Disclaimer: I Don't Own Gundam Wing!

Ch. 2 Enter Lady Death

H-

Returning to school didn't bother Heero.

It was putting up with some of the students that somewhat irritated him. Although he did his best at dissuading them from getting too close, they continued to follow and hang around him. He learned to bear it, even if he didn't agree with their praising of himself. Other than that he enjoyed his time at Saint Gabriel's.

Heero tended to escape to the school roof since it was rarely used because it was too cold and windy for some of the students.

For now he just focused on getting through the day. His whole morning was circled on people asking about how his trip went and about his father's annual political gala. The gala was known to be a very big event for some of the major politicians and leaders of other nations. For those that were close to his father and himself the gala would also be used to celebrate his birthday, despite his protest.

Heero had already gone over the guest list but the ones he truly wanted to be there were the few undercover rebel leaders who would exchange information while the festivities commenced.

As he walked the hallways of the school towards his final class the afternoon soon materialized through the arched windows and illuminated everyone it touched. With his mind partially distracted by the upcoming events of the gala he almost didn't notice the one face that he had never expected to see again. Gold blonde hair passed by him.

'That can't be…' Heero started turning around until he was pulled back to the direction he was going.

He sharply turned his head toward the person grabbing his wrist.

"Oh common Heero you're already at the school don't think about ditching class now. You've had plenty of time to relax up there in space any way," said an energetic student with brown hair.

Heero pulled his wrist out of the boys grasp and looked back. The crowed of students had thinned only a few stragglers were rushing to their classes.

He turned his gaze back at the boy waiting for him.

"Don't concern yourself with my affairs Maxwell," Heero continued on to his class.

"Just trying to look after you buddy, don't want that attendance record of yours to crumble," he laughed.

The two entered their class and a few heads turned, Heero did his best to politely ignore them. He sat close to the middle but far enough in the back so that it didn't allow his fellow students from watching him anymore than they already did. Maxwell however enjoyed pulling the attention, which is one thing Heero did appreciate.

As he took his seat his teacher walked in followed closely by blonde headed girl.

He recognized the girl from another class and she held no interest to him. However their teacher was scanning the rows of students until her eyes rested on him and her face relaxed. Heero narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Ms. Darlian! Thank goodness we thought we lost you!" the teacher smiled warmly.

The girl next to Heero stood up and began walking down the aisle to the teacher, Heero's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

She smiled shyly at the teacher, "Please forgive me. I got separated from Ms. Amy by the rush out there in the hallways. I fortunately remembered the classroom's number."

"That's alright we've got an impressive amount of students at Saint Gabriel's Academy, thank you Amy you may go to your class now," Amy nodded and smiled at the new student while walking away.

"Class today I will introduce a new student, Ms. Relena Darlian."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," she smiled with her hands folded gently in front of her.

"You may return to the desk you were occupying Ms. Relena," said the teacher.

"Thank you," she bowed her head slightly and walked back to her seat.

Heero watched her as she made her way back to her seat and while the class progressed he occasionally gave her sidelong glances. He had no doubt in his mind that she was the same girl that was washed up at the beach. He rarely forgot a face, even if he wanted to forget the faces he'd seen.

She on the other hand watched passively at the teacher, never acknowledging his presence.

'Why is she here?' he wondered.

His mind searched for a possible explanation of why she would be here but it all came to one conclusion. Heero knew every student that attended Saint Gabriel's. Hiding away at school was fine and secure, a move he would've done himself . . . if he was on a mission. So his question wasn't why she was attending this school but for what reason did she stay?

By the end of class she walked briskly away, smiling warmly and greeting anyone that said hello. Heero didn't make any attempts to follow her but he would be keeping an eye on Relena as soon as he discovered her routine.

He decided to head for the roof of the school again to clear his head before going home, he had more work to do their then he did at school and now adding to the load was his concern over Relena Darlian. But as soon as he opened the roof's door he immediately noticed another student leaning against the railing. Relena stood still her school dress and waist long hair billowed in the wind. He stood silent for a second making sure there was no one else lounging on the deck and then walked up to her.

Relena's dark aqua eyes met his cold blue ones, but she gave him a small smile nonetheless. Heero knew the only way to learn of Relena's motives would require him to spend time with her. So he causally removed one of his father's invitations and handed it to Relena.

"My father's throwing a gala in two days and I can invite a few people for my birthday, attend if you wish," he said.

