Final Mission Status 12/12

[zapenstap]

Welcome to the absolute insanity that is this chapter! No one guessed (or at least wrote in a review) the twist. ^_^ I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope it meets approval!




Final Mission Status

Chapter 12: Mission Accomplished

By Zapenstap

Edited by Mizaya



?Dorothy, you traitor! How could you??

Relena launched herself off the bed, but before she could move more than a foot to slap the woman, one of Dorothy?s guards lowered his gun and darted between them to intercept her. Muscled arms caught her and spun her around so that she stood with her back to the soldier, her hands trapped at her sides as she wiggled ineffectively in an iron-hard grip.

?Let go of me!?

?Tie her up if you have to,? Dorothy barked. ?And those two as well.? She gestured at Sally and Duo. ?I need to concentrate.? She fiddled with the comlink, listening (Relena assumed) to the communications between Noin?s people. The whole room was silent. They could only hear a crackle from the feed, but watching Dorothy?s eyes as she listened told them something. When Dorothy smiled and switched the frequency again, Duo groaned.

?Don?t do it,? Sally whispered.

Dorothy ignored her. ?Sterns? This is Dorothy Catalonia. Send your people to B point immediately. If you run into Kaiser, take his men with you too. The Preventor forces have breached our outer defense. Don?t engage before alerting me.?

?Damn,? Duo muttered.

Relena merely bit her lip, having subsided from her outburst.

Her first question had been answered. Dorothy didn?t want to kill them, at least not her, or not yet. That could mean several things. It might mean that Dorothy intended to hand Relena over to Cole alive. It could also mean that Dorothy didn?t care about Cole, and really was ?on Relena?s side,? but only where Relena?s life alone was concerned.

This second option concerned Relena the most. She could see Dorothy handing her over to Cole to be married to the crazed man, but it seemed a little out of character for the woman. Dorothy had always professed a great admiration for Relena, even when their ideologies were total opposites. And Cole was clearly deranged. Relena suspected that even if Dorothy had intended all along to betray the Preventors, she might still be planning to rescue her.

Whatever Dorothy?s intentions, the only question that really mattered was how Relena could play the value of her life to her advantage?to Heero?s advantage really. She was used to dealing with complicated matters directly, transparently, and diplomatically. But this would take strategy, and perhaps deceit, with which she was less familiar. Still, if she wanted to have any leverage at all, she would have to play skillfully, and fast.

Heero?s life was at stake.

*****

Wufei struggled against the ropes that lashed his arms firmly to the chain-link fence in this vile underground torture chamber. His fingers tingled from loss of blood, and it was a bit of a struggle to draw breath, but over all he was in good shape.

When Heero had been shot outside Relena?s honeymoon suite, he had feared something like this would happen. It was Heero?s mission priority to secure Relena?s safety under gunfire, to use his own body as a shield if he had to, but doing so had cost them all whatever advantage they might have had in skill and experience.

They were overwhelmed quickly. Cole?s men came at them armed to the teeth and hauled them brutally from the upper chambers of the mansion to this pit of evil in the belly of the mountain.

The room disgusted Wufei. In any situation, torture was a malicious practice. That was his feeling. It was a practice only civilians ever condoned?civilians who would never have to fear suffering it themselves.

It had been brutal to watch Heero being subjected to it, more so than the pain and dizziness he felt after being bludgeoned for letting his temper get the best of him when Cole revealed that Duo and Sally?s team had been compromised. Wufei was worried about Duo and Sally, but not as much as he was about Heero, whose distress was right in front of him.

Every time Wufei flexed his muscles, the bonds got a little looser. Just not quite loose enough. If he could get the attention of Cole?s guards off of him, he might be able to toss himself the blade he had strapped to the inside of his boot, but attempting to do so while they were being watched with guns leveled at their chests was too chancy.

He could wait it out awhile, but Heero was in need of help now. His attempts to delay Cole hadn?t worked. Even Zechs?s attempt to provoke the man with questions about his intentions and Relena?s feelings had failed. Probably Zechs hoped to give Cole feelings of doubt, which might make him stupid, but Cole had tortured Heero anyway.

The burn mark across Heero?s chest was an ugly red color now, like a strip of deep sunburn that would blister and peel if not treated properly.

Wufei told himself that Heero could endure this much, and that doing something stupid now would only get them all killed faster. It was just sickening to see a war hero, an honorable veteran who had put his life on the line for the sake of peace both during the war and after, subjected to meaningless interrogation by an overstuffed old buffoon out of his wits.

Cole lifted a burning iron disc from his pot of coals with his tongs. Beside him, Wufei heard Zechs growl.

Wufei opened his mouth to say something, to verbally abuse Cole for being a coward, an ingrate, a pompous, overconfident ass, or anything else that might distract him long enough to give Noin?s people more time. But right when he was about to speak, Heero turned his face toward them. His eyes hammered him and Zechs both, seeming to say, Don?t interfere.

Don?t be noble on my account, Wufei glared back, but it was too late anyway.

