Guess who's back :) So, I must apologize for the long break between chapters. A lot has happened since the last post. I had been sick, then my aunt got sick, then my grandma, then my great grandma. Since I have more medical experience than most of my family considering it was my job and I have this weird thing that I absorb books like a sponge I had to take care of them all. I'll save the rest of the update for after the chapter.

umm...i think this is chapter 10...it's 4 am where I'm at and I just got to see a family member do what he does best...back to the story

In a café on L7, a girl sits on a patio chair at a table by herself. Black hair, violet eyes, lightly tanned skin. She was certainly an eye of beauty, nothing like many have ever seen. She sipped at her coffee with grace and skill of royalty. She sighed reading the paper. The front page headline today, "Gundams land on L7 searching for the women we now know as Masquerade for her crimes against humanity!" the headline read. She continued to read the story; she knew her time was limited. But it was best not to make herself freak out when this was something she could clearly run away from. It was simply a matter of keeping her cool, something she had started to really suck at.

After leaving the ship that night, she had ran to the one place they least expected, right under their noses. On the colonies that they would think she would stay away from. She had to drop the red hair and this time opt for jet black hair, and with the help of contacts, she was a whole new person. She used her limited resources wisely, first buying a computer, then hacking into the colonies systems and giving herself a fake name and age the general profile information that was usually kept on all registered colonist. From there she routed several thousands of dollars giving herself an income. Once finished with that, it was just finding a place they wouldn't expect her to be. Somewhere they would expect her to stay away from.

She finished her coffee and left a tip and taking her paper. She walked back to the hotel where she had gotten a long term room. It wasn't for the extremely rich and famous. This was for those who had money and liked to stay in a decent place without all the attention. She still had a lot of trust issues, and when she first got here, almost shot the maid who didn't know she was sleeping still. Other than that, she had been doing relatively well.

A normal day for her consisted of waking up, checking local reports than worldwide reports while drinking a cup of coffee and she had developed smoking, something she never once thought she would enjoy. After that, she would shower and get dressed. Usually an outfit consisting of boots, jeans, and a leather jacket with her gun tucked away in the back of her jeans. She never carried a purse. Cash was kept in her bra. Papers kept in her pocket, and her makeup was mainly nonexistent, mainly eye liner to make her eyes stand out and red lipstick that never seemed to smudge.

After getting dressed and ready for her day she would call a cab and drive to a busy part of the city. From there she would move through the crowd browsing stores and cafes, listing to the latest gossip of the city while she ordered a simply meal. A few times she heard gossip of people looking for Masquerade. Of course she had to go check it out. Almost a year ago, a bounty had been placed on her head. But she had learned enough in the world to know that she had to change blend in and pretend to be a part of society.

Today she had heard all over that the Gundam pilots had not only landed on L7 but had also been searching all over for the any sign of Masquerade. Tonight they would arrive in her sector; from there they would go searching the area. They would spend a week in that sector, searching high and low for any sign or any information on the warlord that had ruled for a short time. But this time, something was different. This week was Heero's Birthday and there was a small rumor going around that the boys planned on going to the red light district and attending a strip club.

'Maybe it's time I visited dear old Heero Yuy. Give him a special Birthday treat.' She thought as the rumor spread.

That Monday the dear old boys had arrived into the sector. And worst of all, they were staying at the place she least expected. The very same hotel she had been staying at. She had no time to worry about that however. She had a plan to get into action. First step was to visit an electronic store. There she purchased several tracking beacons. These on the market ones were commonly used for short distances, no farther than a couple hundred miles. After buying a massive handful and claiming that they were for the various dogs she had owned, as well as a sympathetic story about how much she cared for her animals and that one dog had already ran away, the cashier rang her up. She smiled a smile that had easily won over the heart of the young man, she took her purchase and dropped it off at the hotel. From there, she visited a different story wearing a brown wig and lacking her violet contacts. This time, she bought the items needed to make audio and visual bugs. This time she made the excuse of thinking her husband was cheating and she wanted to bug her house to catch him in the act. This cashier, an older woman, bought it and told her she hoped that if he was cheating that he got what he deserved. After dropping it all off at her room and ensuring it was well hidden from the eyes of the cleaning lady, she went about ditching the wig and went to buying a few things to disguise herself very well. She couldn't go about having them even suspect her. She brought an airbrush gun and ink that wouldn't wash off very easily. From there she visited a tattoo shop, asking the owner to do a few things. She knew this would be hell. But she had to ensure that he couldn't very well identify her. Posing as a stripper, well that was about as far away from her norm that she could get.

