Chapter 7: Dark Business
Heero walked down the halls of an office building, ignoring employees who tried to stop him.
The elevator was empty, even though on every floor there were usually people waiting to use it. One look at the occupant of the elevator quickly made them change their minds and wait for the second and third elevators to arrive, no matter how packed they may be.
When he reached a secretary who sat before a large set of doors on the top floor, she winced in fear before motioning for him to go ahead.
He ignored her as he walked in and stared icily at the light-haired man sitting behind a desk.
The man seemed un-phased by Heero's glare as he smiled at him, motioning for Heero to approach the desk. "I must admit, Mr. Yuy… you had me a bit worried for a while there."
Heero kept his silence as the man chuckled.
"Now, now… you shouldn't look so sullen. I have kept my end of the bargain so far. Just be warned, Mr. Yuy: you had better remember your place, or else…" The man's tone went from cheery to icy almost instantly as he hinted at an unspoken threat known only to the two men.
Heero reluctantly nodded, but remained silent.
"Good. Now please… go and rest up. You'll be quite busy over the next few days and I will need you in top form." His tone returned to a friendlier one as he spoke, but his green eyes still reflected the icy nature of the man.
Heero's eyes narrowed, but he simply nodded and walked out of the room.
The man smirked in amusement as Heero left. "Humph… it looks like the loyal wolf really does have his weaknesses…" He muttered icily.
The secretary shied away from Heero as he stood by her desk with a scowl of frustration.
Suddenly, his fist went through the glass top of her desk, destroying it and all of the equipment that had sat on top of it as all of it crashed onto the floor.
She stared at it in shock as he walked away, ignoring the blood flowing from his hand.
The man came out upon hearing the loud noise and chuckled as the secretary looked at him in fear. "Don't worry about him… he's more or less a wolf who has lost his fangs. He's harmless now. I'll personally pay to replace the desk and all of the equipment; does that sound good to you?"
The secretary could only nod absently to his question as she watched Heero's retreating back warily, wondering why her employer would need such a terrifying man in his employ.
Relena sighed in exhaustion as she walked out of a meeting that had just finished.
Noin was immediately by her side with a look of concern. "You've been going non-stop since the Wing Zero was stolen two days ago… You need to rest. You don't have any more meetings for at least two hours, so please go and get some rest."
They had explained the sudden activity of the Wing Zero and the deaths at the space port as a well executed plan to steal the Wing Zero, and since there was no way any of the other politicians could disprove it, the story stuck.
"Remember: you have to deal with Heiran Yaturi tomorrow."
Relena moaned in exasperation at the name. "Do I have to?"
Noin nodded as she fought to keep her amusement from showing. "He wants to expand his company's operations to include the Earth. He needs your approval before that is possible. You know that was part of the agreement between the Earth and the colonies when the ESUN was reshuffled after the Eve Wars." Noin explained sternly.
"I know, but that man is intolerable. He seems to take every opportunity to try and convince me to marry him, and he's ten years my senior!" Relena felt terrible as she remembered the other times she had met with the man.
Noin patted Relena's shoulder with a shake of her head. "I know he does… but you have to just simply hold your position on that matter, quickly deal with his business, and then kick him back to the colonies."
"I know…" Relena's tone was exasperated before she noticed a red-headed teenage girl standing in front of her office. "Mariemaia!" Relena smiled happily as Mariemaia waved at her. She was grateful to have some sort of a distraction, no matter how short it would be.
Noin shrugged in defeat. "All right, I guess that means a rest won't be happening… but you'd better be prepared to deal with him. He's coming tomorrow." She whispered to Relena before walking away.
Relena sighed in annoyance at the Colonel before she quickly replaced her annoyance with a pleased smile for the young girl who had once been considered an enemy to the people of the Earth Sphere.
Mariemaia folded her hands in the lap of her school uniform as she sat and waited for Relena to sit across from her.
"So what brings you here so quickly after school?" Relena asked in curiosity.
"Considering I live with the General of your Defence Council, it's hard not to hear things." Mariemaia said seriously. "I know things have been going from bad to worse extremely quickly. I know Heero Yuy is alive and well and that he betrayed you and stole the Wing Zero."
Relena stared in shock at Mariemaia. "How did…?"
Mariemaia shrugged. "I have my ways." She said evasively, ignoring Relena's stern frown. "The point is: you told me before that I could help you the next time things get bad. They have… in fact; they're downright horrible right now. I want to help you. I already know what's happening, so you can't use that excuse again. Please let me help you." She pleaded.
Relena sighed reluctantly as she stared into the young girl's pleading eyes. "Things could get very dangerous, very fast. I don't want to risk losing you if something like that were to happen."
"So it's all right for the rest of you to sacrifice yourselves, but it's not all right for me to?" Mariemaia snapped sternly as she stood up to give her a slight height advantage over Relena. "You've been hanging around those five for too long. You've picked up on their bad habits. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, or did you forget about the assault at the end of the Eve Wars?"
Relena balked in surprise at Mariemaia's strong attitude.
