"Delicate--5"

[Daniele_Marx]

Delicate?5
By
Daniele_Marx
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Standard disclaimer applies. This story is something to show A sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it?ll have worked. I have been extremely busy these past few weeks. Condensed version: Maid of Honor; Wisdom teeth will be taken out Monday; festivals; and finals. This installment is a conversation between the three Gundam Pilots involved. We?ll get Duo yet.
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He burst through the door with a new type of vigor; his adrenaline was pumping through his veins as his hands went to rest on his knees. It had taken so little effort to get him where he was standing, but he knew he needed to be here. He had no real choice but to be here. He was tired once again, but his body carried him the final three flights nonetheless. There was little the guy could do to keep his thoughts straight. Heero had told him there was some information to be relayed concerning the mission, and he needed to get there at seven a.m. exactly. He had a few minutes to spare to tell the truth, but it wouldn?t matter to them. He and Trowa were sadistic in that way.

When Duo appeared on the rooftop of Preventers? HQ in a panting state, he was not surprised to see Heero and Trowa glaring at him from the ledge. Again with the glaring, he thought.

?You?re late.?

?Uh-uh, I?m on time.? Fifteen minutes to reach the point where he was. Five god damn minutes to run up fifteen floors only to meet with these ugly mugs. ?You guys are here early just to make me look bad. So, why did you call us up here?? He wanted an explanation for getting dragged up the stairs of the last fifteen floors of HQ. The stairs started there because there were no conference rooms up top, nor were there office rooms. These rooms were made for the only purpose of holding prisoners. Apparently going up was tougher to understand for prisoners who where interrogated. It probably made them think they were being questioned in the presence of someone in an office room. They were blindfolded the entire time, so they weren?t told any different. There was one entrance; there was one exit throughout the entire section. There was one swerving, chaotic hallway which ran from the top to where the elevator was fifteen floors down. It was humorous to those who walked up and down those stairs only to find an elevator left behind or right in front of you; it makes you wonder if you missed the door.

That is, it?s funny if you?re not the one doing all of those steps. Duo knew now that there were twelve steps per flight, and two per level, for fifteen levels. Three hundred and sixty steps altogether. He had undergone worse, like basic training at age eight when he was commissioned to become a Gundam Pilot. Fourteen thousand stairs in a week. Unbelievable, but he had some strong legs to make up his speed. He had seen it all, the painful missions he had to overcome, the dislocated shoulders and legs, the broken noses he had to set himself?a broken nose was all he could stand to set alone.

?So, what?s the emergency??

?We?ve got some information on the organization.? Duo began to absorb the information as he had been trained to, not denying himself anything which concerned the operation. Heero leaned back against the ledge, crossing his arms as a front to what he really felt. ?They?re anarchists; they call themselves simply eighty-six. There?s a chance they didn?t care for?? Heero paused. He seemed to fight with his emotions about calling Relena by name. Perhaps it was one of the many things they had worked around in the past few weeks. ?..Relena?s balance of the system. There was nothing else which provoked their actions.?

Duo?s face was blank. Maybe it was too much, to believe that the world was either on one side or the other: Those who wanted peace and those who despised peace. There was no room for those who didn?t take sides, who dwelled on the negative insights and just wished for a little chaos. Hurting those who wished for a little peace and quiet was not right. His eyes were clouded by confusion and a twinge of anger.

?They want disorder? Is that it?? Heero nodded and the braided pilot?s face went blank once again. There was no way he could fathom those words. Anyone who had been through a war such as they had would have not understood. He grew up in a hateful world, knew the value of peace just as others who had worked with him. ?They entered a person?s home and attacked her, unprovoked??

They attacked Relena Darlian, the symbol of peace in their time of need, without a purpose?

?She?s walking around in stitches, nearly bled to death, and lost a child through force because some jerkwad wanted a good laugh?? He was beginning to redden with anger. There were unbidden emotions rising up; so that?s where that taste came from: A new type of disgust brought on by a new generation of horrors. ?We had to get that creepy Doctor J out of hiding for this? I was better off not knowing where the hell that guy was. And now she?s having weekly checkups from the craziest one of the bunch.

?Do I even want to know why he?s even here??

?He?s the one who tipped me off in the first place. Then I went to Une. I didn?t want him involved, but he found a way to stay inside the loop, and Une was okay with that. He?s merely here to stand by and make sure Relena has eyes on her at all times.? Heero?s explanation made a lot of sense, and it was a lot easier to hear than he was anticipating. He could live with an explanation like that.

?Why Duo, we thought you didn?t want to get involved,? said Trowa with a smirk. The man was not letting Duo get the better of any situation. They came here to personally corner him for the hell of it. Unfortunately, it was worth it and the need to make a difference was stronger yet.

?They need to be reminded. They don?t know how lucky they were to grow up in a world without war in their lives. Playing with lives like they did?? Duo fell silent, and then glanced away for a second before looking at his comrades with such passion which told them how he felt about the situation. He felt angry, horrified, disgusted, and saddened. He had spent much time with the injured woman, learning how she thought. What time they spent talking about everything merely amplified all of those emotions, and the two men before him knew it. ??without a purpose or message. That?s just wrong.?

That was another trigger for the man. They as Gundam Pilots grew up with a purpose, even if it was to go through with Operation: Meteor. But they had something to drive them, to motivate them into believing in a cause, to sacrifice for something or someone who made an impact on their lives.

