Morning had finally come.

The search party was there, she had already called Lady Une and Sally, and the press had been informed about the situation.

Lieutenant Noin knew what she had to do next. She sighed and went over to her phone monitor to call Zechs.

He was not going to be happy about this.

Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, and Duo stood there and watched as the men combed the garden trying to find any clues to what had happened.

Quatre’s boyish blue eyes were filled with unquestionable sadness.

"What was Relena thinking coming out here by herself with no bodyguards?" He asked more to himself than to the others.

"She may have not been by herself," Trowa said behind him. It was the first time he had spoken since the incident had happened.

They all turned to look at the boy.

"What do you mean Trowa?" Quatre asked.

"I saw Heero at the party."

"What!" Duo exclaimed, looking at Trowa with disbelief. "You mean to tell me that you saw Heero here?" He paused for a moment and then shouted, "Why the hell didn’t you say anything before?"

"I felt that Heero wouldn’t want me to," Trowa stated casually. He crossed his arms and glared at Duo calmly.

Duo threw up his arms in bewilderment. "Well that’s just dandy!" he mumbled, slumping against a tree behind him.

"Heero or no Heero. We still don’t know if anyone was with her," Quatre pointed out.

"Hey, Look over there," Wufei said, pointing to one of the men in the search party who was holding a small hand gun in his gloved left hand.

"I know that gun!" Duo said, staring at it. "That’s Heero’s gun!"

"Now we know for sure Heero was with her." Quatre said with excitement.

Duo banged his fist in his hand.

"Then there’s a chance that Relena’s still alive," he said with a wide smile. "Because if I know Heero, which I do, he won’t give up without a fight. For all we know he may already have rescued her!"

"Shut up Maxwell," Wufei growled. His arms were crossed as he looked at the American sourly. "Your optimism makes me want to vomit! You don’t know Yuy as well as you think you do."

"Hey you can’t deny it!" Duo said with a lopsided grin that seemed to cover half of his face. "Me and Heero do go a long ways back."

"Duo does seem to know Heero a little better then we do," Quatre admitted somewhat reluctantly. "But the question we need to be asking ourselves right now is, how do we find Heero? Do you think he was kidnapped with Relena?"

Wufei growled, ignoring Quatre. Instead, he uncrossed his arms and said fiercely. "That weakling Yuy!-- Serves him right if he was captured. He should have been watching out for that girl more carefully."

"Hey cool it Wufei," Duo said, almost upset. His smile disappeared for a fraction of a second. "You shouldn’t be so hard on poor Heero. You don’t even know what happened here. For all you know, he could have been way too out numbered to save her." He shrugged his shoulders. "Sheeesh! You can be so uptight some times!"

"Injustice! How dare you weakling! I’m never uptight!" Wufei said angrily.

Quatre and Trowa both let out an involuntary *cough*.

Wufei glared at them.

Duo began to get carried away once again. A quick grin returned to his face as he had seen how much that offended the boy. He put his hands on top of his head and said with enough sarcasm to fuel a gundam, "Sure Wu-man! What ever you say, --Mr. ’I hate women’ and Mr. ‘let’s have a big fit over the fact that Sally Poe can bet me at cards every single time we play’! You're never up tight! No siry!"

Wufei’s eyes darkened with uncontrollable anger at the wounding insult. He gave Duo a icy glare. "How many times have I told you!" He reached for his katana at his belt. "That I never lost to that weakling woman in cards! We called it a draw." At that, he took a dangerous step towards the young American.

Duo’s smirk changed as soon as he saw Wufei step towards him brandishing his katana. His eyes widened in fear; quickly he grabbed Trowa and hid behind him, scared.

Wufei walked towards the American with his katana ready, but Quatre jumped in front of him, and cut him off.

"Hey stop it you guys!" he commanded. "We shouldn’t be fighting right now!"

"Yea!" Duo piped in, still cowering behind confused Trowa. "I think you should listen to him Wuffie!"

Wufei growled, and Duo sunk deeper behind bewildered Trowa.

"Now let’s put down the katana!" he said nervously. "You don’t want to do anything you might regret."

"I won’t regret this one bit!" Wufei said violently. He shoved Quatre out of the way and pointed the katana at Duo. "You’re mine Maxwell!"

Noin had just finished her conversation with Zechs when she saw Wufei and Duo charging through the garden at top speed.

"I’ll get you Maxwell!" Wufei shouted, waving his katana wildly while nearly swiping off some of Duo’s braid that was flying behind him. Duo saw the danger and grabbed his braid before the Chinese boy could hack it off and ran off into the distance. Watching them go, Noin shook her head in bewilderment.

Right then, Quatre came running over to Ms. Noin with a familiar gun in his hand.

"Ms. Noin," he yelled excitedly. "Look what we found!"

Noin turned to Quatre and looked at the gun in his hands. Her eyes widened. "Isn’t that--"

"Yes it is!" interrupted Quatre. "Heero was with Relena! Trowa saw him!"

"Then there is still hope," she said to herself. "Thank God!" She turned her attention once more to Quatre. "I called Zechs. He is coming over as quickly as he can. Sally Poe and Lady Une are on their way too. We’ll get whoever did this."

