Relena lay quietly on the bed, eyes closed. No use on opening them anyways, she told herself, coz it's so dark in here. She's been in this position ever since she was incarcerated here 2 days ago. At least it's clean, and that's enough for her to be thankful even in this unlikely situation. Aside from not being tortured, raped or roughly interrogated, her captors did not lock her up in some dingy, filthy, cold prison cell but in a small, secured room. She even thinks that it is sound proof and that she's being monitored. And there's no use trying to escape too. The door is made of metal and there are no windows leading outside. Though there's an airvent in the ceiling, it's just too high, maybe 10-15 ft.

"Stupid! You can be so stupid at times, Relena!" she silently cursed herself. "You're the only idiot who sneaks out for a stroll but ends up either nearly getting run over by a pick-up or getting kidnapped." She sighed. She recalled having a great time last Wednesday afternoon. She just finished her scenic walk and just entered town when she saw Duo and the other Preventers patrolling, looking for something. Or someone. She then decided to hide, her stroll not yet quite finished. She ran to an alley to avoid getting spotted. Instead strong arms wrapped around her, a funny smelling cloth placed in her face. The next thing she knew, she's here in this room. Well you did a good job hiding from them, Relena. They wont be able to find you now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the metal door open. She opened her eyes, turned her head to the side and squinted at the figure standing in the doorway. She saw a tall man, about 5'11' though not bulky, well-toned muscles can be detected under his soldier's uniform even in the dark. Just one of them, she thought. Maybe they'll feed me this time. She resumed her position and closed her eyes again, waiting for the soldier to leave when he heard him speak.

"Relena."

Her eyes fluttered open and she suddenly sat upright. That voice! She stared again at the figure, noting the chocolate brown hair and the intense Prussian blue-eyes glinting at the dark that she missed at her earlier inspection.

"H-heero?"

She stood up and started to walk towards him but dizziness overwhelmed her. She felt weak. She hadn't eaten since Wednesday. Just as she braced herself for her fall, she felt strong arms steady her.

"Are you ok? Can you walk?" Heero asked in his deep monotonous voice.

Relena looked up and met Heero's gaze then nodded. Heero studied her for a moment, letting her gather her bearings. When he's sure that she's ready he took her hand and tugged her out of the room. What they didn't know is that someone is watching their escape through a camouflaged camera.

After a few moments of dodging guards, climbing and running, the two reached Heero's shuttle. When they were a few meters away, Heero pushed a button and the whole underground base exploded into oblivion. "Mission Complete."

Noin, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Sally and Lady Une watched as Zechs continued pacing back and forth, an angry scowl in his handsome face.

"Where the hell did they take her?!" Zechs said exasperated. It's been 2 days since Relena's disappearance but they still don't have any leads.

"This is all my fault," Duo said, anger and bitterness clear in his voice.

"Duo, don't blame yourself. You know that it's not your fault," Quatre consolingly told him.

"If that onna didn't sneak out, we would never have this problem. She's so pigheaded."

"Can it, Wufei," Sally and Noin told him.

"He's right you know. Relena can be really stubborn sometimes," Zechs said dejectedly.

"Well, Relena's missing and discussing who's at fault wont solve the situation. We should focus on finding her," Lady Une said.

"I hope we find her before the whole ESUN discovers she's missing," Sally said.

"And I hope just in time for the Peace Summit too," Trowa added.

"If Relena wont show up for the Summit on Monday, everyone will freak out and point fingers at each other. Chaos will surely follow," Noin said.

"Also we still have other problems to worry about aside from Relena missing," Lady Une told them.

"Yeah, that Gundam," said Wufei.

"Do you think it's all connected? The Gundam, Relena disappearing and what's happening in the Congregation?" Duo asked.

"The only pattern that I could see here is that the end result is the breaking of ties between the Earth and the colonies," Sally informed them.

"But who would want that to happen? And why?" asked Quatre.

"Because someone wants to start another war," a familiar monotonous voice answered them. All heads turned to a shadowy figure on the wall near the door.

"Heero buddy! You arrived just in time! Relena's missing and we need your help to find her," Duo said as he rushed to Heero.

"I already did. I left her in her bedroom just moments ago."

"WHAT?!" is the collective response.

