'd figured out his secret or is there more to it? What exactly is he terrified of? I would lay money down on those other teens knowing but the question is; can I coerce them into telling me what they know?

Turning off the monitor, Zechs headed towards the only entrance to the underground bunker where Taliesin was currently being housed. He'd had the isolated bunker built when he first started putting together his plans to trap the boy. It consisted of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with the one bedroom and bathroom designed more along the lines of a hospital prison cell.

The security on the entire bunker was top of the line and keyed so that he and he alone could enter the bunker or activate any of the various technology within the annex. He'd known the boy would attempt to fight his way out or slip through some impossible escape route if he didn't take extra precautions to close any potential avenue of escape. It helped that this particular cage had been built in space where reckless destruction would result in instant death; otherwise it probably wouldn't have held the kid for long.

His plan to capture the boy had been simple; take something he wanted, negate any cloaking device used, disable the kid to prevent him from fighting, isolate him completely, and then hold something dear to him hostage so that he would, if not cooperate, at least not actively cause problems. It had worked better than he had expected it to and he knew it had something to do with that first conversation that Taliesin had had with one of the other pilots. It had been patently obvious that something significant had happened during that first conversation; Taliesin's entire behavior and attitude had undergone a drastic change almost immediately afterwards.

The boy had grudgingly cooperated and at least tried to be civil so long as there was no threat (immediate or other wise) to those he called brothers. When he reached the entrance to the underground bunker, Zechs stopped to enter the security code and provided the necessary retina and fingerprint scans to confirm his identity before stepping into the horizontal lift that would transport him to the bunker. He repeated the process after stepping out of the lift and into the small antechamber outside of the bunker where a second security checkpoint had been installed. Once the door opened to allow him entry, he stepped inside the small hallway and headed towards the small kitchen that opened off of the left hand side.

He set about preparing a small meal to take to the boy though he doubted the kid would actually eat it this time, given his current state of mind and the fact that he hadn't eaten a single bite since being moved back into the bunker. Zechs did not wish to leave the boy without any food while he was attending to other matters though and the kid would have to eat at some point. Once he finished making the small plate of food, Zechs carried it towards the entrance to the boy's highly secured room and went through the security check a third time using a completely different password (the extra check point an added precaution in the event that someone managed to bypass the first two).

The moment he stepped into the room, Taliesin moved for the first time in two days as he raised his head just enough for his turbulent mismatched eyes to track Zechs as he crossed the room and his voice (whisper soft and shaking with tightly suppressed fear) cut through the room, "What are you going to do to me now?"

The question caught Zechs off guard as he'd fully expected the kid to continue the silent treatment he'd been giving him since the day he'd had the kid take the Mercurius suit out for a live test. The wording of that single question was also quite telling and Zechs nearly scowled as he considered the implications behind it. Zechs didn't bother to answer the question as he deposited the plate he carried on a table that folded down out of the wall before turning to study the child once more. He then pulled off his mask, having noted early on that Taliesin despised and feared the mask (something that puzzled the man because most people feared the man behind the mask), and waited for the kid to relax slightly before addressing him.

"Why do you think I'm going to do anything to you?"

"You know what I am capable of doing and you brought me back to this room," Taliesin bluntly replied as he slowly sat up and lifted his chin slightly in a show of defiance that was at odds with the nervousness that laced the kid's voice. "I am not stupid; I am well aware of what my ability could mean for the war in the long run. The only question is if you are going to continue your attempt to brainwash me and turn me into your personal weapon, clone me in the hopes that my ability is genetic so you can create an army, or resort to genetic experimentation in an attempt to turn me against my brothers or potentially reproduce my ability in others. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to at least know which form of torture you'll be inflicting upon me."

Zechs stared at the kid in shock as he'd honestly not even thought about what Taliesin's ability might represent to OZ and the war if it should become public knowledge that the kid had a talent that allowed him to cripple the opposition with seeming ease. That the kid had thought about it, and was fully aware of what could be done to him in order to make use of that ability, explained the sheer terror he'd witnessed earlier. The thought that there were those within OZ that would gladly do any or all of those things to the child in order to exploit his ability filled Zechs with an unfamiliar feeling of dread and concern.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Zechs felt a pang of remorse flash through him as he watched Taliesin flinch and shift further away from him before he pushed the unfamiliar feeling away and addressed the kid, "I won't be doing any of those things to you nor will I allow you to be taken by those that would do such things to a child… any child. I told you, I sought to find you so that I might protect you and understand what it was that drives you to do the things you do. I know it is not revenge; I am intimately familiar with the driving need to get revenge. As for being back in this room…? I felt it best to secure you away from the others until I could determine your mental stability."

Zechs paused to take the time to study the disbelief and mistrust on Taliesin's face before continuing, "I don't know who allowed you to be experimented on in the past but so long as I am in a position to prevent it; you will never again have to suffer through such experiments." When Taliesin didn't say anything in response, Zechs sighed, replaced his mask, and rose to his feet. "I will check on you periodically over the next few cycles but there are other matters that require my immediate attention."

