Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is awesome and belongs to… uh… someone out there. But it's not me. So yeah, the end.

Thanks to the ppl who pointed out the underlining and boldening on my last chapter. As you probably guessed I had no idea that had happened! Ok, next chapter time! Remember to take the poll so I know what to do.

Beyond the Grave

Chapter 37: Escape

Cord finished picking the lock on his hand cuffs and dropped them to the ground behind the grocery store. He rubbed the skin and rolled his shoulders. His face was straining against the swelling from the beating Duo Maxwell had given him. But that didn't really matter. It'd go down soon enough. Sooner if he could get back to Conner and get an ice pack.

The hard part had been getting out of the unmarked car. That had been a real strain on his talents. He'd have to ask Connor for a bonus. He needed one too, he was pretty sure groceries were low, his account could use with a little bulk up for bills and tuition.

Cord longed for his cell phone, but they'd taken it from him. His money too. Good thing he didn't carry around anything too important. And the phone wouldn't give them anything. Especially after Justin fried it.

Cord made his way along the back roads, behind the stores, until he ducked into one and lifted a black hooded sweater off a stack and put it on. Then it was a simple matter of picking pockets of spare change, enough to get him a one way bus trip.

On the way he sat in his seat with his head down and the hood pulled up and covering his face. His nose did start to bleed again on the way, but putting his sleeve against his face hid that and the blood didn't show up noticeably on the dark fabric.

He got off close as he dared to the Peacecraft Witches place. Startling one old woman on his way off the bus. But she wouldn't remember him, he was pretty sure.

Cord made his way past security, giving one hidden camera a wave, knowing that only Justin would be watching that one. He was defiantly going to get more money for this. He'd put it in his account and Michael could buy groceries and he'd get home as soon as possible. Hopefully to an apartment that wasn't burned down.

Cord let himself in and followed the sound of howling to the back few rooms they were using at her highnesses charitable tolerance. He walked into the room and found Justin desperately trying to hold David down while Connor dug around in his side just below his right arm.

"Get it out Conner, for gods sake get it out." David was yelling, thrashing against Justin, knocking the kid a few good times. Cord walked up quietly and gave David's left arm one good twist. It made him yell louder but he also stilled a great deal.

"Thank you Cord." Conner said as he used the metal tongs to wrest the bullet from David at last.

Cord let go and stepped back out of David's reach.

"You skinny, scarred, silent bastard." David cursed him.

"All facts." Cord pointed out as he paused to pull the hooded sweater off.

"Fine, you're a rat balled, ugly sucker too." David corrected himself and smacked Justin as the boy tried to dress his wounds. "Don't poke it boy, just slap that on."

Justin gave him a dirty look and then literally slapped the gauze over the open wound. David cursed and smacked him again.

"Stop hittin me!" Justin threw the tape at him. "It's not my fault you got shot."

Conner sighed and walked up to get a good look at Cord now that his hands were clean. "You injured?"

"Naw, just not pretty for a while." Cord assured him, meaning every wound on him was superficial and would heal quickly. No broken bones, no open lacerations. "How'd the idiot get shot?"

"Heero Yuy was not too injured to fight." Conner told him matter o' factly.

"Ah, and I take it Duo Maxwell was not there." Cord sat down and pulled of his shirt, stretched out at the neck and very bloody now.

"Couldn't tell, we had to leave pretty quickly." Conner handed him an ice pack and Cord put it across his eyes as best as he could. His vision had been cloudy for the last two hours.

"Well he wasn't there." Cord told him.

"He did this to you?" Conner asked, picking up on his thread. Cord nodded.

"It seems as if there is a great deal more to these young men than even these old war reports can give us." Conner shook his head and raked his hand through his short hair. "We have to stop treating them as civilians and Preventor Agents. They are more than war veterans."

"That's what I've been telling you." A high pitched voice snapped and all the men turned to stare at Relena Peacecraft standing in the doorway. "I take it you've failed again."

"You-" David started to stand but Justin took his turn and smacked him across his fresh wound and the man sat abruptly back down.

"Please leave Miss Peacecraft, I would rather you have plausible deniability later. You don't need to hear this." Conner turned away from her, unable to look at her without out wanting to do some seriously permanent damage.

"So now you're telling me this is going to court? I was told that you were professionals, that there was no way you wouldn't achieve any goal I put before you." Relena fumed, her face turning a red that made the pink dress she was wearing look ridiculous.

"Miss, I have prepared some tea for you. Please come away from there. This are matters best left to your servants." Celeste suddenly appeared at her shoulder. "Please do not sully yourself by conversing with such brutes."

Cord gave the woman a wink as she turned he blonde monster away from them. He could hear the manipulation in her voice. Taste it in the air. It was delicious.

"Thank God for her." Justin sighed as he pulled out a com pad and proceeded to fry the circuits in Cord's lost phone.

"I wouldn't mind making her thank him a few times myself." Cord muttered. Conner gave him a look and he smiled but shut up.

