Now, stand up, he thought.

He opened his eyes a little, getting adjusted to the dimness of his quarters.  Then, both hands pushing against his bunk, he got up, leaning heavily against the dull-grey wall.  He blinked hard, trying to keep himself standing.  Once the initial shock was over, he knew he would be able to stay upright.  He just needed…to get used to it.  He did think about lying back down, perhaps calling in sick, but banished the absurd thought as soon as it appeared.

No way.  There was one more mission to complete today.  One more battle to fight, and to win.  Duo Maxwell would be waiting for him, he knew.  Although he seemed like a joker, he was never late for mission briefings. 

"Okay, now get dressed," he thought to himself, "Before Duo starts to think something's fishy."

He stumbled a little, pulling on his clothes and reaching out to get his laptop from its usual place on one of the bare metal shelves.  Then, still standing – he didn't dare to sit down in case he couldn't get up again – he dragged his sneakers on, grabbed his duffel bag, and headed for the room door.  All this he did in the darkness, because it was too painful to make the journey to flick on the light switch.

By the time he reached the door, he was feeling a little better, a little more confident that he could make it through today, just as he had made it through every day of the last week. 

Call for the strength that is in you.

He did, summoning up all his willpower, as he'd been trained to do. 

There is no pain.  I'm fine.

And he was.  He was sure he was okay.  Because he couldn't be anything else other than that.

"Heero!" the voice was accompanied by a sharp knock on the door.

Heero actually allowed himself to roll his eyes in exasperation.  He had forgotten – lately, Pilot 02 had taken it into his head to ram on everyone's doors before a mission briefing, presumably to wake them up, annoy them, or both.  He turned the lock and pulled the door open.

"Morning, Hee-chan," Duo was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hn," Heero merely grunted in reply, closing the door behind him. 

In the room nearby, Wufei had just opened the door and was glaring daggers at Duo, while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his hands.  "It's 3 in the morning," he complained.

"I know," Duo replied cheerfully.  "Mission briefing is at 0310."

"Justice will be served!" Wufei said sleepily, trying unsuccessfully to make it sound like it was a threat, and then returned back to his room, swearing under his breath.

"So, Hee-chan, when do we make our move?" Duo was sitting back to back with Heero, staring off into the distance.

"Hn," the brown-haired boy didn't bother to answer – Duo had already been briefed on the mission specifics and he knew them well enough – he just continued staring down at his laptop, typing in instructions at a terrific pace.

"When?" Duo insisted.  He was getting bored with just looking at the bleak, dark desert-like landscape, with only a small road running through, some distance away.

Heero pointedly ignored Duo, focusing all his attention, instead, on the computer screen.

"Heero…"

He sighed and closed his eyes momentarily against the throbbing headache.  He waited a few moments, then checked his watch, "Okay, Baka, we'll be off soon.  Check the gear."  Of course, the equipment didn't need checking, but Heero wanted Duo off his back for a little while more.

"Alright, Hee-chan," Duo got up from his sitting position and sifted through the two bags of explosives, doing a cursory inspection.  "Done."

Heero nodded slightly, then pushed himself up from the ground and to his feet.  He slung the laptop around his shoulder, and picked up his half of the explosive charges, without waiting for the blurred spots in his vision to clear.  He was used to them already.  He knew they would go away soon after he stood.

Without another word, he walked off, Duo beside him, his long braid swinging with each step he took.

It was still early, about 0500 or so, and both Heero and Duo knew they would have just enough time to do their job, and then just a little more, in case something went wrong, before it became bright.  The pinpoints of light coming from the OZ base were already visible, and they walked to within a few hundred metres, before Heero turned silently away from Duo, heading for another part of the fenced perimeter.

Once he got to the fence, he picked out the blue wire running along it, cutting it deftly with his pair of cutters then feeding it into a port on his laptop.  He typed in a few more numbers, waited a few moments, then typed in a string of letters.  A message confirming that the alarm had been deactivated appeared on the screen.

Disconnecting the laptop, he pulled out a pair of regular wire cutters, cut the chain links in the fence easily, then slipped through.  It was as routine to him as brushing his teeth, because he had done it many times before.  Still, he had to be careful, because each time, there might be something new, something different which he hadn't anticipated.

So far, so good.

Slinking through the shadows, he moved up silently to the buildings where the soldiers lived.  One.  He fastened the explosive to a supporting structure, moved over to the next one, two, and then the next, three.  The timings had been preset already for 0600, so he didn't need to worry about them.  They were using timers this time, because they had run out of remote-controlled explosives. 

"Halt!"

Heero whipped around at the voice, but realised it hadn't been directed at him as he made out two dark silhouettes somewhere in the distance.  The sudden, unexpected manoeuvre caused his vision to blur again and his head to hurt even more.  He pushed the pain aside to focus on the task at hand.

Next building, four, five, six.  Next building, what came after six…nine?  Heero frowned a little, puzzled.  …Seven.  That was it.  Seven, eight, nine.  Next building, it was the command centre, and it would need a little bit more explosives.  He picked out the heavier packs of explosives.  Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…he thought for a while longer…fourteen.