Returning to the main portion of the Lunar Base, Zechs headed towards the prison cells on the lower level so that he might speak with the five younger pilots. He was halfway there before he changed his mind and instead tracked down the rebel scientists in order to get them started on repairing Wing Zero; he'd let the pilots stew in silence and uncertainty for a while longer before dealing with them. He also stopped by the infirmary to check on the health of the man who'd been piloting the powerful Gundam at the time Taliesin disabled the suit.

According to the initial reports, the man was suffering from some kind of mental breakdown that was brought on by a combination of grief and hallucinations induced by the operating system of Wing Zero. The scientists hadn't been very forth coming about the system installed on the Gundam but from what Zechs did learn, the system was capable of interfacing directly with the pilot's brain in order to speed up the pilot's responses and thought processes.

Over the next week, Zechs continued to monitor the repairs on Wing Zero, kept a close eye on Taliesin's emotional and mental stability, and ran the Lunar Base as an afterthought. Unfortunately, at the end of the week things went to hell in a hand basket. It started with Treize being forced to step down as the leader of OZ over a dispute regarding the use of the mobile dolls. After that, came the orders for Zechs to destroy the all of the Star Suits, scrap the Gundam suits that the scientists had been working on, ship the six Resistance pilots he had in his custody to Earth so that they could be tried in a court of law (and ultimately executed for their crimes against OZ), and hand over custody of the Newtype child so that he could be studied by OZ's scientists in order to determine if his abilities would be of any use to OZ.

The first three orders were troublesome but it was the final order that greatly incised Zechs because it meant someone under his command had gone digging where they should not have and then promptly squealed like a stuck pig; the full scope of Taliesin's abilities having been classified information that he'd not even passed on to Treize. Zechs was given one week to comply or he would be facing a court martial and an execution of his own. Unwilling to allow anyone to harm the child he'd come to see as a son (even if said child didn't share the sentiment), Zechs set about making plans that would ultimately allow the child and his adopted brothers to escape.

Ten minutes after receiving his latest orders, Zechs strode into the prison cell where the pilots were currently residing and took a moment to study the five teens as they warily stood in response to his unexpected appearance. In that moment, the five teens reminded him of Taliesin and he briefly wondered if it was because they were still so young themselves or if it was because the kid had picked up their mannerisms. Shoving away the distracting thought, Zechs clasped his hands behind his back and addressed the teens.

"In seven days, I will no longer be in a position to protect the five of you or Taliesin from OZ," Zechs stated without preamble. "If there was even the slimmest chance that doing so would be in Taliesin's best interest, I would simply allow the six of you to walk out of here right now. However, due to the revelation that I have at least one spy hiding amongst the soldiers on this base, doing so would undoubtedly create more problems than it would solve and that is not something I am willing to risk."

"What exactly is it you want from us?" Heero demanded as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"I know Taliesin has an ability that allows him to short out the systems of a Gundam or an entire castle. I know that Taliesin could easily destroy any suit he pilots due to that same ability with the exception of Dogstar and possibly the suits that the five of you operate."

"So?" Duo drawled lazily.

Zechs ignored the taunting tone of the long haired teen as he continued, "Dogstar was badly damaged by Wing Zero and Taliesin is certain that it can't be safely repaired and that any attempts to repair it would result in an explosion that would rival the destruction of his Gundam back on earth; meaning that you'd be one suit short if I did allow you to fly out of here."

"Not an issue… he could hitch a ride in one of the other suits," Trowa dismissively countered.

"Dogstar was damaged during his short battle against Wing Zero; which means that Wing Zero is powerful enough to damage your Star Suits. Would you really want to leave that technology in the hands of OZ?" Zechs asked softly.

"What's your point?" Wufei inquired tightly as he scowled at the older man.

"At least one of you knows what it would take to secure a suit so that Taliesin's ability didn't affect it. I may not know which one of you that is but there is no doubt that one or more of you know. I'm certain Taliesin knows more than he is willing to admit as well but he has adamantly refused to reveal that information strictly because he fears that it will be used against the five of you at some point in the future."

"So what if we do?" Heero stated with a shrug. "What does that have to do with the fact that you are being removed from your position?"

"I want you to use that knowledge to upgrade Wing Zero so that Taliesin can use it to escape when they come to arrest me for insubordination."

"Come again?" Duo asked incredulously.

"In seven days, I'm going to refuse to hand the five of you, the pilot of Wing Zero, or Taliesin over to OZ for execution and experimentation respectfully and they will send someone to arrest me and collect the seven of you within hours of my refusal. With Wing Zero protected, Taliesin could use it to escape and destroy this base in the process; crippling OZ and denying them a weapon capable of countering you and your Star Suits at the same time."

"Why?" Quatre asked softly.

"Because no child deserves to be treated like some sort of science project and I do not wish to see Taliesin harmed or worse abused because of his abilities. They would break him; first by killing you and then by the various experiments that they would subject him to in their quest to either turn him into the perfect soldier or use him to create millions of perfect soldiers."

Zechs watched as the five pilots huddled close together and held a whispered conference, one of them occasionally looking up at him with an unreadable expression before returning to the discussion. He waited patiently for them to finish, knowing that if he was to succeed in seeing Taliesin safe; he'd need their complete cooperation.

"Has Wing Zero been completely repaired?" Trowa asked after several minutes passed.

