All the training in the world couldn’t prepare Duo for what he saw. He’d been through countless battles, killed countless soldiers, yet that was nothing compared to the heart-wrenching, gut-twisting feeling he was feeling now.

The bogie, the one that had come onto radar unidentified, was none other than Relena.

The three pilots stood utterly speechless, staring in disbelief and horror. It was Duo, finally, who swallowed hard and knelt down on the ground, his hands working automatically. His fingers brushed the skin on her neck, under her jawbone; pressing a little bit harder, Duo closed his eyes and said a silent prayer.

"Yes," he whispered, as a pulse beat against his fingers; faint, but there. Wufei knelt down beside him, searching for the wound.

It was easy to find; she had been shot in her lower left thigh, but already she’d lost a lot of blood. Heero must have shot her first. She was totally unconscious; even when Duo grabbed his water bottle and poured a bit over the wound – which, he knew from experience, hurt like the dickens – she didn’t move.

"You know, Heero," Duo said, still working furiously but desperate to break the silence. "If this was training, and she was the enemy, the doctor’s would’ve given you an ‘F’ for aim."

There was no reply.

Duo looked up, startled that Heero didn’t even move, and his eyes widened. Heero was standing with his arms crossed, his face set, his eyes cold. A sudden, fleeting thought crossed Duo’s mind…….On purpose?……but he shook his head and immediately said, "Hey, buddy, you okay?"

Heero stared at him and said coldly, "I’m perfectly fine. Couldn’t be better."

That shocked even Wufei into halting the work and looking up. The Chinese man snorted. "You just shot her, and you’re not hurting at all?"

Heero raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be?"

A very, very awkward silence followed. Finally, Duo said quietly, "’Fei, go to the computer and send the paramedics over here."

"They’ll ID us," Wufei refused, shaking his head.

"I brought disguises. Use Heero’s laptop. You mind, Heero?"

Silence.

Duo and Wufei both took that as a no. Wufei hurried off into the darkness.

The violet-eyed pilot continued working steadily on Relena; tearing a strip from his light denim jacket, he bandaged her leg tightly, but the blood still seeped through. Duo grimaced. She needed to get to a hospital, and now.

For the meantime, there was nothing he could do except keep her warm and make sure she didn’t die.

Even the thought made him turn to ice inside. Duo shivered.

Suddenly, from the other side of the barn came Wufei’s voice.

"MAXWELL! GET OVER HERE!"

Duo leaped to his feet and said to Heero, "Stay right here and watch her!"

Heero didn’t move, but Duo didn’t notice. He was already running off to find out what Wufei was worked up about. Yet he couldn’t help but feel a slight discomfort at leaving Relena alone with Heero.

"What do you want?" Duo asked him quickly, dropping into the hollow.

In reply, Wufei jabbed a finger at the screen.

Please enter your login name and given password below:

In addition, there, in the blanks, somebody that could only be Heero had typed in:

Login: ZEROONE

Password: **********

Duo said quietly, "What’s the big deal, ‘Fei?"

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Stupid, Maxwell. ‘WATRF’ stands for ‘War Against the Romefeller Foundation.’"

"Against Relena," Duo breathed.

"That’s not all," Wufei said slowly, moving the cursor around the screen and opening a new window. "Look what else I found."

Duo’s mouth dropped completely open as he read the email that Heero had received, opened, and read about three days ago.

OBJECTIVE#1: Get as close to Relena Peacecraft as you possibly can, let her think you are her friend – maybe even more.

OBJECTIVE #2: Set up a decoy situation where you will be able to target and shoot her, letting it look like an accident.

OBJECTIVE #3: Gather all information about the other Gundam pilots that you possibly can. Befriend them.

OBJECTIVE #4: Kill her. No questions asked, you will not be in trouble for this.

OBJECTIVE #5: Return to base with your report. We will be waiting for you.

Duo let out his breath. He was trembling. "No – no," he said, shaking his head furiously. "He – he’s got to be going undercover, Wufei."

Wufei looked up and said softly, "Then why shoot her where she could die?"

For once in his life, Duo didn’t have an answer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Duo and Wufei returned to Relena, the paramedics were there and Heero gone. Still trembling, Duo gave them information and told the medics that they’d be at the hospital as soon as possible, once they found their other friend.

