This pairing was a challenge issued by a friend who thought it
would be an interesting combination. Action this time around.
First time I have ever written an action (read PLOT) orientated
fic so we shall see how this goes!
Title: Two Become One 5/?
Author: Rhina
Pairings: 2xS and 5x11
*******
WARNING: Angst and Language
*******
Disclaimer: I don't own the GW boys or their female counterparts
otherwise I'd be retiring instead of dealing with the likes of the
school board. I don't own the song "Two Become One" by the
Spice Girls either - thank goodness, who'd want to lay claim to
them?!
lyrics
~~~ scene change ~~~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Any deal that we endeavour,
Boys and girls feel good together
Take it or leave it,
Take it or leave it
~~~ A Holding Cell, L2 ~~~
Sally slid down the wall in her tiny cell, sitting gracelessly on
the floor. Her body ached all over and she barely even saw the
minimalist cot they had provided her with to sleep on tonight.
She flexed her tired fingers; grateful in some part for the aches
and pains that reminded her she was still among the living and
not one of those tragic corpses that she had operated on during
the day.
A wave of depression and hopelessness washed over her as she
looked at her hands. She idly wondered if she'd ever be able to
remove the stains of blood that would linger there, reminders of
all the people she had killed during this mission. And yet she
couldn't avenge a single one of them, not stuck in this tiny hellhole
of her own making.
And she couldn't count on Une getting her out of this one either.
Une had enough on her plate without concerning herself over
Sally's predicament. Not that she had any way to let Une know
what kind of shit she was in anyway. She'd been without contact
on this mission thus far; so continued silence would not alarm Une
in any way.
Closing her eyes to forget about the horror that surrounded her,
Sally willed her mind to turn toward the problem of escape. She
needed to get the fuck out of here before they made sure her leave
of this colony was permanent.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"So," said Wufei, coming back into the room after having changed
into more comfortable clothing. "How do you think we should
nail this guy?"
"Well, I don't know about a direct confrontation," murmured Une,
thinking out loud more than really stating a possible course of action.
Wufei immediately shook his head at that suggestion whether
it was serious or not. "Sounds like a good way to end up in an
all out shoot out. Something I'd personally like to avoid."
Une nodded in agreement. She didn't want to put anyone else in
this guy's line of fire than she already had. Her quick mind
analyzed the problem over and over, searching out a new way to
lay a trap for their nemesis. She wanted this idiot out of her
organization and ground firmly into the dust. There would be no
recriminations from this one. Once gone, she'd make sure he
stayed that way.
While Une contemplated the course of action, Wufei stood and
moved to place a quiet phone call. The murmurs of his voice
didn't even register with Une who was buried deep within her
own thoughts of planned justice.
Turning back from the vid phone, Wufei regarded the lady
sitting on his couch. At some point, she has removed her jacket,
baring the thinness of the dress shirt she wore underneath. The
loss of the jacket brought the feminine curves he admired into
view. Her brown hair lay tousled along her head and clung to
delicate cheekbones. Her brow was furrowed with worry as
thoughts piled themselves one on top of the other. Somewhere
along the line, she'd accidentally swiped the pen along the side
of her face and it gave her a decidedly touchable appearance.
Withdrawing from the turn his thoughts were rapidly taking,
Wufei pulled himself back to the issue that demanded his attention.
He moved back to sit in the chair that was kitty corner from
Une's position on the couch. Carefully he reached out and rubbed
the ink mark from her cheek in a comforting gesture as his mind
began to unfold an idea to capture the rat in their midst.
Une's deep brown eyes softened as she turned her gaze to
Wufei, looking into his deep eyes and letting his touch bring
her back to reality. She never quite understood what it was about
this Chinese man that seemed to be able to bring peace to her
soul no matter what was going on around her. He touched
something inside of her; an echo of what Treize had brought out
in her life. Some days she feared she'd never be able to be
without Wufei again and she was unsure of how he would react to
that kind of weakness. But it was as if some silent agreement had
been reached that they never spoke of the feelings that churned
within them.
"I think I have an idea," said Wufei as he carefully withdrew
his hand, the skin of his fingers burning gently at having
touched Une's fire.
"What is it?" asked Une, anxious to know, her hand coming up
to cover her cheek, now left bereft by the absence of Wufei's
touch.
"We use some very attractive bait to lure him to us," stated Wufei,
his calm voice belying the churning of his emotions.
"Bait?" queried Une, some how sensing that she was not going to
like the answer. "What kind of bait?"
"Me," announced Wufei.
His solid gaze locked with hers and the war between two
determined individuals was on.
~~~ Nearing L2 ~~~
Regaining manual control over the shuttle, Duo guided the
machine into the landing area he wished to use. He planned
to land near an area where he had some old friends roaming
about. He'd made friends with them at the very beginning of
his scrapping days and would definitely be calling in a few
favors from them.
These weren't the type of people he normally called his friends,
but sometimes you had to look for help in unusual places.
Back when he had first been starting up, these less than pristine
customers had helped him find great scrap and arrange a couple
of very lucrative deals. He had moved out of the slightly
shady area as soon as he could, but he'd kept contact with one
or two of the guys because you never knew when such
contacts could come in handy.
And now he would ask for some friendly help from these
people. He was sure they could help him blend in with the low
areas where he was headed. They should be able to provide
some cover for himself and Heero. And best of all he was
sure they could lead him to the jerk whom Sally was after.
Duo was pretty sure that Carver hadn't tipped off the
organization Sally was aiming for yet. He knew they wouldn't
be aware that Sally was working undercover. But that
organization was Duo's best bet for finding Sally. And hopefully
he could get her out of there while Heero hacked the
information they needed to nail the organization and while
Wufei and Une tied up Carver before he could share Sally's
identity with the _other_ bad guys, killing three birds with one
stone.
