AN: I promise, it's not a rewrite... just a few tweaking and spell checking... it's freaking hilarious that the spell/grammar check kept stopping on nearly every sentance of Duo's dialogue... hehe

Anyhoo, YES, I'm getting back to work on my Gundam Wing stories. I think nearly a year is enough of a hiatus, don't you? Besides, I don't like leaving things unfinished. This one will wrap up soon. And ZERO... you have kicked my butt for the last time... I accept the challenge of finishing you!

Standard disclaimer applies... I don't own it, just love it.

Operation: Hurricane

Prologue

A blinding bright light.

The smell of blood.

The taste of metal.

An indescribable pain coursing throughout the body.

And a scream before the darkness came.

Trinity let out a scream as her eyes shot open, staring through tears into those of her lover, positioned over her, her arms and legs held tightly by his. The convulsions had started again sometime during her dream, which had been recurring for the last four nights. But, this time, they were apparently bad enough he had to restrain her to keep her from hurting herself. She gasped for breath as she felt his grip relax.

"Trinity…?" he asked, his voice soft and controlled, but full of concern, silent panic behind his eyes. He didn't receive a response from her, or even an acknowledgement that she heard him. "Can you hear me?" He released his grip around one of her arms and reached up to brush bangs wet from sweat and tears out of her face.

She didn't trust her voice to forge a coherent reply, and she couldn't get her aching body to cooperate to give any type of response, but her eyes, full of pain and fear, never left her lover's. She felt his weight shift off of her, but she still had difficulty finding her breath. She couldn't get her mind to focus on anything, much less controlling her breathing. She closed her eyes a moment, trying to gain control over herself, force her senses to come around. Her eyes opened again as she heard her lover addressing someone else in the room.

"The convulsions started about twenty minutes ago, but they weren't violent until about two minutes ago. She just woke up. I know she can hear me, but I can't get her to respond." A pause. "I don't think this is a side effect of the inhibitors."

Trinity's eyes flashed a sign of panic as her lover moved out of her line of sight, but relaxed as her brother's face took his place. She continued to gasp for air as she grasped her brother's hand tightly, her eyes pleading to him for help.

"I agree, Zechs," he responded to her lover, his eyes remaining locked with hers as his hand wrapped tightly around hers. The intensity in his cobalt gaze instructed her that she must recover the soldier in her in order to regain her control. "The seizures would have started months ago if that were the case."

She managed to give him a single nod in understanding as her eyes closed again, forcing her mind to search for a part of her that she had buried over the last few years. When they opened again, several moments later, the intensity in her eyes matched his as she was able to grasp control of herself. Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…

"Aunt Sally says she's about five minutes out." Trinity's gaze moved to her bedroom door as she managed to gain control over her breathing. Her fifteen-year-old son slipped his cell phone into the pocket of his shorts as his eyes met and reflected hers. Behind him, his eleven-year-old sisters were tightly holding on to one another. And her sister-in-law stood behind them, her arms wrapped around the girls' shoulders while her own seven-year-old son held tightly to the arm of her robe.

Heero nodded, his gaze never leaving his sister's as her eyes returned to him. "Go get your mother a glass of water," he said towards the door and Michael quietly nodded his understanding before heading for the stairs. Relena didn't even wait for instructions as she ushered the girls down the hallway, Aaron trailing behind her. He gave a brief glance to Zechs as he sat on the edge of the bed beside Trinity. "The dream?" He only received a nod in return. "It was different this time…" This was a statement, not a question. Something must have been different for her episode to have woken the entire household.

"Something must be breaking through the inhibitors." She nodded in silent agreement with her lover's remark as he settled on her other side, dabbing at her forehead with a cool damp washcloth.

That's the only explanation for the dream. The inhibitors, drugs that were designed to nullify any effects of the psi devices that were responsible for The Storm's telepathy, were still in the experimental stage. The plans were found in the computer that Trinity and Heero's father had given him before his death. Sally had strongly stressed her opposition to the project, as there had apparently been a reason the drugs were never manufactured to begin with. Plus the scope of seriousness of the side effects greatly outweighed the advantages. But Trinity had been willing to give it a try, if nothing more than to confirm or deny its effectiveness, and for several months, there were no side effects, the drugs doing exactly what they were supposed to. But this dream… it couldn't be a side effect; it had to be something trying to break through to cause her this much anguish.

But what did it mean? The only thing visible was the blinding light throughout the entire dream. And no normal dream would affect the other senses as this had. No normal dream would repeat itself as often and consistent. The scent of blood would linger in her nostrils for hours. The taste of metal, she felt throughout her mouth. The scream burned into her ears, leaving them ringing. An ordinary dream this certainly wasn't. Nor would it have been a hallucination from the drugs, or she would have had them from the moment she started taking them. No, this was definitely something pushing through the inhibitors.

"Help…," she whispered, shakily, still unable to find her voice. Even the whisper was strained through the scratchiness of her throat. It was then clear that the reason she had woken the entire household was because she had been screaming the entire time during her convulsions. She took a fortifying breath and tried again, still only a whisper. "It's… a cr-cry for help…"

Michael returned to her room with the glass of water and Sally in tow behind him. He passed the glass to his father as his uncle left his place beside his mother, still holding tightly to her hand. Michael moved to the foot of the bed and folded his arms as he leaned against the dresser, his eyes never leaving his mother's. Neither Heero nor Zechs asked him to leave again. They knew that he wouldn't, his concern for those he cared about and the need to protect them wouldn't allow him to leave until he knew, for certain, that she was alright. A cry for help? From whom? He knew none of their extended family was involved with a mission at the moment, at least, nothing that would put them in any real danger. And the questioning gaze he exchanged with his father and uncle confirmed it. So where was this call coming from? And how was it so strong that it was reaching his mother through the inhibitors? He took his phone out of his pocket and quietly excused himself from the room, flipping it open as he stepped out into the hall.

