Disclaimer: I still don't own them and sadly enough, I never will.
Chapter 12
The last time he saw this place, it was completely engulfed in fire. The sounds of explosions and soldier's painful screams had filled his ears, but they had never reached his heart.
Only the silence that came from the ruins of a nearby apartment building the following morning had seeped into his soul.
Yes, Heero Yuy has a soul. It's hard to believe but as he lifted up the battered and broken body of a little puppy into his arms, he knew he was human. He was unable to find her, her body lost in the wreckage of his failed mission, but she lived inside of him; a ghost that he dealt with everyday.
From the field of wild yellow daisies, Heero could see the remains of the mobile suit factor and the memorial that had been erected at the site where the apartments once stood.
The artificial sunlight winked off the smooth sides of the metal structure. It was a simple monument with a huge significance. Atop the metal spire was a golden torch. Unlike other memorial and monuments that stood on Earth, there was an actual fire burning brightly from the torch.
After the failed Barton Family Coup, the people of this colony built this torch for remembrance. Heero had never visited the memorial in person, but the words etched in the base of the metal spire were engraved in his mind.
"May the innocent lives lost in the battle for peace, find their places among the stars. For as long as the fire burns, peace will always remain in our hearts."
Tilting his head, Heero turned his attention back toward the abandoned base. Unlike the beautiful memorial that stood only 100 feet away, the grounds of the base seemed covered in a constant shadow. Piles of rubble lay next to half demolished buildings. Hollow skeletons of mobile suits lay on their sides; picked apart by metal salvagers. Ever once in a while, a piece of broken glass would glisten in the sunlight. The buildings that remain standing were overgrown with ivy; taunting him over his failed mission.
Duo stared intently at his friend from the corner of his eye. No one knew the whole truth about Heero's past or the significance of this place. But when Heero had demanded a shuttle to the colony, no one denied him. Heero was known about his 'hunches' about certain situations. The only glitch in his plan, was that Duo insisted on accompanying him; wild goose chase or not.
Running his hand through his spiky chestnut bangs, he turned a puzzled look toward Heero. "Are you sure they're being held somewhere in the pile of bricks? You know what buddy? You sure know how to blow things up." Duo tilted his head toward the base.
Heero's gaze narrowed but never lost focus on the cluster of half demolished buildings that had survived his attack.
"There are only two people that know about the significance of that flower." Sighing, he continued. "One of which is dead. The other is Doctor J."
"Dr. J?" Duo stared at his friend completely slack jawed. "You don't think that he could be behind all of this, do you?"
Heero closed his eyes and lowered his head. "No, Duo. I don't think Dr. J is behind any of this. This isn't his style. If he wanted something from me, he wouldn't be playing games, he'd be direct."
Silence hung heavily between them as Heero lifted his head and looked at Duo. "This was never an attack against peace itself. It was an attack against me."
Duo watched as Heero began walking toward the compound. "I believe it's time to find out who's been pulling my strings."
****************
The only logically place to look was the single dull gray building that stood tall against the backdrop of the colony. The mobile suit housing facility. It was the one building that he failed to destroy in his mission. Its dull gray exterior mocked him as they made their way into the deteriorating building.
Numerous offices had been ransacked, computers ripped from walls or destroyed by the blast. The few windows along the outer walls had been blown inward, the effects of an explosion from outside the building. Glass and singed papers still littered the main corridor that lead into the warehouse, where the completed mobile dolls were housed when the plant was still operational.
Pale light shone from the doorway, spilling onto the floor. Heero leaned up against the wall, pulling his gun from the waistband of his jeans. Turning his intense gaze to Duo, he nodded, signaling that he would enter first and that Duo was to follow. Slowly, Heero made his way around the corner.
Under a solitary light bulb, the President sat; his hands tied behind his back, his legs tied tightly to the chair. His chin rested against his chest, either in defeat or lack of consciousness, Heero wasn't sure. A dark cloth served as a blindfold. Before Heero even entered the room, he realized it was a trap.
