The dance floor beneath them was made up of polished marble and there was soft music playing in the background. The other details eluded him, for in his arms was the girl of his dreams, her supple body held closely to his. His legs moved on their own accord in step with the music, even though he had never learnt how to dance in his entire life. Then there was the question of how he winded up on a dance floor in the first place. But all these were merely details which he did not care to think about at the moment. The only girl he cared about was with him, and that was all that mattered.

He could not stop his fingers from caressing her smooth back which was coated by only thin fabric. How he wished that time could stand still so that he could feel her warmth and breathe in her scent like this forever. He churned his brain to come up with words to express his feelings for her. The task proved more difficult than any mission he had ever undertaken.

Tell her how you feel right now, his mind suggested.

"Happy."

"Huh?"

The monosyllabic reply was not quite what he expected from her. He was hoping that she would lend him a hand in continuing the conversation. After thinking for a while, Heero realized his mistake of not making his meaning plainer. The word 'happy' was hardly sufficient to convey what he wanted to say to her. "I mean, I feel happy..." She made no reply to this and he began to wonder whether he should add more words to his sentence. "...now." The pause between his words was too long and Heero panicked at how idiotic he sounded. "No, what I meant was..."

"What's the matter with you, Heero? Cat got your tongue?"

Heero froze in mid-step. How did Katherine know his real name? And when had she acquired that disturbingly familiar masculine voice? His heart filled with dread, Heero slowly tilted his head to get a closer look of the person he was dancing with. The sight of a long-braided Duo Maxwell returning his gaze with those violet pupils of his caused something akin to a scream to well up in his throat. Due to the fact that he had never screamed before in his life, what issued forth from his lips was part guttural roar of outrage, part battle warcry.

Heero came to in a small, dark room, drenched in his own sweat. It took him a few moments to identify his surroundings and calm himself down. While he was wondering whether he had 'screamed' aloud, his doubts were cleared by a fierce banging on his door and an irritable neighbour's yell of "Pipe it down, will ya?! People are trying to sleep here!"

Another voice interjected urgently before the first voice could continue its verbal onslaught. "Kyle, are you suicidal or something? That's Hojo Tsukasa's door you're banging on!"

There was a collective intake of breath, followed by a pin-drop silence.

Times like this made Heero grateful for the type of reputation he had established in school. As he was sure that any sleep-deprived hostelites outside his door would have dispersed by then, he concentrated on recovering from his pleasant dream turned frightful nightmare. Dissatisfied with ridiculing him in real life, the American pilot had to torment him further by haunting his dreams. The time would come when he would pay back in kind every single indignity and misery he had suffered on Duo's account. He began contemplating various ways of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Duo, ignoring the whisper from the rational part of his mind which pointed out that he was being unreasonable.

But first, I have to find that rotten piece of... Finding his thoughts too emotional and violent, Heero tried to make it milder. His mind must remain calm and clear if he was to accomplish anything. Nothing can be done before I find him. His lips formed a thin line. And find him I will.

Heero let mindless rage boil up inside him as he made that grim vow, not realizing that he was only using the stronger emotion to drown out the mysterious feeling of disappointment dwelling in his heart.

* * * * * *

"Leela."

The brunette did not stop her conversation with the redhead standing next to her. Could he have remembered her name wrongly?

"Laya."

The brunette was still engrossed in her chatting. Heero gave up the name-guessing attempt.

"The brunette and the redhead under that tree!"

The two girls stopped talking and turned to face him. Their eyes widened in recognition upon seeing him. The brunette spoke first.

"Good morning, Hojo. Er...can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." He took a deep breath as the two girls trained questioning eyes on him. "I want to know what happened the night you last saw Katherine."

"Hojo, you have to learn to let go," said the redhead, looking at him as if he was a lost, hurt puppy. "Although it was wrong of her to... erm..." The redhead faltered when she saw his expression becoming increasingly flinty. The brunette quickly intervened to divert Heero's wilting glare from her friend.

"What exactly do you want to know?" asked the brunette, positioning herself between him and the redhead.

"I want to know what she said and how she said what she said. " Heero's solemn monotone made it sound more like a command than a request.

"There's nothing much I can say. She said she had to go and the three of us shed some tears."

Heero's eyebrows furrowed. Duo was not the type who cried easily. Sentimental at times, yes, but never mawkish. "What did she say exactly?"

"I really want to help you with this, but to tell you the truth, I can't remember," said the brunette apologetically. "My memory about that night is all fuzzy... the more I try to think about it, the more vague my recollections become."

How can a person forget so much about an incident no longer than two days ago? Heero pointed, quite rudely, at the redhead. "How about you?"

"I can't remember too..." stammered the redhead, all the while shaking her head vigorously.

A case of poor memory? Or something more sinister? Instincts told him that the second possibility was more probable, but Heero was not able to link the apparent memory loopholes of the two girls with Duo's disappearance. His concentration was broken when the brunette spoke up.

"There is one thing strange about... no, I don't think it is important..."

"What is it?"

"Nah, it's just a trivial matter. Not worth mentioning..."

"Let me be the judge of that," interrupted Heero.

"Okay. In the morning following the night of Katherine's departure, I woke up with my ear-rings on my ear lobes."

Heero deliberately made himself sound patient in order to hide his impatience. "And what is the significance of that?"

The brunette explained further. "I have this habit of removing my ear-rings before I go to sleep. I got this pair of ear-rings when I was six years old and I have never worn them to sleep. Not even once." 

"What are you trying to say here?"

The brunette chewed her lower lip. "What I'm trying to say is... I feel that a lot more things happened that night, important things, but I can't recall any of them. It is as if my memory has been... I know this sounds weird... erased. Selectively."

