Heero piloted the Zero toward the X-000051 colony. Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei followed behind in their Gundams. This was a stupid move. Heero had suggested a more subtle way of fighting Infinity, but Colonel Une had insisted on the brute force technique.

"The Archangel's at 12 o' clock," Heero said. He studied the radar screen in front of him. Five green dots arced toward a lone red one.

Duo made a face. "How are we supposed to fight her? She's one of us."

Heero's gaze was still on his radar screen. He did not reply until they appeared. Hundreds of red dots blinked onto the screen one by one. Heero looked up at his viewscreens. Behind the Archangel was the colony. And behind the colony rose an army of mobile dolls. All brandished high-powered beam rifles and had them aimed at the five Gundams threateningly. The Archangel remained motionless in space, its silver eyes glowing like twin stars. Heero heard the other pilots gasp in surprise at the sight. He finally answered Duo's question.

"We don't. We fight her playing cards."

____________________

Arys chuckled. She could sense their discomfort. But there was one pilot whose emotions were completely blocked off to her. And she knew which pilot it was. She leaned forward, reaching for a button on her console.

"Heero Yuy. So you are a Gundam pilot as well." She eyed the Gundam hovering a few kilometers away, its wings spread like an avenging angel.

She pressed the button. It activated the Zero System in the Archangel as well as initiated a link from the Archangel to the dolls waiting for her orders above the colony. Arys leaned back in her seat, her pale eyes reflecting the golden glow of the screens around her. She no longer had any need for the viewscreens, for now, she could see everything in her mind. Information poured into her brain faster than she could think. The chip in her transmitter managed to process it all for her, allowing her to react without worrying about her emotions. Arys' mind dove toward the Gundams waiting kilometers away. Strategies sped through her mind until the Zero System picked one best for the upcoming battle. The familiar voice of Infinity pressed into her mind.

"Play with them, Arys. Make them see how powerful you are, but do not shoot to kill."

Arys' lips pulled into a grim smile. She clenched her hands around the flightsticks on either side of her, her knuckles going white "Understood."

____________________

Heero watched as the Archangel's head tipped upwards to stare at the Gundams hovering in front of it. The Gundam's silver eyes flashed brightly for a millisecond and then faded back to their normal brightness.

"Go for the dolls. I'll try to talk to Arys." The Zero flew forwards, heading for the motionless Archangel.

Duo grinned at the three remaining pilots. He shrugged. "Ain't that just like Heero? Leaves all the dirty work to us."

"I'm game," Quatre said as he pulled out his heat shotels and raised them. The dolls continued to wait patiently, as if expecting them to take the first shot.

When the Zero came within a few hundred feet of the Archangel, the dolls suddenly came to life. In a complicated battle maneuver, they surrounded the pilots, boxing them in. The Zero and the Archangel remained at the center of the battlefield.

"Let's play a game of war, shall we? The prize is colony X-000051," Arys said over the comm. Her voice was flat and sounded much like Infinity's. The comm clicked off and the Virgo IIs attacked.

Duo twirled his thermal energy scythe once and sliced it down the middle of one doll converging on his position. The Deathscythe immediately turned to meet four more dolls that had decided to take him on. He waved his scythe at them tauntingly.

"Come and get me!" He yelled as he dove toward them, slicing as he went.

Quatre watched Duo disappear into the fray. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few lasers fly by his Gundam, missing him by mere inches. He whirled around just in time to swing his heat shotels through two dolls coming up behind him. Who controlled these dolls? When one of the Virgos swung around in front of him, Quatre realized that he recognized its style of fighting. He glanced down at the Archangel, which still stood motionless, facing the Zero. Arys?

"Arys is controlling the dolls?" Quatre dodged a few more lasers coming toward him. "But why is she not shooting to kill?" Was there some semblance of her humanity still left?

The Heavyarms' Gatling guns made short work of the six dolls flying toward him. But somehow, Trowa could tell that there was something wrong with this battle. Wufei's voice confirmed his premonition.

