Heya all!   Sorry for the delay, but we've been
working especially hard on this one since it contains
two scenes pivatol to the rest of the story!  We hope
you enjoy, and FB would be wonderful!
~Quicksilver


Gundam Wing is property of Sotsu Agency, Bandai
Studios, and TV Asahi. Sainan no Kekka and all
original characters and plot copyright 2000 by
Quicksilver and Gerald Tarrant. Please ask permission
before reposting.
 
SHIN KIDOU SENKI GUNDAM WING

SAINAN NO KEKKA
ACT VIII, PART III

Sabishige na me wo shite
Tooi sora mitsumete 
Itsumade mo sagashiteru 
  
Staring at the distant sky
With sad eyes 
Forever searching

Yuujou mo kioku mo
Tatakai no sadame ni 
Nagasarete subete wa yume sa

Friendship and memories 
Drift with the fate of battle
Everything is a dream 

Ima wa arekuruu arashi ni
Tachimukau yuuki ga 
Atarashii jidai wo tsukuru kagayaki 
  
Now the courage to brave the storms 
Is surely the light
To begin a new era

~ai wa ryuusei [love is a shooting star]
Trowa Barton Image Song


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*
Scene IX: The Price of Freedom
"I believe in the madness called now."
--X Japan, Art of Life
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

When he had imagined this scene, he had dreamed he
would be speaking to a sea of people, a veritable army
of the righteous who believed in the same cause as he
did. That they would march in ten thousand strong and
take the place by storm, conquerors coming to shine
the light of truth onto the places of darkness.

	But Enjolras had already resigned himself to the fact
that it wasn't to be.

	When he looked over the crowd tonight, he'd seen the
flicker of torches casting their glimmer not on
thousands, but on less than fifty. Fifty brave souls,
but only fifty nonetheless. He could see it in most of
their eyes that they knew what they were in for. That
they knew their commitment to the cause and to him
meant following that commitment to the death. But he
could also see that they would not hesitate, that the
cause meant more to them than their lives.

	That was really all he could ask for at this point.

	"Why's everyone so gloomy?" Jamie had wondered after
the convocation, when he'd laid out the briefing and
the plan for infiltration of the base. She held a
lantern aloft as they made their way out of the
underground bunker up to the narrow streets of the
outskirts of Geneva. It was windy outside and the
lantern flickered, threatening to blow out, but
Enjolras wouldn't have any other source of light for
himself. The other members of the cell had flashlights
and electric lamps and digital powered spotlights, but
he had always been a simple man.

	He'd only smiled at her question, patted her on the
arm. They walked the rest of the way back in silence.
He knew that she had more questions. She was an
inquisitive one, yet she definitely knew how to keep
quiet and do as she was told, just as much as she knew
how to innovate when the time came for her to step up
and take charge. An interesting girl, with the
odd-colored violet hair and the brown eyes holding
painful secrets. Yet she was not unique. All of them,
as few of them as there were, held secrets. It was
perhaps one of the things they all had in common.

	Perhaps the only thing.

	His own secrets were perhaps not the most terrible
secrets ever known to man, nor were they perhaps that
fresh in his mind, but they were recent enough that he
preferred not to think about them.  He had been a
soldier once, like the boys who called themselves the
Gundam pilots. But unlike them, he hadn't spent his
time cavorting about in glorified war machines. He had
been a soldier, fighting on the battlefield for what
they called justice and truth, and he'd found only
lies.

	It was at New Edwards that he finally realized this.
He'd seen the attack, seen the Gundams come down from
the sky, destroying the very peace that the Federation
was working so hard to preserve, and he'd realized in
that instant that there was no such thing as peace as
long as the military existed. It wasn't about peace in
the end. It was about self-preservation. The basic
instinct, the animal need to survive, and it disgusted
him: the decrepit old men with their long beards
trying to reason their way towards their muddled
version of a perfect society, the hotshot pilots who
didn't care about anything but their own hides and how
many kills they made in a day.

	He'd survived, all right. He had lost friends, he'd
lost comrades. He'd lost an eye at New Edwards. But
that wasn't the thing that made him thirst for
revenge, because friends could be mourned, an eye
could be replaced. He wanted revenge, because they had
lied to him.

	They told him that being a soldier was the noblest
thing anyone could do, and he'd seen that refuted
before his very eyes at New Edwards.

	He'd been pleading his cause to thousands of groups
in the years after the war, but only when the Gundam
scare became public had he gained any followers.
Sometimes it took a divine act to make people see the
light, but as long as he had those who believed in him
and the cause, then it didn't matter. They were
freedom fighters, just like the men in Les Miserables
whose names they had taken as their own. They were
fighting for something precious that had been stolen
away from them.

	"Enjolras?"

	"Yes, Jamie?" he said absently. His cyborg eye
whirled and adjusted as he scanned the darkened
windows that they passed. It wasn't the best cyborg
piece you could get on the black market - reliable
copies were expensive and required sterile,
professional assistance to install. For someone in his
line of work, that was far too risky an operation.
He'd gotten this one at a discounted price, and it
seemed to work fairly well for what he'd paid for it.
Sometimes the machinery would catch and he'd have to
take it apart and then put it back together, and he'd
had to replace the chip in it once. That had cost
three months and a small fortune. But all in all, it
was worth it for the little gadgets and knick-knacks
that one couldn't find in a legitimate piece of
machinery.

	He used one of those gadgets now to peer inside one
of the black windows, reaching up and clicking the
little infrared switch. Jamie's face turned a pale,
translucent green as he swung his glance up to the
window, then up to the roof. Nothing. He shook his
head, turned the infrared off. He must be imagining
things. There was no way they could have been followed
from Milan, and even if they had been, the only people
following them would either be Mafia members trying to
make an extra coin or two, or members of the French
resistance groups up north monitoring their progress.
Either way, he didn't care. After tomorrow, it would
all be a moot point. The French resistance groups in
particular could go to hell, for all the good they'd
done him. He'd asked for help, pleaded his cause, and
gotten back a stony silence for an answer.

	They had picked up some help in Milan, a small
resistance cell of about twenty members who promised
him their help, though they had little else to give.
But in a battle of this scale, every hand counted. It
would not be enough, but no one would be able to say
they hadn't tried.

	"Are you listening?" Jamie's voice said petulantly in
his ear. He blinked, then realized she'd been talking
for a good two or three minutes and he hadn't heard a
single word.

	"No," he said sincerely. "I wasn't. I'm sorry. Please
repeat the question. I promise I'll listen more
carefully this time."

	She smiled. He was like that - if he wasn't
listening, he would never say that he had been just to
make her feel better. She was young, but she was in
this as an adult. They were all adults here in this
world, and he would never lie to any of them as he had
been lied to by the Federation.

	"I want to help," she said.

	He blinked. "Help in what, Jamie?"

	"The plan, of course," she said impatiently. "You
said that you needed an advance team to infiltrate the
base. I'm there."

	He stared at her.

	"What?" she said.

	"Jamie," he said as gently as he could. "We already
have an advance team�the details have already been
planned. I appreciate your help, but the best you can
do is to-"

	"Stay behind?" she bit out. The old pain was in her
eyes again. "Enjolras, I joined this group for a
reason. If we're to be successful tomorrow, I know I
can help."

	He didn't have the heart to tell her that they
weren't going in with the intention of coming back out
alive, but he held that thought. Instead he said,
"Explain."

	"In order to infiltrate a military headquarters," she
said, "the best way is to allow them to let you in. Am
I right?"

	"Yes," Enjolras said patiently, "but that's rather
hard for a resistance group to accomplish. That's why
we're-"

	"I have connections," Jamie said. They turned the
corner into another alleyway and she held the lamp up
higher. There was a pattering of little feet in the
distance. Rats, perhaps. "I'm sure you've guessed that
I'm no common girl�my family's wealthy. My last name
is known�if I give them that, they're sure to let me
into the base to see someone."

	"I see," Enjolras said thoughtfully. He had long
suspected that Jamie was someone special, but she'd
just confirmed it. This idea might have more merit
than he'd suspected. "Continue."

