Beside him, 05 didn't bat an eye at his associate's restless movements, his focus and concentration honed completely into the task at hand. His shoulders were hunched over as he typed rapidly with his one remaining hand, a complicated program a thousand lines long scrolling on the screen in front of him. His eyes were red rimmed and slightly glazed, his entire being poured into his efforts. His short hair was plastered to his skull with a fine layer of sweat; the stump where his other hand once was twitched absently in his lap, like a dead thing.

Behind them was another table at which 04 and 03 sat, hovering over a complicated electronic board, soldering and connecting tiny wires and chips on a maze of computer components held together in strange shapes, no design inherent, only function. To their sides sat the main feature of the small room, a tall square opening framed with metal and wiring three feet thick in every direction. At the center of the open space flickered electricity, as though a field were generated between the steel and silicon.

03 paused briefly, one hand massaging a cramp out of the other. His longish bangs were swept back in a ponytail, but the bottom half of his hair was shorn short. Sighing softly, he spun his wheelchair back away from the table and over to a panel residing on the frame. Picking up the electronic stylus he had placed in his lap, he began working on it, infinite patience etched into his brow as he focused on his labor.

Back at the table, 04 moved a light to focus on a small maze of wires, his long fingers working delicately as they danced between the circuits and the silicon. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, colliding with the thin band of elastic that held a small patch over his ruined left eye. The tiny droplet of perspiration sat for a moment, then cascaded downward on 04's scared face to drip onto his shirt. He rubbed at his forehead in a slight burst of annoyance, then returned to his acute concentration.

For hours the scene continued quietly in such a manner, the four men working silently in the cramped space. The bottle of caffeine pills made the circuit of the room several times, the only break in monotony coming when 03 had needed assistance in reaching a stubbornly high set of wires. Finally the four stopped, almost simultaneously, an eerie display of group-minded intensity. Heat wafted through the room from the nearby atmosphere filtration machinery, causing the air in the room to ripple slightly.

"How close are we?" 05 asked, rubbing his closed eyes lightly, one at a time. They burned from days of staring at the computer screen.

"The calculations are almost complete. I've checked and rechecked them eight times already. The last five have been flawless and precisely aligned," 02 stated, pulling the band from his shoulder length hair and ruffling it slightly, a pained expression on his face as he did so.

"Work on the portal is almost complete. All that lacks is the guidance system and its hardware," 04 said in a soft voice, his scars angry red in the low light.

"The guidance software is almost finished. I need to run a few more tests before I am satisfied with its results," 05 answered 04's unspoken question. He rubbed absentmindedly at the place where his wrist ended, one slender digit swirling over the puckered and ragged skin of the stump.

"And so our work is almost complete, and hopefully we will be successful," 02 muttered while kneading the back of his sore neck.

"We have to be successful. We're all that is left of the resistance," 04 stated, anger and sadness warring between each other in his tone.

The year was After Colony 205.

02, 03, 04, and 05 were indeed all that remained in resistance to the rule of the Romefeller Foundation and its guardian military rule through Oz. Trieze Khushrenada, the original leader of Oz, had been assassinated soon after the final battle on Earth and replaced with a puppet general, the result of Romefeller's dislike with his view of war. The warship Libra now patrolled the colonies, threatening at any moment to destroy the millions of workers that slaved for the good of a few select people on Earth. Similarly, Mobile Dolls stood watch over the billions of farmers, factory workers, and other laborers of the planet that worked under the dictation of Romefeller's ideals.

Everyone had enough food to eat and a place to live, but the price of their standard of living was their freedom. The existence of a secret police was rumored as of late, and from the state of corruption that was running rampant under the blood-soaked hands of Romefeller, the rumor was as good as proven before it was even uttered.

The latest step in total domination of its subjects, Romefeller was forcing all people to comply with their new religion, one that set the corporation as the symbolic representation of god. Millions had been imprisoned or executed already for their refusal to conform to the new religious laws. Every day hope died a little more, and every day seemed to stink of the extinction of humanity. The new religion only reinforced the death of the people's souls, the loss of one of their few remaining freedoms creating a tragically ironic effect. Suicide was up, as was violent crime. People were becoming savage or becoming domesticated, no medium stood between the two extremes.

In the year After Colony 195, the four men had been merely boys, rebels in the war for the colonies that had been short lived but intensely bloody. A mutation of Project Meteor, the four had at one time had a fifth, but he had died when he had self-destructed his Mobile Suit, his own weapon, the Gundam known as Wing. The other four had then been pilots of their own Gundams, but in a series of cataclysmic and desperate battles, they had lost them one by one, each returning, humbled, to the scientists that had sponsored their efforts until only 04 and the Manguanac Corp remained. They too were overwhelmed in a final battle that had seemed to rock the very Earth itself, sand and blood mingling in a barren desert.