But, thought Duo as he touched down the craft, the best laid
plans of mice and men gang aft agley.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
Wufei's dark gaze challenged Une's own brown-eyed
determination. Their feelings of protectiveness and compassion
for the other overwhelmed their senses. Neither wanted the
other to get hurt and so they stood on opposite sides of the issue
on what to do about Carver Fultz.
"I still say that exposing my role as a Gundam pilot matched
with the fact that I am a Preventer Officer will bring him to us,"
stated Wufei as he urgently tried to convince Une to see things
his way. "What could possibly be a more enticing kill?"
"I don't want you in harm's way for no reason," cried Une, her
agitation at the idea driving her to pace across the room her long
legs quickly out stripping the confines of the space. "Besides,
we don't have any clue why this jerk is harming the Preventers
in the first place! It might have nothing to do with the Gundams!"
Wufei smiled slightly as Une's agitation ate up the small space.
He never would have thought that such a suggestion would bring
out this kind of reaction in her. Maybe there was something
going on here that he didn't know about, but now was not the
time to investigate such things. Catch the jerk first and then
there would be time enough to explore.
"Une," said Wufei softly. "Sit down. I want you to think about
what you know about this man first and then let's come to a
conclusion from there."
Raking her fingers through her tangled brunette locks, Une flopped
down onto the couch near Wufei. Her brown eyes showed the
determination to not only not give in to him on this issue, but to
also win him over to her side.
"What do you know about Carver?" prompted Wufei, leaning
back in his chair, a hand pushing silky black strands of hair off
his cheek.
"Well," began Une as she sunk into her memories. "He was
there with me and Treize from nearly the beginning. When we
began to recruit, he was one of Treize's first few selections
because of the abilities and intelligence that he showed. We
thought he would be a great addition to the core of OZ soldiers
that we were building."
Quietly Wufei stood then and began to make some tea, letting her
words continue to roll through his mind. His sense of strategy and
intelligence helped him combine the seemingly shiny Preventer
dossier on the man with the words that Une spoke, forming a
more solid picture of the rat that they needed to catch.
"He was always there," remembered Une, recalling memories
from days she often tried to forget. Despite the longing she
sometimes felt when remembering times with Treize, the craziness
of OZ was something she was glad to have left behind. "Kind of
like waiting in the wings."
"Anything special or significant about him?" queried Wufei,
handing her a steaming cup of soothing tea, cradling his own
in a hand that embodied the elegant yet strong parts of his
personality.
Une shook her head. "Nothing that I can recall, but then he
seemed to have a tendency to be a part of the background
more than standing out."
Nodding with understanding, Wufei continued to puzzle out the
best way capture the man.
With hands wrapped around the cup of steaming tea, Une bowed
her head and continued to think. A myriad of thoughts and
events from those times flicked through her mind, but nothing
brought to light the one clue that they needed to spring a trap on
Carver. No matter how much she wanted him dead for what he
had done to her Preventers, there didn't seem to be a way to pay
him back.
~~~ On L2 ~~~
Once he landed, Duo quickly exited the craft, shedding his
Preventer jacket along the way. With stealthy reflexes honed
by years as a Gundam pilot and a street rat, he headed toward
the business location of the friends he would use for contact in
this area. Once there he changed clothes and gained a bit of
relevant information.
Now he had a name, not to mention a face, to put with the head
of the organization. None of them had heard rumors of a
Preventer at work, but with the size of his organization that was
not to be unexpected. On the other hand, Sally, the tall elegant
blonde that Duo described, had been spotted. They knew the
location of her apartment and he would start his search for her
there. But Martin Fraser was the man who was running the
organization Duo was looking for. From the sound of things,
there were more than a few who would be happy to see him and
his butchering operation take a hike.
Pleased to know that local support was on his side, Duo found
a location near the supposed headquarters of the Fraser
operation to use as a base sight. He placed another secured call
to Heero to get the ball rolling and arrange a meeting.
Given the name and location of who they were up against, Heero
immediately went to work at gathering the needed data to take
him on while Duo set out on a little shopping excursion of his
own, stopping to check on Sally's apartment on the way.
~~~ A Holding Cell, L2 ~~~
It had been another wearying day in the operating room. Sally
sighed and ran a hand threw her tangled locks, which still
retained some of the hideous black she had sprayed on it. The
confines of the cell were driving her slowly insane. She'd played
with and tampered everything she could in the cell that was or
looked even remotely electronic. The only thing she could get
out of it is that this cell had definitely been made to keep people
in confinement indefinitely. There was nothing jury-rigged
about this place which meant that he'd been able to build
something very confining, with few chances to make her own
escape.
She'd tried a couple of things during the day today, but she
was too closely watched by the guards to pull any kind of shit.
And she'd tried every form that she could think of! At least
the people surrounding her other than the guards were reasonably
sympathetic to her.
Damn it all! She had to think of some way out of this!
Scowling at the wall, Sally slumped down on the bunk to put
her brain to the test of finding a way out.
~~~ Martin Fraser's Office L2 ~~~
"Well Ty?" asked Mr. Fraser, the operations director, as he
turned around from the examination of the fish tank behind
his desk. "Did you find out anything more about our mystery
guest?"
Ty lazily shook his head, tossing the paperweight he had taken
from his boss's desk from hand to hand. His casually indifferent
pose had his feet draped over the side of the chair he was
lounging in as he continued to juggle the heavy object.
"Why not?" questioned the dark haired man, peering intensely
over the edge of his glasses at the youth seated in front of him.