"What about the press? What will you be saying to them?"

"Don’t worry about that, Quatre. You worry instead about getting Relena back."

Dorothy Catalonia, who had been standing near Noin listening to all, said softly, "The people that kidnapped Ms. Relena were affiliated with Oz. That I am sure of. I happened to catch a glimpse of the emblem on the helicopter that took off. It was one of the Rommafeller Foundation’s helicopters."

She looked distractedly over at the fountain in the middle of the garden. "The question I keep asking myself is, why would they kidnap her? You’d think they would just kill her. Even more puzzling is, what happened to Mr.Yuy?--It just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see why they would have taken him as well."

"I can’t think of anything they could possibly gain from that. After all, Heero isn’t exactly the most cooperative person in the world," Quatre stated with puzzlement.

"Well, wherever they’ve been taken, we’ll find them," Noin said with fierce determination.

But the only question on everyone’s minds was, how?

******************************************************************

Relena woke up unsure of where she was. Her ears were ringing and her head felt like a load of bricks. With a groan, she got up from her bed.

She looked around the room dazed. ‘Where am I?’

She just sat there for a few minutes as her mind slowly her began to work again. All at once, the memories flooded back to her.

She got up in a flash.

"Heero!!--agg!" she fell back down on her bed clenching her forehead in pain as bits and pieces of the night before flashed back to her.

She remembered getting to the ground, and hearing gunshots, then a wave of pain in her arm but--

She closed her eyes in concentration, trying to remember the rest. The throbbing in her forehead ceased a little bit.

There had been a great flash of light but she couldn’t recall where it had come from. She thought she had seen Heero fall to the ground and then--

She shook her head in agony. Opening her eyes once more, Relena looked around at her surroundings.

‘What is this place?’

Still dizzy, she got up from her bed once again and looked at her surroundings.

It was like a prison cell. The room was sparsely furnished with a bed, sink, worn down table, and chair that had been placed in the distant corners of the dim room. There was only one door that had a small opening at the top with three strong bars attached over it allowing only a little bit of light into the room.

Still feeling a bit wobbly, Relena went slowly over to the sink at the far end of the room and turned on the faucet. A trickle of water squeezed through the pipe. Cupping her hands, she took the water and splashed it onto her face to wake herself up.

She looked up into the dirty cracked mirror above the sink and frowned at her reflection as she noticed there was a huge bruise on her cheek near her left eye. She reached up and felt it tenderly, wincing at the needles of pain that shot through her skin. It was already turning a deep purple and was swelling dreadfully. She must have gotten it when they had been attacked.

Reaching out, Relena felt the cold stonewalls of the room. There were no windows at all, and the room had a faint musty kind of earthy smell. She guessed she must be several feet below the surface.

Suddenly, a noise caught her attention. She looked at the door of her prison and heard the jingle of keys.

Frantically, she looked around the room for an item to throw but couldn’t find anything, so she braced herself.

A tall man who looked to be in his early forties came into the room. He looked over at her with curiosity. "Good morning Princess. I trust you had a good night’s rest," he said politely even though his voice held a taunting, facetious tone.

Relena’s cheeks reddened. "No thanks to you. What have you done with Heero?" she demanded, coldly. "If you have done anything to him so help me I’ll--"

"My, my! Such strong violent words coming from a woman so committed to total pacifism!" Sarqen mocked.

Relena flinched.

"Now come, let us calm down some, shall we Ms. Darlain?"

Relena glared at him hostilely but forced herself to relax her muscles some. "What is it you’re going to with me?" she asked more coolly.

Sarqen sighed. "Well, I originally was planning on killing you at the party," he said rather nonchalantly. "But now…" he paused thoughtfully. "Well, you may still be of some use to me-- at least for the time being."

Relena looked up at him puzzled. ’How could I possibly be of any use to Oz?’ she wondered to herself.

"This has something to do with Heero, doesn’t it?" she asked out loud.

Sarqen gave her a condescending glance. "That is not your primary concern," he said to her sarcastically. "You should be more concerned about me trying to convince my superior to let you live --at least, until it’s all over."

He put his hands briskly behind his back. "But enough talk about that. The reason why I came here was to give you your breakfast and to see if you were comfortable."

Relena raised an eyebrow. "And where is my breakfast?"

With a smirk, Sarqen lifted up his right hand and snapped his finger sharply.

A man in a red and black uniform with the Red Fang emblem printed on his sleeve came forward and placed a bowl on the table that was next to the door, not seeming to care that he was spilling half the contents all over the place.

Relena looked at the unidentifiable contents with disgust but made no comments.

"I hope you’ll enjoy your stay because you may be here for a while," Sarqen said with a slight bow - the sarcasm never leaving his voice.

Relena stared at him darkly. "My brother Milliardo will stop you." A new look of determination came into her eyes. "You are as good as dead when he finds out where I am."

Sarqen smirked again. "I strongly doubt that, Princess."

At that, he sharply turned and left her, slamming the door behind him loudly.

***********************Preventer’s base****************************

Noin sat in her seat with her fingers pressed hard against the wooden surface of the table, trying not to lose her temper.