Cole deposited the red ring on Heero?s torso. Heero didn?t scream, but he thrashed violently, the muscles in his stomach tightening and his shoulders and legs twisting in a blur of motion until the disc flew off.

Cole?s eyes followed the disc as it rolled off the table and clattered on the ground. He seemed about to comment, but then his phone rang. He answered it with hardly a glance at his victim. Heero continued to thrash as if moving his muscles would pull him away from his own burning flesh.

?Dorothy, at last!? Cole exclaimed. ?Where are you??

Wufei felt as if the wind had been kicked out of his body.

Wufei tried to calculate their chances of survival if Dororthy was working with Cole. No doubt, she would be leading his mercenaries. Noin?s best-trained people should be moving in now, but Dorothy Catalonia was a competent general. She had a level head and an iron resolve. She was more capable than Wufei wanted to admit when it came to engaging Preventor forces, whose operations she knew very well.

Wufei couldn?t hear what Dorothy was saying to Cole, but he assumed it was a confirmation of some sort by the way Cole nodded and the smiled.

?In the basement,? Cole replied, and listened again. He then smirked at Heero, who had stopped thrashing and was staring at Cole with an intense expression, listening hard, it seemed, to at least his end of the conversation. ?Yes.? The look Cole directed at Heero was an almost patronizing insult.

That was when Wufei thought he heard a faint sound like a woman?s voice shouting in the background. It was unclear what she said, but it sounded like Relena.

Heero?s expression altered when he heard that sound. It registered a whole range of emotions Wufei couldn?t begin to qualify, beginning with relief, and worry, and finalizing in resolve.

?Finally!? Cole chuckled, watching this display on Heero?s face with an expression like glee. ?A response from him! He?s been most resistant.?

Cole giggled as if he found Heero?s distress amusing. As he listened to Dorothy, he rummaged with his rubber tongs in the burning coals where his other torture devices were still baking, including an iron poker with a long wooden handle.

?I will,? Cole said, and lifted the red poker from the coal pot. The sharp end glowed a dull, angry red. ?Right before I kill him. But first you need to hold up your end of the deal. What?s the frequency? Did you find out??

Wufei?s chest tightened. No. She couldn?t have found that out? could she?
Wufei gritted his teeth and barely restrained himself from kicking the guard beside him in the face.

Cole turned to smile triumphantly at all of them before turning off his phone and putting it away in his breast pocket. He lifted the poker and swung it in the air before Heero?s eyes like a rapier. ?Your people are communicating on the level four frequency,? he said. ?It won?t be long now.?

?Zechs,? Wufei hissed.

?I know,? the other man said.

They were both ready to die, but powerless to do much worth dying for. Wufei thought again of the knife in his boot. He had wiggled his left hand pretty loose. Perhaps it was enough. If he could get that knife to his hand swiftly enough, he would have one shot at one of his three adversaries: the mercenary beside him with the gun, the mercenary standing near Zechs with a gun, or a small possibility of Cole himself. He would have the best chance of hitting the guard closest to him, but not before the other guard shot him and Zechs both. He licked his lips, tensing to try for it anyway. He had been lucky in his lifetime. Maybe he would get lucky again. He looked at Zechs, catching his eyes, and flicked his own eyes toward the guard nearest him as if to say I can take this one.

Zechs nodded.

?Wait!?

It was Heero?s voice, a sharp, guttural sound emitted from a hoarse throat.

Wufei paused. Cole stood with the red hot poker still in his hand, hovering above Heero?s chest, the sharp end undulating slightly just under Heero?s chin. He laughed. ?Begging now? There?s no reason. You?ve lost. Didn?t you hear? Dorothy Catalonia is my double agent, and she has your people in a snare. She told me to tell you that she has secured the mines and the nuclear waste as well. She is with Miss Relena now. Tonight, Relena will become my bride.?

Heero?s eyes burned brightly. Wufei felt his own face flaming red with anger. He struggled against his bonds. He had more movement of his wrists, but couldn?t quite pull himself free. Just a little more.

?Oops,? Cole said. ?That reminds me. I want her to be alive when I marry her.?

He smiled at Heero as he withdrew a comlink from his pocket with his free hand. He pressed a button on the device, sending a signal to the men he said he had set to guard Relena?s room and kill her if he did not continually communicate with them. Wufei watched Heero?s eyes narrow.

?See?? Cole said. ?All is going according to my design. Who did you think you were, a poor solider like you, claiming to be Miss Relena?s husband?? He scoffed. ?Relena is mine.? He lifted the comlink in his thumb and forefinger and shook it in Heero?s face as if it were a symbol of his conquest, before sliding it back into his pocket.

Cole grip tightened on the poker handle. He assumed the fighting stance of a duelist. His expression hardened; turned to stone. It was like looking into the face of a gargoyle. His elbow swung back and then forward, driving the red poker straight toward the soft skin under Heero?s chin, a blow that would puncture his brain.