	"Security is high, I expect," she said. "You said so
yourself just now. But�an innocent little girl
concerned about the welfare of her family and wanting
to help the Preventers in any way possible will be let
in to talk to someone. Perhaps not someone very high
up, but it's the place, not the position that
matters."

	"Very true," Enjolras said, waiting for her to go on,
but she remained silent. He glanced over at her. In
the flickering of the lamp he could see tears
trickling down her cheeks.

	"Jamie?"

	"I was just thinking," she said in a low voice, "I
never thought I'd be saying something like this. I�I
was raised to believe that if I did what I was told,
I'd have a safe, happy life. But things don't really
turn out that way." Raising a tear-streaked face to
look at him. "Do they, Enjolras?"

	"What would your brother have said?" he returned.
"You said he was a soldier. Do you think he regretted
the choice he made?"

	"I don't know," she said in a low voice. Beseeching.
"What do you think? You were once a soldier too."

	"I do regret that I ever was a soldier," he said.
"But that was my choice. Some people�" he stopped. "I
do not want to be the one to pass judgments on someone
such as your brother, whom I have never met."

	"It's all right," Jamie whispered. "James was�James
was a good boy. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have
made the wrong choice. We all make bad choices
sometimes."

	He put a hand on her shoulder. "Then I'd say that he
is blessed to have someone like you for a sister."

	"It's not wrong, it is?" she said. "Revenge."

	" 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will
make violent revolution inevitable.' Who said that?"

	"John Fitzgerald Kennedy."

	"I see you've done your homework," he said. "And I
believe he was right. Look at the French Revolution,
from which many of us draw our inspiration. The people
wanted change, the government refused, and they burned
the Bastille."

	"Burning the Bastille�I suppose the Preventers
Headquarters is our Bastille, of sorts?" Her eyes were
shining again, and he could see the clockwork gears
whirring inside her mind.

	"Absolutely," he said. "We are the groundbreakers,
the ones who will spearhead the movement. We might not
be the ones who will accomplish the actual victory. We
might not even be the ones who will convince the world
to believe in our cause. But years later, people will
look back at us and see that we were the beginning of
something far greater than ourselves."

	They turned another corner and he motioned for her to
stop. He could see the puzzlement in her eyes; their
cell group hideout was still some streets away, but
her idea had given him an idea in turn, one that was
so farfetched, so absurd, that it actually might work.

	"Hold up the lantern a bit more," he said. She did
without question, watched as he felt around on the
ground. There it was. He fumbled in his pocket for the
key, inserted it into the electronic padlock. For all
his distaste of technology, electronics did have use
sometimes. There was a whir and a click and the lock
snapped open. Grasping the iron ring beside it, he
pulled.

	The trapdoor was old, but he had been down there just
this morning before dawn to oil its hinges and it
opened without a sound. He turned to her, saw her
mouth open in a silent O and smiled.

	"There's a ladder," he said. "Can you make it while
holding the lantern?" She nodded wordlessly and he
dropped lightly into the hole, letting his feet find
the ladder rungs. "You'd better hurry then. We don't
know who might be watching."

	She nodded again and he began his descent, watching
the light of the lantern as it flared, showing her
climbing down with one hand and holding the light in
the other.

	The ladder was not too long and his feet touched
ground in a few seconds. He waited for her to slide
down next to him, then motioned for her to hold the
lantern up again. She gasped.

	It was a storeroom, one that the Milan resistance
group had told him about and given him the key to
yesterday. Apparently they'd had the same idea as he
had, but for quite some period of time. They'd been
amassing supplies here: food, water, explosives,
weaponry, paper and candles. An army of their size
could live down here quite happily for some time, but
if the Preventers ever found out about this place, one
well-placed match could send it up in flames.

	"What is this place?" Jamie whispered in awe.

	"That's for you to find out later," he said, and
moved to the corner where he knew�there. The canister
was small, but it was what inside that counted.

	"Enjolras?"

	"Do you know what this is, Jamie?"

	She shook her head. The canister was translucent and
she peered inside. "Looks like someone's lung."

	He laughed. "It's pure sodium. In kerosene. Do you
know what pure sodium is?"

	Jamie looked uncertain. "We never learned that in
science class. The only thing I know about sodium is
that it's found in salt. Why?"

	"Pure sodium," Enjolras said, putting the canister
down, "is one of a rare breed of metal that is
vigorously chemically reactive in its pure state as a
solid. Quite frankly, it explodes when it comes into
contact with water. Even very small quantities can do
an effective job, if placed correctly."

	Understanding dawned on her face, then confusion.
"You want me to blow up something?"

	"Correction," he said, holding up a finger. "I want
you to place a distraction. The amount of this stuff
I'm going to give you won't have the power to blow up
a closet, but it can cause quite a bit of fireworks
and noise."

	He watched her work this over in her brain for a
second. "I can do that," she said. Smiling. "It'll be
fun."

	"Good." He replaced the canister where he had found
it, then turned to her. "You're willing to go into the
Preventers Headquarters in place of the infiltration
team."

	"Yes."

"You're willing to put yourself in danger."

"Yes."

"You're willing to destroy government property."

	"Hell, yes!"

	He smiled. "Well then, Jamie. Here's what I want you
to do."




*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*
Scene X: Deceptions of a False Dawn
"I'm alright, alright, I feel alright
I never been better in my life
You know the score."
--Five for Fighting, Alright
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*

	As she rolled off the couch out of a sound sleep to
land in an undignified pile on the floor, Une became
aware of the cricks in her joints from sleeping there.
  The couch was a comfortable one, but fell shy of
letting her stretch out fully on it by about six
inches.  She was forced to pull her legs up slightly
to accommodate for that, an awkward position indeed.

	She hadn't been home in ages.   Catching much-needed
rest at odd hours was the best she could to manage.
Brown and Gils-Reve were doing their best to shoulder
some of her load, but Brown had his own hands full
with his own responsibilities, and Gils-Reve had only
been recently promoted into his duties and hadn't yet
developed the autonomy that only experience could
teach.

	Still, her sleep had been restless, and this was the
second time in a week she'd fallen off the couch.  
She considered heading over to the infirmary to steal
a proper bed for a moment, but a glance at the
chronometer on the wall said she'd been asleep for
five hours, her longest single stretch in weeks.   Une
looked around quickly and decided that after reading
her daily reports, which would take a few hours, she'd
grab a shower.

	The doorchime sounded, and she called for the person
to enter.   She stretched for her toes, feeling the
muscles in her back protest, as Gils Reve walked in,
carrying some hard copies, a few disks, and a tray
piled high with various breakfast foods.  'Good
morning, ma'am," he said, setting the tray down on the
table.  "General Brown says that you should check out
the top report.   I had Steward McCreary make you
something to eat, as well... you can munch while you
review the latest."

	She arched an eyebrow.   "Yes, mother."

	"Ma'am, in all seriousness, you have to take care of
yourself.   Without you...." he trailed off, letting
her draw her own conclusions.

	"Fine, fine!" she agreed hastily, not wanting to
think.   She was holding things together by her
fingernails, and the last thing the Preventers needed
was a change in leadership right before Quatre went on
trial.  She rose, her muscles still sore, and she made
a mental resolution to find some time for the gym.  
She couldn't let herself get that out of shape- she
didn't want to be a desk jockey entirely!  Grabbing a
slice of dry toast, she began to munch on it as she
reviewed the briefing.

	Brown had managed to find out that the target of the
bombing had been a anti-Gundam cell.  He wasn't sure
where the hell the bomber had acquired nitroglycerin
(a highly controlled substance), but Une had no doubt
that it was a pilot- and most likely Trowa.

	She remembered a conversation she'd had with Sally a
while ago:

	"I can't believe this. Duo's on the run, Quatre's in
hiding, and we have no idea where the other three
are." 

	"If you sit still long enough, you'll find out. Just
wait for the largest explosions." 

	"Sally!" 

	"Yes?" 