Mr. Fraser was not used to waiting. He needed information on
this young lady so that after he killed her, he could take care of
those who had sent her here.
"Well," drawled Ty, snatching the paperweight out of mid-air
and settling it with a thunk on top of the desk, "It's hard to trace
someone's origins when all you've got is a nice false name and
records and a bloody picture. You remember that old line about
the needle in the haystack."
Mr. Fraser growled at his subordinate and reached out for the
paperweight, holding it in his own solid grip. "Then I suggest
you get back and starting trying a little harder."
"Yeah man," shrugged Ty. "I should go back and do that. I
think I might have a contact who can help me."
"You make sure you have some results the next time you waltz
into this office," frowned Fraser. The necessity of such people
was definitely obvious to him, but that didn't mean he would
tolerate insubordination.
With a look of 'yeah whatever' pasted on his features, Ty
bonelessly slid from his seat and made his way out of the room.
The crazy old man didn't scare him in the least, but he did
enjoy his work so maybe it paid not to antagonize him too much.
Still seething at the inability to find out anything about the
elusive 'Ms. Schwartz' or who she worked for, Martin Fraser
turned back to face the aquarium. The crack of the shattering
of the heavy paperweight was the only noise in the room.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
A knock interrupted the deep thoughts of both Wufei and Une.
Wufei smiled softly to himself as he realized who must have
been knocking at the door while Une merely looked puzzled.
On silent feet, Wufei stood and moved across to open the
door. Pulling it open, he smiled, almost warmly at the young
man on the other side. He offered his hand in a gesture
of respect he knew the other would understand.
"Trowa," said Wufei, clasping his friend's hand in a strong
grip.
"Wufei," answered Trowa, meeting Trowa's firm grip with
one of his own. "I was pleased to hear from you. I had been
hoping to convince you and Sally to come and see Catherine
and myself while we were in town."
"I'm sure that Sally would have loved to come if she was in
town," commented Wufei, closing the door behind his guest.
"But there's more than just a simple chance to get together as
the reason for my call."
Trowa nodded in response, his eyes taking in Une's tired
presence. He offered a hand to her in turn, clasping her slender
hand warmly and smiling a gentle smile at her. "I can sense
that. It is good to see you again Une."
Wufei gestured for Trowa to have a seat and the tall lanky
brunette lowered his form to the chair next to the couch. He
crossed his jean-clad legs at the ankles and laid long elegant
hands on his knees. His one green eye peered at Une and then
Wufei with interest. "So what can I do for you?"
"Help us catch a rat," stated Wufei. And together he and Une
launched into a discussion of the Preventer troubles.
~~~ Carver Fultz's Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"I'll get that bitch yet," swore Carver deep under his breath
as he paced in front of his open computer terminal.
"Thinking she can hide Sally away from my reach."
He pounded a fist into his hand and turned swiftly on his heel.
His thin hair was tousled across his features and his glass had
been tossed aside. The neck of his shirt was askew and the
bottom was untucked from his overly creased pants. He
looked like he'd never seen the correct side of the iron though
the back had certainly connected with his head, giving him
that very unbecoming hair do and dazed look. A seeming
lack of sleep and the inability to find his razor made him look
like a complete rouge of the worst kind.
And of course that's exactly what he was.
He stopped his pacing and faced the large framed picture of
Treize from when OZ was at its height. The general was in
full formal dress, obviously posing for some sort of
Romenfeller promotion. The picture had cut out the rest of the
command squad that had been pictured with Treize, leaving
only Carver behind.
"I should have been the one you turned to," he snarled. "She
had nothing that I didn't, except a good fuck when you needed
it. I was the one who always believed. She was just some
chick who dared to interfere."
With a wicked ironic smile, he saluted the man he had once
served with honor. "I'll get that bitch you promoted over me
over and over and all her little favorite ones, see if I don't.
sir."
A beep then alerted to him to an incoming message from
someone. His search had uncovered something very very
interesting. "So that's where Ms. Po ran off to. And you don't
know who she is. Well, well, I think I can certainly be of
some assistance."
Composing a reply, Carver smiled sinisterly to himself in the
eerie glow of the monitor's light.
~~~ A Rundown apartment, L2 ~~~
"Duo you pick the worst goddamn hiding places," complained
Heero as he entered through the door that Duo politely opened
at his knock. "This place is a pile of shit waiting to topple!"
Duo laughed at Heero's unusual vehemence. For the man to
swear like that, it must be pretty bad. Shaking his head at
Heero, Duo closed the door and redid the security locks.
"Looks are deceiving Heero," was Duo's only comment.
"You should know that as well as me."
"Hn," said Heero, throwing his bag on the bed and pulling out
his laptop. "I'll refrain from further comments if you tell me
this room has a dataport."
Duo pointed out the location for Heero to plug in his laptop.
"Secured even, you are a lucky boy Heero-babe!"
Snorting at the name, Heero plugged in the computer and set
it booting up. "So what the hell are we doing here Duo?"
Blowing his bangs out of his eyes, Duo laid back on the bed,
folding his arms behind his head. "Well, it all began because
of a vindictive little weasel and a blonde like you've never
seen."
Merely raising an eyebrow, Heero listened without comment,
merely linking the computer to the information he had gathered
on their enemy from earlier, listening with half an ear as Duo
fleshed out the story he had told earlier. The other eyebrow
rose when Duo began to talk about Sally. He recognized a
tone he had never heard in Duo's voice before. There was
something more between his friend and the Preventer agent
they were to rescue. Something that made this more urgent
for him then anything they'd done before. Smiling to himself,
Heero was reminded of the feelings that had flowed through
him when he had realized that Mariemaya's army had kidnapped
Relena. He only hoped Duo acknowledged his own feelings
sooner than he had dealt with his.