The war had spiraled out of their control at that final defeat, and in a whirlwind Oz had taken control of the Earth and the Colonies alike, uniting the two in misery. Over even Oz stood Romefeller; the true leaders were the rich and the powerful financiers of the military might. The Barton family briefly had vied for control but had mysteriously disappeared soon after taking a seat of power, a mere child holding the throne of the world for only a day, both literally and figuratively.

Back in power, the Corporate Council had cracked down hard on all rebel activities, placing troops and re-education schools everywhere that had more than one house or living quarter gathered together, on the colonies and Earth alike. The doctors that the then-boys had been studying under had been taken in the later raids, leaving the four of them to flee into hiding together with their project.

They currently subsisted in the underground air filtration facilities on the Mars colony. In the new area of colonization, they were posing as maintenance employees that looked after the important gaseous environment controls. A frightfully easy job after they made a few modifications, they spent most of their time finishing the project that had been started a year after Romefeller's success, a project started by the late Doctors.

Having worked and learned under the guidance of the men that had chosen them as pilots, each had made the transition from soldier to scientist. Disabled or traumatized beyond complete repair by the brutal fighting, they slaved on the only thing that could possibly save them from the bleak future, from the hopeless present they lived in, and from the terrifying past they would rather forget. They were working on creating a tear backwards through the fabric of time, one large enough so that a single person could travel through and fix the one thing they could think of that might change the world:

They were going to try to save their other pilot.

The tide of the war had turned with his death, a result of his self-destruction. It was truly the beginning of the end, the genesis of the series of events that had subsequently turned the favor of the war to Romefeller.

Years of research and hacking had provided extensive information on 01's death. Having witnessed the event from the vantage of their own Gundams, all knew that if 01 had not been speared by a particular shard of metal from the lining from the outside of his cockpit, then it would have completely possible for him to have survived. The plan was to send someone through the time stream, take their current calculations and speculations, and have the traveler apply them.

A single modification to Wing's combustion pack would change the force of the blast and theoretically save the pilot. Also important to 01's survival, the traveler would have to pick 01 out of the wreckage before the past 03 could reach him with his Gundam, HeavyArms. This would be important because 03 had been arrested moments after he had picked 01's trapped body from the bits of metal, unable to fight because of the circumstances that had caused 01 to detonate in the first place, Une's threat to the Colonies. A small team had taken him by surprise, a random group of soldiers in suits that had been close enough to overwhelm his escape route and sever his propulsion system. Enraged at the casualties caused by the Gundam pilots, hate took over reason in the soldiers' brutal snatching of 03 from his cockpit and their desecration of 01's body. These soldiers would also have to be delayed or terminated before they could reach the battlefield and interfere.

The Oz pilot, Zechs Marquise, had attempted to interfere with the soldiers who were arresting 03 and trying to apparently tear apart the dead 01, leaving his TallGeese in the process. Shocked and horrified that at the brutal treatment the angry soldiers were giving the living pilot and the deceased one's body, he had tried to stop the soldiers, resulting in his death, a supposed accident as one soldier's gun "misfired." 02 and 04, who had also been at the battle, had barely managed to escape capture themselves with the arrival of that new team of soldiers. If 03 hadn't picked up 01's body, then it was possible that 03 would have escaped, too. But he hadn't.

That had been when 03 had lost the use of his legs. His spinal column had been severed when a soldier had savagely kicked him with a steel-toed boot, breaking his back. This was an undesired event, and it was theorized that if 03 had not been attempting to carry his dead associate away then he would not have been caught and thus, not have become crippled.

It was during the rescue mission to retrieve 03 and his Gundam that 02 had been captured. While 05 was obliterating the captured and dissected HeavyArms with heavy explosives in the MS hanger, 02 had been setting bombs elsewhere as part of a coordinated distraction. 04 had been simultaneously rescuing 03. Up until this point in time, the pilots had not been acting in a collaborative manner, only really working together if they happened to meet on the battlefield. Even then sometimes the issue was forced, usually by 02 or 04, who both were interested in working together with the others, their actions reflecting this. After 01's detonation, though, it became clear to all of them that to achieve their goals they would need to work together, especially since their numbers were down permanently by one-fifth. Their first joint mission was to rescue 03.

Unfortunately, it did not go smoothly. Although they took the enemy by surprise, one of the bombs that 02 had set was defective. He had put the explosives in a series, and that single blank spot in the line made a huge difference. Deciding to provide a distraction instead of just giving up, he led the enemy on a chase that took them out to his own Gundam. He had almost managed to close the cockpit door when a single bullet finally caught up with him, nicking his left lung. He had tried to self-destruct, but the device had been disabled, unbeknownst to 02. Before he could take any other action, a soldier had managed to reach and capture him.

