Edge of the Chase [Ch4. PG13]

[RelenaFanel]

Author: RelenaFanel
Rating: PG13
Pairing: 1xR
Chapter: 4
Previous Chapters: Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3
_______________________
Edge of the Chase
Chapter 4


Relena could feel Wattmeter?s hand as it approached her shoulder, as if the air it was displacing with the downward movement was great enough to warn her of the descent. Still, she couldn?t help but jerk when he touched her bare skin, his sweaty palm damp and hot on her shoulder. Relena was sure that if she had eaten anything in the past three hours it would be threatening to come up. As it was, the two drinks she had partially consumed sat heavily in her stomach. His fist tightened as though he was going to force her to turn over, then he stood up, letting go of her altogether. The movement was sudden, and Relena tensed, confused and worried that maybe something worse was coming.

?Touch her again, and I will shoot,? Heero said, his voice empty of all emotion and quiet, knowing he didn?t need to raise the volume to get his point across. Heero at his coldest, when he was like this, was the most menacing person she had ever met. Relena?s pulse jumped as she calmed. Wattmeter beside her was less of a threat with each passing second. She turned her head towards him, not surprised to see a gun pointed at them. His feet were braced and he was still clad in his tuxedo. His bow-tie was gone, collar open in disarray so she could see his neck. He looked rumbled in that sexy way men can get when they take great care to look casual in formal wear. A woman would just look like a slouch if she tried anything like that. Heero?s fashion wasn?t what drew the eye however, it was the ice glinting in his eyes and the firm set of his jaw as he stared down Wattmeter. ?Drop the gun,? he ordered Wattmeter.

The metal clanged beside her head, and Relena was sure Wattmeter had hoped it would either hit her or accidentally blow her head off. He had pretty terrible aim, Relena noticed. She reached out, hand curling around the weapon. It felt foreign in her hand, but she knew enough to make sure the safety was on before she moved with it, and she it across the dirt so that it was next to her head. The palms of both her hands were braced on the ground, one cupped over the weapon, so if she had to get up quickly, or roll with it aimed, she could.

?Back up,? Heero commanded and was obeyed. She watched from the corner of her eye, her stomach still pressed into the ground, as Wattmeter glanced wildly around for someone to come to his aid and then took a step backwards. Relena felt a sense of relief go through her body like a calming elixir, not feeling as threatened now that her attacker was not close enough to do any physical damage without seriously inflicting Heero?s wrath.

Relena rolled so she was on her back, her injured leg stiff as she tried to get it under her in order to stand up. She didn?t know how she ever doubted that he would be there for her. Heero could never let her down, it was in his wiring to serve and protect. Despite her relief at being rescued, she knew that this added danger. It was much easier to shoot a man armed with a gun than it was to target a helpless woman, and this would bring the guards back into the mix. She and Heero had to get out of there, and soon. Relena knelt in the harsh gravel, her knees screaming at her from the abuse. As quickly as she could, she stumbled to her feet, disgusted with how ungraceful her movements were. The heels didn?t help her regain balance and she almost toppled over again. Arms outstretched at her sides for stability, she hurried towards Heero, making sure to keep out of the line of the gun the best she could.

?Get on the front and put the helmet on,? he told her, not taking his eye off Wattmeter. Relena stared at him, not comprehending exactly what he wanted her to do until she saw the motorcycle parked behind him. The helmet was on the seat and she grabbed it, yanking it over her hair and making sure it was snug under her chin. Her head felt heavy, hearing muted, but if she was going to be riding on a motorcycle, she needed the protection. She flipped up the visor so she could interact better with her rescuer, knowing that Heero didn?t like to repeat his orders. With complete disregard for her image, she hiked her skirt up and straddled the vehicle, scooting as close to the handle-bar as she possibly could.

?I?m on,? she told Heero, knowing instinctively that he could probably tell by the sounds of her movements, but informing him anyway since his back was turned to her. He started to back up towards her, keeping his gun trained on his target. Heero?s training taught him to never take anything for granted. Sure, she now had the gun, but that didn?t mean the opponent wasn?t armed in some other way. The only thing keeping Wattmeter from moving, or even calling for help, was Heero?s reputation for being relentless. It was well acknowledged that he was a force to be reckoned with, but most rumors of his cold-blooded nature were assumed to be embellished for the story?s sake among the polite society who were disinclined to believe that violence even existed in the world.

Wattmeter was starting to realize that Heero was far more dangerous than even the idle chitchat presumed.