Zechs had been raving on for nearly a half hour and was showing no sign of stopping. Her eyebrow jerked every now and then as she fought to contain herself from screaming at the blond baka.

“How could this have even happened?" Zechs continued with a snarl. "I thought you were supposed to be watching her, Noin!"

"Relena left the party," Noin stated to Zechs as calmly as she could while trying hard to hide the annoyance in her voice. "It’s not our fault that she was captured."

Zechs paced faster, walking swiftly by each of the women sitting there uncomfortably wishing that the man would just be quiet so they could start the meeting.

"I’ll tell you whose fault it is," Zechs shouted. He walked by Lady Une’s chair. "It’s that damn Heero’s fault! What the hell was he doing at the party?-- And why was Relena with him alone, --in the dark?" He spat out the last four words. "I swear if I find out he did anything to her I’ll--" he didn’t complete his sentence for Sally interrupted.

"That is enough, Zechs!" she commanded flying from her seat. Her patience had finally run out. "Do I need to remind you that we don’t even know what happened that night?"

Zechs stopped his mad ravings for a second and looked at the angry woman with surprise. He then looked over at the other two women. Both had their arms crossed and were glaring darkly at him. He felt slight embarrassment coming over him.

"Well what do you suggest we do?" he asked, looking back at Sally.

Sally sat back down in her seat, still fuming. "I suggest we get on with our primary concern at the moment instead of raving on about Heero Yuy."

Zechs’s face darkened again. "But Heero Yuy--"

"Sit down Zechs!" Noin ordered, afraid he was going to start again. She pulled an empty chair out from under the table with a single jerk of her hand.

Zechs became silent. He glared at Noin and then, without saying a word, except for a few inaudible growls, he sat down in between Lady Une and Lieutenant Noin.

"Thank you," Sally said gratefully to Noin. "Now we can finally begin."

She cleared her throat and stood up while pulling a button out of her pocket. She pushed it, and a large screen came down and an image appeared.

"This symbol," Sally said pointing her hand at the picture. "Is what Ms. Catalonia identified for us at the scene of the incident. She claimed to have seen it on the side of the escaping helicopter, which we believe was housing the kidnapped Princess, Relena Peacecraft. It has been traced to the Rommafeller foundation and then further, to be traced to same group we have been trying to track for the past several months. They call themselves the Red Fang, and they seem to be made up of primarily of Rommafeller and Oz as well as ex-White Fang officers. This group is responsible for all the recent attacks along the east of the Sanq Kingdom."

She pressed the button again and an image of a tall man with brown eyes, black hair, and sharp features, looking to be in his early forties, popped into view.

"This man here," she said pointing again to the screen. "Is called Sarqen Bontram. He used to be a part of the White Fang organization and his tie to the Red Fang has been confirmed as well. We believe he may have been one of the people who attacked Ms. Relena last night."

Zechs stared at the man startled. There was something vaguely familiar about that man-- He sat there deep in thought, trying to figure out where he had seen---

Then it dawned on him

"Wait a second." He leaned closer to the picture. "I think I know that man."

"What?" Sally asked, looking up at Zechs, surprised.

Zechs tapped his finger on the table excitedly. "He was the lead engineer in charge of repairing the main cannon on the Libra. Why, he practically built it," he exclaimed.

"Are you sure about this, Zechs?" Noin asked doubtfully.

"Of course I’m sure."

"Could you tell us anything else about this man?" Lady Une asked.

Zechs thought for a second. "I can’t remember much about him, except that he was an excellent pilot. There were so many engineers in charge of the Libra, that you couldn’t expect me to know much about all of them."

"That’s ok, Zechs," Sally said, turning back to the screen. "We’ll ask you more about him later."

She pressed the button again and a map came into view.

"What’s that?" Noin asked, drawing her attention back to the screen.

"This is a map of the areas the Red Fang has attacked these past few months. As you can see, the group have been steadily moving slowly towards the capital of the Sanq Kingdom here." She pointed to the red dot’s that seemed to all slowly lead farther west. "And here is where they attacked and attempted to eliminate the Vice Foreign Minister."

"But I guess they had something else in mind," Lady Une stated.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked.

"If they wanted to eliminate her, they would have killed her at the party."

"Maybe they wanted to torture her first, to extract information," Noin suggested.

"Perhaps, or maybe they--"

"What’s the point in all this?" interrupted Zechs with impatience. "We didn’t come here to decide why they took my sister. We came here to find out where they took her."

"Do we have any leads that might give us a clue to where they could have gone?" Noin asked Sally.

"We just might," Sally said as she pressed the button in her hand and showed another image of a map on the screen only this one was more detailed. "If you look closely, you can see that the attacks are almost all in a pattern, and that they are all close to this one certain area." She pointed to the middle of the red dots that covered the map. "I think that the Red Fang’s base may be somewhere near here."

"There?" Noin asked as she looked at the place where Sally had pointed. "I’ve been in that area. There’s nothing there except for a few farmhouses and some woods. There is virtually no place I can think of where they could be capable of hiding."

"Nevertheless, I feel as if the area should be investigated."

"But by whom?" Lady Une asked feeling as if Sally was trying to get at something.