He kept his gun in his hand as he casually walked into the room. Duo stared at him in stunned silence from the wall as he watched Heero nearly saunter into the hanger. Duo whirled around the corner and jogged into the room, catching up with Heero as he made his way toward the President.
"It's a trap, isn't it?"
"Hn."
"That's what I thought. So what's the plan?"
"Take the President and get out of here."
"What about you?"
"I have to take care of some business."
Heero stopped directly in front of the President and pulled off the blindfold. The elderly man blinked a few times, allowing his eyes to become accustomed to the light. He sent both of them a wistful smile. "I thought my old ears were playing tricks on me."
Duo undid the leg restraints as Heero cut the rope holding the President's hands. "Nope. This is an old fashioned rescue." Straighten up; Duo grabbed hold of the President's arms bringing him to his feet. The old man's knees buckled, but Duo leaned him up against his side. Turning to Heero, he said, "If you're not out in 15, I'm coming back."
"You need not worry yourself about Heero Yuy's welfare, Mr. Maxwell." The voice echoed from the shadows.
Duo looked out of the corner of his eyes. "I take it this was the company you were expecting."
"For the most part. Get the President out of here."
"You got it." With the elderly man leaning up against him, Duo fled the hanger, leaving Heero behind to face the nameless enemy. As he entered the hallway, Duo felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Was it a warning for Heero, or him?
****************
Heero tucked his gun in the waistband in the back of his pants. He scanned the shadows that surrounded him, searching for the source of the voice. His eyes narrowed as he tried to pierce the veil of darkness that enclosed around him.
"Not much of a perfect soldier, are you?" The voice mocked. "You see, a perfect soldier would be capable of using and expanding all of his senses to beyond their normal capacity. An ideal soldier would be able to fight with his emotions, but not let them control him. A perfect warrior would never make mistakes, would he, Heero Yuy?"
To his left, he saw movement as two figures began to move out of the shadows. His narrowed gaze widened as he saw Relena standing next to a middle-aged man, her head hung down, her short blond hair hiding part of her face. Heero pulled his attention off of Relena and focused on the man standing next to her.
He stood about 6'2", with a fairly athletic frame for his age, which Heero guessed as about mid 40's. His pitch-black hair was dusted with spots of gray, along with the short mustache that adorned his face. The glasses he wore caught the light from the lone bulb, reflecting the light back at Heero, not allowing him to see the eyes of his enemy.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man snickered at blunt question. "Don't you wish you knew."
He released the hard grip on Relena's arm and roughly pushed her toward Heero. Instinctively, Heero's reached out to catch Relena in his arms. He barely had time to notice her sinister smile as she brought her face up and smashed her fist into his stomach.
****************
"Just a couple of more turns, Mr. President."
Duo looked at the man leaning heavily against his side. The President looked exhausted, each step he took seemed to take more and more energy out of him. 'Hopefully we can make it out of the building and to the vehicle before he collapses.' The idea of carrying the slightly overweight man the rest of the way wasn't very appealing.
Leaning against the wall, Duo decided to let him catch his breath before they continued out of the main entrance. He could see the light streaming in through the open door. 'Almost home.' Placing his arm around the President's waist, Duo lifted him back up and started trudging toward the door.
Through narrow eyes, Duo watched as a shadow walked into the light, stopping in the middle of the doorway, hands on their hips.
"Look buddy, I really don't have time to kick your ass, so if you would be kind enough to move out of the way..." Duo growled.
The sound of feminine laughter drifted down the hall toward him. "Duo, you know I can't just let you waltz out of here. That would be a direct violation of my orders." Slowly, the figure walked out of the light and into the dim hallway. As the light pulled away, Duo stared in shock and anger at the person that stood in front of him.
"Alex?"
Alex raised her eyebrows and smiled. "I'm glad to see that you remember me, Duo."
Duo felt the President shudder beside him. "That's her! She's the one that kidnapped me!"