"Yes… I had planned to commence testing the Zero operating system this week using the five of you as it appears the system has some flaws that put a weak pilot at risk. The five of you, Taliesin, and myself are the best pilots currently on base and I would not needlessly risk Taliesin by having him test it without seeing how the system affects other pilots aside from the man who piloted it originally."

"Is my father recovering?" Quatre inquired with concern at the reference to his father.

"He is but he is not yet completely stable. He is still functioning under the belief that he killed you while he was piloting the suit. I will make arrangements for him to be unguarded when the time comes so that you may take him with you when you leave."

"We'll work with you on one condition; you move Taliesin into our cell," Heero declared after another fifteen minutes of hushed debate between the five teens.

"Not possible," Zechs replied only for all five teens to immediately begin protesting and Zechs had to hold up his hand in order to silence them before he could continue speaking. "Allow me to explain, Taliesin isn't exactly a prisoner; he's had almost free run of the base for the past four months right up until he refused to face two of you in the Mercurius. He's currently in isolation because I feared he was mentally unstable after dealing with Wing Zero followed by my realization that it was him and not a weapon built into his suit that disabled the Gundam. Moving him into your cell would be far too suspicious and the spy would immediately know something was up the moment I transferred Taliesin into a cell and he or she would report me."

"Can you allow one of us to have forty-eight hours alone with him?" Heero asked after the group of teens held what Zechs assumed was a silent conversation with a single glance. "The process to secure a suit is two-fold and while we can start the process, Taliesin is the only one that can create the activation key but he can't be left alone to make the key because if he makes a mistake it will kill him."

"I can smuggle one of you to him," Zechs agreed after giving the request serious consideration; including coming up with a legitimate reason for removing one of the pilots from the cells that wouldn't be seen as suspicious to the traitor amongst his men. "What do you need from me in order to start on the initial portion of the upgrades? And which of you would be willing to start testing the Zero system?"

"We'll need at least three metal etching tools, access to the Gundam, the tools needed to strip the outer armor from the Gundam, and a place to work where we won't be caught on camera. It will take two days for Taliesin to create the key, two to three days for the suit to be prepared, and another day or two to put it back together and activate the upgrades," Trowa offered after the pilots shared another silent conversation. "Taliesin will need a day or two to recover after the key has been made and he will have to be present in order to activate the upgrades. Can any testing be completed within the first two days? That would give us five full days needed to upgrade the suit in addition to whatever we can get done between tests over the course of those first two days."

"And when would you need to see Taliesin?"

"The sooner the better, so that he has plenty of time to recover before the upgrades need to be activated."

"I will see to it that everything is ready before the end of the current waking cycle. All I need now, then, is to know which one of you will be needed to help Taliesin and which one will be the first to test the Zero system?"

He watched as Trowa and Heero had a small, brief argument before Heero finally turned and approached Zechs followed by Duo a moment later. Zechs nodded and signaled for both to teens to follow him. Once outside the cell, Zechs gave Duo a push towards the two guards that were waiting outside.

"Take him to the lab; he'll be testing Wing Zero. I'm taking this one upstairs to interrogate him. Make certain that one doesn't try any funny stuff."

Zechs then ushered Heero towards the entrance to the isolated bunker, stopping only once to cover the teen's head so that he wouldn't be able to remember how to get to the entrance of the bunker or observe the security procedure required to access the bunker.

The long week of isolation had been hard on Harry and he kept flipping between self-pity and self-disgust over everything that had happened since the day he'd fallen into Zechs' trap nearly four months earlier. He'd spent quite a bit of time over the course of the week meditating in order to regain control of his emotions but it wasn't easy due to the worry he felt for his brothers since he'd not been allowed to speak with any of them since he'd been moved back into isolation.

There was also the constant worry eating away at the back of his mind over whether or not he could trust Zechs' word about him not wanting to exploit Harry's magic; not that the man knew that Harry's ability was magic and not one of the so called Newtype talents. When he wasn't meditating or curled up on his bed waiting for the other shoe to drop, Harry spent time running through the exercises, katas, and sword stances Wufei had taught him.

It was on the ninth day (or the twenty-seventh cycle) of his isolation when Harry's unhappy routine was abruptly disrupted once more. At the time, he'd been using his wings to hover several feet off the floor as he practiced his sword stances using both of the practice blades Wufei had given him to work on his duel wielding (an exercise designed to strengthen his wing muscles and help him later use those same stances in Dogstar while in zero-gravity).

He'd just been executing a forward lunge with his left handed sword while he brought the sword in his right hand across his chest to block a non-existent blow when the door to what he thought of as his prison cell opened unexpectedly. He spun around in midair and dropped gracefully into a defensive crouch with both wooden swords held ready to attack in a reverse grip and his wings spread wide to help him maintain his balance as he took in his visitors.

"You've been learning to fight with swords as well as knives?" Zechs drawled questioningly before he shook his head and pushed the person with him further into the room. "Of course you have been trained to use a sword or you wouldn't be able to use the beam swords your suits were equipped with and I'm not here to get a detailed listing of your abilities. There are power shifts occurring within OZ right now that will ultimately affect you. I will not have time to watch over you during the next forty-eight hours as I have things that must be done; so I have brought someone who can. I give you my word that the surveillance cameras in this room will be disabled for the duration of those forty-eight hours; at which time I will return for both of you. I will be back in a few minutes with enough food to carry you through the next forty-eight hours."