Don’t know if he’s that anymore, Duo thought to himself as the ambulance pulled away with Relena and the two other men in the back.

They didn’t find Heero that night.

Wufei and Duo searched until nearly two o’clock, but even with Wufei using his heat sensor and radar, the pilot could not be found.

Early in the morning, they went to the nearest docking bay and asked for the whereabouts of their other comrades. To their surprise and delight, Quatre and Trowa would be docking in less than five minutes. The two pilots waited until their friends had gotten off the ship to confront them.

Duo went straight to them, Wufei tagging along, and said in a low voice, "We need to go somewhere private now."

Seeing the very rare serious look on Duo’s face, Quatre nodded. They went outside and piled into a rental car.

There, Duo turned around to face Quatre and Trowa in the backseat and said abruptly, "We’ve got a problem."

Trowa nodded, and Quatre said, "More than one."

Duo opened his mouth to speak, but Wufei cut in, "You talk first, Winner."

Trowa was silent, but Quatre explained, "They’re still there, I’m pretty sure. Besides that, they knew who we were. They knew my name and everything."

"You wore disguises?" Wufei questioned.

Trowa nodded. "Including uniforms," added Quatre.

Duo sighed. "Everything’s going wrong for us, guys."

Suddenly, Trowa asked, "Where’s Heero?"

Wufei grimaced. "That’s part of the problem."

The Arabian pilot sat up straight. "He’s not hurt, is he?"

Sadly, Duo shook his head.

"Well, then what?"

In answer, Wufei gave him Heero’s laptop and snapped open the cover, with the email and web site showing.

As he read, Quatre’s jaw dropped open and his eyes widened, and Trowa, surprisingly, did the same.

Duo explained what had happened the night before.

"T-that can’t be possible," Quatre stammered, searching for an excuse. "Heero wouldn’t do that! Somebody….it must have been one of the other men who shot Relena!"

Wufei said quietly, "I extracted the bullet from her leg and did a scan. It was from Heero’s gun."

Quatre sat back against the seat, breathing heavily.

"I don’t know what to think," Trowa said, staring at the screen.

"Well, I know what to do," Duo said, turning around and revving the engine. "We’re going to go see Relena."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The hospital waiting room was quiet and calm, and it annoyed Duo. He did not like quiet and calm things. The other pilots sat patiently, waiting for the nurse, but Duo couldn’t help fidgeting.

It’s too blue, he thought to himself decidedly, gazing around at the periwinkle walls. Nothing that blue can be natural.

Suddenly, Heero’s voice entered his head, a memory of one day when he had been yelling at him as Duo was being unnaturally cheerful after a crisis. "Nobody’s that happy. It’s not natural." "Oh sure whatever you say you know I didn’t get the – " "Don’t you ever shut up?" Duo grinned cheerfully. "No."

Heero had turned away then, Duo reflected, but he thought he had caught a hint of a smile in those dark blue eyes. So maybe, long ago, Heero really had started to –

The clicking of shoes on the linoleum floor made Duo look up. A young man was striding toward them, and he seemed oddly familiar. As the other pilots noticed him, Duo found him becoming more and more vivid in his memory.

As the young man stopped, Duo stood up, smiled, and said, "You’re Jacob Paxington, right?"

The young man grinned and replied, "Yes, I am. I’m here to see Relena."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zechs strode through the remains of the Peacecraft mansion, alone. Lucrezia and Ashlyn were at Quatre’s house, sleeping. But he hadn’t been able to sleep for the past two nights…and it showed on his face.

Zechs stopped near the remains of the south wall, turning to lean against it. The rocks were crumbling already; the place was a total ruin of the grandeur and elegance it once held. The south and east walls were the only ones even slightly left intact, holding even under the strain of the collapsing floors above it. Zechs began walking again, searching for anything that could bring back the memories of this place.

Something fabric hit his right shoe, and Zechs stopped immediately. Not much cloth had survived the raging fire. Evidently, though, this – whatever it was – had been protected by something.

He held it up and couldn’t help a wry grin. It was Heero’s denim jacket, the one he had been wearing when he got off the ship after saving Relena. Zechs fingered the fabric; just as he had expected, it was inflammable. Typical of a Gundam pilot, I suppose.