"I have requested that the Gundam Pilots go check it out. It would give them something to do instead of moping around worried."

The room was silent for a while.

"I think it’s a good idea," Lady Une agreed softly.

"I agree. We should try it. It’s the only real lead we have had," Noin stated.

They all looked at Zechs who hadn’t said a word for a while.

Zechs looked back. "What?"

"What do you think about it, Zechs?" Noin asked, softly.

"I think that you won’t find a thing in those woods and it will all be a simple waste of time, but seeing how we have no other options, of course I’ll agree."

"Wonderful," Sally said. She turned off the screen. "Then I guess we should get to it. There’s no better time than now."

"I just hope we can find Relena before it’s to late." Noin stated as they got up from their seats.

******************In the Red Fang Secret Base*********************

Heero strained as hard as he could against his chains. He pulled his arms with all his might trying to get free, but the chains held fast. Clenching his teeth under the pressure as pain shot up his arms, Heero felt trickles of blood slide down them as the shackles cut deep into his wrists. Using the last ounce of strength that was left in him, Heero put his whole body into it. The chains let out a groan of protest under the pressure but still held firm. With an exhausted gasp, Heero fell back against the wall and gave up.

For a while, he just stood there. His arms throbbed painfully as he leaned them wearily against his shackles. Lifting his head up slowly, he looked over and examined the semi-deep cuts along his hands and wrists with only mild interest.

Frowning, he leaned his head back sharply against the hard stonewall, still breathing hard. He ignored the pain that shot through him like a knife all over his body. Only one thing was on his mind.

He had failed his mission.

Heero looked down at his chained feet in contempt. He was such a fool. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to just die. Failing a mission meant death to him. Perfect Soldiers had no room in their lives for mistakes.

He leaned his entire tired body against the cold stonewall behind him, and began to think more clearly. ’I can’t die yet,’ he thought to himself, grimly. ’I still have to save Relena.’

He sat there in silence, mostly because he was too tired to do much else, and stared into the distance, deep in thought.

Whatever the reason Oz had let him live, he was determined not to let them carry through with their plan. His lips curled slightly. They will regret not killing him. --Once he was free, he would make them pay.

Heero heard a sound at the door on the opposite side of the room. He looked up again and noticed that the cell door’s heavy metal handle was turning. Through the cracks of the metal bars above the doorframe, Heero could make out a man fiddling with keys. He stiffened, ready to fight.

The door swung open, and five oz soldiers came in, all armed with automatic rifles.

He frowned.

They went over to him. Three of the men pointed their guns directly at him, while the other two, with keys in hand, unchained his arms and legs.

For a second, Heero’s face lit up in pain as the chains were quickly taken off. He stumbled forward when his legs were freed and almost fell had he not caught himself in time.

Blood raced back into his numb arms and legs sending sharp painful needles all up and down his body. He clenched his teeth and looked up at the three soldiers coldly.

Behind them, Sarqen entered, dressed in a White Fang uniform. He went over to the boy with a grim look on his face and frowned once he saw the blood that covered Heero’s wrists.

’Humm, I had better not chain him again,’ he thought to himself. ‘After all, I don’t want my prize injured, not while I need him at least.’

He watched as Heero’s eyes shifted right and left searching for a way to escape and smirked.

"I advise you not to run," he stated, as he casually walked over to him. "You will find that the base you are in is extremely well guarded. And you wouldn’t want me to do anything drastic to your sweetheart, Relena Darlian, now would you?"

Heero glared coldly at him. "What have you done with her?" he growled.

Sarqen smiled. "She’s safe --for the time being. You don’t need to know anything else, except that she will continue to be safe as long as you cooperate."

Heero stared at him unemotionally; his face didn’t change in the least.

Sarqen’s smile widened a bit. He looked over at the men still surrounding Heero with their guns ready and nodded to them.

The two men that had unchained Heero immediately grabbed him roughly by the arms.

At first, Heero looked like he was about to attack. Sarqen noticed his body tense as soon as the soldiers touched him.

He got ready for him to retaliate.

Heero was about to leap out at the man to his right. If he could just grab his gun in time then maybe--

He stopped as an image of Relena flashed into his mind. He hesitated as the man’s words echoed in his ears. ’She will be safe only if you cooperate.’

In a moment, all the fight in him evaporated. He relaxed once again. He wasn’t going to try to escape --just yet. He would wait for a better time.

Sarqen gave a faint sigh of relief when he saw the boy relax. ‘Wise decision.’ With another nod, he motioned to the man with the cuffs.

They approached Heero cautiously.

Heero allowed the soldier to re-cuff him and take him out of the room not even trying to stop them.

’I’ll find you Relena,’ he promised. ’I’ll not fail you again.’

************************In the Forest ****************************

Duo directed his gundam through the thick forest. He had been searching for five hours now and hadn’t found anything. His stomach let out a growl of protest. He really wished he had brought something to eat when he left.

At that moment, Quatre's staticky image came up on the screen to his left. "Hey Duo, have you found anything?" he asked.

Duo looked up at the blond pilot and shook his head. "Not a thing," he stated as he piloted DeathScythe around a clump of trees.

