Edge of the Chase [Ch3. PG15]

[RelenaFanel]

Title: Edge of the Chase
Author: RelenaFanel
Previous Chapters: Chapter 1; Chapter 2


Chapter 3

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Relena?s steps were quick and sure as she walked across the loose gravel in front of Wattmeter?s house. She knew all eyes were on her, but that wasn?t such a strange thing in her life and line of work. She was also aware of the danger in turning her back on these people, just as she hoped it would make her innocence more believable. If she was able to take the whole encounter as something which wasn?t a big deal, then it was more likely that she didn?t realize what was really at stake. The truth of the matter was that she was frightened, knowing it was entirely probable that she had just angered the host for the evening beyond reconciliation.

?Stop right there, you whore.? Wattmeter raged. The throngs of people went silent, momentarily shocked, and then broke out into muted chatter. She didn?t stop for his command, as that didn?t mean much to her. It was the language he used, the insult to her character that made her halt in her tracks, hovering between the necessity to keep moving and her need to defend herself. Relena?s back straightened, and she inhaled in an attempt to bolster her courage. She didn?t want to turn around and face him again, wondering if that could be seen as a weakness on her part, but it was equally as frightening to keep her back turned on a man who had an arsenal of armed guards at his disposal.

She must have waited a moment too long to decide, because she could hear the familiar sound of the safety on a gun being removed. She knew that sound, had been next to it and in front of it in the past. The certainty in this case that she would be shot was greater than all the times with Heero combined, and she could barely hear someone scream in shock, millions of miles away, nor even think over the pounding roar of her heart in her ears.

?Slowly turn around. Herman will search you.?

She could feel the man?s presence at her back as she tried to loosen her tense muscles, coaxing them into turning her body to face Wattmeter. She was ready for the flight part of the adrenaline rush going through her skull like the tide rushing into a cave, but was being forced into the fight component of the flight or fight reaction. Relena turned stiffly, the world spinning faster than she was moving. She could see the crowd of people watching the spectacle, her eyes immediately finding Quatre?s worried gaze amid the familiar strangers. She didn?t take it as a good sign that his body looked as on edge as hers did and one of his sisters had a restraining hand on his shoulder. He winced at her, and she knew that help was not likely to be found in his direction. Great, so much for backup.

?Lets get one thing straight.? Relena?s voice was authoritative, even though she could feel her legs shaking and threatening to collapse beneath her. ?No one is going to touch me.?

?Do it!? Wattmeter ordered. Even though it was dark outside, she could see his furious red face with bulging eyes by the illumination of the tiny overhead Christmas lights. The appearance of his ugly angry face didn?t make her feel any better. He?d shoot her in front of all these people. Relena had no doubt about that now. There was something deeper going on than she realized, and it was unlikely that her knight in shining armour was going to arrive any time soon.

?You?re making a mistake,? Relena said calmly, handing her glittery silver purse over to the giant waiting to search her for the disc. In her hand it was a clutch, but in his it looked like a tiny change purse. He fumbled with the latch for a moment before handing it back to her, abashed.

?Would you open it?? Compared to his size, his voice almost sounded soprano. The word ?eunuch? echoed through Relena?s mind before she could stop it, and she almost burst out laughing.

?Sure,? she replied, taking the purse back and unclasping the top. She was trying to keep her voice light and carefree, but she felt like the words were strangling in her throat. With every second that passed, she was more and more sure that she?d be found with the disc.

Herman took the purse back and dumped the contents on the graveled drive. Out fell her compact, several tubes of lipstick, a tampon, keys, some cash, her credit card, and a condom. The guard crouched. She had almost expected some of his clothing to rip as he squatted, but it must have been made of sturdier material than she thought. He pawed through her stuff with no regard to her privacy and somewhere along the way one of her lipsticks and the condom disappeared. Relena really didn?t want to know if he was going to use both of them at the same time.

?It?s not in here,? Herman reported.

Ha, Relena thought. She could have hidden it in the lining and gotten away with it. It wasn?t exactly a victory to realize that, as it wasn?t actually there.

?You fool!? Wattmeter criticized his lackey, standing where he was like a mafia king who wasn?t willing to get his hands dirty. ?Women are crafty things. Check for hidden pockets, rip out the lining and then scan it.?

?Why can?t I just scan it first?? Herman asked petulantly, his question perfectly valid.

?Because she could have some kind of dampening device that would cloak it.?

Right, Relena scorned. If she had that they wouldn?t have caught her in the first place. That gave her a pause. What if they actually hadn?t picked up anything on those sensors? It stood to reason that if they knew she had it, they would be able to roughly locate the disc on her body through similar means. It was all just a ruse, she realized, disgusted with herself for walking right into it.

?I?ve had enough of this.? Her tone was firm as she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving her scattered belongings lying on the ground. Herman was welcome to the rest of it as well. It wasn?t like they were going to open-fire on her in front of all these witnesses. No one was that stupid.