"So that's pretty much it in a nutshell," concluded Duo, his
eyes still glazed, looking at a face he could only see in his mind.
A fist tightened its grip on the bed's cover, twisting it all out
of proportion as he contemplated what he would do to those
jerks if they even laid a hand on Sally that was out of line. "I've
checked out the place that she should have been staying at,
according to the guys around here, and no one's been there in
awhile, other than the guys who ransacked it."
Heero nodded in understanding. It was now definite that Sally
had been captured by this shading character and was retained
by his organization.
"I doubt they found anything though," added Duo. "Sally was
pretty thorough when she went undercover according to Une."
Contemplating this, Heero considered the information on Martin
Fraser and his organization that he had up on the screen. "Well,
then, considering who this guy is and what I've discovered,
he's still holding her somewhere on his complex."
Turning the screen so that Duo could see, he began relaying
the information condensed down to what they needed to know.
"The man's a vindictive one. He'll want to know whom Sally
works for and why she's there before he does away with her.
Then he'll wreak revenge against the people who sent her after
she's dead and quite out of the way. He has a long memory and
never let's a chance to hold a grudge pass him by."
Grinding his teeth slightly, Duo nodded. This all meshed with
the information he had gathered from street contacts. The guy
was ruthless and you never contemplated crossing him in a
business dealing unless you liked being spaced. Force seemed
to be the only thing he responded to, but around here there wasn't
enough of that to drive this guy out of here. Too many had
tried before and died horribly for anyone to be willing to risk it.
"If we get her," continued Heero.
"We'll get here," ground out Duo. "Failure is not an option with
this one."
Heero nodded at the confirmation of his thoughts about Duo's
feelings for Sally. "When we get her, we're going to need to
make sure and take him out for a safe exit. Without him, the
organization should scatter like dust in the wind."
"Right," agreed Duo, squeezing the comforter and twisting it
again, anxious to get his hands on the slimeball.
"Chances are that Sally's being held in a fairly secured cell,"
continued Heero, speaking in a monotone as much as possible.
"The facilities that his organization houses were built by the
government before the war as extra housing for prisoners and
a fighting force base on the upper levels. Somehow after the
war, several shady politicians were convinced to 'sell' the
place to Fraser."
Duo looked over at the computer and read the schematics of
the place as easily as Heero. "Shit."
"Exactly," said Heero with a nod. "But I think there's a good
course of action if you look at this."
And together the men plotted their hostile take over well into
the night.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"So you can see what we're up against, right Trowa?" asked
Une, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees
while her chin slid down to her folded hands.
Trowa nodded slowly. His long jean clad legs were stretched
out in front of him and crossed at the legs. His clasped hands
were tucked behind his head and he titled his head back to
contemplate the ceiling for a moment. With slow graceful
movements, he sat up and stared at the pair anxiously awaiting
his response. "I know this isn't what you want to hear Une,
but I think Wufei is the best bait for this guy."
Une sighed and slumped down resignedly. Her eyes focused
on Wufei who was in turn watching her closely. His deep
brown eyes were soft and full of liquid concern. With a nod,
Une communicated her consent to the idea of using Wufei to
lure out Carver. "I agree."
Trowa and Wufei shared a moment of silent communication,
Trowa nodding his understanding that Wufei did not want Une
to suffer more than necessary through the planning of this.
"I think the best idea is for you to provide the information
about Wufei to him though Une. My guess is that if he knows
the person has such a rich background and is important to you,
that will make the target more appealing."
"Now wait a minute," injected Wufei. "I didn't think we
needed to involve Une like this! I don't want her in his way or
with a chance of getting hurt!"
Une glared at Wufei. "I'm quite capable of taking care of
myself, thank you very much."
Wufei sniffed with some measure of disdain. "It is my job to
protect you onna."
With a scowl, Une reached toward Wufei, intent on some form
of bodily harm, but Trowa's voice halted her before injury to
the Chinese man could occur.
"I'll be with Une," said Trowa to reassure Wufei. "Just as I
will then tail him to where he will meet Wufei. I don't want
either of you alone with this guy. He's got some kind of
vendetta happening and neither of you should be without
backup, especially considering the information that we are going
to be imparting to this man."
Slowly Wufei and Une looked at one another and then nodded
their agreement with Trowa's statement of how things should
occur. "So what do you have in mind then," asked Wufei,
curious to see how Trowa's thought patterns played out. He
must have been taking strategy lessons from Quatre or there
was more than met the eye about Trowa.
"Well," drawled Trowa slowly, pulling a pen and a piece of paper
across to him. "I kind of see it playing out like this."
And the three worked on the plan until it was solid and seamless,
leaving no room for error.
~~~ Fraser Operations, L2 ~~~
Answering the urgent summons of his electronic mail program,
Ty whirled around to face the computer. His fingers flew
across the computer and his eyes widen as he read the
information provided. Without a comment or any other change
of expression, he printed out the information and exited the
room with it in hand.
Wordlessly, he slipped into his boss's office and presented
the piece of paper. "Thought you might find this some
interesting reading."
Martin Fraser read the necessary lines and crumpled the paper
up in his hand. "Bitch. Bring her here."
An assorted flunky immediately headed off as Ty waved
himself out of the room.
Mr. Fraser rolled his chair around to face the giant aquarium
behind his desk, watching the quiet motions of the shark in the
tank as his snarled whisper slipped through the room. "You've
reached the end of the road. Ms Sally Po."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I have no idea where all of this is coming from!
But I promise - next time - lots of action! Thins happen, places
explode and more than one little fight!
Thanks for reading - as always C&C appreciated!