He then moved to leave and ambled to the door when he heard a ripping sound. Heero glanced back and saw his invitation fly across the roof of the school. He looked at Relena with an impassive face as she walked passed him.

"I'll kill you," she said quietly and continued to the door, leaving him alone.

"We'll see," he replied.

N-

"So there are two of those mobile suits now Lieutenant?"

"In total there are five, and it appears they've destroyed multiple Alliance bases. We should count ourselves lucky since we survived an encounter with a Gundam," responded Noin.

She had reported the events with the Gundam she faced to Colonel Treize. Four days had passed and now she was heading for a submarine that was under her command. Noin was to assist the Marina Mother ship in attaining the Gundam, or at least convince them to allow her to help.

As they flew across the ocean with their destination closing in Noin's thoughts shifted from the pilot of the fallen Gundam to the other four pilots that were still active.

'Recovering and analyzing this Gundam could help us determine any weaknesses they might have, capturing a live pilot would be just as important," she rationalized.

Noin didn't even wait for the rotors to stop spinning as they landed and she promptly made it into the submarine. She quickly contacted the Marina Mother ship once her sub was on its way and offered her Pisces and Cancer mobile suits to them, but in exchange they would help with repairs to her submarine.

"But Lieutenant, the subs in perfect order," said her sonar reader.

"I know but the Marina wouldn't accept my help if I just offered normally, they do want the credit after all. What's more appealing to them is that I'm using our resources and not theirs," she explained.

The Marina responded and accepted her offer so Noin dispatched two Pisces and one Cancer. It didn't take her sonar reader long to locate the fallen Gundam.

"Lieutenant, I have the coordinates of the Gundam I'll go ahead and send them to the Pisces and Cancer," he said.

"Go ahead," said Noin.

She wanted to finish this as fast and efficiently as she could so they wouldn't be running around like chickens trying to figure out the weaknesses of these new mobile suits.

"Sir I've detected mobile suits being deployed from the Marina," he alerted her.

"The Marina's captain caught on a lot quicker than I expected," she looked over at the radar, "no matter just tell the-"

But she was caught off as the radar registered a disturbance.

"An explosion," she said slightly surprised.

"A few suits have been destroyed around the same area we are in now," said the soldier as the radar showed more detonations going off.

Noin gave orders to stop the engines of the submarine but to let the Pisces's and Cancer continue with extreme caution.

'What's going on?' she thought hastily.

Although it didn't take long for the situation to get more complicated. The captain of the Marina must have panicked about the enemy destroying his suits and launched a torpedo assault uncaring of the fact that she and her men were in the crossfire. Noin could only warn her crew and brace herself as the torpedoes went off around her.

'Damn that foolish Captain,' Noin cursed internally.

"What's going on Lieutenant?" asked one of Noin's men in the Pisces's, appearing concerned over all the explosions being registered on his radar.

"It's alright continue on with retrieving that mobile suit but be careful whatever destroyed the Marina's suits could still be out there," she warned.

"Roger that," saluted the soldier.

HS-

Hilde Schbeiker wasn't too fond of taking the life of her opponents but eventually came to terms with it. She looked over the surrounding chaos. Ships were burning or completely in tatters, she wasn't picking up anymore nearby.

"Sorry guys but anyone that sees me has to die," she said solemnly, "not like my apologies matter to you anyway," she sighed.

'Now let's see what they were doing here Deathscythe,' and she plunged back underwater.

Hilde detected four mobiles suits right below her and so dispatched a small flare bomb. As soon as it went off she attacked cutting straight threw the two Pisces like they were wet pieces of paper instead of being forged of metal. She faced the Cancer who was now alone.

It was faster than she thought and was able to get a hold on Deathscythe's head, bombarding it with its missiles. When the Cancer released her thinking it had won she launched her beam scissors at the Cancer which demolished it instantly.

Hilde scanned for the fourth suit that was still registering in her radar and found it lying on the ocean floor and noticed that it had activated its self-detonation system.

"Hmm, this suit looks exactly like mine. And if it's a similar model then that means the self-detonation system switch should hopefully be right about . . . here," she turned off the system by attaching her scythe on the back area of the fallen suit. Hilde pulled the suits arm around Deathscythe's shoulders and grabbed hold onto its waist.

"Might as well keep it for spare parts," she smirked satisfied and headed for land.

TB-

"So you want to join the circus huh?" said the Ringmaster.

