Chapter 13- Desperate Blood Pain

"NO!" Reyna screamed then snapped open her eyes. What the hell…she wondered as she saw a large white pool above her. She looked over to her right and found that a metal bar obscured her vision to a window which sunlight was streaming through. She turned her head slowly to the left and saw monitors, which had been propped up next to her. An IV liquid drip hung above her and she realized that she was in a hospital bed. But then…where am I? I see trees, plants, flowers, nothing…no space, no blackness, she thought as she slowly propped herself up, wincing a bit as pain shot all over her.

She heard the door open to her room and she spun her head towards the sound, and almost fell back into oblivion as dizziness spun the room around. "Whoa, take it easy Reyna, you had a bad accident," a kind old voice said and Reyna focused her eyes on a grizzled old man wearing a doctor's outfit. She saw her father and mother crowded behind him worried looks on their faces. Where's Tarrant? I don't see him, Reyna wondered as the doctor settled her back into her bed.

"What's…What's going on?" Reyna croaked out, feeling her mouth raw and dry from the lack of use. "How long have I been like this?" she asked.

"Now young lady, don't talk too much, you need your strength," the doctor said and Reyna looked at him confused.

"Wait, but…how long have I been out? What am I doing with plants outside of my window…where the hell are we?" Reyna protested as the doctor peered over her, checking her vital statistics.

"Should I answer her questions, Mr. Maxwell?" Reyna saw the doctor ask her father and she raised an eyebrow at his sad expression.

"Yeah…might as well," Duo replied and Reyna knew something was wrong by the tone of her father's voice.

"Now listen to me young lady. If you don't want me to go on, then tell me, because what I'm telling you will be very painful to hear," the doctor explained and Reyna nodded gravely. "You've been in a coma for about five days now, since your last battle with the Omicron Empire. We've moved everyone from the asteroid MO-VII to Nairobi Base…Reyna…" the doctor started then hesitated.

"Its okay doc, we'll take it from here," Duo interrupted him and the doctor nodded and left the room, leaving her door slightly ajar.

"Reyna honey…do you know what happened during the battle?" Hildre asked her and Reyna squinted her eyes to try to remember the events. She saw a flash of her Hellfire destroying a whole bunch of mobile suits, and then her saying a whole bunch of swears, a blue wave knocking her Gundam out of commission. Finally, Wing Zero exploding in space. Reyna felt tears start to roll down her face.

"Tarrant…" she whispered as buried her face in her hands, letting her long brown hair spill all over her shoulders as she sniffed. She felt her mom draw her in close and rock her back and forth like when she was young.

"I'm sorry mom, I couldn't protect him…like…" Reyna started the hiccuped as more tears began to flow down.

"Reyna, its okay, you just have to let it all out, shh," Hildre whispered into her ear, comforting her.

"Reyna," Duo's voice rumbled and Reyna felt the two comforting bodies of her parents hugging her, "we'll all miss him." Reyna finally couldn't stand it. She let all her tears out and cried into the shoulder of her mother.

A pair of eyes watched from the door to her hospital room. Val turned away from the sight and walked down towards the training room on his home base. He felt sorry for her, but he didn't want to admit it, he knew that she was something special.

"Going somewhere Val?" Cavan's voice said from the shadows and Val stared at his cousin who stepped away from the shadows.

"Yeah, in fact I was…so leave me alone," Val replied curtly and walked away.

* * *

Adler stood a bit away from the door to the swimming area of the Nairobi Base. He glanced at Neo who was poised to take a dive into the Base's diving pool. She looked healthy again, after four days of recuperating from her initial injuries. There were more injures to her mind than to her body, Adler thought as he fiddled with a datapad in his hand. The information on the datapad told of some bad news. Heh, every time I talk to her, or meet her I'm always bringing bad news, he thought wiry as he took a deep breath. He stepped into the pool area, and stayed near the benches as he cautiously made his way to where she would usually get out of the pool after making her dive. The air smelt of chlorine and had a musty feeling.

He heard a thwaning of the diving board being tested and looked up to see Neo take a leap out into mid air. She seemed to hover in the air for a few seconds before falling rapidly, her hands extended out above her head. Adler watched her dive into the pool, barely making a splash as she entered the water. "Uh…Neo?" Adler started tentatively as she climbed out of the pool, her hair-soaking wet.

"Oh, hi Adler, didn't hear you enter," Neo said brightly as she reached for her towel and wrapped it around her one-piece suit. Adler felt himself blush as he realized that he was staring at her body. "What was it that you wanted?" Neo asked, giving him a good-natured smile.

"Oh…uh," Adler started the handed her the datapad, "every time I see you, I'm always the bearer of bad news."

"Oh don't worry about it…" Neo started then her eyes widened with fear, horror, surprise, Adler couldn't tell as she looked at the information on the datapad. "What the…"

"Yeah, I just found out about your father and mother this morning. Heero sent me to find you, he and the others want to talk to you about this," Adler said walking over to her, and placed a comforting hand on her wet shoulder.

"Its okay…I should have known this would happen," Neo replied and Adler raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uh, I'll go tell them that you're coming now, okay?" Adler asked, glancing at her. He was surprised to see a fire burning in her eyes. That same fire he had seen in her when she was shooting her guns during the celebration about a week ago had reappeared.

"Sure," Neo replied in a monotone voice and Adler watched her walk off. She's regained her confidence, good, he thought as he watched her walk, her posture and gait told him that she was burning mad, burning mad for those who had captured her family.

* * *

Val turned his head towards the door to one of the small briefing rooms on the Nairobi Base as it opened up, showing the last missing member of the meeting besides Reyna Maxwell. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Neo Winner dressed in a black flight suit, ready for combat.

"Good everyone's here," he heard his father say and Val focused on the holo projector in the middle of the room as it activated and all the lights dimmed. "We have three situations right now. First off, Locke's forces are injured heavily so we can go and destroy her once and for all now, but we can't in the conditions your Gundams suffered also of the Space Force Station and our forces. Second, is that the Global News Network has been taken controlled by one of Locke's men, who goes by the name of Severn Cawley. We need a team to infiltrate the Network and render Locke's control over it useless. Third, is that of a personal problem that concerns you, Neo. I take it that Adler gave you the information concerning your parents right?"

"Yeah, and I don't take a bullshit about it," Neo replied acidly.

"Good, then you'll be freeing Colony 04. I'm have Adler accompany you since he knows a lot more about stealth takeovers that you do," Heero replied and Val saw Neo raise an eyebrow.

"But sir, won't you'd be needing him for the Network infiltration?" Neo asked, and Val could detect not a hint of sarcasm, but of worry. Hmm, so Quatre Winner's daughter likes Adler Barton…why am I not surprised, Val thought as he returned his gaze to the holo projector.

"Nah, that's where I'm coming in," Duo's voice said from the background and Val saw everyone's gaze turn to the former pilot of the Deathscythe Hell who was walking in. "I'll be heading the team that goes to the Network Base since I've already liberated it once and know the way through, but we'll get to that later."

"Your shuttle will be an unmarked shuttle, and you'll be able to store your Gundam and Adler's in it in case you run into any trouble. When you reach Colony 04, identify yourself with this passcode and password. Proceed to a secret entrance that one of our agents prepared for you. Luckily she was stationed on Colony 04 when it happened," Lady Une explained and Val saw Adler's face darken with suspicion.

"Yes ma'am," Neo replied as she tucked a card with the passcode and password into one of her pockets in her flight suit.

"Launch now," Lady Une ordered and Val saw Neo and Adler salute then leave the room.

"The Network Base Infiltration will commence in a day. Duo Maxwell will lead the team. Cavan, you're second in command, Val you're going to be their backup. You'll leave at 0500, just a half hour before they have their morning program," a voice said from the darkened part of the holo projector and Sally Po stepped out from where she was compiling data.

Val saw the faces of the former Gundam pilot light up as one of the biggest contributors to Preventer was back.

"Hey Sally, long time no see," Duo said, giving her a grim smile.

"Colonel Po has been on underground cover for a long time, getting information for us. She also got data on the Firestorm, the battleship Omicron constructed," Lady Une explained, "there are some weaknesses to that ship that will help you guys on your next battle against her." Val saw a blueprint of the ship appear on the holomonitor and he moved a bit closer to pay attention to what Lady Une was explaining.

* * *

Locke spun around from her swivel chair in the main Control Bridge of the Firestorm. "What's the status of our repairs?" she barked at a young man with blonde brown hair and beady green eyes.

"Uh, yes ma'am. Um, the Firestorm's external batteries of firepower and cannons have all been damaged and we're rebuilding them as fast as we can. Also the main cannon's recharge has been slow. The EMP burst is totally demolished, it will take us years to rebuild it, so consider that useless-" Dr. Warren Parker started then gulped in fear as Locke's gaze drilled into him.

"I don't need facts, I need an estimated time before we could attack again," Locke said in a quiet deadly voice and Dr. Parker backed up a bit.

"Uh, yes ma'am. It will take us…about three days before we can be up to battle status," he replied quickly and sighed in relief as Locke smiled a bit.

"Good, then tell the technicians on Lunar Base to hurry it up with the repairs, we must keep this base occupied and be ready for the Gundams," Locke said and walked out from the bridge.

"Ma'am?" Jordan Kent asked, flanking her as they walked down the long halls of the battleship, avoiding technicians who were furiously trying to fix the battleship.

"Where is Lealya? Is she recuperating from the blast from the self-detonated Wing Zero?" Locke asked, keeping her eyes ahead at all time.

"Yes ma'am. She is doing fine; she should be within acceptable parameters in around six hours. Good thing she wasn't destroyed along with the EMP blast since she is the only one of her kind," Jordan replied and Locke raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you think she's the only one of her kind? There are more of her, millions of her, and it doesn't take one to figure out where the rest of her clones are," Locke said in an acidly voice and saw surprise written all over Jordan's face.

"Uh, yes ma'am," Jordan replied, unsure what to make out of the present situation.

"You're next mission," Locke started, "you are to head to Nairobi Base, wait there until you find your target which will be Adler Barton. When the opportunity presents itself, I want you to eliminate him, he is the leader of their Gundam group and he needs to be suppressed. If Neo Winner is in the way, dispose of her also because she is the brain of the group. Most likely she won't be there, she'll be here because of her present situation."

"Ah, her parents are captured and Xylon is going to force her to come here for the Hidden Agent program, am I correct? What about my missions to take small strike forces to each other Colony?" Jordan asked giving a sideways look at Locke.

"Those you don't have to worry, if she is under our control, then she will do our work…dismissed," Locke ordered and Jordan saluted before heading down a hallway which held an unmarked shuttle.

* * *

Neo set the shuttle on autopilot and glanced at their estimated time of arrival. Hmm, about half and hour, she thought as she got up from the cockpit chair and floated towards the door.

"Checking your Gundam?" Adler's voice interrupted the silence, and Neo turned back, slightly startled.

"I thought you were asleep," she said, giving him a sideways look.

"Meditation…it helps," Adler said shrugging nonchalantly, "You going to check your Gundam?"

"Yeah, I want to make sure its all repaired to the fullest, just in case we've got to battle," Neo replied, "call me up when we're about ten minutes from Colony 04. I want to get the satisfaction of telling Riyet to shove whatever thing he has up his ass."

"You've been spending too much time around Reyna," Adler commented and Neo gave him a glare.

"No, I just developed this myself," she replied and shut the door behind her. Why is he like this? I thought he was always quiet, but looks like Tarrant's death hit him hard, actually it hit us all hard, she thought as she looked at her Sandstorm which was kneeling on one knee its head bowed.

"Sandstorm, you're the child of my father's Sandrock…" Neo whispered as she looked at Sandstorm. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. Adler, the boy that she had grown to love, was dead. Killed by a mysterious person with bright purple eyes and black hair. She had been a witness to his death, and her steel composure had fallen after she saw him lying in a pool of his own blood, his eyes lifeless and staring into nothing. Was she going to see him dead when they reached Colony 04? She had a premonition something was going to happen but what? She had fought valiantly, but Locke had made her way to Colony 04 and taken her father hostage. She then killed him, slitting his throat and then stabbed him in the heart. She snapped her eyes open as parts of her dream faded and she felt something heavy on her and glanced at her shoulders to see a brown flight jacket covering her, keeping her warm. She realized that she was shivering slightly, an after effect of her dreams.

"You okay? I mean I heard you cry out something, then found you here, standing shivering like crazy," Adler's soft voice said from her right and Neo turned slightly away from him. "What's the matter?" he asked and she felt his comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," Neo replied biting her lower lip as she tried to keep tears from falling from her eyes. She hated this dream that she had, she hated her powers. Parts of the dream already came true, but was there more to come? She hated that she had powers that went beyond her father's, powers of her mind that she didn't even know about.

"Try me," Adler replied in a humorous tone and Neo shook her head slightly. She didn't want anyone to die again, especially him. She frowned a bit, wondering why all of the sudden she especially didn't want him to die. Is it because…because I'm feeling something I've never felt before? She wondered.

Neo sighed shifting her shoulders a bit. "You sure you want to hear this?" she asked.

"Yeah, its not like going to kill me," Adler replied and Neo winced inwardly at the choice of his words.

"You don't know how close to the truth you are," Neo replied and she felt his hand stiffen a bit. She felt confusion radiating from him. "I saw you die, in my dreams," Neo whispered, her gaze looking at her Sandstorm, but they seemed to focus faraway. "I saw all of us die in my dreams. Lealya Dabnerba killed Tarrant and Reyna, Val died at the hands of Locke, and you…you died at the hands of a person with black hair and purple eyes. I held you in my arms as you died, your blood seeping out of you. I saw my father die, at the hands of Locke. I saw everyone I knew die by the Omicron Empire," Neo suddenly spilled, her grip on the guardrail overlooking the two Gundams, were white.

"Uh…I'm sorry," Adler said reaching a hand out to her.

"Don't be," Neo replied whirling around to face him, her eyes blazing with anger. "Its my fault…its my powers that show me this, I hate them. They're like a curse to me, bestowed by my parents' genes. I want to be like them, an empath, but I'm much more. The dreams that I have, they can tell what could happen and if they start coming true, it scares the hell out of me," Neo said in an angry voice. She faltered for a second and squeezed her eyes shut. "God dammit!" she yelled, banging a fist on the guardrail, "why did Allah give me this!"

Adler didn't know what to do at the moment…he didn't know that she was suffering on the inside so badly. It was killing her on the inside. She always put up a tough front, a steel composure for others, but this…this is killing her more than it should, Adler thought as he watched her silently. He reached out and took her into his arms, as she shook a bit. He wondered if the shaking was an after effect of her dreams. If what she said can come true…no I won't let that happen, her dream won't kill her anymore, he thought with determination as he looked over Neo's head and gave an even look at his Taliesin.

Suddenly there was a bleeping sound and Adler felt Neo stiffened a bit. "Ten minute limit," he whispered.

"I know," Neo replied back, her voice slightly muffled as she leaned against him. Adler cautiously released her from his embrace hoping that she had regained her confidence.

"You still want to wait a bit, give yourself some time alone? I can do the passcode and password, if you don't feel up to it," Adler offered, looking at her blue eyes to see if there was any trace of distress, but he found none. Instead he found a fire in her eyes that told him that she was going to stop whoever planned to destroy them.

"No, I'm fine, let me do it…I'm going to stop whoever's taken my father and the Colony," Neo replied a steel edge in her voice. Adler watched her go back into the cockpit and he smiled a bit.

"Good, she's back to her normal self," he whispered, "just hope she can stay like this 'till this fiasco with Omicron is over."

* * *

Chapter 14- Commando Operatives

Cavan dropped his duffel bag at his single occupancy room and flicked on the lights. Hmm, not bad of a choice, this is just a bit smaller than the rooms at the asteroid. At least I don't have to share with anyone of those mourning idiots, he thought as he tossed a manila folder onto his desk. They were the orders for his position as second-in-command of the mission to Global News Network Base. Though he felt slightly sorry that Tarrant died, he didn't dwell on it. This isn't the time to be mourning the dead right now, now is the time to kill Locke Dabnerba so she doesn't have to kill anymore and no more mourning, he thought as he decided to go out of his bunk room and see what Val's home base had to offer to him.

"Reyna should be up and running, not sitting there like a stump on a log," Cavan whispered to himself as he walked towards the training room on the base. The Lake Victoria Base was nearby, but it wasn't in use anymore since the Unified Earth and Colonies decided to disband all mobile suits and sent them towards the sun. Plus it also gave his mother an odd chill. She had told him that was where she worked as an instructor, training bright young men and women to fight for OZ long ago.

Wufei Chaing destroyed a whole lot of the base, yet my mother does not hold a grudge against him, he thought as he entered the training room. He glanced to his right and saw that his Master Wufei was engaging Val in a furious unarmed combat. He wondered if the former Gundam pilot ever regretted his decision on blowing up the Lake Victoria Base. Probably not, since if he didn't then he wouldn't be here, Cavan thought as he went over to a corner and started to stretch and warm-up. He needed his mind to focus on something, something other than their mission. Val's probably jealous that I got second-command position while he's just backup, he thought wiry as he focused his eyes on one part of a wall, and relaxed himself.

"Cavan," Wufei's voice echoed throughout the mostly empty training room and Cavan glanced at Wufei. "Heero ordered you two to bunk down until 0300. At 0330, you are to report to the briefing room in which we'll give you a run down of the mission and at 0430, you're to head out towards your destination."

"Yes sir, bunking down," Cavan replied and walked out. He was slightly angry that Val's father had to inflict this order upon them. It was only 1800.

"You're not happy, and I can guess why," Val's voice spoke up from behind him and Cavan turned slightly to acknowledge his cousin.

"You seem pleased with the situation, might I ask why?" Cavan asked, giving a dark look at him.

"The mission has been moved up to 2200 tonight…we're going to cut Severn Cawley short of his intended plan. I hope you read about your mission since we're to leave at 2140 and we're supposed to report to the briefing room around 2100," Val replied and Cavan arched an eyebrow at him, as they stopped, facing each other, Cavan a head taller than Val.

"Why did Wufei lie to me then?" Cavan asked, narrowing his eyes at Val who had a hint of a smile on his face.

He saw him shrug and didn't like the smug look that was appearing on his face, "Dunno, maybe because you're such a pain in the ass?"

"What did you say?" Cavan whispered in a deadly voice as he slammed Val up against the hallway wall.

"Let go of me, and I won't have to hurt you," Val replied in an even voice and Cavan glared at him, and gripped him harder.

"What's going on here?" Cavan heard his father's voice ask and he stiffened. He released his grip on Val and turned to face his father who had an angry expression on him.

"I'm sorry father," Cavan replied in a monotone voice as he looked down at the cement floor of the Nairobi Base.

"He was just demonstrating a move, a weird one might I add that involved him shoving me up the wall," Val interjected and Cavan gave him a dark look. He knew that he would have to owe Val one…and he didn't like it. Here he was again, being shown up by his cousin and he couldn't even do a thing. If he told his father that he was about to beat up Val, then he would have probably been revoked his position of second-command of the mission and then Val would get the position, leaving him in the gutter for back-up.

"All right, Cavan you know about the accelerated mission, right?" Zechs asked, and Cavan nodded.

"Understood," Cavan replied and walked quickly away, trying not to loath in what Val had done to save his skin.

* * *

Reyna huddled herself underneath her covers as she sat in her bunkroom that she shared with Neo. The younger girl had gone off to her mission, freeing her family. I have a family, but one quarter of that family is gone, Reyna thought dolefully as she scrunched further under her covers. There was a soft knock to her door and Reyna glanced at it, "Come in."

"Reyna honey, you feel up to seeing what mission the others are going to go on?" her mother came in, the moonlight from the window streamed down on her, giving her a mysterious look.

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do," Reyna shrugged and got out of her bed. She went over to a dresser and picked up a scrunchie. She gathered up her long hair and tied it into a tight bun. If she was in a better mood then she would have put it into her traditional braid, but she had let that down ever since…no she wouldn't think of him, it was too painful, too fresh for her to still sink in the news.

"Reyna, you okay?" Hildre asked, hugging her a bit.

"Yeah, I'm find mom, let's go. I want to see what dad's going to do with Severn Cawley," Reyna replied, glancing at herself in the mirror once more then headed out followed by Hildre.

* * *

Adler sat back as Xylon and his men accepted their code. He was hoping to whatever gods existed that they would get through this part safely. Now, all we have to do is meet up with our contact and everything should be planned from there on, he thought as he glanced at Neo who seemed relaxed.

"I noticed that when Lady Une told us that our contact was going to be there you seemed very angry for a moment. Was there something I missed?" Neo asked, and Adler sighed.

"My parents are divorced, and my mother rarely sees me, but I don't care cause she's never taken care of me. All she does is leave me alone, and occasionally acknowledges me. I actually grew up in the care of my father for most of my life, and my Aunt Catherine. I've only heard about my mother when she sent mail about once every three months. Last time I heard, she was stationed on Colony 04, acting as a link between Preventer and her little group of commandos," Adler replied and glanced at Neo who had a sad expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," Neo replied Adler shook his head.

