Duo, really rather incredulous at the fact that he actually didn’t want to eat food placed in front of him, took a big bite for the sake of remaining in character. He chewed steadily and swallowed. The food stayed down at least. Heero Yuy, who was sitting across from him, laughed just a little bit.

"How come you have such a sadistic sense of humor, Heero?" Duo glanced at his counterpart’s plate. On it was a piece of fruit and a piece of toast. "Besides, I see you’re eating the entire hotel."

"I’m not hungry."

"You hardly ever are."

It had been an interesting morning. After a lengthy computer search and discussion on the organization called MIND, the two boys had come to the conclusion that the person who did really know the most about it was the little girl Cassandra. Although she certainly didn’t answer questions very directly she was a good informant, if you could tolerate her long enough. Duo could easily, but Heero was still working on the social part of his newly found emotional complex.

"Cassie," Heero made a point of talking slowly. "If you ran away from a base they had you must know where you ran away from."

She frowned at him. "You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a little kid. I got out the door and ran as fast as I could for two weeks and ended up here," she held out her hand and made a little packet of sugar float her way. Cassandra was the youngest person Duo or Heero had ever met that drank coffee. "I have no idea where the base is, no one ever tells us."

"So what do they do there? Exactly?"

"They teach us how to be smarter and use our powers better."

Duo blinked. "How many is ‘our’?"

Cassandra shrugged. "I dunno, they don’t tell us that either."

"Who’s ‘they’?"

"Um…mostly anyone who works for Mishii or Moiya. Mostly Mishii teaches though, her brother doesn’t like to teach that much. Moiya only teaches the most advanced pupils."

Duo blinked. "Moiya’s in charge?"

"Nope, the two share the top job. Mishii always says that equality is the best thing anyone can ask for."

Duo stored this information away; his old childhood buddy had gotten quite far from where he was when Duo knew him. Heero continued the questioning. "So you have no idea where the base is?"

"No, Mr. Heero you’re really redundant. I dunno where the base is. Even though I’ve lived there for as long as I remember. Mishii says that some things just aren’t important unless you want them to be."

Heero allowed himself a moment of internal fuming at being called redundant as he stared at the little girl sipping her coffee. He and Duo exchanged a glance. This was going absolutely no where.

"But," Cassandra perked up suddenly. "If you want information I do know a great place to find it."

"The base maybe?" Heero rarely resorted to sarcasm. Internally he winced at it, sarcasm was proof of a weak mind, Wufei had once told him.

"Nope. The Missy Aye-aye."

"The what?"

"It’s a big boat that Mishii and Moiya own."

"Like a yacht?" Duo asked curiously.

"Well if having three pools, a tennis court, a really big ballroom, a jacuzzi and an ice cream bar means the word ‘yacht’. Yaaaa-cht. Funny word."

"Whoa," Duo laughed, "that’s a cruise boat. What’s it called?"

"The Missy Aye-aye."

"…Are you sure?"

"Nope," Cassie made both of her new friends sigh. "That’s just what kids call it. It’s the M.S.S. Inquisitive Integrity."

"Are you serious?" Duo looked very taken aback, "someone would name their yacht that? Seriously?!"

"Ya, I guess so," Cassandra shrugged, a gesture which made the navy coat she had on wrinkle. "They have huge file cabinets there that they keep all sorts of stuff locked up in. I’m not allowed to tell what though."

Duo’s grin was so huge that Heero knew exactly what was going to come out of his mouth. "Alright! Infiltrating a yacht! Count me in, this is gonna be so cool-"

"If she can get us there," Heero glowered at the little girl. "Can you?"

"Look it up on your ‘omputer. You’ve tried looking everything else up," Cassandra finished her coffee and stood up.

Heero nodded. "There has to be a record of the boat at least."

"Oh, something else," Cassandra smiled mischievously. "You gotta be careful. Moiya doesn’t like you that much, and we have lotza spies that follow people around all the time."

"I’ll keep that in mind," Heero responded, suddenly looking around the little lounge with a whole sort of eye.

***

Mishii frowned at the pile of papers Wufei had scattered all over her desk. He’d left so mad too, just because she’d insulted his family. She punched a button on the phone, turning it to speaker. "Li? Won’t you come up here please? And bring Moiya too."

Mishii gathered up the papers and put them into the brown envelope they had come in. She wondered for a while whether Wufei was worth trying to convert again. None of the other pilots were, they had never had quite as strong personalities in her opinion, not at all what it would take to be a part of MIND’s master plan. But personalities were Moiya’s area of expertise; Mishii just concentrated on all of the engineering components. They were the most important part of the plan, after all.