^_^
Rhina
would be an interesting combination. Action this time around.
First time I have ever written an action (read PLOT) orientated
fic so we shall see how this goes!
Title: Two Become One 5/?
Author: Rhina
Pairings: 2xS and 5x11
*******
WARNING: Angst and Language
*******
Disclaimer: I don't own the GW boys or their female counterparts
otherwise I'd be retiring instead of dealing with the likes of the
school board. I don't own the song "Two Become One" by the
Spice Girls either - thank goodness, who'd want to lay claim to
them?!
lyrics
~~~ scene change ~~~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Any deal that we endeavour,
Boys and girls feel good together
Take it or leave it,
Take it or leave it
~~~ A Holding Cell, L2 ~~~
Sally slid down the wall in her tiny cell, sitting gracelessly on
the floor. Her body ached all over and she barely even saw the
minimalist cot they had provided her with to sleep on tonight.
She flexed her tired fingers; grateful in some part for the aches
and pains that reminded her she was still among the living and
not one of those tragic corpses that she had operated on during
the day.
A wave of depression and hopelessness washed over her as she
looked at her hands. She idly wondered if she'd ever be able to
remove the stains of blood that would linger there, reminders of
all the people she had killed during this mission. And yet she
couldn't avenge a single one of them, not stuck in this tiny hellhole
of her own making.
And she couldn't count on Une getting her out of this one either.
Une had enough on her plate without concerning herself over
Sally's predicament. Not that she had any way to let Une know
what kind of shit she was in anyway. She'd been without contact
on this mission thus far; so continued silence would not alarm Une
in any way.
Closing her eyes to forget about the horror that surrounded her,
Sally willed her mind to turn toward the problem of escape. She
needed to get the fuck out of here before they made sure her leave
of this colony was permanent.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"So," said Wufei, coming back into the room after having changed
into more comfortable clothing. "How do you think we should
nail this guy?"
"Well, I don't know about a direct confrontation," murmured Une,
thinking out loud more than really stating a possible course of action.
Wufei immediately shook his head at that suggestion whether
it was serious or not. "Sounds like a good way to end up in an
all out shoot out. Something I'd personally like to avoid."
Une nodded in agreement. She didn't want to put anyone else in
this guy's line of fire than she already had. Her quick mind
analyzed the problem over and over, searching out a new way to
lay a trap for their nemesis. She wanted this idiot out of her
organization and ground firmly into the dust. There would be no
recriminations from this one. Once gone, she'd make sure he
stayed that way.
While Une contemplated the course of action, Wufei stood and
moved to place a quiet phone call. The murmurs of his voice
didn't even register with Une who was buried deep within her
own thoughts of planned justice.
Turning back from the vid phone, Wufei regarded the lady
sitting on his couch. At some point, she has removed her jacket,
baring the thinness of the dress shirt she wore underneath. The
loss of the jacket brought the feminine curves he admired into
view. Her brown hair lay tousled along her head and clung to
delicate cheekbones. Her brow was furrowed with worry as
thoughts piled themselves one on top of the other. Somewhere
along the line, she'd accidentally swiped the pen along the side
of her face and it gave her a decidedly touchable appearance.
Withdrawing from the turn his thoughts were rapidly taking,
Wufei pulled himself back to the issue that demanded his attention.
He moved back to sit in the chair that was kitty corner from
Une's position on the couch. Carefully he reached out and rubbed
the ink mark from her cheek in a comforting gesture as his mind
began to unfold an idea to capture the rat in their midst.
Une's deep brown eyes softened as she turned her gaze to
Wufei, looking into his deep eyes and letting his touch bring
her back to reality. She never quite understood what it was about
this Chinese man that seemed to be able to bring peace to her
soul no matter what was going on around her. He touched
something inside of her; an echo of what Treize had brought out
in her life. Some days she feared she'd never be able to be
without Wufei again and she was unsure of how he would react to
that kind of weakness. But it was as if some silent agreement had
been reached that they never spoke of the feelings that churned
within them.
"I think I have an idea," said Wufei as he carefully withdrew
his hand, the skin of his fingers burning gently at having
touched Une's fire.
"What is it?" asked Une, anxious to know, her hand coming up
to cover her cheek, now left bereft by the absence of Wufei's
touch.
"We use some very attractive bait to lure him to us," stated Wufei,
his calm voice belying the churning of his emotions.
"Bait?" queried Une, some how sensing that she was not going to
like the answer. "What kind of bait?"
"Me," announced Wufei.
His solid gaze locked with hers and the war between two
determined individuals was on.
~~~ Nearing L2 ~~~
Regaining manual control over the shuttle, Duo guided the
machine into the landing area he wished to use. He planned
to land near an area where he had some old friends roaming
about. He'd made friends with them at the very beginning of
his scrapping days and would definitely be calling in a few
favors from them.
These weren't the type of people he normally called his friends,
but sometimes you had to look for help in unusual places.
Back when he had first been starting up, these less than pristine
customers had helped him find great scrap and arrange a couple
of very lucrative deals. He had moved out of the slightly
shady area as soon as he could, but he'd kept contact with one
or two of the guys because you never knew when such
contacts could come in handy.
And now he would ask for some friendly help from these
people. He was sure they could help him blend in with the low
areas where he was headed. They should be able to provide
some cover for himself and Heero. And best of all he was
sure they could lead him to the jerk whom Sally was after.
Duo was pretty sure that Carver hadn't tipped off the
organization Sally was aiming for yet. He knew they wouldn't
be aware that Sally was working undercover. But that
organization was Duo's best bet for finding Sally. And hopefully
he could get her out of there while Heero hacked the
information they needed to nail the organization and while
Wufei and Une tied up Carver before he could share Sally's
identity with the _other_ bad guys, killing three birds with one
stone.
