Author’s Note: Okay, I know I put a lot on you in that last episode, trust me things will begin to get cleared up in this one. Hope you enjoy.

Episode 15

"Because she’s my sister." Sheder replied.

"And I’m Treize Kushrenada." Solo snorted. This broad is insane. He looked to his friends for support, and noticed in horror that they seemed to believe the strange woman’s claim. "Oh my God don’t tell me you guys believe this chick? She’s insane. First she says that Rowan is a fury, now she says that she’s her long lost sister…this is crazy."

"I’m not crazy Solo, although things would probably be easier if I were."

"Sheder…" Alex said, "maybe it’s time you told them everything."

The blonde gave the bedridden pilot a small smile and squeezed his hand. "You first."

"Yes, Preventer Shadow," Jade added stepping closer to the bed. "There are a few things I’d like to know about you before Valkyrie begins her tale."

Alex sighed, "Fine, I suppose I should start with my name. It’s Alexander Winner."

"You’re related to Quatre? Why didn’t you tell us?" Jade asked.

"He’s my uncle. I’m kind of the black sheep of the family. My mother had me out of wedlock. Uncle Quatre took us in, when my aunts wouldn’t even bother to acknowledge my existence. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was using my family name to get ahead in the world. I though you guys would resent me…think that I was selected to pilot Heavyarms II just because of my name, instead of my skills."

"I’m sorry Shadow but that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard." Jade replied gesturing about the room, "Have you not noticed that nepotism runs rampant in Preventer?"

"Well there was another reason." Alex replied looking up at Sheder.

Before he could say more Solo spoke. "Yeah, the only one of us who wasn’t related to the top brass in Preventer was Rowan." Solo regretted his comment when he noticed how Lu stiffened at the use of her name. "Lu man I’m sorry."

Lu shook his head. "I’m alright Solo." He looked at Sheder and Alex. "So what’s the story with you two, and what about Rowan being your sister."

Alex looked up at Sheder. "Why don’t you start and then I’ll fill them in on us when the time comes."

She nodded and looked around the room at the others. "You might as well get comfortable. It’s a long story."

***

"I was born in AC 204 on colony L8. I was the younger of two children. My father was a war veteran who worked as a shuttle mechanic, and my mother was a botanist, she worked in the colony’s agro department."

"I don’t have many memories of that time but the ones I do have are happy. My parents were great, and I idolized my older sister."

"Rowan…" Lu breathed.

Sheder smiled and nodded. "She always looked out for me. I remember one time just after I had started school; one of the older boys was teasing me one afternoon. Even though he was twice as big as she was Rowan tackled him. She told him that no one made her little sister cry. I swear the boy was the one who went home crying that day. Mom was pretty mad at her for fighting but Rowan didn’t stay in trouble for long."

"It wasn’t long after that day when everything changed. Our parents were killed in a shuttle crash. Rowan and I were sent to live in a colony orphanage. Surprisingly enough, we were adopted after a few months, by a man named Tros. He was a doctor, a geneticist to be exact, and though we didn’t know it at the time an early member of the Dark Wave."

"He had been assigned to create the perfect mobile suit pilots. Almost immediately after we came to live with him, Tros began our training. Being as young as we were, we were easily broken and built up again in the image that the Dark Wave wanted. We were given new names, told to forget our past. We were no longer Rowan and Sheder. We were Alecto and Tisiphone, two of the Furies.

"We under went several surgeries to enhance our nervous systems for faster reaction times. Microscopic receptors were implanted into our bodies that could be used to interact directly with a mobile suit. Kind of like a portable zero system. We were given genetic treatments to make us stronger, faster, more resistant to pain."

"That’s why Rowan was so fast in a mobile suit." Solo muttered

"Our nervous systems have been geared for mobile suit control. It makes us much faster than any normal pilot in a suit, in our Gundams we are even faster than that." The other’s eyes widened at Sheder’s remark. Lu nodded for her to continue with her story.

"Then our education began. Tactics, hand to hand combat, weaponry, we learned everything. By the time we were 16 and 13 we had enough training under our belts to rival that of any Preventer, and we were far stronger than a normal human being. But there was one problem, we still had our own minds. The Dark Wave did not want pilots that could think for themselves. They wanted mindless slaves. Emotionless soldiers that would do anything in order to accomplish their mission. Sort of like Heero Yuy once was. However, Tros didn’t have the knowledge of the human mind that Dr. J did. So he used drugs in order to reign in our emotions."