"No its okay…I just hated her, hated her for abandoning me," Adler replied and then glanced at his monitors. "We're coming up on the secret entrance…you sure the decoy worked?"

"Well, what does the monitor say? All of them are expecting the red blip to reach the docking bay…then they'll find nothing," Neo replied giving him a grin. She focused on the hanger bay that was rapidly filling up their viewport and Adler watched her guide their shuttle in. "We've have arrived at Colony 04, ready to take it back. Please make sure all of your belongings are secure incase we need to make a quick escape. Thank you for flying on Preventer Missions," Neo replied in a serious voice and Adler laughed lightly.

He walked towards the hatch of the shuttle and opened it. It was dark in the hanger bay save for the occasional emergency light and Adler narrowed his green eyes as he stepped off.

"Hands up! Identify yourselves," a gruff voice barked and Adler cautiously raised his arms up as he saw multiple guns drawn around them, the clicks of the safety were off.

"Put your guns down…" a soft drawling voice said from the darkness and Adler stiffened a bit as he faintly recognized the voice. He blinked a bit as the lights to the hanger bay flicked on to life and he saw many men and women, dressed in various articles of clothing, some rags, some in commando outfits. Adler narrowed his eyes as he saw a woman who looked to be in her early forties with blonde hair and icy green eyes that seemed to be chiseled from magma and ice.

"So good to see you again, my son…I didn't know that they would send you along with Winner's daughter for this kind of mission," Azure Williams said tossing her head back a bit. Adler noted that she still looked the same, still not changed a bit in her age and appearance.

"You haven't changed…Hawk," Adler replied neutrally. He noticed that Neo was puzzled when he didn't call his mother, mom or anything else that was maternal, but called her by her codename.

"Who are all these people?" Neo asked, interrupting their staring contest.

"They are the resistance that formed when Colony 04 was taken over. I've grouped them together to form a strike attack when you guys go on your mission. We need to give you the run down and attack swiftly when Xylon cannot sense us," Azure replied and Adler followed Neo as they made their way towards a strategy table that was set up with holograms of the Colony.

"The strike force will head towards the main controls of the Colony, to get control of the Colony. We don't know what Xylon could have done with the Colony, but we'll start evacuations just in case he has the Colony rigged to blow up," Hawk said, pointing out various locations on the blue holographic map of the Colony.

"You serious? You think he's going to blow up Colony 04?" Neo hissed in anger and clenched a fist.

"Xylon was part of the Black Hand Assassins who recently killed the Vice President of the Russia Democracy, that makes him a formidable opponent. Plus I think he would just blow up Colony 04 so that there will be one less pesky Colony standing in the way of Locke. I would know, because I've worked for her before," Hawk replied and Adler recoiled from the shock of the news.

My mother worked for Locke Dabnerba…what the hell? Is this some kind of sick joke? Adler wondered as he cautiously evaluated his mother. Was she still a spy for Omicron, or was she actually really part of a link to Preventer. "We're going to have to check your security on that information Hawk," Adler said in an icy voice as he pointed his gun at her.

"I told you this, because I want you guys to know how she acts, how she can predict every move the Gundam pilots made," Hawk replied glaring at Adler.

"The validity of the situation-" Adler started but was cut off as Neo jumped in.

"She's clean, she's not working for Dabnerba anymore, she's the link to Preventer, Adler. I can sense it," Neo explained.

"Hnn," Adler sniffed as he put his gun away. He still didn't like the situation, he never trusted her…she always left him, left him to be alone.

"Okay now to continue, Neo, Adler, and my small group which will consist of four other commandos, we'll move into the headquarters where we're sure they've taken a few important people hostage. We'll free them and hopefully subdue Riyet," Hawk continued as another hologram popped up on the monitor, this time showing a small but heavily fortified building.

"This is the south entrance, which is not so heavily guarded. We'll go in from there and make our way towards the bunker of the building," another voice spoke up and all turned to see a girl about sixteen-years-old with shocking white hair that was like strings of pearls and deep blue eyes.

"This is Adeline Chaser, codename: Shiva. She's our special operations and undercover spy ever since Xylon took over the Colony," Hawk explained and Adler reached out to shake her hand, surprised at the strong grip she had with her lithe form. She was wearing a black bodysuit but had a gun-belt with packs of bullets on it, and she looked tough, almost tough as Neo did. Adler noticed that Neo seemed a bit neutral towards the girl as she shook her hand.

"We'll be heading out in about twenty minutes. The plan is as follows…Hawk and I will distract the guards and hopefully Xylon Riyet himself, while you two, get the prisoners freed. Should any of you encounter Riyet, run like hell was after you. You do not want to tangle with him, or his mind powers. I know because my family paid the price of messing with him," Shiva explained and gave Adler and Neo an even look.

"Boss, what about their codenames? I mean we can't just yell their names out, the civvies might know," a voice spoke up from the crowd of men and women.

"Adler Barton, codename: Eagle," Adler said and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his mother flinch a bit at his choice of his codename. What's with her, I choose dad's codename so she shouldn't have a problem with it…unless its something else associated with that name, Adler thought as he glanced at Neo who had a determined look on her face.

"I'm staying with Neo," Neo replied.

"Good, lets move out!" Hawk ordered, and Adler watched as the men and women who were going to create the distraction file out like little lemmings, passing numerous gun racks and picking up semi-automatic rifles, grenades, and mines.

"They look like they're about to blow the Colony instead of retake it," Adler commented to Neo as they watched them file out, leaving them and five others left in the main base.

"I don't like it, her plan seems too perfect, something's bound to go wrong," Neo replied and Adler looked at her puzzled. "I guarantee it that something's going to go wrong," Neo whispered and Adler could see her shaking a bit. He went over and placed both hands on her shoulder.

"I won't let that happen Neo," he said in a soft voice.

"Thanks, Adler…" Neo replied.

* * *

Val watched the information on their mission scroll down from an overhead projector. Someone had opted to use the ancient piece of junk that had a lightbulb that popped every ten minutes.

"This is the overall plan for your infiltration. Remember, do not injure anyone if you can…we don't want civilian casualties," Sally Po said, "you'll have another back up to join you if things get a bit sticky."

"Can we blow Severn's head to hell and back?" Reyna's sharp voice interrupted Sally and Val saw the younger teenage walk in, dressed in the black commando outfit of Preventer, ready for combat.

"Wait…Reyna's going into combat?" Cavan spluttered and Val knew that he had an equally shocked expression on his face.

"Yeah, got a problem with that? I'm fine, no problems or worries, just wanting to get some action instead of moping around," Reyna replied giving Cavan a dark glare.

"Reyna will be the second back-up unit. The mission is as expected, subdue Severn, get the hostages out and report back to headquarters. You should take only around fifteen minutes for the whole operation," Sally interrupted them.

"Roger that," Duo replied, "don't forget to get us some hot caf when we return, we're gonna need it for the briefing."

Things are gonna get tough after this, but can Reyna handle it? Val wondered as he followed Duo out of the room.

* * *

Neo raised her gun up to her eye level as she positioned the crosshairs on a lone guard. May all my prayers help in this mission, I will not fail, she thought to herself as she squeezed the trigger gently on her sniper rifle and the lone guard fell to the ground, barley making a sound.

She raised her hand up, and made a fist, then two fingers. Neo felt the breeze of Adler passing her as he went ahead to clear out any remnants of guards that she had missed. "All clear," she heard Hawk's voice say from one of the ends of the underground passages to the small building where Xylon held her father and mother captive.

"Same here," Adler echoed and Neo got up from her position and shouldered her sniper rifle. She took out her .357 mm handgun, and positioned herself against a wall, her gun raised and ready. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and felt uneasiness radiating from two unknown sources. Neo opened her eyes and looked at Adler and the rest of the group; she raised two fingers and pointed to her gun, signaling that there were two guards. She saw Adler nod and she whipped herself out towards the two unsuspecting guards and fired two bullets at them with deadly accuracy. The two guards fell down as the bullets pierced each of their throats, rendering them dead.

"Move out, Hawk you take your group towards the right, Eagle, Shiva, and I will take the left, remember, Xylon might have hostages situated all over the place, so if you find any, take them with you," Neo ordered.

"Roger that, watch your back Neo…see you on the high side," Hawk replied giving a curt nod at the young girl before heading towards the right passageway.

"We're close, very close," Adeline commented.

"How do you know?" Adler asked, as he glanced at her puzzled.

"I've studied the interior of the map over a hundred times," Shiva replied tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as she gave a smile towards Adler.

Neo immediately felt her face warm up with jealousy and slight anger at the white-haired girl. Little flirting…bitch, Neo thought as she cleared her throat loudly.

"I hate to interrupt this scene, but we've got a mission to get to," Neo said and started to climb up a ladder that lead to the inside of the building. She had a suspicious feeling about that girl, and didn't wholly trust her.

* * *

"Ah, good you're making your way here. This going according to my plans," Xylon purred as he looked at his hidden security cameras that were situated around the underground levels that showed Neo and two other people climbing up the ladder that lead to the main room of the building he had occupied. "Good, Chaser is with them," he commented softly as he glanced at his hostages.

"Well, now Quatre Winner, you're daughter is coming here to rescue you and your family how nice," Xylon sneered at him and glanced at the rest of the hostages, "all of you are fools, no one, not even one commando can kill me. You've asked for Preventer to help you, but you've just sent them to their death…from me."

"How could you, you, such a young boy could be so cruel? Your mother and father would have been ashamed of you," Colony 04's leader Tami Koinika said, as she shuffled a bit from where she sat down on the hard cement floor, her hands binded together with metal cuffs.

"Mother? Father?" Xylon said in a humorous voice. He gazed at her for a minute before laughing; his maniacal laughter filled the area, "You have got to be joking! Preventer killed my family, left me alone in the darkness. The Black Hand took me in, they were my family. We thrived on carnage, killing, and power."

"Yeah, and you're also gonna be killed right here, right now," a sharp voice said from behind Xylon and he spun around to face three teenagers, all looking very pissed off.

"Ah, Cerelia Winner, or should I say the great Neo, how may I be of service?" Xylon asked, giving a small bow towards the blonde haired girl.

"Service this you asshole," Neo replied and Xylon smiled as she shot a bullet towards his heart.

"Now, now…you know that bullets cannot harm me. In fact they might just kill your good friend Eagle," Xylon replied and directed the bullet with his mind towards Adler, hitting him in the thigh.

"Adler!" Xylon heard Neo cry out and he smiled with satisfaction as Barton went down, stunned from the wound.

"You little asshole!" Shiva cried out and fired multiple bullets at Xylon, but Xylon just smiled as he heard them ping off of his mental-made bulletproof shield.

"Now its my turn," Xylon replied in a deadly voice and he whipped out a gun and shot bullets at Neo, his finger never letting go of the trigger.

* * *

Chapter 15- Surrender For Finality

Neo saw the bullets racing towards her. Oh my god, this wasn't supposed to happen, I didn't even see this, she thought frantically as she extended both hands out for no reason she couldn't even comprehend and braced herself for the bullets that were going to impact her, sending her to her death. I have to see, I have to feel, I have to live, she thought over and over again and she heard the pinging of bullets. She snapped open her eyes and looked over to where Xylon had an expression of pure surprise and she glanced down and saw that the bullets had fallen all around her, all dented. What the hell? Neo wondered as she lowered her arms.

"You have grown stronger, stronger than I'd predicted," Xylon whispered his harsh voice echoing throughout the building.

"Neo watch out! He's going for the knife!" Shiva warned suddenly and Neo ducked as Xylon rushed at her and slashed at her with his knife. She dug into her own commando outfit for her knife and brought it out just in time to block a blow that was aimed at her head.

"Shiva! Free the prisoners and get Hawk's team up here on the double! We need backup!" Neo yelled as she gritted her teeth with effort trying to stop the knife that was intended for her throat. "Get…the hell off of me!" Neo cried out, and kicked Xylon back as she stood up. "Xylon Riyet, will your surrender to Preventer or will I have to make you?" she asked, as she wiped sweat from her forehead.

"You don't have to make me, I'll be the one making you join Locke Dabnerba's forces," Xylon replied and Neo narrowed her eyes.

"Over my dead body," she spat out and raised her hands, blocking a blow from Xylon. She let herself open fully to her empathic powers and crouched, kicking the legs from Xylon. She back flipped as he regained his balance and launched a flurry of blows towards her. She kept back flipping and sensed a pillar about two feet away from her. She flipped on to the square pillar and spun in mid air as she extended one leg out and kicked Xylon full in the chest, making him drop his knife and stagger back.

"Surrender Xylon Riyet, and you will not be harmed any further," Neo said in a monotone voice.

"Hah! I will never surrender," Xylon replied and Neo suddenly flinched as something pierced her mind like a dagger through her heart. She flinched again and dropped to her knees as multiple psychic daggers pierced her barriers and dug deep into her mind.

I have to concentrate; I have to for the sake of my family, Neo thought with determination as she slowly stood up, clutching her head. She focused on her inner strength and found that she had a power like none…a power that was beyond her empathic ones. Neo raised her head and glared at Xylon with icy ocean blue eyes. She felt a fire of rage burning within her and that desire became stronger as remembered Tarrant exploding in Wing Zero, her father's pain, and Adler being shot. "I will…prevail…" Neo whispered in a deadly quiet voice as she still felt the daggers penetrate her mind, but they were a mere distraction.

"Give up? You know you can't win like this," Xylon taunted.

"Neo, concentrate, its your greatest strength," Neo distantly heard her father's voice say.

"My greatest strength," Neo whispered as she formed a dagger full of her hatred and anger. "Die," she whispered as her eyes became a shining white and she sent the mental dagger with deadly accuracy at Xylon, just like what her Maganac training taught her to do. She watched in a simple gaze as Xylon recoiled from the mental dagger she had formed and she watched him clutch his head in pain and drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"You haven't won yet, Neo…I'll be back!" Xylon manage to get out as he ran.

"After him!" Hawk's said in a sharp commanding voice.

"I don't think so," another voice said, this one cold and icy hard. Neo turned to see Adeline Chaser holding her younger sister, Jade hostage; a gun was jammed up between her jaw.

"Jade!" Neo yelled, and made a move towards her sister.

"Stop, Neo Winner if you want your sister to live," Shiva commanded and shoved the gun further up Jade's jaw, making her whimper with fear.

"How could you…Chaser, how could you betray us?" Hawk asked, giving a dark look at Shiva.

"Sorry, Hawk…like you, I'm a turncoat. Xylon wants Neo, Xylon will get Neo," Shiva replied and directed her icy gaze towards Neo, "Come with me Neo and your sister will be free."

"No one's getting my daughters," Quatre intervened and pointed a gun straight at Shiva's head, his grip unwavering.

"Oh, then I'm sorry for that Winner…well, sorry little one, your time's up," Shiva said in a simple voice and Neo closed her eyes, not wanting to see her sister killed. She winced as a single bullet being fired echoed throughout the building. She heard the thump of a body falling and slowly opened her eyes. Neo's eyes widened with surprise as she saw Adeline Chaser fall to the ground, a bullet hole appearing in the middle of her forehead.

"Bad lady, hurting me," Jade spoke up in a small voice and Neo saw her mother pick her up and hug her.

"Good thing you had her distracted," Adler's voice said and Neo turned her head to see him leaning heavily against a square pillar, smiling a bit. Neo noticed that his hand held a gun that was still slightly smoking from the bullet discharge.

"You're hurt, bad," Neo said, going over to him and checked his thigh wound.

"Its not that bad, at least it didn't tear through any of the ligaments or muscles," Adler replied wincing a bit as she applied pressure to his wound.

"Hmm, dad, get him to a hospital he needs this checked. I'll go stop Xylon," Neo said, giving an even look at her father.

"No can do, we need to evacuate the Colony ASAP," Hawk interrupted them and Neo glanced at her puzzled.

"What? What happened?" Quatre demanded as the former captives crowded around them.

"He's got the place rigged up to blow," Hawk replied in a monotone voice.

"Damn," Neo cursed as her gaze met Adler's and he nodded with understanding.

* * *

Xylon winced a bit as he still felt the residue effects of Neo's empathic dagger. He never knew that she was this powerful, this deadly. He felt her anger and rage pour out all over him when she mentally threw that dagger at him. Who would have known that Gundam pilots are this powerful? No wonder Locke warned me of them, Xylon thought as he shoved through crowds of people. He sighed inwardly with relief as he reached the hanger bay where he kept his Titan Columbia-Zero. It wasn't a Gundam, but it was made out of titanium and some adamantium and it was in the design of the Columbia-Zero.

"Now, we will fight in space to see who has the greater advantage Neo Winner, you or me. And if you refuse, well I just have a little surprise in store," Xylon commented softly as he activated his Titan and took some potshots at some civilians who were milling around. He laughed as they exploded into nothing and he shot out of the hanger bay.

"Hold it right there, Xylon Riyet, you're not going anywhere, not if I have anything to say about it," Neo's voice came on and Xylon smiled as he stopped his flight.

"Ah, so that's the infamous Sandstorm, the child of the Sandrock Kai," Xylon said drawing out his heat saber. I'm not using my crossbeam unless its necessary, Xylon thought as he positioned himself for battle.

"Yeah the infamous Sandstorm that will kick your ass," Neo replied and Xylon throttled forward, swiping his heat saber at her. The residue crimson red mark matched her heat scythes and both clashed together with great force. Xylon pressed against Neo's scythes and fired his gattling guns into her face, peppering her with bullets. He watched her stagger back, momentarily blinded and he made his move. Xylon quickly brought his heat saber up towards her throat and held it there.

"Don't move Barton, or Neo here gets it," Xylon warned the pilot of the Taliesin who was sneaking up behind him. "Now then…Neo, I have a proposal for you, you come with me and Colony 04 doesn't get blown to bits. If you refuse…well, I have the button that can activate every single C4 explosive on the Colony, creating a giant vacuum that will suck every single thing, living or non-living out of the Colony," Xylon said and held up a small box with a red button in the middle of it.

"Neo, don't listen to him…he's just bluffing," Adler warned and Xylon laughed.

"Do you seriously think that I would joke? The Black Hand Assassins never lie, never bluff," Xylon said in a deadly voice, "what would it be Neo. The Colony for you? Or let the Colony go to hell."

"I…I'll…I'll go," Neo whispered and Xylon grinned.

"No! Neo!" Xylon heard Adler's frantic call as he saw Neo power down her scythes and stick them on her back.

"Adler…listen to me. The next time you see me, I will change. They will be doing things to my mind that will change me. You must kill me the next time you see me, promise me this," Neo said and Xylon shook his head.

"Aww, how sweet, what a wonderful last request," he replied in a mocking voice as he sniffed in a fake way.

"No…Neo don't make me do this," Adler's voice came over and Xylon could detect hints of worry in it.

"Adler, you have to…promise me," Neo replied and Xylon decided that enough was enough.

"Okay, that's enough," Xylon interfered and slaved Neo's Gundam to his. He activated his thrusters and sped away, headed towards the moon base. "So long Barton! I hope you have fun killing her when we meet again!" Xylon called out towards the fading image of Taliesin.

* * *

Chapter 16- Mission Network

Cavan exhaled a breath of cold air as he waited for Duo's signal to enter the Global News Network's building. It was frigid cold here in Seattle, the northern part of the United States of America. Great place to place a news station, its freezing like hell here, Cavan thought as he watched the perimeter for signs of any enforcement or any of Severn Cawley's people. He suddenly perked up as he saw Duo's signal and he crept forward and into the lower level door of the building. "What took you so long? It's the Arctic out there," Cavan hissed as he took off his thermal-woolen jacket and glared at Duo who shrugged.

"That's all that I can see," Val's voice came from above and Cavan turned his head to see him and Reyna walking down the stairs. Reyna was flexing her hand as if she had just knocked someone out.

"Good, two teams; Cavan, you and Reyna take elevator, Val and I will take the stairs. Remember, eliminate all opposition don't hesitate. We can't have anyone creeping behind us when we make our move," Duo ordered and Cavan nodded curtly.

"As ordered," Cavan replied and watched Duo and Val make their way up the stairs. When they disappeared from his view he turned to Reyna who was fiddling with something in her pack. "Ready?" Cavan asked the younger girl.

"Let's give them hell," Reyna said giving him a sideways glance that Cavan really didn't like. He notice that she had a glint in her eyes that seemed dangerous and Cavan wasn't too sure of her. He followed after her as they entered the elevator, her guns drawn and ready to shoot any hostile thing that came their way.

* * *

Val ducked as a bullet whizzed past his head, barely missing him. Shit, these guys are professionals; he cursed silently to himself as he returned fire. He ducked behind the wall he was pressed against as bullets shattered the concrete on the other side of him. "There's too many of them!" Val yelled to Duo over the gunfire who was across from him, pinned down by gunfire also.