	"That wasn't funny!" Une said. 

	"But it's the truth. Those three know one reaction to
stress, and that is to blow up the cause of the
stress. They're terrorists, and that's what they were
trained for."

	Sally's words had proven to be prophetic.  

	She flipped through the other reports, smiling
slightly as she read how Heero's detox was coming
along.   "I still can't believe he ever got hooked in
the first place," she murmured

	"Ma'am?"

	"Nothing- just thinking out loud."

	She started on her paperwork, giving commands to the
specialize teams Sally had implemented.  The teams
were working out better then she had been expecting-
there hadn't been a riot in almost a week.   The
Italian team had a lead on Barton, and that meant
within days, she would most likely have a complete set
of pilots.

	Things were looking up, for a change.

	A few hours passed as she sorted through her work;
she spoke to Carrington and was relieved to hear that
the Preventers' law team had great hopes for the
Winner trial.  She had two Gundams in her possession,
Wufei seemed to be getting better-

	Then all hell broke loose.

	She heard the aides screaming as the klaxon sounded,
the din going straight to her bones, causing her to
grind her teeth.   She rose halfway, her hand digging
in her desk drawer for a gun.  Why, oh why, had she
gotten out of the habit of wearing one? she wondered,
furiously thinking.  And when has she become so lax?  
Treize's Lady never would have been caught so
unawares!

	One of the Preventers' rushed into the room, a young
woman whose  cut forehead was bleeding profusely.  
Une was familiar with head wounds; she knew they bled
a lot, but the young lieutenant, by her insignia,
probably had a concussion at the very least. It was
amazing she was still conscious.

	"What's happening?" she demanded angrily.

	"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" the wounded lieutenant said
frantically, crying slightly.   "Bombs are going off
all over base!"   The tears mixed with her blood, and
she sat down, placing her head between her knees.  
Her hands tried to staunch the flow of both blood and
tears, but succeeded at doing neither.

	"Someone help her!" Une ordered.   "I want all
stations to report in on status!   Gather the data!"
she ordered, pointed at Gils-Reve, who stood
stock-still, the pile of papers he had been carrying
scattered at his feet where he had dropped them.  She
looked around, rapidly trying to figure out what to do
next.  "I need a lockdown on the War room, security
clearance Alpha!"  God, she had to keep them AWAY from
the nukes- if they managed to get in there and somehow
set them off she shuddered to think of-

	Her hand fell on the gun, and the feel of the cool
metal handle calmed her nerves.   They were under
attack, and she was the senior officer.   Her mind
went through proper procedure.   She pulled the gun
out of her drawer and rested it against her hip as she
took a deep breath, then expelled it slowly.  Sinking
down into her seat, she held the all-frequencies
button on her display, the one she had never used
before.   It would broadcast her voice across the
base, and bring all units in the field in.  "Attention
all personnel. Evacuate the buildings immediately. We
are under attack. Repeat, evacuate immediately. We are
under attack. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not
a drill."  To her utter amazement, she sounded calm
and collected.

	She released the switch, relieved to have taken care
of that. Une hit the button that would bring Sally
Po's personal communicator online.   "Sally, get the
civilians to the designated safe areas."  Then she
dialed for Li without waiting for an answer.  "Li,
find the pilots and put them under Level Ten
security."  She should understand that.   She shut her
eyes, trying to remember if Brown was on base, and if
not, who his replacement was.  "Who's in charge of
security right now?" she demanded.   Dammit, she
should know- it was her responsibility to run the
Preventers, for God's sake-

	Adrenaline flowed through her veins as the sirens
screamed.   The door opened and she looked up,
anticipating... something.   To her surprise, a small
squad thundered in, led by Captain Lopez,
surprisingly.   "Ma'am, it's time to evacuate.  
There's been explosions in this building," he said
politely.   "Your plane is being made ready."	

	"What?" she asked angrily.

	"You're the ranking officer on-base.   Regulations
call for you to be evacuated.  General Po, as your
number two, is to remain on base."

	She remembered writing those regulations.   When New
Edwards had ended up with all the Federation's brass
being killed in one blow, it had made sense for her to
rewrite evacuation procedures to separate the command
team rather then put them all in one basket; getting
the person in charge to safety was obviously the way
to go, but she hadn't really realized that it would
apply to HER.  "Well, I'm overriding that!"  She
turned to call out more orders to her staff, but the
Captain stopped her.

	"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said, not sounding at all
regretful.  Lopez didn't seem at all like the shy
young Captain she was used to seeing trailing Brown
like a shadow.   This young man was confident, and not
going to back down.  "You don't have that authority." 
 He signaled for two of the guards to go flank her. 
"Lieutenant Gils-Reve will be going with you. Major Li
will stay here to be your liaison with General Po,
General Brown is en route to Bern, and the remote post
there is being activated as per standing procedure.  
We should have operations completely transferred over
to there within six hours."

	She nodded slowly, not liking it at all.   "I don't
want to run!" she declared.

	"Ma'am, please... I can have the guards... assist me
in removing you forcibly, but you don't want that
anymore then I do."

	Her eyes blazed.  "I'll have your commission!" she
snapped, feeling like Colonel Une for the first time
in ages.  She wasn't listening to some upstart!

	"You do that if it makes you happy," he said coldly. 
 "It's my duty, though, to get you to Bern."

	The word "duty" hit her in the face like a glass of
cold water.   "I'm sorry," she said in a more normal
voice.  "You're right."

	He nodded and pulled his weapon, heading toward the
escape tunnels that ran from the main building to one
of the hangers.   Une followed, allowing herself to be
surrounded by the guards, with a small continent of
her office staff to man the new command post. 

	It took only ten minutes to arrive, but the alarms
were still piercing the air.  She was hustled onto a
shuttle and shivered as her staff nervously took seats
around her.   Gils-Reve opened a link to Li to start a
quiet conversation as Li relayed reports, and soon
they were taxing down the flightline, which was still
untouched by the destruction that was threatening the
base.   Beside her she could hear the sound of the
Tauruses assigned to protect her as them hummed into
life.

	Then she was up in the air, gazing out the window at
the Preventers Head Quarters, Geneva, mourning for her
dream.  She placed a hand against the reinforced
glass, as though it could touch the smoke and
devastation occurring below.   Her almost overpowering
desire was to turn away, but she forced herself to
watch the final moments.  "I'm sorry, Treize-sama..."
she whispered.   "I just couldn't do it right."  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*
Scene XI: Just For A Moment, Burning Brightly
"I just saw you; a moment far too brief 
Before the daylight came."
--Hyde, Shallow Sleep
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*

He had been going to meet Atsuki at the mess hall, was
a half a block away when he'd heard the explosions.

	Darkflight had been there half an hour early, had
planned on maybe getting something to eat before she
got there, but his encounter with the boy named
Shinobu had ruined all his plans. There was something
in the boy's face that had warned him - something that
alerted his senses that the other boy was dangerous.
He'd barely managed to storm out of there without
hurting Shinobu, if that was even his real name. 

	He'd wandered aimlessly, trying to cool off. The
clock in the belltower struck two-thirty and he'd
suddenly remembered that Atsuki would probably be
wondering where he was, that they'd arranged to meet
around this time and that he was late. Taking his
chances that the Shinobu boy would already have left
the mess hall, he headed back in the direction he had
come. The afternoon breeze was cool on his face and he
felt his temper die down somewhat. He'd been
incredibly rude back there, but there was something�

	He shook his head. This wasn't the Breaks. If
anything, this trek across Europe had taught him that
he wasn't fit for survival in any place other than the
armpit of humanity's existence, that he was no better
than a common insect in the finer places of society.
The Preventers' base was stifling in a way that the
other places that they had stayed had never been - he
hadn't liked those places, true, but they had still
been open. Still been wide. The base was a box, a
fenced-in compound offering no room to run, to escape,
if he chose.

	He needed the escape, even if it was only an
illusion.