But, thought Duo as he touched down the craft, the best laid
plans of mice and men gang aft agley.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
Wufei's dark gaze challenged Une's own brown-eyed
determination. Their feelings of protectiveness and compassion
for the other overwhelmed their senses. Neither wanted the
other to get hurt and so they stood on opposite sides of the issue
on what to do about Carver Fultz.
"I still say that exposing my role as a Gundam pilot matched
with the fact that I am a Preventer Officer will bring him to us,"
stated Wufei as he urgently tried to convince Une to see things
his way. "What could possibly be a more enticing kill?"
"I don't want you in harm's way for no reason," cried Une, her
agitation at the idea driving her to pace across the room her long
legs quickly out stripping the confines of the space. "Besides,
we don't have any clue why this jerk is harming the Preventers
in the first place! It might have nothing to do with the Gundams!"
Wufei smiled slightly as Une's agitation ate up the small space.
He never would have thought that such a suggestion would bring
out this kind of reaction in her. Maybe there was something
going on here that he didn't know about, but now was not the
time to investigate such things. Catch the jerk first and then
there would be time enough to explore.
"Une," said Wufei softly. "Sit down. I want you to think about
what you know about this man first and then let's come to a
conclusion from there."
Raking her fingers through her tangled brunette locks, Une flopped
down onto the couch near Wufei. Her brown eyes showed the
determination to not only not give in to him on this issue, but to
also win him over to her side.
"What do you know about Carver?" prompted Wufei, leaning
back in his chair, a hand pushing silky black strands of hair off
his cheek.
"Well," began Une as she sunk into her memories. "He was
there with me and Treize from nearly the beginning. When we
began to recruit, he was one of Treize's first few selections
because of the abilities and intelligence that he showed. We
thought he would be a great addition to the core of OZ soldiers
that we were building."
Quietly Wufei stood then and began to make some tea, letting her
words continue to roll through his mind. His sense of strategy and
intelligence helped him combine the seemingly shiny Preventer
dossier on the man with the words that Une spoke, forming a
more solid picture of the rat that they needed to catch.
"He was always there," remembered Une, recalling memories
from days she often tried to forget. Despite the longing she
sometimes felt when remembering times with Treize, the craziness
of OZ was something she was glad to have left behind. "Kind of
like waiting in the wings."
"Anything special or significant about him?" queried Wufei,
handing her a steaming cup of soothing tea, cradling his own
in a hand that embodied the elegant yet strong parts of his
personality.
Une shook her head. "Nothing that I can recall, but then he
seemed to have a tendency to be a part of the background
more than standing out."
Nodding with understanding, Wufei continued to puzzle out the
best way capture the man.
With hands wrapped around the cup of steaming tea, Une bowed
her head and continued to think. A myriad of thoughts and
events from those times flicked through her mind, but nothing
brought to light the one clue that they needed to spring a trap on
Carver. No matter how much she wanted him dead for what he
had done to her Preventers, there didn't seem to be a way to pay
him back.
~~~ On L2 ~~~
Once he landed, Duo quickly exited the craft, shedding his
Preventer jacket along the way. With stealthy reflexes honed
by years as a Gundam pilot and a street rat, he headed toward
the business location of the friends he would use for contact in
this area. Once there he changed clothes and gained a bit of
relevant information.
Now he had a name, not to mention a face, to put with the head
of the organization. None of them had heard rumors of a
Preventer at work, but with the size of his organization that was
not to be unexpected. On the other hand, Sally, the tall elegant
blonde that Duo described, had been spotted. They knew the
location of her apartment and he would start his search for her
there. But Martin Fraser was the man who was running the
organization Duo was looking for. From the sound of things,
there were more than a few who would be happy to see him and
his butchering operation take a hike.
Pleased to know that local support was on his side, Duo found
a location near the supposed headquarters of the Fraser
operation to use as a base sight. He placed another secured call
to Heero to get the ball rolling and arrange a meeting.
Given the name and location of who they were up against, Heero
immediately went to work at gathering the needed data to take
him on while Duo set out on a little shopping excursion of his
own, stopping to check on Sally's apartment on the way.
~~~ A Holding Cell, L2 ~~~
It had been another wearying day in the operating room. Sally
sighed and ran a hand threw her tangled locks, which still
retained some of the hideous black she had sprayed on it. The
confines of the cell were driving her slowly insane. She'd played
with and tampered everything she could in the cell that was or
looked even remotely electronic. The only thing she could get
out of it is that this cell had definitely been made to keep people
in confinement indefinitely. There was nothing jury-rigged
about this place which meant that he'd been able to build
something very confining, with few chances to make her own
escape.
She'd tried a couple of things during the day today, but she
was too closely watched by the guards to pull any kind of shit.
And she'd tried every form that she could think of! At least
the people surrounding her other than the guards were reasonably
sympathetic to her.
Damn it all! She had to think of some way out of this!
Scowling at the wall, Sally slumped down on the bunk to put
her brain to the test of finding a way out.
~~~ Martin Fraser's Office L2 ~~~
"Well Ty?" asked Mr. Fraser, the operations director, as he
turned around from the examination of the fish tank behind
his desk. "Did you find out anything more about our mystery
guest?"
Ty lazily shook his head, tossing the paperweight he had taken
from his boss's desk from hand to hand. His casually indifferent
pose had his feet draped over the side of the chair he was
lounging in as he continued to juggle the heavy object.
"Why not?" questioned the dark haired man, peering intensely
over the edge of his glasses at the youth seated in front of him.
Mr. Fraser was not used to waiting. He needed information on
this young lady so that after he killed her, he could take care of
those who had sent her here.
