'No..no....NO!' Heero's mind screamed as he pulled his car up to the freshly designed and remolded version of the preventors building, not caring in the slightest that he had parked over three disabled parking spots.
That very morning he had tried once again to hack into the 'Lowe's' main computer system, but with no luck. However, just as he was about to rest and put his computer away, he just happened to check in his computer files of incoming messages, and luckily found the 'request of presence' from Lady Une. If he had not checked, he would have never known of this meeting.
However, it was not the late received invitation that had his blood boiling........he had found something else in his incoming message board.......something that had got him mad..shocked...however you could describe it, he felt it. And now only anger pulsated throughout his entire system with every breath he gained..........
Rushing through the doorway, and practically shattering the stained glass door in the process of slamming it, he came to the elevator. He pushed the elevator button repeatedly, watching each individual number of each elevator floor light slowly with each descending level. This only made his frustration deepen. Though his patience was growing low, and his temper slowly rising, you could never tell from his face. His stoic features shone through more than any other emotion his face could display, though that particular selection being very little anyhow. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, while his eyes betrayed no emotion, staring out in a 'seemingly permanent' glare.
After waiting a good two minutes for the elevator, he finally lost patience and rushed for the stairway. His heart beated rapidly in his chest as he ran. As he finally approached the seventh floor he hastened his walking pace till he came to the end of the hallway.......
Looking into the last room that came into view, he saw Quatre sitting,
quietly chatting with Trowa.
Viewing farther into the room he spotted Wufei. He was at a large table,
concentrating on paperwork.
Without hesitating, he quickly walked into the room and shifted his gaze towards the three bodies of his former 'partners' which he had not seen in nearly two years, they staring back at him in disbelief.
"Heero! When did you-" Quatre started, but was quickly cut off by Heero.
"Where's Lady Une?" He asked abruptly.
Quatre's warm expression never faltered at his friend's rather 'informal' greeting, but he still smiled as he responded.
" She was said to be back shortly after her regularly scheduled meetings-"
Heero grunted in response, cutting Quatre short once again of anything else he had planned to say afterwards.
Heero's eyes scanned the room and noted it was a large conference hall with a small podium stage, red drapery carpet laced around the edges of it. Above their heads, hung a beautiful crystal chandelier, sparkling with the reflective light patterns that the sun seeped into its maze of transparent glass. A long and outstretched meeting table sat in the middle of the room, while stacks of papers and documents filled almost every inch of it. At the main end of the table, where a large velvet chair sat, lay a small, rather out- of -date laptop computer.
Walking over to it he slowly opened it up to its main screen and began
to type furiously. He figured that if Lady Une wasn't there, then he might
as well not waste any time on 'breaks' and just get working.
As he brought it up to the 'Lowe' system screen he attempted
a variety of codes in hope to finally get into the system data banks........no
luck.
Heero's face still remained calm, but inside his mind....he was screaming with frustration.
Wufei looked over to Heero and slowly got up from his chair. Looking over his shoulder he stole a glance at the screen..........
'Lowe....' Wufei thought, observing the name on the screen.
He could only assume that Heero had gotten much more information in the short amount of time that the other pilots had even known of this mission. He had never seen Heero as one to take such threats lightly, especially when Relena was involved....
Wufei had to smirk at that.
'What a distraction she proves to be for you, Heero...' he thought.
He had always seen Heero as one never to get distracted or give up on anything...let alone a mission. So it was no suprise to him that he had gotten this far....especially because it was for Relena.
Retreating back to his work pile, Wufei sat down with an inward sigh....
' I only hope that Lady Une will be able to tell us enough information about what we're dealing with here..' he thought, slowly venturing back to his paperwork and began working again.
Heero stopped momentarily to think.
'What the hell would they be using as a password..?! Think Heero.. think...'
Then, the only name that he hadn't tried came to mind....
Heero gulped silently as he typed in the name.
It was the only thing he could think of...the only thing that came to him....
'But, that would be too obvious...if it were anything..it would have a slight modification to its name..."
Then, Heero got an idea.
As he typed in the specific code onto the mainframe, a brief a moment
of pause settled opon the computer.
Thinking it was going to be another system crash, Heero took his hands
away from the computer and waited.
After a minute or so a smaller screen of red and yellow started to flicker in a wild dance in front of his eyes......
'The 'Lowe' symbol...' Heero mentally noted, mind still racing from utter suprise and almost laughing shock of the correct password-imput.
It was a snake/serpent crest in a deep red background......
