Do not trust the bold, but there are spots without bold now.

Oh, Heidi felt such relief as she finally saw them all filing in.

"Were you followed?" Mandy asked as she moved straight to her. "You were fine the whole way?"

"Yeah, it was fine the whole way," she insisted. "I used the card several times. Nothing happened." She had to warn them, even if they didn't want to trust them. "Duo Maxwell warned me there were a lot of security measures in it, that looked like it wanted to trace us. So, he took what was in it and made four others. Enough for at least a year."

"How often did you try it?" Mandy asked. "And for how long?"

"Oh. Well? He wanted to make sure I wasn't scared of it at first, so I bought a candybar with it. Then later on I bought gas. I bought more formula. I bought more diapers. I bought a burger. I bought another burger. Just, the whole trip."

"And nothing happened at all?" Platinum asked as she held her twins. "Nothing at all?"

"No." Well, there was a creepy guy right before that, but she hadn't used the card there yet, so she wasn't going to confuse them. "They were all really good."

"You're sure you weren't followed?" Mandy asked. "Your car wasn't tagged at all?"

"Why would they bother? Look, Duo Maxwell gets that you don't have triplets in three months, but to put your minds at ease? The real Hilde is with him now. I even met her," Heidi confirmed.

"Oh." That seemed to make Mandy loosen up. "He did take care of that one girl Lucille, and even took her back to safety."

"Yeah. He's gonna be more mindful about kids. That's why he cares. We're pregnant and we have a lot of babies here," Heidi said. "A lot."

"We haven't tried the other card yet," Mae said. "I am supposed to walk somewhere, use it and then run. I am the most disposable of the group." She rolled her eyes.

"It was a joke," Mandy insisted. "You aren't the one doing it."

"I am," Platinum said. "In a simple area with two ways out. I will charge it and move swiftly to the entrance," she insisted. "If nothing happens after several minutes, we will know they are fine."

Wufei's Vehicle.

Dying hair in their colonies had been illegal. Mei-Lin had actually dyed it a bright blue? She was making another person feel better with a deep hug? Her clothes. Her movements. Another person altogether.

Hearing about it was one thing. Seeing was another. Was this woman who acted nothing like Mei-Lin actually her? This feels like one big trick. Everything about them is so different. He picked up the phone to talk to Heero. "This has to be a trick. It has to be. Maybe the children are real and these are decoys? Or maybe the children belong to someone else too. I don't see anything about Mei-Lin in her at all. She wouldn't grasp someone like that, except maybe her own sister about to die."

"Anything is possible." That was all Heero said. "What were her talents? Her skills? Something unique about her that wasn't facts or memories? Look for that. Crystalia said they would not be that corrupted."

"If they weren't that corrupted, then they can't be these women!" No. "I know her, and that's not her!" Right. "This is just another ruse, Revenge of the Lost is just making us look into another direction. Wang Mei-Lin is somewhere out there. All of this is just misdirection, nothing new from this group, Heero!"

"What do you want to try then, Wufei?"

"Maybe it's still paying off doctors. I need Hilde Schbeiker's number, maybe the evidence was corrupted. I will get her tested side by side with Sally Po."

"Hm? Hang on." Heero didn't take very long. "Relena knows the number. I'll text you. Let us know the results."

"Right. Looking at this from every view, will help keep us on target."

"Sure. Go see for yourself. You'll know how to find us."

Right. That was a better idea. He grabbed the number as he left the pointless area. Nearest flight out. That wasn't Mei-Lin. It wasn't. It was just a lookalike.

It was just another lookalike. He tried to dial the number, but Hilde Schbeiker wasn't answering. Where would she go? Hm.

He dialed up Duo.

"Wufei, what are you calling me for?"

"Where would Hilde Schbeiker go? I can't get her to answer the phone."

" . . . I don't understand, Wufei, what are you talking about?"

"I think RTL could have set up the real Hilde with fake doctors again. I want to get her straight to Sally Po and find out that way." Duo didn't answer back. "I think it's a bad idea for us all to be right here. There could be another angle."

"Do you really think that Relena and Heero, after being tricked before, just got it all done without thinking about that? Seriou . . .? You want proof, you go get your proof, while I wait for my own proof on this side! Just don't call me again, Wufei, things are hard enough for everyone right now!"