?Stop!? Her accuser screamed behind her. Relena didn?t pay him any heed, continuing down the driveway towards where her limo was parked. She could hear the sound of a vehicle engine turning over and she hoped it was her driver preparing for a quick get-away. Her high-heels crunched dangerously over the loose gravel. No matter what you see on television, running naturally in four-inch heels was a myth. Walking in them was a sheer miracle of acrobatics and she had been on her feet all evening. Despite that, Relena defied the high probability she would faceplant and scuttled for all she was worth, leaving her dignity behind her.

?Shoot her!? Wattmeter screamed, obviously too far into his rage to realize the implications of what he was saying. Though he was openly ordering the murder of one of the universe?s most important politicians and would be dealt with accordingly by the law, that wouldn?t make her any less dead if one of the bullets happened to hit. There was a moment of hesitation behind her and later when she thought back on the whole debacle, she?d realize the armed guards didn?t know whether to listen to their boss or risk their job. Either way, their futures were uncertain from this point on.

A gunshot echoed through the front lawn. A few feet from her left, gravel sprayed as the bullet hit the ground. A few shards of rock flicked into her skin. Relena yelped, a very feminine scream of shock emerging from her lips as she dove behind a nearby vehicle. Where was her limo? She had just efficiently trapped herself, caged in better than Wattmeter ever could have hoped for. She could either go back out into the open, skulk between the cars, her every footstep obvious on the tiny rocks below her feet, or she could try to hack her way through the thick bush fence between the drive and the rest of the estate. She didn?t think the last option was penetrable, and she could vaguely remember a conversation months ago where many of the older politicians were charmed and amused by Yuy Security?s new electric fence which ran underground or through brush and only targeted DNA.

Damn Heero, this was all his fault. She didn?t know what he was doing right now, but she was going to give him a piece of her mind, and maybe fists, the next time she saw him. Usually, he would have arrived with a cavalry, weapons blaring, if she so much as dropped a vase. Here she was, in actual life-threatening peril, and he was no where to be seen. Relena leaned back against the car she had landed beside, her breath was coming in ragged sobs and she slapped her hand over her mouth to try to control the sound. Her heartbeat felt like it was going so quickly it would start pumping air instead of blood.

?Relena? Where are you? I can see you, you know.?

Even though it was completely stupid, she panicked for a second and believed him. She was about to shift, to move closer to the fence so she would be more out of sight, and then she realized he wouldn?t be asking where she was if he could actually see her. The growing hysteria she was feeling wanted to shout ?if you can see me, then where am I?? and she almost giggled at the thought.

Hell. This was bad.

Her chest was heaving, her dress was slicked to her skin from nervous sweat, and she couldn?t sense the disc anymore. Relena felt for it, not finding it anywhere on her body, and realized it must have fallen off during her ungraceful jaunt across the driveway. Oh God, she thought, here I am about to die for that stupid thing and I honestly don?t have it on me. At least they?d figure that out when they searched her still-warm dead body for it, then probably gutted her to make sure she hadn?t swallowed it.

Then Heero was going to kill her for losing it in the first place.

Quickly, Relena edged closer towards where Wattmeter was searching for her. She tried her best not to make any noise, but the loose gravel beneath her body naturally shifted with the slightest movement. Carefully, she glanced around the corner of the car she was hiding in front of, looking back towards the house. She almost jerked her head away, leading Wattmeter to her with the sudden movement. He was about two cars away and rapidly gaining on her hiding place. She could see the disc almost next to his foot, the plastics and metal gleaming in the strung lights. Either her angle was a better vantage point to see it, or he was blind to everything but finding her.

The good news, if there could be anything optimistic in this whole thing, was that he was the only one conducting the search. His hand was clasped dangerously around a gun, knuckles incredibly white in the dark, but he didn?t have any of his hired security by his side. Relena sat back against the car, her back pressed against the cool metal. There had to be some way for her to reclaim that disc. Unfortunately, the only way she could think of was one of her stupidest ideas yet.

?There you are,? Wattmeter crowed beside her ear. Relena jumped, shrieking like a girl again. He grabbed her by her trademark blond hair with his wide, strong, workman-like hands, forcefully hauling her out from between the two cars. Relena went passively, the fight gone from her. He was hurting her, and she felt on fire from her scalp to her toes. Her fancy silk dress ripped fragilely on the ground, doing nothing to protect her body from the sharp rocks. In the falsified light, she could see the blackened wet stain already soaked through the skirt of her dress from when the bullet sent rock fragments into her skin. She hadn?t realized she had been bleeding, but it didn?t matter as much anymore.

?Get up,? he screamed at her, yanking her upright with her hair once her legs cleared the cars. She could feel the spittle flying from his rage lightly spray her face, and she winced. When she got to her feet, her legs wobbled and threatened to give out on her. Relena was stronger than that, steadying herself despite the blood trickling down her cut leg and the tears streaming down her face. She stood with dignity, her head held high and defiant like the queen she was.