Zechs then removed the restraints on the person he'd brought with him and promptly left. Harry remained in his defensive crouch as he watched the individual reach up and remove the cloth sack that had been covering his head to reveal Heero. Harry stared at the teen in shock as he couldn't quite believe that Zechs was allowing one of his brothers to visit him. Slowly rising to his feet, Harry let his swords clatter to the ground and wrapped his wings around his body protectively as his eyes darted about the room in confusion; a large part of him thinking this was some kind of trap or trick.

"Taliesin?"

"Is that really you, Heero?"

"Yeah, it is and no you don't have to hang me upside down and hex me to prove it," Heero replied with a half smile.

Harry closed his eyes for a split second as he furled his wings and let out a soft sigh of relief before he walked up to Heero and hugged the other teen as he stated, "I was so afraid something had happened to you guys because Zechs wasn't allowing me to talk to any of you like he had before. I was starting to go mad imagining the worst and didn't know how much longer I could take not knowing. The others are alright too, right?"

"They're as fine as can be expected given the circumstances."

Before Harry could respond, the door opened once more and Zechs walked in carrying a couple of boxes filled with food. When the masked man caught sight of Harry embracing Heero, he stopped and stared at the two of them for a brief moment and Harry had the distinct impression that the man was jealous but he immediately brushed the thought away as ludicrous. The man then dropped the boxes, turned around, and stalked out of the room without saying another word; once again giving the impression that he was jealous of Harry's relationship with his brother.

"Is it just me or did he seem…"

"Jealous?" Heero supplied as he pulled back a bit. "It wasn't just you."

Harry shivered and leaned back into Heero as he muttered, "It still creeps me out that he thinks of himself as some kind of father figure and it only got worse after you ordered me to obey him; 'cause it appeared as if I was accepting him as such."

"Not much different than you coming to see me as a brother after I shot you," Heero quietly pointed out.

"There's a big difference," Harry dryly pointed out as he dropped his head against Heero's chest. "You didn't kidnap me, threaten my family with bodily harm, and stalk me for months on end. You helped the others teach me how to survive in this world of technology, how to protect myself, and still allowed me to cuss and curse you despite being the only one in a position to stop me from doing either."

"You also hated me for a long time or have you forgotten that you promised to kill me at one point?"

"I didn't hate you," Harry countered with a grimace over the reminder. "I hated the fact that you made me see and acknowledge a part of me that I never knew existed. I don't exactly hate Zechs either… well, no that's not true, I do hate him on some level but it's more that I hate the fact that he holds you and the others hostage against my good behavior. He also frightens me because he's shown that he'll go to any lengths to get what he wants and knowing he wants me for whatever reason only makes it worse. I also deeply resent the fact that he thinks he has a right to insert himself into my life as a parental figure."

"Why?"

"He's cold. And it's not just the fact that he is a soldier because if it was I would have resented the five of you since you all are in effect soldiers as well. I have always felt safe around the five of you; even when I didn't wish to. I don't know if it is anything like Quatre's Space Heart or not but when I am near any one of you I can feel a sense of warmth and security and know I am safe. All I feel from Zechs is cold emptiness as if he has no heart or maybe it is that he has no true emotions."

Harry paused and pulled away from Heero, his wings fluttering in agitation as he crossed his arms protectively over his stomach and stared off at nothing. After a moment he continued in a soft voice that seemed to fill the entire room, "The idea that someone as cold and empty as Zechs could replace my parents or even my godfather is an affront to their sacrifices and the few precious memories of I have of them."

"My mother and father both sacrificed their lives in order to protect me from Voldemort; even though they knew they would most likely be tortured and killed, they willingly placed themselves between me and the monster of a man who'd come to kill me. My godfather broke out of prison to save me, faced a hundred demons to protect me, lived on the streets eating rats and garbage for a year while digging for information because someone was trying to kill me again, and he risked everything to free me from those who wanted to use me or kill me to claim my inheritance for their own."

"I don't think Zechs could ever understand their sacrifices or the emotions that drove them to sacrifice themselves. I didn't understand for a long time either. I had a bare glimpse when I befriended the Weasleys and Hermione but then it all got turned around when I learned the Weasleys were just in it for the money. Then I met you and the others and the five of you inserted yourselves in my life before I even realized it was happening and suddenly I understood exactly what drove my parents and Sirius to do what they did to protect me. I don't want to die but I would gladly give up my life for any one of you because a world without the five of you in it isn't a world I would want to live in. The mere thought of taking a person's life sickens me but that won't stop me from killing another to protect my family."

"I understand," Heero murmured as he closed the distance that Harry had put between them and dropped his hand on Harry's head.

"I know you do… and that's the difference between you and Zechs. That reminds me… how the hell did you guys end up being captured again? You guys didn't try sneaking back in just to save me did you? I asked the others but they wouldn't tell me anything either."

"It's not important…"

"Bullshit, Heero; if it wasn't important, then you would have answered me the first time I asked you. What are you guys trying to hide from me?"