"Well," drawled Ty, snatching the paperweight out of mid-air
and settling it with a thunk on top of the desk, "It's hard to trace
someone's origins when all you've got is a nice false name and
records and a bloody picture. You remember that old line about
the needle in the haystack."
Mr. Fraser growled at his subordinate and reached out for the
paperweight, holding it in his own solid grip. "Then I suggest
you get back and starting trying a little harder."
"Yeah man," shrugged Ty. "I should go back and do that. I
think I might have a contact who can help me."
"You make sure you have some results the next time you waltz
into this office," frowned Fraser. The necessity of such people
was definitely obvious to him, but that didn't mean he would
tolerate insubordination.
With a look of 'yeah whatever' pasted on his features, Ty
bonelessly slid from his seat and made his way out of the room.
The crazy old man didn't scare him in the least, but he did
enjoy his work so maybe it paid not to antagonize him too much.
Still seething at the inability to find out anything about the
elusive 'Ms. Schwartz' or who she worked for, Martin Fraser
turned back to face the aquarium. The crack of the shattering
of the heavy paperweight was the only noise in the room.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
A knock interrupted the deep thoughts of both Wufei and Une.
Wufei smiled softly to himself as he realized who must have
been knocking at the door while Une merely looked puzzled.
On silent feet, Wufei stood and moved across to open the
door. Pulling it open, he smiled, almost warmly at the young
man on the other side. He offered his hand in a gesture
of respect he knew the other would understand.
"Trowa," said Wufei, clasping his friend's hand in a strong
grip.
"Wufei," answered Trowa, meeting Trowa's firm grip with
one of his own. "I was pleased to hear from you. I had been
hoping to convince you and Sally to come and see Catherine
and myself while we were in town."
"I'm sure that Sally would have loved to come if she was in
town," commented Wufei, closing the door behind his guest.
"But there's more than just a simple chance to get together as
the reason for my call."
Trowa nodded in response, his eyes taking in Une's tired
presence. He offered a hand to her in turn, clasping her slender
hand warmly and smiling a gentle smile at her. "I can sense
that. It is good to see you again Une."
Wufei gestured for Trowa to have a seat and the tall lanky
brunette lowered his form to the chair next to the couch. He
crossed his jean-clad legs at the ankles and laid long elegant
hands on his knees. His one green eye peered at Une and then
Wufei with interest. "So what can I do for you?"
"Help us catch a rat," stated Wufei. And together he and Une
launched into a discussion of the Preventer troubles.
~~~ Carver Fultz's Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"I'll get that bitch yet," swore Carver deep under his breath
as he paced in front of his open computer terminal.
"Thinking she can hide Sally away from my reach."
He pounded a fist into his hand and turned swiftly on his heel.
His thin hair was tousled across his features and his glass had
been tossed aside. The neck of his shirt was askew and the
bottom was untucked from his overly creased pants. He
looked like he'd never seen the correct side of the iron though
the back had certainly connected with his head, giving him
that very unbecoming hair do and dazed look. A seeming
lack of sleep and the inability to find his razor made him look
like a complete rouge of the worst kind.
And of course that's exactly what he was.
He stopped his pacing and faced the large framed picture of
Treize from when OZ was at its height. The general was in
full formal dress, obviously posing for some sort of
Romenfeller promotion. The picture had cut out the rest of the
command squad that had been pictured with Treize, leaving
only Carver behind.
"I should have been the one you turned to," he snarled. "She
had nothing that I didn't, except a good fuck when you needed
it. I was the one who always believed. She was just some
chick who dared to interfere."
With a wicked ironic smile, he saluted the man he had once
served with honor. "I'll get that bitch you promoted over me
over and over and all her little favorite ones, see if I don't.
sir."
A beep then alerted to him to an incoming message from
someone. His search had uncovered something very very
interesting. "So that's where Ms. Po ran off to. And you don't
know who she is. Well, well, I think I can certainly be of
some assistance."
Composing a reply, Carver smiled sinisterly to himself in the
eerie glow of the monitor's light.
~~~ A Rundown apartment, L2 ~~~
"Duo you pick the worst goddamn hiding places," complained
Heero as he entered through the door that Duo politely opened
at his knock. "This place is a pile of shit waiting to topple!"
Duo laughed at Heero's unusual vehemence. For the man to
swear like that, it must be pretty bad. Shaking his head at
Heero, Duo closed the door and redid the security locks.
"Looks are deceiving Heero," was Duo's only comment.
"You should know that as well as me."
"Hn," said Heero, throwing his bag on the bed and pulling out
his laptop. "I'll refrain from further comments if you tell me
this room has a dataport."
Duo pointed out the location for Heero to plug in his laptop.
"Secured even, you are a lucky boy Heero-babe!"
Snorting at the name, Heero plugged in the computer and set
it booting up. "So what the hell are we doing here Duo?"
Blowing his bangs out of his eyes, Duo laid back on the bed,
folding his arms behind his head. "Well, it all began because
of a vindictive little weasel and a blonde like you've never
seen."
Merely raising an eyebrow, Heero listened without comment,
merely linking the computer to the information he had gathered
on their enemy from earlier, listening with half an ear as Duo
fleshed out the story he had told earlier. The other eyebrow
rose when Duo began to talk about Sally. He recognized a
tone he had never heard in Duo's voice before. There was
something more between his friend and the Preventer agent
they were to rescue. Something that made this more urgent
for him then anything they'd done before. Smiling to himself,
Heero was reminded of the feelings that had flowed through
him when he had realized that Mariemaya's army had kidnapped
Relena. He only hoped Duo acknowledged his own feelings
sooner than he had dealt with his.