"I’m starting to think we should just go back. There’s nothing out here except woods and farmland." He frowned in frustration as his stomach let out another protesting growl.

"I agree," Quatre said. "I just called Sally. She told us if we want we can head on back to the base. So do you want to go?"

"Sure," Duo said, shrugging his shoulders.

Quatre looked at the American with worry. "Anything wrong Duo?" he asked.

"No, not really," Duo said slowly. "I guess I’m just worried about Heero a little, that’s all."

"I wouldn’t worry that much. Heero is pretty good at taking care of himself, not to mention Relena."

"Yea," Duo said glumly.

Quatre watched his braided friend give a sigh, sympathetically. If only he could cheer him up somehow--

An idea popped into his head.

"Maybe we can go grab something to eat afterwards," he suggested. He watched to see what Duo’s reaction would be.

In an instant, Duo’s cobalt eyes lit up. "Really?" he asked, excited.

"Sure, it’s about time for lunch anyway." Quatre watched a smile slowly cross Duo’s face.

"Great!" Duo said enthusiastically. "I’m starv’en!"

"What’s new?"

"Hey," said Duo, pretending to be hurt. "It’s not my fault you guys are never hungry."

Quatre smiled. "I had better go find Trowa then and tell him our plans. Can you get Wufei?"

"Sure thing," said the once again happy Duo. "Do ya have any idea where I might find him?"

"Last I saw, he was checking out some odd energy readings he had picked up near that old abandoned Alliance building we passed about a mile back."

Duo nodded. "All righty then! Thanks Quatre." He saluted. "See you around."

"Bye Duo." Quatre’s image disappeared.

Still grinning, Duo turned his gundam around and started off in the direction Quatre had directed him to.

The building wasn’t hard to spot.

As he got near, he was a little bit surprised at how big it actually was. At a full three stories, the building seemed to take up a full quatre mile of land. Although most of it was practically rubble now, it still would have looked magnificent when it was operational.

’I wonder what happened to it.’ Duo thought as he directed his gundam to the back. He spotted Wufei’s gundam, Nataku near where the look out tower used to be. He went over to it.

As soon as he approached, Wufei’s face appeared on the screen looking slightly irate. "What do you want Maxwell," he demanded. "Can’t you see I’m busy?"

"Hey cool it Wuffie," Duo said with a lopsided grin. "I just came to tell you that Quatre, Trowa, and I are leaving to go back to the base and grab some food and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

Wufei growled. "I have more important thing to do then stuff my face with food."

"Oh, really?" Duo said sarcastically. "Have you even found anything yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," Wufei snapped.

"Really?" Duo asked, taken back. "What?"

Wufei let out a snort. "Turn on the energy detector on your gundam and see for yourself."

Duo shrugged and flipped on a switch. He looked at the screen; his eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell?!"

"See what I mean."

"What do you think is causing all these readings?--Could it be this old building?" Duo looked back at the nearly collapsed base doubtfully.

"No, there is no way that a building like that could ever produce all this energy. There must be something below it generating the power."

"You mean there’s something underneath it?--like an underground base?"

"Maybe, I don’t know about a base.--After all, if it is a base then there would have to be someone down there operating the power."

"Then it’s probably the Red Fang’s hideout!"

"Maybe, but then, why haven’t they tried to stop us from finding this place, that is, if it is their hideout?"

"Maybe they’re hoping that we will just over look it," Duo suggested.

Wufei shrugged. "I don’t know --something just doesn’t seem right about all this."

"Well, we can ponder this later. We have to get back," Duo said hastily, looking at his watch. "We can come back as soon as lunch is over to look around."

"Yes," Wufei agreed. "I need to refuel anyway."

"And eat," Duo added.

Wufei scowled. "Can’t you think of anything else?"

"I dunno," Duo said, scratching his head. "I’ve never tried before."

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Baka," he mumbled.

"What was that Wuffei?"

"Nothing Maxwell."

The rockets on Nataku brightened. It took off in a flash.

"See you later Maxwell," Wufei called as he turned off the screen and shot past Deathscythe, leaving it in the dust.

"I don’t think so," Duo mumbled as he took off after the vanishing gundam in hot pursuit.

*******************In Red Fang Secret Base************************

Mobile suits were everywhere.

Heero looked up in surprise at the towering gundam standing in the very center of the hanger. He stopped walking in shock.

The two soldiers walking beside him pulled him roughly by his arms, but he ignored them.

"A Gundam?" he exclaimed in amazement.

Sarqen smiled as he walked up next to Heero. "Its name is Phoenix. It was made about the same time as the Tallgeese," he stated. He looked up at the machine with pride. "It’s beautiful no?"

Heero was silent. He continued to stare at the grand exterior of the magnificent machine.

"Well?"

"Yes, it’s beautiful," Heero finally agreed. He looked over at Sarqen. "How did it come to be here?" he asked curiously.

Sarqen clasped his hands behind his back. "I don’t know. As far as I’ve been able to tell, it was left here after the Alliance fled the base may decades ago. They were under heavy attack. I suppose they didn’t have time to take it with them."