First, she had a tongue piercing, once reading that men were attracted to women with tongue piercings for obvious reasons. From there she had her belly button pierced as well as getting a small stud on her upper lip on the left side. She asked him to make the piercing look like a birthmark which he did very well.

"Well, I have one more request." She said.

"And that is?"

"Well I was thinking of getting a tattoo, but well, before I get it done, I would like to see how people would react to it. Is that weird sounding?" She asked.

"Not really, people do it all the time. It's a way of seeing what a tattoo would look like and if they really want to spend the rest of their lives with it. If you like, I have an airbrush system and I can make you up a stencil." He said.

"Sounds good, would I be able to keep the stencil?"

"Sure" he said. She smiled. This was easier than she thought. She set about having a very detailed black vine like temporary tattoo placed going from her right upper back to her lower left thigh. After 45 minutes of staying still, she was finished.

"How long does it last?"

"Well they usually last about 3 weeks. Usually by then the customer has decided if they want it or not."

Satisfied with this information she paid him for his time and went out the shop, stopping at a café for a coffee and something to eat. As she came up the stairs she spotted them. Heero of course stood out to her more than the others. He hadn't changed much since that day she ran away. She casually moved out of the way for them as they made their way down the rather obnoxious flight of steps.

Back in her room she proceeded to get into the hotels computer system, finding out they had rooms two flights above her. Taking the room number and layout of each room as well as remembering whose room was whose, she made about getting ready. From there she installed the tracking software and the cameras software into the computer, setting everything to record.

Next phase was simple, sit back and watch. She watched them, waiting for them to leave in their uniforms. That would be her cue to spring into action. She was already dressed. Black leather pants, black boots, a black tank top under a black long sleeve shirt. She wore one of her many wigs, this one a long wig with red hair. Slapping on her old mask, she grabbed her gear and a gun, not that she expected to have to use it, and tucked it into the back of her pants. She left her door unlocked and took the steps. From there she snatched a skeleton key off of one of the maids and made her way onto the floor. Slipping on the mask, she used the key and entered the first room, placing the audio receivers in various places. Then the visual receivers in key places, most were by windows. Adequate lighting and it over looked the room. Then she put trackers on everyone's shoes. She did this in each of the rooms. Saving Heero's room for last, she knew they would have all of the information in his room. She entered the room and begin her search. It wasn't long before she found everything she needed including reports. Taking a recording and pictures of each document while wearing gloves she made sure to put everything back the way it was found. She set the cameras and recorders in places she expected him not to look. She left the room and made her way down the stair well. As she got to her floor she heard a voice that made her blood run cold.

"Got you" she felt the gun being pressed into her back. Heero stood behind her with his weapon in her back. Duo stood next to him.

"Is that what you think silly boy?" She said.

"You're trapped Relena, there is nowhere to go that we will not find you. You need help. That's all we want to do is help you" he pleaded.

"Sorry, I don't need your help" she said before kicking him back along with Duo. Both managed to fall back over the edge of the banister. Knowing she didn't have long before they climbed up she ran up the flight one floor above her passing the maid once again ditching the mask and wig in one of the rooms left open by the maids. She grabbed an apron of one of the carts and shook her black hair loose from its bun, leaving loose waves in her hair and proceeded to the elevator in the middle of the hall way. She heard the door open and she knew she had to act fast. The elevator doors close and she made the elevator ride three floors up without stopping. Jumping up on the rails she quickly pushed the escape hatch open and climbed up replacing the lid. She watched the doors open and saw Heero and Duo both look inside.

"Where the hell did she go" Duo asked.

"She must have gotten off and set the elevator to go up a floor" Heero said.

"She's fast. Wonder what she was doing here?"

"This must have been where she was staying. One place we wouldn't expect. We should check the hotel. She couldn't have gotten far"

"I'm sure she'd be on one of the top floors. She was raised rich, you don't easily loose the taste"

"How wrong you are Duo" she thought. She waited until three different people got on the elevator and got off before she hopped down out of the shaft and back into the elevator. From there she took it straight to her floor where she was staying.

She entered her room and quickly changed into something else, a pair of cut off shorts and a pink tee shirt. She ditched the computer under her bed and turned on the television and sat back. She knew it wouldn't be long before they went door to door searching the hotel. Soon enough there was a knock on the door. She got up and opened the door, there stood Duo and Heero. Duo had the carefree look while Heero just looked pissed.

"Well, lookie here and what do I owe this visit too?" she asked turning on the charm and flirting as much as she could.

