Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to someone else so remember to give credit where credit is due. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

Danger Unfolding

Everyone rushing towards the car their direction changed when one of the uniforms who had already arrived on scene called out that he'd found someone. Hurrying over they encircled the woman who was laying on the ground while one of the uniforms looked her over to gauge the severity of her injuries. Her long black hair spilled out all around her like a fan, her clothing black and civilian. Elbowing his way to the front Heero kneeled down beside the girl and took her hand, searching for a pulse, finding it strong and steady. "Alexis! Alexis, talk to me!"

Eyelashes fluttering, as though she'd only been waiting for his voice, the eyes opened to half mast, zeroing in on Heero's face like a life support. "She...she flew in that direction." Alexis managed to get out, lifting her other bloodied hand to point in the direction she'd seen the girl fly before the blast had reached her. "She wasn't in the car...she might have survived. Short range boomer. At least that would be my..guess...I didn't fly...very far." She added with a faint smirk before her eyes fluttered closed again.

Soldiers, headed by Trowa ran over to the direction the girl had pointed, the woman's words ringing in their ears. She MIGHT have survived. Everyone knew how much Maia meant to Lady Une, it was questionable whether the woman could survive losing her daughter too. Lady Une was the heart of Preventers and Maia was Lady Une's heart. Finally a soldier gave a shout and Milliardo and Trowa headed over to where a soldier was struggling to lift a large piece of what had once been the side of a vehicle. A pale arm and shoulder was visible underneath the twisted metal. Working together the three men managed to heave it off and shouting for medics Trowa dropped to his knees to check the extent of the damage. It was bad, but she was still breathing, Trowa thought as he felt for a pulse, finding it weak and thready. But it was there. Taking her limp hand in his he began talking to her quietly, encouraging her to hang on and fight as the medics came over to carefully transfer her onto the stretcher. Not letting her hand go Trowa watched as Lady Une broke through the crowd to run to the other side, taking Maia's other hand in hers. Together they followed the stretcher to the other ambulance that was waiting, Trowa letting go as Lady Une got into the back with her daughter. He'd follow along with the others.

"Where's Heero?" Trinity wanted to know, Duo at her side as they rejoined the others to watch Maia's ambulance roll away. She and Duo had been in charge of overseeing the dismantling of the bomb on Milliardo's Jaguar. It had been a simple, deadly short rang bomb that was designed to take out the vehicle and all the vehicles around it. Anyone in the car at the time of detonation would be killed instantly with anyone nearby suffering severe to fatal injury.

"He went in the ambulance with the girl that called him to give him the heads up. She should be fine." Quatre told them, filling them in on what had happened.

After ordering guards to immediately be dispatched to the hospital to guard Maia and this unknown Alexis Trowa walked over to where Milliardo was staring at the debris that was left from what had once been Maia's car. "Any ideas?" Trowa asked, knowing he didn't need to explain himself further.

"I'm trying but I can't think of anything that would include Maia." Milliardo said softly, shaking his head. That could have been him, he thought to himself. If this other woman hadn't called to warn them he might have gone to his vehicle and been blown to smithereens. It was a sobering thought. "I've done a lot of things that would be deserving of getting blown to hell but for it to be just Maia and I makes no sense. We don't work together and if it was an attack against Preventers Relena and Quatre would have been better choices than me. If it was aimed at Lady Une then why include me?"

"So right now it's up in the air as to why this happened." Trowa said as his eyes scanned the wreckage, thinking that they would only have found pieces if Maia had been in the car at the time of impact. If that phone call hadn't come... Anger welling up Trowa knew that if the people responsible had been there he would have snapped their necks like twigs. Maia wasn't like them. She was sweet and innocent. This wasn't supposed to happen to someone like her. He'd fought so that things like this didn't happen to good people like Maia who spent their life helping others. Whoever had done this would pay and pay dearly.

"Looks like it's bodyguards and protective custody for me until we find out what's going on. Maybe if we're lucky that informant of Heero's will know what's going on." Shoving his hands into his pockets Milliardo turned as the others called them over. "I'll call Noin and Wufei to fill them in on the way."

"I'll have a squad sent in here to check all the other cars and the building for bombs." Trowa replied as they walked over to join their friends who hollered over that Quatre had called for a limo to pick them all up and transport them to the hospital.

"I've already sent a team to gather the security tapes to see what they can find out." Duo called out, having overheard what Trowa had said. "We're going to find these bastards and heaven help them when we do."

"It was professionally done, there's no way some amateur could get past all of our security. Plus from the looks of it they used high quality, expensive stuff. These bombers do not suffer from money problems." Trinity said with a disgusted look towards the wreckage. "Just enough to take out the target and anyone close to them."