Wufei didn?t see it. At that moment, Cole?s men had turned their heads to watch?both of them. Seizing his opportunity, Wufei kicked his feet up and twisted his body, grunting as he swung his boots hard into the face of the guard nearest him. The man stumbled, shouting, one hand clutching his temple, the other hand fumbling blindly for his gun. In the same motion, he pulled his left wrist free from the loop binding it to the fence and propelled his legs up over his head. The knife in his boot fell straight out and down into his hands. With a forcefully measured flick, he managed to spin the knife handle in his hand and toss it with just enough penetrating force.

The blade cut through the air and plunged through the hand covering the guard?s eye with a thunk. The knife trapped both together as the man buckled forward and collapsed on his knees, the knife handle sticking straight out from his face. It had pierced hand and eye, penetrating skin, cartilage and bone to puncture the brain. He didn?t make a sound as it hit. He was dead before he hit the ground.

It had only taken a few seconds. Wufei looked up.

Cole had lunged forward, but Heero had somehow loosened his straps enough to move his head aside. Then, to Wufei?s utter amazement, Heero sat up. The straps around his body snapped apart as if they were brittle. All that thrashing, Wufei realized suddenly, hadn?t been because of the pain.

Heero closed one fist over the end of the poker Cole thrust at his face as it passed his head, seizing the part just above the area that burned red from the heat of the coals. Cole, his body still in a forward lunge, had no time to recover. Heero wrenched the poker from his grip and spun it around so that the handle clocked Cole in the back of the head. Cole dropped to his knees, bleeding from his scalp. At the same time, Heero got off the table. The poker twirled in his hand, again much like a rapier blade, only Heero was clearly more adept at handling one.

?Who are you?? Cole gasped.

?Gundam Pilot Heero Yuy. I?m Relena?s protector.?

Heero gave him no time to react. He ran the poker through Cole?s chest. Cole coughed, blood bubbling from his mouth as his knees buckled and gave way. He would have fallen prone, but Heero caught him by the back of his neck and dropped the poker to the ground.

?Relena doesn?t belong to anyone,? Heero said. ?As for Dorothy Catalonia, a woman like that wouldn?t work for a man like you.?

Cole?s mouth worked silently, choking on blood, but Heero didn?t seem too interested in what he had to say. Without another word, he snapped Cole?s neck with both hands and let the body fall.

The last remaining guard stood gaping between the corpse at Wufei?s feet and Cole?s body sliding to the ground at Heero?s feet. Heero?s torso was still bandaged, his side bleeding a circle of red from the gun wound that had been tightly dressed but not properly stitched. The two burn marks on his chest and torso marred his skin. Heero turned to look at the guard with cold, impersonal eyes. The guard?s hand trembled on the gun.

?Give that to me,? Heero ordered, gesturing to the semi-automatic rifle.

The mercenary tossed it to him. ?Please don?t kill me,? the mercenary said.

?Cut them down,? Heero responded, indicating Wufei and Zechs as he adjusted the trigger.

The mercenary rushed to cut their bonds as Heero instructed. His hands shook as he withdrew an army knife and sawed away at the ropes. Zechs was lowered first. He landed solidly on his feet and straightened as the mercenary ran to cut Wufei down.

It was a relief to be standing on his feet. Wufei rotated his shoulders in the sockets, gauging how badly they were strained, and determined it wasn?t enough to keep him from doing anything needed at the moment.

?How did you do that?? he asked Heero.

?Same as you,? Heero replied.

Heero knelt at Cole?s side and withdrew the dead man?s cell phone and the comlink from his pocket. He pressed what must have been the redial for the last received number on the phone and held it to his ear.

?Dorothy? This is Heero Yuy. ?

?Heero,? Zechs interrupted. ?Be careful. Even if you?re right and she?s not loyal to Cole, she?s still a double agent. That makes her dangerous. She can?t be trusted.?

?Dorothy Catalonia was never Cole?s double agent,? Heero replied stoically. ?And she can be trusted. She works for me.?

Zechs gaped.

Wufei could only stare.

?Dorothy,? Heero continued into the phone, ignoring them both now. ?Mission complete. Cole is dead, but we have a problem. There are guards patrolling the hallways outside Relena?s doors. They are ordered to engage if they don?t hear from Cole. I don?t know how much time you have to take them out. Wufei, Zechs, and I are contained in a small cellar room, roughly above the A sector in the west wing. There is a hidden floor panel that leads down a flight of stairs. Tell Relena where we are, wait for Noin?s people to find you, and get out of there. Do you copy??

*****

?Copy that,? Dorothy said into her cell phone, and then murmured in a softer voice, ?Glad to hear it.?

Relena swallowed from where she was still being gripped by one of Dorothy?s privately hired mercenaries. What had happened? She wouldn?t believe that Heero was dead. She couldn?t believe it. But Dorothy looked so pleased.

Her hand fumbled near the belt loop of her captor. Her fingers brushed across the handle of the knife he had sheathed in a leather scabbard. She almost had it. If she could get just?

?Well, Miss Relena,? Dorothy said, putting away the cell phone. ?It seems that you are not so precious after all to William Cole.?