"Ma'am this is official business. We're looking for this women have you seen her?" Heero asked. He held out a picture of her with red hair.

"Why no I haven't. Why is she wanted? Did she do something wrong?"

"That's classified ma'am." Heero said.

"Yeah she's wanted and withholding information can get you in a lot of trouble miss…umm" Duo didn't know a name.

"It's Serenity and who said I'm withholding" she replied.

"Well, Miss Serenity, we umm…have to get back to work. But if you see or hear anything, please let us know" Duo said as Heero handed her a card.

"I surely will" she smiled.

They left as she eyed the card. Heero must be desperate if he put his cell number on the card she thought as she closed the door. She went back to the sofa after retrieving the laptop from under the bed. From there she grabbed a soda and opened the laptop. She watched as Duo entered the room with Heero. She activated bugs.

"I know she's here." Heero said.

"Maybe she was here looking for our rooms" Duo said.

"Think she found them?"

"Doubt it; she was on the 13 floor"

"True, maybe she was working her way up"

"So, are you excited for your birthday?"

"Duo, we are on business here, not pleasure"

"Dude, you've been searching for a year straight. You need a break to clear your head, this is how you're going to do it. Who knows maybe someone there knows about Relena"

"Duo, I am not going to that damn club."

"You are and that's final" he said and got up and left.

Duo went to his room where he called the club called Cloud. He scheduled the trip for that Friday, she had 6 days.

She set it all to record and got dressed in jeans and a tank top and went to the club. The club had people already there. After getting a drink and talking to the bartender about wanting to become a dancer, he directed her to an office.

"Now now silly boy why would I want to go to that office?"

"You want to be a dancer; this is one of the best places to start. We have the highest security and only high end business people. You'll not only be safe, you'll make a lot of money"

"Well then, let's give it a shot shall we" she said getting up and going to the office. After a few pretty words and a show of her pole skills, he told her she had a place for her here. She left with a schedule and key in hand for a locker and a lock box for her money.

Her next stop, making sure one of the girls who worked Friday under special order for the Gundam boys didn't show up. After lots of research, the one who seemed most likely to bail was a girl named Melinda. A well-known junkie who had a likening for cocaine and was known as the weakest link, taking her out would be easy. She went and found a dealer to sell her a batch and then found Melinda's apartment on the rather rough side of town.

Dressed in her black leather pants, black boots and a black leather jacket with a black hoodie underneath she went to the apartment. There was a loud bang and several curses. Finally, the door opened to reveal a half-naked woman who had long blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Who the fuck are you" she asked.

"Such a temper for such a small little girl"

"Are you expecting someone else?" a man from inside the apartment said. The door opened up wider to reveal a man in nothing but a pair of boxers.

"Who the fuck is this bitch?" he asked.

"Well if I could be let in maybe I just might tell you. Besides, I have a deal Melinda here might just be interested in." she said. She looked around for a bit before letting me in. The apartment was disgusting. Trash was everywhere and it smelled of sweat, trash and bad decisions. She directed her to a sofa.

"Sit" she said.

"I'd rather stand" she said, feeling a lot safer with the cold metal against the small of her back.

"I'm out of here if you're not having sex with her. Give me back my money" the man said.

"This wasn't the deal John, the deal was 15 minutes and 200 dollars. You didn't even give me the full 200. So you will sit down and wait if this girl has something important to say she'll come before you" she said. Well, at least the girl wasn't a complete idiot. Before she could see it coming, he pushed her down.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, John" Relena said.

"And who the fuck are you to stop me" he said coming up to her face to swing. She blocked him and countered with a punch to the gut and a kick to the head. As he went down her gun was drawn aiming at his head.

"Now, now silly boy if you value you're life, you won't go much farther than that. Now, the two of us are going to have a little chat…after you pay the lady" she said. He was frozen in his place. Not moving an inch.

"I said pay her now damnit" she yelled. He fumbled for his pants pulling out his wallet and handing Melinda who was now nursing a bloody lip a 100 dollar bill. Relena snatched his wallet. He was more than well off. There was a little more over 1000 dollars in cash alone. Taking the cash and a credit card out of his wallet she tossed it back to him.

"Get dressed, go ahead" she said motioning with the gun. His green eyes still wide in fear scrambled up and ran to grab the remainder of his clothes. He ran his hands through his brown hair.

"Now…John is it? You will go home; you will not report the cards missing for another 3 days, nor the cash. You will also not report the incident. If you do, I will find you and best believe that I will kill you. Not before I have a few days of fun first. Now, off you go" Relena said.