"As I was saying, it's time to start treating these pilots as we would a fellow band of mercs." Conner picked his thoughts back up and shredded what files they did have on the men they were after. "Justin, see what you can find that's off all records. See if you can find any old OZ files. Those would be best."

Justin nodded and rolled his chair over to his bank of screens and modems.

"Cord, I need you to-"

"I need payment." Cord interrupted him.

"Justin, take care of that too." Conner made a note on a piece of paper and slid it to the kid across the table.

"No way, not happening, how come he gets an advance?" David demanded. "I was shot"

"He has dependants." Conner said. "Now, Cord, I need you to infiltrate the hospital. They'll be taking Barton to the morgue there. We need to be close. But be careful, they know your face."

"They won't recognize me boss, I'll be sure." Cord smiled, putting the ice pack back up on his face.

"Dependants?" David demanded. "What do you mean dependants? None of us have dependants. The point of not having dependants is that we're free to do this. Having dependants is stupid."

"You've said dependants five times now. Do you need a CAT scan?" Conner asked him raising one eyebrow.

"No I don't need a CAT scan, but he can't have… anyone." David pointed at Cord.

"Don't point that at me." Cord snapped at him.

David opened his mouth to reply, but Conner cut him off. "I need explosives."

That shut him up, he looked up at Conner and narrowed his eyes. "What kind and how many?"

"As many as you can, anything that can go off before someone has a chance to really look at it, but enough time for us to get out of the way." Conner barked. "And make sure you have a few to stun."

David nodded and started to stand when Conner stopped him. "Really stun. I'm talking they're down and they stay down. Even if we have to hospitalize them later. Just nothing that kills."

David paused and then nodded, slower. Understanding. That bastard who shot him was going to get his.

"Alright men, lets move fast now. They're one man down and this is our chance to hit them hard and finish the job. You want out of here, you do this right." Conner barked at them.

"I need a few days" Cord hated to bring it up, but his skin grafts just wouldn't fit over or hide the swelling.

Conner sighed. "Fine, that'll just mean that we won't have any margin for mistakes this time. We have a period to prepare. Nothing sloppy, we're not missing this window."

Conner watched them for a minute, Justin typing away furiously and Cord sitting down next to David to help him lift things. Then he left the room and closed the door behind him. He dialed a number from memory and waited.

The line picked up, silently. No one answered.

"Kitty, it's Conner." Conner sighed hard.

"Oh, hi babe. You still sportin your 5 o' clock?" Kitty's voice was light and full of laughter. She was someone you wanted on your side, that friendly exterior could turn deadly quicker than anyone he'd ever seen.

"Yes, I told you, it doesn't matter how often I shave, it always comes back. I just leave it alone now." Conner smirked a little.

"Sexy. So what do you need?" Kitty asked, "Celeste doing alright for you?"

"Yes, yes. She's fine, I need something else."

"Name it, we just got a shipment in, I can have it to you by tomorrow if needed. Of course it'll cost ya." Kitty's smile was vivid in his mind. He'd met her in person once. Of course he'd found out it'd been her later. But he had a good memory.

"I need information." Conner admitted.

"Oh? I thought you had little Justin for that." Conner had never mentioned any of his men by name over any open or secure line, that just showed how good her sources were.

"I do, and he's good. But I think this is beyond even him. Kid's a genius, but I need someone with experience." Conner looked back over his shoulder, door still closed.

"Alright, but info's a pretty penny Conner." Kitty reminded him.

"I know, I'm willing to pay. I need information on Gundam Pilots." Conner agreed quickly and waited for a price.

It never came, Kitty's friendly voice vanished. "No. We're going to forget you said that. What else can I get you?"

"What? I don't under-" Conner started to protest. Kitty had never protested before, she dealt with the worst, send weapons to people who did bad things with them. She had no conscious. There had to be a reason.

"I don't touch them. And you shouldn't either. For once Conner, drop a contract. You won't walk away from this one." Kitty warned him, her voice snapping out like cold metal. "Trust me."

"I don't drop contracts." Conner snapped back.

"Then you're dead." Kitty told him deadpan. No mercy in her voice.

"You're serious."

"I'll give you one warning Conner, we're still good, but don't call me again till this is over. You're lucky I don't pull Celeste. I'll let her stay, but she's on escape orders, she's out if anything turns ugly." He expected her to hang up then, but the line stayed live. "Here's your warning,"

He'd thought that was his warning, but he listened raptly.

"I fought in that war. I was OZ. I had one encounter with Gundam Pilots, that was enough." Kitty's voice was so hollow, Conner could feel a chill. Freezing his spine and lower things. "You tell Justin to stay away from death gods."

And the line went dead.

Conner stared at the phone in his hand. Death gods? Nothing made sense, but Kitty was the best in the business and he would almost say she was scared.

And for the first time, Conner thought about what it would mean to drop a contract. Considered his pride and business weighed against the lives of four men.

Was it worth the risk?