Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The True Victor ❯ Chapter 18

AN: I just realized...I've passed my record chapter now ^^. The most that I've ever written was seventeen and this chapter surpasses that. I feel so happy.....ANYHOOOO....

Chapter Eighteen

General Reinhardt paced around the room like a lion in a cage, clenching and unclenching his fists to control the surge of anger that was running through him. The children of seven years ago were coming back to haunt him. The pack of kids that had planned to escape from their prison by using the chips implanted into them to their advantage. Fifteen ran, ten were captured and reprogrammed. Three more were found and taken in to be brainwashed, and only two children remained missing from his grasp. Of course, they had to be the two that were the most dangerous to the world and the kids didn't even realize it.

Or did they?

Reinhardt's eyes strayed over the photos on his desk; the faces of the thirteen children who had planned to escape their experimentation seven years ago stared back at him. The thirteen he and the others involved in the project captured had recent photos of themselves in their uniforms. Four of his best AES soldiers were in this bunch: Roy, Vicks, Yukki, Marlena. These four were the most rebellious before they were reprogrammed but now they were the most loyal to him. Until now.

Damn you, Yuy, he cursed. How were you able to get them to think?

He should have never trusted Kaitou Yuy. In fact, he should have never gave a glimmer of trust towards the young man. Oh, the Yuy family were such great actors...

A knock came at the door, snapping Reinhardt's head from these brooding thoughts. "What is it?"

"General Reinhardt, the photos and files you have requested are here," a muffled voice replied behind the door. "They should be on your computer any minute now."

"Good. How much longer until we arrive at our destination?" Reinhardt asked.

"In about an hour, sir."

"Any word from the Skulls?"

"Ie, they haven't responded. I think that they're using private lines to communicate."

Chikuso...he thought. "Thank you, Saiyuki. Go back to your post."

"Hai."

Reinhardt went over to his computer, typing in random commands until he received the files he was looking for. He knew he had heard the name Kanzaki somewhere. When his predecessor had died and passed on the leadership to him, all files of the beginning of the AES project had simply disappeared. Missing files included the two children who remained hidden from the world until now. Their names struck a cord in his memory bank. So they ARE them...

He left the room and headed towards the cockpit, fixed on getting to the Preventers' base sooner. The computer screen was left on, screaming out the two names of the missing two children:

Andrew and Setsuko Lowe.

<Preventers' Hangar Base>

"So, you're telling us that those Red Hawks are headed towards this area right NOW?" Zechs asked Heero with a small hint of suspicion in his voice.

However, Heero remained to keep the truth as it was, his eyes calm. "Exactly. From personal experience, they can reach this area in another hour since the time they tracked this location."

"That fast..." Noin murmured.

Heero glanced at Kaitou who in turn handed Zechs the disk that Heero had taken information from the Red Hawks headquarters earlier.

"That's all the information you need about the Red Hawks. From store house facilities to how they obtained the materials to make over five thousand mobile suits in a factory on Greenland," Heero explained.

"Five thousand mobile suits?!?" Zechs exclaimed.

"Around there," Kaitou said, scratching the back of his head. "I kind of estimated how much were here and how many were being made over in Greenland with the materials they collected."

Zechs' eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. "How long have you spied on the Red Hawks?"

Kaitou shrugged. "About a couple of months, why?"

"Who are you working for?"

Kaitou glanced back at his brother who shrugged in reply. "It's standard Preventer procedure, Kaitou. Everyone has to go through it."

Damn, Kaitou thought as he slowly replied, "I can't tell you who my boss is or what organization I'm working for. All I can say is that I'm doing this for personal reasons. It has nothing to do with my employer."

That's the same reason that Kaede-san gave us, Noin thought. How ironic.

"I don't think it really matters, now," Heero interrupted. "Reinhardt has already sent his men, probably the most elite unit first."

Zechs arched a curious eyebrow. "The most elite?"

The alarms sounded, something that hadn't been heard in over seven years.