He dragged her towards the house. Two steps, then three, and all the while Relena let him herd her like a sheep. Suddenly, she just stopped moving. The engine she had heard starting what seemed like eons ago was still running, and she realized it was Wattmeter?s get-away vehicle where she had been hoping for help. An eerie silence descended over her mind. ?I?m not going to let you do this to me anymore,? she told him calmly, turning around to face him. Her eyes were a steely blue, like the ocean before a storm. ?You can?t force me to do anything!? She yelled at him, her words getting shriller as she went, provoking him. It took some will-power on her part, but when she raised her hand to smack him, her palm was open in a slap instead of a punch. Before her strike even came close to hitting him, Wattmeter grabbed her arm and yanked her off balance. As she was teetering, he violently pushed her to the ground, looming over her prone figure.

Relena sobbed loudly, turning over so she laid on her stomach. Her hand clasped around the disc, and she hid her triumphant smile with her hair. She didn?t know what she was going to do now, but at least it was back in her possession. She let the adhesive stick to her palm, clasping her fingers around it in protection. The disc was smaller than she remembered it being, the importance everyone was attributing to it adding to the perception of its size. In reality, it was only about the size of her thumb-nail, and she knew that as a last resort she probably could swallow it and hope the enzymes in her stomach didn?t destroy the information on it. For the first time she realized that the crowd of people was missing, and wondered if the absent guards were doing crowd control somewhere.

Wattmeter?s shockingly large hand closed around her shoulder, and Relena winced. Her leg was bleeding, almost numb with pain. Her head hurt, body ached. She was alone in this, and had never actually had to defend herself in real life though she had been given the training for a situation just like this one. She could probably take Wattmeter on, maybe even win, if he didn?t have that gun clasped in his other hand. She didn?t really see how she had any other choice. She had survived the sacking of the Sanc kingdom along with the murder of her parents; she had survived coup d??tats; she had survived Heero Yuy; there was no way some little chickenshit like Wattmeter was going to bring her down.

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?RelenaFanel.Nov17.2006

So. My NaNoWriMo novel? Not going so well. What do you guys think about this chapter?

[Nihal]

what the heck!? where is everybody?! where the hell is Heero?! and what happened to the "whenever you'll need me I'll be there" bull - damn him!- and even more, I can't believe Quatre left her at the old fart mercy has everybody suddenly gone crazy? oh my!
anyway I'm totally taken (does it show?) the writing is wonderful update asap

[PeaceWing]

Another great chapter! I really admire Relena's strength. She tried to stand up to Wattmeter despite the fact that her life is in danger. I agree with Nihal! Why on Earth did Quatre just stand there while Relena was being searched? He's involved in the mission as well, isn't he? And Heero! At first I was annoyed by the fact that he hasn't tried to rescue Relena, but now I'm really starting to worry. Has something terrible happened to Heero? Or is he just waiting for the last possible minute to save her? (If so, I WILL HURT HIM!) And aren't the other preventers involved in this?
Poor Relena! She's going through this whole ordeal without any help and she doesn't even know why she's trying to protect this disk.
Again, I'd just like to say that I love this fic and I'm really looking forward to the next chapter.

[11krage]

I'm just thinking how badly that guy is going down once the press gets ahold of this. The whole world is gonna want to kill him.

Just make her get away safe, please, and please please update soon.

[HiFreak]

What the heck is going on???!!!!
I thought this was a party, shouldn't there have been press.
Quatre better have a damn good excuse for not helping her.
And after this Relena is really going to kill Heero. If she survives.

[The Angry Angel]

Go Fight Win, Relena!! Ya don't need nobody to go all 'i'm-a-gonna-kung-pow-chicken-yo'-ass' on him!

This story is way fun, and keeps taking unexpected turns. Which means I can't do anything --like digest the chapter, anticipate, or even breathe for that matter, it's so gripping! Alls I can do is wait--torture!-- and read what's going to go down next....oh, the suspense! the unexpectedness! the agony!

Awesome O'possum!!
*high five*

[epyon]

keep em comin!

[RelenaDorlinYuy1]

omg more more more ...... Dont stop !!!

okay first of awsome chapter second i want to Choke the day light out Heero right now hehehe just kidding good work .... I cant wait for the next chapter !!

[takisha16]

OH MY LORD!!!!
She has to find a way out of this!!
Remind me in the next chaptter to kill Heero!
Oh, well, Relena is a strong girl and I am sure she will be able to
manage on her own and kick that bastards ass!!!!
She sure is a fighter I would kick him in the gnads and hope to God
he goes for them instead of the gun!
I love the suspense!
It's killing me!
update soon!!!!

[samta22]

I'm just thinking how badly that guy is going down once the press gets ahold of this. The whole world is gonna want to kill him.

... and I'm just thinking on how hard Heero is going to pay...

Please update soon!!!!