Heero said nothing as he thought this over. Brainwashing was a feat within the capabilities of the Oz organization. Could Duo have fallen victim to...?

"Thank you for the information." Heero bowed and left. He needed time to sort out what he had just found out.

"Hojo?" It was the brunette's voice. Heero stopped walking and turned to look at her.

The brunette called out, "My name is Laila. Please don't forget again."

Heero nodded. "Thank you, Laila."

When Heero was out of sight, Laila exhaled loudly and grabbed Doyce's shoulder. "You, my friend, are going to join me in a drink of shandy tonight."

A look of surprise fleeted across Doyce's face. "Shandy? Laila, you only drink shandy when you are depressed."

"And don't I have a reason to feel depressed? I'm now heartbroken, you silly girl," chided Laila, not unkindly.

"Heartbroken? Why?" asked a genuinely puzzled Doyce. Laila remained quiet, eyes focussed on somewhere far away. Doyce knew it to be a sign of Laila being deep in thought. "A penny for your thoughts," offered Doyce.

"I was thinking about what I would do if Katherine is not my friend," answered Laila in a faint murmur.

Doyce appeared shocked. "Why would you want to think of something like that? Are you ashamed of having her as a friend?"

"Of course not! Now will you please stop spouting nonsense and let me daydream in peace?"

The silence lasted for two minutes before it was disrupted again by Doyce. "Laila?"

"What?" asked Laila, a bit huffily.

"The drink's on me tonight."

Laila clapped Doyce's back in reply and both of them made their way back to their classroom.

* * * * * *

Sheila slid the disk into the computer and began typing in instructions. Shang should not be back in less than thirty minutes and that gave her plenty of time to complete her task. Once she directed the macrophage program to target Kane's mind, there wouldn't be much of a mind left for Shang to mind-link with. Although it was more tedious than simply slitting Kane's throat, it roughly served the same purpose. Shang must not be allowed to mind-link with Kane, and she was willing to do anything to prevent it.

The computer had been set to activate the macrophage program once Kane's barriers are down. Sheila gave the boy lying on the table a cold glare before returning her attention to the task at hand. It is your fault if your mind gets shredded to pieces. If you aren't so damned compatible with Shang's mind, none of this will have to happen. Yes, the Gundam pilot deserved no pity at all.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the task was completed. Now all there was left was for Shang to neutralize Kane's barriers; which shouldn't be a problem, considering that Shang had succeeded in establishing a weak link after only his second attempt.

"Sheila, what are you doing ?"

Sheila curbed the urge to jump out of the chair she was sitting on. Shang was back earlier than she expected. She wiped off all traces of guilt on her face before answering him.

"I'm just..er.. checking to make sure that the computer is functioning properly."

"And is it functioning properly?" asked Shang.

Please don't let him suspect anything. Please don't let him suspect anything. Please... Sheila prayed fervently. 

"Sheila, you didn't answer my question."

"What? Oh, you mean the computer? Yes, of course. It works perfectly fine, no problem at all," replied Sheila in a rush.

Shang could see that Sheila was hiding something from him but was not interested in finding out what it was. The girl can keep all the secrets she wants to keep. What mattered now was the completion of his mind link with Kane. It occurred to him that he still didn't know Kane's true name yet. Maybe I'll ask him later on.

"Prepare the mind link program now," instructed Shang.

"Roger." Sheila fought to keep a smile from forming on her face.

* * * * * *

Where is that baka?! It was not the first time that Heero had asked himself that question. Most likely Duo had been taken by the enemy, but this information did not help him in finding out Duo's present location. He could have been hidden somewhere near the school. Or he could have been  transported to a distant place during the night. Or he could have been... Heero did not like the thought... killed and buried.

A strange fury burned inside him when he thought of the possibility of anything bad happening to Duo. Heero was not sure whether it was because he was worried about Duo's safety or because he wanted Duo all to himself.... to be mashed into paste and smeared all over the landscape.

Heero began thinking back to the time when he last saw Duo dressed up as Katherine. There was his embarrassing confession and Katherine's.. no, Duo's... merciless rejection. How dare the pilot throw the ring, the ring he had spent hours making, onto the floor and crush it underfoot.

The ring! A circlet of silver holding a stone of blue... and also a diminutive tracking device. The ring was more than a token; it was a means for him to seek out Katherine after he was no longer needed as a Gundam pilot. So that they could be reunited to live a normal, peaceful life together. That was his dream. A dream shattered by... Heero slapped himself to pull back his wandering thoughts.

Could he still be holding onto that ring? Heero was aware that he did not retrieve the ring from the forest floor after Duo had stamped on it. The ring could help him pinpoint Duo's exact location, thus saving him a lot of trouble. But it would only work if Duo was wearing that ring when he was taken. The chances of that happening was slim, as he had seen how Duo had treated it like worthless junk in front of him. A slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Heero quickly took out the radar which he had carefully concealed in his locked drawer. After switching it on, Heero held his breath as he waited for the device to work. Come on... A faint flashing dot appeared on the grid-covered screen. Taking his bearings, Heero could tell that the ring was not in the forest. It was very near, in the school compound. The faintness of the flashing dot could only mean that the ring was somewhere underground instead of on the surface.

Underground... Heero rummaged in his drawer for the photographs he had taken of the blueprints of the school. He had been suspicious of the unusually large number of the ventilation ducts in the school. It seemed that his suspicions were not groundless. If there was any secret Oz base under the school, the ventilation ducts should lead him straight to it.

Heero spent the next hour methodically planning his next move. He would set off once it became dark.

                                                                                                                             < To Part 4 >