Warning: Spoilers for Gundam Wing. This goes for both the prologue and the rest of the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
Chapter Ten: Mastermind in the Darkness
Relena moaned as she regained consciousness. Her head was pounding. 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 or in a bed at all. The room was dark and gloomy, sparsely filled with furniture. In fact, she was in a chair of all things.
Snapping to full attention, 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.
"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. The person who spoke slowly made his way into the room, the door closing behind him. Coming closer, Relena was able to recognize the man.
"Representative Knox?"
Knox smiled at her but the smile was anything but calming. In fact, it sent shivers down her spine. There was something about the man's eyes…
The representative reached up with his hands and began to do something to his left eye. Once finished, he brought his hands down and showed the two women a small object on his finger.
It was a contact lens.
"What?" Relena asked, looking up. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight. Knox's left eye was not brown anymore. It was 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, 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."
"On paper? What do you mean?"
"For such a smart person, you can be so stupid," Xavien replied. "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."
"You're behind all this, aren't you?"
"Very astute. You are correct."
"What do you want?"
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, that is for me to know," Xavien chided. "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…"
"Where are we?" Relena demanded, just now finding enough wits to enter the conversation.
"Currently? You are in space, aboard my battleship Sagittarius," Xavien, surprisingly, answered.
"Battleship? You mean something like Libra?"
"No, 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.
"And what good will it do you?" Xavien asked. "You just know you're in space. I never said where in space now did I? Really, you must learn to pay attention or you might not make it out of this, Ms. Catalonia."
"Oh? And makes you think you'll succeed?" Dorothy countered. "By now, the Preventers will know all about you. It's only a matter of time before you're caught."
"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."
"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 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."
The door closed shut behind him, locking the occupants in.
---
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.
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.
"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. "I have heard you call yourself Shinigami, God of Death. It seems we have something in common. You see, I am a deathdealer, a seller of arms. We both destroy human life, you see. It's just, you take a more direct approach while I take a more indirect approach."
"What the hell do you want," Duo snarled.
Xavien's eyes narrowed. He left his chair and approached Duo as if studying him.
"Pale skin…obviously a colonist…signs of malnutrition…facial features…" Xavien muttered as he scrutinized the ex-pilot. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "If that don't beat all!" Xavien exclaimed. "Who would've though a L2 streetrat could become a Gundam pilot! This is just too rich!"
Duo stared at Xavien dumbfounded as the man smirked at him.
"Your accent gives you away," Xavien explained. "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.
"Duo Maxwell…" Xavien continued. "Maxwell…that name sounds familiar…"
"Would it happen to be Maxwell Church," Duo hazarded, his gut clenching at the thought.
"Church? Oh! Was it that church?"
Duo's face lost all color as he stared at Xavien in horror.
Xavien simply smirked. "A rebellious faction of my organization left with the intent of starting their own arms trade. I simply couldn't allow that to happen; they knew too much about me. So, I kept track of them until they took refuge inside a church. I just called an Alliance official and alerted them to a group of rebels that was hiding out in the church. They took care of the rest."
"You…BASTARD!!!" Duo snarled. He pulled against his restrains but to no avail. This man…this man was responsible for all his misery. 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. "And, I am not one to let a tool go without using it first. You are now my tool, streetrat. Get some rest. When we arrive at out 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.
Each and every one.