Talon had lied, or at least stretched the truth. The plan revisions he'd spoken of turned out to be incremental at best; in fact, Relena hardly noticed a difference between those and his original proposal. From what she could understand, given her limited scientific knowledge, he had fudged some numbers and moved some parts around. She realized he was looking for any excuse to maintain his seat at the table when it came to planning the next Mars mission.
It wasn't enough to capture Relena's attention, or even keep her awake.
She awoke hours later, stunned to find she'd slept through nearly the entire flight. She opened her eyes to see Talon frowning over his tablet. Looking over at Duo, Relena saw he had dozed off, too.
"My goodness." Relena yawned and stretched. "Where are we?" She glanced out the shuttle window but saw only the blackness of space.
"How was your nap?" Talon glanced up from his tablet.
"Oh, sorry." She shot him a bashful grin. "I didn't mean to sleep all this time. I suppose I'm just tired from last night's… festivities."
"That was some party, wasn't it?" He seemed to force a smile. "Did you get a load of those dancers toward the end?" He let out a low whistle before breaking into a wide grin.
"Right…" Relena still had no clue about any dancers. "Anyway. Where are we now?" she asked again.
"We're somewhere between the L3 and L4 colony clusters. I was going to drop you off at the spaceport on L1, but Duo said earlier he thought you would be interested in touring the facilities. But no pressure; I can leave you at the spaceport once we land, and arrange another shuttle for you, if you wish."
"Oh, no, this is fine." Relena waved a hand. "It would be much better to see the inner workings of Talon Industries up close." She smiled sweetly at him. "Besides, I've been meaning to take a tour for a while now."
"Very well." Talon smirked. "But please keep in mind that we're still under construction. So, you know, pardon our dust." He chuckled.
"No need to tidy up for us," Relena insisted. She wondered what Talon could be hiding - besides what she and the Preventers already suspected.
A short while later, their pilot announced that the shuttle was approaching the colony at point 4.20.17. Relena thought that sounded vaguely familiar, although she wasn't sure how. A glance at Duo's face indicated that he knew it, too, although he quickly masked any recognition. He caught Relena's eye and grinned conspiratorially.
"Let's do this thing!" he sang enthusiastically. Relena glanced warily at Talon, hoping he would just assume Duo was being his usual boisterous self.
Sure enough, her bodyguard kept up his cheery disposition throughout their tour of the facilities, bounding around like an eager puppy. After walking through an office section, with three floors of cubicles and conference rooms, Relena asked Talon to show them his warehouse. He turned to her and arched a brow.
"I suppose that could be arranged. But first, I have a silly request. If you could please surrender your mobile devices, we can assure that none of our work is accidentally leaked to the public."
Relena and Duo exchanged looks. "Why would we do something like that?" she asked.
"I'm sure you wouldn't, but please understand that our work here is confidential, and we must take every precaution." He made a praying gesture with his hands. "I know it's a lot to ask, but you shouldn't need to make any calls during our little tour anyway, right? I promise, they'll be returned to you as soon as we're done."
Duo looked at Relena helplessly. "Eh, I guess I don't have a problem with that."
I do, she wanted to say. She was sure, more than ever, that something wasn't right. But what could she do? For now, she had no choice but to cooperate.
"If you think it's necessary," she said to Talon.
"Great, thanks!" He shot her a grin. "My assistant, Tanya, will be right along to take those off your hands."
"Tanya?" Relena frowned. "I thought her name was Rita?"
"Rita was my assistant." Talon shrugged carelessly. "I fired her. Out with the old, in with the new, right?" Duo laughed, perhaps a little too hard. Relena elbowed him in the ribs.
A young woman strode over to them, and Relena and Duo reluctantly handed over their phones.
"Excellent!" Talon boomed. "Now we're ready to roll." He chuckled, and Duo guffawed again, for no apparent reason. Relena rolled her eyes as she followed both men out of the office area and down a hallway. They came to another door, which Talon opened with an iris scan. Then they headed down another hallway, this one all concrete and unfinished.