?I don?t care what happens to me,? she seethed. ?I won?t let you get away with this! My own life doesn?t matter to me right now.?

?It never did where Heero?s life was concerned,? Dorothy sighed, and rolled her eyes to the corner of the room before smiling at Relena. ?Kind of bizarre really since he lives for you.?

Relena found she was unable to speak.

Dorothy was ignoring her anyway. She ordered all the guards except one?the one holding Relena?out into the hall. ?I have just been informed that we have guests,? she explained to her soldiers. ?We will need to take care of it immediately.?

Duo and Sally exchanged glances. ?Noin?? Sally whispered. Duo looked a little green.

?Take them out swiftly,? Dorothy commanded her men. ?They will probably attack as soon as they see you coming out of this room. Don?t give them the chance. When you?ve cleared the hallway, return here. We will be departing as soon as it?s done.?

Anxiety ran throughout Releans?s body like there were tiny bubbles bursting in her blood. She turned her head, watching and telling herself exactly what she had to do if she was going to save anyone, especially Heero. She could almost reach the knife in her captor?s belt.

Dorothy?s guards destroyed the lock on her door by hitting it with the butt of their guns until the entire knob fell off. Two of them together opened the door and nodded to each other as the remaining three leaped into the hallway, guns blazing in rapid fire.

Relena closed her eyes, her hand wrapping solidly around handle of the knife, her wrist at an awkward angle. All at once, she felt calm. She withdrew the weapon swiftly, the blade cold against her forearm. The steel caught the light as it cut the air, glinting with menace. Dorothy?s head turned, blonde hair swirling like a curtain of sun bleached wheat.

?Don?t!? Dorothy said, and rushed in to stop her. Dorothy grappled with Relena, her hands batting away the blade, seizing it from Relena?s control. Trapped as she was, Relena could do little to stop her, but the blade slashed Dorothy?s arm across the wrist in the struggle, just missing her artery. Dorothy staggered back, bleeding, white-faced, but with the bloody knife clutched in her fist.

?Don?t ever!? she said, shaking the knife at Relena with the blade pointed up. She panted, wiped sweat from her brown, and shakily set the knife on the night stand. She clutched her wrist to stop the bleeding. ?Heero wouldn?t want you to kill anyone,? she said.

Relena felt weak suddenly, a curious numbness running up her arm from the elbow to her wrist. ?I don?t understand.? She felt as if there was no air in her lungs. Lights popped before her eyes. She breathed, and the lights receded.

Dorothy?s men, all five of them, returned to the room. ?Mission accomplished, commander,? the leader of them said stoically. Two of the guards remained at the door, weapons at the ready. The leader removed a roll of gauze from his breast pocket and carefully wrapped Dorothy?s wrist.

?I?m all right,? she said in response to their concerned looks, and gestured to the mercenary with his arms now even tighter around Relena. He hadn?t budged throughout the scuffle, sticking to his orders to hold her no matter what. ?Tie her up with them,? Dorothy said, gesturing to Sally and Duo. ?We are getting out of here.?

Dorothy?s men did as she instructed. Relena was tied up with Duo and Sally, her wrists bound behind her with rope, all three of them sitting on the bed like toads on a log. Relena was still in a daze, bewildered as to what had just happened, and having no idea what was to happen next. And yet?

It seemed to her instincts that Dorothy was treating them with extraordinary kindness. She knew it suddenly but surely, the same way she had known Heero was kind when she first laid eyes on him, despite all observation that belied her intuition. But should she trust herself? She had been wrong before.

Before she could sort out her feelings, Dorothy?s soldiers were climbing back out the window. The first leaned out the window sill and pointed some sort of device toward the top of the building. She was startled when he climbed up the outside of the wall rather than down. All of the soldiers followed suit, heading (she assumed) for the roof.

Dorothy was second to last to leave. She approached Relena on the bed and leaned in close to her ear where Duo and Sally could not hear her. Her pale blonde hair framed her face, her eyes a startling glacier blue.

?Heero is alive,? Dorothy whispered. ?Cole is dead and your people are coming. When they get here, tell them that they will find Heero, Zechs, and Wufei in the cellar under the floor of the A sector in the west wing. Good luck, Miss Relena.?

Before Relena could respond, Dorothy Catalonia clambered out the window. Like the others, she went up, scaling the building with the aid of some unknown device she must have had attached to her person. The last of the guards followed behind her. Relena thought she heard what sounded like the whirling of chopper blades over her head.

?They?re escaping!? Sally fumed. ?Do you hear that??

Relena could hardly speak. She didn?t know why, but she believed Dorothy, and relief flooded through her system like a tonic, loosening all her muscles and easing the strain in her chest. ?It?s okay,? she said. ?Dorothy is on our side after all. Heero?? she felt tears pooling in the ducts of her eyes. ?Somehow Heero??

At that moment, soldiers burst into the room. Seven or eight of them filed through the broken doorway and arranged themselves like a firing squad, guns leveled at the bed and the window, bullet-proof masks lowered over their faces.

