Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Gundam Wing. *Sigh*
Chapter 11
He threw the black material of his tuxedo bow tie down on the marble desktop as he sunk into the high back leather chair. Carefully, he undid the top button on the white dress shirt, releasing its confining grip from his neck.
Sighing contently, the President thought back over the events of the past couple of days. The summit was a success; there was no doubt about that. With the help of Relena Darlian, he was able to gain support for some important pieces of legislation that would come under fire at the next ESUN Senate session. She had also managed to calm tempers between the delegates from X-901 and L-537 after a heated debate arose over some trade embargos. He often wondered what would have happened to the world if Relena Darlian wasn't part of it. He had seen how quickly things had come unglued without her nearly a year ago. And the day she walked into his office four months ago, he knew that someone was listening to his prayers.
Picking up the crystal glass of sherry he had carried with him into his study, he took a long liberal sip as he spun the chair around to face the windows. 'Thanks to her, peace has grown from its infancy to childhood. There will be trials ahead, but as long as we follow the explains that she has set, we will one day be able to see peace fully matured.'
He sat there for a while, enjoying the silent solitude of his study. He slightly cracked the window, allowing the symphony of the night dance into the room on the cool night breeze. He leaned back in his chair and listened until the crickets' song began to fade. Downing the last drops of liquor in his glass, he turned back around to his desk.
Smiling at the never-ending stack of papers that graced one corner of his desk, he picked up his pen. 'A President's work is never done.'
As he placed the pen down on the first paper, a quiet knock echoed through the soundless room. "Come in." He signed his name on the dotted line.
Raising his gaze, he noticed the young woman who entered the room wore a Preventers' uniform. She looked straight ahead, focusing all of her attention directly at his face. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. President, but there has been a security breach. We need to move you to a safer location."
"What about my guests?"
"All of the guest have or are already being escorted to secure locations as we speak."
Turning his back on the brunette, he removed his briefcase from the stand and placed in on the desk, hurriedly stuffing it with papers.
Suddenly, a hand clamped around his neck, while another placed a rag over his mouth and nose. The putrid smell of chloroform burned he nostrils and throat as his eyes began to water.
"You won't be needing your briefcase where you are going." The emotionless voice declared in his ear.
Desperate to get free, the President kicked and wildly jerked his body in different directions. But no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to get the young women to break her hold. Arms like steel traps kept his body glued against hers as he continued to struggle. 'It's like she isn't even human.' Finally, exhausted from the lack of oxygen and over exertion, the President slowly closed his eyes and slumped in his captor's arms.
Laying him on the carpet, she placed her hand on his wrist, checking his pulse. A strong pulse beat against her fingers, reassuring her that the President was still indeed alive. "Sorry, but it's not your time to die . . .yet."
The sound of light applause coming from the doorway grabbed her attention. Whipping around quickly with her gun drawn, she identified her audience. Gradually, she greeted the man with a smile.
"Well done, my dear Alex. You have surpassed even my greatest expectations. Imperfect soldiers with their flaws and mistakes are a thing of the past. Consider yourself the blueprints for the future. "
"I'm only following orders, sir."
"And you do it so well." Turning around, he walked back into the darkness of the hallway. "Make sure you leave our calling card, Alex. We have much to take care of before morning."
She pulled a small flower out of her uniform and placed it on the President's chair. Lifting the unconscious man in her arms, Alex made her way out of the study and followed her creator.
****************
The shrill noise of the communicator brought Duo out of his deep sleep. He lay there for a minute, trying to tone-out the awful sound. 'Maybe if I ignore them, they'll go away.' Pulling Hilde tighter against his body, he willed the communicator to be quiet and let him enjoy his sleep.
"Duo, you really need to let go of me and answer that damn thing." Hilde grumbled into her pillow.
"They can wait." Duo said as he snuggled deeper into the blankets.
"If you don't answer that, I will hold out on you for an entire month." With the ultimatum thrown in his face, Duo reluctantly uncurled himself from around Hilde's body and reached over to the nightstand.
Before he flipped the device on, he turned back to Hilde. "It's not fair that you can hold sex over my head so easily." He muttered.
She rolled her head over on the pillow and faced him. "Yes, it is! You have those puppy-eyes and you use them on me constantly. Turn about is fair play."
Duo looked at her with his pouty lip and wide blue eyes. Hilde sighed as she pushed herself out of the bed. "Sorry Maxwell, but the puppy-eyes don't work on me at 3:00am."
Hanging his head in defeat, Duo turned his attention toward the communicator.
"This better be EXTREMELY important, Trowa."