"Last year, just after Alecto turned 19, we were finally brought before Dark Wave’s high command. Needless to say, after watching us fight in a simulator they were extremely pleased. We were given our Gundams soon after that. But yet another problem arose, there were only two of us. The Dark Wave needed three Furies in order to begin their new order."

"A young man volunteered to undergo a quickened version of the process that created Alecto and I. Everything went wrong. His body tried to reject the receptors; he had to be put on additional drugs in order to suppress his immune system. Instead of the genetic treatments used on Alecto and I, he was given a mix of narcotics and steroids in order to bring his strength up. The process left his mind shattered and created a bloodthirsty puppet for the Dark Wave to play with. Megaere is a monster."

"Time passed, we began our missions. They were small at first, a supply ship here, a Preventer transport there. It went on that way for months. During this time Alecto and I began to develop a resistance to the drugs the Dark Wave used to keep us in check. We began to remember bits and pieces of our past and more importantly we began to question our mission."

"Then came the attack on K-20. We had destroyed most of the colony and had rendezvoused just out side of it. We watched as two transports were launched from the remaining block of the colony. Alecto said to leave them be, that they were only civilians trying to flee. Megaere wouldn’t listen, and he charged the transports. He managed to destroy one of them before Alecto could disable his suit’s weapons systems. After that battle Alecto and I began to seriously doubt the righteousness of our cause."

"Not long after that we were assigned to attack colony J9 and capture it’s commanding officer so that he could be brought in for questioning. It turned out to be a trap. I had gone in alone to capture the commanding officer and was shot in the process. I heard the colony officials saying that they had already evacuated the colony and that they were going to blow it with us inside. I managed to get on my com and warn Alecto and Megaere. Megaere took off but Alecto tried to rescue me. I managed to talk her out of it, and had her promise me that she would escape the Dark Wave if she survived."

***

Sheder stopped her story and looked at Alex. "I believe this is where you come in…"

He smiled and nodded. "I had been serving as a field agent on J9, when the Gundams attacked. I was trying to evacuate when I came across an injured woman in one of the colony’s shuttle bays. Without thinking I picked her up and carried her into the nearest shuttle and took off. I managed to get clear of the colony just before it blew."

"As I began to tend to the woman’s wounds I noticed that her uniform had the Dark Wave insignia on it. For a moment, I considered killing her on the spot but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I decided that the best thing to do would be to take her to headquarters and let them sort things out."

"Eventually she woke up and we got to talking. She told me who she was and that she wanted to help Preventer. I told her that I would help her with the brass, I guess we became friends from there."

"When we got to headquarters we were brought straight before Lady Une. After some questioning and a bit of threatening Preventer Valkyrie was born. Because of her injuries she was assigned to intelligence."

Sheder interrupted him. "That and I could decipher most of the Dark Waves coded transmissions. Besides, I don’t think Lady Une trusted me out in the open at that point."

"I stayed with her at headquarters for a while until I was assigned to Preventer’s Gundam team. We stayed in touch, and I told her about all of you, and she provided information on the Dark Wave’s movements whenever she could. But neither of us ever connected Preventer Hecate to Alecto."

Sheder nodded. "If anything I thought my sister was dead, after only one Gundam began to appear during those attacks. It never occurred to me that she might have escaped and joined Preventer as well."

***

Jade looked up. "So what do we do now? Is it possible that Rowan is alive and being held by the Dark Wave?"

"Like I said, her body could withstand the blast if she were blown clear of the suit. If Megaere found her alive, his orders would probably be to bring her in for reconditioning."

Solo, having finally accepted things after hearing Sheder’s story, asked, "What the hell is reconditioning?"

"Simply put, they’d try to make Rowan into Alecto again by…"

"No…" The single word stopped Sheder mid-sentence. Lu stood up his face determined. "That’s not going to happen. We’ll find her before those bastards can play with her mind again…" He turned to face the room’s small window. "And then I’ll kill every last one of them."