"We'll have to keep shooting!" Duo yelled back. Val nodded curtly as he dropped his empty gun and drew out two semi-automatic handguns. He glanced at Duo who nodded. Well, here goes nothing, Val thought as he launched himself from his cover and into the full firefight. He continually pressed the trigger as he randomly targeted the people that were shooting at him. Val scooted his way towards a large pot that held a small indoor tree. Suddenly he felt pain flare up on his left hip and right arm and he fell down, his concentration lost. Damn, Val cursed silently as he glanced at his wounds, only flesh, but they hurt like hell.

"Come out with your hands up and we won't blow your partner to pieces," one of the people that was shooting at them said in a gruff voice and Val glared at the man who was dressed in black, looking down at him with an evil smile; a gun pointed right at Val's throat. "I wonder if you can dodge bullets while like this, since you're the son of Heero Yuy," the man said and Val narrowed his eyes.

"Dodge this," Reyna's voice came from the side and Val saw her press her gun to the man's head and pulled the trigger, sending blood and gore flying everywhere as the bullet took out most the man's right side of his face. Val watched the man fall down towards the ground and a pool of blood form around him.

"Care not to do that Reyna? I just had my dinner three hours ago," Duo said, as Val gripped Duo's outstretched hand and lifted himself up using him as an anchor.

"Calculation dad, its about dinner right now in the states," Reyna corrected and Val raised one eyebrow at her. "Want a energy bar? I picked it out of one of the dead guards I met along my little journey towards you guys," Reyna spoke up and Val didn't like what she was saying or her tone of voice. She sounded almost suicidal, careless of her own life and just handing them an energy bar and talking about the dead person like a person would talk about the weather…it was creeping him out. And he didn't creep out most of the time during whatever situation he was in. Tarrant's death must have hit her hard, harder than we even know; she might be suicidal, Val thought darkly as he gave her a cursory look.

"Uh, Reyna honey, you okay?" Duo asked, giving her a once over.

"Sure dad, never been better…now lets go get Severn then we can all head back to base," Reyna said giving them a sunny smile. Val glanced at Cavan and saw that his cousin had a worried look on his face, and he knew that he felt no different about Reyna's situation. Was it the right choice for her to be on this mission? Val wondered as he drew out a silencer from the folds of his commando outfit and cocked the gun. He followed Duo as they made their way towards the entrance of the room where Severn had commandeered it.

"All right we're going to break down-" Duo started when Reyna huffed and kicked the door down.

"I don't care how the hell you break it down, but I'm going in and freeing those hostages," Reyna said in a curt voice and stepped over the door, holding her gun in a prone position as she took a quick look at her surroundings. "Severn where ever the hell you are, you'd better high tail it outta here! Cause we're gonna bring you down!" Reyna yelled and Val shook his head slightly. The girl had gone completely insane, careless of her own life. She wants to kill herself so she can see her brother again, she can't live with this agony, Val realized as he looked at Reyna who wasn't even ducking behind any cover as she fired away at Severn and his men.

"Reyna! Get to cover!" Duo shouted and Val saw him duck underneath a desk as an automatic machine gun peppered the desk he was behind. Val glanced at Reyna and saw that she hadn't budged or even move one muscle. She was just standing there, letting her gun do the work. Crazy girl's gonna get herself killed, Val thought as he noticed that the machine gun was moving towards her. He was about to make a move when he saw Cavan knock her off her feet as the machine gun lined itself up on her sights and started to fire.

Val noticed that a person with a fair complexion, brown hair, and deep green eyes was behind the machine gun, his face showed laughter of pure mirth. Severn Cawley, target identified, destroying him now, Val thought to himself as he lined up his silencer gun, using it like a small sniper gun and he fired. Val smiled a bit as the bullet whooshed from its place inside the gun and headed towards Cawley. His smile turned into a frown as he saw the bullet impact the machine gun instead of Severn. Damn, Val cursed silently to himself as he prepared for another shot.

"Well, looks like I'm targeted! See you Preventer some time soon!" Severn called out and Val saw him jump out of the window that was behind the main desk of the newsroom.

"Cover me!" Val shouted to Duo and Cavan as he ran from his cover and over to the broken shards of glass that lined the window. He peered over the broken window, the updraft of wind blowing his hair around as he looked down for any traces of Severn, but he saw none. He turned back around and shook his head a no at Duo who was cuffing up the rest of Severn's men. "He's gone, but I don't think he'll be back for this area," Val said and looked over to the weather desk to see Cavan coming from his cover with a very angry looking Reyna.

"I had everything covered and you just had to ruin it, you asshole," Reyna spat at Cavan who looked nonplussed.

"Not my fault that you were just setting yourself up for a direct hit," Cavan replied bluntly. Val internally winced as the loud slapping sound of Reyna's palm met Cavan's cheek, leaving a giant sweltering red mark on his face.

"Reyna, calm down," Duo spoke up taking Reyna's shaking form and pressed it against him. "Cavan, Val, check the hostages, and tell Preventer that we've got the situation under control," Duo ordered and Val nodded, placing his silencer away.

He keyed his comlink and tuned it to Preventer frequency, "Colonel Lady Une?"

"Speaking," Lady Une's voice returned, slightly exhausted and haggard.

"Falcon Zero here, Cawley escaped but we've ensured that he's not coming back here," Val replied giving a cursory look at Cavan who was tending to the injured hostages, "and you might want to get the nearest medical facility on hail, we've got a lot of injured here."

"Roger that Falcon Zero. Report back to base as soon as you're done with them," Lady Une replied. Val disconnected the line as he watched Duo talking to Reyna in a quiet, yet angry voice.

* * *

"So in reality, both of your missions were failures…neither one a complete success," Lady Une said pacing around the four remaining Gundam pilots. Her sharp gaze penetrated each one of the pilots' sullen mood, giving them something to think about.

"A team's stationed at the Network building to secure the premises if Cawley attacks it again," Cavan spoke up, and Lady Une fixed him with a stare.

"But you failed to capture him, alive or dead," she stated in a monotone voice. She sighed and shook her head a bit. "All right, I can see all of you are in a very distressed situation…Reyna Maxwell, your father and your teammates told me that you seemed suicidal during your mission," Lady Une stated and saw that Reyna had a neutral look on her face. Her posture told Lady Une that she wasn't even paying attention or she didn't even care about what she had to say.

"So, what does that have to do with me?" Reyna asked, looking around the small briefing room they were in.

"Young lady, if you have any means of committing suicide then you also endanger your teammates during a mission. If you plan to commit suicide, then I suggest that you'd be placed under decommissioned status for now. Think over if you really want to commit suicide," Lady Une stated and Reyna glared at her.

"Fine, then," Reyna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in anger.

"We will speak with you tomorrow at 0830, until then get some rack time. Oh, Val, Cavan? I need to speak with you earlier, so report to the main briefing room at 0815," Lady Une ordered and watched them file out. Her gaze looked beyond them as Quatre and the rest of the Gundam pilots filed in, most of them looking dead tired.

"Things just got worst, didn't they?" Duo spoke up; his voice held no emotion in them, something not common for him.

* * *

Adler walked along the mammoth cavern of the hanger bay, where the Gundams were stored. His footsteps echoed throughout it, bouncing off of walls. He'd had seen Reyna go off in the direction of the café, but decided not to follow her because of her current state of mind. Val and Cavan were jibing each other again, this time Cavan being the worst pain in the ass, as far as Adler thought he was. He wished that Neo was here, she would be able to stop everything, keep everyone from fighting and probably help him out of his sullen mood. But she wasn't here, she was probably in a torture chamber, plugs and wires hooked onto her and changing her, changing her for the worst.

"Adler…listen to me. The next time you see me, I will change. They will be doing things to my mind that will change me. You must kill me the next time you see me, promise me this."

Adler shook his head once, to clear out her voice that rang in his head. She had told him that he'd had to kill her the next time they met. Why? Why was she doing this?

"No…Neo don't make me do this."

"Adler, you have to…promise me."

No! I can't…I can't do this, I can't kill her…Adler thought as her words came back, telling him to kill her. "Neo, why did you have to go? Xylon will sooner blow the colony even if you surrender to him," Adler whispered as he glanced at his Gundam Taliesin. The Gundam that he had completed looked impressive, like something out of the mythical world. Howard told him that it was named the Taliesin, because of the Old Welsh legend that Taliesin was a visionary with powers that could guide people and was at peace with the forces of nature.

"A force of nature, war. That's a force of nature, a nature of humans. Those who want to seek its leadership also depict Taliesin as an eagle. I never thought that you'd be the leader of this little ragtag group, Adler Barton…or should I say Eagle," a mellow voice said from the shadows and Adler spun around to see a young man with dirty blonde hair that hung over one of his eyes, hiding it partially, while his other one, sparkled with uncontained anger, almost like chiseled light blue ice.

"Jordan Kent…" Adler growled as he rested his hand on his gun that was sticking out of his flightsuit pocket.

"So, you're the leader of the second generation of Gundam pilots, what a high position for yourself. Did you get it by force? By power? By lust? I heard about Winner's eldest daughter…a pity for her, but she is now one of us," Jordan taunted and Adler narrowed his eyes in anger as Jordan walked around casually.

"What are you here for, Kent? Cause you don't usually come here just to talk, you're up to something," Adler asked, giving a dark glare at the teen.

"Of course, straight to the point, as always, you don't beat around the bush…still the same old Adler Barton I knew from the Space Academy," Jordan said, giving Adler a smile that was full of teeth, "so, my purpose here is to…well actually kill you. But I won't do that just yet, I want to know how much you've gotten into a relationship with Winner's girl…Neo I believe that was her name. She is such a beautiful young lady."

"Go to hell and rot there," Adler spat back, drawing his gun and pointing it in Jordan's face.

"Tsk, Adler, why do you have to be so cruel? I mean you don't really want to kill me, unless of course you want to know how to free your lover. So tell me, did you ever sleep with Neo? Is she what you've always dreamed of, so pure, so exotic, so full of life?" Jordan taunted again, and Adler snapped the safety off of his gun.

"You are so full of it, just like back at the Academy, Kent, so full of your own desires, your perverted fantasies…tell you this, how about I give you the finger, and then blast you into oblivion," Adler whispered in a deadly quiet voice, shoving his gun next to Jordan's temple.

"Ah, so you do love her. But, if you want to kill me, then do so, but I will warn you again, there is a way to save Neo," Jordan added, pointing a finger at Adler's gun which was jammed deep into his temple.

"Neo told me to kill her the next time I see her, and I do love her, so then I will respect her wishes. If she wants me to kill her, since she's changed, then I will. There isn't any way to save her, my father taught me that because of your ass-hell of a Hidden Agent Program. Psychic powers are needed to stop that, and her father might not be able to stop her," Adler hissed and moved his gun from Jordan's temple to under his jaw. He grabbed Kent by the collar and picked him off from the ground, and glared into his icy light blue eyes.

"You forget something Barton…" Jordan whispered, as both were almost nose-to-nose. He raised his fist and gave a predatory grin at Adler; "Emotions are your weakness." Jordan punched Adler in the stomach, making him drop him and he smiled with satisfaction as Adler staggered back, his gun dropped to somewhere in the darkness. He looped his arm around Adler's and kneaded him in the stomach again and again. Finally he dropped him and Adler landed on the ground hard and out of breath. "Not so tough are you Barton?" Jordan asked, moving around as Adler slowly staggered up, one hand over his stomach, his face a bit bloodied and bruised.

"Your weakness is that your arrogance, your arrogance brought you down to the second graduate…you never passed the Space Academy did you Kent?" Adler asked, spitting out a bit of blood as he leaned against a metal guardrail. "You faked your way through, and changed all of the scores on your application," Adler accused, wincing a bit.

"So you finally found out about my little secret…too bad Barton, cause now you'll die," Jordan said in a simple, cold voice as he drew a gun from the folds of his outfit and pointed it straight at Adler.

"Hold it right there, Jordan Kent," a sharp voice said and Adler looked beyond Kent to find Hawk holding a gun at him, her gaze and grip unwavering.

"Oh, so now you're behind your mother for protection aren't you Adler," Jordan said, turning slightly towards Hawk and gave her a smile. "Well, I best be going, see you on the battlefield, Barton," Jordan said, and faster than any eye could follow he leaped off of the catwalk and into the shadows of the lower hanger bay.

Adler lifted himself up from the guardrail wincing a bit as pain shot through his bruises. He felt pair of hands support him and he glared at his mother. "I don't need your help," he growled at her as he shook himself away from her grasp. He walked swiftly as he could towards his bunkroom he shared with Val, not wanting her to see him like this.

"I'm so sorry, Adler…so sorry that I did this to you," Hawk whispered as a single tear fell from her eye, as she watched him walk off.

* * *

Chapter 17- Pain, Thrown Away

"Things just got worst, didn't they?" Duo spoke up; his voice held no emotion in them, something not common for him.

"We have a problem…if Neo is changed by the Hidden Agent program then she'll become a formidable opponent," Heero stated in a monotone voice as all of them stood around in a circle, the glow of the holoprojector lit up their faces in a bluish glow. He glanced at Quatre, who had a distressed look on his face, making him look older than he should. He's the one hardest hit with this news, also he's been bogged down by the media scrutinizing him for so long, Heero thought.

"So then what do we do?" Wufei spoke up in the awkward silence.

"We do nothing," Quatre whispered and felt all eyes on him, surprise written on some of their faces. He glanced up at them, "She made the choice on her own…Xylon might blow the Colony if we do anything."

"But…but that's your daughter out there, being tortured, converted, and brainwashed…so your saying that you would be willing to sacrifice your daughter for your Colony? That's pure bullshit!" Duo shouted and picked Quatre up by the collar of his shirt, and lifted him off of his feet.

"Duo, put me down," Quatre said, glaring at the American. "Neo won't get converted, she's too strong for their probes," he reasoned.

Duo made a noise of exasperation as he set Quatre down and crossed his arms across his chest, "how do you know about that?"

"Its because I do," Quatre replied in a simple voice.

"Stop it you two, after twenty-four years you still squabble like kids, and its getting on my nerves," Lady Une said and both looked at her. "I'm sending Cavan and Val on a mission to Lunar Base to see what's going on with Neo. And if they can, rescue her and disable the device Riyet has for Colony 04."

"They'll start a war of their own between each other," Wufei commented under his breath.

"They need to learn how to work together if they want to win," Heero said and nodded to Lady Une, "when are they leaving?"

"0900 tomorrow morning," Lady Une replied.

* * *

(This next part is written by my beta-reader and good friend Caroline Fales…kudos to her!)

The hanger was silent save for the occasional grunt and squeal of a wrench as it worked at a bolt. Reyna Maxwell sat back for a moment, wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her hand and scowling. God dammit, she swore silently, slamming her wrench in frustration against Hellfire. The hollow sound bounced across the room and over the dormant Gundams of her teammates or what was left of their group. Reyna had to admit even with all their power off and half-covered with tarp, the Gundams were still a pretty damn impressive sight. Then she glared at her own suit. And damned things to fix, she thought, picking up her wrench again. Didn't Howard improve on these things any at all? She rolled her eyes. Maybe if he had then I wouldn't always have to work on Hellfire or one of the other Gundams. And maybe Tarrant…

No. No, she wouldn't think of Tarrant. Not now, not until after this damn war was over. Or rather, think of him and plot what she was going to do when she got her hands on Lealya. Oh yeah, that bitch was gonna pay and it wasn't going to be by languishing in some jail cell. As far as Reyna was concerned, there was regular justice and there was justice. Justice her way…her rules. And justice and mercy were not mutually inclusive principles. They had all been betrayed and Tarrant had been murdered-was that just? Was that fair? Was it just that her parents' had to put one child in the ground while the other went off to fight for the very ideals they had fought for a generation earlier? Was that fair? Was it fair that even amongst her fellow Gundam pilots, Reyna was alone? Alone and unable to connect with anyone for fear that she'd lose them, too. She glanced at her watch, and saw that it was around 1:15 in the morning. Damn you…she thought as she thought about her brother.

The universe wasn't fair. In fact, it had a pretty sick sense of humor as far as she was concerned. But hey, that was life, right? Just one cosmic joke after another and at the moment, she was the butt of every one of them.

She reached over and wiped her hands free of grease before grabbing a scrunchie and twisting her lengthy braid into a ball on her head and securing it. While she dearly loved her hair and would lose a few fingers before she let a pair of scissors touch it, there were times when it quite frankly got in the way. And the last thing she wanted right now was hair prickling and teasing her face and obscuring her vision. Knowing her luck she'd probably hit something vital and cause Hellfire to self-destruct. It was humiliating, her parents thought that she needed some time with a person to talk out her feelings. She wasn't crazy--she was madder than hell, yes but she wasn't nuts. If she were to say what she was really thinking, they'd take her out of her Gundam and off the team faster than you could say 'Shinigami'. Nope, it was better to play along and let them think they'd won something.

She'd lost sleep more times than she cared to count just sitting up thinking, unable to sleep, almost unable to breathe because it hurt so damn bad. Every ugly thought and every ugly feeling came back until all she wanted was to be numb. If she was numb then she could get on with things and there wouldn't be any doubts or anything else to hold her back. She wouldn't have to watch her mother cry or see the grief hidden deep in her father's blue eyes or stare at her own haunted reflection each morning. Sometimes, she felt like she had died with Tarrant and now she was just a restless spirit, wailing out her pain in silence with no one seeing or hearing. She couldn't cry, outwardly at least. Inwardly, she hadn't stopped crying since she'd seen Wing Zero explode.

Weak, you're so damn weak, she berated herself. Weak like Wufei usually said, and he is right, you are just a weak girl. It was pathetic really. She had repairs to make and she was sitting here mooning like some lost calf. Get a grip on yourself for God's sake and stop acting like such a stupid girl. You're a soldier now and soldiers don't whine.

* * *

It was raining; one of those rare freakish storms that hit the desert once every fifty-to-seventy-five years and usually lasted all of five seconds. Only it hadn't just blown over. If anything, the storm had increased in intensity, forcing them to secure the hanger as the rain and winds whipped up the desert sands. There was some concern that the rising sand levels might prevent them from leaving the base unaided in the morning. Then there was the fabulous light display outside. Every ten to fifteen seconds, the nightscape was lit up in brilliant blue-white as lightning streaked across the sky.

Val Yuy pressed his face against the cool pane of glass separating him from the elements raging outside. Water slipped and slid down, his eyes following the silvery tracks they made. The glass made tiny puffs of fog each time he exhaled. Of their own accord, his fingers cut a path through the misted circles; creating wandering circles and lines. Rain was a rarity and a wonder to him. Most of his life had been spent in Nairobi, wandering its dusty narrow streets or staying inside and watching as the seasonal sandstorms hit, creating a world of yellow haze. He had been seven the first time he'd seen rain and visiting the Sank Kingdom. Val rolled his eyes. That had also been the day he'd met his cousin Cavan for the first time and knocked His Imperviousness on his royal ass. Cavan never had forgiven him for that. Then again, he had never forgiven Cavan for being such a snot-nosed brat, so they were even. The way he saw it, they didn't have to like each other, they just had to be able to work together and get their job done.

At least I don't have to share a room with him, he thought, glancing over Adler Barton's sprawled form. The young man had staggered into his room, bruises littered all over him. Val didn't even say a thing as the teen dropped straight into his bed and was deep asleep in a few minutes. Although he was fiercely protective of his privacy, Val had reluctantly agreed to share his quarters for the simple reason that space was at a premium. Besides, what right did he have to be picky and choosy? He was no better than the rest of them. No, he'd leave that kind of arrogant behavior to his aristocratic pain in the ass cousin. Cavan had gotten a room of his own but not because he had wheedled his way into it but simply because no one else wanted to room with him. His cousin's self-indulgent snobbery wasn't exactly endearing, even if he was a damn fine pilot.

Whether it was simply due to the raging maelstrom outside or something much deeper, Val found himself unable to sleep. Silently, he eased his way around the beds and outside the door before he ended up waking his roommate. Or so he hoped. Then again with Adler it was hard to tell--the boy had ears like a damn cat and you could never be sure just what he heard or didn't hear.

He paused in the hallway, listening to the crack and pop of his joints as he stretched. Oh, that felt good. Hnn, I must have been more tensed than I thought. Perhaps running through a few of Master Wufei's katas would help. There was something comforting about being able to throw himself into their smooth, simple rhythms. It took him away from his thoughts but allowed him the illusion of feeling he had done more than simple meditation allowed. Besides, they were great ways to keep in shape. He regretted deeply the loss of being able to throw himself into his martial arts for hours at a time. Such activities were a luxury these days, one that he could ill afford. And God knows after their last mission, they could use a little vindication.