"Why is it all the good looking girls are always the bad girls?" Duo muttered under his breath. Allowing the President to slide to the floor, he took a protective stance over him. Alex continued to stand directly in front of him; her face expressionless.
Duo's gazed narrowed as he continued to look at his enemy. "I've never hit a lady before, but I'm going to have to make a exception in your case."
Taking a fighting stance, Alex answered him back. "I've never claimed to be a lady."
Looking at him, she cocked her finger in his direction, telling him to make the first move. A dangerous glint appeared in Duo's eyes, as he charged forward. At the last minute, Alex ducked to the floor and did a leg sweep, knocking Duo off balance. Quickly coming to her feet, Alex caught him in the back of the neck with a stiff-arm chop.
Duo felt his head snap backward the second her arm connected with his neck. The move knocked the wind out of him as he fell to the unforgiving stone floor. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the tread of the bottom of her boot press into the tender skin of his neck. The pressure she was applying, made it harder for him to breath. Duo tried to fight off the darkness that closed around him.
"He was correct. You are a better pilot then a fighter." Alex's monotone voice echoed off the walls, drowning out the whimpering sounds coming from the President.
And then everything went black.
****************
The iron taste of blood in his mouth was nothing new, but it tasted extremely bitter. The reason for its bitter taste was standing over his body, her violet eyes laughing at him as she slammed her knee into his side once again.
Heero fought ever instinct in his body not to fight her back. No matter what they had done to her mind, she was still Relena.
"Enough, Relena."
She stopped with her knee half way through the swing and continued to stand over him. "I don't want you to finish your job, yet. We have to wait for Alex to return." The amusement was apparent in the man's voice as he sat in the chair and watched the scene unfold, acting as the director while they were all puppets.
The sound of heavy footsteps soon filled the room. Heero strained to turn his head and spat more blood onto the ground. He watched as Alex walked into the room; carry both Duo and the President over her shoulders, with very little effort. Duo was no lightweight, Heero knew that for sure and his guess of the President's weight was about 75 pounds heavier than Duo. 'What is she?'
Alex dumped both of the unconscious men onto the floor, propping them up against the wall closet to Heero. As she walked past him, she smiled and kicked him in his other side. The man stood up from the chair as Alex took her place next to his side.
"Well, Heero Yuy, you wanted answers, didn't you?" Pulling the glasses off his face, he looked at Heero with the same intense green eyes that Alex had just seconds ago. "My name is Dante Petrov, but my name isn't familiar to you, is it? But you'll figure that out soon enough. But first let me introduce you to Alex."
Placing his hand on her shoulder, he continued, "Alex is very special, did you know that? Artificial Life-form Epsilon Ten; or ALEX for short. She's my prized creation, an android, if you will. But she's so much more than that. Alex is the ultimate fighting machine, capable of so much more than any 'perfect soldier' ever could do." Petrov nearly spat out the words 'perfect soldier' in his short speech.
Heero's eyes narrowed as he was forced to listen to the mad man's ranting. "Have you ever taken a good look at her, Heero?" Motioning to Relena, she grabbed a fist full of his dark hair and pulled Heero up into a nearly sitting position. Alex left his side and stooped down in front of Heero.
"Take a good look at her, Heero. For if you look close enough, you'll see the face of my daughter. The one you killed!"
Heero's memories flashed in front of him, the face of the young girl with her dog appearing, only to fade and be replaced with a similar face staring into his face.
"The flower..."
"Yes, the flower. She told me about the young man she meet in the field near the factory and how she had given him a flower to cheer up his day, like I had done numerous times with her mother." Petrov paused to collect his thoughts; control his rage. "I was downtown when you blew up the factory. Mistakes, your mistakes killed my family. In the matter on 5 minutes, I lost everything. My wife, my daughter and my life. And its time for payback."
He moved over to where Duo and the President lay slumped against the wall. "A fitting revenge...die passende rache. I have been planning this for a long time; to take away everything with meaning from you. What would be a fitting revenge against you?"