	Pausing on the street corner, Darkflight looked both
ways before cautiously stepping out into the street,
was halfway across when something sounded in the near
distance with a loud boom. Forgetting that he was in
the middle of an intersection, he stopped,
instinctively dropping into a low crouch, twisting
around to study the horizon to pinpoint the source of
the sound.

	He was prepared when the second blast sounded, then a
third and a fourth. His eyes narrowed. There was
something strange going on. He could hear sirens in
the distance, klaxons going off, shouts and gunfire.
Smelled smoke on the breeze.

	But this was the Preventers base. Nothing�they'd said
nothing could get through here. Nothing.

	The only thing that warned him was the blaring of a
horn and a screech of tires and he didn't stop to
look, simply rolled into a ball and dove out of the
way of the oncoming military jeep. Strangely enough,
there were no shouts directed at him in the wake of
the roaring vehicle as it sped past him and turned the
corner onto the next street and disappeared behind a
building. Darkflight took a deep breath to calm his
pounding heart, jumped to his feet and jogged to the
safety of the sidewalk before another jeep could come
out of nowhere.

	There was another explosion. The ground shook
slightly and he looked around in alarm.

	The thought hit him before he consciously was aware
of it, and he was running towards the direction of the
mess hall. Atsuki. She was probably waiting for him
still�she was probably wondering where he was. He
needed to get her out of there and to a safe place,
even if it was a false alarm.

	He didn't think it was a false alarm.

	Someone screamed and he ducked behind a shrub as
footsteps ran past. Cautiously, he peered over the top
of the hedge to look. The two men who were running
past had guns, but they didn't look like Preventers
troops. They were dressed in civilian clothes, and one
of them had a radio attached to his belt. Both of them
had on sunglasses and scarves over their heads.

	Assassins? Unlikely. From the way they moved, they
were definitely untrained. Darkflight kept his hearing
alert for any sound from behind him as he kept gazing
over the hedge till the two men had vanished from
sight. If not assassins�terrorists?

	But how had mere terrorists managed to get on base?
He'd seen the security they kept at the gates�not even
a full scale army would have been able to breach those
entrances.

	The rattle of gunfire broke his chain of thought, and
he winced as he heard the screams. He was used to the
screams and used to death, but this was�he couldn't
help but think that there were innocent people on this
base who were in danger.

	People like Atsuki.

	The mess hall was just around the next bend and he
sprinted for the doors in a low crouch, reached the
relative safety of the entrance and peered inside. It
was deserted. He tried the doors to find them locked.

	They'd evacuated the place�good, but where had they
taken the people? Come to think of it, the base looked
curiously deserted. Their evacuation policy was
evidently a good one, but that didn't help him at the
moment. Gritting his teeth, he thought for a split
second, then felt for the knife in his boot, verifying
that it was still there.

	He didn't like the Preventers. He didn't think that
he would ever like the Preventers. But Wing trusted
them�Wing was under their protection, and some of them
were Wing's friends. And as the leader of Shadowwing,
Darkflight was bound to help out his partner, whether
he liked it or not. He could either find Atsuki or
protect Wing and the Preventers, and Atsuki was most
likely in good hands right now.

	And if she wasn't�there was nothing he could do about
that right now. She could take care of herself just as
well as he.

	Turning, he started swiftly in the direction of the
shrieking sirens. No matter who these terrorists were,
they would have a trained assassin to contend with
soon enough, and he'd like to seen them try to stop
him.

*

	The call had come in over the radio intercom in his
quarters and the first buzzing of the static before a
call had jerked Heero awake, just like it used to in
the old days when it had been just him and Doctor J.
For a split second, he panicked, disoriented, not
recognizing the room in which he'd woken up.

	"Please remain calm and evacuate the building
immediately. All combat and security personnel to
stations. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a
drill."

	He glanced at the clock, noting that he'd only been
asleep for about fifteen minutes. There were sirens
wailing outside in the hallway and the sound of voices
and pounding feet. Heero dropped lightly to the floor,
threw on a shirt and a pair of loose workout shorts
and headed towards the door when it registered.

	The base was under attack.

	The thought struck him as so ludicrous that he
stopped in his tracks, not knowing whether to feel
angry or amused. Angry because they'd told him he
would be safe here, as if he needed their safety.
Amused because for all their vaunted security and
high-and-mighty military organization, they'd failed.
As had White Fang before them. As had OZ before that
and then the Federation before that. It was so
pointless, really, the high ideals and precious,
half-formed values that all of them professed to be
fighting for.

	He'd fought for those ideals once, before he'd
realized that he was better off looking after himself.

	There was an explosion and he dropped to the floor,
not taking any chances. He didn't know where the
attack was being centered, but it would seem logical
that the attackers would move towards the center of
the base, towards the Main Building. This group of
buildings was out of the way, but a well-placed bomb's
shockwave�

	The windows rattled and the walls shook and he placed
his hands on top of his head, wishing very much that
he'd just stayed in the Breaks and let old memories
die.

	I know too much about you. Are you still going to
kill me?

	The stray thought floated through his mind and he
froze where he lay as the shockwave passed. Relena.
She would be in danger�

	There was a moment of indecision as he stared at the
door, knowing that if he left his room that way, there
would be officials directing him to a proper bomb
shelter, knew that he'd spend the rest of the day
trapped between sweating bodies and feeling the deep
vibrations of explosions above him. Knew that that
wasn't what he wanted�that he was a trained soldier,
no matter how he might feel about the Preventers, and
knew that he needed to know if Relena was safe.

	The indecision passed and he didn't even stop to
think of how random the thought was, that he would be
thinking of her at a time like this. Only knew that he
had to find her. He threw open the curtains of the
window, stared at it. It would probably be reinforced
glass�

	He snatched a sheet off the bed, wrapping his hand in
it, drew back, and punched. The glass wavered but did
not break. Heero gritted his teeth, backed away and
went at the window at a run.

	The window shattered inwards and he ducked his head,
closing his eyes tightly and shielding himself as
glass fragments showered the room. He felt a slight
stinging in his right temple and knew that he'd been
cut, but there were more important things to worry
about at the moment. Dragging a chair to the window,
he climbed up, threw one leg over, and jumped, landing
in the grass behind the building.

	So far, so good.

	There were plumes of smoke rising up through the sky.
Smoke and bursts of fire. Some of the smoke was too
thick to be coming from anything else but a smoke
bomb, but there were most likely real bombs too. The
most likely culprit would be terrorists, and from his
experience, terrorists usually didn't have anything
more lethal than what could be cooked up in someone's
garage, but sometimes even that was deadly. Take no
chances was the first rule of the assassin's code.

	Ironically, it wasn't the Breaks that had taught him
that. He'd learned it from Doctor J.

	He knew that Relena had scheduled a meeting today
with some of the lower ranking Preventers officials,
knew that she had been in the main building when the
attack had hit. They had probably already evacuated
her, but it was his best bet to go in that direction.
Crouching down, he headed in that general direction,
swiftly palming the small gun he kept hidden in the
side of his boot. There was another one attached to
his wrist inside his shirt sleeve, but that one was
for emergencies only.

	Though he didn't know what this was, if it wasn't an
emergency.

	The tall spire of the tower was visible between two
of the outbuildings and he ran through the alley, gun
at the ready, though the attack was most likely
centered at the front. But one never knew. He'd been
on terrorist missions before, and for a base of this
size, the group would have to spread out. Even one or
two members broken away from the main attack would do
the trick, if they were planning to assassinate
someone.

	He suddenly hoped Lady Une had gotten away safely.
He'd never gotten along well with her�they didn't see
eye to eye on most issues, but as things stood, she
was the last hope for peace for the world. Ironic as
that seemed.

	The siren coming from the main building was
ear-splitting, audible even through the closed front
doors, and he crouched behind the landscaping across
the street, trying to determine if they were still
evacuating or if everyone had already been taken to
safety. He wasn't sure where the shelters were, but if
the building was empty, it was a safe bet that Relena
was in no immediate danger.

	I wish I knew who these people were after�me? Une?
Relena? The base in general�?