"Why didn’t they use it to fight with?" Heero asked, finding it hard to believe that anyone would simply leave a gundam for the enemies to discover.

"They may have tried --but they probably ran into the same problem I have--its system is too strong to be used in battle, at least for long. Although the system is able to increase the fighting capabilities for the pilot, it, in the same way, overpowers him and takes control, making it impossible for the pilot to do anything with it. He will fire on his allies as well as his enemies if he allows it to control him, and so it becomes dangerous for both sides.”

He looked at the boy with a gleam in his eye. "Of course this is nothing new to you. You're quite familiar with the system. Aren’t you?" Sarqen grinned and continued. "There is only two men I know who can successfully operate a gundam like this one. One of them is the ex-leader of the White Fang," he cocked his head towards Heero. "Can you guess the other?"

Heero made no comment.

"Oh come now, guess!"

"Me," Heero mumbled, annoyed.

Sarqen smiled. "Ah! You have guessed correctly."

"So this is the reason why you brought me here? --To make me pilot this gundam?--But why?"

"You mean you haven’t figured it out?" Sarqen asked somewhat disappointed. "I couldn’t control the system without seeing an example of how it’s possible. When I learned about you, I decided to bring you here to show me how you are able to resist the power of the gundam. With your help and the data I’ll receive from your piloting, I’ll be able to copy your moves and learn to fly the Phoenix myself."

"What makes you think that I can control it if everyone else has not been able to?" Heero asked the man.

"You're not like everyone else," Sarqen replied. "You’re different. You have the gift to fly the Wing Zero. If you can’t conquer it, then noone can."

*************************In The Preventor Base********************

"Did you find anything?" Noin asked, as the Deathsythe’s hatch opened up and the smiling Duo jumped out.

"Sort of," Duo answered happily, landing a few feet in front of Ms.Noin. "It’s kinda hard to explain right now. I’ll tell you as soon at the others get here." His eyes were dancing mischievously.

"And where are the others?" Noin questioned. She looked nervously at Duo, wondering if he had done anything to them.

"Oh, them? They couldn’t have been too far behind."

There was a roar.

Noin looked over at the entrance where three gundams were flying in. First Shenlong, then Heavyarms, followed by Sandrock.

She waited until they had settled down to go greet them.

The Chinese boy’s gundam was the first to land, and before it had even completely shut down, the hatch opened and the enraged Wufei jumped out with his katana in hand.

He ignored Noin.

"You cheated Maxwell!" he yelled as he landed on the ground. He started running toward the braided boy who had a huge lopsided grin on his face.

Duo saw him coming and sped off down the mobile suit hanger laughing insanely. "What do you mean I cheated!" he asked as he ducked behind a bunch of empty fuel barrels with Wufei at his tail. "I beat your gundam here fair and square!"

The blade of Wufei’s sword swung down and barely missed Duo’s head by inches. Duo let out a surprised gasp and ran behind a Leo suit.

"You lying baka!" Wufei yelled, in hot pursuit. "I saw you use your scythe to cut that tree!" He made another slice at him. Duo jumped out of the way. "Thanks to you, Nataku could have been hurt!"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about!" Duo protested grabbing a metal bar off the ground, no longer smiling. He stopped and turned around holding the bar out in front of him like a sword. Wufei swung at him, but Duo blocked the blade. "The tree fell down on accident," Duo stated, holding the bar above his head as Wufei rained blows down on him. "I had nothing to do with it hitting you!"

"Lies!" Wufei hissed. He swung at Duo once more, but he parried it with the bar.

Duo let out a slight whimper when he saw the katana dig deep into the hard metal, almost cutting it in half.

"Hold still you idiot!" Wufei shouted as Duo once again blocked the sword.

’Crack!’

The bar broke into two even pieces.

"Hell no!" Duo shouted. He threw the useless pieces of metal behind him inching away form Wufei - afraid to run for fear of exposing his back.

Wufei inched closer. "Your justice will be swift," he promised, with his katana ready. "I’ll try to make it as painless as I can."

Without a warning, he let the sword fly.

Scared, Duo jerked back as Wufei swung at his chest, barely escaping the blade. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the box behind him. With a yell, he tripped over it and fell with a thump, bumping his head on the ground hard. Rubbing his head he began to curse.

Wufei grinned triumphantly. "I’ve got you now Maxwell!" he said as he leaped over the box and pointed his sharp sword only a few inches away from the American’s face.

Duo stopped cursing and looked up at the dangerously close sword inches away from his face, scared. "Now Wufei," he said nervously, trying not to move his head. "Don’t do anything rash!" he gulped. "It was just a harmless race. Nothing to get so up set over."

Wufei said nothing. His sword never wavered from the boy’s face, and his dark eyes were glued on him.

"Please Wufei! I’m too beautiful to die!" Duo nearly screamed as the sword came closer. The tip couldn’t have been over a centimeter away from his nose. "Let’s start all over!--forget this even happened. You know--be friends!--Hu, buddy--pal?"

Wufei grinned evilly and lifted the sword. "So long Maxwell!" he said.

Suddenly, "Chang Wufei! Put down that katana immediately!" screamed an all-too familiar voice.