"We weren't trying to hide anything from you, Taliesin; we just didn't want you to blame yourself," Heero quietly admitted the moment it became apparent that the wizard wasn't going to let the matter go. "We weren't captured; we surrendered. Wufei witnessed your capture as he'd still been on the base when the alarms went off, Quatre could feel your pain and anger, and Zechs was threatening to have you executed if we didn't turn ourselves in. At first we figured he was bluffing and planned to rescue you right up until you vanished completely shortly after the doctors had finished treating your injuries."

Harry opened his mouth to apologize only for Heero to cut him off before he could say anything.

"No. It wasn't your fault and I don't want to hear an apology from you. The plan you, Wufei, and Quatre came up with to get us out was damn good and it would have worked against anyone but Zechs. Zechs set you up from the start; he'd plotted and planned from the moment we ditched him the day we left the earth and he has far more experience waging war than any of us. There was a reason he was given the nickname the Lightning Count and it wasn't just because he is a talented pilot."

"But if not for me…"

"Taliesin, stop; you just got finished telling me that you'd sacrifice yourself for any one of us, so it should not come as any surprise to hear that any one of us would sacrifice ourselves for you. It didn't take me long to stop seeing you as an annoyingly stubborn little foul-mouthed brat that liked to push my buttons and began seeing you as my little brother. I know for a fact that the others all feel the same way; so is it any wonder we'd do anything necessary to protect you?"

"And the reason you ordered me to cooperate with Zechs?" Harry asked tentatively around the lump of emotions that formed in the back of his throat over Heero's confession.

"Une made more than a few threats about what she would do to you the moment she got her hands on you. So long as you cooperated with Zechs, then Treize would not order Zechs to turn you over to Une. We didn't want to take any chances of you falling into her hands once again and figured that Zechs was the lesser of two evils at that point."

Harry shuddered in response to that revelation as he leaned into Heero's touch for a moment before he once again wrapped his arms around the other teen; wanting and needing the physical contact because it had been close to four months since he'd last been comforted by someone he trusted. He shivered a bit when Heero's hands ghosted over his wings for a split second as the younger, taller teen returned the embrace but he didn't pull away.

"What exactly is going on?" Harry finally asked after the silence had drawn out for several minutes. "Zechs has never before allowed me to have a visitor while I'm locked up in here and I doubt he ever planned on allowing any of you to visit me for five minutes let alone two full days."

"Let's head down into your supply trunk; I don't trust him to have turned off the cameras as promised and we need to have a long talk," Heero replied.

"You could have told me that before you let me rant," Harry deadpanned even as he retrieved and resized the trunk in question and opened it up so they could climb inside.

"It was an educational rant… maybe he learned something."

"I doubt it… I've tried explaining things to him a hundred different times in a hundred different ways over the past four months and he still can't comprehend what motivates me. Besides, as far as I know, hell hasn't frozen over just yet."

Unseen by Heero and Harry, Zechs shut off the security camera and sat back to consider what he'd just learned by eavesdropping on that small reunion. He'd originally hoped that they'd reveal something about the defensive upgrades that would be added to Wing Zero and had been completely blindsided by Harry's passionate declarations. It was a conversation that would hound his thoughts for the rest of the week.

Back in the secure bunker, Heero laughed as the two of them disappeared into the trunk. Once they were comfortably ensconced in a pair of lawn chairs, Heero wasted no time in bringing Harry up to date on most everything that had happened since the day he'd gone out to face Zayeed in the Wing Zero Gundam. Harry was skeptical about Zechs' motives but he couldn't deny the fact that it would be the perfect opportunity to escape; if they could pull it off.

The first thing Heero confirmed with Harry at the end of that debriefing was the state of Dogstar after the battle against the Gundam. The news that the custom twin buster rifles on the more advanced Wing Zero Gundam were more powerful than the buster rifle of the Wing Gundam that Heero had taken to Earth disturbed the taller teen. It also confirmed that Zechs had at least been partially truthful with the Gundam pilots when he'd approached them for their help. Once they finished that conversation, they took a small break so that Harry could gather enough food for the two of them (neither of them interested in any of the food that Zechs had left for them) for the next two days as they would be spending that time in Harry's trunk to avoid anyone seeing what they were doing.

Once they had everything set up, Harry started the blood letting while the two of them discussed alternate plans in case Zechs was just stringing them along. Those plans included taking the two prototype suits, Wing Zero, all six Star Suits, the five scientists, and Zayeed with them when they left as well as destroying the entire base and uploading a virus to the base's network to destroy any information on all of the suits and the Zero System. Harry also asked Heero to ask Wufei to get him print outs of everything they had on Wing Zero; especially anything regarding the operating system of the suit so that he could commit the information to memory.

At the end of the forty-eighth hour, Heero carried an exhausted Harry up out of the suit and helped him return the cord of trunks back to his neck. Heero was just settling Harry onto the bed when Zechs strode into the room. The man took one look at Harry's rather sickly complexion and the bloody bandage around Harry's left hand and instantly blamed Heero for his current condition. Harry could practically feel the entire room grow darker as the man snarled at his brother. Harry instinctively knew that Zechs wouldn't hesitate to hurt Heero right now and he fisted his right hand in Heero's shirt as the teen attempted to stand up to face Zechs.