	There were too many targets on one site�if word had
leaked that the Gundam pilots were gathering here,
every terrorist group on the planet would want a part
in this. Heero narrowed his eyes, scanning the area,
reaching for the knife he kept hidden, hung around his
neck, in case he needed it.

	His fingers met empty air.

	His vision seemed to blur, suddenly, and he barely
caught himself from falling, fighting to keep his
balance. There was a roaring in his ears and he
thought he heard someone screaming his name, except
that it wasn't his name.

	Wing�Wing�!

The dizziness passed and he took a deep breath,
looking around as if realizing for the first time
where he was, falling to his hands and knees.

	I�m Heero Yuy. I'm Heero Yuy. I'm Heero Yuy.

	That was the only thing he could believe right now.
Shards of memory pounded at his brain and he pressed
his hands to his head, trying to shut them out: bits
and pieces of a girl's smile and twinkling stars and
fire, and a little girl and her puppy.

	A little girl and her-

	A little girl and-

	A little girl-

	Relena!

	Struggling to his feet, he stumbled out from behind
the hedge. Focus. Relena. Focus. One thing at a time.
Got to get to. Got to get to Re-

	The sirens shut off suddenly and except for the far
off bursts of gunfire, it was silent.

	He reached the main door without incident. It was
locked, as he had imagined, and had no entry control
panel, but he'd been trained for this type of
situation. The side door was right where it should be,
towards the back of the base of the tower, accessed
through a ramp built into the side of the building.
This door had a control access panel. From there it
was only three quick motions before he'd disabled the
panel, two more before he'd rewired it, one touch of
the button to open the door.

	The hallway was carpeted, the lights dimmed, the
flickering ghostly yellow tinge of emergency power
lighting buzzing slightly in the unnatural quiet. He
ought to be used to the silence, but somehow in here,
in this building, it was unnerving. As if everyone was
already dead and he was the only one left alive.

	Relena, where are you?

	He imagined her lying on the floor, blood pooling
around her from a gunshot wound to her back. Or
slumped against the wall, neck twisted at a crooked
angle. Or still sitting in the conference room chair
with the dead surrounding her and she at their head,
sprawled silently with sightless eyes staring towards
the door�
	  
There was a whooshing sound from around the corner,
and he flattened himself against the wall into a
doorway, gun in hand. He caught a glimpse of
black-garbed Preventers security guards in a tight
ring, herding a small group of people around the bend.
The muffled footfalls on the carpet were heavy, tense.
He craned his neck, trying to see who was in the
middle of that tight huddle, trying to catch a glimpse
of blond hair.

	"Let me go!"

	The voice was that of a young man, obviously angry,
obviously restrained. Heero frowned, took a step
forward towards the voice, then stopped in his tracks
as another voice, female, spoke up.

	"Chris, I really don't have time to argue with you
right now. Political views are political views, but
your life is in danger! I won't be responsible for the
death of a civilian under my supervision!"

That was her voice. He'd recognize it anywhere. He
hesitated a moment more, then melted into the shadows
of the wall again. She was here�she was protected�she
was safe. He had the insane desire to rush out into
the hall, to confront her, to ask her why? Why put
yourself in danger? Why are you here, Relena?

But he already knew the answer to that.

"Let me go!" the boy snapped again, and there was a
brief scuffle. "You lied to me! You said you'd let me
talk to Une, but you lied!"

"I didn't-" Relena began, but the boy obviously wasn't
waiting for a reply. There was another short scuffle,
then the security chief shouted, "Grab him!"

Heero held the gun up, preparing for the worst, and
for a moment it seemed that he'd actually need to use
it. There was a grunt, a rapid tattoo of feet,
Relena's voice shouting "Stop it! Chris, stop it!" and
then the rapid pounding of feet turning into the
hallway where he crouched. He stiffened, tried to make
himself invisible against the doorway as a teenage boy
darted past him. Heero caught a brief glimpse as he
passed: longish brown hair, well-to-do civilian
attire. The boy didn't even notice Heero but simply
pounded down the hallway, pushed open the side door
that the former pilot had just rewired, and
disappeared through it.

	"After him!" a male voice bellowed - one of the
guards - but Relena snapped, "No, let him be."

	"But Lady Relena, he-"

	"He wanted to take care of himself," Relena said
coldly. Heero had never heard her voice so frosty. She
sounded foreign. "Now is his chance. I wash my hands
of all responsibility of him."

	"But he'll be killed!"

	"He's a functional, capable, thinking human being. If
he insists on disobeying my orders, I can't stop him -
I'm the Queen of Cinq, not his mother!"

He lowered the gun cautiously, listening as the
Preventer guard captain acquiesced, sounding slightly
surly, waited for the footsteps to go past. They
reached his hallway, paused, stopped.

	She was looking down the hall. He hardly dared to
move, aware that any motion would give him away. It
was ridiculous to be worrying about this - he was a
trained assassin - but her presence seemed to fill the
area, a charisma she hadn't had before. When had she
changed? Her eyes seemed bluer than he remembered.
Suddenly it struck him how much like her brother she
was beginning to look. And talk. And act.

	"Lady?" The security captain sounded worried. "We
need to get down the shelters before they close them�"

	"It's nothing," she said, shaking her head. The
footsteps faded.

	He waited an extra two seconds before verifying that
they weren't coming back and that there were no more
people coming this way, then retraced his steps out
the door in the direction that he'd seen the boy Chris
take. From the looks of it, the kid was about to do
something rash, and he had a feeling that more than
brute force would be necessary to stop him.

*

	Darkflight was in the middle of the firefight before
he knew it. The entire south entrance to the base was
on fire, he saw as he drew closer, with military jeeps
filled with Preventers whizzing back and forth, firing
cautiously. He didn't know if they were blanks or stun
weapons, or if those were the real thing. He didn't
think he wanted to know. There were bodies fallen
along the road by the Personnel offices, mostly
dressed in civilian clothes. 

	Terrorists, most likely. One of them had dropped his
gun as he fell, and Darkflight bent to pick it up.
Checking the cartridge, he found that it still had
most of the round left in it. Good enough. He paused
for a moment longer to look over the body. The man was
dead.

	The weapons then, were real.

	The Preventers in the jeeps were yelling to one
another, jabbering into radios, calling for
reinforcements. There were woefully few of them, and
even fewer of them on the ground, but Darkflight
couldn't see that many opponents either. If they were
lucky, this was all there was. If they were unlucky,
the small number meant that some terrorists had
managed to evade the containment ring and penetrate
further into the base. The containment ring seemed to
hold for now; barriers had been set up and security
forces seemed to be holding the terrorists at bay.

A gaggle of frightened civilians passed - people who
had been out on the street when the attack had
started, he assumed, and he watched as several
security personnel quickly moved out to them, pushing
them away from the scene, towards safety.

	The fighting seemed at a standstill, with only random
shots exchanged from both sides. The smoke cloud from
the smoke bombs had begun to dissipate, leaving only
the smoke and fire from the real bombs and the
gunfire. Darkflight had seen death before, but never
in the Breaks had he seen a battle of this size and
dimension. For a moment he seriously considered going
back, hoping that it would blow over, but that would
be the act of a coward and he was no coward.

	He charged into the open, hearing shouts from all
around him. Looking for something to move within the
cloud of smoke. He was still looking for a target,
squinting through the smoke, when someone charged out
of the flames at him. Darkflight gave a shout, brought
his gun up, pulled the trigger. The shot went wide,
and he cursed, swinging the weapon around, but it was
too late.

	Before he had the chance to aim, the terrorist
leaped. Darkflight watched in horror as the man spread
his arms out wide, long, dark hair flying, and landed
on top of a Preventers jeep carrying three machine-gun
wielding airmen. Someone screamed.

	There was a blinding explosion.

	The shockwave knocked him back into the concrete and
he heard something crack, felt a searing pain through
his left arm. Through the involuntary tears of pain in
his eyes, he pushed himself up and found himself
staring at the place where the jeep used to be. The
ground was charred, the vehicle a molten, twisted lump
of metal. He groped with his right hand, trying to
find a hold so he could stand, ignoring the pain in
his arm, and his hand brushed something.