The little hairs on the back of Relena's neck were standing up as they followed Talon to a massive hangar.
"Ta-da!" Talon made a sweeping motion with his arms. "This, lady and gentleman, is where the sausage is made."
They walked along a metal platform to a railing. Relena looked down and tried to take everything in. All she saw were rows and rows of what looked like metal pods of some kind. There had to be thousands of them. "What's in there?" She didn't dare to hazard a guess, although she had a feeling.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Talon taunted in a sing-song voice."That, my dear, is classified."
Relena whirled on him. "I can tell you what it looks like." She no longer cared to play his little game, whatever it was. "But as a representative of ESUN, I demand you tell me."
"Whoa, whoa!" Talon put up both hands. "Please don't bring the gestapo down on me! Sheesh!" He looked over at Duo. "Little lady's on a power trip. Am I right?"
Duo quirked a brow, obviously not amused. He folded his arms and looked pointedly at Talon. "I don't know, man, this all looks a little shady. I'd start explaining myself, if I were you."
"Duo…" Talon drew out his name in a sigh. "You're no fun, either. I thought we were pals?"
"That depends." Duo glowered. "I've seen your plans. I know they involved some worker bots to help build the Mars colony. But you oughta know by now how ESUN deals with people secretly manufacturing mobile suits."
Talon laughed darkly. "Who said anything about mobile suits? These, my friends, are my builder bots. Or BBs, for short." He took a small remote out of his pocket and pressed it. The pods all swung open, revealing thousands of human-sized robots. They all reminded Relena of mobile dolls. Sure, they were smaller, but they also resembled suits that people could wear. And, therefore, weaponize.
"I don't know…" Duo spoke first. "They sure look like suits to me."
"Well, you should know." Talon whirled on him. "Gundam Pilot Zero-Two." He spat the words, as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.
Duo's eyes tightened. "Easy there, buddy boy. I don't take kindly to name-calling."
Talon scoffed. "Right. Like you expect me to believe you're not one of the Gundam pilots?"
"Dude, not me. No way." Duo feigned a look of disgust. "I friggin' hate those guys. What a nuisance they were, am I right?" He grinned sheepishly at Relena.
Talon rolled his eyes. "Good thing you found work as a bodyguard, because you make a terrible actor."
Relena summoned her most commanding voice. "Talon, it's time you tell us exactly what's going on."
The man's lips turned up in what Relena could only call a sinister grin. "I already told you." He leered at her. "No spoilers."
Talon lunged at Duo, pushing him over the railing before the former Gundam pilot could react. Then he grabbed Relena's arms as she screamed after her friend. Duo let out a yelp as he hurtled toward the hangar floor.
She was still shrieking incoherent things at Talon when Trowa dropped down from the ceiling, flipping through the air as if he were performing in one of his circus shows. Relena could hardly believe her eyes as Trowa angled his body and sped toward Duo, catching the other man effortlessly before could hit the ground. Somehow, the acrobat managed to land on both feet, mid-air. Relena gawked at him over the railing, realizing Trowa was balancing on a thin wire. She had heard before that he kept a tightrope on him, but had never seen it in action.
"Trowa!" Relena called down to him, struggling against Talon's grip.
"Let her go," Trowa commanded the other man as he and Duo dropped down from the tightrope.
"I have a better idea." Talon tightened his hold on Relena. She winced; he was digging in hard enough to leave bruises. "How about you shut up and surrender?"
Just then a group of armed men swarmed the hangar floor, training their guns on Trowa and Duo. The two Preventers glanced at each other, then put up their arms. Relena exhaled in defeat as her friends were led out of sight.
"Where are you taking them?" she demanded.
"You should worry about yourself," Talon growled. "You're going to do a little something for me."
Relena shuddered, not even wanting to guess what he might have in mind. She gasped in pain as he yanked her by the arm, dragging her out of the hangar, through what felt like an endless hallway until they reached a large door. Talon kept one hand on Relena while he shoved the door open.
