Author’s notes (ramblings, thoughts, idiotic mutterings… ^_^): Here it is, the long awaited 4^th chapter. I never thought that this story would be so well-loved ^_^ I’m glad that it is though. Keeps me writing it. Anyway, all of you have the right idea. When you want me to finish something, keep bugging me and I’ll get to it. This chapter is proof of that! ^_^ Enjoy!

Brekken hefted the suitcase in his hand as he boarded the shuttle to Colony X-5480, one of the main colonies of the L-1 Cluster that was constantly bustling with activity – crimes, business, tourism, politicians. He nodded to the brightly smiling stewardess standing beside the doorway to the shuttle. She offered to take his suitcase for him, but he shook his head, preferring to keep it with him. It contained no sensitive information – he kept such information stored in his memory – but he never trusted anyone else with his belongings. His occasional colleagues on a job had often wondered aloud about this interesting habit of his, but just as he kept the other secrets of his personality, he had never divulged the reasoning for his pet peeve. To trust was to show weakness, and Brekken hated to show any sort of weakness. So he moved the suitcase away from the stewardess’ willing hands with a polite smile and continued down the aisle to his seat. Another habit of his on Earth-colony trips was to pack light. Without another thought, Brekken slipped his suitcase underneath his seat and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes slightly. He sensed the confusion of the other passengers boarding as they passed him, could almost hear the questions echoing through their minds. Why was he already sleeping? Had he already been on the plane? Was this a connecting flight? If so, where had it come from? Brekken smirked as he watched through slitted eyes man after woman after child pass his seat.

Humans were naturally curious beings. He wondered if it would ever be their undoing. He closed his eyes completely, visualizing his target, his target’s location, his own location, and the terror that would break loose when he pulled the trigger…

Heero had no qualms about waking the Preventer Chief at one in the morning. Apparently, she had no qualms about it either, and Heero was surprised when she opened the door on the second knock. She was still dressed in her Preventer uniform and had a sour look on her face until she saw that it was him and Wufei.

"Heero, Wufei, come in." Lady Une waved them into the foyer of her home and led them into the living room. "Please, sit down."

"I know it’s late…" Heero, feeling unusually apologetic, began. He knew that Lady Une harbored Treize’s daughter, Mariemaia, here and that the girl was probably fast asleep.

Lady Une shook her head, smiling. "Mariemaia’s a teenager. We were talking upstairs when you knocked. Now, how can I help you?"

"We need the codes for the locks to the Gundam storage warehouse," Heero said. He could feel Wufei’s eyes on him, measuring him, and at the same time, wondering if Lady Une would help them.

Lady Une looked almost amused. "Don’t tell me that the expert computer hacker, Heero Yuy, couldn’t get in?"

"We haven’t tried that yet," Wufei said. "We wanted to see if we could get the codes out of you first before doing it the hard way."

The amused look disappeared. "Why do you need the codes?" She asked.

Heero stood to his feet and walked to the mantle of the fireplace. There were pictures of the Preventers there along with Mariemaia, Treize, and various other memories Lady Une kept close to her heart. He had never seen them before and for a moment, realized that Lady Une was as much a woman with a woman’s heart as Arys was. "Arys’ transmitter came on," He said, picking up a group picture taken when the Preventer headquarters had first opened. They had all looked ready to take on the world. And they had, and more.

"And that would mean…?" Lady Une cut off her own question with a gasp of realization. Heero turned around to see Wufei looking at him, triumph in his eyes as well as a hint of I-told-you-so. Heero had been against coming to see Lady Une, but Wufei had managed to convince him that getting the codes from the Preventer Chief would save them some time. And time was something that Heero felt he had little of at the moment.

Wufei voiced Une’s realization for her almost lazily. "Arys may be trying to communicate with us through her Gundam."

She nodded in agreement. "I’m glad you came to me. We are currently not in Preventer headquarters, and this has not been witnessed by anyone. Are you sure no one followed you here?"

Heero hid a smirk when he saw the insulted look on Wufei’s face.

Lady Une smirked herself. "I should know better. The codes are on the computer in the downstairs office. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding them, Heero. Just don’t leave a mess." She stood to her feet and was about to leave when Heero stopped her with his voice.

"Lady Une?"

She turned back to look at him, and he saw the surprise on her face. "Yes, Heero?"

He didn’t smile or even attempt to look grateful, but he guessed his tone would be enough. "Thank you."

She simply nodded, threw them a quick salute, and left the living room. Heero glanced at Wufei. The Chinese pilot had his hands behind his head and looked almost proud of himself.

"I told you the Dragon Lady wasn’t so bad," Wufei said, standing to his feet.

"I thought Mei was the Dragon Lady," Heero said as they headed down the hallway to the office.

Wufei just shrugged. "All women are dragons."

Brekken stepped off the shuttle, breathing in the recycled air of the colony, which was only slightly better than the recycled air on the shuttle. Brekken slowly followed the middle-aged businessman in front of him, who was having some difficulty making it down the stairs. Any other man would have been impatient about the delay, but Brekken considered himself a patient man and he just smiled politely whenever the businessman glanced up at him apologetically.