	It was the stump of a leg, blown off the torso. The
blood-soaked pants were Preventers uniform issue.

	Darkflight tore his eyes away, fought down the rising
bile in his throat and stood, wobbling. His arm hurt
like hell, but he'd been injured worse before, and a
broken arm wasn't anything he would die from. A few
more civilians huddled past, their faces lost and
bewildered, and he watched as a few security personnel
detached from the group to escort them. His gaze went
once more, unwillingly, to the ruined jeep. 

	Human bombs?

	He'd heard of them�there had been talk in the Breaks
around pints of alcohol and joints about people who
were so desperate that they'd wire themselves as
living bombs and jump onto targets. Like kamikazes,
someone always said, and there would be nodding. As a
Japanese colony, L1 still remembered its heritage.
Darkflight had always doubted the tales with some part
of his mind that told him they were too preposterous
to be true. That no one would be that fanatically
devoted.

	He'd just been proven wrong.

	Machine gun fire brought him out of his shock.
Machine gun fire, and his name called frantically over
the sound.

	"Darkflight? Darkflight?"

	He turned. There was another group of civilians in
the distance hurrying past, accompanied by a single
security guard. As he watched, a lone golden-haired
figure broke from the group, running towards him. The
guard waved frantically to her, shouted in English,
"Come back, miss! Come back! Miss! Hey!"

	"Darkflight!" the voice called, excitement and wobbly
fear audible over the distance. "It IS you! Where did
you go? I waited, but you didn't come!"

	It was Atsuki.

*

	Heero lost sight of Chris between two of the
personnel buildings, saw the boy as he broke free of
the confining structures, began running down the main
avenue of the base towards the south entrance. There
was a renewed burst of machine gun fire, and he
cursed.

	"Chris!" he yelled, doubling his pace, hoping to
overtake the running boy. "Chris! Wait!"

	The boy looked back, surprise on his face, as Heero
caught up to him, then the recognition in his eyes was
replaced by an ugly hatred. "It's you. Heero Yuy,
isn't it? I should have known."

	"Chris, come with me," Heero said urgently, placing
his hand on the boy's shoulder and trying to drag him
away from the entrance and the fighting. "It's not
safe here. You could be killed�"

	"You're just her lackey, aren't you?" Chris hissed,
tearing his shoulder away before Heero could react. "I
don't need you! I don't need any of you! You're all
wrong, all of you. You can't help me! I was stupid to
come here!"

	"Wait!" Heero cried as Chris took off again,
wondering what the hell the boy was planning. He
didn't need this�he didn't need any more innocent
people to die because of him. He could feel the
burning in his veins, the headache coming on that
meant it was getting to be time for his drug
treatment.

	There was another explosion and he ran towards the
smoke, hoping that it wasn't Chris who had gotten
hurt.

	"Listen to me!" someone shouted over the gunfire, and
with a sinking heart, he realized that Chris hadn't
been hurt, but he was making himself into the perfect
target.

	"Get away from there, you idiot!" he bellowed, but
the boy was too far away.

	"You're all fighting for the wrong reason!" Chris
shouted, charging into the fray and knocking aside a
Preventers soldier who had been unlucky enough to be
in his path. "Lay down your weapons! You don't need to
fight!"

	The gunfire faltered a bit, and Heero could see Chris
clambering on top of a pile of rubble, waving his
arms. "Don't fight! This is wrong! The pen is mightier
than the sword! You don't need your weapons!"

	Idiot�idiot�

	He didn't hear the shot, but he saw when Chris fell,
heard the gunfire begin anew. No one paid any
attention to the boy tumbling down the pile of debris,
and Heero sprinted forward just as Chris rolled onto
the concrete.

	He was still alive. There was blood at his
temples�probably had a concussion, and his breathing
was shallow. He needed to get this boy to a hospital.

	"You damn fucking moron," Heero muttered as he jammed
his gun back into his boot, picking up the unconscious
form and slinging it across his shoulders. He had to
hurry - he'd seen worse injured, but none of them had
lived.

	And then it happened.

	"Darkflight!"

	He whirled around, knowing that he knew that voice,
knowing who he would see as he did so, the bright
golden hair flying amidst the smoke, the dark-skinned
boy that was running towards her, waving his arms
frantically to keep her away.

	Atsuki.

	He'd forgotten about her. He'd been so busy trying to
look for Relena�Relena�

	Fragments of memories pounded through his blood.

	Choose one. One or the other. You can't have both.

	Heard himself saying, I haven't thought about Relena
in years.

	It all seemed far away and unimportant now. The Queen
of Cinq, the wounded boy across his shoulders, the
fighting. The only important thing was her, here and
now, and he felt suddenly filled with an anger, a deep
shame, a blind desire to run up to her and tell her
that he was sorry, that this never should have
happened and that he wished he had never met her,
because that would have spared her so much.

	"Atsuki!" he cried.

*

	"Atsuki!" someone shouted, and Darkflight saw her
stop in her tracks, whirl to find the sound of the
voice.

	He heard the gunshot crack.

	He saw her body convulse like a whip, saw her jerk
once, then collapse to the pavement face down.

	The back of her dress was already soaked with blood.

	"No�" he whispered, shaking her. "No. Atsuki, get up.
Atsuki. Get up."

	She didn't move. Her wide blue eyes were sightless,
glassy. He desperately rolled her over on her back,
thumping her heart. No response.

	"Atsuki," he whispered. "Atsuki�"

	"She's dead," said a voice from behind him.

	Darkflight didn't bother to stand. He knew who it was
who had called her name, knew who it was whom she'd
paused for. He gently straightened her tangled limbs,
her blood-soaked dress, the strands of her golden
hair. Closed her eyes. She didn't look angry, or
surprised, or vacant. There was a smile on her face.

She had died happy, running towards her friends.

	"Yes, Wing," he said. "She's dead." Turning to face
the former Gundam pilot, meeting those cold blue eyes
with the coldness in his own.

	"You killed her."




*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*
Scene XII: Lies, Damn Lies
"Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with
honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater
success. Each time you lie, even with a little white
lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward
failure." 
-Joseph Sugarman
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*

	As the world went up in flames around her, Ilene
Keets laughed.   It wasn't a nice laugh, or a
particular sane one, but rather a laugh that started
in her toes and swelled through her entire body like
tsunami, one that fell out of her small mouth,
sounding impossibly huge.

	Surprisngly, it had been easy to get onto base.   The
Keets were one of the Preventer's advocates in United
America, and when their daughter requested an
interview to discuss her concerns, a staff sergeant
named Takamura granted her an in-person consultation. 
 From the wearied look of his face on the vid, he'd
been agreeing to many interviews and was tired of it
all.

	Her interview had been set for two.   After reporting
in to the visitors center, she had been shown to the
main building where Takamura's office was.  To her
amusement, she passed through the security checks
easily- obviously no one had anticipated sodium as a
possible threat, and no one screen her handbag too
thoroughly.   The computer disk was scrutinized a
little more carefully, scanned in the security's
specialized virus detectors, but passed as well.

	She was relieved.   Part one of the plan had just
been carried out.   The scan had activated a virus
which Enjolras had spent quite a bit on.   In an hour,
maybe a little more, it would short all of the base's
electrical systems for a brief period of time- very
brief, but long enough for Enjolras and the others to
get on base and start wrecking havoc.  She smiled
innocently as she took it back, feeling slightly
scornful of the Preventers who let her through.

	Just because she looked like a cute little girl
didn't mean she was one.   Inside she felt old.

	The airman who'd been her escort motioned for her to
sit down.  "Do you need any coffee?  Tea?" she offered
Ilene.   

	'No, thanks," Ilene said quietly, clutching her
purse.  

	The airman offered a reassuring smile.   "The Staff
Sergeant isn't too scary.   He'll listen to your
concerns," she atempted to assure the shy young teen.

	And dismiss them as quickly as possible, Ilene
thought angrily.  "Thanks," she said again.