"So that's pretty much it in a nutshell," concluded Duo, his
eyes still glazed, looking at a face he could only see in his mind.
A fist tightened its grip on the bed's cover, twisting it all out
of proportion as he contemplated what he would do to those
jerks if they even laid a hand on Sally that was out of line. "I've
checked out the place that she should have been staying at,
according to the guys around here, and no one's been there in
awhile, other than the guys who ransacked it."
Heero nodded in understanding. It was now definite that Sally
had been captured by this shading character and was retained
by his organization.
"I doubt they found anything though," added Duo. "Sally was
pretty thorough when she went undercover according to Une."
Contemplating this, Heero considered the information on Martin
Fraser and his organization that he had up on the screen. "Well,
then, considering who this guy is and what I've discovered,
he's still holding her somewhere on his complex."
Turning the screen so that Duo could see, he began relaying
the information condensed down to what they needed to know.
"The man's a vindictive one. He'll want to know whom Sally
works for and why she's there before he does away with her.
Then he'll wreak revenge against the people who sent her after
she's dead and quite out of the way. He has a long memory and
never let's a chance to hold a grudge pass him by."
Grinding his teeth slightly, Duo nodded. This all meshed with
the information he had gathered from street contacts. The guy
was ruthless and you never contemplated crossing him in a
business dealing unless you liked being spaced. Force seemed
to be the only thing he responded to, but around here there wasn't
enough of that to drive this guy out of here. Too many had
tried before and died horribly for anyone to be willing to risk it.
"If we get her," continued Heero.
"We'll get here," ground out Duo. "Failure is not an option with
this one."
Heero nodded at the confirmation of his thoughts about Duo's
feelings for Sally. "When we get her, we're going to need to
make sure and take him out for a safe exit. Without him, the
organization should scatter like dust in the wind."
"Right," agreed Duo, squeezing the comforter and twisting it
again, anxious to get his hands on the slimeball.
"Chances are that Sally's being held in a fairly secured cell,"
continued Heero, speaking in a monotone as much as possible.
"The facilities that his organization houses were built by the
government before the war as extra housing for prisoners and
a fighting force base on the upper levels. Somehow after the
war, several shady politicians were convinced to 'sell' the
place to Fraser."
Duo looked over at the computer and read the schematics of
the place as easily as Heero. "Shit."
"Exactly," said Heero with a nod. "But I think there's a good
course of action if you look at this."
And together the men plotted their hostile take over well into
the night.
~~~ Change Residence, Near Preventer HQ ~~~
"So you can see what we're up against, right Trowa?" asked
Une, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees
while her chin slid down to her folded hands.
Trowa nodded slowly. His long jean clad legs were stretched
out in front of him and crossed at the legs. His clasped hands
were tucked behind his head and he titled his head back to
contemplate the ceiling for a moment. With slow graceful
movements, he sat up and stared at the pair anxiously awaiting
his response. "I know this isn't what you want to hear Une,
but I think Wufei is the best bait for this guy."
Une sighed and slumped down resignedly. Her eyes focused
on Wufei who was in turn watching her closely. His deep
brown eyes were soft and full of liquid concern. With a nod,
Une communicated her consent to the idea of using Wufei to
lure out Carver. "I agree."
Trowa and Wufei shared a moment of silent communication,
Trowa nodding his understanding that Wufei did not want Une
to suffer more than necessary through the planning of this.
"I think the best idea is for you to provide the information
about Wufei to him though Une. My guess is that if he knows
the person has such a rich background and is important to you,
that will make the target more appealing."
"Now wait a minute," injected Wufei. "I didn't think we
needed to involve Une like this! I don't want her in his way or
with a chance of getting hurt!"
Une glared at Wufei. "I'm quite capable of taking care of
myself, thank you very much."
Wufei sniffed with some measure of disdain. "It is my job to
protect you onna."
With a scowl, Une reached toward Wufei, intent on some form
of bodily harm, but Trowa's voice halted her before injury to
the Chinese man could occur.
"I'll be with Une," said Trowa to reassure Wufei. "Just as I
will then tail him to where he will meet Wufei. I don't want
either of you alone with this guy. He's got some kind of
vendetta happening and neither of you should be without
backup, especially considering the information that we are going
to be imparting to this man."
Slowly Wufei and Une looked at one another and then nodded
their agreement with Trowa's statement of how things should
occur. "So what do you have in mind then," asked Wufei,
curious to see how Trowa's thought patterns played out. He
must have been taking strategy lessons from Quatre or there
was more than met the eye about Trowa.
"Well," drawled Trowa slowly, pulling a pen and a piece of paper
across to him. "I kind of see it playing out like this."
And the three worked on the plan until it was solid and seamless,
leaving no room for error.
~~~ Fraser Operations, L2 ~~~
Answering the urgent summons of his electronic mail program,
Ty whirled around to face the computer. His fingers flew
across the computer and his eyes widen as he read the
information provided. Without a comment or any other change
of expression, he printed out the information and exited the
room with it in hand.
Wordlessly, he slipped into his boss's office and presented
the piece of paper. "Thought you might find this some
interesting reading."
Martin Fraser read the necessary lines and crumpled the paper
up in his hand. "Bitch. Bring her here."
An assorted flunky immediately headed off as Ty waved
himself out of the room.
Mr. Fraser rolled his chair around to face the giant aquarium
behind his desk, watching the quiet motions of the shark in the
tank as his snarled whisper slipped through the room. "You've
reached the end of the road. Ms Sally Po."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I have no idea where all of this is coming from!
But I promise - next time - lots of action! Thins happen, places
explode and more than one little fight!
Thanks for reading - as always C&C appreciated!
^_^
Rhina