He hung up.

Hmph. Everyone made mistakes, he wouldn't put it past anything. He tried to call Hilde's number again.

Zhang Colony

"Wufei is still being fussy, he isn't believing. He still calls out." Zhang Li shook his head. "Stubborn Long. We don't have much time, Da Cao."

"No one stays underneath it forever. They have been aligned for some time. We'll let them continue, until they break the sync away from themselves," Da Cao insisted.

"The pilots are still good people, and if one of them says the cards are corrupted, we shouldn't try them. There's also another reason he doesn't mind helping too." Heidi looked toward Marilyn. "I think something happened to Trowa Barton. He's really bent on making sure you and your baby are safe. He even keeps calling Triton, Alex."

Poor Marilyn didn't seem to know how to take it. She just moved Triton closer. "Who's Alex?"

"I don't know. Was that the name of your kid?" Was she getting that wrong? "I think it was Alex."

Zhang Colony

"Yes, not long," Da Cao stated. "However, that blunder could have been corrected. It was Alec, not Alex." At least it was nearing its end. The pilots and the women were all doing well. Each pilot was doing well, while the women were in free roam. "Everyone guiding the women, please watch the chords carefully." After all, they couldn't see them.

"I didn't mean to . . ." Marilyn was definitely upset now. "I'm not trying to be mean. You guys know that better than anyone."

"Yeah." Of course they all understood it.

"But in this case, it's not being deceiving or vicious, if it's true," Mandy said. "Your art skill is real unique, Marilyn. Maybe you are just another artist, and that's why you'll fall so perfectly in place for deception."

"If I'm her, then fine, but Triton was in trouble. Trowa Barton was on the ground, you guys were taking off. I? What should I have done?" She shook her head. "No, I had to get us out of that danger. It was a dangerous choice to make, I had no proof I was her."

"Duo Maxwell said that the woman who was trying to hurt you and Triton was dead now," Heidi told her. "I guess they took care of her? Can you give it another shot? At least, go see him in the hospital?"

"Which hospital?" Marilyn asked. "Maybe . . . we can make a stop or something?"

"Maybe you can make a stop," Mandy said to her. "There's no way I am getting near any of this. Hilde, we don't trust those cards."

Zhang Colony

"Da Cao, we don't have any pictures or information to feed into the system for them," Zhang Li said. "None of them have seen Trowa's hospital room, we can't pull data for it."

"Yes, I know," Da Cao said. "They will start to fall out of sync soon. Make sure everyone has a controller."

Oh, Mandy.

"I am not getting close to a hospital or those cards," Mae insisted, "and I know Platinum won't either. She won't ever mess with a pilot again."

"Again?" Platinum looked confused.

"Nothing, forget it." Mandy just glared at Mae. She looked back at Hilde. "There is something I need to tell you, that I told the others."

Others? "What?"

"The pilots and RTL are both the enemies. We were designed to lure the pilots to us. You know that. What you don't know is that there is a contract for us, that could put us in the possession of the pilots."

"Huh? I? Why?" Heidi didn't get it.

"At least one of us is real, but at least one of us is fake," Dorothy helped to explain. "It's a pick your poison shot."

Pick a poison? "RTL isn't on our side."

"No one is on your side, depending on how you choose to run your life," Mandy said. "If you want to trust the pilots? Then, you have to take the RTL contract. The pilots get one month to prove you are their old friend. If you aren't, then the contract will protect you from the law. We don't have to worry about getting taken from our children, and our crimes will be forgiven."

"Forgiven?" Incredible! "It's a literal win/win."

"No, it's not a win/win because it can only be used shortly after we first leave RTL's presence for good, and it's not what RTL wants! It's . . ." Mandy paused. "Just another way to cause pain."

"Staying with the pilot for one month, and not being their friend, and leaving scott-free? It's great for us. It's not a great feeling for them," Middie Une said. "I think it would be good to try, despite the heartache. At least everyone would know."

"These contracts though don't last a long time. They were made before things changed. Now, the Fallen Embers are running the show."

"Who are the Fallen Embers?" Hilde asked. "Another group in RTL? I haven't heard of them before."

"Let's just say that the contracts are probably still good, but if we make our way to the pilots . . . they'll want to kill us," Mandy said. "They want the revenge."