"Duo, the President has been kidnapped."
"Well, that's important enough. We're on our way to meet up with you."
"Duo, one other thing."
"Yea?"
"We've been unable to make contact with Heero."
Duo's eyes widened in surprise. "It's not like Heero to ignore a page. I'll go look for him."
"Right. Trowa out."
Duo turned and found Hilde standing behind him. A small smile was on her face as she held out some clothes for him. "Before you go looking for Heero, I think you need to make yourself more . . . presentable."
Grabbing the clothes from Hilde, Duo quickly got dressed and left the bedroom.
He muttered a few colorful words as his long stride carried him down the hallway. Duo reached into his pocket and pulled out the hand held communicator again.
"Heero, it's Duo. Where the hell are you?"
Silence.
"Damnit Heero, answer me!"
Again there was no answer. Duo started to grow more concerned. Heero never turned off the COM and he would always acknowledge a page. Now, he was nearly running down the hallway.
As he rounded the corner toward Relena's bedroom, the tiny hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. 'Something's not right.' The uneasiness crawled further up his spine as he stopped in front of the bedroom door. Drawing his gun in his right hand, Duo placed his other hand on the doorknob and threw the door open.
****************
Pain.
That was the first thing he felt as he started to regain consciousness. Heero knew that if he was feeling pain that he was still alive. His head was a jumbled mess of images as he tried to clear the cobwebs from his mind. 'What in the hell happened?' He quickly looked around the room and realized something very important was missing.
"RELENA!" His declaration came out as an angry whisper.
Pushing himself up into a seated position, Heero replayed the last couple of minutes before he was knocked out. And he berated himself for being too distracted to not notice the intruder. He rubbed the back of his head and felt the massive lump. While cursing himself for a fool, Heero began to rise off of the floor.
He was still a little shaky when the bedroom door burst open and a shadowed figured came charging inside, with their weapon drawn. On instant, Heero reached to his side looking for his firearm, which wasn't there. So instead he rushed the intruder.
With a solid thump, the both of them ended up on the floor of the bedroom. Heero grabbed the gun away from the other man and pointed it in his face.
"Heero . . . could you . . . please get that . . . gun out of . . . MY FACE!" Duo yelled as he tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.
Surprised, Heero lowered the weapon and looked into the angry face of the God of Death. Switching the safety back on the gun, Heero handed it back to Duo as he picked himself off the floor.
Duo glared at Heero as he got up and dusted off his black pants, placing his gun in his holster. "Where in the hell have you been? We've been trying to get in contact with you. A situation has developed. The President's been kidnapped . . ." Duo's voice trailed off as he took in the quiet room around him. A questioning eyebrow rose over one cobalt eye.
"Where's Relena?"
"My guess is that's she's with the President." Heero stated as he brushed by Duo, heading out of the bedroom.
Following Heero's lead, Duo strode out of the Relena's room, pulling the door closed behind him.
****************
Trowa and Hilde where standing at the entrance to the President's study when they arrived. They both looked up from the paperwork they were going over when they heard the soft footfalls of Duo and Heero approaching. Hilde looked up at Duo with a tiny smile of her face, which instantly died when she saw concern on his face and a fierce determination on Heero's. A silent communication passed between Duo and Hilde, but the verbal one between the other two Preventers confirmed everything.
"Relena?" Trowa simply asked.
"Gone." The monotone voice replied. "Update me on the current situation."
A flicker of emotion quickly showed in Trowa's green eyes before he continued on. "About 30 minutes ago, the guard detail changed. When the guard arrived to relieve the President's personal escort, he found the man lying in the hallway. His neck had been completely broken and a clean break at that. Estimated time of abduction is about 02:00. Shortly after the gala ended. Looks like the President put up a struggle."
Trowa lead the way into the study. Papers were lying on the floor. The President's briefcase was lying on its side next to the desk. Although the he may have tried to fight off his attacker, the President failed to escape.
"Any signs of blood?"
"None. The luminol turned up nothing."
"Prints?"
"We've dusted the entire room. Only four sets of prints were found. The President's, Relena's, and the two guards that were on duty today."
As the others walked further into the study, Heero hung back by the entryway. Sitting down on his heels, he inspected the wooded doorframe, focusing most of his attention around the lock.
"No forced entry here. Inside job." He mumbled to no one in particular.
A shadow loomed over him as he began to stand. Turning up his face, he saw Duo looking down at him. "You know what Heero, sometimes your powers of deduction amaze me."