The girl had randomly requested an audience with his boss and right in the middle of a show. But for whatever reason the Ringmaster had agreed to meet her. Trowa knew it wouldn't be easy for her to be accepted in so quickly into the circus. The Ringmaster took his job seriously and did everything he could for the wellbeing of his employees.

'The circus really was like a family,' thought Trowa.

He was leaning the right side of his body on the wooden crate watching the show through an open curtain, but to his left were the strange girl and his employer. He maintained a good distance away so as not to interfere with the "interview."

"Do you have any experience?" questioned the Ringmaster. She held up what looked to be a resume and he looked over it.

"This doesn't tell me anything," said his boss.

The girl then looked directly at Trowa.

"Stay still," she ordered with a warning in her voice and swiftly threw a dagger at him.

He remained in his relaxed pose but stood still as the dagger embedded itself deeply in the crate close to his face. The Ringmaster, and the lion keeper that had been close by, were utterly baffled.

The girl drew out four more daggers and threw each one at him individually.

The second dagger landed behind his neck, the third near his chest, the fourth next to his knee, and the last in front of his throat. Trowa had seen knife throwers before but none so daring as this girl had been. The Ringmaster hired her and she smiled thankfully at him.

However unaware to the circus crew she had brought along her special cargo, hidden in the forest under snow and a camouflaged tarp laid her Gundam Heavyarms.

R-

Jumping out of Wing Zero before it hit the water was necessary on her part if she wanted to survive.

'Even though it felt like she smashed herself against concrete,' she grimaced at the memory. But it had left her with the problem of preventing the Alliance from getting Wing Zero.

'I won't have to worry about that anymore though,' she thought.

During the past two days she had attained three torpedoes from a nearby base armory that she planned to use to activate her Gundam's self-detonation system. Once that was out of the way Relena could continue on with her mission as best as she could without her mobile suit.

Presently she was driving the ambulance she had stolen and heading to the local military marine base to launch them. It was late and the evening sky was already surfacing. Relena rushed down the almost empty highway and for a moment she thought of Heero's party. She had heard plenty about him on her first day at the academy.

She had been well received by the other students at Saint Gabriel's. While on her mission to acquire her three missiles and maintain a low profile, she had also been cheerful and kind to everyone she spoke with. Her ability to connect with people was surprising to some but greatly admired.

And it was because of her interpersonal skills that she heard most about Heero Yuy. He was praised by girls and boys alike for his looks, intelligence, and his athleticism. The fact that interested her most was that he was the son of Vice Foreign Minister Odin Lowe, known for his support and promotion of pacifism. Relena did not want to kill Heero and cause more grief then she needed to, but if he prodded any further she would have no choice. That's why she had refused his invitation. She wanted him to keep his distance from her.

"He's probably enjoying his father's gala and forgotten all about me," she mused.

'Wait why am I thinking about him at all?' Relena scolded herself and focused on her present mission. On her way she signaled and passed by a black car with three men in it that had gone a little too slow for her taste and went straight for the base.

H-

The Gala was boisterous as intended and the guest had greeted their host and his son warmly. The festivities were being held in his father's back yard which had been diligently prepared for the occasion by the staff and himself. The roman pillars were cleaned along with the marble porch. He had helped the landscapers rebuild a section of the garden wall and coax the garden to bloom vibrant and numerous flowers. And the grand fountain with a seahorse on each side was cleaned, but still a few flower petals managed to fall in.

The sun had finally faded and the lights on the fountain had turned on. His father's secretary recommended using outdoor lanterns to completely light the party instead of their porch lights. And the guest loved it. He knew the majority of the people attending this event were supporters of pacifism, while others had been invited solely because of social politeness.

The only significant attendants Heero wanted to see at the moment was the remaining rebel leader. He had already spoken with all of them he was just waiting for one more group to appear.

"Heero," he looked up from the stone fountain and saw one of their oldest personal attendants and his former care giver stand at the entrance of the garden.

"The last guests have arrived," she said.

"Thank you Mrs. Penelope," he said and made to pass her.

"You make sure they don't waste any more time now. I want this war over with before I keel over and die," she huffed.

Heero quenched the urge to smirk behind his calm mask and nodded at the elderly woman. On the way to his father's study room he had to pass a throng of guest some just wishing him a happy birthday while others tried to stop him to chat. Heero managed to untangle himself from the crowd and into his house, taking quick strides until he finally reached his father's study room.

