***Part 9***

As Heero was about to get into his Gundam, he looked back at the base, one last time.

"Goodbye...my dearest Relena." He barely got the words out. Heero turned back towards his Gundam, thoughts racing through his mind: Why did this happen? She didn't have to die. Why would she leave him like this? It's not right, it wasn't supposed to happen this way."

"IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT!" Heero yelled as he slammed his fist against the leg of Wing Zero. "I've failed my mission to protect her. I'll just stay here and die," he shouted, his kamikaze attitude apparent once again. Seven minutes left on the clock.

"The girl!" a voice cried. "She lives!!!"

Heero's head shot up. "Huh?" He looked at the woman that stood before him in a maid's uniform. "Go to her," she said and pointed down a corridor before running off.

Heero sprinted in the direction the woman had pointed to as her words registered in his mind. "Could Relena really be alive?" he wondered as he ran down the hall for what seemed like hours. Time was flying by. The corridor led to a single door, which was locked. "I don't have time for this," thought Heero, frustrated. With a new strength, Heero ran and knocked down the door with one try. Looking up, he saw her. She was huddled up on the floor, face stained with tears. But she looked so beautiful there, like Innocence itself. Angel wings surrounded the girl as if they had been there all her life. "You..." was all Heero could whisper.

Relena looked up at him and her sad expression now turned to surprise and relief. "Heero," she said softly.

He knelt beside her, then wrapped his arms all the way around her slim frame and breathed her in. He pulled himself away from her suddenly and helped her up, remembering the bombs. "I just needed to touch you...to make sure you were alive," he whispered.

All of this time, Relena's breath had been taken away. No words could ever express what she had felt when her held her. "But why did he want to make sure I was alive?" she wondered.

Heero's somewhat emotional face now hardened again. "We have to get out of here, there's a bomb." He ran out to the hall, pulling Relena along with him. When it was apparent that the princess wasn't able to keep up, Heero whisked her in his arms and continued to run towards his Gundam.

"What made you think I wasn't alive, Heero?" Relena asked as he carried her.

"Hollowfax said you were dead," he responded.

"And you believed him?"

"He told us your final words. They sounded real enough," said Heero as he recounted what Jasper had told them. "Did you say those things?" he asked her.

"Yes, what he told you did actually come up in our conversation, but never in the scenario he spoke of," Relena explained.

"Did you mean what you said?" Heero asked as he saw Wing Zero in view. Relena knew he was referring to the part when she told Jasper of her love for Heero. They reached the Gundam as Relena started to answer the pilot.

"Three, two, one...Get ready," said Heero as he read the clock.

BOOM!!! Bombs were exploding all around them. Heero shielded Relena as they both were thrown to the floor by the blasts and managed to huddle next to the foot of Wing Zero. After the last of the bombs had exploded, Heero brushed off the debris that had fallen on him. He looked up. The whole base was in shambles and the entrance to the facility had caved in. In the midst of it all, there stood Zero One, with barely a scratch. Heero and Relena were lucky they had made it to Wing Zero in time, for if the Gundam had not served to shelter them from the blasts, they would have surely perished.

Heero looked down at a weak, yet blushing Relena. He was still on top of the princess from when he had provided cover for her from the explosions. Looking a little embarrassed, Heero propped himself up. He was about to get up, when he caught himself taking one moment to just gaze down at Relena. The girl looked up at Heero as his embarrassed expression turned to one of softness. "You never answered my question," he said.

The princess reached up and brushed back one of the boy's wild bangs. With a small smile, she began, "I--", but she was too weak. The previous events had been too much for her. Before she could finish, Relena passed out.

Heero put his head close to her heart and listened for a beat, then checked her pulse. "Good, she's still breathing," he thought as he looked at the unconscious, but peaceful girl still under him. He spoke to her gently, "I'm not going to lose you. Don't go now, just when I have you back. Please make it through this."

Heero stood and picked up the angel that lay before him. He got in his Gundam and situated Relena in his lap. He powered up Wing Zero and easily blasted through the rock that obstructed their exit. He then sent a message to the other Gundam pilots and Preventers: "Relena's alive...I'm going to need someone to come down here and take her back to her kingdom so I can join in on the battle."

Everyone who received the transmission was in shock. Each of the other pilots contacted Heero, full of questions.

"How did you know she was alive?" Quatre asked.

"And how did you find her?" questioned Duo.

"Is she alright?" asked Trowa.

"How did you survive the explosion? Headquarters said you were still in the base when the bombs went off," said Noin.

"That was a stupid question, woman. He's Heero, that's how he survived," Wufei commented.

"You better watch it, Chang, that's my woman you're referring to," Zechs piped in and silenced the Chinese pilot.

"I've got you covered, Heero," a voice came out of nowhere.