"What did you do?" Zechs demanded coldly as he glared the taller teen.

"I created the activation key for Wing Zero's defenses," Harry answered in Heero's place as he tightened his fist against Heero's efforts to pry him free of his shirt. "And I cut my hand while I was working."

"You told me you were going to watch over him."

"I did. We warned you that creating the key would take a toll on him; it would have been worse if I had not been here to make certain he ate and rested when possible," Heero stated as he stopped trying to free his shirt and calmly met Zechs' gaze.

"Heero did nothing wrong and I will be fine after eight or so hours of sleep," Harry added bitingly as he glared at the man for daring to attack Heero; even if it was just verbally.

"I can't move you back into your rooms with you looking like death warmed over," Zechs tightly pointed out.

"So don't… let the base believe that I am still locked up in this room and Heero can smuggle me back to his cell so that I can see my other brothers."

"Not possible. I was supposed to be interrogating him."

"Let me guess, you thought to knock him about and bruise him up once he left here to keep up appearances?" Harry asked sarcastically as he changed the hand that was holding Heero and pulled him closer. He then began muttering under his breath to hide those incantations he couldn't use silently while running his right hand over Heero's face, arms, and clothes to hide the fact that he was using his wand to change Heero's appearance, "Of all the stupid… told you hell hadn't frozen over… I swear… he's arrogant, wears a mask, has long blonde hair, and displays unexplored depths of stupidity? I thought Quatre said there were no Malfoys in this world."

When Harry finally let go of Heero, the teen looked as if he'd been worked over quite thoroughly for two days; sporting an assortment of new and fading bruises covering most of his exposed skin, a split lip, black eye, ripped clothes with liberally speckled with bloodstains (the blood supplied by Harry's injured hand), and an underlying paleness that hinted at pain. Harry took one look at his brother and nearly threw up because it looked so real; still, it was far better than letting Zechs work him over and the spells would wear off fairly quickly over the next twenty-four hours. Even Zechs appeared more than a little stunned by the ten minute transformation.

"Now… about smuggling me out?"

"You can't stay in their cell; you'd be trapped if my replacement gets here earlier than unexpected," Zechs sighed as he turned away from Heero to face Harry once more. "I had hoped to allow you the run of the base again with a pair of trusted guards to keep an eye on you."

"Nix the guards and just give me run of the base," Harry countered as he tilted his head to one side. "I can make is so that no one will ever see me."

"If everyone thinks he is still locked up in isolation that could work and it would allow us to work with him to finish the suit just that much sooner," Heero supplied on the heels of Harry's rebuttal. "It would also leave him free to act in case the worst happens and your replacement shows up ahead of schedule."

"Fine… but how am I supposed to get him out of here without him being seen?"

"Like this," Harry replied as he tapped himself on the head with his right arm while whispering the incantation to the disillusionment spell under his breath causing his body to slowly ripple and disappear. "Heero can carry me on his back until I am close to my room and I'll slip away to sleep."

"No. I will leave you here to sleep for eight hours and then I will return to escort you back to the base. That way there is no chance that they will find you while you are so weak."

"And if something happens to you during that time? You told me that you are the only one who can get in or out of this place. What happens to me if something happens to you?"

"I will be back in eight hours; I still have at least eighty hours before they take action against me. I've been working on a way to buy us more time and can implement it in two or three full cycles."

"If you are gone longer than sixteen hours I will take matters into my own hands," Harry stated softly with an undercurrent of steel as he countered the spell and shimmered back into view. "Dogstar is still operational enough to allow me to easily blast my way out of here."

Zechs grudgingly agreed and left Harry to sleep off his exhaustion while he pulled the cloth sack back over Heero's head and led him out of the room. Harry watched with regret as his brother was dragged from the room and prayed that things would be better soon before he closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled down into sleep.

Twelve hours later, a disillusioned Harry was standing on the observation deck in one of the lesser used research labs watching as his brothers striped the outer armor off of the Wing Zero suit and carved the ward runes into each piece. The lab was currently locked, the doors draped with a tarp so the light didn't shine into the corridor, and the security cameras looped to show an empty room. The cameras in the pilots' prison cell were similarly looped as well; to show all five pilots sleeping.

The only reason Harry had not yet joined the five on the ground was because they didn't yet know Harry was in the room with them; he'd just snuck into the room via the air vents and was waiting for an opportune moment to announce his presence without startling them too badly. That and he'd taken several minutes to just drink in the sight of all five of his brothers as he inspected them for any evidence that someone had harmed them. Sighing, Harry climbed up onto the guardrail that wrapped around the observation deck, took off the shirt that hid his wings, and spread out his wings as he jumped down.

Unable to resist pranking the five teens, Harry dropped his over shirt on Heero's head, tugged on Duo's braid, poked Trowa in the back of the head, turned Wufei's clothes green, and conjured a bunch of smiley faces on Quatre's shirt before he landed well out of reach of all five of them. They knew exactly who it was that had snuck up on them but it was amusing to see them trying to figure out where he'd gone. Finally, Harry released the spell hiding him as he snickered down at all of them from the torso of the Gundam.

"Merlin but I missed you guys," Harry breathed as they finally glanced up to where he was perched.

