CHAPTER IV- Why?

"Ladies and gentlemen," the anchor was saying calmly, "The ESUN is a united force working to guard your safety. The government has recently classified several past rebels to OZ as potential threats, and they will be given a more restricted lifestyle than the rest of the citizens. Some rebels are hotheads searching for glory, and others are heroes. We are trying to protect you from the ones who would like nothing better than to rouse up another war.

"For your protection, we are withholding the names of the perpetrators. We believe these people were under direct command of Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian in a conspiracy plot to shape the ESUN into a dictatorship. Please report any suspicious persons to your local authorities and the Preventor branch of your region."

A face appeared on the screen- Reo's face. His eyes were filled with pain.

"As you saw in the broadcast, the ESUN is handing power into the hands of the Preventors by trying to stop these events from reoccurring. Relena's safe. She's sleeping now. They got Quatre first. Wufei was a close second. Since he was a Preventor and a former gundam pilot, there was almost nowhere for him to go. Hilde sent me this data before she disappeared. They are really pissed at her now."

An image appeared on the screen of a boy in a braid and armed with only a rowdy grin and a nasty looking gun. The security camera footage was grainy, but the shapes of several other men could be deciphered from the gloom of the warehouse in the background.

"Good morning gentlemen!" came a boisterous drawl, "Today seems to be your most unlucky day."

They were scrambling for their weapons like large ants. The man was standing in the shadows still, easily seen by the camera but not by the men.

"So, not only did you think you could trifle with the God of Death, but also with a gundam pilot!" he laughed, "I don't think you know who you're messing with!"

"Come out and fight us like a man!"

There were several footsteps, each one tapping lightly, like the cheery piper leading children and rats to the land beyond the mountain.

There were two gunshots and two men fell. Another six dropped as he darted between them.

The boy straightened up and looked down at his once-foes, "I honestly thought you'd be better than that."

There was a clatter, and a circle of troops melted into the light from the shadows, guns aimed at the braided boy who had previously been victorious.

"Come with us, Duo Maxwell, and things will be a lot better for you."

The boy picked up his gun and spat on the ground.

"I would never give you the satisfaction."

The boy let out one last bullet, and fell to the ground in a pool of blood.

"Looks like I am going to Hell after all. I'll miss you, Hilde," He whispered, coughing.

The screen fuzzed again, and the man from before was looking intensely into the camera.

"Heero?" a sleepy voice murmured off to the side of the camera.

He looked back to that spot from where the sound generated, and his eyes softened. "It's okay, Relena, I'm here," he said softly, "There are still a couple more hours until our flight."

There was a soft whisper of assent before Heero turned back to the camera.

His voice was calmer than before, "Relena deserves so much better in her life than what I'm offering her. One of these days, we won't escape fast enough. One of these days, we'll be dead. Trowa still has a chance though. He's infiltrating the government right now, hiding right out in the open. He can't stay unnoticed forever though, and without the information he's been sending us, Relena and I are as good as dead.

His face turned bleak once more, "And every night, all I can think about is holding Relena close and telling her it will be alright as we watch everything we fought for disappear. This isn't like the battles I used to fight during the wars. This is a war of information, and it won't be too long before we are all forgotten, and the people are thrown into ignorance."

He looked away, "I got a message from Trowa as well, today. There are rumors that Hilde has become a little unstable. I wonder what will happen now...to the colonies, to Eath...to us."

The screen went black and 'Message Ends' flashed in the upper right hand corner.

Rashid grinned, "We're all going to be rich!"

"No, you're all going to be dead," the small group of excited archeologists turned as Reo lifted his gun.

His eyes, so much like the man's in the film, were apologetic as they turned to fix on Elens', "I will kill you."

"President Kushrenune, what are we too do?" the assistant looked up to the well-built man before her, with a nicely structured face and light red hair. It was hard to imagine that this man was president of the entire ESUN. His blue eyes centered on the intern regally.

"What is wrong?"

"A team on the lunar surface has uncovered a sealed room. They haven't been able to break in yet, but the heavily guarded area is said to contain a laboratory and tons of phials. It might have been a medical research facility or a-"

The president slammed his hand on his wide desk, distorting the sunlight that streamed through the large window behind him, "No one goes in, do you understand? No one goes in!"

"What do you mean, Mr. President?"

"If those labs contain what I think they contain, we won't want anyone entering there at all."

"Sir?"

"You have your orders!"

President Kushrenune knew a great deal about the past. He was one of the few who actually knew what happened to the mythical colonies that orbited Earth.

He also knew that that lab had been the cause of it all.

He shut his eyes and envisioned a soft, beautiful face of a woman in a vintage preventer's uniform.

"Please, won't anyone on Earth listen to me?" she had been screaming in the transmission, "We have sick and wounded up here! The plague is spreading like wildfire, and we don't have the technology to contain it. Can anyone hear me? Please, I repeat, please, any aid, anything at all would be-" her soft brown eyes widened, "Shit! Oh, shit! Hilde's ship is locking on. We're done for. Fuck! That's an electromagnetic pulse she's planning on firing, people! She's going to shut us down completely! Can anyone help us?! Anyone at all?!"

The President shook his head, startling the memory into the darker recesses of his mind. No, it was better if people didn't know about that sort of thing. It would only give them ideas.