"Hilde. Is that you?" asked Heero, voice still lacking any feeling.

"I told you I wouldn't let you guys have all the fun," she replied lightly, "I'll get to you as soon as I can."

"Roger that," acknowledged Heero. All he could do now was wait.

After a time, Hilde reached the demolished Dark Storm base. She gasped at the sight that was before her. Out of the forest mist appeared a beaten Heero, holding a battered, limp angel in his arms. The angel's wings were now partly mangled and losing feathers, which floated delicately to the ground. As Heero approached Hilde closer, she realized that the angel was actually Relena!

"Take her home," he said. Was there a sadness in the usual firm and unfaltering voice? "I must go into battle." As he said that, whatever hint of emotion had been there was now gone.

"Nothing will happen to her, I promise." Hilde told him as Relena was placed in the Taurus. As Hilde blasted off to the Cinq Kingdom, Heero returned to his Gundam and headed for space, just as a message came in. "Uhh, Heero? We need some help up here, buddy," Duo's voice rang through the Gundam.

"I'm on my way," replied the stone-faced pilot.

"What's the problem?" asked Heero as he joined the other Gundams in outer space. They seemed to be doing fine without him as he looked around, seeing pieces of Mobile Dolls floating in the war zone.

"There's the problem," Quatre said as he pointed to five Mobile Dolls as large as the Gundams coming towards them. "Noin and Zechs went to capture the shuttles containing the human side of Dark Storm and we've managed to destroy almost all of the Nimbuses. They really didn't pose much of a challenge for us. However, while we wasted firepower destroying them, the Stratuses remained untouched and now they finally look ready to fight."

It was a good strategy. The hundreds of smaller Nimbuses were sent out of the satellite ahead of the five Stratus models, serving to not only protect the larger, more valuable Dolls, but also to wear the Gundams down. Now the Stratuses were activated to destroy the weakened Gundams. Each pilot decided they would separately take on a Stratus, probably as Hollowfax had intended, seeing as he built exactly five of the models.

As the pilots came within firing range of the enemy Dolls, they were astonished that none of their blasts were even leaving a mark on the Stratuses.

"They must have some type of a force-field around them. We've got to get closer so we can fight a close range battle and penetrate through their defenses," Trowa stated. Everyone agreed. As the pilots moved closer to the enemy, they were shattered by shots from the Dolls.

"Deathscythe can't take much more of this," Duo yelled as he had to pull away from the Stratus.

"Neither can any of our Gundams," added Quatre. "Heero, can you use your beam cannon?"

"I'll try," Heero responded. He charged at the enemy and fired a perfect shot to a Stratus with his beam cannon. After the glow of the enormous beam faded, the Stratus still remained in tact, not seeming to have been affected at all.

"No, that can't be," Duo gasped as he and all the other pilots looked on in amazement. Nothing had ever held up that well after a direct hit from Heero's beam cannon.

"I won't let myself be beaten by a Doll!" Wufei shouted angrily.

"That's right, it is a Doll," Quatre said with hope in his voice. "That means there must be someone or something controlling it."

"If we can find out where the control center is, then we might be able to disengage the force fields on the Stratuses," Trowa concluded.

"It has to be on that satellite where they were built," said Quatre as he flew towards it, but the Stratuses now had formed a protective wall around the satellite. "Whoever's controlling them must know we're trying to get at their power supply," Quatre thought to himself. "None of us will get by those Dolls if we try to do it separately. We must work together to create a diversion so one of us can break through their line of defense and get a clear shot at the satellite," he told the other pilots.

Quatre and Trowa blasted towards the Stratuses, then broke off in different directions away from the satellite, getting three of the Dolls to chase after them. Wufei then flew right in the middle of the two remaining Stratuses, bringing them close to him, but quickly pulled away as Duo fired a shot which was able to stun both of the Dolls for a moment. It was just enough time to let Heero soar closer to the resource satellite and blast it with his beam cannon. The satellite, along with the control center for the Dolls, exploded in an instant. The impenetrable shields of the Stratuses were now gone. The Gundams finally had the upper-hand.

Having no more firepower left, each of the pilots brought forth their close-range weapons and prepared for the final stage of the tiresome battle. The Stratuses put up a fight, but in the end, the Gundams defeated their inanimate enemies. Sandrock had sliced his opponent right through the middle. Wufei's dragon had easily taken care of the Doll he had been fighting with. The Stratuses that Duo and Trowa were fighting were now exploding after being cut in two, and Heero had made short work of his enemy with his beam saber.

Both pilots and Gundams, having been bruised and beaten from the drawn-out battle, now headed back towards Earth, as the Preventers' Headquarters rang with cheers of victory. Peace had been restored once again, thanks to the Gundams.

Through the thickness of celebration a faint "Mission Complete" could be heard from a weary Heero.