Chapter Eighteen
First Attempt

Heero, Serena, and Trowa had driven back together. Even against Duo's protest to go with them. Heero had blatantly told him no before climbing into the driver's seat after shutting Serena's door. Trowa was going to sit in the back with Serena, but Heero told him there was no need to. Heero didn't feel it was necessary.

It wasn't long into the drive back to HQ when Heero's phone began to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he didn't bother to check the caller ID before he answered.

"Yuy."

"There's a situation at the Capitol building. You need to get there immediately," Une said quickly.

"What do you mean there's a situation?" Heero asked as he changed directions to head towards the ESUN building.

"Agent Watson has taken Relena captive."

Heero said nothing as he hung up his phone. Stepping on the gas he drove as fast as he could. Thoughts started to race through his mind as his heart rate increased.

"What's going on?" Trowa asked.

"Watson's taken Relena captive."

"Has he made any demands?" Trowa asked.

"None as far as I know," Heero said as he swerved around a car. Heero caught Serena's eyes in the rearview mirror. Something flashed in them, but he didn't have enough time to think about it as he turned the SUV onto the road that led them to the ESUN building.

Within a few minutes, they were stopped right outside of the ESUN Capitol building. Heero and Trowa quickly checked their guns before getting out of the SUV. Serena was about to open the door when Heero stopped her.

"Stay here," he said sternly, slamming his door shut. Trowa said nothing as he ran after Heero who took off up the stairs to the main entrance of the building.

Serena watched them for a moment before turning to look in the front she saw that Heero had taken the keys with him. She turned her head back to the building where people were still filing out of the building. Making the decision quickly she started looking through the vehicle.

She checked the back seats before looking in the trunk. Not finding anything she moved up into the front passenger seat. Opening the glove box she smiled to herself as she grabbed the item she had been searching for.

After a quick check, she exited the vehicle making a run for the building. Once inside she turned to her left, running to the stairwell. She knew the building's layout like the back of her hand. Taking the stairs as fast as she could while trying to dodge people. She shook her head as she continued her way up.

They should've had the building on lockdown. Not letting people run scared and causing more of a situation.

After a few more minutes she was finally on the fifth floor. Pushing the door open, she slowly entered the hallway.

Relena had been working away at her desk all morning. While she was getting some work done, it didn't stop her mind from wandering to other thoughts. When she had gone to see Serena, she wasn't expecting the sight that greeted her. Nor did it help when Serena had realized something about the data she and Heero had been working on all night.

Heero didn't seem pleased either and he had refused to talk about it on the ride over to her office. Relena had tried to get him to open up, but all he told her was that they would speak about it later.

Relena wasn't completely unaware of what might have crossed their minds. She knew Doctor J had created Serena, from speaking with her and Heero verifying the information the day before. Based on that and the reaction she witnessed, she was able to gather that Doctor J might have been the one who set up the plan for Heero and Serena to somehow meet.

While Relena wasn't entirely informed on what was going on at Preventer, she still had some knowledge. It was her job after all to know most of this information but still, some things were kept secret but Heero usually filled in the blanks for her.

She stopped working to further think back on some information Heero had told her. She knew about the emails. Which led to the mission and in turn led to them meeting Serena. But what were the chances that Serena would get hurt enough for one of them to find her in the building?

Timing was everything in the world and she knew that all too well. Was it fate that brought them together? Relena shook her head. It wasn't completely fate that had done it. Doctor J had laid his hand of cards out for all to see and the pieces fell into place perfectly. But the question that bothered her the most was why would Doctor J do such a thing? Why send Serena to be found by Preventer in the first place? There was more to the story than what was being told to her. And after that morning, she knew that she needed to find out some more answers. From either Heero or Serena herself.

She was starting to like Serena. They hadn't spent much time together but Relena could see herself becoming close with Serena. Her musing was cut short when the door to her office opened. Agent Watson, who was currently on her guard detail for the day came in.

"Agent Watson," Relena quickly addressed him. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Why yes there is," Watson's lips curled up slightly as he made his way over to Relena's desk. Relena stiffened in her chair as she watched him. Something was off about the way he was looking at her. Before she had any time to react, a gun was thrust into her face. "You're going to come with me," he said as his lips turned up into a wicked smile.

"What do you want from me?" Relena asked as she stayed seated.

"We are going to change the world as we know it, Ms. Darlian."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The start of the revolution is upon us. And you will be the first one to see the beginning of the end of the ESUN," Watson said as gestured with his gun for her to stand up.

Heero and Trowa were already on the fifth floor. They had finally found Watson with Relena walking slowly down the hallway. They both had their weapons trained on him as he finally stopped at an intersection on the floor. Relena was remaining calm from what Heero could tell. She kept her eyes on him while Watson's gun was pressed against her temple.

"Let her go, Watson," Heero ordered.

"You and I both know I can't do that," Watson said with a wicked smile.

"You don't have to do this. There are other ways of solving a conflict," Relena said evenly.

"Shut up," Watson said, pushing the gun into her head more. "Don't even think about moving or I'll end her life right here, right now."

Heero glanced at Trowa as they both made eye contact. They needed to get Watson to move enough for one of them to take a shot at him but without the risk of hitting Relena. Heero turned his eyes back to look at Relena. He was proud of how well she was handling herself. She hadn't taken her eyes off him.

"What do you want?" Heero asked as he moved his eyes back to Watson.

"ESUN needs to fall and if this is the only way to do it, then I'll gladly do it."

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked.

"Relena won't be needed in the new world we're about to create. If this marks the first step in obtaining that, then I'll-"

Heero's eyes went wide as he saw Watson jerk as a gunshot rang out. Heero went to move towards Relena as Watson fell to the ground, but Relena had already started running towards him. Once she was close enough, he grabbed her, throwing her behind him as he raised his gun. He saw Trowa do the same out of the corner of his eye as Watson tried to reach for his gun when another shot rang out.