He threaded his way through the dimly lit hallways, nodding briefly to a few of the members of the night staff. His reputation obviously preceded him for they didn't attempt to detain him, only acknowledged his presence with the briefest of nods. On the whole, Val was grateful for that; he wasn't in the mood to exchange pleasantries with inquisitive strangers at the moment.

He was headed towards the workout rooms when the sound of muffled swearing and a series of loud bangs caused him to change course. He froze, tensing up into battle readiness. The sounds were emanating from the hanger where the Gundams were stored. The door was half-open, a stream of thin soft light peeking out. He slipped through the door and skittered away from the light. Someone was here, he thought, cocking his gun. Well, they picked the wrong night to try to break in, he thought grimly. Looks like I'll get that work out after all.

Val crept along the walls, sticking to the shadows until he was near enough to make out who it was. His eyes widened then narrowed as he silently uncocked his gun. Hopefully, he wouldn't need it. Then again one could never tell when dealing with Reyna Maxwell.

"God damn it!" she screeched, raising her wrench to pound into nothing whatever bit of machinery was trifling with her.

"Don't you think that's going a bit overboard?"

He found himself leaping to the side as soon as the words left his mouth, grappling with the railing as a wrench sailed past his head. It clattered and skittered down the catwalk past him. Slowly, he raised his head, fixing the thrower with an icy stare. Reyna was glaring right back, not the least bit intimidated. She was quite a sight with her hair wisping around her face; breathing heavily as two red flags of color suffused her pale cheeks.

"Can I get up?" he asked dryly, indicating the bit of railing he was halfway perched on, "Or would you like to throw a few more blunt objects my way first?"

Reyna snorted, her hands straddling her hips. "As tempting as it is, no. I've got better things to then to see you standing there like a statue waiting for pigeons to puke their guts and shit at you. Plus I don't need to watch your cute little ass waving around the air all night."

Val raised his eyebrows, striving very hard to hide his surprise. Despite everything, there were times when Reyna's bluntness could still throw him for a loop. Then he noticed something. Was it his imagination or was Maxwell's face flooding with even more color than before.

* * *

Shit! Shit! Dammit! Reyna swore in silent horror. I did not just say that, I did not just say that. Oh, lord I must be overboard because there is no way I could have said that. Act calm, don't let him think that you actually meant it or anything, she thought rubbing the back of her neck. It felt hot. Oh, damn! She was blushing, she just knew it. Damn her fair coloring and face that gave away everything she thought or felt. She was just like her father in that respect. Her mother said that they both had glass faces with every thought registering like light through glass for the entire world to see. It was just her luck to have been her father's girl in this as she was in so many other ways.

She turned away quickly, squatting down in front of her toolbox and fervently wishing that Val would go away. She was not equipped to deal with anyone at the moment, least of all Val Yuy. No, make that, especially Val Yuy.

Not too long ago, she would have jumped at the chance to spend some time alone with him. She made no bones about the fact she found him attractive--okay, pretty damn gorgeous was more like it. Val had what her mother had once dubbed as the 'Grrr' factor when describing the kind of boys her daughter had a tendency to be attracted to. Val had it in spades. There was something about him--something dangerous and exciting and-- Okay, Maxwell, rope it in before you get in real trouble here. Tarrant had teased her when she'd actually been stupid enough to admit to having a crush on the Commander's son. You've fallen for a statue, Rey-honey. Pretty to look out but completely inaccessible and out of reach. You're just setting yourself up for hurt if you think you're going to get past that mask.

Now...well, now, Reyna envied the ease his detachment and the ease with which he put distance between himself and the rest of the world. Besides, with Tarrant's death, she had put any thoughts of romance out of her head. She'd already lost her twin--if she let someone else get close only to lose them too, then she really would have to be carted off to the funny farm. The only thing she wanted to get close to these days was Lealya's head with her revolver.

"Making repairs?" Val asked. Somehow he had managed to sneak up behind her and was now looking over her shoulder.

"Obviously," she bit off, trying not to let him know how much his sudden nearness threw her.

"Need any help?"

She finally looked up--so she could eye him incredulously. "Help? Me? From you? The day I need you to tell me how to fix my Gundam, Yuy, is the day I retire."

"That wasn't quite what I meant," he crossed his arms. "Quit trying to pick a fight."

"Who says I'm trying to pick a fight? I'm just telling it like it is."

"Of course."

"I am," she insisted, her hackles rose at his knowing tone of voice. Damn, he always did this to her. He always found ways to get under her skin and make her so mad! Maybe you should think about why that is, a little voice in her head taunted. Shut up, she thought savagely. She so did not want to go there. She wasn't some stupid little schoolgirl who could afford to have a crush--she was a Gundam pilot and there was no room for those kinds of feelings in this job, or feelings of any kind. Tarrant's death had taught her that if nothing else.

"Mhmm."

She paused, sitting back on her haunches and throwing a glare over her shoulder. "Val, is there any particular reason you're being a jackass to me this late at night? 'Cause I could really do without the condescension right now, thank you very much."

"I'm being condescending?" His eyebrow went up and those dark blue eyes became particularly piercing. "Excuse me but you nearly clocked me with a wrench. I think that entitles me to be a little concerned."

"Concerned about what?" she snapped. "Afraid I'll accidentally hit the wrong panel and blow us all up? Give me a little credit--I haven't suddenly become stupid just because..."

She trailed off unable to finish her sentence, unable to drive reality home one more time. Did she really have to be reminded every second of every day that Tarrant was gone and he would not be back?

"Because what?" Val prodded his voice quiet.

God, what did he want from her? Did he want her to break down and start crying? Did he think that would help? If that were true, she would have sobbed buckets by now. Crying didn't help anything. It didn't change facts. Tarrant was dead. Dead. Dead. She'd just be wasting her tears. They wouldn't bring her brother back. Nothing would. Nothing ever would. Her chest suddenly hurt a deep vacant ache that threatened to spread and consume her if she couldn't find a way to control it.

She gave him a smile, a good old patented Maxwell grin. "Jeez, look who's chatty tonight. You'll turn my head with all this attention, Yuy."

"Don't."

Reyna kept smiling, inclining her head and keeping her poker smile. "Don't?"

He hunkered down beside her, his knee brushing hers and causing her to jerk back. He reached out and caught her elbow, steadying her before she could fall flat. His hands were so warm his touch gentle. That surprised her. Gentleness was not something she normally associated with Vailo Yuy. Brusque, icy calm or anti-social--yes, those were words she would have used to describe him but not gentle. She stared at his hand then lifted her gaze to his. He seemed a trifle uncomfortable, slowly pulling his hand away and using it to ruffle his hair.

"You don't have to go through this alone, you know," he said steadily. "We're all here for you and--"

She held out a hand as if that would stave off his words. "You know what, Val? Don't. Just don't. I appreciate the offer but I'm fine. Really."

"Are you?" he studied her. "Because I don't think so."

"That a fact?"

"Yeah, that's a fact. Maybe you should take some time off. Time to get your head together."

* * *

Val regretted the words as soon as he said them. Reyna's face paled then became an alarming shade of crimson. He warily eyed the screwdriver she was clenching in her right hand. Her whole body was taunt. It wouldn't take much to set her off completely.

"Time to get my head together?" she repeated, her voice calm and almost reasonable. That, Val decided, was not a good sign.

"Why does everyone around here think I'm some sort of psycho?" she asked, her voice still steady but her blue eyes were flashing dangerously.

"No one thinks you're psycho," he replied refusing to take the bait. Reyna was clearly itching for a fight and he wasn't going to provide it if he could help it. He well remembered what she had done to Cavan when they came back from their mission and was pretty certain that he didn't want to be on the receiving end if he could help it.

"Now you're humoring me. Thanks, Val." Sarcasm fairly dripped from her words.

She rose to her feet. He mimicked her, intending to follow when she spun around to face him. She was so close they were almost touching noses. Those large blue eyes were wide with anger and hidden pain, a pain that called to him. He faintly recognized that pain, the haunting pain. She was hurting--far worse than anyone knew and the weight of trying to cope with it on her own was going to kill her.

She slapped him. The sound cracked and reverberated across the room. He raised his hand to cup his stinging cheek, grateful that she'd had enough control to switch her tool to her other hand. If she'd hit him with that damned screwdriver, it would have hurt.

"That's the point, isn't it, Val?" she seethed "Nothing helps. Nothing! Suicide would help, yes it will, but nothing else."

Reyna Maxwell angry was an impressive sight. Dark eyes narrowed to slits and hands clenched in fists, her body language screamed that if it came down to a fight or flight situation, then she was more than ready to do a little ass kicking. Her self-control was dangerously diminishing moment by moment and it wasn't going to take much more to push her completely over the edge. The thought was one Val didn't exactly relish. He'd seen lions in circus cages that possessed more calm then she did at this moment.

"God, I'm so sick and tired of everyone treating me with kid gloves," she shouted. "I'm not crazy. And I'm not an invalid. I don't need to pity and I don't need to be taken care of. Not me. Not Reyna Maxwell. Do you understand that? I'm fine. Fine. FINE!"

"Everyone's worried about you," Val said, and Reyna noted a hesitation in his words. "Especially me," he whispered the rest, startling her.

"I didn't know you cared," Reyna said, walking away from Val's grip as she leaned against the leg of her Hellfire. She gave a cursory look at Val who shrugged.

"Let me tell you something, something that only my mother and father knows, not even my sister, cousin or his family," Val started, his voice caring and Reyna turned her head slightly, just wishing that he could leave her alone.

"You never cared, you never had any feelings, you are a loner, so why are you telling me this? Just leave me alone!" Reyna shouted in his face.

"Because, you were almost suicidal! You almost killed yourself during that mission and would have caused others more grief, and because you are just like me when I lost my brother!" Val shouted back, staring at her with even eyes. He saw shock register on her face as her mouth dropped slightly open.

"You…you had a brother?" Reyna said, not believing what she heard.

"Yes, an older one. He was three years older than I was and it was about nine years ago, a few weeks before my sister was born. My brother, Akane, was testing out his mobile suit for the first time. It was one of the rebuilt Gundam models called Black Wing. My father had insisted that he'd be trained under a Gundam model for guardian purposes. My mother strongly objected, but eventually my father convinced her. What nobody knew was that a Zero System, one like the Columbia-Zero, had been installed in the Black Wing by someone. Akane went into the suit and the test commenced…" Val hesitated as he took a deep breath.

"It's okay, you don't have to continue if you don't want to," Reyna said, watching the usually quiet and cordial pilot struggle with his emotions.

"No, you have to hear it, because it concerns your attitude," Val said, then continued, "During the test, the Zero System started to tamper with his senses and he lost all control of his surroundings. He eventually self-destructed after my father went up in a Leo suit, and was heavily injured trying to calm my brother down. I was devastated after that, because he had been a role model to me, some one that had could have looked up to. In the aftermath, I devoted myself to training and basically I did not even want to talk to anyone, I wanted to train and train. Master Wufei noticed that every time I trained with him I was becoming more suicidal then before and he told this to my father and mother. They were both concerned and eventually convinced me of my errors."

"Oh," Reyna said, suddenly quiet as she glanced down at her feet.

"So if you want to kill yourself then by all means do it, but just remember, if you want to kill yourself, think about who your gonna leave behind. Also, will you have enough courage to meet your brother when you're dead? What will happen to your parents? You kill yourself and you leave the task of killing Lealya to us, you want that?" Val asked putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She went still, body going limp and silent. He sighed with relief and loosened his hold on her. That turned out to be a mistake. The second his grip slackened she pulled back and swept his feet right out from under him. Okay, enough is enough, he thought as he glared balefully up from where she'd knocked him down.

"Why are you just sitting there?" she taunted. "Little old' me didn't hurt big, bad Val Yuy, did she?"

He slowly got to his feet, keeping his eyes on her at all times. This time, he made sure there was the minimum amount of space between them. Rubbing his sore...pride, Val studied her. "Why are you doing this, Reyna?"

"Because I'm problem girl remember? Pay attention, Val."

"This isn't you."

"And if it is, what are you gonna do about it?" she smirked at him, the maniac gleam in her eyes more than just a little disturbing.

"You should go to bed. You're tired and out of control and continuing this argument is pointless," Val said.

"And who's gonna make me? You?"

"If I have to," he replied evenly.

That Cheshire smile grew larger and he tensed as she stepped up toe to toe with him. "Oh, really? Well, c'mon then, Yuy. Kick my ass."

"I'm not your enemy," he said softly.

"No, that's right you're my friend. My well-meaning concerned friend who thinks I'm psycho."

"That's not true. I think you're troubled. It's understandable after what happened to Tarrant--"

"Shut up!" she yelled at him. Her face had gone pale again and the pain he had glimpsed in her eyes was now an open wound. It was an expression Val well recognized. Once long ago, it had been his. She knew his story, yet did she listen to what he had told her? Was that reason he found himself unable to let this go? Unable to let her self-destruct as she was so obviously intent on doing? Because he had been there and he knew how it hurt.

"Tarrant's dead," he tested gingerly. She flinched.

"I know that," she hissed. "I know he's dead. I know that every second of every day! I--"

"It's not your fault."

It was strange how that one sentence could silence her so effectively. The fight seemed to drain right out of her, posture loosening so that she almost seemed to fold in on herself. She hugged her arms around herself tightly as if she could protect herself from his words by doing so. "Yes, it is," she whispered.

"Lealya killed him," he pushed. "Not you. You didn't have anything to do with his death, Reyna."

"Yes, I did! He died saving me! Because I was stupid. I let myself get put in a position to be killed. I should have died. Not him," she said. "I wish it had been me. I couldn't save him, couldn't protect him like I was supposed to."

"No, Reyna," he forgot about being wary and moved forward, touching her arm. "Never choose death over life. That's not the answer. If you do that then Tarrant will die again and this time it will be you that killed him. Don't throw away what he gave you."

She stared at him then gasped as if someone had hit her in the stomach hard. Her face dropped into her hands and she shuddered. More than that, she was shaking from head to toe. Val watched uneasily stirred by the feeling that he should do something, anything and torn because he didn't have a clue what to do.

Hesitantly, he reached out and pulled her forward until she was resting against him. She fought for a moment then relaxed clutching the front of his shirt. She was crying, he could tell that by the way her body shuddered and shook with each sob and the feel of hot tears soaking his shirt but she wasn't making a sound. It was eerie, these silent tears and they affected him more than he cared to admit. He tightened his grip, one hand stroking her head as she burrowed her face in his chest. He didn't bother to tell her it would be all right or any other such nonsense that she wouldn't have believed. Instead, he just held her and gave her his presence.

"Just cry, Reyna," he murmured. "Just cry."

(Okay back to my writing…also I edited the part before…)

* * *

Chapter 18- Only Heart to Live

It was as if her mind was ripped out of her body, and stuck into a jar. She screamed as pain coursed throughout her body, touching every joint, fiber, and nerve of her. It hurt so much, so much more since they strapped some kind of device that amplified her abilities and made her feel more pain than any human would.

"Up the amplification, I want her to break," Locke Dabnerba ordered Dr. Parker who nodded gruffly and twisted a knob on a control board.

"Oh, God, Allah, why are you doing this to me?" Neo whispered as more surges of pain shot throughout her, making her muscles twitch to the own accord. Her senses were overwhelmed with the agony of her suffering. She hung limply from the metal bonds that strapped her to a bed of electric currents. Another current of electricity ran though her, and she winced a bit as the electric fiber touched the nape of her neck and entered her, running through her windpipe, making her open her mouth involuntarily and she spewed out electricity mixed with her own blood.

"It hurts doesn't it Neo? Hurts so bad that you want to die right now, don't you?" Xylon whispered into her ear as he stood next to her.

Neo hung her head and nodded a bit. All she wanted to do was to die, she didn't want to suffer anymore, the pain, the pain was too much for her. She stiffened a bit as Xylon's hand ran along her face. The electricity had toned down a bit as she realized that she was breathing hard, and her whole body ached as if she had been ran down by a eighteen-wheeler. She cried out in muffled protest as Xylon forcefully kissed her, biting deep into her lip, and she tasted a coppery taste, her own blood.

"It's the fear of being dead that haunts you isn't it Neo? It's the fear of not seeing your family or your friends," Xylon said looking at her slyly. He ran a hand down her neck and traced her collarbone, admiring her form.

"Get your filthy hands off of me," Neo said, glaring at Xylon as she struggled against his touch and the bonds that were keeping her down.

Xylon laughed as he took his hand away from her, and he gave her a leering look. "Such violent temper, Neo Winner, that will do good," Xylon said coyly and looked at Locke and Dr. Parker. "Activate the probes, I think she's weakened enough to accept the probes. If she isn't then I can force her to accept," Xylon ordered and pointed to his head to accent his point.

"Very well, you heard him doctor…activate the probes and start the process again, this time full power," Locke ordered and Dr. Parker nodded as he pressed a few buttons on the control board. He flipped a switched that started the electrifying process again.

Neo screamed again as currents of electricity ran all over her this time twice the intensity and power as she had felt before. She felt her mind began to change as a new aggressive nature started to paint her world into her own. She began to feel that she needed to destroy someone, someone that was her enemy. No! I can't let that happen! I have to concentrate! Neo felt the remains of her own mind cry out in protest as the new alien nature took over inputting information of her targets to kill, targets that were ruining her life. She gave a final cry of protest before she saw blackness. What's…what's happening to me? What's…what's wrong with me, she faintly thought as a blanket of blackness over took her, muddling her senses.

* * *

Quatre sat up from his bed as he gasped from the lack of air and he saw the fading image of his daughter, being converted. Neo, what have they done to you? Quatre thought with horror as he bowed his head.

"Quatre? Anything wrong?" Ione asked, sleepily as she sat up from her side of the bed, and placed both hands on his shaking shoulders.

"She's gone…she's fallen into their hands," Quatre mumbled, as he couldn't get the image of Neo working for Omicron, doing their evil, out of his mind.

"Dear Allah," Ione whispered as she hugged Quatre, her blonde hair spilled onto his shoulders as they clung to each other for comfort and support.

"I'm so sorry, Ione, I couldn't protect her," Quatre whispered as rubbed her back in comfort.

"Its not your fault…its not that. We'll have to be stronger, stronger to turn her back to our way," Ione replied and looked towards the room door as it opened slightly and two small heads peeked in.

"Mommy, where's Neo? Is she gone?" Dumas asked as he and his younger sister walked in, both looking teary-eyed.

"Neo…bad men have her," Jade said in a quiet voice, too quiet for her age of five. She was sucking on her thumb as she and Dumas climbed into the bed.

"Don't worry, Jade, Dumas, Neo will be strong," Quatre said, as he hugged them. He felt their tears soak through his light nightshirt, and he knew that they had felt Neo's pain along with him. The odd thing was that Ione hadn't felt a single thing. What was also odd was about Dumas, he didn't even have any empathic powers as far as Quatre and Ione knew, so how could he'd have felt his sister's connection? Neo, be strong, fight it, Quatre thought as he glanced at Ione who looked devastated.

* * *

Cavan blinked his eyes open as he heard the whining beep of his alarm clock and he reached over to shut it. "Damn stupid clock, giving me all this trouble," Cavan grumbled as he got up from his bed and staggered over to the refresher station. He was out in a few minutes and grabbed a towel to dry his shoulder length white hair. He didn't know why he had left his hair long, ever since he was small. I guess it's a mark to my father, Cavan thought as he changed into a navy blue flightsuit. He glanced at his clock and saw that he had a few minutes before he had to report to the briefing room. Not enough time to eat, Cavan thought as he slipped on his ankle boots.

He walked out of his room and stopped short as he saw Val and Reyna up ahead, deep in conversation. He stayed in the shadows of the dim lights that dotted the hallway as he watched Val turned Reyna to face him, and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He narrowed his eyes as he felt a flare of jealousy erupt in him. The jealousy became hotter as he saw Val lean in close with Reyna; their faces almost touching then he suddenly backed away and left her. Cavan watched as Reyna walked towards him and past him, her face blank and unemotional.

"Val, you…" Cavan whispered fiercely as he followed his cousin to the briefing room. He was going to have to talk to him later.

* * *

"Your mission is to Lunar Base, where our contact told us that it has been overran by Omicron forces. From there, you will have a main objective and a secondary objective. Your main objective is to get Neo Winner, and get her out of there. Your secondary objective is to find out the extent of Locke's forces, and if you can, destroy them. Remember, your safety is primary and if you find that you're in a situation where your life is endangered, abort the mission and return to base," Lady Une ordered giving both Cavan and Val an even look as they were dressed in commando outfits.

"Roger that," Cavan and Val replied simultaneously.

"Val would be leader for this operation. Good luck, and Godspeed," Lady Une said and Val nodded curtly. "Any questions? Dismissed," Lady Une barked and both men turned and left.

"Lets, hope that Locke doesn't find out about them, or else we'll be in deep horse shit," Sally Po commented as she stepped from the shadows of the briefing room.

"They're so young, they will have to succeed," Lady Une replied.