Heero finally reached the point where one more step would knock him into the motorcycle and he paused. Relena was impressed with his talent, as always. She looked at the gun gently clasped in her fingers, then back at Heero, wondering if she should try to cover him. No. She would not raise a weapon against an unarmed man, even if it was in self defense. Not even for him. Making any further decisions of what actions she should take was unnecessary as Heero swiftly turned around and jumped on the bike behind her. His arms reached around her, grasping the handle bars, and she could see him quickly flick his wrist as he turned the motor on.

Relena flicked the visor down on her helmet and lifted her feet onto the brace on the bike, letting Heero balance it as he took off. The feeling of his solid body at her back and arms curved around her waist gave her an odd sense of security despite the exhilarating danger of driving with no protection but a helmet. If they crashed, her body was going to be horribly torn up, as silk didn?t even protect her from the cold. The helmet kept her sharp mind and pretty face as safe as possible and as far as Relena was concerned, those were the most important. Of course, there was no chance that they?d be in an accident, not with Heero driving. Even though it was more difficult for him to be handling the bike from behind her, she knew the way he thought enough not to question it. He was making sure his body was an extra shield for her, in case Wattmeter and co. opened fire. It was touching, just as the vibrations running between her thighs and Heero firmly curved against her back warmed her in ways that had nothing to do with the chill against her skin.

The bike picked up speed as they hurtled down the long driveway in front of the Wattmeter estate. The loose gravel caused their traction to be unreliable, the rocks spraying in their wake like waves. Relena hugged the front of the bike, doing her best to keep out of Heero?s way and let him steer the damn thing. Her grip wasn?t as tight as she wished with the gun in one hand, but she was able to get balanced so any sudden movements on her part wouldn?t set the bike off-course.

She only hoped Heero could see well enough over her head.

The end of the driveway neared, just as Relena saw the headlights to other cars turn on back at the house. The brief flare of illumination was subtle, but she had been waiting for some sign that Wattmeter was going to give chase. Heero might be threatening one on one, but she hadn?t believed for one second that this was the end of everything. She did trust Heero?s insanely adept skills at every he did, but there were too many variables for him to have absolute control.

Heero slowed the bike down, and Relena had a moment of panic, wondering if he was going to stop. He leaned into a curve, directing the motorcycle from the graveled driveway and onto the paved highway before speeding up again. Relena wondered if he would have taken the corner without reducing speed if they hadn?t been changing the consistency of surface they were traveling on. She didn?t think she really wanted to know. Heero was one of those reckless motorcycle drivers who you didn?t notice doing anything risky because he handled the bike as if it were an extension of himself. She?d always appreciated the view nicely tucked into the back of her limousine. Riding up front, however, was a whole different sensation and her heart felt like it was lodged chokingly in her throat the entire time.

If the bike even wobbled the littlest bit, she swore she was going to throw up. Her image of being cool and collect in all situations would go flying down the highway, probably smearing over Heero in the process. It would be worse than the time he had found her crying and challenged her strength and efficiency. Tears he could probably forgive, even if he did put them down to some sort of feminine dilemma she couldn?t control. In fact, she thought that might have the first time he had been shaken by her enough to realize she was more than just a person, but also someone of the opposite sex. Throwing up on him? Yeah, no good could come of that, ever.

The headlights of the cars in pursuit of them gleamed on the road in front of her. Even though Relena couldn?t turn her head to look behind her, she could tell that with every moment they were creeping a little closer. The road before them showed a crescent of the head beams, and slowly that edge was getting further and further in front of them. She knew that Heero took far more risks on a motorcycle simply driving to work than he was now. Was that because she was with him? Probably. She didn?t even know if he was consciously going slower, or if protecting her was so ingrained in his head that he didn?t even realize.

By now she could hear the purr of the engine powering the car behind them. Heero tensed, if it was possible for him to get even more on edge, and picked up speed. It was a little too late for him to make that attempt now, though she was positive that on his own he would be able to pull some miraculous trick out of thin air and disappear at great risk to his own life ? like driving over a cliff, or jumping onto the back of a truck going in the opposite direction.

She really was holding him back, wasn?t she? She could only hope that she only did that in extreme situations such as this and not in every day life. She really didn?t want to face the fact that maybe he could be so much more than he was now, and that maybe he wanted to fly on his own without her, but his loyalty was standing in the way. Maybe he knew it, maybe he wasn?t aware of it like so much she thought his brain kept from him and protected him from. His overwhelming lust for her, being an example. In the middle of a highway chase, wearing little more than a fashionable negligee masquerading as a dress, was not the time to think of thing like that ? the fact that she might be oppressing him or his so-secret-he-doesn?t-even-know want for her body.