Serena held her weapon steady as she slowly approached. She was watching Watson closely. She hoped that her second shot had been enough of a warning. He was currently clutching his side where she had shot him the first time.

She kept on advancing towards him till she was close enough to lower herself to retrieve his gun. Tucking it behind her back she continued moving closer to him.

"You bitch!" Watson yelled between gasps. His hand pressed against his side.

Serena eyed him before grabbing a hold of him. Flipping him onto his stomach, she dropped down, pressing a knee into his back. Using her gun she hit his hand away as he tried to hold his side again.

"It's just a flesh wound. You'll survive," Serena deadpanned as she turned her head.

"Flesh wound!? You fucking shot me you bit-" Watson yelled out in pain as Serena pushed the barrel of her gun into his side.

"Are you two just going to stare at me, or are you going to cuff him?" Serena lifted a brow at both Heero and Trowa. Trowa was the first to lower his gun, while Heero kept his gun trained on her and Watson. After a moment and several footsteps of others coming down the hallway did Heero finally lower his.

As Serena turned her head to see where the other agents were coming from when she felt someone pulling her up roughly by her arm.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Heero growled at her as he moved her away from Watson who was now being handled by two other agents. Serena narrowed her eyes at him.

"I came to help."

"You disobeyed my orders. I told you to stay in the car," Heero seethed.

Serena jerked her arm away from him but said nothing. She watched him as he reached around her back grabbing Watson's gun from her. Heero tucked the gun behind his own back before reaching to grab the one that was still in her hand.

"Where the hell did you get this?" He asked as he held the gun in front of her.

"Glovebox," Serena replied while Heero continued to glare at her.

"Go back to the car and wait for us," Heero said in a low growl. She held out her hand, glaring back at him. "What?" He asked when she said nothing to him.

"I locked the doors after I got out. I need the keys to getting back in," Serena said as she kept her hand out. Heero closed his eyes for a second before he moved the gun in his hand to his holster. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the keys, dropping them into her hand.

"Get in the back seat and don't move. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, whatever you say," Serena said as she walked past him towards Trowa and Relena.

Heero watched Serena as she passed by Trowa who tried to speak to her but she refused to make eye contact with him. He caught Relena glaring at him before he looked back at Serena.

"Put your hood on!" Heero yelled at her retreating back.

He watched to make sure she did as she was told. Serena lifted the hood, covering her hair. But as she lowered her hands, she kept one finger up for a moment before dropping her hands to her side.

Heero heard snickering. Turning his head he saw Duo and Sally who had arrived some time ago, along with Wufei. Everyone seemed to be amused by Serena giving him the finger.

Everyone but him.

Heero couldn't believe how the whole situation was playing out. He instructed Wufei to go with Watson back to HQ and to have Sally go to check on the gunshot wound he had received from Serena. After he had checked Relena to make sure she hadn't sustained any injuries.

Relena claimed to be fine and wanted to return to work. He didn't like the idea of her returning to her office and had wanted her to come back with him so he could watch over her and at least put his mind at ease. But that wasn't the end of everything. It only went downhill from there.

The President of ESUN, Frederick Klein, had come down from his office and was speaking with Duo before coming to check on Relena. He told Heero he was grateful for the agent who took Watson down without any real bloodshed. He had asked where she was and that he wanted to personally thank her for protecting their Foreign Minister along with keeping the integrity of Preventer intact with her quick thinking.

Heero had no idea what to tell the President. Lucky for him, Relena quickly addressed the question. She told Klein that she had taken Watson back to Preventer HQ and that they could set up a time to properly thank her. Heero had shot her a look but her little white lie seemed to satisfy the man. Klein nodded his head in thanks as he moved away from them.

It didn't take Preventer long to secure the scene along with getting everyone back into the building. Trowa had reminded Heero that Serena was waiting in the car for them since he didn't allow her to stay. He had tried again to have Relena return with him to HQ but she had refused. She said she'd have someone bring her later. She didn't want to send the wrong message that she was unable to continue to work even after almost being kidnapped.

Heero knew he should've known better than to think she'd be anything but stubborn when it came to her work. He only decided to leave when Duo agreed to stay with her. There were only a few hours left in the workday so he reluctantly left her in Duo's care.

When Heero and Trowa arrived back at the SUV an hour later. He found Serena sitting in the back with her arms crossed. Heero got into the driver's seat, looking directly into the rearview mirror.

"You think that was cute?" He asked her sternly. Her little stunt didn't go unnoticed by him and he was still unhappy with everything that happened. She had been exposed and that was the last thing he or any of them needed.

"At least someone thinks I'm cute," Serena smirked as she met his eyes. Heero grumbled something as he started up the engine.

A/N

Happy Monday part three! This will be the last post for today and finally, we got to see some action. Not a whole lot, but something happened. What does this all mean? Well, to be honest, some stuff is going to change. The next chapter is called Finally Stepping Up, cause clearly, Serena needs to start talking... don't think she had much of a choice now. On Wednesday you'll get to learn a little bit more about her and this group with a shitty name. I was tempted to change the group's name... but I couldn't because Serena pokes fun at it, because it's a stupid name. I hope you at least enjoyed this chapter and the lead-up to it. I needed a reason to get everyone out of HQ so this chapter could happen thus the next chapter could happen. From here on out, it's going to be a wild ride. Lots of ups and downs and some fun sprinkled in. Hopefully, these notes make sense, my feelings are still a little over the place from the last note I wrote.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of your Monday and I will be back on Wednesday!
-MM