* * *

Val seated himself in the pilot chair of the shuttle and closed the hatch as Cavan came on board. He stared outside of the cockpit into nothing as he remembered his earlier conversation with Reyna, just before he reported to the briefing. He had told her that she must not do anything to kill herself just because she felt guilty. He had made her promise him that she would not kill herself while he was gone, he had a lot more to tell her. So much to tell her, to tell her that I feel something for her? Val wondered when suddenly he felt a poking to his shoulder and glared at the cousin who sat down next to him in the co-pilot's chair.

"You seemed very cozy with Reyna this morning, is there something I don't know?" Cavan asked, as both started the pre-flight checkups.

"Nothing, nothing's going on. She's just frightened that's all," Val replied bluntly and nodded his head slightly as he saw that all the pre-flight checkups were in nominal shape. He started the shuttle and blasted away from the hanger bay of Nairobi Base.

"Do I sense a hesitation there, Val?" Cavan pressed and Val glared at him.

"What do you have against her? And why are you asking me all these questions?" Val asked as they sped in space, towards the Lunar Base.

"I saw you two outside near my quarters, you seemed very close to her…I just felt that it was fair to ask you if she is something special to you," Cavan replied in a simple voice and Val felt some anger boil in him. Cavan could be so nosy at times and it really got under his skin sometimes.

"You really want to know?" Val asked, giving a sideways look at Cavan whom nodded. "Try losing someone then you'll know," Val shot at him and returned his gaze to the moon, which was rapidly coming up towards the shuttle. He calmed himself by using one of the Master Wufei's breathing techniques and keyed the comm system as they approached the moon base. He could see a massive dark triangular shape shadowing the far side of the moon base and knew that it was the Firestorm.

"This is shuttle B5-1138, requesting permission to land on Lunar Base. We've just come from the Network base, after it was taken over by those bastards Preventer," Val spoke into the comm system.

"Shuttle B5-1138, why didn't you come in with Severn Cawley's shuttle?" the control of the moon base asked and Val glanced at Cavan who nodded.

"We were captured at first, but those cells, you know they suck at holding us in. Tell Miss Dabnerba we'll be reporting to her when we get off of the shuttle," Val replied and held his breath, hoping that Lunar Base would accept them in.

"Roger that shuttle B5-1138…you are clear to land in docking bay 45. Miss Dabnerba will meet you in the briefing room 23 in about twenty minutes," the control replied back and Val breathed a sigh of relief.

"Roger that control, shuttle out," Val replied and keyed the comlink off. "Now, we get Neo, and find her forces and blow them to hell," Val said to Cavan.

"As ordered," Cavan replied.

* * *

Trowa watched from a distance as his son shadow-fought an unseen opponent, his face beading with sweat as he kept at his fighting. He knew that his son was hard hit by Neo's sacrifice and wanted to keep it bottled up to himself, not letting anyone see through his mask of calm. Too much like me, too much like Azure, Trowa thought as he saw Adler run through a series of kicks.

"I thought I find you here," a soft voice said from behind him and Trowa stiffened as a pair of hands rested on his shoulders. He violently shrugged them away and moved a bit away from the person.

"Why are you here, Hawk," Trowa growled as he kept his eyes on his son.

"You mean I'm not allowed to see my son shadow-fight?" Hawk replied, putting hurt in her voice.

"He's not your son, he's mine," Trowa replied, not caring if his words sounded selfish.

"But we created him together, you and I," Hawk replied and Trowa froze as memories of that horrible day came rushing back to him. He had just had a rough day after joining Space Force instead of Preventer, and his commanding officer had chewed him out good for something he didn't remember what it was. He had entered his room, intending on getting some sleep and probably mull over what his commanding officer said, but he had found her in his bedroom, dressed in a black bodysuit. He had drawn a gun on her and wanted to kill her, but found that he couldn't. After that, it was all foggy to his memory, but he remembered that the next morning he found her gone, and him, lying naked in his bed.

"No, you're the one that forced me," Trowa snapped at her, glaring at her with his green eyes.

"So then, he is my son, not yours," Hawk replied and Trowa narrowed his eyes in anger. He felt so much pain rush in him, so much guilty feelings swirled around him like a maelstrom.

"Why did you keep the Barton last name, then?" Trowa asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You never accepted your real name, but instead lived with this name, the name you called Trowa Barton. It was all I could do, leave him with your name," Hawk replied in a simple voice. "He doesn't know about us, does he?" Hawk suddenly whispered and bowed her head in shame.

"How could I tell him? How could I tell him, and have him look at me the same way he had seen me all these years?" Trowa accused pointing a finger at Hawk, "it's your fault you know."

"I know its my fault and I'm sorry about all this, sorry that I couldn't have been there for him," Hawk replied and quickly left the training room.

You're never sorry, Hawk, you just want everything to be your own way, your own gain. That's why you let everyone down, including him. You just want everything to be perfect in your own way, never letting others know the truth, Trowa thought darkly as he looked back to his son who was still practicing furiously. "Adler, someday you'll have to find out," Trowa whispered.

* * *

Cavan flattened himself against a wall as a guard walked by. He waited a few minutes before peeking from his hiding place and glanced into a large hall and saw no one there. He glanced behind him and waved Val over, telling him that it was all clear. "From what I saw on the blueprints, Neo should be around over here," Cavan whispered to him and Val nodded.

"Okay, cover me, I'll check the terminal," Val ordered and Cavan stepped into the hall, pointing his gun in both directions and kept his eyes sharp for any signs of guards or anything out of the ordinary.

"Found her, she's in the room 11," Val announced in a stage whisper after a few minutes. Cavan nodded and went down the hall until he found the room 11. He keyed in an override code and the door hissed open. Cavan stepped in and pointed his gun at various places, his senses alert for guards or traps, but he found none. He saw Val brush past him and went over to a bed-tube thing that was situated to one side of the room.

"Holy hell," Val cursed and Cavan could hear an unusual dread in his voice.

"What?" Cavan asked, walking over to him.

"Look at her," Val said and Cavan peered into the tube. He suddenly recoiled as he saw her.

"What the hell?" Cavan questioned as he looked at her again. She saw in a black bodysuit, her hands folded neatly on her stomach. Her hair was pooled around her, but her face; it was her face that scared him so much. She had black wires of some sort running throughout her head, and all of them were connected to a black blob that was stuck onto her left temple. The black wires looking organic, almost as if it was alive in some sort and they kept flashing occasionally. "We have got to get her out," Cavan said and looked around for anything that could be useful for opening the tube. He found a crowbar and jammed one end up the seal between the tube and pushed down on it. "Did you find any control board to open this thing?" Cavan asked, his voice strained as he tried to lift up the cover to the tube.

"No, none at all," Val replied looking around the tube and the room. Suddenly there was the wailing of alarms and Cavan stiffened.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Situated around the Agent bays," a sharp voice blared all over the system and Cavan cursed silently.

"Damn, all right, we'll have to leave her and get out," Val ordered and Cavan glanced at him with surprised.

"What? You mean leave her here? She's our top priority!" Cavan shouted to him over the alarms.

"She might be converted and could be a time bomb waiting to be unleashed. We can't take that chance, also how will we get her out of that tube while your still trying to open it?" Val questioned and Cavan nodded numbly.

"All right, we go now," Cavan agreed. He took a glance at Neo who was lying there. Adler's not going to be happy, neither is anybody. The stakes just got higher, Cavan thought as he left her room.

* * *

Val ran down the corridors and found that all ends of the hallways blocked their escape routes. Damn, they've got us cornered, Val thought as he calculated his chances.

"Shit, okay Cavan go! Go get the shuttle ready and start launching!" Val spun around and faced his cousin with authoritative eyes.

"You two won't be going anywhere," a soft voice spoke up from behind Val and he turned slightly to see an Asian woman with long flowing jet-black hair and sharp winter green eyes.

"Who says lady," Cavan snorted.

"Cavan go, I'll handle her," Val ordered and felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Take care, and be careful cousin," Cavan said and Val actually heard compassion and worry in his cousin's voice.

"I will…now go!" Val said and he heard Cavan's footsteps fade away as he turned to face the Asian woman.

"Locke Dabnerba, sworn enemy of my father; you will die where you now stand," Val said, narrowing his Prussian blue eyes into a chiseled icy glare.

"Tsk…too much like your father…it's sad you know," Locke started giving him a predatory smile as she walked towards him slowly, "you have his spirit, yet do you have his skill?"

"Well why don't we see?" Val answered and waved a hand towards her, beckoning her to make the first move.

"Confidence, over confidence…good. I like that; this will make my victory easier," Locke replied then suddenly ran towards him and brought her leg up in an arc.

Val ducked under the high kick and brought his fist up, hitting her in the stomach. He smiled grimly as she staggered back, the wind slightly knocked out of her. He then ducked as she got back on her feet and launched a barrage of blows towards his head. Father was right; she is a tough opponent, tougher than Master Wufei or anyone else I've ever faced, he thought to himself as he blocked her blows with relative ease. "Is that all you've got?" he asked as he countered a kick and grabbed onto her right ankle. He twisted her leg and lifted her into the air. He let go and she spun as she fell to the ground.

"Quite the amuser aren't you Falcon Zero?" Locke said, "Did you know that I killed your brother?"

Val was silent for a few minutes as anger build up inside him. His blue-eyed gaze became glazed with anger. "You…killed Akane…you…killed," he started before hot anger choked his words. "You're the one that stuck a Zero System in the Black Wing, you're the one that made my brother destroy himself," Val started then yelled with fury as he traded blows with her.

"You like your father, so full of anger, so cold, both of you are space in its entirety," Locke said then slammed Val up against a wall.

Val felt pain arch throughout his back and his teeth rattled. He crumpled to the ground and curled up a bit, wincing in pain. Val reached for his gun that was stuck in the back of his flight suit pocket, and started to draw it, out when he felt a sharp kick to his right hand, which made him drop the gun. He felt the bone to his wrist crack and break as spasms of pain shot through, racing up and down his right arm, numbing him.

"Not so powerful aren't you Falcon Zero. Your father was a better adversary. Now you will die," Locke whispered and took out a gun. She fired.

Val felt the bullet impact him and his body twitched involuntarily. He touched the wound where the bullet had entered him and was slightly surprised to see blood on his fingers. So this is what dying is like, he thought silently as he heard the gunfire again and another bullet entered him. There was another loud echoing crack of the gun firing again, again, and again.

"I hope you'll rot in Hell where your brother is," Locke whispered, tracing his pain-etched face with a finger, then walked swiftly away.

A roaring of blood through his ears drowned the noise of her footsteps that echoed throughout the area. He felt very faint and lightheaded and knew that he was losing a lot of blood. I'm sorry Akane; I couldn't destroy your killer, he thought as he slowly closed his eyes. He saw a faint image of Reyna smiling at him as blackness over took him.

* * *

Cavan felt guilty as he made his way back towards the shuttle that took them here. I have to go back, I just get the feeling that Val is in serious trouble, he thought as he mentally kicked himself. He stopped for a minute as he considered his options. He was almost to their shuttle, but his conscious told him to go back.

"I can't…I have to do what he ordered…I have to," Cavan whispered as he looked around. "Aw hell…" he cursed the decision to go back was wrecking his mind.

* * *

Chapter 19- Survival to the Last

"Sir! Commander Yuy! There's a shuttle coming from the Lunar Base at top speed, headed towards us," a communications officer said his voice high and squeaky.

Heero gave a look at the officer and prompted him, "Well? You know the drill."

"Oh, uh…incoming shuttle identify yourself," the officer stuttered and Heero mentally slapped himself for hiring a newbie during the war, especially a new communications officer.

"He's on the verge of spazzing," Duo commented softly as all Gundam pilots were crowded in the main room of the Nairobi Base.

"This is Scorpion, mission aborted and we have a problem. Send a medical-team towards the hanger bay," Cavan's voice said and Heero was surprised at the weariness the young pilot had in his voice.

"Scorpion, might I ask what's the medical-team for?" the comm officer asked.

"…Falcon Zero is dying," Cavan's voice came back after a few minutes hesitation.

* * *

The harsh sound of water dripping slowly into its sink echoed throughout the room. It was quiet save for the occasional intake of a breath then a release of it. Heero Yuy stared out into the serene scenery outside a hospital window. He turned his head slightly to see his son who was lying like a corpse among masses of tubes and wires. He looks so dead, almost like me…why? I didn't want him to suffer as I did, but Locke had to interfere with that, Heero thought to himself as one of his hands unconsciously clenched into a fist.

There was a slight knocking to the door. "Come in," Heero said and he heard the door open.

"Oh, Commander, I'm sorry," a young officer's voice said, slightly embarrassed.

"No worry. What is it?" Heero asked.

"Sir, Locke Dabnerba is making an announcement that you might want to hear," the officer replied then quickly left the room.

Heero took another glance at his son, then spun around and left his hospital room.

* * *

Reyna sat at the café's table with two other men with her. She noted that both of their faces held an amount of sadness, sadness that was stretched since Tarrant's death. She hated this sadness that followed around her, whispering at every edge of her mind, telling her that she was born to feel this kind of feeling.

"I can't believe it, three gone already, how many more?" Cavan whispered, his hands wrapped around a mug of hot coffee.

"He's not dead yet, and there's still hope for Neo," Reyna spat back at Cavan and glared at him through the rim of her mug of tea.

"But you've seen what the readings said about Neo, she's an alien host now, for something organic. Organic that it's controlling her to the fullest! They've changed the Hidden Agent program," Cavan protested, and banged a fist on the table the three were sitting at.

"Shut up Cavan, just shut up," Adler interrupted the older teen in a quiet voice.

Reyna could detect a hint of underlying distress and feeling in the usually quiet pilot. "It's okay, we've been through a lot, now all we need to do is to calm down and think things over," Reyna tried to settle the tension that was growing between the two teens.

"Think things over," Adler snorted in disgust, "Cavan you left her there, not even trying to free her! Maybe she wasn't even converted yet, maybe she was just in a stasis chamber."

"You don't understand what Val and I saw…she had organic things on her, dark looking things that ran over her face and some into her head. Now tell me does that seemed to be a person in stasis, I don't think so," Cavan shot back and glared at Adler.

"You could have given her a chance," Adler replied.

"Shut up you two! Just shut up!" Reyna shouted, placing a hand between both of their faces, interrupting their staring match. "Tarrant's dead, Neo's converted, and Val's in a coma for who knows how long and all you two can do and just sit here and fight! You guys are so…so…Argh!" Reyna yelled at them and suddenly stood up, knocking her chair over. She glared at each of them, "I don't know what the hell is going on, but you two have to get your act together." She spun around and left them, heading towards the infirmary in the Nairobi Base.

Adler was quiet for a few minutes when a sudden crackling from the TV located in the café brought his head up. He narrowed his eyes as Locke Dabnerba's face appeared over the screen.

"Citizens of Earth and Colonies, this is your new leader," Locke started…

* * *

Reyna sat in a chair next to Val's hospital bedside. She glanced at his still form, save for the occasional rise of his chest when he breathed, but even that was very shallow. The doctors told them that Val was healing, but he was still in a coma from the bullet wounds.

"Now, all we can do is see if he wakes up. It's his choice if he wants to wake up or not," the doctors had said.

"Val?" Reyna whispered, stroking a tuff of his bangs. He was so pale, almost translucent. My God, he looks so dead, so…Reyna thought then felt tears form on her eyes as she swiped at them. "Oh Val, why did you have to face her? Why did you have to sacrifice yourself? You told me that I couldn't kill myself while you're gone, but here you lay, almost dead," Reyna whispered as she sat down beside his bedside and took one of his hands into her own. She stroked them gently; afraid that any sudden movement would trigger something in him that could lead to his death.

"Citizens of Earth and Colonies, this is your new leader," Locke's voice blared out from the TV screen that was in Val's room. Reyna glared at it and narrowed her eyes.

"Bitch," she spat quietly at the leader of Omicron Empire.

"I tell you now, your protectors, your so-called Gundams won't save you from my wrath that will destroy all of you!" Locke said in a deadly quiet voice. "This is my declaration of war to all of you. All of you who think you have no equal, but there is one that will rise to the top, my kind. All of you will submit under my rule as programmed into me by Dermail those forty-four years ago. Send up your military, send up your forces, I will eliminate them all. No one can save you, not even the legendary Gundam pilots you so come to fear yet adore," she said then abruptly shut off the transmission and left the TV in a blanket of static.

"Just who the hell does she think she is? Wonder woman bent on taking over the world?" Reyna snorted quietly to herself as she remembered she was still in a hospital. Suddenly there was a beeping sound and Reyna glanced at her comlink that was sitting on a small table near Val's bed. She sighed in frustration and picked it up, "Reyna here."

"Reyna, we need you for battle preparation. She's getting her forces massed up near Colony 01 and the Lunar Colony. Are you able to fight?" Lady Une's voice came over.

Reyna glanced once at Val, and squeezed her eyes shut as tears spilled down her face from the sight of him. I don't know, am I ready to fight without loosing it? Can I go to battle and survive to see him? Reyna wondered as she swiped angrily at her eyes and opened them. She looked at Val for a long time, her eyes running up and down his body and face. He looked so dead, so lifeless. Was he the same person a few hours ago that told her not to kill herself? "Val, you baka, you told me not to kill myself while you were away, but here you lay almost dead," Reyna whispered.

"Reyna?" Lady Une prompted her voice a tad bit impatient.

"Colonel Une, sign me up as pilot of Gundam Hellfire. Maxwell's back in business," Reyna replied and shut off the link. She stood up and glanced outside at the serene scenery. It was so peaceful, how could anyone destroy it? She glanced back at Val and leaned over his bed. "I'll try to come back so you don't have to miss me, Yuy," Reyna whispered as she placed a soft kiss on his cold lips. She backed away towards his room door, suddenly unable to tear herself away from him.

"Get a grip Reyna, you have to survive to see him, or else you'll have bad-ass Merquise to pick on and that's no fun," Reyna told herself as she left his room and headed towards the locker room to change into her flightsuit.

* * *

Heero glanced at the monitors that were in the main control room in the Nairobi Base. There were four monitors that showed each vantage-point in where Locke was going to deploy her forces. One on Space Force Station where Trowa and Wufei were, one on the asteroid where Duo and Howard where just about arriving to it, one from a satalight that was in position, and one from Colony 01. He glanced at another monitor that showed his wife, speaking with force as she tried to calm down the political situation that concerned them. God he hated those arrogant sons of bitches senators, they always stuck their noses in every single thing that the military did.

"She's putting up a good, fight, but unless we destroy Locke then all her efforts will be for nothing," Zechs' voice came from behind him and Heero nodded slightly.

"Do we have video transmissions coming from all pilots?" Quatre's voice yelled from the far end of the room. Heero glanced at their resident tactician. He was going to coordinate all the attacks against Locke, and Heero could see that Quatre had a lot of stress on him.

"We do, all with the exception of Sandstorm and Falcon Zero. We don't know until it has enter battle and or the pilot chooses to reveal herself," one of the officers replied and Heero saw Quatre stiffen a bit at the mention of his daughter's Gundam.

"What's the pilots' ETA to Locke's forces?" Heero asked as he glanced at a green monitor that showed Colony 01 and the Lunar Base with hundreds of yellow blips in between the two objects.

"About two minutes," the officer monitoring the battle feed replied and Heero narrowed his eyes. He keyed in a broad band comlink to all the pilots; "This is Commander Yuy, battle defensive formation, but beware of her tricks. Adler, you're in charge of this group, good luck."

"Yes sir," the three remaining pilots replied in unison.

Heero caught the eyes of both Quatre and Zechs and both of them nodded fractionally. He looked back at the space monitors wishing that he was young again so he could go and battle Locke and finish his mission that he had undertook so many years ago. I'll defeat you somehow Locke Dabnerba…you destroyed my family and I will destroy yours…

* * *

Adler watched as Locke's force slowly got large in his tri-screen in his Gundam Taliesin. He built his Gundam almost like his father's Heavyarms and he was proud of it. Taliesin was guidance for those that were lost those that were seeking its leadership. And Commander Yuy left me in charge of this group, Adler thought as he readied his multiple gattling guns. They were situated on his arms, two barrels per arm and could be dropped manually when they were out of bullets.

"Cavan, move left take those on the wing front. We need you to keep them at bay while Reyna and I head to the denser part of the grouping Locke's made for her forces," Adler ordered over the comm system and he saw a small image size of Cavan nod.

"Roger that Taliesin, good luck," Cavan replied and his image disappeared from Adler's left side screen. He glanced at his right side screen, which held a small image transmission of Reyna. "Reyna you ready?" Adler asked.

"Ready as I will ever be, Taliesin…lets give them hell with our Gundams," Reyna replied and Adler was glad to hear that there were no traces of her suicidal personality in her.