Relena and Alex grabbed Heero, pulling him to his feet. Heero watched as Alex pulled out a gun and tossed it to her creator. Raising the gun and bringing it level with the President's heart, Petrov laughed. "How about destroying the symbol for the peace that you 'fought' so hard for? The fragile peace that is sewn together by a tiny thread." The sound of the single gunshot resounded throughout the room. The President's eyes immediately opened and a strangled cry broke the silence in the room as the pain radiated through his entire body. Placing his hand over his heart, he desperately tried to steam to the flow of blood that stained his white shirt a deep crimson color. The light in his eyes dulled as the blood began to puddle underneath of him. His final breath rang in Heero's ears as his body slumped to the floor.
As the lifeless body of the President lay on the cold floor, Petrov flipped open the chamber of the gun, dumping the remaining five bullets to the floor. "I love a good game of Russian Roulette, don't you?" Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out one single bullet. The light blinked of the silver casing as he placed the bullet into the chamber of the gun and locked it into place. Petrov undid the safety on the gun and ran the chamber along the sleeve of the jacket.
"Let's see, what else could I possible do to you? How about taking away your peaceful 'queen', the woman you love, and change her to a hateful assassin?" Alex grabbed hold of Heero's arms pinning them behind his back. He tried to struggle against her, but he was no match for a machine. Relena appeared in front of him, a seductive smile played across her lips. She lifted a small white pill to her mouth, placing it between her teeth. His eyes widened as Relena leaned toward him, placing her lips on his. She grabbed his jaw, forcing his mouth open and quickly spitting the pill inside. Keeping her lips on his, she allowed enough time for the pill to dissolve on his tongue. She licked his lips as she pulled away.
Heero tried to spit out the chalking taste that lingered in his mouth, but to no avail. He had no idea what Relena had given him, but he could already feel its affects. His head felt detached from his body, his vision became blurry and a cold sweat and chills began to rack his body. Heero watched as Petrov moved over to Duo's body and grabbed a hold of his long braid. Pulling out a knife, he hacked off half of the braid, throwing at Heero was he took a few steps back from Duo's unconscious form.
"And, how about killing your best friend?" Pointing the gun at Duo, he turned to Heero. "None of this will ever be enough payment for what you've done to me, but it makes me feel better."
Heero watched through the closing tunnel of darkness as Petrov slowly pulled back the trigger. The last sound Heero heard before he passed out was the deafening 'click' of the gun.
****************
A/N: Okay before you grab the pitchforks and chase me around for cutting off Duo's hair, please let me tell you how hard it was for me to type that! I blame it all on my muse, Karick, who has taken it upon himself to throw me into the abyss of angst. Oh, BTW, sorry this chapter took forever to post, it's been a crazy past couple of months. Hopefully, the next part won't take me as long...until then TTFN!
Chapter 12
The last time he saw this place, it was completely engulfed in fire. The sounds of explosions and soldier's painful screams had filled his ears, but they had never reached his heart.
Only the silence that came from the ruins of a nearby apartment building the following morning had seeped into his soul.
Yes, Heero Yuy has a soul. It's hard to believe but as he lifted up the battered and broken body of a little puppy into his arms, he knew he was human. He was unable to find her, her body lost in the wreckage of his failed mission, but she lived inside of him; a ghost that he dealt with everyday.
From the field of wild yellow daisies, Heero could see the remains of the mobile suit factor and the memorial that had been erected at the site where the apartments once stood.
The artificial sunlight winked off the smooth sides of the metal structure. It was a simple monument with a huge significance. Atop the metal spire was a golden torch. Unlike other memorial and monuments that stood on Earth, there was an actual fire burning brightly from the torch.
After the failed Barton Family Coup, the people of this colony built this torch for remembrance. Heero had never visited the memorial in person, but the words etched in the base of the metal spire were engraved in his mind.
"May the innocent lives lost in the battle for peace, find their places among the stars. For as long as the fire burns, peace will always remain in our hearts."