Zechs grabbed the lapel of Heero's jacket. "Are you joking Yuy?"

Heero gave Zechs his infamous Death Glare then removed Zechs hand from his denim jacket before answering. "No. You can see for yourself."

But Zechs didn't go anywhere. He just stood there and glared at Heero.

"Unbelievable! We've been searching everywhere for the last 2 days and here is Yuy appearing out of nowhere telling us that he already found Relena. Injustice!" Wufei said.

"Well, it's Heero we're talking about here. It's very possible," Sally said, grinning.

"Then tell us Heero, how did you find her?" Quatre asked, curious.

"I gave Relena a pair of earrings on her last birthday."

"Hehe I knew it! You're finally going to admit that you got feelings for Jousan!" Duo said, grinning like a dog. He stopped grinning when Heero shot him a death glare.

"You're there at her party? We never saw you!" Lady Une said.

"We didn't ask you if you gave Relena a birthday present! We asked you how you managed to find her when we cant find any trace of her for two days both here on Earth and the colonies!" Zechs yelled at him. Zechs stiffened as Heero fingered the gun on his waist and shot Zechs a warning look.

"It's a tracking device," Heero answered simply, in that monotonous voice of his.

Everyone's jaws dropped to the ground. Duo was the first one to recover.

"You sly dog! Sweet and smart. I never thought you got it in you," Duo told him. Heero pointed his gun at him.

Duo grimaced and raised his hands in surrender. "Ok I'll shut up now. Don't be so touchy, buddy."

Heero put his gun back to his waist. Nobody saw the amusement in Heero's eyes. He always enjoys frightening Duo.

"It's a smart move, Heero. Or else we never have found her," Trowa said.

"So she really is here. I'll go now and see her," Zechs told them.

"I'll go with you," Noin said.

"Me too. I'll check up on her just to make sure she's ok," Sally added.

Zechs waited for the two women to exit. But before he followed them, he turned to Heero. "And Yuy, thanks," then hurried off.

"I think we better all see her," Lady Une said.

"Yeah. But there are things I would like to know first. Where have you been all this time, Heero?" Duo asked his best friend.

"And what do you mean when you said earlier that someone wants to start another war?" Quatre amended.

"I'll answer your questions later. We must wait for the others," and with that Heero turned and left.

"So Heero what information do you have for us?" Lady Une asked as everybody, minus Relena got in. And with that Heero started to tell them what happened to him since December.

Heero stared at the figure on his laptop. "Dr. J," he said in his monotonous voice, his shock not evident.

"Hello, Heero. Glad that you still remember me after all this time," Dr. J said to him.

"We thought you died with the other 4 scientists in the Eve Wars."

"Well, that goes to show that even blowing up Peacemillion's propulsion engines wont kill us eh?" Dr. J said. "I think that me and the rest of the scientists were spared because we are still needed, that altering Libra's course from crashing down to Earth is not sufficient enough to atone for our sins." Heero just stared at him. "I need to show you something. You can find us at this coordinates. Come quickly." Then the call was disconnected.

SOMEWHERE IN L1 (In the scientists' secret lab)

"Heero, my boy. Glad you made it," Dr J greeted.

Heero just grunted in response, his attention caught by the towering figure at the far end of the room. "Wing Zero."

"Im sorry to say that it's only 75% complete, just like the others. Building Moble Suits are hard nowadays. Unlike during the time of the Alliance and Romefeller," Dr. J chuckled.

"Why did you rebuild the Gundams?" Heero asked his mentor.

"I know that your soldier's instincts are telling you that something is up, that another storm is brewing. You're right. We discovered something that made us realize that the Gundams are needed again. And we hope that this will be the last time we're ever going to need them, the last time there'll be any threat to peace. Come," Dr. J said, motioning Heero to follow him. They entered another room where the other 4 scientists are waiting.

"With Quinze and Dekim's deaths, the ESUN thinks that the threat Operation Meteor posed was buried with them. What they don't know is that there is still one person capable of instigating Operation Meteor. Especially now that the whole ESUN is defenseless and the Gundams gone," Dr. J informed him.

"We almost forgot about him. We just remembered him when we recovered some important files about Operation Meteor from Dekim's old mainframe," Professor G said.