"What in the---" Zechs trailed off as he glanced up at the alarms.

"They're here," Heero said.

"Who's here?" Noin asked curiously.

<someplace else in the base...>

"I thought you said that you knew the password, Marlena?" Vicks asked as he and the others that quickly ran through the hallways of the underground Preventer base.

"I thought I did, too. Guess not," Marlena grinned sheepishly.

"Figures," Roy replied, arching an eyebrow. "I always find it amazing how you can keep such an optimistic personality especially after all the training we went through."

"Hey, just being a part of the Red Hawks deosn't mean that I have to be a robot," Marlena retorted, which made the other three nearly fall to the ground. "Hmm? Nani?"

"Why does that make sense and sound so familiar to me?" Yukki pondered, unbothered by the red bangs covering her eyes.

A loud boom made them all stop in the empty hallway, their heads turning at the source of the sound. Instinctively, all their doubts began to rise.

"He found us," Yukki murmured.

"Ie, he's after the Yuy family," Roy reassured her. "Let's just keep going."

<Preventer Hangar main area>

Roy's assumptions proved to be true; General Reinhardt launched a full scale attack on the Preventer base, and with few experienced members on duty, it was a rather easy task for his AES soldiers to take over. They were much faster, much stronger, and much smarter than any of the Preventers there. Most were immediately killed while the rest of the AES soldiers he had brought along with him began to search for the more prepared Preventers.

Come on, where are they? he thought impatiently to himself as he paced down the hallways nearby.

"General Reinhardt, sir!" an AES soldier came up towards him. He saluted before Reinhardt allowed the soldier to speak. "Sir, we've managed to capture Heero Yuy and some other members of his family including other people of high importance."

Reinhardt's head snapped up, his eyes suddenly filled with a mixture of anticipation and interest. "You have? Bring them here."

The soldier had left to retrieve them, and a few minutes later, Heero, Kaitou, Relena, Zechs, and Noin were brought into the hallway. A smile of victory was creeping to Reinhardt's lips as he regarded Heero's look of contempt towards him.

"Well, well, well, isn't it the ever elusive Heero Yuy and some highly esteemed Preventers," Reinhardt began. His eyes locked with Relena's. "It's also nice to see you again, Prime Minister Dorlain."

Relena's eyes widened in shock, for she recognized this man. He had attended several political meetings with the United Earth's Sphere. "You...." He's the leader of the Red Hawks?!?

"Aa, how ironic that a man like me, a simple represenative, would be the leader to one of the most secretive and powerful rebel faction?" Reinhardt said. He looked at Heero and Kaitou. "And you two, such a surprise. You've both fooled me once and it's not going to happen again. Now let me kindly ask you two, where are they?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about, Reinhardt," Heero growled in disgust.

Reinhardt chuckled in sinister amusement before he walked over to Heero and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pointing a gun in his face.

"Oh, I'm very sorry, Yuy, if you didn't hear me clearly enough," Reinhardt growled back as Heero continued to look at him with disgust. "Where are they? Your precious cousins that you hid away seven years ago?"

Before Heero could reply, a familiar voice answered, "Right here."

On opposite ends of the hallway, Andy and Kitsune stepped out of their hiding places, unusually calm. Reinhardt slightly loosened his grip on Heero as he saw Andy at the end of the hallway, but before he could speak, the teenager interrupted him:

"If you think that it's going to be that easy for us to follow you," Andy nodded to Kitsune on the other end behind Reinhardt and a small group of AES soldiers, his sister acknowledged back, "think again."

Kitsune put a hand across her chest, concentrationg on the source hidden deep inside her mind. In a few seconds, both Kitsune and Andy's eyes turned glowing white. The AES soldiers looked back and forth at the siblings in confusion, feeling the heat the was emitting off of their bodies. Reinhardt's eyes widened in surprise.

"You...you're the ones..." he began.

"Let them go," Andy ordered with his pupiless white eyes staring at him, "or else we'll blow this place to oblivion."