There was a strange pinging noise she couldn?t quite identify, but knew she recognized from somewhere. Heero?s body pressed against hers didn?t react, though she felt like she should be ducking and running for cover. Relena then realized the puzzling sound was the sound of bullets narrowly missing them. The were going to die, splat on the highway like raccoons with their entrails oozing out and crows plucking at their vacant eyeballs. Oh God.

?Drive.? Heero yelled at her, voicing the first reaction from him that she could discern since they started this ride-o-joy.

?What?? She yelled back, disbelief at what she thought she heard. He wouldn?t really be asking ? well, demanding ? what she thought, would he? He took his hands off the handbar of the bike, and her mind went into overdrive as she panicked and grabbed the handles where his hands had been controlling their drive. Sneaky bastard. It had been a dangerous ploy, but it had worked. She barely even noticed that as his hands pulled away and hers rushed forward, he had somehow managed to pull the gun out of her grasp. His efficiency ? yeah, it was a common thing for her to think of, but really, the man never ceased to amaze her with what she could only classify as super-powers.

Once upon a time, Duo had spent a fun-filled afternoon teaching her how to drive on of these contraptions around the long loop of her private driveway. Heero had put a stop to it when she had done a doughnut on her lawn by accident, ripping up grass and risking her life in inappropriate ways. Then he had glared menacingly at Duo and she was too pleased in that smug feminine way she got over his concern and machismo and told him that none of it had been an accident.

Relena gunned the gas, grinning uninhibited for what seemed like the first time in a while. Behind her, she should feel Heero shift around in his seat, and she held the bike steady the best she could as he turned his body right around to face the traffic behind them. Heero knew what he was doing, she reminded herself. The best answer for his actions she could think of was that he didn?t want to disrupt the bike every time he looked over his shoulder to shoot, and now his target would be within his aim easier. It made her feel on her own, and that if she made any driving mistakes he couldn?t fix them. It also, rather blatantly, put his life in her hands and she could feel her palms dampen at the thought.

What if she failed? They would both crash and burn in so many ways.

She couldn?t tell when Heero started to shoot, as his body didn?t jerk with the recoil of the gun like she was sure hers would have. She did notice the rather large crash, metal screeching, behind her, and risked a quick look in the rear-view mirror at the three cars in pursuit. There were only two, the last wrapped around a tree and becoming a smoking dot further in the distance with ever second they drove.

Relena hoped no one was hurt. It might be self-defense, but she wanted no part in harming another person. She was Relena Peacecraft Dorlian, for God?s sake, and her morals and beliefs would not be sacrificed just because her life was on the line. They hadn?t been before, and they wouldn?t be now. There was no greater good here, nor were there innocents to protect. She knew she could never take back anything that happened tonight, and could only hope the damage was minimal. If not, well she wouldn?t be able to do her job anymore, for one.

She?d worry about that later. Right now, with the adrenaline rushing through her system more intoxicating than any synthetic drug and the air curving over the fairing, dragging over her skin in paces, she felt free. It frightened her to think that right now she was the one in power, and she wanted nothing more than to exploit it. Her father had always told her that somewhere within her prim exterior he saw a fighter and a risk-taker. She had always taken it to be an asset in the political arena, but who knew? Maybe those different twists and turns she continuously wondered where her life could have taken her would have brought her into a life where racing down the highway, a lethal weapon of a man at her back, with a top secret stolen chip stuck to her body was a norm instead of an exception.

They sped passed acres of forest, the trees thinning until the private rural community slowly amalgamated with the bustle of the city. That was one thing Relena loved about Earth ? the raw natural and still observable sociological growth patterns surrounding a city. That and the fact that the air might not be the cleanest, but at least she didn?t have to rely on a machine to produce it. On a colony, a high-speed chase such as this one wouldn?t quite work out, as there weren?t many roads which didn?t lead directly though a city, and there was no way Relena would ever risk disobeying traffic laws if she thought it was possible for her to run over a pedestrian.