His fingers brushed something in an inner pocket that he hadn’t seen before; it felt like paper. Curiosity overcoming the feeling of nosiness, Zechs pulled out the papers and unfolded them.

He gasped as he saw the top-secret, valuable papers that had been stolen from his vault some days before.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Something was bothering Quatre as they strode down the hospital corridor, following a chubby nurse in four-inch heels, toward Relena. It was that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had forgotten something, or missed something. Yet he couldn’t figure it out. He knew, though, that something was wrong.

Relena was awake in her hospital room, staring up at the ceiling quietly. She wasn’t moving, but she was awake.

Duo, Quatre, and Jacob went instantly to her side, Duo nearly tripping over a chair in his haste.

"Hey, Re, how are you doing?" Quatre asked cheerfully.

Before she could reply, Duo snorted and said, "Oh yeah, she’s perfectly fine. You know, she just got shot in the leg, not to mention who shot her – "

Quatre elbowed him and Duo shut up.

"You okay, Relena?" asked Jacob, looking anxious.

Relena looked at him in surprise. "J-Jacob? What are you doing here?"

He grinned. "What, an old friend can’t come to see you when you get a bullet through your leg?"

She smiled. "I’m sorry. I just didn’t realize you would come." She looked around. "Where’s Heero?"

Duo’s heart sank, and Quatre swallowed. Since they didn’t reply, Jake shrugged and said, "He didn’t come in."

Relena turned to look at the two Gundam pilots. "Where is he?" she asked. "H-he didn’t get hurt, did he?"

Quatre and Duo exchanged glances. "No," Duo said uncomfortably.

Suddenly, it all spilled out of Quatre. "Relena. He was the one that shot you."

There was a short silence, then Relena burst out laughing and said, "Oh Quatre, that’s not funny."

Yet when she saw that they weren’t laughing along, she stopped.

"What?" she said. "You guys – you honestly can’t think that Heero shot me."

Wufei and Trowa crossed over to her bed, and Wufei said shortly, "We did a scan of the bullet in your leg. It was from Heero’s gun. And he was the only one out there in range of you."

Relena was silent, staring at them.

"Relena," Quatre said softly. "I’m sorry, but all the evidence points to him." He told her about the things on Heero’s laptop and everything that had happened.

When he was finished, Relena closed her eyes and groaned softly. After a minute, she said, "They’re going to let me out in a few hours; the wound wasn’t that bad. You want to wait around, or what?"

Trowa replied quietly, "We’ll wait."

Jacob nodded. "I’ll hang around, too."

Relena sighed and said, "Okay. See you soon."

They left her to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The pilots and Jacob sat in the waiting room, completely silent. None of them felt like talking after seeing the look on Relena’s face when they had told her who had shot her.

"It couldn’t be Heero, guys," Duo said, shaking his head slowly. "He just – he wouldn’t."

Everyone was silent except Jacob. He had quite a few questions.

"Excuse me, but I really don’t understand what’s going on. You obviously know Heero Yuy, the leader of the Gundam pilots – "

"Idiot," Wufei said crossly. "We are the Gundam pilots."

Jacob was shocked into silence until he said, "R-really? I mean – you guys – at the ball – "

"Aliases," Wufei answered shortly, glaring at him.

Jake let out a low whistle. "No wonder you guys were stock still when I said that. Jeez. So what’s this with Heero Yuy shooting Relena?"

Quatre sighed. "He shot her last night, when we were – " he paused, then continued, "-carrying out a mission."

"Heero shot Relena?" Jacob asked. "So – which side is he on?"

Duo sighed, and in answer replied, "I have no idea."

Suddenly, a nurse poked her head into the room and said, "Is there are Tyler Wilson in here? We’ve got a vidcam from Zechs Merquise, out of all people – "

Duo stood up. "I’m here."

Jacob raised an eyebrow and had opened his mouth to comment before Quatre gave him a warning glance. Duo strode off into a separate room.

Zechs’s face was on the vidcam, looking extremely worried. He said immediately, "Is Relena okay?"

Duo nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

"She was shot."

"Last night?"

"Yeah."

Zechs caught Duo’s uneasy expression. "Tell me what happened, Maxwell."