Harry was dropping down over the side a heartbeat later and feeling far younger than his seventeen and a half years as he hugged his many brothers while trying not to get too emotional. Quatre thanked him for saving his father, Trowa apologized again for attacking him during the test, Wufei apologized for not being at his side when he was caught, Duo complained about having his braid tugged on, and Heero asked him if he'd gotten enough sleep.

Harry in the mean time apologized to them all, demanded to know if Une or Zechs had harmed any of them, and assured them that he was fine if a touch tired. After twenty minutes just enjoying being reunited with each other, the group went back to their self assigned tasks; Heero and Quatre continued to pull the armor from Wing Zero, Trowa and Wufei resumed etching the rune schemes onto each panel, and Harry took Duo with him into the cockpit so that he could start warding the inner systems of the suit.

"Heero said you were the first one to test the Zero system," Harry fished tentatively as he etched runes into the inner faces of the access panels on onto the various system boards before painting them over with his blood while Duo removed the un-warded panels one at a time and replaced the warded ones once Harry was finished with them. "How different is it from the systems used in the Star Suits and the Gundams?

"Very," Duo replied slowly. "If it was at all possible we'd torch this suit and pray no one ever found da means ta recreate it. Zero messes with your mind and makes ya see things that aren't there. It also cuts your response time in half and increases your overall effectiveness. Da stronger ya are mentally da longer ya can tolerate da system but eventually it overwhelms ya completely. It was most likely da system that made Zayeed think he'd killed Quatre after makin' him believe he'd faced him in battle and why he didn't think ya were really ya. Zayeed is a strong man but he was angry over Quatre's capture and da system made him live out his worst nightmare."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Zechs seems ta think he will be and Quatre said his father's emotions don't feel quite so chaotic any more but it is gonna take time for him ta fully heal."

"I tried so hard to get him to listen to me; he just didn't want to listen. I felt sick to my stomach when Zechs forced me to leave without allowing me to make certain Zayeed still lived. I feared Quatre would hate me forever if anything happened to his father because of me."

"Quatre would have been just as upset if anything had happened ta ya," Duo quietly countered as he paused and glanced over at Harry with a troubled look. "I don't want ta see ya pilotin' this suit, Taliesin. As far as I'm concerned this suit is da worst thing ever created and I don't think there is a person alive that can handle its power without sacrificin' something of themselves. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa think ya are da only one that could possibly pilot it safely because they believe your magic will protect ya but I'd rather not risk ya gettin' hurt."

"This suit nearly destroyed Dogstar; if it had hit me just a little more to the center, if it had hit a different section of the wards; Dogstar would have exploded and you'd never have found enough of me to bury. Destroying it wouldn't guarantee that no one recreated it and leaving it in OZ's hands could easily see one of you dead one day because I can't upgrade the Star Suits any more than I already have. One of the other Gundams might have stood a slim chance against it but it would not have been easy and they still would have taken some damage. If Zechs had sent any of you out in the Vayeate and the Mercurius… well lets just say I fear I'd have ended up two brothers short."

"I know and that's da only reason why I'm not raisin' a bigger stink about them thinkin' of puttin' ya in da pilot's seat of this monster."

"I doubt I could fly this suit any better than any of you and if what you say about the Zero system messing with the pilot's brain is true, then I might well be the worst pilot to put in the cockpit because it could potentially lock me in my mind while my body is completely under the influence of the interface."

"Ya just had ta go and say that didn't ya?" Duo groused as he gave Harry a sour look.

"Just stating fact, Duo. Has Wufei had a chance to burn off everything they have on the Zero system and the rest of this hunk of junk's basic functions and internal systems?"

"Sort of, Zechs actually printed off everything they had on all of da suits currently listed in their system; includin' da old Alliance suits and OZ's mobile dolls. He gave us a list of their basic specs, their strengths, and their weaknesses as well as an extensive collection of blueprints for all of da suits currently in existence except for da Star Suits and da original five Gundams; includin' some of da older models that were scrapped decades ago."

Harry listened to Duo talk as he continued to carve the ward schemes and paint the runes with his blood. After about eight hours, the five pilots had to return to their cells so that they weren't missed during the physical inspections while Harry remained behind to continue working on warding the cockpit. Tucked away inside the Gundam as he was, Harry was invisible to those that peered into the lab every now and then to check on the suit; including Zechs who'd been looking to check on Harry. He ended up napping for a couple of hours curled up in the pilot's chair and his dreams were vague and troubling as his subconscious mind worried over what he'd learned about the Zero system.

After his nap, it took another eleven hours of carving and painting for Harry to finish warding the cockpit before he moved on to painting his blood over the runes the others had been carving. It took another four cycles for Harry to get the rest of the suit finished (or thirty-two hours) even with his brothers helping him when they could and he was utterly exhausted by the time the suit was finished. He was actually tempted to swear a magical oath saying that he'd never ward another suit for as long as he lived. The only reason he didn't swear the oath was because he knew there was always chance one of the current warded suits could be damaged beyond repair; which would require him to ward a replacement (allowing his brothers to fly an unwarded suit not an option he was willing to contemplate).