"I'm not a child anymore, Relena. I'm the same age you were when you had to deal with everything that you were forced to deal with during the Eve Wars. Please allow me to take some of the burden off your shoulders. I'll be fine." Mariemaia's tone was softer as she looked on the verge of tears.
Relena couldn't help but smile sadly at the young girl. "All right… you win. You can have the empty office next to mine."
Mariemaia let out a triumphant cheer.
"However!" Relena's sharp tone cut off Mariemaia's celebration as she quickly sat back in her chair with her hands back on her lap as she stared at the older woman intently. "You will go to school, you will do your homework and you will do only what I give you to do. Please don't do anything behind my back."
Mariemaia laughed and nodded. "I promise, Relena. I'll do everything you ask of me and nothing else."
"You'd better not." Relena feigned a stern tone before laughing along with the young girl.
Mariemaia came around the desk and hugged Relena. "I won't let you down. You've become like a big sister to me these past few years and I'm grateful to have met you…"
Relena laughed as she returned Mariemaia's hug. "I feel the same way about you. I must thank you in advanced for your help… things have just been so crazy lately."
"It's no big deal. I can get started right away if you want me to."
Relena shook her head as she pushed the younger girl away. "Wait until tomorrow. That way I can give you all the details on what's happening."
Mariemaia nodded in reluctant agreement before Relena sent her away so she could try and get some rest before the next day.
The next day came, much to her annoyance, as Relena sighed in irritation when she walked towards the conference room and she was suddenly surrounded by the pilots. "Let me guess: Noin?" She asked as they walked around her like an escort.
"Yeah… our job is to keep you from killing Heiran Yaturi. She says it wouldn't look good if you did. We're not even allowed to bring guns in order to prevent you from trying to take them and shoot him." Duo said wryly.
Relena rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hide the amusement she felt from the way he spoke.
"Don't worry Relena. I've been forced to deal with him a few times myself. I know how unpleasant he is." Quatre said calmly as they entered the conference room, which was empty.
"Why am I not surprised by this?" Relena asked to nobody in particular. "Does he do this to you too?" She asked Quatre, who could only shake his head in annoyed agreement. "Ugh. I wish he would be on time so we can get these unpleasant meetings done and over with as quickly as possible."
"Ouch, I never knew you felt that way about our meetings, Miss Relena. I always found them to be quite pleasant. Although I will admit… that last one was a bit terrifying…" A light-haired man stood in the doorway of the conference room.
"Mr. Yaturi, it's good of you to show up earlier than you usually do." Relena said stiffly.
Heiran chuckled in amusement before noticing the other people in the room. "Oh? I see you have guards this time. I had a feeling you would. The last meeting did kind of get out of hand…" He said with a cringe.
Relena stared at him coldly as she remembered their last meeting.
He had become annoyingly insistent with his proposal and she had hit him before having him removed from the building, an act that she still sort of regretted because it went against her principles.
"Of course, I hope you don't mind that I brought my own guard. After that last meeting, I had a feeling I should bring a guard for myself. I only brought one because I felt it would be rude to bring any more than that. Do you mind if I bring him in?"
Relena shook her head. She would give anything to have this meeting done with as fast as possible.
Heiran smirked in satisfaction at their reactions as Heero came in.
Duo and Wufei jumped from their seats and made to attack him, only to be blocked by Relena's outstretched arms. She was pale with shock, but she knew Heero was still wounded and attacking him would be a bad move on the part of the other pilots.
Trowa's eyes narrowed icily as he watched Heero sit as far from them as possible, ignoring his former comrades' reactions.
Quatre could only shake his head in disappointment. He hadn't been able to tell the others what Heero had said because they had been kept busy dealing with the after-effects that the theft of the Wing Zero had caused.
"I must admit, I was amazed to see him alive after all the evidence that suggested he was dead." Heiran feigned an aloof attitude as he sat at the conference table.
"We had our reasons." Relena said coolly as she sat across from him.
Heiran shrugged casually. "That's understandable… and I believe Mr. Yuy has his reasons for becoming my guard, although he wouldn't tell me what they were." He said as he glanced at Heero, who closed his eyes and looked away from Heiran. "However, before you jump to conclusions, I assure you that he came to me of his own free will. I never had any interest in acquiring his skills… in fact, so far as I can tell, all of the skills Mr. Yuy possesses are of no use to me." He said dismissively, ignoring the disbelieving glares the other pilots were giving him.
Relena was sorely tempted to ask him what he was holding over Heero's head, but she knew he would never tell her.
"Anyways, shall we get down to business? I fear I have other business to attend to here in the Sanc Kingdom, so I will be sticking around for a while."
Relena made an irritated noise in her throat at the thought of him being around for more than a few hours, but kept her irritation mostly in check. "All right, let's get this over with…" She said stiffly as he brought out a folder and they began to talk about business.
Trowa couldn't help but smirk when the meeting was over and they were walking away from Relena's office.
"What are you smiling about? That meeting was a disaster from the moment Yaturi walked into it." Duo grumbled as he noticed Trowa's smirk.
"Oh, so you didn't notice?" Trowa asked with a bit of slyness in his tone.