"Who?"

"Damon Luther, Dekim's partner and associate, the strategist behind Operation Meteor," Doctor S answered. "He is very clever and patient, good both in direct and indirect attacks."

"He is also very stubborn. Once he thought of something, he will see it through the end come hell or high water," Instructor H added. "All of us can remember several instances in the past where we argued with him because of pursuing something crazy or impossible."

"But Damon's objectives are different from Dekim. While Dekim wants the Barton Family to rule the Earth and the Colonies, Damon wants the colonists to rule over Earth. He wanted the people of Earth to experience what the colonists experienced all those years under the Alliance --- the oppression, the hopelessness, the way the people of Earth treat the colonists as if they were inferior," Master O told him.

"The question that will come to mind is 'But wasn't it too late? The colonies and Earth are coexisting in peace for a time now. Isn't that enough to stop him from continuing his revenge?' The answer is yes it is too late and there's no more point for revenge. But he'll still continue with his plan. Why? Let's just say that Damon usually drowns in his own ideals," Instructor H said.

"The colonies are satisfied with the present situation. They wouldn't want to start another war. Even if Damon wants to continue Operation Meteor he can't force the colonies to do something that they don't want," Heero said.

"Do you remember Relena's reason why she proposed to abolish all national boundaries and create a Unified Nation?" Dr. J asked Heero.

"That it only takes at least two separate entities to start a conflict."

"Correct. So to avoid conflict, there should only be one entity - hence the ESUN. Zechs has the same idea at that time. But eliminating the other body, the Earth which he considered the stronger one, instead of proposing a merge like what Relena is planning to do is kinda extreme," Professor G said.

Understanding dawned on Heero. "So he's the one behind the gradual political upheaval in the Congregation. He wants to create a rift between the Earth and the colonies so the colonies will support him in waging war against Earth. That way, he could justify the need for another Operation Meteor. But how is he doing it?"

"It's very easy if you think about it. As I said earlier, he's good both in direct and indirect attacks. He's posing as Mr. DL Walker, the infamous adviser of many Congregation officials - both from the colonies and Earth. He's even in close confidence with the President. He could pretend having their best interest at heart, making suggestions, offering advices. And those fools wouldn't think twice in doing it not knowing that they are being set-up, that they are just being used as pawns," answered Doctor S.

"And knowing Damon, this is just the beginning," Master O added. "That's where the even bigger problem comes in." Heero looked at them questioningly.

Dr. J said, "As we said earlier, we recovered some files from Dekim's system. After careful inspection, we realized that all of Dekim's instructions to the Gundams and its pilots with regards to Operation Meteor always have 6 transmissions. We all know where the 5 were sent. So that means ---"

"There's a 6th Gundam," Heero finished for him.

"Apparently. So we tried to trace where the transmission was sent. We traced it to an abandoned resource satellite in Lagrange Point 5. It was owned by Damon Luther," Professor G said.

"Hn. Damon has a Gundam. What happened to the Gundam and its pilot?"

"Frankly, we don't know. We haven't finished decoding the files we downloaded. As of this moment, we don't have any information on the Gundam --- what it's name, its capabilities, what it looks like, who created it. We also don't know why we didn't see that Gundam and its pilot during the Eve Wars," Instructor H told him.

"We don't have any personal information about the pilot too --- his name, his gender, what he looks like. But we found archives of his training," added Doctor S.

"You had basically the same training though we discovered that his focused more on his capacity to do and think two or more things at the same time and executing them efficiently. And aside from burying his emotions, he was trained to use these emotions at will, making him the best infiltrator, the perfect pretender. Also, Dekim put emphasis on that pilot's physical strength and endurance. Maybe his Gundam requires more strength to pilot than the others," Dr. J informed him.

"As we further decode the files, we discovered the 6th Gundam's purpose in the real Operation Meteor. When the 5 of you descend to Earth after the colonies were dropped to create chaos there, the 6th Gundam, actually its pilot, has the responsibility to get you all together and to lead you into battle. He's the designated leader, receiving orders directly from Damon himself. Dekim might be the mastermind but Damon is the strategist so he's the one who plans all the attacks. And it is also due to the fact that Damon didn't trust us," Master O said.

