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Author's notes: I don't own Gundam Wing. You know the rest.

~Starling

Infinity's End
Chapter 4

L-1 Colony Cluster
Colony X-000001

Arys eyed the console in front of her. Her brow furrowed as she studied the readouts on the console screen. Would it be enough? The lunar base had one hundred Virgo IIs ready for battle, but she did not think that an army of that size would be enough to take over the Earth Sphere, much less hold back five Gundam pilots.

"He's in, Arys." Infinity came up on the projector screen above her console.

Arys immediately knew who Infinity spoke of. Heero Yuy. One of the Gundam pilots. The hacker. She raised eyes the color of cold steel to meet the matching ones hovering above her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Let him in."

Arys gave her a confused look. "What?"

"You heard me. Let him in."

"But..."

"Let him find what he's looking for and then cut him off."

"And just what is it that he's looking for?"

"Me." Infinity smiled slightly. "I want to talk to him."

"All right, well, signal me when you want him out." Arys leaned back in her chair, folded her hands behind her head, and closed her eyes. Infinity looked down at the relaxed girl and shook her head. She had made the right choice in picking Arys Walker.

Earth
1030 hours

Heero tapped the keyboard triumphantly when he finally got into the L-1 network. But his elation dissipated when the screen went black. Trowa leaned forward at the same time Heero did.

Hello, Heero Yuy...

Trowa jerked back in surprise. Heero seemed unfazed. He typed on the keyboard. Surprisingly, the letters he typed showed up on the screen.

What do you want, Infinity? Where is Arys?

"Heero, don't you think diplomacy is the best route to go here?" Trowa asked.

Heero shook his head. "A computer doesn't have feelings, Trowa."

I'm the one asking the questions here, Heero Yuy. What is it that you want?

Heero chuckled, low in his throat. "Well, Colonel Une, looks like you get the answers to your questions straight from the source."

Trowa disliked the cold light in Heero's eyes. Apparently, Heero and Colonel Une had had a disagreement over the mission. Heero typed in Colonel Une's questions.

Where are you? What is your army? How did you get Arys?

The reply came back quickly. Trowa leaned forward to read the screen better.

Wonderland. Playing cards. Through the looking glass.

"Cryptic replies," Trowa observed.

"She answered, didn't she?" Heero seemed quite pleased with them. He pulled out a pen and began writing down the answers on a piece of paper.

"But what do they mean?"

Heero shook his head. "I don't know. But I have a feeling that's all we're going to get out of her for now."

Very good, Heero Yuy. I can see why Arys thought so highly of you. But now, I must take my leave.

The words faded from the screen, replaced by the network login page. The harmless words on the screen almost made Heero laugh after what he had just seen.

Welcome to the L-1 Colony Cluster Network. Please login...

Heero was about to try and hack in for more information when the screen blinked off. It blinked back on with an error message. Trowa frowned as he read the words flashing on the screen. Heero muttered something under his breath, his gaze involuntarily traveling over to the picture on the desk. He had knocked it over in his frustration. Carefully, he set it upright again. His eyes settled on the screen. He glared at the words there.

Connection severed...

"Infinity strikes again..." Heero whispered.

L-1 Colony Cluster
Colony X-000001

Arys smiled at the screen. She had heard Heero's last whispered comment.

"If only you knew, Heero Yuy. If only you knew."

Infinity flickered onto the screen, a smug grin on her face. "Mission accomplished."

"Your replies did not help him much, Infinity." Arys tapped the console, her eyes racing across the columns of numbers flying across the screen. "How long until I bring the network back up again?"

Infinity shrugged. "Bring it up now."

Amused, Arys raised an eyebrow at her. "So, you severed the connection just to intimidate Heero?"

Infinity shrugged again in answer. "Bring the network back up. I'm going to check on the Virgo IIs."

At the mention of the mobile dolls, Arys perked up. She tried to hide the interest in her eyes but was unsuccessful. Infinity's eyes settled on the girl sitting at the console.

"Do you remember where your Gundam is?" Infinity asked. She had left Arys that memory. She needed the girl's piloting expertise.

Arys nodded.

"Good. After you get the network back up, get your Gundam ready for battle. We're going to take a colony."

Arys smiled. "Understood."

Arys trudged through an ankle high layer of dust that had settled onto the floor of the warehouse. She had gotten her Gundam into the warehouse through the roof of the building with a little help from a Preventer contact who had already left for Earth. But Arys did not remember that part. All she knew was where she had stored her Gundam and that Infinity wanted her to prepare it for battle. Arys pushed aside a wall of cobwebs and stepped into a relatively clean area of the building. In front of her, a tarp-clad form rose high above her. Arys tapped her transmitter. In response, the form moved slightly, and the tarp fell to the ground. Arys calmly stepped back as the tarp slammed into the ground in front of her, sending a cloud of choking dust into the air. Arys coughed, waving her hand in front of her to fan away the dust. Looking up through the dust, she saw an eerie sight. The silver eyes of her Gundam shimmered to life behind the cloud, and the dust scattered the light beaming from those eyes, making it seem like Arys was looking into the eyes of some unholy angel. Any normal human being would have been frightened, but Arys smiled benignly.

Hello, Archangel...