Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Mastermind in the Darkness

Relena moaned as she regained consciousness, her head pounding and her neck sore for some reason. She really needed some headache medication.

Opening her eyes slowly, it took her a few minutes to realize that she wasn't in her bed much less a bed at all. The room was dark and gloomy, sparsely filled with furniture. In fact, she was in a chair of all things. That somehow explained the sore neck, seeing as how her head had been leaning to a side at an angle.

Snapping to full attention, despite the stiffness in her body, she took in her surroundings and saw Dorothy in a chair next to her.

"Dorothy? Dorothy! Wake up!" Relena shook the other woman's shoulder as she tried to wake her friend up while combating the fear that was threatening to escape her.

"Miss Relena?" Dorothy whispered as her eyes cracked open.

"Thank God you're all right," Relena said, resisting the urge to embrace her friend.

"Relena? Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"I do."

The foreign voice startled them as they looked up towards an open door, one that neither of them had noticed until then. The person who spoke slowly made his way into the room, stalking towards them like a predator, the door closing behind him with a silent hiss. Coming closer, Relena was able to recognize the man, in particular, his eyes.

"Representative Knox?"

Knox smiled at her but the smile was anything but comforting. In fact, it sent shivers down her spine. There was something about the man's eyes…something much different from the time she had first laid eyes on him…

Not saying a single word, the representative reached up with his hands and began to do something to his left eye. Relena couldn't precisely see what he was doing as his hands were blocking the majority of his face and his head was tilted back slightly. Once finished, though, he brought his hands down and showed the two women a small object on one of his finger.

It was a contact lens.

"What?" Relena asked, confused, looking up. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight that now captured her attention. Knox's left eye was not brown anymore. It was green. Pure, solid green.

"Surprised, Ms. Darlain?" Knox asked, a cruel smile spreading on his face.

While Relena was flabbergasted at this, Dorothy's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Ah, smart girl," Knox said. "My name is Janus Xavien."

"Did you do something to the real Knox?" Dorothy demanded.

"The 'real Konx?'" Xavien repeated. Shaking his head as if he was used to being asked foolish questions all the time, he replied, "Silly girl. Representative Francis Knox is only a figment of my imagination and your reality. He doesn't exist at all…except on paper, of course, where it counts."

"On paper? What do you mean?"

"For such a smart person, you can be so stupid," Xavien replied dryly. "I am Francis Knox, plain and simple. However, I am also Janus Xavien. And you are Dorothy Catalonia and she is Relena Darlain Peacecraft. I think that about covers it, wouldn't you think?"

"You're behind all this, aren't you?" Dorothy accused.

"Very astute. You are correct."

"What do you want?"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, that is for me to know," Xavien chided, waving a finger in the air as if he was reprimanding a child. "At this point in time it is in my interest that you both remain ignorant of upcoming events. As of right now, you are my hostages, prisoners, etc…" he finished with a flourish, a gesturing with a hand.

"Where are we?" Relena demanded, just now finding enough of her wits to enter the conversation.

"Currently? You are in space, aboard my battleship Sagittarius," Xavien, surprisingly, answered.

"Battleship? You mean something like Libra?"

"No, my dear, Libra was a battle station. The Sagittarius is more like a cruiser of sorts. Right now it's transporting us to where you are to be held until further notice."

"My, for a man trying to keep us in the dark you sure are giving us quite a bit of information," Dorothy commented wryly.

"And what good will it do you?" Xavien countered. "You just know you're in space. I never said where in space now did I, and if I recall correctly, space is a very big place. Really, you must learn to pay attention or you might not make it out of this alive, Ms. Catalonia."

"Oh? And makes you think you'll succeed?" Dorothy retorted. "By now, the Preventers will know all about you. It's only a matter of time before you're caught and incarcerated for the rest of your damn life."

"I beg to differ," Xavien replied. "The members of the Legislature and the Preventers believe that Representative Knox is at home, responding to a family emergency. It will be some time before he is able to return to the Legislature. Plus, it is also difficult to try and track down a man who doesn't exist, wouldn't you say?"

"Doesn't…exist?"

"I cover my tracks well, Ms. Catalonia. There are no records of me anywhere in any databank or mainframe on Earth or in the Colonies. I am a phantom. No one can find me. Not even your precious yet powerless Preventers."

Xavien smirked and began to leave. "Please make yourselves comfortable, ladies. I have another guest that I need to entertain. Don't try anything that might get you…hurt. It would be such a shame to have either of you maimed this early in the game…"

The door closed shut behind him, locking the occupants in, their growing horror the only thing left to keep them company.