Rising to his full height, Heero rolled his eyes at Duo's snide comment and continued his way into the office. All around him, people searched for clues. Turning over books and pictures; going through his paperwork and computer files. Hoping to find a tracer, listening device, or a miniature camera, anything that could give them a possible lead.
But deep down, most of them knew who was responsible: Die passende Rache.
He continued to move through the room, oblivious to everything around him, drawn to the window sitting behind the President's desk. Although the window was closed, Heero could feel the chill in the air crawl in his direction. He moved his fingers over the smooth panes of glass, noticing his warm finger left streaks across the cool surfaces. Again, he found nothing out of the ordinary. No cut or loose glass. No marks along the stone frame; no jimmied locks.
Something sinister was in this room tonight. He could swear he could feel its presence still lurking in the corners somewhere. Heero clenched his hands, keeping his fists at his side. Not only did they have the President, but they had Relena too, he was sure of it.
And what were they left with? Nothing. Nothing but the sneaky suspicion that this was the act of one renegade group. The same one they had been searching for the past four months.
Heero punched the side of the President's leather chair, causing it to pivot around with the seat of the chair directly facing him. The only outward show of his emotions was the slightly widening of his eyes that quickly turned to narrowed slits of burning blue on his face. He leaned over and picked up the small yellow daisy from the chair. It's fragrance reached his nose and took him back in time. The pale yellow petals brought back harsh memories, ones he had tried to bury, but always sat stewing just beneath the surface.
Duo stood watching the play of emotions across Heero's face as he picked up the tiny flower that had been lying in the chair. As his face grew paler, Duo made is way across the room and stopped with the desk standing between them.
He heard someone call his name. It barely broke through the disturbing images that played over and over in his head. "Heero?" The voice called again, the concern in it registered. Heero blinked a couple of times and slightly shook his head as Duo's face appeared in front of him. Color returned to his cheeks, but the coldness did not melt from his eyes.
"I know where they've been taken." The flower, now crushed from deadly grasp of his grip, fell silently to the floor as Heero ran out of the room.
********************************************************************
A/N: Okay, I was assured that I didn't go to far OOC with Heero in the ending of this chapter. I know a lot of you have questions: Who's the mysterious guy? And what is his tie to Alex? Who's side is Alex on for that matter? What's going on with Relena? I promise that most of these questions will be answered in the next chapter. So please, hang in there!! Thanks a bunch you guys! I hope to have the next chapter out soon!
Chapter 11
He threw the black material of his tuxedo bow tie down on the marble desktop as he sunk into the high back leather chair. Carefully, he undid the top button on the white dress shirt, releasing its confining grip from his neck.
Sighing contently, the President thought back over the events of the past couple of days. The summit was a success; there was no doubt about that. With the help of Relena Darlian, he was able to gain support for some important pieces of legislation that would come under fire at the next ESUN Senate session. She had also managed to calm tempers between the delegates from X-901 and L-537 after a heated debate arose over some trade embargos. He often wondered what would have happened to the world if Relena Darlian wasn't part of it. He had seen how quickly things had come unglued without her nearly a year ago. And the day she walked into his office four months ago, he knew that someone was listening to his prayers.
Picking up the crystal glass of sherry he had carried with him into his study, he took a long liberal sip as he spun the chair around to face the windows. 'Thanks to her, peace has grown from its infancy to childhood. There will be trials ahead, but as long as we follow the explains that she has set, we will one day be able to see peace fully matured.'
He sat there for a while, enjoying the silent solitude of his study. He slightly cracked the window, allowing the symphony of the night dance into the room on the cool night breeze. He leaned back in his chair and listened until the crickets' song began to fade. Downing the last drops of liquor in his glass, he turned back around to his desk.
Smiling at the never-ending stack of papers that graced one corner of his desk, he picked up his pen. 'A President's work is never done.'
As he placed the pen down on the first paper, a quiet knock echoed through the soundless room. "Come in." He signed his name on the dotted line.
Raising his gaze, he noticed the young woman who entered the room wore a Preventers' uniform. She looked straight ahead, focusing all of her attention directly at his face. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. President, but there has been a security breach. We need to move you to a safer location."
"What about my guests?"
"All of the guest have or are already being escorted to secure locations as we speak."
Turning his back on the brunette, he removed his briefcase from the stand and placed in on the desk, hurriedly stuffing it with papers.
Suddenly, a hand clamped around his neck, while another placed a rag over his mouth and nose. The putrid smell of chloroform burned he nostrils and throat as his eyes began to water.
"You won't be needing your briefcase where you are going." The emotionless voice declared in his ear.