?Would you kill one of them?? Trowa and Duo?s attention was drawn to Heero, and Duo knew what he wanted to say but what he was going to do was react logically. These people had no idea what it was like to fight for a reason. To kill one of them would mean killing someone who hadn?t been right in the head. Doing something like that would have been classified as wrong as well. Killing was not an option.

?No. I couldn?t kill an idiot.? Trowa glared at Duo, but it wasn?t the tough kind of glare he was used to when he said something, if anything, wrong or misleading. It was the empathic glare of a soldier who had seen too much to make the wrong decisions. They all understood what he said. Perhaps they were speaking of this before he appeared on that rooftop. A long moment passed; and then a small connection made itself known to Duo. Pieces of the puzzle began to sort through his mind. It was more of a revelation than a realization, but if it made sense to their cause, why should it matter?

The men who did this were supposed to be anarchists, but they didn?t act like anarchists. When they had staked out that night, it was within the first month that Heero and Relena had done the nasty. When they searched for files just before the attack, there were no files prior to that date on L3. She was in the L3 Colony Cluster at the time, but whether that made much of a difference was still to be seen. The thing was that the files weren?t dated before then. That meant probably two things: That it hadn?t been planned before that night or that it was meant to appear that way.

What were the chances of the first option being right??

?So, what you?re telling me is they had no reason to attack Relena.? Heero looked at Trowa, who then promptly nodded. ?Does that mean they just happened to stumble upon two people sleeping together, one the Peacecraft Princess and the other a gun-toting Gundam Pilot, on a random night in an untagged suite??

?Looks like we?ve got a mastermind on our hands,? said Trowa. ?Perhaps someone with a higher motive than the anarchists is guiding them, pointing them in the direction.?

?Either that or they aren?t anarchists at all.? Heero seemed less than enthused of the notion that they were merely innocent puppets controlled by a higher power. He wanted to believe that the person who attacked the woman in his life had a purpose of some kind, because he had never encountered such a person.

Imbeciles, they thought at once.

?And we?re sure there are no such terms as random and anarchy in the leader?s eyes??

?Only to those who have no clue as to what?s going on. If anything, the leader is organized and prepared to sacrifice the lives of others in order to accomplish a mission he had mapped out previously. We?ve seen this before.?

?Yeah.? Pawns on a battlefield, that?s what those men were who made the attack possible. The man in charge was just another Dekim or Colonel Une pre-enlightenment style. Sacrificing the lives of others was just as bad as attacking someone for no other purpose but to kill. The disgust on Trowa?s face reflected as they thought of the damage they could do.

?So, take out the mastermind and there?ll be chaos among the ranks. Is the security lax??

?Yeah.?

?And we?re sure it?s an anarchist group??

?All accept the leader and whoever is taking the precautions to make it look like one. We?ll need a hostage higher up in the ranks who knows the plan behind the leader.?

?Then what were we waiting for??

?You to be ready to join us.? Duo froze at Trowa?s words. The information stuck to his brain like gum to his ribs. Of course they made fun of him for being late and told him to meet them up here, up fifteen freaking flights of stairs, up three hundred and sixty steps in order to talk to him. Damn them and their tactics. Put him off guard by an early morning workout and tempt his anger. ?You didn?t think staying on the sidelines would make you feel better, did you??

?Staying out of trouble would?ve been the logical choice. You and Zechs only want to capture one of them?? Duo turned to see that Trowa too was curious as to what the plan was, and he turned his stare to the stern man.

?At first. Then we go to work on them. We make sure that they will never again feel the urge to cause pain without purpose, especially when the pain is directed to those who don?t deserve it.? His voice was tainted with a silent rage that begged to be released. Relena wouldn?t need to have her heart burdened anymore by such senselessness in men. They were no older than teenagers, and even they knew that she was more important than anything they ever imagined. They wanted their peace back, their minds free of such duty for even just a couple of hours so they could sleep at night. She could provide the peace they wanted; she was the proverbial security blanket they hid under when things got too rough. And they knew she needed them just as much as they needed her.

They couldn?t let her down.

?I?? Duo muttered. ??am such a sap for evening the score. When do we begin?? Heero glanced at his watch, taking little time in gathering his thoughts before looking at Duo again.

?Five minutes ago. A little after you showed up. It took a bit longer to explain the details of the mission, but the generals were over within twenty seconds. You, however, caved at thirty seconds.? There was a little disappointment in the man?s voice, and Duo quirked an eyebrow.

?Didn?t hold out as long as expected, did I??

?Longer.?

?Oh ye of little or no faith. Liars, the both of you.? When Trowa and Heero let a ghost of a smile cross their features, Duo knew it was the reaction he had been looking for. Those two were definitely loosening up. ?You know, your attitude has changed. Whatever you do, don?t lose her.? Heero?s face became serious as Duo said this, and he looked away in silent agreement. Duo let a smirk cross his face in amusement. ?We like you better when we know you?ve gotten some. Keep up the good work. You?re obviously doing something right.?

A muffled sound came from Trowa?s direction that sounded like choked laughter and Heero glared at the two abruptly; his face began to redden ever so slightly. But he took it, and Duo chuckled. ?Make us proud, buddy boy. We?ll need some good news around here after this.?

[Gundamkp]

Very good keep the work up.

Please post the next chapter as soon as possible

[Mellie]

good as always, keep it up! I enjoy reading this and the depth. There are tons of emotions...and it is very hard to resist the pull!

[Raspberry]

She said it!

You know I'm waiting for this story VERY impatiently, do you? Please post next part as soon as possible!

This chapter was really good! Now I know everything perfectly! And the little bit of humor at the end was BULLZ EYE to lighten up both characters and readers

Great job!