They came into a large, mostly empty room, save for a long table with a laptop. Relena gasped when she saw Duo slumped in a corner, with a masked, armed guard standing watch over him.
"What did you have done to him?" she cried. "Is he hurt?"
"Again, I suggest you worry more for yourself." Talon dragged her toward the table, pulled out a chair and pushed her down roughly.
"What do you want from me?" She glared up at Talon, who finally released his hold on her.
"This should be quick and painless for you." He smiled down at her menacingly. "You're going to sign off on my satellite plans for ESUN."
Relena gaped at him. "What?"
"You heard me." Talon folded his arms expectantly.
"How do you expect me to do that?" Relena knit her brows together. "I already told you, the committee already approved different plans."
"Easy. You call a committee meeting and have them throw out those plans, then take mine under consideration." He grinned. "Just like you said you could."
Relena's skin prickled. He had taken what she had told him and twisted it, but she was too petrified to argue with him. Heero had been right about Talon all along; it didn't seem to take much for the tycoon to become unhinged.
"So… you want me to call a meeting and take a vote?" she sighed. "You know it's a holiday, right? It's going to be tough to gather a quorum…"
"Too bad. You have one hour to change their minds." Talon tapped an expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "In the meantime, I have work to do."
Relena's eyes narrowed. "What do you plan to do? And where's Trowa?" And anyone else you have captured?
"Your friends are fine! See? Duo's right here." Talon jerked a thumb in Duo's direction. "I figured you'd have more incentive to do your task with my buddy here keeping an eye on you. And if you don't behave, well, he'll make sure to give your pal the special treatment." He looked back at the guard. "Isn't that right, Frankie?"
The guard nodded wordlessly.
"And Trowa?" Relena tried not to sound as desperate as she felt.
"Well, I couldn't keep you all together, now could I? Much more sensible to split you up, for now." Talon tapped the computer screen. "Now get to work. Time is ticking away."
"Is that so?" Relena tipped up her chin in defiance. "And what happens when time runs out?"
She wasn't prepared for the sting of Talon's slap. It sent her stumbling back against her seat, her hand shooting up to cover her face as she registered the full force of his blow. She heard Duo stir in the corner and whipped her head around just in time to see the guard deliver a swift kick to his torso, eliciting an instant moan. She winced, clutching her own abdomen in sympathy.
"You'll just have to wait and see." Talon's upper lip curled in a twisted grin.
Relena wanted to swing back at him, but knew she was no match for his strength. Talon strode out of the room whistling, slamming the door behind him.
"What in the world?" Relena gasped, trying to collect herself. She spun back around to face Duo. "Are you all right?"
He started to sit up against the wall, and somehow his hair looked… askew. As if he were wearing a wig. Relena's face screwed up in confusion as she took in his disheveled appearance. When had he started wearing a wig?
"Duo?"
He raised his head slowly, locking eyes with Relena. She gasped as everything came rushing into focus.
The cobalt eyes staring at her did not belong to Duo.
Her heart pounded as she shot to her feet, nearly sending her chair clattering to the floor.
"Heero?!"
A/N: 3, 2, 1... Everybody update! I couldn't help but notice as I logged into this lovely site that all the cool kids are updating all at once! Ha! I love you guys. If you wanna, like, have 1xR Sunday Fundays from now on, that'd be cool. Thank you to all of the awesome readers and reviewers!
Briefly, I want to address one guest's comment asking for me to put all the flashback and dream sequence scenes into italics. I have opted not to do this because I do explain in each scene that it is either a memory, or I at least state the date so you will know that what's happening is in the past. The reason I chose to do this instead of italicizing those scenes was to show how reality has blurred for Relena, because her memories with Heero are so vivid, her conversations could be happening in real time. In fact, maybe she is even wandering around, talking to him when he's not there. Anyway, I hope that makes sense! It is all intentional! Thanks again for sticking with me on this journey! Stay tuned for the grand finale! We are getting ever closer...