?Oh, God, I can?t take much more of this!? Duo cried, and jerked his legs until he somehow slipped completely out of his bonds. He rolled off the bed and landed on a crouch on the floor with a gun in his hand.

?Whoa, Duo!? Sally said, and there was laughter in her voice. ?These are??

They were Preventor soldiers, armed and ready, but not to shoot them. As soon as they assessed that Sally, Duo, and Relena were the only occupants, they lowered their weapons. The leader pulled off her mask. Her eyes sparkled when she looked at them.

?Well if it isn?t Duo Maxwell, leaping before he looks.?

?Lucrezia Noin,? Duo muttered, and put away the gun as he rose to his feet. Relena wondered where he had picked up the weapon. Had he stolen it from one of Dorothy?s guards? Had he, like her, been waiting all this time for the right opportunity? It was unneeded. She knew, though she could not say how, that Heero had arranged it like this.

?Glad to see you?re all right,? Noin said. ?Really glad.?

The Preventor soldiers rushed in to untie Sally and Relena, slicing through the ropes Dorothy?s guards had used to bind their hands together.

?We haven?t found Cole yet,? Noin explained as Sally and Relena were cut loose, ?but everyone else in this place has been fleeing before us like minnows. All the hallways are practically deserted. We came right through with no resistance, and in the last few minutes I?ve been seeing mercenaries high-tail it and run at the sight of us. I just hope that Zechs??

?Noin,? Relena interrupted. ?Cole is dead. Heero, my brother, and Wufei are alive. They are in a cellar hidden by a floor board in the A sector of the west wing.?

Everyone turned to stare at her. Duo?s large blue eyes were wide with disbelief.

?Dorothy told me,? Relena said. It was hard to keep from smiling. ?She?s behind the evacuation too. I don?t know why she tried to deceive us, or fully what it going on, but she?s on our side??

?Dorothy?s here?? Noin muttered.

?Yeah,? Duo said. ?Except she was commanding Cole?s men.?

?Well, she?s apparently commanded them all to run away,? Noin said. ?We haven?t had to engage anyone at all. But Heero and Zechs and Wufei may not know that. Let?s go see if they are where she says they are. Hopefully?.? She shared a look with Relena, one that Relena immediately commiserated with. Hopefully their men were alive and well and waiting for them.

The Preventor soldiers issued Sally and Duo semi-automatic rifles at Noin?s instruction and the whole party left the honeymoon suite together. Relena was never so happy to leave a room, though she still felt a little claustrophobic as the only unarmed person walking in the center of a battalion.

They made their way through the deserted halls of Cole?s mountainside mansion with no incidents. The gleaming tiles and white-washed walls recorded the echoes of their footsteps as they passed. Whenever they did see people, it turned out to be another unit of Preventors making a sweep and investigating every nook and cranny of the compound for hidden dangers or remaining resistance.

When they reached the A sector of the west wing (Relena had little idea where they were, but the Preventors were following some sort of schematic blueprint) she felt her heart begin to race. The mission was over, or it was almost over, and Heero was close by. Since they knew where to look, it didn?t take long for Noin?s people to find the hidden floor board. Relena waited to one side, still under guard, as two of Noin?s soldiers lifted a row of faulty floor tiles, revealing a hole carved in the ground with a staircase leading into a pit. The underground cellar was lit by light bulbs in hanging lamps, and a red glow emanated from an iron pot near a table where hot coals seemed to be simmering.

She could just make out the faces of her brother and Wufei deeper in the room, as well as another soldier who seemed to be one of Cole?s, though he was unarmed. And there was Heero looking up at her from the bottom of the stairs, shirtless, beautiful, and bandaged.

Relena stopped her voice from calling out his name, and waited at the top of the stairs with trembling fingers as Sally, Duo, and the Preventors rushed down to aid their comrades. There was a cacophony as many exclamations were made over the state of the three men, but from the sounds, Relena had the impression that at least no one was dying or in immediate distress.

Relena stood back as they climbed to the top. Wufei and her brother came out first. Milliardo embraced her in a rare display of affection when he reached the top of the stairs, grabbing her about the shoulders and kissing her forehead. He said something about worrying for her safety and being pleased that she was unharmed. He appeared likewise unharmed, and given that, Relena had eyes mostly for Heero, who climbed out last, and had to be aided by Duo.

?Heero, you?re bleeding,? she said, and slipped out from under Milliardo?s arm to Heero?s side. His torso was wrapped in bandages, but he was bleeding a little through the gauze beneath the ribs. Up close, she could see it wasn?t just one wound. He was burned too. A strip of skin across his chest just beneath the collarbone looked as if it has been scalded, and there was a curious, ugly red circular mark just under that. ?Heero,? she whispered, and touched the flesh around the marks.

?Yep, he?s been shot again,? Duo said glibly. ?And?.? He looked sideways at the burns and trailed off.

?I?m fine,? Heero said, and gently pushed Relena away from him by the shoulders. She shuffled backwards, a chill running down her spine as Heero stepped passed her and toward Noin, leaving her by herself.