Heero couldn't put his finger on it..but that seal had seemed all too familiar... as though he had seen it before. Though the logic being that he would have remembered it..or even known of it played in his mind, and brought him back to reality. He shook off the feeling of reminiscence and stared intently at the screen.
Heero smirked slightly at his discovery.
"Got it." he mumbled softly to himself, only visibly relaxing for a moment.
The three young men looked over to Heero and the computer screen, as it flickered wickedly in a bright crimson dance over his emmontionless features.
Quatre and Trowa's eyes both meet briefly, and almost in unison stood and gathered behind Heero, looking intently at his discovery.
Suddenly a large, black screen replaced the once bright red and yellow one, as all the up-to-date information slowly started to fill in.....
Heero leaned in closely to the screen as his eyes began to drink in
all the information that was set in front of him:
In relation to the newly captured, Peacecraft child, the general
has called forth a meeting in the grand hall to discuss the upcoming 'events'
that are to take place. In the first assembly we will be discussing.........-
That small bit of information stuck out in Heero's mind as valuable information for his strategic planning. It would also give him a clue as to where they were keeping her present. Now all he had to do was transfer the documents to the computer system they were stored into, and trace the source of the base.
'Simple.' Heero thought, bringing the computer closer and typing again, this time with slightly more motivation at his new success.
Quatre's eyes widened as they meet briefly with Trowa's....
'Captured....' he mouthed, in total shock.
He had not realized the situation was this dire.....Relena had been 'captured'! His mind raced with all the things they could have done to prevent it...but nothing positive showed up.
A warm hand briefly found its way onto Quatre's shoulder, startling him slightly.
As he looked up to the emerald- green eyes of his well known friend Trowa, he understood.....
'There was nothing we could have done...we didn't know about it....much less the where abouts of the enemy..all we need to concentrate on now.... is getting her back.' Quatre thought, nodding briefly to Trowa, then looking back to the screen.
He didn't know what it was about Trowa's eyes...just that there was never really any need for words. His 'eyes' spoke out his answers...his feelings...just about anything you could imagine. It was odd, but Quatre could feel somewhat more comftorable and confident around him than any of the other pilots, he just seemed to give off that essence of a 'protector' in his opinion........
Trowa's hand lowered itself from Quatre's shoulder as he began to read the information on the screen, Quatre doing so as well..
'Relena...we'll get you back.' Quatre promised to himself, looking intently at the screen.
However, as Heero began to type, the door at the end of the room slammed
open, followed by the laughter of Duo.
This action, only slightly startled Heero and the others as they looked
up towards their rather loud 'friend'.
Duo practically paraded into the room, hands full of candies from the vending machines, and some hot coffee. He smiled towards his friends.
"Hey guys! I got some goods for ya-"
Duo froze.
He looked to the end of the table, only to see the familiar patch of unruly brown hair in front of a small laptop computer...
"Heero...?!" Duo questioned quietly,finding himself unable to speak any louder than a whisper.
His mouth hung wide open as he shouted out in realization,
"Hey, Heero! How ya doin' buddy!? Didn't think you'd show up..!"
Heero only gave him a slight nod, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Duo sighed.
'That's Heero for ya...' he thought, as he walked over to the end of the table were it seemed as though a 'reunion' was taking place....
"What's up you guys?" Duo asked, looking over to the computer.
Duo's eyes widened at the information displayed before of him.
"Captured?!" he said out loud, turning to the rest of the group. " Why didn't we know about this?"
"It seems as though it has taken us all by suprise," Trowa said calmly. ", had anyone received any other information, other than what we know, prior to our meeting?"
While the rest of the group looked completely clue less, Heero's fists slowly started to clench themselves.
"I received an e-mail, from an anonymous sender." he announced, his fingers slowly halting their fast typing and resting themselves on the gray and blanchy keyboard.
The group stared at him intently.
"Did it have any information on Relena..?" Quatre asked hesitantly.
"Hai. However, it only made a threat saying that they had captured the Vice Foreign Minister. Nothing we don't know already," Heero's fingers once again became active at an even more rapid pace than before as he continued, "I had tried earlier to trace the source of the sender, but they had a blocking device sent along with the e-mail. So, hacking into the 'Lowe' information files was our best bet."
After finishing his typing, Heero got up from his chair almost automatically, sending the other group members to nearly knock themselves off balance, and fall to the floor.
"Hey! Were do you think your going?!" Duo asked, practically shouting at Heero.
Heero stopped.
Turning around to Duo, he glared at him.
"Going to find Lady Une. Her meetings can wait."
