Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters and I don't claim to.
((Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, I spent three days at the FFA State Convention and came back with temporary writers block. That and switching back and forth from writing this and "Meant to Be" which seems to be quite popular, though I am more proud of this story (which actually has a plot line) more people reviewed 'Meant to Be' so I had to delegate some time to it. Anyway, I'll stop babbling and let you read.))
Internal Warfare
Chapter 5: Interrogating Heero
The sun seeped gloomily over the misty horizon as Heero, Kent, Hews and Decon, made there way down a seemingly endless road in a stolen jeep. The road, which had at first been surrounded by thick, dense forest, had drawn back and was now streaming endlessly through fields of long yellow grass. The yellow grass and the gloomy sunrise added to the somber mood in the vehicle. At present no one was talking, and the only one not mad at Heero was Kent, who seemed incapable of being so. Heero himself seemed not to care, but was deeply immersed in his own thoughts.
Finally, Hews spoke, "Who are you?" she said addressing the question at Heero.
He didn't sigh, or hesitate. At this point his mind was definitely off the subject of 'Who are you?'. "I'm was a Preventer. Formerly the Gundam Pilot zero one. Known as the Perfect Soldier." He stated with an absence of thought that was eerie. There was an absence of emotion as well that would have made the statement more disconcerting, however, by simply looking into his eyes one could tell he was feeling something. The look on his face screamed frustration, frustration with the whole situation or frustration with himself, it was anyone's guess. There was another look too, a look only picked up by Kent. He could tell that Heero was greatly saddened by something, and desired to know the reason why.
"What's wrong?" He questioned with a quiet assertion of power and authority, demanding that Heero answer. Heero's eyes flickered to Kent quickly, then back to the road. "Why do you have a look of such extreme sadness?"
Heero nearly veered off the road at the question. Have I become that transparent, he thought. He opted not to argue with Kent, and chose to tell him the real truth behind his sadness and utter disappointment in himself. "I have killed many men," he began, "my hands have been stained with an immense amount of blood that will never come clean. But right after the Mariemaia incident, in fact at the very end of it after the gun fell from my hand, I made a vow that I will never kill again. I said that I didn't have to anymore. That's why I turned to science, save lives instead of destroying them. And how many lives now have I destroyed now?" He paused again.
Hews' eyes softened, she had been very angry with Heero since she found out of his surrender of Marburg blood. But no longer, he was punishing himself enough for her. "It's not your fault this time Heero. Like the saying goes, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' All you did was supply the weapon, the drive to use it was all Montgomery's."
Heero smiled sarcastically, "A person cannot easily kill with their bare hands, excluding myself from this example, but when supplied with a weapon, they are more apt to kill, because it becomes easier. I should not have given such a deadly weapon to such a weak person."
"Weak." Decon almost yelled, "The man seems quite powerful to me."
Heero resisted the urge to laugh. "He is weak of character, not of power. Power is a result of cruelty, which is a result of weakness, therefor, those who are powerful are most always weak. One would not define a person such as Miss Relena Peacecraft as being powerful, because that statement negates her strength of character. One would describe her only as influential, in order to convey her properly." Heero stated very calmly. It seemed to ease his pain to talk about Relena's strength. The very thought of her lifted his spirit.
Somehow, Kent saw this. He chose not to say anything at that moment, but had every intention of bringing the subject forward at a more appropriate time.
"I suppose you could also define her as courageous. That's why people follow her." Hews commented.
Heero smiled almost contently for a moment, "Courage is not why people follow her. They follow her because her nature is soft and honest, she is a good person who has a general care for everyone, a quality lacking in the lazy bureaucrats of today."
This time Kent couldn't remain silent, that look on Heero's face and smile of contentment was too much. "It was rumored," he began, "that she had a personal relationship with one of the Gundam Pilots, is that true."
