Slightly shorter chapt.
Hope you are enjoying it and finding the story catching enough.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own GUndam WIng.
Chapter III
If there was something that Relena had learned with the years, it was to be cautious when she visited the market place regardless of the hour. She had learned the hard way when she had been younger. There was a dark side in the market that was often hard to avoid if you were a child or young lady of no social status.
Mrs. McGreville was never very thrilled about sending her to do the pub's shopping, but sometimes it was unavoidable. With five new guests in the inn, restocking on supplies was a necessity.
"That should be enough. I shall better head back now and start on the evening supper…"
"Why the rush? It is still pretty early…"
Relena let out a tortuous sigh as an arm came to block her path. Thomas Harrington, the head of one of the many gangs that lurked around the boroughs of London. A mean that she personally found disgusting.
"It's still pretty early. I am sure your food could wait. Besides...I could give you more money and fun than that pathetic job of yours. Let's have some fun…"
"I am afraid you concept of fun and mine are far too distant." she replied bitterly and tried to pass over his extended arm.
"Then maybe I should teach you MY concept of fun…"he said near her ear as his hand moved dangerously down her back. The disgusting smell of alcohol from his breath making her sick.
"I am not interested of learning it…"
"I am just trying to make this pleasant for both...there's no need to make it harder."
"Like I said...I am not interested…"
"I heard your brother is out of the country...is not good for a woman to be on her own with out a man taking care of her…"
"I am perfectly fine on my own...now if you would excuse me."
Before she could react Thomas was already pinning her painfully against the wall. She could barely breathe with the pressure and the stench of his breath.
"Like I said….there's no need to make it the hard way…"
Relena tried to struggle, but her physical constitution was not useful. Thomas was a large man and strong. Force was certainly useless for her, but if she wanted to keep her dignity intact she needed to come up with a plan, and soon.
She felt his arm starting to raise her skirt and making use of his distraction, she raised her knee with all her strength and landed a straight hit into his crotch. Thomas let out a howl of pain and without thinking it twice Relena ran off as fast as she could. It wasn't long before she heard the shouts from Thomas lackeys behind her and as smart as she was, she was certainly in disadvantage.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she missed the group of horses that was riding across the street and made a direct impact against one of them.
"For God's sake woman! Look where you are running!" an angry and yet slightly familiar voice yelled at.
Relena raised her head from where she had fallen and found the black annoyed eyes of the the chinese guest known as Wufei.
"Dear heaven, are you alright Ms. Dorian?" a more gentle voice asked in concern, Quatre.
Well luck seemed to be on her side after all. Before she could come up with an answer she felt someone pulling her back at her feet. THe touch was strong but gently and she was surprised to find a pair of prussian eyes checking her for injuries.
"It is not very reasonable to be running blindly into a busy street, don't you think?" he said raising an eyebrow. She caught a subtle hint of amusement in his voice.
"Oh….it is reasonable when you are running away from a gang of inmoral men…"
"THERE SHE IS…"
Relena looked behind her in alarm and Heero saw her turn slightly pale. A group of men were heading their way, one of them seemed had an evident look of discomfort and pain as he ran.
"Friends of yours?"
"Well...it will depend of what you may call friends, sir." she replied with a hint of irony.
"You bloody dollymop (1)…."
"Woah easy, fella!" Duo interrupted jumping down his horse "watch your mouth in front of the lady…"
"So these are you regulars?" Thomas growled in angrily "so now you are greater horizontal (2)?"
"All right buddy...you're getting a little too rude now." Duo glared at him "show more respect, would you?"
"Hah...as if that dollymop deserved any kind of respect…"
"From where I stand, I don't see see why she shouldn't." Heero said glaring intensely at the offender making him halt a little.
He recovered enough to take a brave step at Heero, but before he could attempt anything a loud whistle cut the air. The metropolitan police must had heard the ruckus.
"You got lucky this time….tch." with that last remark, Thomas and his gang fled the place.
Relena let out a loud sigh as she dropped to the ground once more. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and all the recklessness and bravery she had felt minutes earlier were gone. She took a few minutes to composed herself and let her breathing calm down, but when she raised her face she found Heero kneeling in front of her with quizzical look.
"Thank you…"she said in a whisper and she nodded.
"Geez what rude fella…." Duo said annoyed "Men like him put our genre in a bad position, I tell you. He didn't do anything bad to you, did he, missy?"
"No, but perhaps I should have used a little more strength when I kicked him. I didn't expect him to be able to run..."
Duo stared at her dumbfounded and she shrugged. Suddenly the braided man brust into a loud laugh accompanied by s soft snicker from the other men on their horses.
"You are one special lady…."
"What can I say, I can be bricky girl sometimes…"
"Well. good thing you're not hurt, missy. Need a ride?"
"Wouldn't want to interrupt your little stroll …"
"Hardly. We were heading back, anyway." Heero replied offering her his hand, which she accepted.
"So….where do we start?" Duo asked staring at his companions "For all we know, the target, if she's indeed alive, could be anywhere."
"According to the information given, they are convinced she is in London." Trowa said "Whether this information is trustworthy or not, we don't know, but it is a lead."
"And there is no point looking around Sanc. The place no longer exists…" Wufei added.
"We should question the head of the Peacecraft household. He was the one who reveled the target's fate, so we might get valuable information from him." Heero said matter of factly "Quatre and Trowa , you two handle that."
"Very well, Heero…"
"What about us?" Duo asked.
"I will take a look in the police archives to see if I can find anything useful."Wufei replied.
"In the meantime we will review the information that the royals provided us." Heero added.
"Ah...why did I get to do the boring part? Have you seen the size of that book?"
"Take it as a chance to broaden your knowledge, Duo." Quatre suggested.
"I doubt he can learn anything else…" Wufei mumbled.
"I heard that !"
Duo was about to start at Wufei, but beside he could get over the table a hand held a plate with a warm piece apple tart in front of his face.
"We didn't order that…" Trowa observed.
"I know…" Relena replied with faint smile as she set the rest of the plates and a cup of tea for each man "it's a token of gratitude. It's the only thing I can offer…"
"You didn't have to…" Heero stated.
"And yet my conscience would have never given me peace if I didn't."
"Thank you miss Dorian." Quatre smiled.
"So it seems my assumption was correct after all…" she said tilting her head as she stared the buncho of papers on the table.
"What assumption?" Trowa asked curiously.
"You are not here for the views…" she smiled as she walked away.
The five men stared at her back slightly shocked.
"I agree with you Duo… she's definitely Heero's type…" Quatre chuckled.
(1) Dollymop: an amateur or part-time prostitute
(2)great horizontal : high-class prostitute to the rich
(3) Bricky: brave