Desperate to get free, the President kicked and wildly jerked his body in different directions. But no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to get the young women to break her hold. Arms like steel traps kept his body glued against hers as he continued to struggle. 'It's like she isn't even human.' Finally, exhausted from the lack of oxygen and over exertion, the President slowly closed his eyes and slumped in his captor's arms.
Laying him on the carpet, she placed her hand on his wrist, checking his pulse. A strong pulse beat against her fingers, reassuring her that the President was still indeed alive. "Sorry, but it's not your time to die . . .yet."
The sound of light applause coming from the doorway grabbed her attention. Whipping around quickly with her gun drawn, she identified her audience. Gradually, she greeted the man with a smile.
"Well done, my dear Alex. You have surpassed even my greatest expectations. Imperfect soldiers with their flaws and mistakes are a thing of the past. Consider yourself the blueprints for the future. "
"I'm only following orders, sir."
"And you do it so well." Turning around, he walked back into the darkness of the hallway. "Make sure you leave our calling card, Alex. We have much to take care of before morning."
She pulled a small flower out of her uniform and placed it on the President's chair. Lifting the unconscious man in her arms, Alex made her way out of the study and followed her creator.
****************
The shrill noise of the communicator brought Duo out of his deep sleep. He lay there for a minute, trying to tone-out the awful sound. 'Maybe if I ignore them, they'll go away.' Pulling Hilde tighter against his body, he willed the communicator to be quiet and let him enjoy his sleep.
"Duo, you really need to let go of me and answer that damn thing." Hilde grumbled into her pillow.
"They can wait." Duo said as he snuggled deeper into the blankets.
"If you don't answer that, I will hold out on you for an entire month." With the ultimatum thrown in his face, Duo reluctantly uncurled himself from around Hilde's body and reached over to the nightstand.
Before he flipped the device on, he turned back to Hilde. "It's not fair that you can hold sex over my head so easily." He muttered.
She rolled her head over on the pillow and faced him. "Yes, it is! You have those puppy-eyes and you use them on me constantly. Turn about is fair play."
Duo looked at her with his pouty lip and wide blue eyes. Hilde sighed as she pushed herself out of the bed. "Sorry Maxwell, but the puppy-eyes don't work on me at 3:00am."
Hanging his head in defeat, Duo turned his attention toward the communicator.
"This better be EXTREMELY important, Trowa."
"Duo, the President has been kidnapped."
"Well, that's important enough. We're on our way to meet up with you."
"Duo, one other thing."
"Yea?"
"We've been unable to make contact with Heero."
Duo's eyes widened in surprise. "It's not like Heero to ignore a page. I'll go look for him."
"Right. Trowa out."
Duo turned and found Hilde standing behind him. A small smile was on her face as she held out some clothes for him. "Before you go looking for Heero, I think you need to make yourself more . . . presentable."
Grabbing the clothes from Hilde, Duo quickly got dressed and left the bedroom.
He muttered a few colorful words as his long stride carried him down the hallway. Duo reached into his pocket and pulled out the hand held communicator again.
"Heero, it's Duo. Where the hell are you?"
Silence.
"Damnit Heero, answer me!"
Again there was no answer. Duo started to grow more concerned. Heero never turned off the COM and he would always acknowledge a page. Now, he was nearly running down the hallway.
As he rounded the corner toward Relena's bedroom, the tiny hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. 'Something's not right.' The uneasiness crawled further up his spine as he stopped in front of the bedroom door. Drawing his gun in his right hand, Duo placed his other hand on the doorknob and threw the door open.
****************
Pain.
That was the first thing he felt as he started to regain consciousness. Heero knew that if he was feeling pain that he was still alive. His head was a jumbled mess of images as he tried to clear the cobwebs from his mind. 'What in the hell happened?' He quickly looked around the room and realized something very important was missing.
"RELENA!" His declaration came out as an angry whisper.
Pushing himself up into a seated position, Heero replayed the last couple of minutes before he was knocked out. And he berated himself for being too distracted to not notice the intruder. He rubbed the back of his head and felt the massive lump. While cursing himself for a fool, Heero began to rise off of the floor.
He was still a little shaky when the bedroom door burst open and a shadowed figured came charging inside, with their weapon drawn. On instant, Heero reached to his side looking for his firearm, which wasn't there. So instead he rushed the intruder.
With a solid thump, the both of them ended up on the floor of the bedroom. Heero grabbed the gun away from the other man and pointed it in his face.
"Heero . . . could you . . . please get that . . . gun out of . . . MY FACE!" Duo yelled as he tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.
Surprised, Heero lowered the weapon and looked into the angry face of the God of Death. Switching the safety back on the gun, Heero handed it back to Duo as he picked himself off the floor.