Heero glanced at him momentarily. "It depends what you mean by personal. The Gundam Pilots zero three and zero five are her personal bodyguards, zero two is her best friend's boy friend and zero four is a colony diplomat. As for me, I was her personal bodyguard. But if you mean a personal relationship that went beyond friendship, it hasn't happened yet."
Kent mentally slapped Heero for his lie, he could always tell when Heero was lying, it was just one of those things. "You're lying about that last part. What happened?"
************
"You will not get away with this." Relena stated calmly to her captors as they roughly led her down a white walled, seemingly endless, hallway. The larger man to her right smirked at her statement.
"Why Miss Peacecraft," the other man gurgled out, his spit rolling around in his mouth making Relena suddenly sick to her stomach. "we have already gotten away with the most complicated part. From here on in, it should be a breeze."
They turned a corner Relena hadn't even known was there, the blinding white walls made it nearly impossible to discern corners or nooks, it was just too bright. Then she saw a change in color. Her eyes welcomed the sight of the door they were approaching, it's dark brown wood eased the burning sensation that was starting to make her eyes water. She was thrown roughly through the door, and it was closed quickly behind her. The room was pitch black and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again she had to blink just to realize that her eyes were in fact open. Slowly and cautiously, she stood. She tried to make herself as quiet as possible. If there was any other person in this room she wanted to know about it and she figured she would hear their breathing. She heard nothing but her own ragged breaths and racing heartbeat. She walked in a direction, her hands outstretched before her as though she were blind, trying to find her way. Her hands came in contact with cool wood. She reveled in the soft coolness of the wooden wall and leaned against it for support, slowly sinking to the floor.
"Heero," she breathed quietly, "I don't know where you are but please, come and save me." Her eyes welled up as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
**********
"Is Relena back yet?" Trowa asked to Quatre as he entered the control room at Preventers Headquarters.
"No, she is still at Montgomery's. Odd though, I wouldn't think it would take this long." Quatre replied.
"I think we should consider Montgomery a suspect." Trowa added quietly.
Quatre turned around abruptly, "Why?"
"He doesn't seemed worried enough that he could be next." Trowa started. He opened his mouth to continue when Duo burst through the door.
"Lyle Arc is in the slammer." He said gasping for breath.
"First off who is Lyle Arc, and secondly, why should we care if he's in jail." Trowa asked annoyed at the disturbance.
Duo sighed and regained his composure. "Lyle Arc is an ESUN delegate with great sway among its members. And the 'slammer' is a level four containment suite inside the Institute (USAMRIID) where they put people who are, or who they suspect of, being infect with a level four hot agent."
"Let me take a stab in the dark here." Trowa said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Not only does this Arc guy have Marburg, but the only connection between him, Starlen and Richards is that they were all ESUN delegates."
"That would be it." Duo said with a smug half smile. Trowa sighed.
"Where are you Heero." Quatre said after a moment's pause.
************
"Why won't you tell me?" Kent asked again.
"Why won't you drop it." Heero said raising his voice.
Their car ride had continued on for a few more hours and the road still looked desolate. In the distance Heero could just make out what he thought was a gas station. He had sped up at its sight but when he told the others of it, they all thought he was seeing things because they saw nothing. But after a few minutes it came close enough that even they could make it out on the horizon line.
"Why does this question bother you so much?" Kent asked in the most serious tone he could muster. Inside he was beaming with delight, he knew he was on the verge of a breakthrough with Heero and was just waiting for the other man to crack. Hews and Decon looked on silently from the back seat. They were completely riveted in the conversation and were waiting for the same thing Kent was.
Heero finally lost it, "Because I'm in love with her!" he yelled as loud as he could. His face was red with anger and frustration and his grip on the wheel was so severe that his knuckles where a bleached shade of yellow. Inside he was reeling, he had finally said that out loud, but it did little to comfort his aching heart. He didn't think he deserved her, but he was determined to let her decide that, once this was all over. He hadn't wanted to tell anyone before he admitted it to her, but Kent just had a way of getting any information he wanted out of him. Heero assumed he was just getting soft, this calmed him some, he didn't want to be the perfect soldier anymore and the prospect of being soft made him feel better.