"Well he's right in not trusting us. Because of us, the real Operation Meteor never happened. We altered the orders, letting you wage a guerilla war against OZ instead, telling you to follow your instincts. That's why everyone in the ESUN thinks of Operation Meteor as the colonies' retaliation, symbolized by the Gundams descent to Earth," said Professor G.

"And because he's the leader, he's supposed to be the best among you. According to the files, he's quite exceptional, maybe as good as you or even better. Though I doubt it. I never did let them know the full extent of your skills nor give them full details of your training. I don't want them to worry or to panic," Dr J told Heero, chuckling. "You don't give out the full specs of your weapon to others do you? I remember that the only time Dekim had a say about your training was when he saw you bury that dog. And he never meddled ever since."

"We also discovered that Dekim sent all information about the 5 Gundams and its designated pilots to Damon," Dr S informed him.

"So he knew about us. And we don't know if this pilot and his Gundam are still with Damon. The Gundam is enough of a problem, assuming he still has it, and knowing that Damon was part of the original Operation Meteor suggests that he has an army. That's why I haven't detected any military build-up for the past year, it's because he might already had one," Heero said.

Instructor H nodded. "Yes. That's why we have to hurry. If his plan continue to unfold, we are looking at another war."

"So those mad geezers are still alive, ne?" Duo commented.

"And you've been with them ever since," Sally said.

"Yes. I helped in the construction of the Gundams. I also helped in decoding the other files they downloaded but we are still not finished. Not only the encryption is hard, also there are too many files to decode, most of them dummy files. You spend some time decoding this file then once you open it, nothing valuable is inside, only garbage. So you have to decode another file, hoping it's the right one this time."

"Do you have any idea how large his army is?" Sally asked.

"No. And remember, we're just assuming that he has an army, we still don't have proof. Though it has a 98% probability that he has one. We haven't been lucky enough to hack into his system or find where he is hiding. I confirmed that the underground base where I found Relena is not their main base." Heero stopped for a moment, a thoughtful frown appeared on his face. Hmm. There's something wrong about that base, he thought. But he continued with what he's saying. "We're not even sure if and when he'll attack nor if he still has that Gundam with him. Or it's pilot. "

"Speaking of Gundam, for the past month a Gundam has been attacking the Preventer's secret military bases. The last attack happened last Wednesday night," Lady Une informed Heero.

"Are all 4 destroyed?" Heero asked.

Everyone was dumbfounded. "How do you know about those bases? They're classified Preventer information! I just knew it last Monday," Duo asked.

Heero just shrugged. "Do you have any data on this Gundam?"

"Yes. We were present at the 4th base when the Gundam attacked. Though Trowa's and Wufei's Serpent suits were destroyed and the Tallgeese III damaged, we were able to record the fight and also transfer all the weapons, evacuate all the personnel before the Gundam blew up the base. The three other bases were destroyed too," Zechs told him.

"That's one very powerful Gundam. It's going to pose a problem for us," Trowa commented.

"But with the construction of our Gundams, we will have a better chance of defeating this Gundam," Quatre said with hope in his voice.

Noin nodded in agreement. "That's true. And with the help of the remaining Preventer weapons, we could fight off Damon if ever he attacks."

"Are the Gundams completely restored? When will we able to use them?" Wufei asked.

"Anyday next week. The scientists instructed me to take you to L1 after Relena's birthday. Can you give me the data on the Gundam now? I'll send it to the scientists so we could know what we're up against," Heero said.

Wufei handed him a disk. Heero went to the console and contacted the scientists' secret lab. Dr. J's image appeared on the large view screen.

"What is it, Heero?"

"Our hunch was right. It's a Gundam that was attacking the Preventer bases. Im now transmitting the Gundam's data to you."

Dr. J stared at the information. The other scientists came and studied it too. Murmurs can be heard as the 5 of them continue to look over the information.

Dr. J shook his head. "This is bad," he said to no one in particular.

"What do you mean?" Quatre asked.

"Do you know this Gundam?" Lady Une questioned.

The 5 scientists looked at each other. Dr. J answered, "Im afraid so. It is called the Gundam HAVOC, the predecessor of Wing Zero, the first Gundam who ever had the Zero system installed in it."