"We're being distracted by these dolls! We need to protect the colony!" Wufei shouted.

Trowa switched his view to the colony side. Three mobile dolls were heading toward it, rifles raised to blow a hole in the colony's hull. Wufei chased them down, double beam trident twirling above him in a circle before slamming into the three dolls in a vicious slice that halved them into deep space scrap metal.

Heero established a comm link with the Archangel, eyes scanning the radar screen as he did so. His fellow pilots were having problems, but he needed to talk to Arys first and find out what she was thinking, or if she even was the Arys he knew. Arys' face appeared on the viewscreen. It was cold, distant. He could tell that she was under the influence of the Zero System.

"You're not fighting, Heero Yuy."

"Neither are you."

Arys laughed. "I don't need to. They do it all for me." She waved a hand to the mobile dolls flying about around them. One of the Virgos headed toward them.

Heero tapped a button that released his beam saber. "You control the dolls."

Arys nodded. She remained silent for a moment as her eyes took on a faraway look. For a moment, it was as if she were no longer in her body, as if her mind were gone.

"Arys?"

The Zero suddenly lurched forward as a doll rammed right into his back. Turning away from the Archangel, the Zero whirled to take on this new threat. The doll had its shields up and carried a beam rifle. Heero's beam saber crashed against the shield, weakening it slightly but not enough to dissolve it. The doll backed up, shooting its beam rifle through its shield. Then, without warning, it lowered its shields. Heero took the offer and dove forward, saber outstretched. With a screech of energy against metal, the saber drove through the doll's cockpit area, disintegrating the computer inside. For a moment, the doll hung lifeless, impaled on the saber, and then, with a high whine, the Virgo exploded, sending pieces of shrapnel flying everywhere.

"Did you have fun?" Arys spoke up. She looked almost amused. "You've lost this battle, Heero Yuy. Go back to your Colonel Une and tell her that victory is impossible. We have taken the colony." Arys smiled slightly.

Arys' image flickered off the comm screen, and the Archangel turned away from the Zero. Heero felt a flame of anger rise up within him. There had to be a way to get to Arys! The Zero raised its beam saber.

"Arys!"

The Archangel stopped. Heero clenched his hands around his flightsticks, steeling himself for what he was about to do.

His voice was soft. "Fight me."

Arys' face appeared again on the comm screen. A sardonic grin pulled at her lips. She reached off-screen; the Archangel pulled out double beam sabers from its shoulder compartments.

"Gladly."

______________

"There's too many of them!" Duo shouted. The Deathscythe encountered continued resistance from mobile dolls.

Quatre quickly toggled through various views in his cockpit. He swallowed a gasp of surprise when he saw the Archangel and the Zero battling with their beam sabers. "What does Heero think he's doing? The mobile dolls have already taken over the colony! There's nothing we can do!"

Wufei snorted. "I'm telling you. Women are a weakness."

"For you maybe," Trowa muttered under his breath.

"You want to say that again, Clown Boy?" Nataku turned toward the Heavyarms, raising its trident threateningly.

The Heavyarms raised its Gatling gun in reply. "Sure. For you maybe."

Quatre quickly calmed the two pilots down with a few words. "We need to stop them."

Wufei snorted again. "Heero doesn't need help."

"Guys! They've stopped fighting!" Duo actually had a worried look on his face. It was not often that Duo did not have his trademark smile beaming from his face.

The Zero flew toward them. The Archangel stayed where it was, beam sabers still raised in a blocking position. Mobile dolls swarmed around them, ignoring the Gundams.

"Heero! What happened?"

"She told me to leave." Heero's emotionless face showed up on the other pilots' comm screens. "I told her that she could end this all right now by surrendering."

"And she told you to leave?" Duo asked curiously.

A muscle jumped in Heero's cheek. He was barely containing his anger. "Then, she said, 'You might as well leave now, Heero. Didn't you know? Infinity has no end.'"