Sally took Heero's previous position on the side of the bed, only briefly checking over Trinity's vitals. She recognized the intensity of a soldier in the woman's cobalt eyes and immediately understood that Trinity had her respiration and heart rate under control. She asked Zechs how long the convulsions lasted this time, and how violent they were. She came to the same conclusion about Trinity's dream, but she still wasn't convinced that the convulsions weren't an effect of the drugs. "I'm almost afraid to stop the injections cold turkey…" She hesitated a moment before she continued. "I told you from the beginning I didn't know if there was a threat of dependency… And I don't know what kind of effect the sudden reconnection to your psi device will have on your mind, since you've been without it for so long… But it may take weeks to wean you off of them…"

Zechs lifted Trinity's head off her pillow long enough to guide the glass of water to her lips. She took a deep drink before lying back down. The cool liquid soothed her burning throat and she found her voice, though strained and weak. "I… I d-don't know who it m-might be, but… I… I don't th-think they have weeks to w-w-wait…" She took another fortifying breath and held it for a moment as she forced her voice to cooperate, and when she spoke again, her soldier's voice was loud and clear. "I'll take my chances cold turkey…" After all, if she could quit smoking cold turkey, these drugs should be no problem at all, not for a soldier, not for a Yuy. And if this was, indeed, a cry for help, she'd need a clearer view of the dream, a view that would only come once the effects wore off.

"Thanks, Michael. Try to get some rest, honey. G'night." Izreina replaced the phone's receiver on the cradle and stared down at it for a long moment before looking up to her sister-in-law. They had both woken as soon as they sensed Trinity in danger. But they hadn't gotten a clear picture of what had happened until Michael phoned. She tossed a braid that was now nearly as long as her brother's over her shoulder, her violet eyes never leaving Kalli's, the question in them hardly needing telepathy to read accurately. Michael's question had been valid and his concerns were shared. If Trinity's recurring dream had been a telepathic call for help, why hadn't Izreina and Kalli sensed it, as well? And how was it strong enough to break through the inhibitors?

Kalli closed her eyes a moment, leaning back into her husband's chest as his hands slid off her shoulders and down her arms to encircle her. She shook her head at her sister-in-law, having no answer. It just wasn't logical, unless… Her aquamarine eyes opened to meet her counterpart's. …Unless the message was intended only for Trinity. If that's the case… who the hell sent it? And how were they able to single out Trinity's mind, unless they knew her well, and had the psi device themselves?

Izreina hesitated a moment before nodding her confirmation on the conclusion, closing her own eyes a moment as her husband rested his hands on her shoulders. It was a thought neither one of them liked. And the question that came to their minds left a very bad taste in her mouth. Who else besides the Barton Foundation purchased the psi project from Odin Lowe? Lowe's computer hadn't identified any other buyers. There was no way to be certain at the moment. Not until the drugs cleared out of Trinity's system and her mind could reconnect with the device. So much for retirement, she thought to herself, and Kalli intercepted it, nodding, offering a grim smile in agreement.

Quatre and Trowa exchanged glances, the questions in their eyes clearly read by one another and the answer equally obvious. Neither of them dared to interrupt the thoughts of their wives as they recognized, in their eyes, two soldiers formulating a plan of action. They both knew the Storm was coming out of retirement, and that the mission ahead was something beyond the capability of the gundam pilots.

"Mommy…" They all jumped and turned to the small voice that came from the doorway. Six-year-old Jacob Winner ran into his mother's open arms.

Izreina scooped him up as Quatre ran a hair through the boy's fine blond hair. "Did you have another nightmare, sweetie?" She glanced over to her sister-in-law, brows furrowed with worry, and Kalli responded with a similar glance.

Jacob nodded as he wrapped his arms around his mother's neck. "Mommy, is Aunt Triny gonna be okay?"

Izreina looked down briefly, meeting his eyes, the same color as hers. "How do you know something is wrong with Aunt Triny?" She looked back to Kalli, their eyes suddenly filled with fear. Jacob's nightmares had started when Trinity's seizures had; did he sense what they couldn't?

"I hurt… Here…" He loosened an arm from her neck long enough to place a hand over his heart. "And I just know its Aunt Triny… She hurts… Is she gonna be okay?"

The girl's eyes shot open and she stared, wide-eyed at the ceiling of her room as she gasped for breath. The leather straps that bound her to the hospital bed and the sting in her wrists and ankles indicated the convulsions had been violent this time. The white room refused to stop spinning around her as she tried to focus on the words being spoken by one of the lab technicians to the doctor.

"Twenty minutes this time, much more violent. Her body is continuing to react negatively to the implant. Her temperature continues to rise and the seizures are more frequent."

She continued to try to find her breath, panicking with each passing second as her mind tried to find the presence it had connected to, found safety in. She struggled against the bonds, hoping to whatever god that was listening that her plea had been read accurately by the presence in her dream. She tried to scream in fear, but she had no voice, they had taken it from her. She wouldn't have been able to keep a breath long enough to try, anyway.

"Keep her sedated and monitored. We do nothing until we hear from the higher-ups. And do what you can to bring her temperature down. We certainly won't get anywhere if she suffers brain damage."

Her wide eyes stared at the man pushing a fluid into her IV. He intentionally avoided her frightened gaze and she sensed he hated his part in whatever this insanity was. The one brief glance he exchanged with her was full of sadness, regret. And she could swear she could hear him speak an apology, but his lips didn't move. Her eyelids grew heavy a moment after she felt the warmth of the new drug enter her, and she began to lose feeling in her extremities as they drifted close. She prayed she would find the safety of the presence in her dream again as she drifted to sleep.