Tilting his head, Heero turned his attention back toward the abandoned base. Unlike the beautiful memorial that stood only 100 feet away, the grounds of the base seemed covered in a constant shadow. Piles of rubble lay next to half demolished buildings. Hollow skeletons of mobile suits lay on their sides; picked apart by metal salvagers. Ever once in a while, a piece of broken glass would glisten in the sunlight. The buildings that remain standing were overgrown with ivy; taunting him over his failed mission.
Duo stared intently at his friend from the corner of his eye. No one knew the whole truth about Heero's past or the significance of this place. But when Heero had demanded a shuttle to the colony, no one denied him. Heero was known about his 'hunches' about certain situations. The only glitch in his plan, was that Duo insisted on accompanying him; wild goose chase or not.
Running his hand through his spiky chestnut bangs, he turned a puzzled look toward Heero. "Are you sure they're being held somewhere in the pile of bricks? You know what buddy? You sure know how to blow things up." Duo tilted his head toward the base.
Heero's gaze narrowed but never lost focus on the cluster of half demolished buildings that had survived his attack.
"There are only two people that know about the significance of that flower." Sighing, he continued. "One of which is dead. The other is Doctor J."
"Dr. J?" Duo stared at his friend completely slack jawed. "You don't think that he could be behind all of this, do you?"
Heero closed his eyes and lowered his head. "No, Duo. I don't think Dr. J is behind any of this. This isn't his style. If he wanted something from me, he wouldn't be playing games, he'd be direct."
Silence hung heavily between them as Heero lifted his head and looked at Duo. "This was never an attack against peace itself. It was an attack against me."
Duo watched as Heero began walking toward the compound. "I believe it's time to find out who's been pulling my strings."
****************
The only logically place to look was the single dull gray building that stood tall against the backdrop of the colony. The mobile suit housing facility. It was the one building that he failed to destroy in his mission. Its dull gray exterior mocked him as they made their way into the deteriorating building.
Numerous offices had been ransacked, computers ripped from walls or destroyed by the blast. The few windows along the outer walls had been blown inward, the effects of an explosion from outside the building. Glass and singed papers still littered the main corridor that lead into the warehouse, where the completed mobile dolls were housed when the plant was still operational.
Pale light shone from the doorway, spilling onto the floor. Heero leaned up against the wall, pulling his gun from the waistband of his jeans. Turning his intense gaze to Duo, he nodded, signaling that he would enter first and that Duo was to follow. Slowly, Heero made his way around the corner.
Under a solitary light bulb, the President sat; his hands tied behind his back, his legs tied tightly to the chair. His chin rested against his chest, either in defeat or lack of consciousness, Heero wasn't sure. A dark cloth served as a blindfold. Before Heero even entered the room, he realized it was a trap.
He kept his gun in his hand as he casually walked into the room. Duo stared at him in stunned silence from the wall as he watched Heero nearly saunter into the hanger. Duo whirled around the corner and jogged into the room, catching up with Heero as he made his way toward the President.
"It's a trap, isn't it?"
"Hn."
"That's what I thought. So what's the plan?"
"Take the President and get out of here."
"What about you?"
"I have to take care of some business."
Heero stopped directly in front of the President and pulled off the blindfold. The elderly man blinked a few times, allowing his eyes to become accustomed to the light. He sent both of them a wistful smile. "I thought my old ears were playing tricks on me."
Duo undid the leg restraints as Heero cut the rope holding the President's hands. "Nope. This is an old fashioned rescue." Straighten up; Duo grabbed hold of the President's arms bringing him to his feet. The old man's knees buckled, but Duo leaned him up against his side. Turning to Heero, he said, "If you're not out in 15, I'm coming back."
"You need not worry yourself about Heero Yuy's welfare, Mr. Maxwell." The voice echoed from the shadows.
Duo looked out of the corner of his eyes. "I take it this was the company you were expecting."
"For the most part. Get the President out of here."
"You got it." With the elderly man leaning up against him, Duo fled the hanger, leaving Heero behind to face the nameless enemy. As he entered the hallway, Duo felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Was it a warning for Heero, or him?