So Duo explained everything, from when they had arrived at the intersection to when they had returned from seeing Relena in her hospital room.

Zechs said quietly, "I’m not surprised."

That nearly made Duo choke. "What? Why?"

Sighing, Zechs replied, "I found Heero’s jacket in the ruins yesterday. It had the stolen papers in it."

Duo gasped. "The ones stolen from a vault? Heero mentioned something…"

"Yes. He had them."

Duo gave a low whistle. "What are we going to do about this?"

Zechs sighed again, and replied, "We’re going to have to take him in for questioning. Where is he?"

"Gone," Duo replied flatly.

"Find him, and bring Relena to me. She’ll need to talk."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A few hours later, Relena was released. The hospital gave her a crutch, which she used very reluctantly. As they strode out of the hospital, Trowa said quietly, "Where do we go next?"

Relena instantly replied, "To find Heero."

But Quatre, Duo, and Wufei all shook their heads. "Sorry, Re, but we’re getting you home first."

Relena turned and glared at them. "You mean you’re getting rid of me."

Duo ignored her. Instead, he turned to Quatre and said, "Can you pilot her back?"

Quatre nodded. "Wufei – come with me?"

"Fine. Maxwell, you find him."

Relena cut in angrily, "I am not going back to Earth!"

Wufei snorted. "You’re not in any shape to do anything else, woman."

Relena glared daggers at him. "Ooh, you watch it, Chang. One more comment like that and – "

"Oh, shut up," Duo said crossly. "Re, go back. Trowa, Quatre, and I will find him."

Relena replied, her voice shaking, "That’s what you said seven years ago."

A sudden awkward silence fell over the group. Relena stood staring defiantly at Duo, but suddenly he saw the tears welling up in her eyes. He sighed and held out his arms. Relena bit her lip but gratefully came for a hug.

"It’s okay, Re," Quatre said, slightly awkward. "We’ll find him, I promise."

Duo held her tight, but he knew she wouldn’t allow herself to cry. She pulled away after a minute, and said quietly, "All right. Quatre, Wufei – let’s go."

Duo watched them walk away, back to the ship, and said, "Guys, this is not good."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They dropped her off at Quatre’s house, then left instantly. Relena strode up the walkway, tossing her crutch into the bushes and limping the rest of the way up to the door.

Before she could even knock, it opened. Lucrezia stood there, looking weary and slightly distracted. "Zechs is expecting you, Relena. Up in Quatre’s study."

Relena swallowed and nodded. "Thanks, Lucrezia."

She climbed the stairs easily, having been in Quatre’s house quite often during the past seven years. His study was located right across from his and Dorothy’s room, next to the vidcam room.

Relena knocked hesitantly. Her heart was thumping like crazy; Zechs would not be in a good mood right now. Of course, the best soldier in the world has - Relena shook her head furiously, sending more waves of pain through her head. Oh, what a headache.

The door opened, and Zechs stood staring at her, looking furious and tired.

"Come in," he said shortly, opening the door wider.

Hesitantly, Relena stepped inside.

"Have a seat."

"I’d rather stand, thank you." Never thought I’d use dealing-with-the-politicians skills on my own brother, out of all people.

Zechs glared at her, then after a moment said bluntly, "I won’t ask you for your views on this. Just tell me what you know."

Relena had a quick temper, though she hid it well. Her eyes flashed, but Zechs didn’t catch it. However, she took a deep breath and said, "Milliardo, please. Tell me you don’t honestly think that – "

"Heero’s the leak?" he inquired curtly, taking a seat at Quatre’s desk chair.

Relena turned to glare at him. "You know what I mean. What do you think, brother?"

Zechs knew exactly why she stressed the word. Heero had saved his and Relena’s life many, many times, whether he was willing to or not. In truth, though they never showed it, Heero and Zechs were as close as brothers. And Relena was the only one that knew it.

Suddenly, all the emotions that he had hidden since his son died came pouring out of his heart, and every single one showed on his face. Almost to tears, Zechs shook his head and said, "Oh, Relena, I don’t know."

She came to hug him immediately, and he calmed down as she kept her silence, waiting until he wanted to talk.

After a moment, Zechs said quietly, "Relena, all the evidence points to him."