?What happened down there, Heero?? Noin asked.

?I killed Cole,? he replied, ?as soon as Dorothy confirmed that Relena was safe and the nuclear waste had been contained. Wufei took out the other guard. I assume the rest of Cole?s people are on the run.?

?So it?s true then. That Dorothy???

?Yeah,? Heero interrupted. ?I?ll brief you all in full when we get back. Right now, consider any information about Dorothy to be classified.? He glanced circumspectly at the number of people around them, especially the mercenary that had been under Cole?s command, though he stood under guard some distance away with an ashen face. ?I need to be stitched up,? Heero continued. He looked at Duo?s leg. ?So do you, apparently. How fast can we get transport out of here??

?I?ve already called them,? Noin said.

?But why didn?t you tell us?? Duo demanded. ?Heero??

Heero moved away from them all, holding his side as he walked, though whatever pain he felt didn?t show on his face. Duo followed him, trotting up to his side and arguing with Heero about something Relena couldn?t make out. Half in a daze, she looked for somewhere to sit down and saw a wicker chair by the wall next to an ostentatious statue of a woman in a Greek gown staring hard-faced at the opposite wall.

Relena sat down beside the statue, feeling a little in the way now that the mission was over. It was over. She folded her hands in her lap, hiding the diamond ring on her finger, and composed herself, breathing deeply of the conditioned desert air and trying to relax. Duo had eased Heero down on a bench just down the hall. He didn?t look her way once as the Preventors brought him salve for his burns and his black shirt from below to put on over his head. Someone inspected his gun wound and declared that it needed stitching, but since it was wrapped tightly and a clean wound, it could wait at least until they got outside and to the trucks where they had better supplies.

It was Milliardo who escorted Relena off the premises of Cole?s estate. Night had fallen across the desert, shrouding the mountains surrounding them in dark shadows like a blanket tossed across the earth. The moon hung in the sky overhead, a half sphere of silver shining brightly in a cold, crisp, and airy night sky.

Several vehicles awaited them at the entrance as they made their way through the foyer and out to the plaza, with its manmade lawn and driveway full of expensive cars. Noin met with the captains of each of the teams as they emerged with their units to check in and report. A number of Preventor officers were stationed to stay behind until a permanent arrangement could be made regarding the nuclear waste under the mountain. Meanwhile, Relena was loaded into one of the trucks with Milliardo, Wufei, and Sally as her guard. Heero and Duo climbed into a different truck with the medics to be treated.

The ride back to the plane was uneventful. Relena found herself staring out at the desert scenery, watching the figures of wind-blown rock zoom past under the cover of darkness. They had only been in this country for a number of hours, but it felt like years, or lifetimes. Everything was different going back than when they had come. Besides the scenery, her mind was absent its blur of anxious thoughts and feelings. She felt only a strange sense of detachment. She looked at the sky as where the stars twinkled above the mountains, commiserating with what she felt presently was the death of the day.

?Oh, it?s beautiful out here,? Sally said.

Relena nodded, but didn?t reply.

At the airfield, they boarded the plane in single file. Relena took a window seat and settled in for the flight. She wondered if Heero would sit beside her, but he elected a place several rows in front of her where he could stretch out across three seats. Newly stitched and re-bandaged, he slept most of the ride back. When he was awake, he stared out the window without talking to anybody, watching the clouds drift beneath them as they flew above the Atlantic. Then he climbed into the pilot?s cabin. Relena tried to avoid thinking that he wanted to sit somewhere away from her eyes. She wondered instead if he intended to ask to fly the plane, or if he merely had something to say to her brother. She didn?t inquire. She fell asleep not long after pondering it.

When they landed, Relena had to be shaken awake. It was Heero shaking her, the touch of his hand gentle on her shoulder. ?Relena,? he whispered. She opened her eyes and stared into his. She sat up, grabbing onto his wrist.

?Heero,? she began, her heart thumping in her chest.

He interrupted her. ?Une will want to debrief you when she?s done with the rest of us. Do you think you can see her before you go home??

Relena could only stare at him. His eyes were tranquil now, deep blue like the ocean under twilight, but they were not windows to his soul; they were more like mirrors. She could see her reflection in his pupils and nothing else. ?Yes,? she answered.

He turned and walked away from her. Without looking back, he disembarked from the plane. Everyone else in the cabin stared. Duo?s mouth hung slightly open. Sally shot her a concerned look. Relena tried to avoid their eyes. She wanted to call out Heero?s name, but she wouldn?t have known what to say when he turned, especially in public. Even if he loved her, he might never admit it, and if he didn?t, what could he possibly say now that would ease her suffering? She closed her eyes. The mission first. She had to debrief, and when that was complete, she would go home and feel everything she was not allowing herself to feel now.