	It was ten minutes passed the time of her appointment
when she was finally admitted.   The older Asian man
behind the desk looked the paper pusher he was, and
Ilene was irrationally angered by the paternal smile
he gave her.   He wasn't being intentionally
patronizing, but she felt his condensation.

	"Miss Keets?" he said, rising to his feet and
offering her his hand to shake.

	She really didn't want to, and one of her mother's
earlier lessons in putting people in their place came
back to her.   "It's Ms," she said, seating herself
instead of shaking his hand.  "It was kind of you to
make the time for me," she said, speaking with
aristocratic arrogance.   United America may not have
any titles, but wealth was a title of its own.   She'd
been brought up like a princess, and knew how to act
the part.  Normally she scorned her peers who put on
airs, but those airs would gain respect that kindness
would not.

	"Are you aware that you're a missing person?" he
asked immediately.

	Ilene blinked slowly.   The thought hadn't occurred
to her, though it should have.  "I should have
contacted my family before I left, but I had
extenuating circumstances."   She pulled the infected
disk out and handed it over.  "On the same day Duo's
name was released, I began to receive threats that
made me fear for my life.   I decided it would be best
if I just... vanished for a while.  I was lucky enough
to have a friend with the ability to hide me... but I
want to go home now."  A pause for a slight sniff.  
"I miss my family."  Very untrue- she and her parents
hadn't been on good terms since James died.

	Takamura nodded.  "Have you called your parents?"

	"I'm seventeen- I passed the age of my majority a
year ago," Ilene said.  "I don't want to worry them
unneccessarily.  On the disk you'll find copies of the
threats that were sent to my private account.   The
fact that they were able to get my contact information
makes me believe that it wasn't simply idle.  And they
are NASTY!" she said, whimpering melodramatically.

	That part was true.   Enjolras and a would-be writer
who called herself Joyce had had a great time putting
their considerable talents together to write the
vilest threats they could think of.   A few of them
had even made her feel sick to her stomach, even
though she knew they weren't real.

	He gave her a reassuring smile.   "We'll handle it,
love," he said.   "Your friend Duo arrived on base
earlier, and if you want, we can quarter you near
him."

	Her eyes widened as her heartrate exploded.  "Duo's
here?"  Dammit, they hadn't known that!   They'd never
get to him!

	Takamura gave her brief jerk of his head which she
supposed was a form of affirmation as he slid the disk
into his terminal without scanning it, since he was
aware it would have already be checked by security.  
She knew he'd find the files he was expecting, but the
virus wouldn't infect his station- it required a virus
scan to be initiated.   "Um, while you look that over,
can I go to the bathroom?" she asked.

	"Down the hallway, second door to the right,"
Takamura said absentmindedly, already engrossed in the
files.

	She nodded and left, glancing at her wristwatch.  
About five minutes before the power went.... it should
give her enough time to get there...

	She entered the ladies' room and was relieved that no
one was in there.  Opening her purse up and she fished
out her make-up- a bottle of concealer, a compact, and
a bottle of lotion, and removed the seals.   Inside,
instead of the real make-up product, was sodium.   Her
countdown reached one minute, and she went to the
toilet nearest the door, raised the lid, and threw
them all in.

	She knew the explosion was going to happen, but she
was surprised at how deafening it was.   She stumbled
away from the bathroom, falling out into the hall with
eyes streaming from the smoke.   People were running
towards her.

	"What happened?" a young airman asked.

	"I don't know!   I was in there, and suddenly there's
an explosion!" she sobbed.

	He opened his mouth to ask another question, when the
lights flickered, and went out.   The virus had hit.

	It took less then ten seconds for emergency power to
come on, but it was enough.  In the distance they
heard the sound of different explosions, one coming
after another, and emergency klaxon going off.   

	"Miss, get out of here- leave the building by the
nearest exit, and someone will direct you to the
emergency shelters."

	Ilene nodded, wiped her eyes with the cuff of her
sleeve, and left the way he told her.

	She could see where they were motioning the civilians
towards, but she had no intention of falling in.
Enjolras had expressed doubt about how far his group
would be able to penetrate, and now that she knew Duo
was on base... but how to find him?

	"Miss?" A young Preventers secuirty guard said,
getting her attention.   "Are you ok?"

	An idea came to her, a clever one.   She threw
herself at him, hugging him tightly, pretending to
have hysterics.  "I'm lost!   I was suppose to be
meeting my friend Duo... and then there's these
explosions, and noise, and fire and smoke!" she said.

	The agent was a novice.   Had he been experienced, he
would have wondered more about why this young girl was
wandering unaccompanied on base, particularly during
an obvious terrorist attack.   Had he been
experienced, he would have wondered why she happened
to be an acquaintance of a Gundam pilot.   Had he....
but he was not.   He was barely six months into his
term of service.  "I believe that the he's in the
VOQ... I'll help you there- it's not far."

	She nodded, sniffling a little dramatically, and gave
him a girlish smile, the one that had made many boys
melt for her in the past.   "Thank you!" she said,
transferring her grip to his right arm- a grip that
would conveniently prevent him from grabbing his gun
easily should he become wise to her motivations.

	They made their way through the burning area, and no
one stopped them.   Around them was chaos  as the
smoke bombs kept going off and the sharp sounds of
gunfire being exchanged in rapid volleys.   The
resistance cell hadn't penetrated that far into the
compound, but it was only a matter of time.   She
hoped she'd be able to find Duo without accidentally
getting shot by her own side.

	He led her over the white paths, pass the mess hall
and around a few buildings before entering the largest
of a cluster of three buildings.  "Here, somewhere...
first floor, most likely."

	Ilene sighed softly, wondering if she should regret
what she was about to do.  "You sure he's there?" she
asked in her best little girl voice.

	"That's where the VIPs are quartered," the guard
said.

	"Thanks!" she exclaimed, turning to give the blushing
young man a hug.   Then she kneed him in the groin,
hard.

	It was more through like then any skill that Ilene
hit the young Preventer right.   He hadn't been
expecting an attack from the girl he'd been helping,
hadn't been expecting such a young child to be a
terrorist.  But her knee caught him unawares, and he
instinctively curled forward, bringing his face into
reach of her fists.  She drove her right one upwards
the way the self-defense instructor had shown her,
hoping to knock him out.

	It killed him instead.

	His nose shattered under her hand, the broken bone
driving itself up and into his brain.   Blood
splattered and she winced.   He had been nice... she
hadn't wanted that to happen.

	She watched as he crumpled to the ground. Ilene felt
herself become light-headed, but her desire to find
Duo overwhelmed and remorse.  The guard had been a
Preventer.  He deserved to die.  She knelt down beside
the body and pulled the gun out, tucking it into her
purse.   She didn't need to be stopped now, a civilian
carrying an unconcealed weapon in an area that was
most likely restricted.

	She paced towards the right wing, taking a gamble
that he'd been housed with a view of the greens rather
then facing the gym.  She knew from experience that he
was a light sleeper, and he most likely was still in
the vicinity, waiting.   He wouldn't risk his neck in
the fray outside unless he had to.

	To her surprise, he almost plowed her over, running
in the direction she had come from.   He didn't even
look at her- no recognition showed on his face.   That
angered her.

	"Duo Maxwell!" she shouted, his voice springing from
her throat with astounding volume.

	He turned, his braid whipping around after him at the
sound of his name.   "Ilene?" he asked incredulously.	

*

	Duo Maxwell had been sleeping when the alarm klaxons
had sounded.  The sound had driven him to his feet
before he had completely awakened, the gun he had
placed under his pillow cradled in his hands.     His
instincts kicked in, and a familiar scent drifted
towards his heightened senses- smoke.

	He shut his eyes for a second, visualizing the layout
of the Preventer Base.  He hadn't seen much, but what
he knew told him that the smoke was coming primarily
from south.  He could imagine what was happening
outside- people panicking in the orderly fashion only
military life could impart, the civilians who were on
base for some reason or other screaming and panicking
in a not so controlled manner, fire raging and
gunshots being exchanged.