"Yes, of course miss…umm"

"The name is Serenity, but you can call me Masquerade." She smiled.

Fear had made the man him move, it was what saved him from a bullet in his head. Once he left she turned to Melinda.

"What…what are you going to do to me?" she asked, obviously scared.

"Nothing"

"Then why have a gun?"

"Oh this thing, for protection, there are just so many bad boys out on this side of town. A girl needs protection…don't you agree."

"Why? Why are you here?"

"Oh…that…well its simple really. I'm here to bribe you. You will not go into work Friday" she said.

"Why?"

"I need to ensure I have access to a very important man that night, and you are going to be in my way, so it's either you not there by choice, or by force."

"So…where's the other half of this bribe?"

"Well" Relena said pulling a bag out of her pocket. The girl eyed the bag with hunger in her eyes.

"There was this, but seeing all of this," she waved her gun to the mess, "I don't think that you truly need it." She said.

"But"

"But nothing, I think I have a new deal for you. Here's how the deal works. You're going to clean up this disgusting apartment, you will stop the prostitution and you will get off the drugs. I'll even pay rent for a year and send you to a rehab. But only after you skip work Friday" she said.

She took the cash and tossed it on the table.

"You have money right there, at little over 1000 in cash. There is no excuse for this" she said.

"How do you know this will stop me from showing up to work?" she said.

"Because if you go to work, I'll kill you" Relena said. The look in her eyes said it all, and Melinda knew she was not playing in any way.

"Now, get some clothes on and get this disgusting matter cleaned up" Relena said before leaving the apartment.

She went back to her place making sure to hide the drugs somewhere she knew that no one would find it. She had work to do. Friday come, she'd have to disappear after her shift, after her encounter with the Gundam boys.

She had gained freedom. Freedom from Heero, Freedom from the world and all its pressures that it presented being the vice minister of the world.

And nothing could make her go back. Not even Heero.

...SOOOOOO...back to my life. Like I said, I had gotten sick shortly after my birthday party which by the way those of you who want to see pictures they are on my facebook page . .792