The last thing he did before crashing inside of Wing Zero's cockpit again was absorb all of the printouts regarding Wing Zero's systems and basic mechanics. Over the course of the next thirty hours, while Harry slept tucked safely away inside of Wing Zero, Zechs had decoy suits made to look like all six of the Star Suits (made from mobile dolls painted to look like the suits) and the three Gundam suits (Wing Zero, Mercurius, and Vayeate) destroyed several hundred miles out from the surface of the moon to make it appear as if he was complying with his orders.

The actual suits were then moved into the same lab as Wing Zero by a handful of Zechs' most trusted subordinates (except for Dogstar which Harry had been carrying in his rucksack since it had been damaged). At the same time, Zayeed was moved into a less secure room (with a pair of trusted guards posted to 'guard him') and the scientists rounded up and returned to their cell which was a few rooms down from where the pilots were being kept.

In their cell, Duo and Wufei were using Harry's laptop to create the virus that would be loaded onto the base's network just before they escaped (in order to destroy any information OZ had on the three Gundams in their custody, the Star Suits, and any of the pilots). Heero, in the mean time, had taken over control of the base's surveillance cameras using the laptop that Zechs had managed to smuggle to him during his last round of 'interrogations' while Trowa was keeping an eye out for any of the guards checking on them. Quatre mostly spent that time sleeping because he had been overwhelmed by everyone's emotions and the rising tension throughout the base.

Any reprieve Zechs might have gained by showing the destruction of the decoy suits was quickly lost by his refusal to hand over the pilots or Harry. He'd used the excuse that the pilots still held valuable information regarding the Resistance (that he claimed he was slowly getting out of them) and that Harry was his ward. Inevitably, that meant that Zechs would be court-martialed and both the pilots and Harry shipped to Earth regardless of Zechs' wishes.

Not that Zechs, Harry, or the five pilots were going to allow that to happen.

AN: Not as much action going on in this chapter but lots of important little ripples have cropped up. Zechs ash officially gone AWOL, Zero is being upgraded, we see concrete evidence that the Gundam boys (Heero specifically) feel just as strongly about Harry as he feels about them (even going so far as to sacrifice themselves in order to protect him), and a ticking time bomb has been set off inside of the Lunar Base. The next chapter will be filled with lots of action as the many ripples that have been stirred crash together.

Now, there are a couple things I'd like to address in response to a negative review I got for the last chapter (the ONLY negative review I might add). I didn't reply through the system because I wanted everyone to see my responses (yet another reason I can't stand the review system here).

To start with; Harry is apparently being limited. Well yeah, he's human; of course he's going to have limits. If I wanted a god-like Harry, I would have listed him as god-like instead of as merely powerful. He's not perfect, he's not all-knowing, and he's going to make poor decisions. He is a seventeen year old kid trying to survive in a society that is completely foreign to him and the only thing keeping him from completely loosing it are the bonds he's managed to make with his family. He is not weak, he is merely human.

Next, Harry's apparent inactivity during his three months of his most recent imprisonment; he was kept pretty damn busy during those first two months cleaning up the messes he made and I don't know about you but scrubbing miles and miles of floors would certainly leave me with little time to think let alone plan an elaborate escape/rescue attempt. Personally, I think I'd be sleeping every chance I got if I had to clean up that many hallways and rooms. Plus he was being watched because Zechs didn't trust him not to try anything. His desire to save his brothers doesn't stop him from sacrificing himself to protect them and if that means keeping his head down and playing along then so be it because Harry would do anything for them.

But Harry has magic… uh, so? Magic doesn't solve everything. Yes, he can turn invisible but Zechs found a way to negate that ability (or was the sprinkler system filled with paint too subtle?). He could have confounded people but how is he supposed to confound the hundreds or thousands of soldiers that are standing between him and his freedom? The spell only lasts so long and he can't exactly cast it on that many people all at once. Illusions are nice but they take a considerable amount of magic to weave and uh… in case you haven't noticed he's living inside of a highly advanced military base on the moon out in space that depends upon the technology that runs it and using that much magic would shut down the base and kill everyone inside.

And as for Harry using the Imperius Curse… I'm sorry, my Harry detests the Unforgivable Curses and he will never use them because they are dark and evil curses that go against everything he stands for. I was disappointed that JKR had him use the Imperius Curse in book seven because I saw it as a cop out. Actually, I was disappointed in most all of book seven but that's beside the point. The Crucio in book five I can sort of understand because grief does things to a person. My Harry didn't see his godfather die though and his experiences with all three Unforgivables have been negative and have left scars on him mentally and emotionally.

Lastly; the idea that Harry shouldn't have to follow orders because the person who gave the order isn't standing right there next to him. Uh, hello, do the words Magical Oath ring a bell? Proximity has no bearing on the Oath Harry swore to Heero. Heero's order to not fight Zechs and cooperate with the man was reasonable because he gave the order in order to protect Harry and therefore Harry's magic required him to obey. They are prisoners out in space where flying off the handle and doing something reckless could easily get someone killed. On earth it wouldn't have been necessary to give such an order.

To everyone else who reviewed, thank you; your compliments on the story and your words of encouragement were greatly appreciated. I'll be spending a couple of hours later tonight replying to reviews. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and you can expect the next update tomorrow or Saturday. ~ Jenn