Duo glared at Heero as he got up and dusted off his black pants, placing his gun in his holster. "Where in the hell have you been? We've been trying to get in contact with you. A situation has developed. The President's been kidnapped . . ." Duo's voice trailed off as he took in the quiet room around him. A questioning eyebrow rose over one cobalt eye.
"Where's Relena?"
"My guess is that's she's with the President." Heero stated as he brushed by Duo, heading out of the bedroom.
Following Heero's lead, Duo strode out of the Relena's room, pulling the door closed behind him.
****************
Trowa and Hilde where standing at the entrance to the President's study when they arrived. They both looked up from the paperwork they were going over when they heard the soft footfalls of Duo and Heero approaching. Hilde looked up at Duo with a tiny smile of her face, which instantly died when she saw concern on his face and a fierce determination on Heero's. A silent communication passed between Duo and Hilde, but the verbal one between the other two Preventers confirmed everything.
"Relena?" Trowa simply asked.
"Gone." The monotone voice replied. "Update me on the current situation."
A flicker of emotion quickly showed in Trowa's green eyes before he continued on. "About 30 minutes ago, the guard detail changed. When the guard arrived to relieve the President's personal escort, he found the man lying in the hallway. His neck had been completely broken and a clean break at that. Estimated time of abduction is about 02:00. Shortly after the gala ended. Looks like the President put up a struggle."
Trowa lead the way into the study. Papers were lying on the floor. The President's briefcase was lying on its side next to the desk. Although the he may have tried to fight off his attacker, the President failed to escape.
"Any signs of blood?"
"None. The luminol turned up nothing."
"Prints?"
"We've dusted the entire room. Only four sets of prints were found. The President's, Relena's, and the two guards that were on duty today."
As the others walked further into the study, Heero hung back by the entryway. Sitting down on his heels, he inspected the wooded doorframe, focusing most of his attention around the lock.
"No forced entry here. Inside job." He mumbled to no one in particular.
A shadow loomed over him as he began to stand. Turning up his face, he saw Duo looking down at him. "You know what Heero, sometimes your powers of deduction amaze me."
Rising to his full height, Heero rolled his eyes at Duo's snide comment and continued his way into the office. All around him, people searched for clues. Turning over books and pictures; going through his paperwork and computer files. Hoping to find a tracer, listening device, or a miniature camera, anything that could give them a possible lead.
But deep down, most of them knew who was responsible: Die passende Rache.
He continued to move through the room, oblivious to everything around him, drawn to the window sitting behind the President's desk. Although the window was closed, Heero could feel the chill in the air crawl in his direction. He moved his fingers over the smooth panes of glass, noticing his warm finger left streaks across the cool surfaces. Again, he found nothing out of the ordinary. No cut or loose glass. No marks along the stone frame; no jimmied locks.
Something sinister was in this room tonight. He could swear he could feel its presence still lurking in the corners somewhere. Heero clenched his hands, keeping his fists at his side. Not only did they have the President, but they had Relena too, he was sure of it.
And what were they left with? Nothing. Nothing but the sneaky suspicion that this was the act of one renegade group. The same one they had been searching for the past four months.
Heero punched the side of the President's leather chair, causing it to pivot around with the seat of the chair directly facing him. The only outward show of his emotions was the slightly widening of his eyes that quickly turned to narrowed slits of burning blue on his face. He leaned over and picked up the small yellow daisy from the chair. It's fragrance reached his nose and took him back in time. The pale yellow petals brought back harsh memories, ones he had tried to bury, but always sat stewing just beneath the surface.
Duo stood watching the play of emotions across Heero's face as he picked up the tiny flower that had been lying in the chair. As his face grew paler, Duo made is way across the room and stopped with the desk standing between them.
He heard someone call his name. It barely broke through the disturbing images that played over and over in his head. "Heero?" The voice called again, the concern in it registered. Heero blinked a couple of times and slightly shook his head as Duo's face appeared in front of him. Color returned to his cheeks, but the coldness did not melt from his eyes.
"I know where they've been taken." The flower, now crushed from deadly grasp of his grip, fell silently to the floor as Heero ran out of the room.
********************************************************************
A/N: Okay, I was assured that I didn't go to far OOC with Heero in the ending of this chapter. I know a lot of you have questions: Who's the mysterious guy? And what is his tie to Alex? Who's side is Alex on for that matter? What's going on with Relena? I promise that most of these questions will be answered in the next chapter. So please, hang in there!! Thanks a bunch you guys! I hope to have the next chapter out soon!