Leaving 02 behind was an accident. Communications had to be kept to a minimum during the mission, so it wasn't until the others had reached the rendezvous point that they realized they would need to make another rescue attempt. Their priority was 03 at the moment, however. His broken back and unconscious state demanded immediate medical attention.

During his imprisonment, 02 suffered greatly. Soldiers and guards that had felt the fury of Shinigami's rage now had a chance at revenge, and their brutal tortures left the boy a mere husk. He later refused to discuss the ordeal, but by the time 04 and 05 had been able to mount a rescue for him, it was clear that he had been broken.

02 was a different person than the one who had been captured only a week hence. His long rope of hair was gone, the back of his head a bloody mess. Whoever had cut his hair had taken some scalp along with the braid. 02's clothes were torn and he wouldn't speak, just stare blankly. The loss of his Gundam was another blow. They had been forced by circumstance to destroy it, mostly because 02 was unable to pilot it away upon his rescue. The death of the machine almost seemed to be a small death of himself to 02; the pilot took it devastatingly hard.

It took months to repair the mental damage even slightly, and when 05 had eventually confronted Khushrenada in their second duel, the Oz General had been horrified at the news of the torture 02 and 03 had received under his men. By that time events had spiraled out of the man's control, and he had been unaware that the pilots had received any mistreatment at all. At that time, the General had been distracted by the loss of Zechs Marquise. Already angered by the death of his friend, the man had issued a complaint with his superiors at Romefeller after hearing of 02’s and 03's mistreatment. It was this that marked the beginning of his downfall from grace in their eyes, the fall that eventually lead to his assassination. They had been fully aware of the extensive “interrogation” techniques.

By that time 03 had healed enough so that he was able to help with the war effort somewhat. The surgery that would be required to attempt to repair his nerve damage and severed spinal column was out of reach at the time. Scrap and mechanical devices were easier to obtain than the high level expertise needed, and those were needed to upkeep 05 and 04's Gundams. Besides, there just wasn't time enough to allow for the therapy that would have been needed for full rehabilitation. It was easier to work with what they had, and so the acrobat became bound to a chair of metal and plastic.

After his second confrontation with Khushrenada, 05 had been quiet and reserved, weighing the man with his own moral scales. Stuck in a quandary at one point mid-battle, it was his thoughts that became his downfall. Distracted for a mere moment by the words of Khushrenada directing his troops through a tap into Oz's radio bandwidth, 05 had been hit hard from behind. Flung forward, his safety restraints had come loose, pounding him against the instrument panel of his cockpit.

Small wires flared up in an electrical fire, and in an effort to smother the flames he had accidentally touched a live wire. Stuck to the flaming panel by the coursing electricity, by the time he had been able to tear his fingers away and retreat from the battle, his hand was nothing but charred bones and melted muscle. He had amputated it himself, refusing treatment, a severe and nearly lethal punishment for his distraction in the heat of battle.

Later, his slight misgivings about the enemy and those quandaries that plagued him about their motivations were laid to rest, rectified when Romefeller took center stage and Khushrenada's assassination was traced back to them. Deciding that the enemy was indeed without a shred of honor, he had put away any remaining hesitation regarding them. On the side he stood, he fought for the colonies, throwing his soul into the war, a passion for the combat turning him into a bitter but determined man. At the point when he had been forced to self-destruct his beloved Gundam in space, he had jettisoned away in his newly installed escape pod with the desire to avenge, and to live. Peace achieved in life or peace achieved in oblivion, the choice echoed in his mind as he escaped. He was glad he survived.

As for 04, he had not received his scars during battle, a fact of which he was privately ashamed. Never captured, he had survived unscathed until the very last bout. He and his Manguanac allies verses the newly issued Mobile Dolls. The fight had been quick, the MD obliterating the Manguanacs quickly, leaving the lone remaining Gundam Sandrock standing alone in a desert, a fitful place for its self-destruction. The destruct mechanism had given the teenager enough time to get out of his Gundam and far enough away that he had been unharmed in the explosion. In a move that was either merciful or unspeakably cruel, the soldiers controlling the MD had left the blond pilot to die in the desert rather than sending a shuttle to have him captured. Fortunately, 02 had piloted a small plane out to the scene of Sandrock's bright end just a half-day later, and thus had picked 04 up to bring him home.

About halfway back to their Earth base, the plane had to be abandoned in favor of covering their trail back to the hideout. It was then that 04 had been scarred. The small truck they had stolen malfunctioned, the alternator light flashing. Offering to take a look under the hood while 02 went to relieve himself, 04 had popped the hood of the truck with no caution. Deciding to check the water level on the battery after a precursory scan of the rest of the engine and workings, he had leaned forward, peering down at the battery itself. A spark from a shorted wire made the box explode, spurting acid in all directions and hitting half of 04's face, seeping into his left eye. Screaming in agony while his skin was deteriorated by the battery acid, he had stumbled around in a blind panic until 02 had come running back.

