Disclaimer: I know, I know...It is difficult for me, too, but we all have to face reality at some point in our lives...and...**sniff**...sadly, I...**wipes tears from eyes**...I...I don't own Gundam Wing. **Breaks down into loud, angry sobs**. Oh, the agony! The pain! Oh, well! The truth hurts, I guess!

It felt like an eternity had passed since the last guard change and the young soldier could feel his eyelids growing heavy with boredom and his limbs weary with inactivity.

...Just as well... He thought to himself, as a persistent yawn threatened to escape his lips. ...The Commander is far too paranoid for her own good. Not even a Gundam pilot could penetrate this tight of security...

"I'd like to see one try." He snickered aloud, just before a whisper of breath brushed across his back and his world faded to black.

"What is taking him so long?!" Duo questioned, sitting quite impatiently inside the Deathscythe, only meters away from the base's perimeter fence. "I say we go in after him!"

"We wait!..." Quatre stated, his voice carrying over the internal voice communicator to the other Gundams.

"But how do we know for sure that he even got inside...or that he hasn't been captured?" Duo replied, anxiously.

"Just stick to the plan, Maxwell." Wufei ordered, calmly. "With that girl's life at stake, there's no way Yuy is going to allow this mission to fail."

"Well, that's quite a vote of confidence in someone you were ready to kill a few hours ago, don't you think?" Duo retorted.

Wufei was just about to grumble a reply when the communicator crackled to life, and with two little words, Heero's plan moved into phase two.

Gaining entry to the base had been no problem for him. After all, avoiding detection had always been his specialty.

"I'm in..." Heero whispered, adjusting the small headset, now serving as his only lifeline to the outside world. "Base security is minimal."

"...How many troops?..." Quatre's voice inquired, in return, the question instantly reaching Heero's ears.

He felt small and insignificant as he viewed the countless number of mobile suits lying in wait inside the hangar. Accumulated from the glory days of OZ, Romefeller's dark creations now served as little more than a reminder of mankind's self-destructive tendencies and another approaching era of war.

The base seemed eerily silent...vulnerable and completely unsuspecting. Dasenya's troops casually meandered about the base, confident in its impenetrable defenses, and far too reliant on the perimeter security.

...Big mistake... Heero thought, indulging in the moment to smile inwardly.

"I only see about twenty soldiers right now, but this base is far larger than we estimated. There are at least eighty mobile suits in this hangar alone. Judging by the size of this place, I'd say you could as much as triple that, not including surface troops."

"...That could be as many as 300 mobile suits...A lot for the four of us to handle on our own..." Trowa stated.

"Dasenya is way too confident in this base's security." Heero responded, calmly. "It's her number one weakness. With the perimeter shut down, they won't have time to assemble for battle. In a disorganized fight, their numbers will be insignificant."

The silence that answered him was all the response he needed. He knew the others didn't necessarily like his plan, but in the end-when all was said and done-Heero knew they would carry out each detail to the last. That was all that mattered now.

"Hey, Heero?..." Duo chimed in, suddenly.

"What, Duo?..."

"...Just remember, you're only gonna have about twenty minutes once the detonators are in place..."

Heero's eyes narrowed, and he set his jaw firmly as he thought about the task at hand. "Acknowledged."

Dropping down from the docking lift with a little more than a feather's whisper, he nestled his handgun safely at his back, tucking it into the waistband of his blue jeans, before darting unseen across the platform.

He urgently withdrew several small explosive devices from the pocket of his denim jacket, which felt like a lead weight compared to his usual attire, and paused briefly to scan the area. Satisfied that his entrance had gone unnoticed, he began fixing the devices to strategic target points throughout the hangar, setting their timed detonation switches for twenty minutes.

"The main lift seems to be the only way in or out of the base." Heero reported, expertly setting the last of the explosives in place. "Once the lift and this section of the base are destroyed, I'll be counting on you..."

"We'll be monitoring your progress through verbal communication only..." Quatre announced, reconfirming the plans that Heero had laid out before he had left. "...We won't advance on the base until you give the okay to move in. Good luck!"

"Roger that." Heero replied, automatically slipping into Perfect Soldier mode, as he activated the devices. "Proceeding to the Main Control Center..."

Relena bolted upright as she heard a distinctive beep emanating from the key panel outside her room, and felt her pulse quicken as light bathed the room, and the silhouette of her captor slowly came into view.

"Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. I see you're still awake. Afraid to close your eyes in fear that my soldiers should cut your throat while you slumbered?" Dasenya smiled, sadistically.

"Who are you? Why have you brought me here?" Relena questioned, forcefully, trying desperately to hide the quiver of fear that was working its way into her voice.