anyways, so like I said, I got sick shortly after my party which omg was...well that day started off with me falling out of bed and thats how i woke up. Those of you who have ever been married or had a party like this know the drill. For those of you who don't well let me inform you. You have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn. Me, I had to be up at four which I didn't get to sleep until 2 that night rushing to finish last minute things. After you wake up you have to rush to do your normal morning rutine. Mine is wake up go potty, brush my teeth, make coffee and have a glass of orange juice with my morning medication. After my meds I drink my coffee and read the news while having a cigarette. Usually I spend about an hour doing that. I had to cut it down to 30 minutes, then rush to shower and shave. I had the luxury of getting most of the areas that I shave waxed which let me inform you...it hurts like a bitch. Then I had to make sure every once of my body was picture perfect...meaning lots of lotion. For some reason even though I'm hispanic, I don't seem to tan so I use this jergans stuff that makes me look a little darker. Then I had to get dressed in something that was easy to take off. That morning was cold as hell even though they said it would be much warmer so I got stuck in leggings and boots which is one of my favorite things to wear and then those who know, when you get your hair done in one of those sit in the chair for 2 hour looks you have to wear a button down shirt because you can't pull anything over your head. Then, I had to go get my hair done. I had to get extensions, which took an hour, then actually get the style. Now, my hairdresser is amazing. I have really thick super curly untamable hair, which is why it's always in a bun. Most people need two hours to straighten it and even then it's still really thick. This man however, straigtens my hair in under an hour and it's so thin it feels fake. Not only that, he hates, Hates, HATES using hair spray. if you use hair spray and go to him...well he might cry. So two hours after getting extensions then having it straigten and done in a pretty style i had to get make up done. Now one of my many ventures was becoming a hair and make up artist. I know how much time it takes to do hair and make up and how sometimes its hard to do make up on another person. Though I usually do not use blue because it looks trashy on my skin tone, he managed to use it and make it look really really good. usually I stick to black and browns for those of you who don't know. Not only did he do my hair, he did my moms hair which is just as thick and comes down to her hips...yeah it's long and my grandmas. poor man i know he had to be cursing our names. so after that, I couldn't smoke because of the smell sticking to my hair and clothes. Plus i was tired so after coming up with some weird contraption to cover my hair with out screwing it up and trying really hard to drink a monster without messing up my make up (my mom had the bright idea of a straw go mom) I had to rush to help mom into her dress and then i had to get into mine. Now here comes the fun part, my dress is fucking huge. my room...well it wasn't so to get into the dress i had to step in and i needed to balance on something so to accomplish this I had to go into the living room and pray to god that my step dad and cousin who were cooking stayed in the kitchen, strip down to my bra and underwear...had no clue the window was open nor that the family friend who was standing in my group alex was on his way and get dressed while holding on to the chair. to make matters worse, the dress was a corset type that you had to lace in the back just right...mom had not a damn clue what she was doing so now that it was mostly on i had to hold it up and keep it from falling and waddle into my room where mom laced it up...took 20 minutes. as she's lacing the photographer shows up and thankfully she helped. so then we took lots of pictures and I had to walk down stairs and try not to get my dress dirty and get into the limo. of course my family is all hispanic...meaning we're always 10 or 15 minutes late to anything so my cousins who were supposed to be there an hour before got there just as the limo was taking off. so from there we had to go take pictures and my aunt showed up to take pictures with us...unfortantly, my cousins girlfriend also showed up. no one likes her, she is a bitch, she is rude, and she thinks she can have her way. the only reason i didn't beat her ass that day for being so disrespectful to me and my aunt and my mom was because that damn dress would have beaten my ass. she showed up to the church in a dress that barely covered her ass! who the hell does that. I was raised in church as was all of my family. when you go to church, you cover your tattoos, you take off all your jelwery unless it's small earrings or a wedding ring or a cross, you don't flaunt your body. You go modestly. it's church have some respect. So after getting to the church earlier than expected and avoiding an accident (we almost got hit by a truck who's driver was impatient) we had to do the church ceramony which is what I had been really nervous about doing and felt weird because of the make up and dress. thankfully I made it thought. I had to take about 30 more pictures and I almost fell down the steps. then we had to go to the lake front. there, well the rule of thumb here is that the lake is usually about 10 degrees colder than the main city. It was 70 and it had dropped so I was freezing. but I finally got to smoke after going hours with out it and I finally got to kick off those heels. after freeing my feet from prison we stopped at a gas station which everyone kept thinking it was a wedding and white boy alex and me kept saying 'we're not married it's a birthday party' we grabbed some food and went to the hall. after the dinner and getting to change is when I finally got to have fun and get drunk. Unfortunately we thought it was safe to order a half keg of beer. This was just to get the family and friends started they had to pay to get drunk. turns out a keg was a lot bigger than we thought and all of us including me were over the sink desperately trying to finish the keg. we even went as far as to save empty two liters and bottles and fill them up. even then there was a lot left over, eventually around 3 am we finished it. was pissed drunk off our asses but it was finished. after packing up and going home I had to take 15 minutes putting away the dress, then I had to take the 75 (yes i counted) bobby pins out of my head, put my new extensions in a braid and i finally got some sleep. all in all I got about 300 in cash (went straight to bills...you know you're an adult when...) I had gotten a few books, a bible (part of the tradition), A watch that for the last 3 months i did not know was water proof, a diamond ring that everyone keeps mistaking as a engagement ring...its not, I got a necklace, a tiara, and a lot of clothes. it was an awesome party and the very next day mother nature came as a late gift...i didn't even care i was just glad it didn't visit while i was in that dress, and then I got this horrible cold that i was down for three weeks afterwords. after that everyone else got sick including my grandma who almost died. thank god she is doing a lot better now (she had total knee replacement, then a tumor removed and then her stables didn't hold and so she had a big hole where they cut into her which we had to keep clean and she couldn't really do anything with out help for about 2 months) all in all it's been a very busy few months but i'm finally able to catch my breath and type all this out. That and Anthony Peitis fought tonight. I hate name dropping but he is technically family and I had to show support for that win he had tonight. I'm not saying how he is family, but he is considered family although I've never really talked to him. I'm socially withdrawn even with some family and I come off as strange and awkward so I usually stay locked in my room learning all day.

So read, review do your thing. I realize I have quite a few people subscribed to me which makes me giddy inside. The reviews are awesome and also make me feel a lot better. That long long paragraph above was just for those who asked about how my party went and all that, thought it would be an interesting story to tell.

anyways, ummm well yeah. Oh one last thing, I have recently started writing random stories but since some of them are not fan fiction I have to find a different site for those but when I do I will include a link to them. Until then just keep the reviews coming and i'll be done with this story soon...maybe like idk 3 or four more chapters that are pretty long. it's all in my brain along with enough useless information to put google off the map.

Scarlett.