On the phone Milliardo quickly outlined what had happened for Noin and then gave her the name of the hospital where Maia had been taken. Hanging up he stuffed the cell phone back into his jacket pocket. "Wufei and Noin will be there as soon as they drop the kids off at their neighbor's house."

"We should all head to the front to wait for the car." Quatre piped up and nodding everyone headed for the elevator. The sooner they got to talk to Heero's informant the sooner they'd hopefully have more answers.

Arriving at the hospital they found Heero pacing along a hallway, his hands jammed in his pockets looking very stressed out. Turning his head when he saw them coming he walked towards them. "Any word on who we're dealing with?" He demanded to know before anyone had time to ask him the status of either patient.

"Nothing yet. How are they?" Duo asked quickly, his fear and worry plain on his usually grinning face.

"Maia's in surgery, the doctor said it will take a few hours and that there's internal bleeding to deal with. He gave her fifty fifty odds at best. Alexis is having a C.A.T. scan and other tests being done to determine if there's any internal damage they need to worry about besides three broken ribs and a broken arm."

"So who is this Alexis?" Trinity wanted to know, having never heard Heero mention her before. They were partners after all and she should know the names of all his informants. Why had he held this one back from her, Trinity wondered, biting back the hurt. She'd thought they were closer than that.

"An old friend." Heero said after a moment, friend being the best he could come up with on the spot. He'd prefer not to introduce her the way she was bound to introduce herself once she woke up unless he told her not to first. Then again if Wufei saw her the gig was up anyway. His friend had a great memory for faces and names.

"Where's Lady Une?" Milliardo asked, not seeing Maia's mother anywhere. Now was not a good time for Anna to be alone without someone.

"She's in a special waiting room. Relena came straight from a meeting and is sitting with her now. There wasn't anything I could do so I came down here to check on our other patient and wait for Katya to call me back."

"Katya?" Trowa repeated, a questioning look on his face.

"Alexis's mother. She'd have my liver on a deep fryer if Alexis was hurt and I didn't call her. She was in an important meeting and couldn't be disturbed so I had to leave a message to call me back with her personal secretary." Heero said as his fingers fingered the phone in his pocket. "She's not going to be pleased about this."

"Would she know what her daughter was doing here?" Milliardo wanted to know. It sounded like this Alexis would recover but the sooner they knew what was going on the sooner they could correct it.

"I'll ask when she calls back but it's not likely. Otherwise she'd be calling me as well to let me know what was going on and offer any assistance I might need."

"What kind of assistance could she give?" Quatre wanted to know. "Does she work for the government too."

"The Russian mob actually."

"Oh." Quatre said with a frown. "Then we could be dealing with the mob here?"

"Not the Russian one." Heero said with a shake of his dark head. "Even knowing the fact that Peacecraft and I don't get along she'd never allow a hit on either him or Maia. At least not without giving me a heads up first."

His phone going off on cue Heero pulled it out and putting the phone to his ear began talking in perfect Russian, the call short and to the point as he relayed everything Alexis had said, what had happened and the extent of Alexis's injuries. Finally hanging up he returned the phone to his pocket. "She doesn't know what it's about but she'll put out feelers to find out who nearly blew up her only daughter. She's not a happy czarina."

"In other words if she finds out who did this they won't be living very long." Duo summed up with a knowing look. While the Russian mob wasn't the most feared mob in the world they were known for getting the job done when it came to dealing with their enemies.

"That goes without saying. Especially if her brothers get involved."

"I didn't know you spoke fluent Russian." Trinity said quietly as her eyes drilled into her partner's who wasn't sure why his partner was looking at him like she wanted to kick his ass. What had he done, Heero wondered as she went on to ask if Alexis had taught him to speak it.

"No, her father did." Heero answered, frowning slightly since he had no idea what his speaking Russian had to do with their current situation.

"Should we be worried about him getting in our way when we go after the bad guys too?" Quatre wanted to know. As much as he wanted to see the men responsible dead for this he was too much the pacifist not to see that that wasn't what needed to be done. They needed to be tried and put away where they couldn't hurt anyone ever again.

"He's dead."

"Well I'm going to go sit with Anna and Relena." Milliardo put in before this little match between a clueless Heero and a peeved off Trinity continued. The stupid idiot wouldn't know jealousy if it whacked him over the head in this case. A whack to the head was quite possible too given the mood Trinity was in.

"I'll go with you." Quatre added, not wanting to be here either if a fight broke out. Trinity could be pretty violent, especially when it came to Heero who was amazingly clueless as to his partner's feelings for him.

The two heading out the others soon sat down to wait for news, Duo playing mediator between the two partners. Finally an hour later a doctor came into the area asking for a Heero Yuy. Standing up Heero came forward with the others crowding around behind him.