What?! "But, they want it against the originals, not us."

"Hurts either way. We might be an original. That's why it's all going down this way." Mandy closed her eyes. "If we risk our lives, make it to them, we will either be an original and know that the embers will stay out there ready to kill us when we let our guard down. If we aren't the original, then we can leave with no crime history on us and still use the account cards. We did our duty. Which is to make the pilots suffer. Suffer in the belief we might be the one."

"Or, we can just use the account cards, don't play around with the RTL's Fallen Embers and just play it safe?" Mae recommended. "No one comes after us. Done."

Heidi was trying to get her mind around the idea. "If we are caught by the cops, we go to jail for life. If we run to the pilots, these Fallen Embers are going to kill us. If we are the original, we have to watch out for them for the rest of our lives. If we aren't, we are free and can use the account, supposedly. If we stay away from the pilots, we are safe."

"The Fallen Embers protect us, or kill us. That's . . . that's the deal," Mandy said softly. "You deserve to know the facts. Okay. Platinum?"

"Yes?" Platinum asked.

"You have actually met Quatre Raberba Winner before. You felt so awful about it, that shortly after you met, you were inconsolable. You went into the zero system again to forget it all. Before you did that, you made us promise never to tell you. But, this feels like this might be the ending. You need to know that."

"I erased the meeting? Why?" Platinum asked. "What happened in it?"

"Guilt," Marilyn said. "You felt neverending guilt. You didn't realize that you were manipulated with the system, just like so many others. You were too isolated, and hardly saw anyone. You tricked the pilot down there, claiming to be Dorothy Catalonia and that your children were his."

Heidi watched Dorothy's eyes being so wide.

"I did . . . what? But. She's."

"Yeah, she's supposed to be dead," Mandy said. "She would have only had one little girl too. You just thought the second was undetected. You didn't do well after you learned the truth, but now you know it all."

Platinum didn't seem to know how to take that.

"Now. Everyone should be caught up on any secrets and options we have," Mandy said. "We need to decide our actions, now. Later, it will be too late for this contract. And, Heidi's actions will definitely make the Fallen Embers come after us soon."

"I didn't know." She really didn't. She couldn't apologize enough.

"RTL was no paradise, but it was better than living out on the road like this. We have to do something, we can't just starve down some street and let the government take our children! I will do it." Platinum got up. "I will test RTL's account myself and then we will leave. There is no reason for me to risk pilot interaction, it wouldn't go well."

"You'll get everyone caught." Heidi could feel it. "Everyone will be caught."

"RTL didn't give us food, money, and a warm place with doctors for nothing. The pilots were the enemy of RTL, not us. It provided for us. It trusted in us. 02 is filling your head with lies. That money is ours, every last cent. We earned it. We earned nothing from the pilots, and we earn it by staying away," Mandy reminded Heidi. "I wouldn't be surprised if those pilots were following right now, transaction after transaction. For that reason, we said not to buy anything here. They won't track us. We aren't staying long."

"We have to leave, Heidi," Platinum said. "You need to either offer the strange contract to the pilot, or run with us."

Mandy stood up too. "Make a decision, Heidi. If you come with us, you drop the cards and all contacts. You already know you aren't the real one anyhow. If RTL contacts us, we can explain the details."

"But? Marilyn. She has a home. She should go to her home. And. And if we just contact them, and tell them about the contracts, then . . ." She. She? I'm not her. I shouldn't hang on, this is dangerous. They are spelling it out for me. "I already met with Duo Maxwell. One call, just to explain the contracts, and that's it?"

"Those stupid messed up memories ruined you," Mae called her out. "You trusted in them. You were not supposed to do that. The more you trust, the more you are supposed to throw it away. Good luck to your little musketeers."

"You want to make the call, you'll have to do it without us, " Mandy said as they all started to move. She gave her a contract to look at. "You have fifteen minutes for a conversation or a decision, but we won't risk being here during that time. Think about that. Goodbye."

"Mandy!" Damn it. Heidi stayed where she was at. She couldn't help it. She loved the Momma Bears. She needed the Momma Bears. But? I . . . feel like I can trust Duo Maxwell. That's not the fake memories talking though. Is it?

Fifteen minutes.