Lights from houses and street lamps now aided her sight, and Relena stepped on the gas. The motorcycle leapt ahead, the engine humming and vibrating between her legs. Oh yes, she definitely liked this. Glancing in her rearview mirror again, she saw that another one of the cars had disappeared somewhere, in the few moments since the last time she had checked. She watched as Heero made sure he had her attention, then stood, the small foot braces the only thing keeping him on the bike. The vehicle wobbled from the movement, and Relena adjusted her weight accordingly. She could feel the drag the air dynamics was having on Heero?s body, as it had a barely noticeable affect on the bike, moreover, she could hear the change in wind currents surrounding them. She couldn?t imagine the pressure being forced against Heero and the strength it was taking him just to keep upright.

If it had been her, she could have fallen off already, Relena knew. She kept her eye on the tiny rear-view mirror far more than she should, watching through the narrow reflection as he tucked the guns into the waistband of his pants ? one in front and another in the back ? and with a perfect view of his bottom, it wasn?t surprising that she wasn?t keeping her eyes on the road. Just as Heero was bending at some improbable angle in order to turn back around in his seat, the bright headlights of an oncoming car flashed in her eyes.

?Turn your brights off, jerkwad,? Relena mutter, fingers finding the button for her own lights and flicking them. It probably worked better in a two-headlight vehicle, she mused as the other car didn?t adjust the brightness. She was still blinded, squinting through her visor. The bright lights flared across her retina, creating the ghost image burned into the back of her eyes of the lights. She tried to blink it away, but even as the other car passed she still didn?t have her complete vision back to normal. She wanted to rub her eyes, but not only would that put them at a disadvantage, but she also couldn?t get through the visor without lifting it or taking the helmet off.

Just as Heero settled behind her, the bike bumped over something on the road. Relena bounced, Heero?s arms immediately going around her. The front of the bike quivered then jerked out of her grip. Heero?s grasp on her tightened and she thought he was trying to regain control of the bike, but in the next moment the flat front tire crashed into the metal barrier of a highway overpass. She was airborn, screaming with what was surely her last breath as momentum took her over the handlebars, the barrier, and down, falling towards the perpendicular highway below.

_______________
?RelenaFanel.Jan08.2007

Yes, it did take me a while to post this chapter. I can only offer my apologies and a promise that it won?t happen again. The latter, I probably won?t keep, though my intentions are in the right place.

So? Finally, Heero shows up to save the day in that perfect soldier of hawtness way.

[takisha16]

OMG!!!
I knew Heero would come back!
How could Relena not want to kill those bastards!!!
Show no mercy!!!
I had a feeling something was going to go bad in the end!
I have no idea how Relena is going to get herself out of this!
I mean, seriously..it looks pretty much like their gonna die!
I love you story's action acked plot twists, they seriously make me
read the lines just a little bit faster to see what's gonna happen next!
Please update soon!

[Morrighan]

Another cliffhanger! Very, very evil.

Can't wait to see more!!

[HiFreak]

YAY! Heero to the rescue!!!
I love Heero's entrance. How could anyone ever doubt him.

Heero could never let her down, it was in his wiring to serve and protect

Love the line.

The motorcycle leapt ahead, the engine humming and vibrating between her legs. Oh yes, she definitely liked this

Either me or you have a dirty mind, but that is the best line.
Love how Relena can't really focus, constantly lusting over Heero.
Love the chase. Please update soon.

[The Angry Angel]

Awesome Opossum chappie!!

Nothing I love more than the idea of 600 cc's of power (or whatever be the bike's measure) between my legs, and riding it in an evening gown Yeah baby

Rotten luck that on this night of all nights, they run over something and get a flat. And of course this kind of thing only happens when you leave things up to Relena!

And so now, where are they flying to? I really hope someplace other than death or serious, permanent injury.

Like I said, Awesome Opossum chappie!!

[amulak]

This definitely isn't the best situation... oooo... I wonder how they're going to get out of this one without life threatening injuries... o.O
At least Heero came and saved Relena!! XD
Woohoo- I'll be waiting for the next scrumptious chapter!!

[Nihal]

Heero shows up to save the day

even the Perfect Soldier can do anything against those idiots that persist in using their headlights on full as floodlights, I hate them! I'm going to crush one night or the other...darn
nice chap, it was worth the waiting

[sinistergothvenus]

Dude! I can't wait for the next chapter. This is one of the best fanfics I've read this week. Keep up the great work.

[PeaceWing]

Ooh! I can't wait until the next chapter! Heero finally came to the rescue, but now I don't have a clue how they're going to survive.
Great job!

[RelenaDorlinYuy1]

Gah X_X <--- just had an Cliff hanger heart attack

Nah just kidding nice i cant wait for the next Chapter Rawr

oh yeah i just change my FF.net pen name its Sommerstars8o8