The doors that Wufei had slammed so hard were quietly opened. A boy and a girl stepped through, the girl looking like a mirror reflection of the boy that had just stormed out. The boy looked a lot like Mishii, very tall with bright red hair, except he wore black rather than white. He wore a button down black shirt and black jeans. Mishii stood up and went and gave him a hug, which he shallowly returned. She loved teasing her brother that way, knowing that he hated having contact with other humans. "Hello Moiya. He said no."

"I thought that would happen," Moiya’s voice had a very haunting tone to it, like his words were still in the air after you stopped hearing them. "Oh well. He was probably a lost cause anyway."

"I wouldn’t give up on him," Li offered with a shrug. "Once he and the others figure out what’s going on, he’ll realize how right we really are and maybe he’ll join us."

Moiya nodded and was about to say something else when the phone rang. Mishii was closest to the desk, so she just pressed the speaker button again. "Hello?"

"Um…hello?" a soft female voice came from the phone. "This is Relena Dorlian. Is Quatre there?"

Mishii blinked. This was the very last person on the face of the Earth any of them wanted to hear from. She faced her brother. "It’s her! She’s calling about that treaty, I just know it. What do I say?"

"Something you want her to hear I think," Moiya glanced down at the phone. "Hello…"

"Did I get the wrong number?"

"No…you certainly didn’t. You want to talk to Quatre?" Moiya sounded polite in a masking sort of way.

"Yes."

"Well I’m sorry but he’s our prisoner at the moment," Moiya smirked. "May I take a message?"

"Really…" there was some silence. "Are you sure I can’t talk to him?"

"How did you get this number?" Moiya demanded sharply.

The sudden drop of politeness startled Relena. "Um…he left me a message."

"Did he?" Moiya shrugged to his audience in the room. "Than I guess he’d better explain himself, hold on a moment."

As her brother picked up the phone and turned off the speaker Mishii nodded to Li, who sourly complained at being someone’s messenger girl. She left the room. Moiya handed the phone to Mishii. "Dearest sister, you get to talk to the annoying politician."

She handed the phone back. "No, this is your honor."

"Fine," Moiya sighed. Li returned to the room with Quatre Winner and Trowa Barton behind her. Both boys didn’t look happy. Trowa was wearing his emotionless mask, but in a very threatening sort of way. Mishii remembered how he was one of the ones not to mess with. She giggled to herself and faced Quatre.

"You made a phone call, Quatre. Do enlighten us on how."

Quatre seemed very wary, also on guard. Mishii couldn’t help but laugh again; these pilots were so much fun! Quatre blinked. "There was a phone in my room."

"Well of course," Moiya nodded as he held out the phone. "We had to test your reaction with one in the cell, didn’t we?"

"But I don’t understand-"

"Just take your call Quatre," Moiya’s voice grew flat.

Quatre took the phone and talked to Relena for a little while, no one else besides Trowa paid attention to it. Mishii put her hand on her brother’s shoulder, which he immediately shrugged off. "Don’t worry about it. No one said they weren’t out of practice."

"I’m going to go to L2," Moiya changed the subject. "I want to see how things are doing. Take the papers and put them on the Integrity, okay? They’ll try and find them there."

Li blinked. "We want them to find them?"

"I said they’ll try," Moiya smiled thinly. "Sink the boat if you want to keep the papers away from them," he shrugged and walked quietly away and out the doors.

Trowa faced the two remaining girls. He was attempting to look very threatening indeed. Mishii had no idea why she found this so amusing but she did. She decided to beat him to the climax. She held out her hand and the doors in front of them opened. "You boys may go now. If you want that is."

"What?"

"Well, we’re not going to let you run around our base anymore, and standing here is rather pointless so go."

Quatre handed the phone back and Mishii hung it up. Trowa was staring at the door. "How did you-"

"Never mind that little detail. Just go. Now, before I have to make you please."

Unsure of what else to do, Trowa and Quatre left. Mishii slammed the door behind them and locked it from where she was standing. Li folded her arms. "Did you get the bloodwork?"

"Of course, while they were still unconscious. It’s good too, just in case."

"In case either of them is telekinetic?"

"Exactly my dear. It wouldn’t be a surprise, all of the other pilots are. Just one easy blood test to tell too."

"It would be interesting if my brother was telekinetic," Li commented reflectively.

"He is," Mishii told her, "we tested him a long time ago. Quite against his will too. Yes, very interesting. I think this whole ordeal will turn out interesting."