Kent couldn't help the grin the spread across his face. He knew Heero was going to tell him something, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. He turned back to look at Hews and Decon. Hews was leaned back in her seat with a goofy looking grin on her face and Decon was trying his best not to smile because of Heero's angry state.
They felt the car gather energy and it started traveling at an incredible speed. Kent's expression immediately returned to its normal state and he looked at the speedometer. Eighty miles and hour, then ninety and it just kept going up. He turned to Heero nervously.
"Slow down Heero." He said, it was more of a demand than a request, this just seemed to anger the former Gundam Pilot more and he increased the speed. Hews began to scream in terror, thinking they would crash.
After a few more moments Decon had had enough, "Heero stop this car right now!" he yelled.
Heero practically slammed on his breaks. Making a dead stop right in the middle of the road. Kent looked up to find the gas station right in front of them and they were slowly pulling into a parking spot.
"You are in a car with the best pilot alive, who specialty was speed flight, and you are frightened if I go over ninety in a car." Heero stepped out of the car briskly. "We're here, and if any of you EVER tell a soul what I just told you, I will not kill you, but you would be surprised what you can live through."
Everyone remained frozen in their seats for a moment as Heero entered the small gas station. There was an old man reading a magazine sitting behind the counter. Heero approached him and regaining his composure, spoke as politely as he could muster. "Excuse me sir, I hate to interrupt you, but you wouldn't happen to have a telephone or a pay phone I could use."
The old man looked up from behind his magazine with a big goofy smile on his face at the kind young man before him. As this was happening, Kent, Hews and Decon entered and walked up behind Heero. The old man grinned at Heero, his brown teeth in full view. "Why of course young man, I usually don't let anyone use my private phone," he said as he lifted a white corded phone from behind the counter, "but you're such a nice, polite young man, I don't know how I could refuse." Heero nodded and smiled as best he could in thanks. Picking up the receiver he dialed Preventers Headquarters.
"Hello, this is Heero Yuy, put me through to…" he thought for a moment, "Trowa Barton please." There was a short pause. "Trowa it's me." He paused again as Trowa spoke. "Trowa, calm down, I need you to send someone to pick up my team and I." He listened as Trowa spoke again. Then he turned to the old man. "Excuse me again sir, but could you tell me exactly where I am."
"Sure thing, you are at Al's Gas Station rout 1193 in West Kingston." The old man said proudly.
"And what country." Heero asked.
The old man looked at him in shock for a moment. "You're in Arizona son, in the great USA." He said not as proudly as before. Heero nodded again.
"Al's Gas Station on rout 1193 in West Kingston Arizona… Yes, the United States." Heero paused again as Trowa talked. ((A/N: there is no such place to my knowledge, I made it up.))
Heero hung up the phone a moment later. Then turned to his companions. "So?" Kent asked anxiously.
"He's on his way." He paused, "He's taking the Concord from Sank to Dallas Texas and then he'll get a helicopter and fly here. Then we'll retrace his steps back there." Everyone nodded.
"Can we get something to eat Heero, I'm starving." Hews asked in a show of helplessness.
"I'm sorry Hews, but they definitely didn't leave any money on me when they abducted me while I slept, and unless you have some on you I'm afraid we are going to have to go hungry." Heero said as his own stomach growled.
"You guys were abducted?" The old man asked.
Kent decided it was his turn to turn on the charm, "Yes sir, and that's why we didn't know where we were. Those evil jerks took us in the middle of the night."
The old man looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well then," he said cheerfully, "food's on me."
((A/N: Review! What happens next time when Heero finds out that Relena went to a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and doesn't come back. Oh the humanity! Just kidding. It's not that life threatening. It seems as though I keep killing those poor ESUN delegates, yet, no bad guys have did yet. Hummmm…. That's just something to ponder. Have a lovely day… Be kind and review.))
((Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, I spent three days at the FFA State Convention and came back with temporary writers block. That and switching back and forth from writing this and "Meant to Be" which seems to be quite popular, though I am more proud of this story (which actually has a plot line) more people reviewed 'Meant to Be' so I had to delegate some time to it. Anyway, I'll stop babbling and let you read.))
Internal Warfare
Chapter 5: Interrogating Heero
The sun seeped gloomily over the misty horizon as Heero, Kent, Hews and Decon, made there way down a seemingly endless road in a stolen jeep. The road, which had at first been surrounded by thick, dense forest, had drawn back and was now streaming endlessly through fields of long yellow grass. The yellow grass and the gloomy sunrise added to the somber mood in the vehicle. At present no one was talking, and the only one not mad at Heero was Kent, who seemed incapable of being so. Heero himself seemed not to care, but was deeply immersed in his own thoughts.
Finally, Hews spoke, "Who are you?" she said addressing the question at Heero.
He didn't sigh, or hesitate. At this point his mind was definitely off the subject of 'Who are you?'. "I'm was a Preventer. Formerly the Gundam Pilot zero one. Known as the Perfect Soldier." He stated with an absence of thought that was eerie. There was an absence of emotion as well that would have made the statement more disconcerting, however, by simply looking into his eyes one could tell he was feeling something. The look on his face screamed frustration, frustration with the whole situation or frustration with himself, it was anyone's guess. There was another look too, a look only picked up by Kent. He could tell that Heero was greatly saddened by something, and desired to know the reason why.
"What's wrong?" He questioned with a quiet assertion of power and authority, demanding that Heero answer. Heero's eyes flickered to Kent quickly, then back to the road. "Why do you have a look of such extreme sadness?"
Heero nearly veered off the road at the question. Have I become that transparent, he thought. He opted not to argue with Kent, and chose to tell him the real truth behind his sadness and utter disappointment in himself. "I have killed many men," he began, "my hands have been stained with an immense amount of blood that will never come clean. But right after the Mariemaia incident, in fact at the very end of it after the gun fell from my hand, I made a vow that I will never kill again. I said that I didn't have to anymore. That's why I turned to science, save lives instead of destroying them. And how many lives now have I destroyed now?" He paused again.
Hews' eyes softened, she had been very angry with Heero since she found out of his surrender of Marburg blood. But no longer, he was punishing himself enough for her. "It's not your fault this time Heero. Like the saying goes, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' All you did was supply the weapon, the drive to use it was all Montgomery's."
Heero smiled sarcastically, "A person cannot easily kill with their bare hands, excluding myself from this example, but when supplied with a weapon, they are more apt to kill, because it becomes easier. I should not have given such a deadly weapon to such a weak person."
"Weak." Decon almost yelled, "The man seems quite powerful to me."
Heero resisted the urge to laugh. "He is weak of character, not of power. Power is a result of cruelty, which is a result of weakness, therefor, those who are powerful are most always weak. One would not define a person such as Miss Relena Peacecraft as being powerful, because that statement negates her strength of character. One would describe her only as influential, in order to convey her properly." Heero stated very calmly. It seemed to ease his pain to talk about Relena's strength. The very thought of her lifted his spirit.
Somehow, Kent saw this. He chose not to say anything at that moment, but had every intention of bringing the subject forward at a more appropriate time.
"I suppose you could also define her as courageous. That's why people follow her." Hews commented.
Heero smiled almost contently for a moment, "Courage is not why people follow her. They follow her because her nature is soft and honest, she is a good person who has a general care for everyone, a quality lacking in the lazy bureaucrats of today."
This time Kent couldn't remain silent, that look on Heero's face and smile of contentment was too much. "It was rumored," he began, "that she had a personal relationship with one of the Gundam Pilots, is that true."