As it turned out, Une had a number of questions for her. She wanted to know if Relena was all right first and foremost, which Relena answered in as straightforward a manner as she always did whenever there were concerns about her person. Of course she was fine. Une apologized exceedingly for any part she had in deceiving Relena during the mission, especially where Heero?s part in it was concerned, and stressed the importance of the decisions that had been made. Relena nodded her way through the interview. It was no different than many of the meetings she had had throughout the years, where diplomacy and professionalism came first and her personal feelings second.

?Do you know where I can find Heero?? she asked when it was done.

Une sighed. ?No. He came in just long enough to tell me that he was taking a month off, maybe more, but at least a month no matter what. He didn?t give us a choice really. He just said he would be gone and not to look for him. I?m?? She closed her eyes. ?I?m really sorry, Relena. I thought??

?That?s okay,? she replied quickly. ?What about Dororthy??

?No idea,? Une said. ?But rumor has it that she boarded a space transit to the Colonies. Given what Heero told me, we have no choice but to let her go.?

?What did Heero tell you, if you don?t mind my asking??

Une scoffed. ?Not nearly enough! Just that Dorothy was acting according to orders he?s been giving her, apparently since before she got involved with us, or Cole. I don?t know how far back their relationship goes on this particular mission. Duo said something about it being months, which meant he knew about Cole before we did. He also told us not to bother about that second mole in our operations. We apprehended Douglas Richmond the moment we had confirmation of the mission?s success, but apparently it was Heero who tipped Dorothy off that we were after her.? She shook her head in disbelief. ?Anyway, he made it clear that he?s not going to take orders from me now that the mission is complete, not that that is anything new. Heero has always operated alone on most accounts. He helps out when we need him and keeps in touch generally, but otherwise?.? She shrugged. ?He?s not even on the payroll. Did you know that? We pay him as a contractor. He charges more than anyone else here.?

Relena didn?t know what to say. She had known Heero operated alone. Most of the pilots did, actually, except Wufei, who was a permanent part of the Preventor force on Sally?s team. Trowa?s commitment seemed to be seasonal, Duo pitched in when he was in town, and Quatre wasn?t involved at all. Heero came in for special requests.

?Can I be excused now?? she asked.

Une let her go.

As Relena waited for her driver to take her home, she thought about what Dorothy had said about how Heero lived his life for her. She always knew he cared for her, and certainly he had tried to be considerate of her feelings. But what she suspected now was something that she had always feared?that it was the idea of her, and not the actual her, that Heero loved. What she meant to the world, and what she accomplished on behalf of the world, was what Heero wanted most to protect.

?But I won?t cry,? she said aloud to herself, staring at the buildings and the skyline that was familiar to her. ?I won?t.?

She knew she would, though, as soon as no one was around to see. Although what she did was important, and something she could never ever give up, she had also wanted someone in her life to understand and love her. Her work made her a politician. Her heritage made her a princess. Her critical acclaim made her a celebrity. She had just wanted to be a human being and a woman too. And both the human part of her and as the part of her that gave her life to the world loved Heero Yuy.

*****

Quatre had not expected to have a guest at his private villa in the Colonies, but he had quickly set the table and ordered dinner as well as champagne when he learned who was visiting.

Dorothy Catalonia arrived on his doorstep, without a retinue anywhere in sight, and asked to see him alone. He dismissed the servants and the guards immediately. He knew it was safe. Beyond his own intuition, Trowa had called him as soon as the mission team arrived back at headquarters to let him in on the news. He had been right about her, which was a relief. Although the details weren?t clear, it seemed that Dorothy had assisted the Preventor effort rather than betrayed it?she had just done so without their knowledge.

Dorothy looked refined in a dress. She wore white very well. It softened her features and brought out the gold highlights in her hair. Her dress had an airy, flowing linen skirt with a bodice and straps over her pale shoulders instead of sleeves. She dismissed his champagne and asked for red wine, which he provided at her request.

Over appetizers and cabernet, she had quite a story to tell him.

?I didn?t know you worked so closely with Heero,? Quatre confessed after they had been talking for a while, ?but I?m glad to hear that you?re on our side.?

?You were right in your assessment of me,? Dorothy said, her chin cupped in her hand, one elbow on the table. The way she said it made him think it had a great deal of significance to her. Quatre suspected it was a turning point for her, but he was as accustomed to his ability to understand people as she was to deceiving them, so he merely shrugged.

?Why did you do it?? Quatre asked. ?I can?t help but think you had a reason.?

?Well,? she said, ?Heero approached me, you know, but I was already aware of the situation. It was partly a coincidence that we were both monitoring Cole. Heero was aware of his obsession with Miss Relena. I was interested in his gundanium factory. We traded information, and that?s how it started.?

?Ah,? Quatre said, making an intuitive leap to what?to him?was an obvious conclusion. ?Because you hate war.?

She smiled. ?You might be the first to say that, but yes. I hate war. I also understand people like me who also hate it, but who will use it because they hate it, for the same misguided reasons that I did. Those people will hurt others in the process. Violence begets violence. Treize was right about that. It is a cycle that has always existed and always will. People can choose to change that, of course, as they have done under Miss Relena?s guidance, but there will always be deviants, and the more powerful weapons we have, and the easier technology makes using them, the more dangerous the world will become. That is why people like Heero and yourself are necessary. It is the same for me. I can?t stand that these factories exist, much less that they are owned by people like Cole. I wanted to do something about it. If Cole didn?t sell to me, who might he sell to? That thought kept me up at night. But, you know, I had to be careful.?