"My dear, I am merely a soldier. One of many that your ideals for peace have left alienated. One whose life has been stripped away, and now, has no definition or reason for existing..." She stated, coldly. "Much like another soldier we are both acquainted with. Much like myself, he could never deny the necessity for conflict, and wasn't afraid to fight and even die for what he believed in. It's a pity that your ideals for peace, will have the largest hand in destroying him."

"You are nothing like Heero!" Relena screamed, the thought itself repulsing her. "Heero fights because he has to. He fights so that innocent people aren't made to suffer under the rule of people like you. And he'll stop you!"

The faint traces of a smile tugged at her lips, as she met the fury in Relena's wide sapphire orbs.

"Well, I don't doubt for a moment that he'll come for you, my dear. In fact, I'm counting on him to try." Dasenya seethed, with a cold glint in her eyes.

"I want to know what you're planning!" Relena demanded, angrily, Dasenya's words cutting deep into her already tormented soul. "What do you intend to do with me?"

"My dear child..." Dasenya laughed, cruelly. "Conquest is my only objective, and objectives cannot be reached without sacrifice. Victory without sacrifice is meaningless in the eyes of a soldier. I often find myself wondering what you would be willing to sacrifice for your precious, peaceful world, Miss Relena. Perhaps, someday, I will have the opportunity to find out."

She turned with a sadistic smile, leaving Relena shaking in the emptiness of her prison, still pondering the implications of her words.

The four soldiers overseeing the security controls for the base had been easily overpowered, and now littered the floor in a state of peaceful oblivion. As soon as he was certain that the control room was secure, Heero typed in the sequence of numbers needed to complete phase two of his mission.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard with fluid-like grace, flawlessly entering command after command until his efforts were rewarded with the bright red letters prompting...

*****ACCESS GRANTED*****

He paused momentarily, calmly removing the timed detonation switch from his pocket, before wiping the sweat from his brow. He clenched and unclenched his left hand, feeling the first tinges of fatigue setting into the still healing muscles in his arm.

Taking a deep breath, he squeezed the wound on his arm sharply, ignoring the warm flow of blood that saturated his bandages, as he attempted to force the pain from his mind.

...You can't afford to let this slow you down, now... The Perfect Soldier chided, softly, inside his head. ...There's too much at stake. The mission cannot be allowed to fail...

The computer monitors flickered to life, chirping eagerly as the encrypted pattern of numbers began to appear, showering the screen with data.

His eyes strained to sort out the continuous flood of system checklists, furiously deciphering the codes needed to tap into the base's communications network, as his fingers entered in the corresponding key strokes.

"Relaying system shutdown of communications array..." Heero stated, aloud, and with the click of a single button, completed the thought. "...now."

Manipulating the system's main controls, he continued downloading the vital data that, within seconds, had conveyed to him the necessary codes for disabling the radar tracking system.

"Dasenya and her troops won't know what hit them." He whispered, smugly, stopping briefly to contact his allies, lying in wait outside the base. "Communications and radar threat has been eliminated. Perimeter monitoring is secured through a separate encryption network...I'm working on it now."

"... Roger that, Heero. We're ready to move in as soon as you give the word." Quatre replied, nervously.

The sound of clicking from the computer keys filled the empty room, as Heero matched the strobe-like pattern of numbers flashing in a broken kaleidoscope of blueprints, security layouts, and surface level images of the perimeter fence lines.

The terminal answered with a rewarding hum, as the system instantly powered down.

"Perimeter shutdown complete..." Heero announced, signaling the others to begin, just as one of Dasenya's young soldiers rounded the corner, entering the control room.

"Hey!..." The young soldier shouted, fumbling for the weapon at his side, as the intruder reacted, lunging straight for him.

Unable to match Heero's speed and agility, the young man could do nothing to stop the pilot's advance, and Heero's fist collided soundly with his face, throwing him back.

Heero recoiled as a second guard appeared, hesitating only briefly before throwing himself into the man's midsection. The guard teetered on his heels for a moment, before crumbling to the ground, fighting desperately to regain his stolen breath.

Grabbing the soldier's semi-automatic, Heero bolted from the control room, bursting into the corridor at a break-neck speed.

"Hey! Hold it!" An approaching soldier ordered from the opposite end of the corridor. "Stop right there!"

Heero urgently scanned the area for an exit, spraying the hall with bullets, as a stairwell came into view at the far end of the hall.

A slew of bullets pierced the air in Heero's wake as he sprinted down the length of the corridor, quickly withdrawing a small, vial-shaped cylinder from his jacket pocket. Pain erupted in his side and he tightened his grip on the object, throwing it to the ground just as his boot hit the edge of the stairwell.

The cylinder clattered to the floor with a metallic ping! as several white particle beams split the air and the entire area was engulfed in flames.