Heero glanced at him momentarily. "It depends what you mean by personal. The Gundam Pilots zero three and zero five are her personal bodyguards, zero two is her best friend's boy friend and zero four is a colony diplomat. As for me, I was her personal bodyguard. But if you mean a personal relationship that went beyond friendship, it hasn't happened yet."
Kent mentally slapped Heero for his lie, he could always tell when Heero was lying, it was just one of those things. "You're lying about that last part. What happened?"
************
"You will not get away with this." Relena stated calmly to her captors as they roughly led her down a white walled, seemingly endless, hallway. The larger man to her right smirked at her statement.
"Why Miss Peacecraft," the other man gurgled out, his spit rolling around in his mouth making Relena suddenly sick to her stomach. "we have already gotten away with the most complicated part. From here on in, it should be a breeze."
They turned a corner Relena hadn't even known was there, the blinding white walls made it nearly impossible to discern corners or nooks, it was just too bright. Then she saw a change in color. Her eyes welcomed the sight of the door they were approaching, it's dark brown wood eased the burning sensation that was starting to make her eyes water. She was thrown roughly through the door, and it was closed quickly behind her. The room was pitch black and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again she had to blink just to realize that her eyes were in fact open. Slowly and cautiously, she stood. She tried to make herself as quiet as possible. If there was any other person in this room she wanted to know about it and she figured she would hear their breathing. She heard nothing but her own ragged breaths and racing heartbeat. She walked in a direction, her hands outstretched before her as though she were blind, trying to find her way. Her hands came in contact with cool wood. She reveled in the soft coolness of the wooden wall and leaned against it for support, slowly sinking to the floor.
"Heero," she breathed quietly, "I don't know where you are but please, come and save me." Her eyes welled up as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
**********
"Is Relena back yet?" Trowa asked to Quatre as he entered the control room at Preventers Headquarters.
"No, she is still at Montgomery's. Odd though, I wouldn't think it would take this long." Quatre replied.
"I think we should consider Montgomery a suspect." Trowa added quietly.
Quatre turned around abruptly, "Why?"
"He doesn't seemed worried enough that he could be next." Trowa started. He opened his mouth to continue when Duo burst through the door.
"Lyle Arc is in the slammer." He said gasping for breath.
"First off who is Lyle Arc, and secondly, why should we care if he's in jail." Trowa asked annoyed at the disturbance.
Duo sighed and regained his composure. "Lyle Arc is an ESUN delegate with great sway among its members. And the 'slammer' is a level four containment suite inside the Institute (USAMRIID) where they put people who are, or who they suspect of, being infect with a level four hot agent."
"Let me take a stab in the dark here." Trowa said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Not only does this Arc guy have Marburg, but the only connection between him, Starlen and Richards is that they were all ESUN delegates."
"That would be it." Duo said with a smug half smile. Trowa sighed.
"Where are you Heero." Quatre said after a moment's pause.
************
"Why won't you tell me?" Kent asked again.
"Why won't you drop it." Heero said raising his voice.
Their car ride had continued on for a few more hours and the road still looked desolate. In the distance Heero could just make out what he thought was a gas station. He had sped up at its sight but when he told the others of it, they all thought he was seeing things because they saw nothing. But after a few minutes it came close enough that even they could make it out on the horizon line.
"Why does this question bother you so much?" Kent asked in the most serious tone he could muster. Inside he was beaming with delight, he knew he was on the verge of a breakthrough with Heero and was just waiting for the other man to crack. Hews and Decon looked on silently from the back seat. They were completely riveted in the conversation and were waiting for the same thing Kent was.
Heero finally lost it, "Because I'm in love with her!" he yelled as loud as he could. His face was red with anger and frustration and his grip on the wheel was so severe that his knuckles where a bleached shade of yellow. Inside he was reeling, he had finally said that out loud, but it did little to comfort his aching heart. He didn't think he deserved her, but he was determined to let her decide that, once this was all over. He hadn't wanted to tell anyone before he admitted it to her, but Kent just had a way of getting any information he wanted out of him. Heero assumed he was just getting soft, this calmed him some, he didn't want to be the perfect soldier anymore and the prospect of being soft made him feel better.