"Notice what?" Wufei snapped.
"Yaturi lied… a lot." Trowa said simply.
The others stopped walking and stared at him in confusion.
Quatre frowned. "I know he's a rotten man, but how did you know he was lying? I couldn't even tell when he was lying and when he was speaking the truth."
"Honestly? I didn't… however there was somebody else who did…" Trowa said with the same sly tone.
"Damnit quit teasing us and tell us what you're talking about!" Wufei growled while making a gesture that looked as though he was going to attack his fellow pilot in frustration.
"I must admit, Trowa, you're acting strangely out of character by teasing us like this." Quatre said warily.
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just amused and relieved by these sudden turn of events…" Trowa said as he stopped smiling.
"So hurry up and tell us!" Duo hissed as he looked around warily, just in case Heiran appeared.
"Heero isn't a traitor." Trowa explained simply, causing the others to stare at him as though he had lost his mind. "It was subtle, but I first noticed it when Yaturi said that Heero had joined Yaturi of his own free will. He made a strange motion with his hand. At first, I thought it was nothing, but then I saw the same motion repeatedly throughout the meeting. He did it quite often too."
"Do you mean to tell us that Heero was trying to warn us of when that bastard was lying?" Duo asked in disbelief.
Trowa nodded. "Yes, he was. I don't know what Heiran is holding over Heero's head, but it must have been extreme in order to force Heero to act like he betrayed us."
Wufei frowned in annoyance. "Humph… there isn't anything I know of that could be used to force Heero to do anything. The man has no reasons that I am aware of." He snapped.
Quatre and Duo paled.
"Yes… there is…" Quatre said weakly.
Wufei looked at the two questioningly.
"Relena…" Duo added as anger flashed in his eyes.
"I had a feeling Heero wasn't doing this willingly… I kept this from Milliardo, but Heero blatantly admitted to me that he was betraying us, and then he apologized before I fell unconscious." Quatre admitted.
"He apologised?" Duo asked in disbelief.
"That doesn't matter anymore, what matters now is that we have to keep this secret. I have a feeling both his life and Relena's may be at stake if Yaturi learns of what Heero did." Trowa said urgently.
The others nodded in agreement as they resumed walking, trying to act normally as the thoughts of what they had just learned weighed heavily on their minds.
The pilots passed a few offices before freezing as an office door opened and Heiran and Heero stepped out of it.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He said as he noticed their reactions to his sudden appearance. "I was just speaking with the financier for the ESUN. I wanted to see if it was feasible to pick up some contracts with them… Unfortunately…"
This time, all of the pilots took notice of a strange twitch Heero's hand seemed to have developed.
Heiran blinked in fake surprise as he noticed Quatre. "Oh yes, I had forgotten you were a Gundam pilot as well as the head of the Winner Corporation, Mr. Winner. Your company has sole ownership of any contracts the ESUN makes for construction and mining in space, doesn't it?"
Quatre nodded curtly, although he looked as though he had swallowed something unpleasant.
"It must be quite advantageous to have a friend in such a high place of power, isn't it?" Heiran asked coolly.
"I did not capitalize on my friendship with Relena Peacecraft, if that is what you're implying, Mr. Yaturi. It just happened to end up that way well before your corporation ever came into being." Quatre responded with the same cool tone.
Heiran and Quatre seemed to be locked in a frigid stare down before Heiran chuckled.
"I'm sorry about that. My overly competitive business sense got in the way. I know your company would never do something so low. Please forgive me."
Quatre noticed Heero's hand twitch from the corner of his eye as he kept his eyes locked with Heiran's. "I understand. It gets quite rough out there. We've all had to develop some form of a business sense in order to survive."
Heiran nodded in agreement and was about to speak before Quatre was suddenly forced to grab his head.
"I'm sorry, but I'm suddenly not feeling in the best condition to keep talking…" He said shakily as Trowa grabbed him just as he began to stumble and Trowa was forced to help lead him away.
Wufei followed in case he needed to help, but Duo stood still for a few moments before lunging at Heero, slamming him hard against the wall.
Heiran stared in surprise at the sudden violent act as Wufei ran back to pull Duo off of him.
"Thanks a lot, jackass." Duo snarled at Heero.
Heero glared icily in return. Unnoticed by Heiran, a hint of a smirk appeared on Duo's face.
Heero didn't respond as Wufei pulled Duo after Trowa and Quatre.
"My, my… your friend certainly is violent." Heiran said in surprise.
"He's always been unable to control his emotions." Heero responded icily as he rested a hand on his chest wound.
"Just remember… if you do anything to mess this up… I will personally make sure that it was like Relena Peacecraft never existed." Heiran hissed quietly to Heero before he walked away.
Heero's eyes narrowed as he followed Heiran in silence. He was grateful the others realized what he had been trying to tell them, although he hoped they would find out the full truth before it was too late for Relena, him, and the ESUN…
Author's Notes: Wow! Another chapter! *dies of shock* Yes, you're seeing this right. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Anyways, yep! The man behind it all finally rears his ugly head! What awaits the pilots and Relena in the future? Wait and see for yourself!