---

Duo Maxwell emerged from unconsciousness slowly. Keeping his breathing calm and cracking open his eyes, all he could see was darkness with a faint glow of light hiding within it. Opening his eyes wider, he was startled to see an image of himself on the wall being held by two Oz soldiers, his body slumping in on itself in defeat and a peculiar bandage on his nose.

He recognized that image. It was from when he was first captured by Oz upon returning to space. He had destroyed many a wanted poster with that infamous image on it.

"Welcome Pilot 02, pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe and the Gundam Deathscythe Hell, Duo Maxwell. We meet at last."

Flicking his eyes through the dark room, they landed on a man who was lounging in a chair, looking at the image. The man turned his face to look at him, his different colored eyes staring into him.

"Can't say I haven't been looking forward to this meeting. You've grown up. You are definitely older; how long has it been since this picture was taken? Five, six years? It doesn't do you justice anymore, I can tell you that."

Duo just narrowed his eyes.

The man just smiled at him. "Janus Xavien. But you may call me Xavien. Everybody else does."

Duo refused to speak and glared back at the man.

Xavien continued the one-sided conversation, seemingly not caring if his captured audience was silent. "I have heard you call yourself the God of Death. It seems we both have something in common. You see, I am a deathdealer, a seller of arms. We both destroy human life, it's just you take a more direct approach while I take a more indirect approach."

"What the hell do you want," Duo snarled, getting tired of the asshole's monologue. Figures he was being held by a fan of his former career.

Xavien's eyes narrowed dangerously. He left his chair and approached Duo as if studying him, his hand grabbing a hold of the braided captive's chin.

"Pale skin…obviously a colonist…signs of malnutrition…facial features…" Xavien muttered as he scrutinized the ex-pilot, his face mere inches from Duo's. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "If that don't beat all!" Xavien exclaimed as he pulled away, letting go of Duo's chin. "Who would've though a L2 streetrat could become a Gundam pilot! And the God of Death at that! This is just too rich!"

Duo stared at Xavien dumbfounded as the man smirked at him.

"Your accent gives you away," Xavien explained nonchalantly. "It's American and yet not quite. I'm really surprised though. How could someone your age, and from L2, still be alive?"

"What do you mean?" Duo asked warily.

"About fifteen years ago, the Earth Sphere Alliance was in a dilemma. They had a stockpile of a contagious disease, easily curable, a relic from the days when biological weapons were used. An Alliance official told me of their problem and I gave them a…solution. Why not use it? Use it on a populace that they were having trouble dealing with. At the time, they did have a…situation on L2. The poor were rioting and pushing back Alliance troops."

Duo's eyes widened. Memories of a little boy holding his best friend, crying out a name to an uncaring world flooded his mind. Solo…

"You seem to know the rest of the details so I'll just skip that."

Duo glared up at the man.

How could he? Didn't this man any conscious? To see so many people die in such a horrible way, it still gave him nightmares, despite the amount of years that had passed since it had occurred.

"Even now," Xavien continued, "I still remember the news reports on it, the images shown of those decaying bodies. It was a masterpiece, truly a work of art. I wish I had thought up of it first and implemented it instead of giving the idea away to those idiots in the Alliance. Good ideas are so hard to come by nowadays, wouldn't you agree streetrat?"

"You…BASTARD!!!" Duo snarled. He pulled against his restrains but to no avail. This man…this man was responsible for all his misery and here he was talking about as if it was a dinner conversation! To think he once thought that he himself was the cause of the death of all his loved ones.

"Yes, fight streetrat," Xavien said, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "You should have never left that colony in the first place. You should have died a long time ago. Well, I guess I'll just have to fix that little oversight."

"Then what are you waiting for?!" Duo demanded, hatred burning through his veins.

"You are still useful to me," Xavien replied cruelly, his eyes bright with an unnatural light. "And, I am not one to let a tool go without using it first, no matter how disgusting they are. You are now my tool, streetrat. Get some rest, you're going to need it. When we arrive at our destination, I am going to make good use of you."

Xavien left him then, laughing to himself. When the door shut and locked, Duo began to fume.

He was not going to let Xavien get away from him. Oh no, a day of reckoning was at hand. He'd spoil whatever plans the bastard had first and then he would avenge the lives of all those he had lost.

Xavien's days were numbered. Duo would make certain that he paid for all the deaths he had caused.

Especially Solo's.