?I?ll bet,? he said. ?He wouldn?t sell it to you if he didn?t think you were trustworthy, and he wouldn?t think that unless you made him believe you and he had the same ideologies, or the same objectives. It was convenient, then, that you could play off your relationship with Miss Relena.?

?Precisely. Of course, Heero was absolutely against my telling her a thing about it.?

Quatre just shook his head. Of course not.

?But why didn?t you tell the Preventors?? he asked. ?They could have been helpful.?

?The best-kept secrets are those never shared,? she replied dismissively. ?Besides, Heero knew there were moles in the Preventor organization. We just didn?t know who, or how many. There?s always the possibility of information being leaked, even by those you trust. I stepped in to volunteer my services only when it became apparent that they would need us, and I had to do it through Cole, and with Heero?s compliance, which made the whole situation all the more precarious. Still, it was safer the fewer people there were to be concerned about.?

?I see. And now? From what I hear, your assistance in this case has been classified. Don?t you worry what that might mean for you??

She smiled. ?No. This is the way it had to be. Cole isn?t the only one out there to worry about. It is fortunate that my allegiances are still considered?ambiguous. I am equally trusted, or distrusted, by all sides. Only a handful of people really know what went wrong with Cole?s operation in Nevada. Those in doubt can be convinced that a crazy old coot like Cole was destined to fail, and that as his hired commanding officer, I did the only sane thing in aborting after his death and saving the lives of his men. After all, I got what I wanted, and held up my end of the deal until it was no longer viable to do so. No one else would do differently. As far as the world is concerned, that is all that happened.?

Quatre poured her another glass of wine. ?That?s amazing, Dorothy. You are a remarkable woman.?

She shrugged. ?It was an easy play. Cole?s aims were ridiculous from the beginning, and he is far too trusting of those he considers to be ?just like him,? people with money and a noble heritage and whatnot. But as you and I both know, there are others out there who are not so crazy, and they would be even more dangerous if certain conditions should arise. I can be useful to all of you, and Miss Relena especially, in dismantling any more threats of war that crop up during our lifetimes.? She smirked. ?After all, I?m now part of the privatized club that owns a weapons factory.?

?Sounds lonely,? Quatre sighed. ?I admire your pluck, but those people can?t be very kind. I would think you would find their company tiring, even if you are socializing with them for the good of the world.?

She smiled at him, blue eyes sparkling like aquamarines from across the table. ?Well, I suppose that?s true. But now that you mention it, you own one too, don?t you? The Winner family has always had a weapon?s factory. That makes you part of the club, and gives me ample reason to visit, if say, I thought I might be interested in buying it from you.?

?But I?m not selling!?

?Well,? she said, raising her glass to a toast, ?let?s just keep that between us.?






The End??







Author?s Notes:

Just kidding. It?s NOT over! I miscalculated how long the scenes would take (I believe I mentioned that as a possibility). Maybe this is kind of a weird stopping point, but it was 27 pages!!! That just seemed obnoxiously long. Mizaya was like ?holy crap? when I sent it to her for edits. Anyway, a final scene (epilogue) remains. It is already written and will be uploaded really soon! (Tuesday or Wednesday).

A note on Dorothy and Quatre: 4xD isn?t a preferred pairing of mine, but some people like it. I imagine them more as friends myself, but I left it open-ended, so it could really be anything. I also just really wanted to put Quatre in the fic more, and I needed Dorothy to explain herself to someone. It seemed to work!

Please review this part!

[ai]

I really was tricked into believing this was it! But I'm excited...I can't believe the end is coming so soon!!! I definitely didn't see Dorothy working for Heero, came as a complete shock. Anyway, more I say! Can't wait for more!

[Wingnut]

I still want to punch her or something for it all. That slash on the wrist had better at least leave a scar.

Seeing as you plan to have the epilogue up soon, I'll deliver final thoughts then.
Also, I don't mind 4xD if it's done in character like you did here.

[NafX]

*blinks*
Oh my ....
I can't believe we're getting to the end ...
I'm going to miss this one for sure ... it's been one of my absolute favourites!
As above, I think I 'll leave off until you have the epilogue up ...

I must say though, love how you're keeping us guessing right up to the final moment ... *laughs* ... well ... love it and hate it ...

Anyhow ... can't wait for the last bit ...
Cheers!
~Nat.

[matisleonhart]

WTF!!!

Oh my god that was Awesome! If there are any of you who want to start writing fan fic or have just started, You should all learn from Zapenstap example. This is how it done. I furthers my belief that you and our great leader Black Rose are the two best writers on this site.

[kandidy]

Brilliant work from you again!

I expected to see some romantic scene, but I will go to read the epilogue now, hooray!