Unsure of what to do, it was a good flesh-eating minute later before 02 had been able to get their supply of water and flush 04 face. By then it was too late for his eye; the soft tissue was destroyed beyond repair. It was 04's misfortune that Romefeller had just issued a colony and planet-wide manhunt for the remaining escaped pilot, the leaders of the corporation unsatisfied with leaving 04 wandering in the desert. His face was plastered everywhere, and he was unable to seek professional medical assistance. The infections from the mixture of acid and slightly dirty water had the youth unconscious for days, almost killing him. For a long time he had wished it had.

In that final desert battle, they had essentially lost their final shot at victory. Their remaining option was survival; their intent to come back stronger than before. This was not without great personal cost. They were crippled or scarred or terribly disheartened, losing their identities much as the doctors had in their efforts to destroy tyranny. The cycle had begun again, only this time with the stakes much higher than ever before. Names were lost.

They became numbers.

Unable to remain soldiers, they had turned to science, taking up where their precursors had left off. Hectic and consumed, their obsession combined with their seclusion had made any sort of comforts or luxuries almost laughable. Coming out into the open for medical treatment would be their death sentences, so not only were they doomed to their past wounds, but the risk of common illness loomed over them like a plague. But health was not important at this point. It would cease to matter once they were finished with the frame.

Finally their project was almost complete, and they hoped that soon they would cease to exist in such a painful world. In their theories and calculations and all of their short, small scale tests, they had concluded that once a traveler left and went backwards through time, the world would undoubtedly alter as a result of his arrival. It would create a ripple that could change nothing at all, or could potentially morph into a wave that consumed their world as they knew it. Going forward would not create such a problem, and they had already achieved that back before the Doctors had been captured and executed. By observing their own experiments in the time field of the future, they knew that the slightest things could make the biggest difference. After retrieving any technology that would be useful in their mission to the past, they had started to work on the method of going back.

But going backwards would be a one-time deal. Once the traveler left, the future he had known would cease to be, thus eliminating the pathway he had taken in the first place. A paradox would cause a change in time, and after a short period the traveler himself would also cease to exist, having come from a future that had never happened because he had arrived in the present. Coming right down to it, the traveler would vanish, the future and his time never existing for him to leave from.

Fortunately this period could be calculated, so the traveler would have some clue of when he would cease to exist. The estimated survival time for the journey to save 01 would be two days for each year, giving the traveler almost three weeks to prepare Wing properly and then save 01 after the explosion. All had concurred that 01 could not have been convinced to disobey his orders and decline the mission, nor could he be convinced not to self-destruct. Removing the self-destruct package itself would not work either, because Oz could not be allowed to get their hands on the design of Wing. With it, they would be even more brutal and unstoppable. Of that the young scientists had no doubt.

The traveler would also take a mind altering device obtained from the future that would allow him to imprint or erase certain memories, allowing for his temporary presence not to seem too suspicious. Stealing from the future was easy, because it did not influence their existence, just the existence of those that lived in that future. 02 had been the one that had made the journey and picked up the specified object, returning almost a split second after he had left.

Basically it would be the mission of the traveler's life to complete all the required specifications, but it was the only thing they could think off to do. Assassinating the leaders of Romefeller in their cribs as babies would be bloody and brutal, besides which, it might not work. Others, even more ambitious men and women could still rise to power, the corporation itself outdating its oldest leaders by at least fifty years. The paradoxes that required traveling back before their own life span were too boggling to conceive, the option of eradicating the corporation earlier made null.

The key was 01, of that they were sure.

Besides, enough humanity remained in them that they realized that saving a life could make the entire difference, while destroying a life might just make matters worse.

As the eve of their successful completion of the frame loomed closer and closer, their trepidation rose steadily. They had yet to find a suitable traveler, the most important part of their plan that ached openly for potential failure. Theirs was first endeavor in such a field; they only had the other frame to work upon, changing and grafting together a hodge-podge of wires and ideas and hope upon the shoulders of the giants that had come before them. After all, they only had one chance. Their traveler had to understand the consequences and be able to undertake the mission. Competence was a must. Their very existences and the state of the world depended on it.

After a short discussion their progress, the wrapped up their conversation. Each needed at least 12 hours of rest before they could start working again at a level of suitable efficiency. 03 for once allowed his chair to be pushed, 04 gladly guiding the other along to their tiny shared room. 05 and 02 retreated into the adjacent room, each collapsing on cots that weren't big enough and reeked of sweat, nightmares, and pain. Soon they were all asleep.

They were dead to the world.

~ ~ ~ ~

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