Finally, Brekken stepped onto the asphalt surface of the tarmac and headed straight for the doors leading into the terminal. He walked quickly through the terminal and outside to the curb where he hailed a taxi to take him to his hotel.

"So what’s your business here?" The taxi driver asked.

Brekken hated curious taxi drivers; he ran into them all the time during his jobs. He would always give them a false story though that was enough to either bore them or satisfy their curiosity. He decided to make today’s story boring.

"Business."

The taxi driver laughed. "That’s what everyone says. Well, there’s a peace summit going on today at the convention center downtown. Supposed to be a real big deal. Is that why you’re here?"

Brekken also hated taxi drivers who hit on the truth, but he was a good enough actor that he didn’t let the statement affect him. "No, I’m meeting with a friend about buying his software company."

"A software company, eh?" Brekken saw the taxi driver eyeing him in the windshield. He had to admit that it was one of his more farfetched ideas. He smiled.

"Yes, he needs some help money-wise."

"Ah, I see. You’re a good man to help a friend out like that." The taxi driver finally lapsed into silence, leaving Brekken to ponder his last words.

A good man. If only the taxi driver knew… But Brekken enjoyed fooling people, and he fell silent himself, not wishing to mar the image the driver had of him.

The name of his target swept through his mind and he imagined the peace summit that would be taking place in less than two hours. Soon, very soon, he would be able to complete this mission and move on to his next target. And he wouldn’t get caught. Brekken smiled again. He loved his job.

Heero and Wufei stood in the storage facility. It housed not only the Gundams, but also various other Preventer vehicles that had been leftovers from both sides of the war. Heero eyed the Gundams near the back and immediately caught site of Archangel. Its eyes were glowing softly silver. The head moved slightly as if it had seen them, and Heero moved forward. He could sense the Wufei’s unease, but he continued walking until he was standing in front of the seemingly alive Gundam. The head bowed slightly to look down at them, and then, its left arm reached straight out and its cockpit door swung open.

"It knows we’re here," Wufei said in surprise.

"Arys’ Gundam has always seemed to be half-sentient. That’s why she’s able to communicate with it so well without using the Zero System."

"Will you have to use the Zero System to communicate with her?" Wufei asked. Heero knew that Wufei had misgivings about the Zero System even though it was what had brought him out of his temporary insanity after watching his colony explode before his eyes.

Heero pulled out a portable haul line and fired it at the stretched out arm. The line connected with the mech’s metal surface and Heero tugged on the line before hitting the button that would zip him up the line. He landed lightly on the open cockpit door and flicked a switch on the haul line that would send the handle back down the line to Wufei. He ducked into the cockpit and pulled the Gundam’s main computer screen in front of him. Wufei appeared in the doorway and leaned against the doorframe, watching him as he worked.

Heero suddenly stopped as the screen flickered to black. A list of statements appeared on the screen in white letters. The words were slightly broken, as if the message had been decoded and some of the data had been lost in transmission. The message was still readable though.

Heero’s eyes went to the last thing on the list. It was a name. After that came a conglomeration of symbols similar to the ones Heero had seen on the piece of paper in Arys’ trash can. He got out of the cockpit and waved Wufei into it. He watched Wufei’s reaction when he saw the name.

"Leland Corwin," Wufei looked at Heero over the rim of the computer screen. "President of the Earth Sphere Weapons Disarmament Council."

"Wufei, you’re the bounty hunting expert. What does the rest of that column look like to you?" Heero asked, already knowing the answer.

Wufei nodded. "A hit list. It’s in code, but you can still tell that it’s some kind of list. And it was sent to Arys by accident."

"And whoever picked up that unknown fax was the one who tried to kill her."

"Let’s find out who this Ambassador Harrington is," Wufei said, getting out of the cockpit.

Heero looked up at the Archangel’s silver eyes. He wondered briefly if he could somehow talk to Arys, tell her that he was trying to find the one who shot her, that he loved her. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Go ahead, Heero. I’ll wait." There was an unusual empathy in those black eyes, and for a moment, Heero felt gratitude that Wufei had come with him. He had never thought of the Chinese pilot as a friend; in fact, the two of them had clashed with each other more than they had with any of the other pilots. But now, both of them were different, older, focused on a more important mission than destroying a base, slicing apart a carrier, or killing.

"Thanks," Heero said as Wufei grabbed the haul line and disappeared out of sight. He got back into the cockpit, saved the information on the screen onto a computer disk he had brought with him, and then began to type.

Arys, are you there?

The reply was slow in coming, as if coming from a great distance.

I’m here. Who are you?

Heero sat back in the chair, surprised. Had she forgotten him?

It’s Heero.

He could sense the fear in her words.

What do you know?

The broken words flashed off the screen, breaking off Heero’s conversation. He wondered about her last statement. What did she have to build? And why had she seemed so distant? As if she hadn’t really been listening to him… as if she had been holding another conversation while she had been talking to him. He had not had her full attention and that was something he was not used to.

"Heero!" Wufei’s voice drifted up to him. Heero slapped aside the screen and leaped out of the cockpit to peer over the edge of the door.

"What is it?" he asked.

Wufei’s face was grave. "Leland Corwin was just assassinated."