	In other words, an attack.

	Une's voice came out over the communication unit in
his room.   "Attention all personnel. Evacuate the
buildings immediately. We are under attack. Repeat,
evacuate immediately. We are under attack. This is not
a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill."  She sounded
calm and collected, her voice hard with authority and
the power of a person who was used to being obeyed.

	I'd hate to be her right about now, he thought, and
then was amused at himself  He had better-

	His thoughts skidded to a halt as the images of
Hilde, Shinobu and Helena surfaced in his mind.  They
were all on base somewhere.... Hilde had remained with
the Gundams while he had taken a much-needed rest and
would probably be all right, Shinobu had a gun and
knew how to protect himself, but Helena would be a
sitting duck in the chaos.   He hoped that she was
with Shinobu, but there was no telling.

	He grabbed the first set of his clothes to come to
hand, a pair of black jeans and an equally dark
CyberSal shirt, and put them on, tossing his slightly
undone braid over his shoulder.   He hoped the color
wasn't an omen- since the war, he preferred brighter
colors. Swearing slightly to himself, he did up his
boots, hoping that he'd have time to get out.

	Going over to the window gave him a clear view of the
carnage going on.  From the south came explosions- the
sound-proof windows kept the noise out, but the small
rising plumes of smoke warned him of the danger.   He
swore, wondering where to go.

	He opened his door to a hallway that was eerily
lacking of other humans   The emergency lights
flickered in time to the siren and he shivered,
feeling like he had just been cast in some ancient
horror movie.  He kept his hand on his gun, scanning. 
 Check Helena and Shin's rooms, get them to safety.

	They weren't there.   At this time of day, the wing
was empty, and no one seemed to remember that he was
supposed to be there.   He wondered where to go next.

	Hilde- the Gundams?   He couldn't find the others,
and though the security around the hanger in which the
Gundams were hidden would be the tightest possible,
the invaders had already managed to get on base... and
he couldn't trust anyone else with Deathscythe or
Hilde... or Zero.   He had promised Heero when he had
accepted the knife so many months ago.

	He dashed out in the hallway, sprinting for the exit.
  Without realizing it, he almost ran into a young
woman going the other way.   He assumed that she was
looking for a friend, but he didn't have the time to
be nice and apologize-

	"Duo Maxwell!"

.	The voice was familiar- one he hadn't expected to
hear.   He skidded to a stop, his braid whipping
around after him as he turned at the sound of his
name.   "Ilene?"

	She didn't look like the girl he knew.   Gone were
her trademark pigtails, replaced by a chic pageboy. 
Her expensive suit was plum-colored, one he remembered
seeing her wear once before, when she had to give a
presentation.   Her face, though, had changed most.  
She didn't look like a cheerful child anymore.

	"You remember," she said, taking a few steps towards
him before stopping abruptly, an uncharacteristic
smirk on her features.

	"Ilene, where have you been?" he asked.

	"Wouldn't you like to know?"

	There was something in her face that wasn't quite
sane.  Normally he'd race to her, grab her like he'd
done at the Cliffside Massacre, but his instincts told
him to be more cautious.   He took a step towards her,
and she almost snarled.   "Stay back, you filthy
liar!"

	"I never lied to you!" he exclaimed.   "I may run, I
may hide, but I never lie!"  His catchphrase of the
past came to his lips almost without a thought.

	"There is such a such of thing as a lie of omission!"
she snarled angrily.  "There may not be such a thing
as absolute truth, I�ve always believed that the
search for it is important to the soul.  
Self-knowledge is important to help us define our
souls, and help us learn which path to take at the
next fork in the road of life!"

	From her bag she produced a small black gun, standard
Preventer issue. "My path has led me to you... you are
my brother's murderer, and it's time I showed you the
truth of that!"  

	He cursed mentally.   He'd never figured that she'd
been armed- how the hell had she gotten a gun onto the
base?  She pointed it at him, holding it like someone
unused to weaponry - which was the truth.   She'd had
the basic riflery course that was part of Cliffside's
gym course, but he knew that was pretty useless- and
it hadn't been that long since they had last seen it
other.

	Her eyes looked liked two black holes, absorbing all
the light without reflecting anything back.  The
emergency lights glinted off the gun, and he knew he
wouldn't have time to retrieve his own weapon, even if
he wanted to.   But he didn't want to.

	Ilene was a friend who was going through a hard time.
  It was his job to help her, make her see that things
weren't absolute.  In war, there was no black and
white- just gray.  Everything was shades of gray. 
"Ilene, I never was on the African continent during
the war!   I didn't go near that Academy!"

	The gun trembled slightly and he took a small step
towards her.   "It doesn't matter!   You were a pilot!
  All of you are nothing but filthy murderers!"

	Duo kept his voice low and soothing.   "No, Ilene, we
weren't.   We were soldiers, just like your brother.  
We may have been on opposite sides during the war, but
we had that in common."   Another step, and Ilene's
aim wavered even more, tears welling in her eyes.  "A
soldier knows that they may die."   Two more steps.

	It would take just two more steps.... two more steps
to get close enough to disarm her.   She was coming
apart, and he could see it.

	"Everyone lies!" she whispered.  

	"I don't," Duo said, shifting his weight slightly in
case he had to knock her down.

	"They LIE!  There's no such thing as peace!  People
kill because the enjoy it!" she shrieked, raising the
gun, preparing to shoot.

	There was a loud crack that sounded like thunder had
just been unchained.   Duo tried to move but it was
too late.  Ilene staggered backwards, her body jerking
unnaturally as it was hit by several bullets from
directly behind Duo.  Then she crumbled backwards, her
body moving like it was a broken doll.

	"Ilene!" he cried helplessly, watching the girl fall.
  Her eyes were wide in shock, but she was already
dead.  The bullets had been placed with such accuracy
that the girl had barely had time to realize her
impending death.  And the way the person had shot from
behind him told him that the shooter obviously had
confidence that he would hit only his target.

	There were few people that could place bullets so
close together- four bullets all locked within a three
centimeters of each other.  Most of them were probably
on the Preventers' base, but one in particular
immediately sprang to mind.  

	"Heero?" he whispered.  Sally had said he was on
base....

	Out of the shadows stepped a handsome Gundam pilot,
but not the one he had been expecting.   Trowa Barton
peered at him from under his signature hair, his face
as expressionless as ever.  "Hello, Duo," he said
softly.

	"Why?" he asked, practically pleading for an answer.

	"She was threatening you.   Therefore she had to be
removed."   The former Heavyarms pilot spoke in a soft
voice, slightly regretful, but not the least
apologectic.  "This is war, Duo.  You know that."

	Duo walked over to where the girl had fallen. 
Kneeling down beside her, he stared into her face,
committing it to memory.  Her short violet hair had
been mussed, and the crimson strain spread over her
expensive suit like bad wine.  Her face was hair, and
appeared to be slightly surprised.  "No, Trowa," he
said softly, "she didn't.   The war is over- now it's
time for the killing to stop."  He reached out and
shut the vacant eyes that glared accusingly at him. 
"Rest well, Ilene," he said.  "I hope your brother is
with you, where ever you are," he continued, brushing
a kiss against her rapidly cooling cheek.

	He rocked back on his heels, cradling his head in his
hands.   Another friend, gone... and it's my fault.  I
couldn't save her...

	"Two fucking steps..." he whispered.  "I was two damn
steps too late.  I could have disarmed her, Trowa."

	"Could you?" Trowa asked.  "I've found that fanatics
are sometimes more dangerous than professional
soldiers."

	He blinked in surprise, feeling something moist slip
down his face.  He raised an incredilous hand over his
cheek to touch the warmth.  

	Tears....

	"She wasn't a fanatic.... she was my friend."


END OF ACT EIGHT

=====
"No matter what the bible says, the battle always goes to
the strong. And I am strong. I don't need to prove that to
anyone anymore."
-Excerpt from Sainan no Kekka- Act Seven, Scene VII

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam

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