He throttled forward and past Scorpion who was engaging three Orion mobile suits. "Neo told me to kill her the next time I see her, and I do love her, so then I will respect her wishes. If she wants me to kill her, since she's changed, then I will." Adler heard his own words echo in his mind as he fired his gattling guns at a few Orions, pelting them with energy bullets that ripped through their easy metal and they exploded into tiny bits. Will I be able to kill her when the time comes? Adler wondered as he ducked underneath a beam saber from another Orion and retaliated by shooting the head off of the Orion. Suddenly the flow of Orions coming at them stopped and they all backed away.

"What the hell?" Reyna wondered out loud and Adler narrowed his green eyes, ready to do anything. He raised his right arm and looked around cautiously for any signs of an approaching enemy. He glanced at his scanners and saw that there was no threat. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his head prickled and Adler suddenly felt a chill run through him.

"Adler Barton…Reyna Maxwell," a cold, yet hauntingly familiar voice said over their comm systems. Adler thought he heard an overlapping voice following the first announcement of their names.

"Oh my God," Adler breathed in horror and wonderment as a face appeared on the full size of his left screen. Blonde hair pooled around her face and her eyes were chiseled like Arctic icebergs, but a black pool was filling them rapidly. Sinewy black strands wrapped themselves around her face almost embracing her and they occasionally flashed. Dear Lord, no…no this can't be her…no, Adler thought in horror as he saw a cruel smile form on her soft lips.

"So Cavan was telling the truth, she's monster," Reyna said over the comm system and Adler couldn't do a single thing but numbly nod in agreement. Neo…

* * *

Quatre stiffened as he saw the monitor to Sandstorm light up and his daughter sitting in the cockpit of her Gundam. But that isn't her, Quatre heard a voice in his head tell him as he saw numerous black strands of organic looking things wrapped around her face, all of them connected to a black blob that was lying on her left temple. Her eyes were pools of blackness and they seemed to hold no life in them.

"Ah, its so good to awaken again in a mobile suits, particularly a Gundam, even if I'm the extension of Locke herself," Neo spoke over the comm system and Quatre could hear a distinct overlaying of his daughter's voice mixed with someone else.

He glanced at Heero and Zechs who both had equally puzzled faces. What the hell has she done with her? Quatre wondered as he tried to calm himself down. He wouldn't go around and demand information about his daughter, but he would get revenge. Now isn't the time to mess around with Locke, I need to concentrate on the battle, Quatre thought as he looked at the two Gundams that were facing Sandstorm.

"All right asshole where's the real Neo?" Reyna was saying and Quatre could see that Duo's daughter was extremely pissed off, just like her father when in a situation not too good.

"You want to see her? You want to talk to her? Fine," Neo replied and Quatre heard an eerie silence descend upon the whole control room of Nairobi Base. Suddenly Quatre saw Neo close her eyes for a few seconds then reopened them but without the black pool that once engulfed her eyes. "What…" Neo started and he couldn't hear the distinct overlapping of the other voice.

"Neo, can you hear me?" Quatre immediately shouted into a link he had established with the Sandstorm.

"Father? Is it really you? What the hell am I doing in my Gundam?" Neo poured out question after question. Quatre saw her suddenly straightened as she realized that she was in the midst of a battlefield, "Dear Allah, what have they done to me?"

"Neo? Are you all right?" Adler jumped in before Quatre could say anything.

"Adler…oh god, Adler kill me now, cause they've messed with my Gundam and me…I…I…I…have a Zero System in here," Neo whispered and Quatre saw her eyes tear up. "Someone just kill me now, cause I don't know what she'll do when I'm in her control!" Neo suddenly shouted then her head dipped down and then back up. Quatre narrowed his eyes as he saw the fire within his daughter's blue eyes cover up by the black pool.

"Aw, how sweet…now are you going to actually kill me Adler? Are you willing to kill me? Oh, and Quatre, I wouldn't use your powers against me, cause I can do this to you," Neo said in a simple voice and Quatre narrowed his eyes cautious of anything that was happening around him.

Suddenly he felt as if his head was exploding into millions of pieces and he felt empathic waves of pain radiating from him, going off in different directions. Then the pain stopped and Quatre realized that he was gasping like a fish out of water. "Neo…" Quatre whispered, as he slowly stood up, suddenly aware that he had crouched down onto the metal ground. He looked around and saw the some other people in the room were grabbing onto their heads in pain, just like him.

"She's too dangerous to go near…Adler, Reyna do not attack her in anyway, we don't know what she might do," Heero spoke to the pilots.

"What? But, Commander, I made a promise to her," Adler started but Heero cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. "That promise cannot be full filled right now with her this dangerous," Heero reasoned and Quatre saw the young teen nod reluctantly.

"Things are going to get tough aren't they Heero," Quatre asked tentatively and Heero nodded.

* * *

It was so dark, so cold. It was like as if a blanket had fallen over his senses, muddling everything. Where am I? Val wondered as he saw that the blanket started to show some light in them.

"You are in the mind of your own self. You are here because of your defeat; here because of your injuries; here because you have a choice to make. Your life or your own death," a voice echoed throughout the dark places in his mind. He glanced around for any signs of the person or thing that had spoke to him, but all he saw was blackness.

"Val?" A familiar voice said from the darkness and Val turned his head slightly to see Reyna Maxwell step from the shadows dressed in all black like she was in a funeral mass for someone. She walked past him and over to a casket and knelt down in front of it, her head bowed. Val walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but was surprised to see his hand pass right through her. What the hell? Val wondered as he glanced into the casket and saw his own body, lying in a prone form.

"What the hell is this? Some kind of sick joke?" Val shouted as Reyna and the casket faded away. He glanced around and then upwards, "Hey! What the hell is this?"

"You have still a lot to know…that was your death, your death at this given moment," the voice replied and Val narrowed his eyes. "Look again, at your life, your past, present, and possible future," the voice urged and Val turned to face a white screen that suddenly appeared out of thin air.

He saw his parents holding him as he laid in a small white blanket, just out of the hospital he was born in and at home. The small head of his brother, Akane could be seen peering over their parents' shoulders. The image flashed to another when he was visiting the Sank Kingdom for the first time, where his cousin lived. Suddenly the screen took on a darker tone and Val knew what scene would appear next…his brother's death in the Black Wing. Val turned his head away from the image, not wanting to relive the events that took away his childhood happiness. I took in a deep depression that left me like my father when I was young, like him, Val thought as another screen popped up this time showing his recent fight with Locke Dabnerba that ended with him almost dead.

"This is your possible future, if you want to continue to live," the voice returned and Val looked up to a third screen that showed him dressed in a tuxedo standing before the altar, ready to be married to someone. The scene suddenly flashed as saw himself in bed with a person, the face of the person he could not see. There was another flash and Val saw himself carrying a small baby with light tuffs of brown hair and dark blue eyes, his son.

"I have shown you the path, now you must decide which door to open, but remember, once you open that certain door, you cannot come back," the voice boomed as all three screens flashed away leaving him again in darkness. There was a sudden rumbling and two doors appeared one marked with a "D", the other marked with "L".

Val hesitantly walked over to the one marked "D" when a sudden wave of pain made him drop to the ground in agony. He felt Neo's, Reyna's and all the others pain especially that of his father's run all around him and he realized that he had to help them. Val quickly got up, ignoring the pain, and flung open a door.

* * *

Val snapped his eyes open and found that he was staring up at a white ceiling. He moved his head to the right and saw that there was a window that showed the endless sand dunes of the Nairobi Base. I'm alive…Val realized as he sat up with a start. He felt no pain, no dizziness, nothing. He glanced down at his bare chest and abdomen and found that there were a few bandages that covered his bullet wounds. Val hesitantly pulled the bandages off and found that pink healthy skin covered his wounds, leaving not a single trace of him being shot. Suddenly there was a shaking to the building and Val ducked a bit as a high whine of an Orion blocked the sunlight to his room, flew by, making the windows rattle violently.

"What the hell? Omicron?" Val wondered out loud as he got up from his bed. He flicked on the TV to his room and narrowed his eyes as he saw a battle being waged in space as the reporter at Global News Network blabbered on about details. I have to help my friends, Val thought as he ran out of his hospital room, not caring if anyone saw him without his shirt on. They were probably all at the control room or at the bomb shelters by then. He made a beeline towards the locker room to suit up.

* * *

Chapter 20- A Fight of Zero

"Sir! Orion mobile suits have us surrounded," one of the officers said and Heero narrowed his eyes.

"Damn, okay what's the status of our mobile suit forces?" Heero asked, leaning over the officer as he looked at a green monitor.

"Not enough to spare to us. Paris Base is also under attack and so are the other headquarters of Preventer. Space Force Station is also under attack, as is the resource asteroids that are around Earth. All available mobile suits have been transferred up to there since they don't have the strongest defense," the officer replied.

"Get the defense armaments up now," Zechs ordered.

"But sir, those things haven't been in use for twenty years," another officer protested and Heero saw Zechs give them a withering look.

"I don't give a damn how long they've not been used. Just get them on or else you want to be blasted in to oblivion?" Zechs countered and Heero saw the officer cringe a bit before going back to his station.

"Holy shit!" one of the officers exclaimed.

"You know that language is not permitted on the premises," Heero said in a flat voice, but looked at the officer curiously as she began to shake in her seat.

"Uh…uh sirs, half of the Orions have been wiped out…uh, uh," the officer stammered and Heero went over and activated the outside view camera. He recoiled a bit as he saw Falcon Zero, slice an Orion with untamed fury. The Gundam then spun around with a reaction time Heero had never seen except only by him or Zechs.

"Give me a link to the pilot of that Gundam," Heero ordered then took the small comm link into his hand. "This is Commander Yuy, pilot of Falcon Zero identify yourself," Heero spoke into it.

"You should know already who it would be. You think I would let anyone touch my mobile suit?" Val's voice came over and Heero blinked a bit.

"Val?" Heero started before he was cut off.

"I'm fine dad, I heal fast, just like you I guess. I'll clear these guys away from the base before heading out to space. Yuy out," Val disconnected the line and Heero frowned a bit.

"Maybe with Val in the Zero System, we could have a chance of getting Neo back," Zechs said and Heero nodded slightly, a bit doubtful.

* * *

Reyna blasted apart one pesky Orion that was trying to sneak up on her and smiled grimly as the Orion blew up, taking out a few of its near by friends. She then swiped at two Orions with her scythe, cutting them apart from the waist and they floated in a space before becoming two fireballs that added on to the rest of the exploding Omicron Forces.

Suddenly she slammed forward into her controls then the restraints locked up, sending her back into her seat. "Ugh, damn," Reyna cursed as she rubbed her chest that hurt from the force of the impact. She glanced behind her to see an ancient piece of junk that her mother called the Lafayette. What the hell, they're still functional? Reyna wondered as she peppered the mobile suit with her shoulder gattling guns but they did no effect. Reyna quickly brought up her wings over her body and head as the Lafayette fired its massive beam cannon it had.

She could feel the power of the beam cannon being absorbed into her power system by her wings and she smiled. "Here's one back at you!" Reyna yelled as she opened her wings and flicked on her scythe to transfer the power to her beam, which glowed brighter. She throttled her Gundam and swiped her scythe over the Lafayette. Reyna didn't bother to turn around to see if she had destroyed the mobile suit as she continued on her warpath, cutting down Orions left and right. Suddenly she felt a lancing pain to her head and she glanced up to see Sandstorm…no Sandstorm Zero standing in front of her. "Get the hell away from my mind," Reyna spat at the person in the cockpit.

"Oh, I'm sorry Reyna, did I hurt you?" Neo's double voice came back, laced with fake worry.

"Bitch, get you stinking little program away from her!" Reyna snapped as she felt the pain intensify. Reyna let out a small moan as the pain shot throughout her body, making her stiff.

"Why, such language Reyna. I'm your friend," Neo replied and Reyna glared at the changed Neo with hate filled eyes.

"You're not my friend, not anymore. You were once my ally, and my best friend, but now, no more," Reyna said and she raised an eyebrow as the pain lessened and a confused look appeared on Neo's face.

"My ally?" Neo questioned and Reyna could see the black pool in her eyes start to dissipate, but only very little.

She was about to say more when suddenly there was a white-brown blur that swept by followed by a flash of green. "Val?" Reyna asked as she saw Falcon Zero engage in a fierce sword fight with Sandstorm Zero.

"Get those Orions off of me, I'll handle her," Val replied curtly and Reyna raised and eyebrow.

"You sure? I mean she can control you, if not possibly kill you with her mind," Reyna said a tad worried about his condition, after all only a few hours ago, she saw him on his hospital bed, almost dead.

"Not with a Zero System mind she can't," Val replied his voice strained as Reyna saw him press his beam saber against Neo's. Reyna narrowed her eyes as she saw two Orions trying to converge on the battling warriors and she throttled away from the two combatants, heading towards the oncoming Orions.

"Here you go assholes, eat this!" Reyna yelled as she brought her scythe in a punishing swipe that cut the arms off of the Orions. She then brought her green double scythe across again, this time taking the two mobile suits out by their waist. Reyna glanced around as they exploded, her senses alert for any other hostile enemy.

"Reyna Maxwell," a voice said behind her and Reyna spun around, her scythe held in a ready position. She narrowed her eyes as mobile suit was waiting behind her, holding two beam Sais. She found that the mobile suit model was eerily familiar and realized that it was the Black Wing model of Gundam that she had seen for the plans during her time on MO-VII.

"Lealya Dabnerba," Reyna hissed her eyes blazing with anger.

"You're the next one to go after your dear brother. It was a pity that he returned to your side before completing his mission for me, but no worry, he died just as well," Lealya replied and Reyna gritted her teeth in pure fury.

"Bitch, whore, asshole, slut," Reyna rattled off any kind of swear or degratory name she could think of at Lealya. She throttled her Hellfire and sped at Lealya, hoping to take her out in one shot. Reyna suddenly was thrown forward then backward as the force of Lealya's blow rattled her teeth. She blinked stars from her eyes as she pressed her double scythe against Black Wing's twin sai. I'll defeat you Lealya, Reyna promised herself.

* * *

Cavan watched as his cousin took on Neo, both of them furiously battling between sparks of energy released as both charged at each other with their beam sabers. A sudden bleeping alerted him to enemies who were lining up shots at him. He snapped his heat whip at an Orion, taking off the head and right arm in one shot. With his beam saber in his other hand, Cavan stabbed through the heart of the Orion, making it explode.

He glanced over his shoulder to see a few Orions flying towards Colony 01 all their weapons hot and running. Damn, is she serious enough to shoot down a Colony? Cavan thought as he throttled his Gundam and sped towards them. He powered down his beam saber and brought out his beam rifle as he set it on his shoulder. Cavan heard the pipping of the targeting box that slowly made its way to his eye and a constant tone sounded, indicating that he had a good shot at all of the Orions.

Cavan squeezed the trigger and looked saw a massive yellow beam of energy shoot from his beam rifle and past all of the Orions. The yellow beam dissipated and he gave a small smile as all the Orions promptly exploded one after another. "Locke shouldn't mess around with the Colonies, someone might just blow her forces up," Cavan whispered wiry. He glanced at his monitors and saw that the Omicron forces were attacking Space Force Station and some of the resource asteroids that were situated around the Earth. Well, gotta go help them, Cavan thought as he opened his thrusters to maximum and sped towards the Space Force Station.

* * *

Val gritted his teeth as he pressed against Neo, both of them resorting to their beam sabers. He fired his gattling guns at her, peppering her with bullets and sprang away from their locked combat. "Neo, if you are still there, you know that you have to regain control of your own self or else I'll be forced to kill you," Val said, trying to see if the young Winner could still hear him.

"Falcon Zero, you of all people should know that she is not here anymore, fully under my command," Neo's double voice came over and Val ducked as she slashed at him with her bluish beam saber. He countered pressing all his weight behind his blow and was face to face with her. Val narrowed his eyes and suddenly shouldered her in the face, sending her flying backwards. He wrapped his brown tipped wing vulcans around him as she took out her shotgun and fired rounds at him. Val glanced at his sensors and noticed that Adler was near by, holding off a few Orions.

"Adler! Get her!" Val ordered as he opened his wings again and throttled towards her.

"Roger that," Adler's grim reply came over and Val knew that their leader was going to have a tough time since he really liked Neo. Val swung at Neo with his beam saber then suddenly backed off as Adler came swooping in, firing all of his gattling guns and missiles at her. He watched as all impacted her, sending a huge shockwave of an explosion everywhere.

Val shielded his eyes, as the glare of the blast was too bright. He looked back at where the Sandstorm Zero was and found that it was standing, like a shadow in front of the explosions, a bit scuffled at places.

"You know, you shouldn't mess with this mobile suit, it just might hurt you," Neo's voice said and Val felt a small pain erupt in the back of his mind. He heard Adler cry out a bit, as he was affect by the pain wave. Zero helps me keep the pain away, but what about her? Is Zero trying to control her? Val wondered as he keyed the comlink to the Taliesin.

"Adler! Get away," Val ordered as he felt Zero's presence engulf him in its world. He felt a rush of his senses loading with information and targets for him. Everything seemed digitized and he felt as if he was merging with his Gundam.

"No, I'm not fleeing, if she wants to kill me, then I don't care," Adler's voice came back distantly. Val narrowed his eyes, as he felt his mind search throughout space. He saw Reyna battling what looked to be a remake of Gundam Black Wing, her determination pouring through his heightened senses. Val closed his eyes and found a presence that radiated with brashness and knew that it was his cousin in the Scorpion. He narrowed his search and felt a presence that called out, saying that it was lonely, yet it couldn't kill. Adler…Val thought as he bypassed that presence and honed in on the Sandstorm.

Val suddenly recoiled as Neo's screaming voice penetrated through him. He snapped open his eyes as he felt Neo's pain, so much of it. She's trapped in her own body without any guidance, but wait…Val thought as he searched through her Zero System mind with his own and saw a small light within the darkness. It was a part of the Zero System that wanted to help Neo. Neo, Val thought, Neo, use the Zero System…

"What are you doing to my mind, Falcon Zero!" Neo's double voice asked, slightly gargled.

Val opened his eyes and smiled, "Just giving it a make-over." He readied his beam saber in case Neo didn't succeed, and waited.

* * *

Neo saw through her own eyes at the destruction she was creating. She was battling Val, but not with her own hands, own mind, or own power. "Let me out of here!" Neo screamed as she wandered in the blackness of her own mind. "Father!" Neo yelled, trying to establish mental empathic contact with him, but she felt her efforts being repelled by this…this thing that was controlling her.

"Well, now how does it feel? You're not in complete control of yourself," Xylon's voice echoed throughout her dark prison and she glanced around.

"I thought Locke's personality is in me," Neo snapped, standing up, her senses alerted for any psychic attack that Xylon was going to throw.

"That's just her voice I'm using. It's a psychic's job, see just look how much power you have gotten, you're in command of all this power, so much that you can just take over all the Colonies and Earth, declaring yourself leader," Xylon taunted and Neo spun around as she heard footsteps echo. She narrowed her eyes dangerously as he appeared from the shadows. She glanced at two windows that showed her the outside battle and her eyes widened with surprise as she saw multiple missiles being fired at her from the Taliesin.

"Adler!" Neo cried, almost joyful, as she knew that he was keeping her promise of destroying her before anything else happened.

"No, missiles won't work," Xylon interrupted her and Neo watched as her own hands wrapped her reflective cloak/armor around herself, reflecting the energy and power given off from the missiles as they exploded on her.

"No…no…" Neo whispered as she sank to the ground in horror. She wanted to die; she didn't want to live in her own mind trapped behind this evil thing controlling her. "No!" Neo screamed upwards, hoping that her voice could get out, or at least her pain.

"The mind can be very powerful, you want to test it out?" Xylon's annoying voice asked and Neo lifted her head up and glared at him, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Shut the hell up! Why can't you do that!" Neo yelled as she charged at him and swung a fist at him. She passed through thin air and looked up to see him, hanging above the air as if ropes were tied to him. But there was none. "What the hell?" Neo whispered.

"You see, the mind can make you do anything, actually it is my mind now," Xylon explained and floated towards the ground. He glanced around and snapped his fingers. Neo ducked unconsciously then glanced around puzzled as the darkness changed into a candle lit room with a bed in the middle of it.

"What the hell?" Neo asked, as she looked around the 14^th century style of room.

"Get into the bed," Xylon ordered and Neo narrowed her eyes as she realized what was happening.

"I don't think so," she replied evenly and took a defensive stance as he approached. She watched him carefully as he made his way towards her, an evil smile on his face.

"You have to be this stubborn? Come on, I can show you," Xylon asked, and Neo gritted her teeth; she glanced at the two windows that showed her stopping the battle with Val for a few moments.

"Show this to hell," Neo spat and kicked in him the chest, sending him flying to the other side of the room. Looks like I'm not that powerless in my captive mind, Neo thought as she watched him stagger up, wiping blood from a split lip.