Wufei’s eyes widened. He gasped and swung around forgetting about Duo for a moment. His eyes were filled with dread.

Duo saw his chance. Without a second’s hesitation, he sprang up from the ground and raced as quickly as he could out of the room - his braid flying behind him!

Wufei looked back just in time to see the tail end of Duo’s three foot long braid as he rounded the corner. There was no way he could catch him now.

’Damn! He got away again!’ Wufei lowered his katana in bitter disappointment. Then, it hit him.

He turned sharply and glared at Sally who was standing coolly next to Noin and Quatre.

She looked back at the boy unafraid.

"Woman!" he spat. "Now look what you did! You let the stupid baka escape!"

"Oh, give me a break Wufei," Sally said rolling her eyes. "I can’t believe you! --I come here expecting to find you guys busy working on a way to recover Relena and Heero, and instead, I see you waving about a sword trying to kill Duo!" She gave Wufei an annoyed glance. "You’re by far the most thick-headed, insensitive, egotistical, tight-assed, overbearing, sexist pig I have ever meet!"

Everyone gasped.

Noin shot Sally a worried look while Quatre put his hands over his eyes in horror, afraid to watch.

Wufei stood there shocked! His eyes bulged from his head with a mixture of amazement and fury, not believing what he had just heard. "How dare you onna!" he howled, finding his voice at last. He was holding his katana in is right hand tightly, so tight that his knuckles turned completely white. "I’ll make you pay! Even if you are a woman!" He raised his katana high and then suddenly--

"Bang!" A gunshot went off.

Wufei’s sword zoomed out of his hand and flew through the air. It skidded across the floor, and then slammed straight into a barrel nearly thirty feet away from him.

Wufei blinked in surprise.

Sally put her gun back in her pants’ pocket. She couldn’t help but grin at the bewildered expression on the Chinese boy’s face.

Cautiously, Quatre peered through his fingers to see if Wufei was dead. He wasn’t.

’Is this a good thing or a bad thing?’ he wondered to himself.

Without his karata, Wufei was completely unarmed. His cheeks were red with shame. ’Of all the indignities! Being beaten by a woman!’

He hung his head. ’Nataku forgive me!’ he thought glumly.

"Are you finished now, Wufei?" Sally asked sarcastically, putting her hands to her sides.

Wufei growled.

"Good," she said.

*************************In the Phoenix***************************

Heero sat locked in the cockpit of the Phoenix with wires running all along his temples, arms, and chest. He waited patiently for Sarqen to give the signal to begin.

The lights to the screen came on and the system began to load up the images of the simulation.

A whole army of mobile dolls appeared in the thick black sky of outer space standing in perfect formation with their guns ready.

Heero began.

Immediately, bullets began to erupt from the dolls’ beam rifles aimed straight at the Phoenix.

He didn’t hesitate. The Phoenix tore through the sky aimed at the firing army, dodging bullets right and left. It lifted its red saber and sliced two of the machines in half right as it passed by. They both fell back and exploded.

The gundam looped around and before the dolls could turn, he fired his laser gun. The bright yellow beam swept across the line of suits. All of them exploded one by one as the laser tore them in two.

Sarqen watched the battle carefully on the view screen.

This Heero Yuy was certainly extraordinary! He watched him destroy three more mobile suits.

"What do the boy’s energy readings show right now?" he asked a soldier to his left, who was busy studying a computer.

"Sir, the machine must be malfunctioning. There’s no way that this is right."

Sarqen frowned and went over to the man. He looked over his shoulder at the computer screen.

His eyes widened in surprise.

’How is that possible?’

"Sir," another man called from across the room.

Sarqen looked up.

"The computers must have been tampered with. Mine keeps telling me that the pilot isn’t even human!"

Sarqen lifted his eyebrows. He looked back up at the view screen.

Heero was now busy firing at two more dolls. He seemed virtually unfazed by the strength of the gundam system.

‘Perhaps we need to give him more of a challenge,’ Sarqen thought to himself.

"Increase the power on the gundam five notches," he ordered.

All the men in the room looked up at him in surprise. "Five notches?" the man in charge of the controls asked astonished. "Are you sure that is wise, sir?"

Sarqen gave him an annoyed glance. "Don’t question me, just do as I say!" he shouted.

The man hesitated. At last, he nodded. "Yes sir," he said. Still reluctant, he reached over and began to type in the command.

Sarqen clasped his arms loosely behind him and looked up at the screen, excited. "Now Heero Yuy, we’ll see what you’re made of," he mumbled.

The Phoenix bore down upon another doll. With one swift movement, Heero sliced the head of the suit off before it even had time to react.

The gundam’s power was increasing. Heero felt the energy level rise and quickly locked his arms before he turned the machine around and began he firing at the enemy below.

All of the sudden, an explosion rocked the gundam! Heero was jerked hard to his left as a new mobile suit came towards him. He looked up at the view screen.

It was a Mercurious.

As it approached, four more came in from behind it. Two of them were Ve8’s and the more Mercurious’ as well. They were firing beam rifles at him.

Pulling the gundam sharply to the right, Heero dodged out of the way of the dangerous beams just in time.