"There you are Heero! How have you been?" said one of the men, the leader of one of his father's rebel factions from the south pacific.

"Fine," he responded. The men laughed knowing he spoke very little to everyone. They lounged in their chairs while his father sat behind his desk.

"Well sorry we couldn't get hear any faster. We were distracted by this strange girl driving an ambulance, she didn't look any older than you," he chuckled and so did Odin, but Heero didn't.

"Where was she heading?" he demanded. Odin and his men stared at him bewildered by his sudden change of mood.

"Well she looked like she was heading for the military port," offered one of the rebel leader's guards.

"Excuse me," he said and rushed towards the garage. He was sure that the girl driving the ambulance could be no one but Relena.

'What are you planning to do?' he thought.

R-

The military base was thrown into chaos. Soldiers were trying to control the fires from spreading across the base and save their fellow comrades that were affected by the explosions. The concern for saving human life and maintaining the buildings gave Relena the advantage she needed to take out her Gundam.

'The wonders a few well-placed bombs could do,' she thought grimly and prepared her torpedoes to be lowered into the water.

Relena had taken control over the ship because she needed to use the crane for her torpedoes. She used a sleeping grenade she had concocted herself instead of killing off all the soldiers and risking damage to the ship by using a normal grenade. It was more effective than any other sleeping gas.

"Relena!" she frowned knowing that voice well enough. She looked behind her shoulder and saw Heero Yuy in a tuxedo with a tie step off the dock and onto the surface of the ship.

"So it is you," he said.

H-

"What are you doing Relena?" he asked but she returned her attention to the screen in front of her. As he approached her he noticed the torpedoes lifted on the side of the ship. She continued working and ignoring him.

"Relena what are you going to do with those torpedoes," although he sounded monotone it was clearly a demand. He now stood a few feet behind her.

"Heero," she turned her head to look back at him and for the first time he saw sadness and regret touch her features, especially her eyes. She instantly turned and trained her gun on him. He narrowed his eyes and cursed himself for not having his drawn while her back was turned.

"You should've stayed away" her face hardened along with her eyes.

"See you later, Heero." The sound of a gunshot resonated around them but it didn't come from Relena's gun.

"Well guess I made it just on time? Are you okay mister?" asked a black pixie haired girl. Her gun was drawn and was still aimed at Relena.

Relena's right arm was bleeding steadily as Heero instinctively went over to her kneeling form, much to the confusion of the shooter, and reached for her bleeding arm. But Relena jumped hurriedly to her left and reached for her gun, only for a second shot to scrape above her right knee.

"Really? You're going to die a lot faster if you overdo it," stated the shooter.

Heero saw Relena scowl and try to stand but she kneeled again. It was then that he blocked the other girl firing range by standing in front of Relena.

"Enough!" he yelled and the black haired girl was taken aback by his actions. Heero turned and began taking care of Relena's injuries. He had taken off and ripped his tuxedo's jacket to substitute as bandages.

"Great, how did I end up being the bad guy?" he overheard the shooter say.

As Heero stood, now finished with bandaging Relena, he picked up something upon the horizon. It appeared to be two mobile suits coming towards them. However his observation was noticed and the shooter pulled out a flare stick and he grimaced while covering his eyes.

"Hey buddy if you want to live a little longer I suggest you get out of here." She said, still holding the burning flare stick. While the girl was briefly distracted by him, Relena took the opportunity to run the short distance to her torpedoes.

"Are you crazy!?" said the girl as she shot at Relena again. But Relena had already jumped on top of the torpedoes.

"It's my mobile suit!" Relena exclaimed.

He saw Relena slam her fist on the torpedoes activation monitor causing them to launch forward, throwing Relena off. The torpedoes briskly met their target causing both Heero and the nameless girl to shield their eyes until the blasting light had receded. When he was able to look up the horizon was still settling from the blast but both mobile suits were gone.

"Dammit!" screamed the girl.

The girl looked at Relena who was now unconscious and floating on her back in the water. Heero overheard the girl curse once again and say that Relena knew gundanium's impact tolerance.

"She's the damn pilot," she huffed angrily.

Heero merrily stared at her and Relena. Finally having a grasp about who Relena really was, but feeling as if he didn't know the gravity of their situation.

A/N: Updated version of 2. I can't tell you how much editing I had to do! But I'm really happy of how much I've improved, thanks for reading!