"Very well then, Cerelia Winner, if you won't go willingly then I'll force you…we'll settle this by a duel," Xylon said and snapped his fingers again, plunging them into a room with blocks of lights in it. Neo recognized the room, but didn't know where that recognition came from.

"How ancient can you get? A duel?" Neo laughed then quieted down as Xylon drew out a fencing foil and tossed one to her. She grabbed the handle and pointed the end towards the ground.

"This is a Zero System room, much like the one aboard the Libra before it exploded, except this one has a few surprises. Neo watched as spikes emerged from the walls, some of them still had blood dripping down it. She glanced up and saw a small white light but beds of spikes surrounded it.

"What do you want me to do?" Neo asked, looking at him warily as he took a few slashes with his fencing foil.

"My dear, I just want you to fight, and if I kill you then oh well…but if you are injured, you will sleep with me. If you kill me, then you are free," Xylon explained and gave her a smile full of teeth.

"I'll kill you," Neo replied and swung at Xylon who parried. Both foils clashed and sent sparks everywhere. Neo reminded herself that this was a battle in the mind, and any injury she received she was going to get it on her physical body. She swung again and then reversed her process and countered a head blow from Xylon. Neo thrusted her sword not really used to sword fighting, and felt the tip break. Shit, she cursed to herself as she backed away. She was only trained in dagger fighting, not for an ancient duel.

"Looks like you'll be staying with me," Xylon taunted and Neo narrowed her eyes. She hated him, hate him for all that he had done.

"You are evil, pure evil. You don't-" Neo started before she was cut off mid-sentence as Xylon stabbed between her chest and her stomach. She gasped a bit and dropped to her knees as Xylon pulled out the foil and tossed it away. She knew the wound was slightly serious, only if she lost a whole lot of blood. She touched the area where his foil went through and glanced at her fingers, which were coated with blood. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw two booted feet standing next to her. "Why? Why did you do it?" Neo whispered as she felt the pain spread throughout her.

"It was the only way for you to stay with me, Cerelia. You are so pure, something that space doesn't need. You have a power that I hunger for," Xylon said and Neo glanced up to see the white light still shining. She felt something warm encase her and realized that it was her father's, Val's, and Adler's presence trying to help her.

"Neo…Neo use the Zero System," she heard Val's distant voice echo throughout her mind.

The Zero System…Neo realized that the shining white light was a part of the Zero System that wasn't affected.

"What are you doing to my mind, Falcon Zero!" Neo's double voice asked, slightly gargled. And Neo smiled as she realized what she had to do.

"No! This can't happen, this can't!" Xylon protested as he realized what Neo was about to do.

Neo summoned up strength to her body as she sprang with inhuman height towards the white light. She touched it and immediately felt her strength renew. Neo closed her eyes as she hung in the air like suspended animation, and let the Zero System wash her mind. She could see through her close eyes a brightness that overpowered the darkness.

"No!" Xylon's cry was washed away as the Zero System overloaded the probes and program that was inserted into her mind. Neo snapped her eyes open and saw a raging battle between the Omicron Empire and the Unified Earth and Colonies. No more, Neo thought as she felt the Zero System merge with her mind, providing her with battle data and targets for her.

* * *

Chapter 21- Crossfire at Firestorm

Adler watched as the Sandstorm Zero became quiet and the glow to its green eyes faded. "What the hell did you do Val?" Adler asked the pilot of Falcon Zero.

"If she is strong enough she should regain control of herself," Val replied and Adler could hear hesitation in his voice. He was about to ask another question when Val's voice crackled over his comm system, "If she isn't, we will have to kill her swiftly."

Adler nodded slightly and watched for any signs of hostility coming from the seemingly lifeless Gundam. Adler suddenly narrowed his eyes as he saw the green eyes of the Gundam glow again and its head lifted up. "Neo?" Adler asked tentatively, still unsure.

"It's…It's…all right. I've gotten rid of that mind techno-organic thing," Neo's voice came over and Adler didn't hear any overlapping voice.

"Prove it," Val's curt reply cut through the comm system.

"Val shut up, and don't you start fighting with Cavan over this. He'll just probably taunt you to death like his ass-hell way," Neo replied and Adler smiled a bit as he realized that she had succeeded in over throwing the techno organic thing.

"Thanks," Val's flat reply came over.

"Val, head to the Firestorm, Neo and I will cover you. You have to destroy Locke's clones before we blow up the ship," Adler ordered the teen, dropping one of his used gattling guns.

"Roger that mission," Val's reply came back and Adler saw Falcon Zero make its way towards the massive battleship that was on the outskirts of battle, still heavily damaged from Tarrant's explosion.

Adler opened up his missile ports and fired the last rounds of his warheads at a few Orions who were trying to line up shots at Val. He raised his right arm, the one that still had a double gattling gun on it and shot hails of bullets at the rest of the Orions. Neo, who lined up shots with her shotgun and fired a round in each Orion, targeting their heads covering a few that he had missed.

"You going for head shots?" Adler asked as both of them continued to rake fire around the Orions.

"Its better than hitting them in the chest, the pilots will survive, but they won't be mobile," Neo replied and Adler nodded. He saw Falcon Zero disappear into the Firestorm and prepared to move on to help Cavan dispose of the Orions that were milling around his father's station, when a sudden bleeping alerted him of two rapidly approaching mobile suits.

"Computer, identify suits," Adler said and glanced at Neo who had a dangerous look to her eyes.

"Its him, he's finally here," she whispered.

"Mobile suits, Lafayette made out of gundanium, and a titanium enforced Columbia-Zero. Pilots aboard unknown but have exceptional battling skills," the computer replied to him and Adler knew who were the two pilots.

"Well, well, Adler Barton, we meet again," Jordan Kent's voice came over and Adler narrowed his eyes in anger.

"Never thought you could pilot a mobile suit," Adler snapped at him as he ducked to avoid a spray of flames from the Gundam Lafayette's flame-thrower. He retaliated by shooting off a few rounds from his double gattling gun. "Neo! Handle the Columbia-Zero, Jordan and I have an old score to settle," Adler said to Neo who looked surprised.

"I thought you said that personal agendas don't count in here," Neo replied wiry and Adler shook his head a bit.

"Forget what I said, if who I'm thinking is in that Columbia-Zero, then you're our only ace up our sleeves," Adler replied.

"Roger that, leave him to me," Neo replied and terminated the comm link. Adler returned his gaze to the red-white Lafayette in front him. His father told him how mobile those things were, even though they looked like crap, they had very good weapons on them. Gotta be careful when around him, I'm almost out of ammunition, Adler thought as he waited for Jordan to make the first move.

* * *

Val pressed a few buttons to his Gundam, setting the auto self-destruct if anyone didn't type in the correct password. He slipped on his space helmet and locked it in place to his flight suit, tinting everything to a slight blue color. He checked everything one last time before opening the hatch to his Gundam, letting vacuum fill the cockpit. Val floated away from Falcon Zero and grabbed hold of a guardrail. He flipped himself onto it and looked around. Val noticed a pinkish light coming from one of the ends of the hall the guardrail was on and headed towards there.

"Her clones must be there, from what father told me her clones need a power source close to them," Val commented softly to himself as he drew his gun out, wary for either Locke or any other person. I'll have to complete my work fast, before Locke knows anything about my presence here, Val thought as he came upon a huge chamber with a pinkish glowing column of light in the middle of the room. He glanced behind him as a door hissed shut and a whistling sound filled the air. After a few seconds the whistling sound was gone and Val glanced at his wrist monitor to see that the room had been pressurized and oxygenated.

He removed his helmet and sniffed the air. "Smells like blood," Val commented and jammed the helmet back on, not wanting to smell anything pungent. He checked out his surroundings and saw many rows of tubes that held what looked like bodies in them. Val smiled grimly as he saw that there were three doors all of them airlocks. Must be the doors that keep the vacuum from coming in, Val thought as he had an idea. He reached into a pocket of his flight suit and produced three small magnetic C4 explosives. "This will do nicely," Val heard his own voice echo within his helmet.

He placed a C4 on each of the three air locks. After doing that Val took out his gun and loaded a round of bullets in it. He proceeded to a batch of tubes that held clones of Locke and shot the glass of each. After finishing with that batch he went to the next one and proceeded to do the same. Each of her will die with spacing when I'm through, Val thought as he reloaded his gun.

* * *

Adler sprayed a hail of bullets at Jordan who returned fire with his beam rifle. Adler clicked his gun to fire again, but found that he had run out of bullets. He checked his missile ports and found that they too were empty. Damn, not at a time like this, Adler thought as he watched Jordan launch his shield defensors at him, all of them paring up and crackling with electric energy that could paralyze his Gundam. He dropped his gattling gun and reached behind him and took out a long metal pole, about the size of him. Adler pressed a button on both ends of the pole and out sprang two wicked looking energy pitchforks, his double beam trident.

"So that's what you've been waiting to show me," Jordan's voice came over and Adler gave a sardonic smile.

"Bring it on," Adler replied and spun around and slashed at the shield defensors that were coming at him. He jabbed his one end of his trident behind him and caught two of the defensors, exploding them into dust. Adler then took his trident into his other hand and slashed at four oncoming defensors, rendering them useless as they sparkled in space, dead.

"Very good Adler, you're skills haven't lacked that much since you've graduated from the Academy," Jordan mock-praised him and Adler narrowed his jade green eyes in anger.

"I never thought that you'd be able to pilot a mobile suit," Adler shot back and brought up his green trident in a parry as a purple beam saber appeared out of nowhere in Jordan's hand. He swiped at Jordan, hoping to catch him off guard, when suddenly felt an intense heat pour all over him. He staggered back as Jordan spewed fire from his flame-thrower and into his face. He could feel the heat from the flames, almost melting the cockpit of his Gundam.

"So how does it feel? Looks like you forgot how much your weakness of not paying attention cost you," Jordan taunted and Adler gritted his teeth as he was forcefully pushed back by the hot flames melting the outside metal plate of his Gundam.

"This'll cost you, Kent," Cavan's voice suddenly crackled over and Adler could faintly see the Scorpion slash at Jordan's flame-thrower arm with his beam saber through the wave-like heat of the flames. He suddenly felt as if all the heat had gone away, leaving him with a rapidly cooling cockpit of his Gundam. "Hey Adler, you still alive?" another crackle of Cavan's voice through his damaged systems.

"Yeah, a bit crisp," Adler replied and pointed one end of his beam trident at Jordan's neck. "Jordan Kent, on behalf of Preventer and the Unified Earth and Colonies, you are to be arrested, tried, and found guilty of your crimes," Adler spoke slowly.

"And just what are my crimes?" Jordan shot back, contempt rolling off of his voice.

"Assisting the enemy, going against your government, and cheating within the Academy process. Not to mention a few hell lot of stuff that you've got up your sleeve," Cavan's arrogant voice replied.

"That's enough Cavan, escort Kent to Space Station, they can hold him there until this battle's over," Adler ordered and he watched as the Scorpion grabbed hold of the Lafayette.

"Hold it, Barton, Merquise. I can still self-detonate, taking you out with me," Jordan said and Adler froze as Jordan brought up a small cylinder that held a red button.

"Jordan, don't do anything foolish, you don't want to take you life do you?" Adler asked the teen, looking at his thumb positioned on the button warily.

"I can take my life how ever I want to. My mom's an ass; she's probably dead already since Locke's actually loosing this battle. You know, you Gundam pilots are what Locke said you guys would be, so I think it be fair that I repay you, since I'm told that mostly, you guys are masochistic," Jordan replied.

"Get away you two, if that blast if powerful enough they can trigger a self detonation of your own Gundams!" Quatre's frantic voice blared through Adler's fuzzy comlink.

"Jordan Kent," Locke's voice slashed through all the communications between Adler, Cavan, and Nairobi Base. "Sacrifice your life for the good of Omicron Empire, you will obey me," Locke ordered.

"What!? Wait, are you serious that I have to self-detonate? I mean I was just only kidding," Jordan replied and Adler could hear a bit of hysteria in his voice. So, Jordan was bluffing the whole time, Adler realized as he saw Cavan approach the Lafayette again, but this time carefully.

"Do it or else I will," Locke replied.

"Uh…no…you couldn't be that evil, I mean I'm you're devoted soldier! You can't mean that I have to give my life for this war. I want to become your General, your right hand person!" Jordan spilled and a part of Adler felt slightly sorry for the young pilot, but that was quashed immediately.

"A devoted soldier will risk his or her life for their commander, are you devoted to me?" Locke's cold voice came over. Adler suddenly heard a frantic yell and saw that parts of the Lafayette were glowing with unknown power.

"Oh shit, she actually did it," Cavan cursed as he started to back away from the glowing Lafayette.

"Locke! You bastard!" Jordan yelled and Adler could hear over his comlink some sparks hissing loudly with the alarms of self-detonation penetrating through. Suddenly the alarms quieted and Adler glanced at the Lafayette, which stopped glowing. "Adler Barton, Cavan Merquise, I surrender to you," Jordan's voice came over, laced with defeat.

"Accepted," Adler replied then switched comm frequencies to Cavan's line, "get him to the Space Station then head back out, I'll need your help cleaning up the rest of Locke's forces."

"Roger that Taliesin," Cavan's curt yet militaristic reply came over and Adler wondered if after Val was hurt, did the older teen have a change of heart. Looks like Val's injury gave him a knock around of a one-eighty personality, Adler thought as he ran a check through his systems for damage reports.

* * *

Locke slammed a hand against her control board as she saw that Jordan had overridden her command for self-detonation. Dammit, I can't loose, not now, not with Earth this close to my command, Locke thought furiously as she glanced at the various monitors on her control board. She took a glance at her clone room, then took another look. How could have I missed Heero Yuy's little brat messing with my own, Locke thought as she punched out the monitor, leaving it crackling.

"Falcon Zero will pay for his insolence, his life will wither with my hands," Locke whispered to herself as she walked out of the main control room of the bridge of Firestorm, leaving the dead crew, Dr. Parker, and Dr. Kent, behind. She didn't care now, she was loosing her war that she had so hard to build in the last twenty-four years. Now, all that it took was one single person to destroy her work…Heero Yuy.

"Vailo Yuy, you're time is up, I will personally kill you in front of your father and the others," Locke hissed as she walked towards the clone room.

* * *

Chapter 22- Stardust Memory

Val pressed the trigger to a tube, shattering the glass. He smiled grimly and glanced at the last one left to go in the whole room. "I would have said something before I kill the last of you, but no, not after you killed my brother and cause so much strife to the Earth and the Colonies. All I'll say to you is rot in Hell where you belong," Val whispered as he cocked the gun. He glanced at the last hive-minded clone of Locke Dabnerba and found something familiar about her, it looked a bit like his childhood friend Anima Ryoiji.

"Pondering whether to kill me or not, are we Falcon Zero?" Locke's voice echoed throughout the spacious chamber. Val spun around, and pointed the gun at Locke who stood about ten feet away from him, wearing a flight suit with a helmet on it.

"I will kill you, whether you like it or not," Val replied flatly, keeping his gun trained on her at all times as she advanced slowly towards him.

"You can't kill me, I can easily kill you if you destroy that hive-clone," Locke hissed, narrowing her green eyes in anger.

"So then why are you wearing a flight suit with a helmet? You know that, that is your last clone, you have no other, so if I just shoot your hive-clone in this tube, and blow the detonators, then kill you, your soul would wander, never finding another body to infest," Val deducted and saw that Locke had stiffen as he hit all the right points.

"How dare you…even if you blow the detonators or just shoot my hive-clone, I will still get you and you will die," Locke replied in a dangerous voice and Val decided he had enough.

"Fine then, come and get me," Val said in a curt voice and pointed the gun and shot the final tube. He quickly then brought out the detonation device and was about to press the button when he felt his windpipe constrict as Locke's hands held him in a deadly chokehold. Val felt his left-hand go limp as the blood was cut off from it and he dropped his gun.

"Give me the switch," Locke's voice hissed near his helmet.

"Go to hell," Val replied and he started to see spots as he felt his neck slowly being cracked. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and concentrated, just like his father and Master Wufei told him to. I have to survive…I have to, Val thought, I'm the son of Heero Yuy, the one that destroyed Locke…I have to complete this mission for my father. Somewhere he felt his strength build up and Val crouched down then suddenly heaved up. Immediately he felt the pressure to his neck loosen and he reacted without thinking.

Val flipped over to pick up his discarded gun and fired a bullet straight into Locke's helmet, barley missing her face. He then simultaneously pressed the detonation button that blew out all the doors. Immediately there was a loud whistling sound that sounded like a whole lot of sandstorms in the desert of Nairobi, and Val grabbed onto a guardrail as all oxygen was pulled out into space, along with the tubes and their lifeless bodies in them. Val glanced behind him as he felt his grip on the guardrail slipping rapidly. He saw Locke, clawing at her face as it froze all shiny black. Suddenly the face exploded from the force of the vacuum and Locke's body floated out along with the rest of the dead clones.

Val reached into another pocket of his flight suit and pulled out a magnetic gun. He fired the magnetic cable just as he lost his grip and saw the small cylinder fly towards the door which he came though. Val felt the hard tug of the cylinder's line becoming taunt and he pressed a button on the machine to slowly reel him in. Just as he reached the door he pressed a coded button and the door hissed open. Val swung himself through and reached for a panel that was on the other side. He slammed the panel and the door hissed shut, trapping the vacuum that was sucking up everything. Val breathed a quiet sigh of relief and leaned against the panel. He heard his own breath echo within his helmet and realized that he had completed his father's mission.

Val keyed a comlink to the Space Station, "Captain Barton? Master Wufei?"

"Online, Falcon Zero," Trowa's voice came back.

"Mission accomplished…she's dead," Val replied and shut the link off. He closed his eyes for a few minutes as he calmed himself down. My brother, you are finally avenged, Val thought as a deep hurt that had kept him so down was finally lifted.

* * *

Neo gasped in great pain as Xylon slammed the back of her Gundam with his heat saber. She gritted her teeth as lancing pain went all around her. Neo placed a hand on her abdomen for a few seconds then removed it to see her glove slicked with blood. She still had the wound on her after her mind battle. "That's it, now you're really making me pissed off," Neo muttered under her breath as she powered up her heat scythes and threw them at Xylon.

Neo expected the scythes to impact the Columbia, but Xylon just deflected them with his heat saber. "Damn you! Why can't you die!" Neo yelled as she clutched her head in her hands, Xylon's mental daggers piercing her weakened defenses.

"Its because I am stronger than you are, stronger than you can ever know," Xylon's icy voice replied and Neo narrowed her eyes in hatred and deep anger.

"Asshole," Neo muttered over the comlink. She glanced at her monitors for him but couldn't see him. Suddenly she felt something-heavy slam onto her and she began to fall at a rapid speed towards the blue-brown Earth. Neo turned her head slightly to see the Columbia-Zero attached to her, forcing her to speed downwards into the hot atmospheric conditions when reentering. She pressed a few buttons as her cockpit started to heat up from the pressure and heat. Immediately the heat began to die down in her cockpit as she activated her reflective armor that poured the heat away from her Gundam. The only part of her mobile suit that was not covered with the armor was her back where the Columbia-Zero was hitching a ride.

"You will die when I'm through with you," Xylon's voice hissed over as both broke away from each other after hitting the upper stratosphere. Neo saw him draw out something that looked like a morning star except on the ends were four bright beams.

That's a crossbeam almost like mine, Neo thought as she drew out her beam saber. Crossbeams were the most dangerous weapons besides the massive beam cannon. They were thrown in an incredible rate and can cut through many mobile suits in one throw like a disc. "So what are you planning to do with that? Cut me in half?" Neo asked, then winced a bit as pain flashed on her abdomen. She knew that she had to end the battle fast, because of her blood lost. Plus she was feeling very dizzy and that wasn't usually a good sign to her from her racing experience.

"Precisely," Xylon replied curtly and charged at her.

Neo ducked underneath his heat saber, dropping her altitude a bit. She slashed at him parrying his blade against hers. She noticed that he didn't use his crossbeam yet and was puzzled. Why would he hesitate now? I'm already weakened and injured, can't even stop his blows that well, why? Neo wondered as she dropped another few meters in her altitude to avoid his deadly swing. She turned and flew down towards the blue ocean and glanced behind her to see Xylon follow. I'll have to use the earth's gravity to the fullest, Neo planned as she skimmed close to the water. In front of her there was a cliff wall that she was rapidly approaching.

"You thinking of suicide?" Xylon asked, unable to keep the mirth out of his voice.

"No," Neo bit back, "just wanting to see if you're smart enough to do this!" Neo pulled back on her joysticks sending her Gundam straight up the face of the cliff. She cleared it and skimmed on the deserts that was over the ridge of the cliff. This was where her Sandstorm was in its elements…the desert. Wait, I think I landed somewhere in Africa, Neo thought as she skimmed the desert sands, bringing up swirls of sand and creating a storm of dirt and grit.