Not giving them a chance to lock him on target again, the Phoenix lifted its beam cannon and fired back at the suits.

In a flash, they all scattered and flew in different directions.

The gundam was getting even stronger. Heero tried to ignore the intensifying power as best he could. He aimed at the machine leading the line of the assault and sent a powerful laser beam straight at it. It swerved out of the way.

The Mercurious fired back at the gundam with the other five suits right behind it.

With graceful movements, Heero piloted the Pheonix away from each of the well-aimed beams but with much difficulty.

At each passing second, the gundam was getting harder and harder to control. Perspiration streamed down Heero’s face. His arms were weakening as images started bombarding his mind. He fought against it. ’I’m not going to let it control me,’ he thought to himself with a fierce determination etched across his face.

He caught up with the suit and brought his saber down on it. The Mercurious tried to deflect it with its shield but it was too late. The suit exploded as the saber ripped through its body.

The images were appearing faster in his brain. Heero tried to shut them out but they just kept coming.

In anger, Heero fired the gundam’s gun at random at the four still approaching Ve8 and Mercurious. The shields on the two types of gundams deflected the bullets easily as they continued to come towards him.

It was starting... The dolls began taking different shapes. They blurred and began to reshape before him. He squinted his eyes as the suits melted away and began to form into some things vaguely familiar to him.

Heero’s eyes widened in surprise.

Heavyarms, Deathsythe, and Sandrock were now charging towards him, each with their weapons out in front of them.

He hesitated to fire.

Heavyarms was in the lead. It lifted its arm and rained bullets down upon him rapidly. They ricocheted off the Phoenixe’s body.

Heero reluctantly fired the Pheonixe’s bullets at the gundam, but it kept on coming towards him.

It was now no more then a few feet in front of him when the Heavyarms pulled it’s saber out.

The Phoenix brought its saber out as well. They met with a great clash! Sparks exploded into space. The gundams lurched back and then attacked each other again. For a full ten minutes they fought. Each time Heero tried to attack Heavyarms would block him. Each time Heavyarms attacked, Heero would swiftly see the danger and stop it.

During the battle, the gundam system was rapidly taking control of Heero. He tried resisting but it just got stronger and stronger as it kept bombarding his brain with images. He shook his head trying to make it stop, but it didn’t.

The gundams circled around each other trying to find a weakness. The Phoenix went faster and faster.

He could no longer control its maneuvering. His eyes began to glow, as the machine took over his mind and he began to breathe harder. His eyes slowly turned a fiery red.

Finally, Heavyarms let its guard down. Heero saw it’s saber lower slightly and then, with a swift movement, the Phoenix brought its sword down and knocked the enemy’s saber out if its hand. Before it had time to recover, Heero brought the Phoenixe’s saber quickly down on the machine’s left arm,--then it’s right, then at last, he brought it down on it’s left side in a sweeping motion, hitting home.

Falling back, Heavyarms exploded.

Before Heero had time to even catch his breath, Deathscythe and Sandrock came in from above him. Showering bullets the Phoenix with bullets.

His gundam lurched forward. Heero couldn’t stop it. It had completely taken over.

Both of the machines surrounded the gundam and attempted to corner it, but the Phoenix wasn’t about to let that happen. It swung above them and brought it’s sword down upon Deathscythe.

Slowly, the battle raged on.

First, Sandrock fell and then Deathscythe, both exploding and sending a torrent of metal and debris flying through the blackness of space.

Heero’s whole body was aching as all of his strength was drained. He no longer had any control over the system. The machine had taken over. His eyes were blank and empty - there was no life left in them at all.

The gundam turned around again, and wearily, Heero looked back up at the view screen.

He gasped! For a moment his mind began to function again.

Relena was standing there in the middle of space. Her arms were open to him and a loving smile was on her face.

The red glow in his eyes faded; the emptiness left.

‘Relena.’

All of sudden something happened! Heero looked up in horror as a mighty shadow hovered over her. It was the Wing Zero. Relena turned and looked at the gundam, whose saber was raised and ready. Her eyes widened in fear. She let out a terrified scream as the saber came down upon her.

"Noooo!" Heero yelled! With newfound strength, he hurled the Phoenix at the Wing Zero, but he was too late. "Relena!" he yelled. Heero brought the Phoenix down on the gundam.

Wing Zero dodged out of the way in time. It lifted its sword and the Phoenix did the same.

They battled. Each one raining blows down at the other. Their sabers hissed and glowed, sending sparks flying as they made contact.

"I’ll kill you." Heero said as he threw his saber as hard as he could down upon the gundam. "I’ll kill you!!"

It cut through the machine’s arm. The arm floated away with its ugly saber still clenched in its hand. Without hesitating, Heero brought his saber down on the Wing Zero’s body.

There was a flash! And, all the sudden, his mind cleared. He pulled his saber out of the Ve8. It fell back and exploded.

His thoughts were jumbled.

‘What am I doing?’

All around him was scattered a graveyard of metal and parts from various machines. ’Did I do all that?’ he thought to himself in amazement.

He couldn’t believe it.

The screen died down and the images faded. The cockpit went dark and the nightmare ended.