Kent couldn't help the grin the spread across his face. He knew Heero was going to tell him something, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. He turned back to look at Hews and Decon. Hews was leaned back in her seat with a goofy looking grin on her face and Decon was trying his best not to smile because of Heero's angry state.
They felt the car gather energy and it started traveling at an incredible speed. Kent's expression immediately returned to its normal state and he looked at the speedometer. Eighty miles and hour, then ninety and it just kept going up. He turned to Heero nervously.
"Slow down Heero." He said, it was more of a demand than a request, this just seemed to anger the former Gundam Pilot more and he increased the speed. Hews began to scream in terror, thinking they would crash.
After a few more moments Decon had had enough, "Heero stop this car right now!" he yelled.
Heero practically slammed on his breaks. Making a dead stop right in the middle of the road. Kent looked up to find the gas station right in front of them and they were slowly pulling into a parking spot.
"You are in a car with the best pilot alive, who specialty was speed flight, and you are frightened if I go over ninety in a car." Heero stepped out of the car briskly. "We're here, and if any of you EVER tell a soul what I just told you, I will not kill you, but you would be surprised what you can live through."
Everyone remained frozen in their seats for a moment as Heero entered the small gas station. There was an old man reading a magazine sitting behind the counter. Heero approached him and regaining his composure, spoke as politely as he could muster. "Excuse me sir, I hate to interrupt you, but you wouldn't happen to have a telephone or a pay phone I could use."
The old man looked up from behind his magazine with a big goofy smile on his face at the kind young man before him. As this was happening, Kent, Hews and Decon entered and walked up behind Heero. The old man grinned at Heero, his brown teeth in full view. "Why of course young man, I usually don't let anyone use my private phone," he said as he lifted a white corded phone from behind the counter, "but you're such a nice, polite young man, I don't know how I could refuse." Heero nodded and smiled as best he could in thanks. Picking up the receiver he dialed Preventers Headquarters.
"Hello, this is Heero Yuy, put me through to…" he thought for a moment, "Trowa Barton please." There was a short pause. "Trowa it's me." He paused again as Trowa spoke. "Trowa, calm down, I need you to send someone to pick up my team and I." He listened as Trowa spoke again. Then he turned to the old man. "Excuse me again sir, but could you tell me exactly where I am."
"Sure thing, you are at Al's Gas Station rout 1193 in West Kingston." The old man said proudly.
"And what country." Heero asked.
The old man looked at him in shock for a moment. "You're in Arizona son, in the great USA." He said not as proudly as before. Heero nodded again.
"Al's Gas Station on rout 1193 in West Kingston Arizona… Yes, the United States." Heero paused again as Trowa talked. ((A/N: there is no such place to my knowledge, I made it up.))
Heero hung up the phone a moment later. Then turned to his companions. "So?" Kent asked anxiously.
"He's on his way." He paused, "He's taking the Concord from Sank to Dallas Texas and then he'll get a helicopter and fly here. Then we'll retrace his steps back there." Everyone nodded.
"Can we get something to eat Heero, I'm starving." Hews asked in a show of helplessness.
"I'm sorry Hews, but they definitely didn't leave any money on me when they abducted me while I slept, and unless you have some on you I'm afraid we are going to have to go hungry." Heero said as his own stomach growled.
"You guys were abducted?" The old man asked.
Kent decided it was his turn to turn on the charm, "Yes sir, and that's why we didn't know where we were. Those evil jerks took us in the middle of the night."
The old man looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well then," he said cheerfully, "food's on me."
((A/N: Review! What happens next time when Heero finds out that Relena went to a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and doesn't come back. Oh the humanity! Just kidding. It's not that life threatening. It seems as though I keep killing those poor ESUN delegates, yet, no bad guys have did yet. Hummmm…. That's just something to ponder. Have a lovely day… Be kind and review.))