That was the last thing they heard Heero say as he quickly left the room and down the hall. All the while he couldn't believe the single, most unbelievable thing he had encountered in there..........
As Heero came to the meeting room which the conference with Lady Une was being held in, and quietly opened the door...
Only pausing momentarily at the familiar name of the password that flashed repeatedly in his mind......
'That password.....'
It haunted his thoughts over and over...
In an endless loop......
'LowePeacecraft..........'
An acute and utter dizziness fell over Relena as she slowly started to arouse from her rather awkward sleep......
As she opened her majestic, aquamarine orbs, she blinked several times to focus, trying to rid herself of the sleep residue that laid in her eyes...
With every move she would make, a painful stinging raged throughout her system. Even with the slightest movements, pain raided through her body in shock waves..... leaving her helpless and submissive to its pulsating rhythm, and the dry numbness that overtook her body when she encountered it......
Her fingers moved slowly, testing her moving ability. Finding herself restrained to a board...a wall of some kind, in a dark and damp room....
An icy drip of water fell opon her face, sending a chill down her spine as she looked up, and cautiously observed her surroundings.
She noted the small spaced room, extremely dark, unable to see... from what she could feel however, it was a stone wall that she was pressed against, firm and solid. Chains around her hands and feet....
'Forget pulling yourself off, Relena....' she mentally noted to herself.
She also noticed that she was alone...all alone...which made her somewhat uneasy....
Relena attempted to take a deep breath, but found herself gasping, and wondered why it was such a struggle for her to breathe....
Then she noticed the small choke chain around her neck....it held her fast to the wall, making it impossible to turn her head or to even move. If she were to struggle, Relena guessed, the chain would not resist in choking her... so she kept still....
Her heart beated rapidly in her chest.
Surely this was not the way her life was going to end.... How would anyone know where she was? She didn't even know where she was....
'The gundam pilots...' Relena thought almost automatically.
They would find her, she had no doubt in that.... or was she even important enough for them to be concerned with?....
They had always saved her before...and Heero.....
Relena gulped heavily and closed her eyes as she rested her head against the wall behind her.
Heero had always come to rescue her. No matter what the obstacle, he would always complete his mission.....
'Mission... That's all I am to him....a mission....' Relena thought solemnly.....
Her arms were starting to prickle from loss of blood. She attempted to shift from the un-comftorable position, only to be rewarded with a sharp tug at her neck, signifying the presence of the momentarily forgotten choke chain....
Relena's eyes started to fill with tears, she was beginning to get frightened.
'No! Don't cry! You are not going to give up yet!' her mind screamed.
Relena's tears almost immediately stopped.
'That's right.... I can't give up.... Heero will find me. I'm sure of it.'
That small reassurance kept Relena's spirit up, and allowed herself to have courage once again as she looked upwards. Her eyes now getting used to the dark, she saw a small door to the complete opposite of where she was. Next to that was a small window, apparently for oxygen to keep flowing...though there was no light flowing from it....which didn't help in the slightest anyhow....
Suddenly a bright white light streamed into the room, and Relena found herself slightly convulsing at its blinding rays. Her eyes tightly pinched shut, and her senses momentarily disoriented didn't even let her realize the figure apoaching her from across the room....
A cold hand found its way onto Relena's soft, delicate skin, as it roughly turned her face towards it's owner.
Relena squinted in front of her to see who her captive was, only to see the familiar golden tooth of the smiling soldier she had meet earlier in her 'escape'....
Relena involuntarily shivered underneath his stare....it was so frighteningly intense....not the warm and comftorable stare like one of Heero's eyes...but like a madman glare... the kind of glare if you saw, you would run away from.....
The man slightly smirked at the woman's discomfort, and much to Relena's fear, slowly lowered himself down to her lips, pausing right in front of them, so that his lips could be felt against hers as he spoke....
"We have been waiting for you..... Miss Peacecraft......"
To Be Continued...
OyyYYyyYY! I am sooo sorry for waiting for so long to come out with this chapter! *sighs* I went to SPAIN you see...and well, I had loads of fun...but truthfully, it was no reason to stop writing....ya know, I could have done some of it before...but I was just too lazy. Thank you to everyone for being so patient with me! Your patience, and faithfulness to my story means the world to me. Now, I should be coming out with the next chapter soon! (much much sooner than however long it took to post this one mind you...) Thank ya! If you have time, please review! Stay cool! (ps. 'Hai' in japanese means: Yes) (look up, you'll see it before in one of Heero's paragraph's, just in case you were confused :P)