"Fancy moves you're flying Neo, but aren't you afraid of what might happen to your injury that you received?" Xylon's taunting voice came over and Neo cursed as he came though the sandstorm she had created.

"Shit, why can't you die like you're supposed to on that cliff wall?" Neo said as she slashed at his mid section, but found resistance there. She brought her beam saber up and clashed it against Xylon's heat saber. Both sent sparks everywhere and Neo narrowed her ocean blue eyes in anger. She slammed her other hand into his chest, making him stagger back. Suddenly Neo was thrown forward as something shot into her back. "Ahh," Neo gasped in pain as the control panels hit her wound hard. She regained her footing and glanced behind her to see one lone Orion standing with a massive beam cannon in its arms.

"Argh! Die!" Neo yelled as she had enough with these pesky suits. She got up, not caring if her wound hurt like hell and brought up her beam saber. She swiped it across the Orion, taking out the gun along with its mid-section. Neo turned around to face Xylon but found nothing, only a cloud of dust. Suddenly her sensors beeped alerting her to some attack force that was converging on a place. Well, gotta help civilians, then I can see if this battle is really over, Neo thought as she throttled her Gundam towards the area.

When she got there, her jaw dropped open a few inches as she saw numerous Orions firing at Nairobi Base, who's defenses looked pretty bad. There were only a handful of old Leos and Aries guarding the base, and they seemed insignificant compared to the sheer number of Orions that were assaulting the base. "Dammit," Neo muttered as she took out her shotgun with her free hand and targeted the Orions. Neo fired round after round blowing the heads off of each Orion. She dropped her shot gun as it ran out of bullets and powered up her beam saber, its glowing green color bright against the harsh sun of Africa. She moved swiftly towards the rest of the Orions who didn't notice her, as they were intent on destroying the base.

* * *

"Holy! What the hell?" one officer shouted as he ripped his earphones off and had a bewildered look on his face. "Sir!"

"What is it Lieutenant Capon," Zechs demanded tearing his gaze away from a monitor that was showing the space battle. The building suddenly shook as something impacted again. More Orions had shown up after Val had headed towards space, and they were left on their own.

"Sirs! Gundam Sandstorm is destroying the Orions!" Lieutenant Capon said excitedly and Zechs sighed in frustration; newbies all of them, new and excited during a prospect of winning. They never learned how to keep their cool during battle, that's what got most of the new ones killed.

"Sandstorm?" Quatre's voice echoed from the other end of the control room and Zechs turned his head to see the former pilot of 04 reach for a comlink.

"This is Quatre calling Sandstorm, Neo, you okay?" Quatre spoke into it and Zechs hoped that the young Winner was all right since they lost communications with the Gundam pilots when the battle started. Even the monitors that were supposed to see into their cockpits were damaged.

"Slightly okay, got those mind-probes off of me, courtesy of Val and Adler. But I'm wounded," Neo replied and was about to say more when Quatre jumped in.

"Wounded? Neo, disengage battle right now and get in here," Quatre said, his voice stern.

"No can do, father. Besides, its not that bad," Neo replied and shut the link off.

"Sir! Message coming in from Space Force Station," Lieutenant Capon interrupted again this time his voice calm and composed.

"Patch it through," Zechs ordered and watched as a static image of Trowa and Wufei was online. Blood smeared on parts of their faces and Zechs could see in the background that the Space Station had taken hard hits for the worst.

"Heero, received a call from Val, he says 'mission accomplished…she's dead'," Wufei replied and Zechs glanced at Heero who had a hint of a smile trying to appear on his face.

"Tell him well done," Heero replied, then turned back to a station that he was looking at.

"Wufei, what's the status of all the battles going on?" Zechs asked as the video image that shook a bit followed by a soft rumbling.

"Most of Locke's forces have been decreased drastically and we've received numerous surrenders. Duo's taking all the prisoners in; good thing Noin is there, cause I just received a message from Duo that he's complaining about all the prisoners coming in," Wufei said in a monotone voice and Zechs raised an eyebrow at Wufei's joke coming in bluntly.

"What about the other Gundams?" Zechs inquired as he put that little joke in the back of his mind. He was going to have a talk with the former pilot of 05 after this fiasco was over.

"All are accounted for, with the exception of Hellfire, Reyna is probably most likely venting her anger off of a few stragglers of Omicron. Cavan is just patrolling outside the station along with Taliesin," Wufei replied and Zechs nodded.

"All right, keep me posted," Zechs said and shut the connection off. He returned his gaze to the space monitors that showed a fierce battle between the Hellfire and what looked to be the Black Wing.

* * *

Neo decapitated the head of an Orion then spun around and stabbed on in the stomach. She powered down her beam saber and stuck it into a shoulder hold that was made for the small metal cylinder. The last of the Orions blew up and Neo sighed in relief.

"Not so fast Sandstorm Zero, you're going down," Xylon's voice suddenly crackled over her comm system and Neo clutched her head as a lancing pain shot though. She backed away as the Columbia-Zero throttled towards her and she gritted her teeth as she felt the Columbia slam into her, pushing her into a rock outcropping. Neo hissed a bit as she felt herself slam all around her cockpit chair, making her pain from her wound almost unbearable.

"Damn you!" Neo yelled as she drew out what looked like a morning star. She powered up the four green beams on each end of the crossbeam and slashed it at Xylon who countered with his own. Neo suddenly lashed out with her leg, kicking Xylon a few feet back. She spun the crossbeam in her hand and narrowed her eyes as a targeting grid lined up with her right eye and the Columbia Zero who was recovering from her kick. Neo heard the constant tone of her targeting box saying that she had a good lock and the box became red. She threw the spinning crossbeam at Xylon and saw it impact him, sending him flying backwards. Neo then throttled her Gundam and rammed Xylon in the stomach, pressing the crossbeam further into the Columbia-Zero.

"Maximum thrusters," Neo whispered to herself as she touched a few buttons, she looked up and smiled grimly as a water front cliff came up and she and Xylon fell towards the rapid blue ocean. Neo kept her thrusters at maximum and waited till the last second before breaking off. She pushed her joysticks up and hovered in mid-air as she saw Xylon plunge into the ocean with great force.

"We will meet again, Xylon Riyet, and there I will defeat you," Neo declared in a grave voice before turning around and heading back to Nairobi Base.

* * *

Chapter 23- Deathscythe Hell's Fire

Reyna covered herself with her black leather-like wings as Lealya shot her Bismarck cannon at her. The Gundam called Black Wing had every single advanced technology, greater that hers and Reyna didn't like it at all. That was the Gundam that killed Val's brother, how could it have all these weapons? No, I won't let it defeat me, because Lealya is a foe that I have to defeat to avenge my brother's death, Reyna thought with determination as she powered up her scythe and slashed at Lealya who countered with dagger-sai. She had already dropped one of them and was defending herself with her cannon and the remaining dagger-sai.

"Have you had enough, Reyna Maxwell?" Lealya's voice came over laced with malice.

"Haven't even gotten started, bitch," Reyna replied sardonically. She backed away from Lealya and shot her shoulder gattling guns; surprised that some of them pierced the Black Wing's defenses. Reyna took careful aim at Lealya's dagger-sai as she kept pelting her with bullets. She fired one of her dagger blasts at Lealya' hand and smiled a bit as the dagger blast knocked the small weapon out of Lealya's hand and it floated away.

"How dare you! You…" Lealya's voice came over heavy with anger.

"Oh, sorry that I broke your toy for you, you want me to fix it asshole?" Reyna spat back as she throttled towards her, her black wings open, their sharp edges flashed against the sun light.

"I have more you can play with," Lealya replied and discarded her Bismarck cannon. Reyna watched as she reached behind her and drew out a long metal pole. She pressed a button and two short beams popped out from each end of the pole.

"Oh a twin beam lance, not too fancy might I say, but they won't help you girl, not when I'm through with you," Reyna said and parried as Lealya jabbed at her with one end of the lance. Reyna whirled around and brought her scythe up over her head. She made herself look like she was going to go for and overhead blow when she suddenly reversed her tactics and swung diagonally at Lealya, cutting the hand of her lance apart. She backed away again and raised her left arm and shot the remaining three dagger blasts at Lealya.

Reyna didn't want her dagger blasts coming back her as she made improvements to them. She watched as they burrowed themselves at three different placed on Lealya's mobile suit, none of which were critical points. "What about you, Lealya, you had enough or do you want more?" Reyna echoed Lealya's words mocking her.

"Never, I will never surrender," Lealya replied exhaustion evident in her voice.

Reyna suddenly was slammed back into her seat as Lealya whipped out a massive beam cannon that was painted a bloody red. She grunted a bit as the pressure of the beam forced her into her seat. Reyna tried frantically to move her Gundam away from the blast, but sparks began to fly all over her cockpit. Shit, dammit! Reyna cursed silently to herself as the blast died down and Reyna checked her Gundam for damages; her Gundam had lost about three-quarters of it maneuverability and power drive. Damn, I'm a sitting duck now, Reyna thought as she opened a panel in the cockpit and touched some wires.

She drew back her hand as the wires sparkled, all electrified. "Damn you," Reyna said as she saw the Black Wing approach her.

"So, now my question to you is, do you want to die by self-detonation, decapitation, or spacing?" Lealya asked laughing a bit as she enjoyed this moment.

Reyna made a small noise in the back of her throat and glared at the Black Wing. She felt her anger pour out into her own self, fueling her desire to eliminate her. Within that anger she felt something different something that wanted to help her. Brother? Reyna wondered as she recognized his thought waves' milling around her head, their link was still connected even though he was dead. He was helping her, Reyna realized as she touched a few buttons that rerouted power to her scythe.

"How about this, Lealya, how about I give you the finger," Reyna said sarcastically and stuck up her middle finger at Lealya's communication image, "and you go to hell." Reyna then powered up her scythe to the maximum capacity of energy and the blade turned a bloody, crimson red instead of its usual green. She used the last of her Gundam's reserve strength and slashed down at Lealya, catching her off guard. Reyna watched as the Black Wing floated a bit away from her, all the while breaking in half in a clean cut. Reyna shielded her eyes as the Black Wing blew up.

"My brother, Tarrant, my you rest in peace. I will miss you," Reyna whispered as the fireball died down, leaving only scraps of what once used to be the Black Wing.

"Hey Reyna! Reyna!" her father's frantic voice came over and Reyna glanced behind her to see that Lealya had blasted her back towards MO-VII where her father was.

Reyna grinned a bit as he father's tousled image came onto her left screen. "Hey dad, what's up?"

"The sky?" Duo replied and Reyna laughed for the first time since her brother had died a genuine laugh.

"Very funny dad," Reyna replied laughing.

* * *

Chapter 24- One Thing Before Another

Val stared at the hulking mass that was once the battleship, Firestorm. It was an impressive sight he had to admit, but it was also a menace to Colony travel, Earth, and everyone else. He keyed his comm-link, "Falcon Zero here, ready to destroy the target."

"Commence operation," his father's grave voice spoke back and Val nodded curtly.

He brought up his massive Ragnarok; the beam cannon he'd never used until now. Howard wasn't entirely correct about this weapon; it was very deadly, and very powerful. The perfect weapon to destroy what evil is left of outer space, Val thought as he lined up the crosshairs. He heard the constant tone of the weapon getting a lock on the target and his targeting box turned red, indicating that he had a good shot. Val fired, and watched as a massive beam of yellow energy erupted from the barrel of his Ragnarok and headed towards the Firestorm. He shielded his eyes as the beam went through the Ragnarok and exploded it, sending bright shards of metal everywhere.

"Mission accomplished, returning back to Nairobi Base," Val said after a few minutes.

"Roger that Falcon Zero. Good job Val, I'm proud of you," his father's voice spoke back and Val smiled faintly. Now brother, you may rest in final peace…he thought as he throttled his Falcon Zero and folded his wings around him, acting as a cocoon as he entered the atmosphere.

* * *

Val watched at dancers filled the ballroom of the former Sank Kingdom's castle. They seemed in perfect tune with the waltz that was playing. Val remembered that President Kushrenada had told them that history was like an endless waltz, a three-time beat; rebellion, war, peace; rebellion, war, peace; all in that order. He heard some high pitched giggling coming near him and glanced over to see Cavan surrounded by girls who were oohing and ahhing at him. Val snickered a bit as Cavan shot him a deadly glare, but in his dark blue eyes that said that he was content actually. Val had set most of the girls up to with Cavan for revenge since when he had arrived at Nairobi Base, he asked Cavan why did he save him during his first fight with Locke.

"Three reasons cousin," Cavan had replied, "One, your father would have my head, two you're my cousin, and three…I hate to see Reyna cry, she loves you Val, she just doesn't know how to show it and if you died, she would have no one left to care for her. I just don't want to see her cry."

Val smiled faintly as he recalled what Cavan said. He didn't really believe it since his cousin still flirted with Reyna and Neo, hell he flirted with just about every girl he saw.

"God dammit, why did I have to wear a dress!" Reyna's voice said from beside him and Val raised an eyebrow as Reyna leaned against the wall next to him, her face pinched and angry.

"Might I suspect that you don't like your dress," Val said in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, dad makes me wear these…ugh," Reyna huffed in frustration and she drank a bit of her punch in her white gloved hand.

Val had to admit, the dress looked stunning on her, showing all her curves for the world to see. The downy yellow fabric of her dress matched her brandy brown hair that was tied up into a lovely French braid. Some sparkles were put into her hair and adorned with the dress was a pearl necklace and matching pearl earrings. "You look fine in it, what's your complaint," Val said in a simple voice.

"What!" Reyna hissed at him glaring at him with her slightly pissed off cobalt blue eyes. Val raised his arms slightly to defend himself as she prepared to strike when a sudden tugging at his pant legs brought his head down to his sister Setsuna who was dressed in a deep green dress that made her look like a mermaid out of water.

"Val, mommy and daddy wanna see you," Setsuna said and for the first time since the little brat was born, Val was glad that his sister was there to save him. He did not want to receive a slap or a punch from Maxwell, seeing what she did to Cavan during her psychotic episode after her brother's death.

"Excuse me," Val said in a hasty voice and ducked underneath Reyna's arm and moved into the crowd leaving her behind.

* * *

Neo sighed a bit as she watched her parents whirl around the dance floor, smiles on their faces. Her father had once convinced her again to get into a dress much to her protest, but Neo finally agree as she made a promise to herself that she will choose a dress that Adler might like.

"You look nice in that dress," Adler's soft voice said behind her and Neo turned to see him dressed sharply in his blue Space Force uniform. He handed her a punch and Neo took it nodding a thank you to him.

"Thanks," Neo replied blushing a bit as she returned her gaze to her parents.

"Actually I meant to say that you look beautiful in the dress," Adler whispered into her ear and Neo laughed lightly.

"One comment is good enough for me Adler," Neo replied giving him a sunny smile. Her smile faltered as she found her lips covered with his and her senses became numb as she felt electric tingle around them.

"Uh," Neo commented as both of them parted. She breathed in a little, trying to clear her muddled senses. Adler, just…he just…he kissed me, Neo realized as she glanced him and saw a hint of pink erupt on his face.

"I loved you ever since the ballroom incident," Adler whispered into her ear.

"Same here, Adler, same here," Neo replied as she leaned against his strong form, both of them watching the others dance.

They didn't notice another person a bit away from them in the shadows, watching them. Trowa smiled faintly as he watched his son. He was glad that his son could have a life that he never had. Adler, you'll know some day, but not now…Trowa thought as he walked away from the two and towards where Wufei was engaging in a conversation with Sally Po and Lady Une about Preventer and Space Force's future.

* * *

Val nodded to his father's words and watched him walk away with his mother towards the dance floor. He looked around for any sign of Reyna but didn't find any. Duo was having a debate with Quatre, both of them sitting at a table. His uncle and aunt were talking to President Kushrenada and were joined by Lady Une, Sally Po, Trowa, and his Master Wufei. It looked more like a committee meeting than a celebration of Earth's liberation. He noticed that the door to the balcony in the ballroom was open and there was a figure standing outside. Val approached the balcony and saw that it was Reyna standing and looking at the stars.

"You know what's so good about them?" Reyna asked as he stood behind her, not too sure what to do or say.

"What?" Val asked.

"They remind you that you have to survive. I know cause I don't have to grieve anymore for Tarrant. He is still in me, still pushing me forward," Reyna replied and Val raised any eyebrow at her comment.

"That's good," Val said still unsure what to do. Val suddenly thought up of an idea. "Reyna would you like to dance?" he said and mentally slapped himself for such a spur of the moment idea. Dumb move Val, you're gonna get slapped again or maybe she has a wrench underneath that dress to clock you with, a voice in his head said. Val saw Reyna turn around, her eyes sparkling against the blue-black night sky.

"Yes I would Vailo Yuy, yes I would," Reyna replied.

* * *

Pictures flashed, photos taken all of them smiling. There was a group picture where everyone posed, all the Gundam pilots and their parents and siblings. Suddenly the group picture caught on fire and burned at the corners then made their way towards the center. The picture was dropped into a trashcan where it crumpled up into a melted ball of paper and ink.

"How soon should we prepare?" a voice asked kicking the trash can away.

"Not yet, let them think they have won," another replied the first one.

Severn Cawley and Xylon Riyet watched as more of the photos burned up in the trash can. When all were done, both men turned and watched the oceans of Florida Base wash up, brining some metal parts up to the sandy shore.

~ Fini

* * *

Interview With the Author:

Questions by: Chibi Shadow Chaser and Sephy

1. Who is your favorite character of Gundam Wing?

Quatre Raberba Winner

2. What inspired you to write this story?

I wanted to see some good quality action Gundam stories out there; since most people would put up humor or Heero/Relena couple fics.

3. So, you are not a pro-Heero/Relena worshipper, despite the fact that you have them married in your fic? Can you explain this?

I have them married in my fic because it is the easiest to work that way from here on in. You see, with the character of Vailo Yuy that I created, I can make all sorts of different family problems arise during their marriage, maybe even have them divorce.

4. One of the nicer things about this fic is that it includes old favorites as well as new characters to carry on the mantle of the Gundam Wing universe. What made you decide to keep the older characters in such an active role when so many next generation fics lost them completely?

Well, for starters it wouldn't be called Gundam Wing if there weren't any old guys in there! If there was just Val and his crew, then it probably is called Gundam Falcon Zero or something of that nature. I find that bringing the parents into the fic helps the character develop a lot, they give advice and worry about you.

5. Another point of interest is your decision to develop Neo Winner's power whereas in Gundam Wing, Quatre's are mentioned only in passing. What prompted this decision?

Well, one thing…I'm too influenced by psychic animes…I decided that in Gundam Wing there weren't that many strong female characters and I needed a few. Neo was created to have these special powers because she was a bit naive and didn't really know how to handle her father. I wanted her character to know that she is like her father.

6. There isn't just one strong female character in your fic--there are two. Where do the characters of Neo Winner and Reyna Maxwell come from?

Neo Winner…is actually a part of my sister and I. Reyna Maxwell comes from the side of myself that wants to fight, also from the Matrix's Trinity.

7. There are a lot of Matrix references in your story, would it be amiss to say that the Matrix heavily influenced you in the writing of this fiction?

Yeah, some parts of it. The rest, like some battle scenes I just created myself because of the frustration of school; I need to vent out my anger. Also a lot of the Gundam battles comes from Michael A. Stackpole's work on both Star Wars and Battletech.

8. So what can we expect from you in the future? Do you have any sequels to this story planned?

You can expect a lot more of Mini Stories about the original Gundam pilots. Maybe…it's still in the work though with school starting and such.

9. Is there any chance we'll see more development of the relationships between some of the characters--such as Neo Winner and Adler Barton, or the apparent triangle developing between Reyna, Val, and Cavan?

Possibly…like I said, if I write a sequel, there will be definitely more on the relationships. Also Sephy is working on a small mini fic on my characters so she is working on their relationships too.

10. Finally what is it about Gundam Wing that inspires you to continue it through your stories? What is it that touches you on a personal level?

Gundam Wing is an anime that shows the innocence, and horrors of war that surround us during our real time. We don't really see the perspective of others in their face against war. Gundam Wing in my opinion is about man's struggle to find why does it make them fight? Why is bloodshed necessary? Why do we all fight? Is it for honor? Glory? Power? Or just for our families? I'm still searching for the answers; it'll never end.

11. Quick question: Is Locke Dabnerba really dead?

Well, did you see Val break all her clones' glass then put the whole area into a vacuum? So, yes she's finally gone! Hears cheering in the background

Author's Final Notes:

Well I hoped you enjoy my After War Trilogy, and stay tooned for my other fics that I will be posting up! If you have anymore questions you like to ask, then post them on your review and give me your email so I can reply to your question! Enjoy reading until next time I post up another! Special thanks to Sephy, Chibi Shadow Chaser, Onyx, and Bunny for being there when I need you and for helping me improve on my ideas!

~ Shadow Chaser email: [email protected]