"Mr. Yuy?" The doctor asked, waiting for Heero's nod before continuing. "I need you to come with me. My patient is conscious and is refusing further medical treatment until she speaks with you. She's surprisingly...spry considering what she'd been through. If you could come with me please?"

"Could they come as well?" Heero asked, motioning to the others.

"One other person, that's it." The doctor said with a frown. Military, he thought with a shake of his head. Always going everywhere in numbers, expecting their every order to be obeyed, even by civilians.

"Trowa?" Heero said questioningly, Trowa nodding in answer. Together the two men left the others and followed the doctor to the elevator, going up a couple of floors before arriving at the correct one. Pleased to see guards around the door, one in the room Heero and Trowa walked in, ordering everyone out but them as they approached the bed.

She was about five foot nine, with waist length black hair and well tanned skin. She looked to be around 115 pounds and was rounded in all the right places as Duo would put it, Trowa thought with a faint smirk as they made their way over to stand beside her hospital bed. The eyes flashing open to reveal startling green eyes Trowa could see the pain carefully banked, completely under control as her eyes went from Heero's to his than back to Heero.

"Did she make it?" She asked, her voice husky and tinged with a faint accent.

"She's in surgery, it could go either way. Do you know why she and Milliardo were targeted?" Heero asked, reaching over to take her hand in his, squeezing it encouragingly.

Nodding her head her eyes moved to confirm there was no one else in the room before she answered. "Apparently some dangerous people think the two overheard something they shouldn't have at the embassy ball a week ago."

"If they had they would have told us." Trowa said bluntly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I said they were dangerous, I don't now about terribly bright." Was her smart response. "The bad guys weren't even sure if they... heard anything apparently, they just...couldn't risk the chance. As it was it was stupid of them... to hit them both at the same time." As the granddaughter of a major head of the Russian mob she knew more than her fair share on how to get away with taking someone out. This job had been sloppy and quick, not at all well thought out. "I don't have the names...of the people responsible..but they used Emura as the negotiator. The bomber's name..is Conan Boothe."

"Then we'll go after them and you let the doctors dope you up so that you can get better." Heero said as he let her hand go gently.

"That's rich...coming from you." Was her response, a faint smirk on her face.

"Very funny." Heero shot back and saying a quick good bye he and Trowa headed out to leave the doctors to their work. They found the others crowded into the VIP waiting room, a lot of pacing and cursing going on as they waited for word. Briefing everyone on the latest development soldiers were dispatched to locate and arrest the individuals mentioned. Hopefully they'd have the answers they needed.

Hours later the doctor finally came out, everyone who wasn't on their feet getting to them. "She survived the surgery." The doctor began, smiling slightly at the reaction that caused as people hugged or in the case of two very sober looking soldiers actual smiles. "We nearly lost her on the table a few times but she's a fighter and I think she has a good chance. She's going to be here for a while though. We've corrected the internal bleeding and repaired the damage done to her spine, she'll need at least one more surgery tomorrow when her body has had a chance to heal a little more. She suffered some bad burns but we're taking care of that right now."

"You said there was damage to her spine...will she be able to walk?" Lady Une asked, holding Relena's hand in a death grip.

"We believe so, yes." The doctor replied with a nod. "Her right hand was damaged in several places, her mobility and use of it might be permanently compromised. We'll know more once she's awake and lucid. As for the other patient I'm told she needs to be kept for the next forty eight hours for observation and then she can be released."

"She's to be under observation at all times. Soldiers will be posted on rotation at her and the other patient's door and in the room. No one will be allowed access to them without the proper identification. One of us will be in the room with Maia at all times including during surgery and testing." Trowa informed the doctor rather than asked, his eyes conveying that questioning him wasn't an option. They were hard, emotionless pits and they promised hell if crossed.

"Lucky for the both of us the surgery tomorrow will be a relatively minor one. I can allow one of you to observe. I take it this is classified information and all the medical records of both these patients are going to be sealed?" The doctor asked dryly, not really needing an answer. They didn't have much cause to deal with Preventers soldiers but when they did there was always complications of some sort.

"Yes." Lady Une answered as she moved forward, holding out her hand to the doctor who returned her firm handshake. "Thank you for saving my daughter's life."

"She saved herself. That's a fighter if I ever saw one." The doctor said with a wink before nodding good bye to go explain to the director why the hospital was going to be overrun with Preventers soldiers.

Three hours later the word came in that Conan Boothe's body had been recovered from the trunk of an abandoned vehicle. His throat was cleanly slit and there was no sign of defense wounds. Apparently someone hadn't appreciated his failed attempt to eliminate his targets.