At that, Relena pulled away, and Zechs hated himself for saying that – yet he knew it had to be said. She turned and began pacing the room.

"Milliardo, you say that, but with your military career you shouldn’t believe it."

"Relena, I’m aware that he could be being framed, but – "

"But nothing, Zechs. You may be good at fighting but you don’t know him like I do."

"Then tell me, Relena. You used to say you’d like to be a lawyer, before all this happened. Well, here’s your chance. Defend your case, attorney."

Relena glanced at him. Zechs was sitting in Quatre’s chair, leaning back, arms folded. She flashed him a brief, sad smile. "You look like Heero, sitting like that."

Zechs sighed. "Re, please. Trust me, I know how it feels."

She took a deep breath, and began. "Okay. You know, after Duo told me that Heero supposedly had shot me, I had quite a lot of time to think. And I’ve come to the conclusion that Heero didn’t shoot me."

"Imagine that."

Relena glared at him, her eyes flashing. That expression, right there, told Zechs to sit up, listen up, and shut up.

"It was dark that night, wasn’t it, Zechs? Yes, it was dark, so dark that Duo said he could barely see his hand in front of his face in the barn. They’ve told me everything that happened that night, Duo and Wufei. But when I came into the scene, and Heero lifted his gun, he missed."

She paused, looking at him expectantly, as if for an answer. Zechs shrugged. "So? Everyone misses sometime."

Relena snorted. "Please. Have you ever, in your entire life, seen Heero miss with a gun?"

"You said it yourself: It was dark."

"He’s been in worse conditions, and he has never missed. You know that, Milliardo."

"Really."

"I mean it, Zechs."

"Okay, okay. You’re right. I’ve never known Heero to miss with a pistol."

"Yet last night, Zechs, he missed. Think about this – if he was really trying to kill me, would he miss?"

Zechs was silent, and Relena knew she had won a point.

"Another thing. Those men coming in on radar, with the rifle and pistol. They shot at Heero, according to Duo and Wufei."

"According to Duo and Wufei, huh?"

"Would they lie, Milliardo?" She gave him such a scrutinizing glare that Zechs shifted nervously.

"N-no, I suppose not."

"Mm-hmm. From my reasoning, I believe these men were expert marksmen."

"How do you come up with that?"

"Simple. These people, the ones that sent these men or themselves alone, are smart enough to copy Heero’s peacemaking actions – "

"What?"

Relena raised an eyebrow at him. "I suppose Heero didn’t tell you. Remember the ‘mysterious messages’ that were arriving on L3? Yeah, well, those were actions being copied from another ‘mysterious messenger’, this time secret, on L4."

"Heero?"

"Yup."

"He told you this?"

"Yup."

"And you trust him?"

Relena turned to face him square in the eye, and she said firmly, "Yes, I do."

After a moment, Zechs said, "Continue."

"Anyway, these people are smart enough, crafty enough, downright good enough to be able to copy Heero’s actions exactly, and then set up a trap."

Zechs snorted. "For Heero?"

Relena couldn’t help but smile. "He figured it out way before we left."

"I’m sure he did."

"Those men that were there that night shot, I don’t know, from Duo’s description must have been ten rounds at Heero, and not one hit him. Please, Zechs, what are the chances of that? A child could shoot ten rounds and hit him, one way or another."

There was silence for a long time in that room, until Zechs said quietly, "You believe that he didn’t shoot you."

"He did not shoot me."

"You believe that he didn’t steal the papers, that he’s not in an enemy organization."

"Yes, I do."

Zechs suddenly pounded his fist into the desk. "Shoot, Relena! When will you grow up? He is not coming back! He disappeared right after he shot you, and Duo said he had no expression on his face as he watched you unconscious, lying in the dirt. You believe him, still? Relena, grow up! This infatuation has gone on long enough! I am getting – "

"Infatuation?"

Her voice was low, quiet, and so venomous Zechs took a step back, and didn’t dare meet her eyes.

"Infatuation? You think this is an infatuation?"

His courage mounting, Zechs retorted, "What do you think he’s going to do, Relena? Just call you all of a sudden on the phone and apologize, huh?"

Relena stood before him, not speaking.

Suddenly, in the silence, the phone rung.