****************
Heero tucked his gun in the waistband in the back of his pants. He scanned the shadows that surrounded him, searching for the source of the voice. His eyes narrowed as he tried to pierce the veil of darkness that enclosed around him.
"Not much of a perfect soldier, are you?" The voice mocked. "You see, a perfect soldier would be capable of using and expanding all of his senses to beyond their normal capacity. An ideal soldier would be able to fight with his emotions, but not let them control him. A perfect warrior would never make mistakes, would he, Heero Yuy?"
To his left, he saw movement as two figures began to move out of the shadows. His narrowed gaze widened as he saw Relena standing next to a middle-aged man, her head hung down, her short blond hair hiding part of her face. Heero pulled his attention off of Relena and focused on the man standing next to her.
He stood about 6'2", with a fairly athletic frame for his age, which Heero guessed as about mid 40's. His pitch-black hair was dusted with spots of gray, along with the short mustache that adorned his face. The glasses he wore caught the light from the lone bulb, reflecting the light back at Heero, not allowing him to see the eyes of his enemy.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man snickered at blunt question. "Don't you wish you knew."
He released the hard grip on Relena's arm and roughly pushed her toward Heero. Instinctively, Heero's reached out to catch Relena in his arms. He barely had time to notice her sinister smile as she brought her face up and smashed her fist into his stomach.
****************
"Just a couple of more turns, Mr. President."
Duo looked at the man leaning heavily against his side. The President looked exhausted, each step he took seemed to take more and more energy out of him. 'Hopefully we can make it out of the building and to the vehicle before he collapses.' The idea of carrying the slightly overweight man the rest of the way wasn't very appealing.
Leaning against the wall, Duo decided to let him catch his breath before they continued out of the main entrance. He could see the light streaming in through the open door. 'Almost home.' Placing his arm around the President's waist, Duo lifted him back up and started trudging toward the door.
Through narrow eyes, Duo watched as a shadow walked into the light, stopping in the middle of the doorway, hands on their hips.
"Look buddy, I really don't have time to kick your ass, so if you would be kind enough to move out of the way..." Duo growled.
The sound of feminine laughter drifted down the hall toward him. "Duo, you know I can't just let you waltz out of here. That would be a direct violation of my orders." Slowly, the figure walked out of the light and into the dim hallway. As the light pulled away, Duo stared in shock and anger at the person that stood in front of him.
"Alex?"
Alex raised her eyebrows and smiled. "I'm glad to see that you remember me, Duo."
Duo felt the President shudder beside him. "That's her! She's the one that kidnapped me!"
"Why is it all the good looking girls are always the bad girls?" Duo muttered under his breath. Allowing the President to slide to the floor, he took a protective stance over him. Alex continued to stand directly in front of him; her face expressionless.
Duo's gazed narrowed as he continued to look at his enemy. "I've never hit a lady before, but I'm going to have to make a exception in your case."
Taking a fighting stance, Alex answered him back. "I've never claimed to be a lady."
Looking at him, she cocked her finger in his direction, telling him to make the first move. A dangerous glint appeared in Duo's eyes, as he charged forward. At the last minute, Alex ducked to the floor and did a leg sweep, knocking Duo off balance. Quickly coming to her feet, Alex caught him in the back of the neck with a stiff-arm chop.
Duo felt his head snap backward the second her arm connected with his neck. The move knocked the wind out of him as he fell to the unforgiving stone floor. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the tread of the bottom of her boot press into the tender skin of his neck. The pressure she was applying, made it harder for him to breath. Duo tried to fight off the darkness that closed around him.
"He was correct. You are a better pilot then a fighter." Alex's monotone voice echoed off the walls, drowning out the whimpering sounds coming from the President.
And then everything went black.
****************
The iron taste of blood in his mouth was nothing new, but it tasted extremely bitter. The reason for its bitter taste was standing over his body, her violet eyes laughing at him as she slammed her knee into his side once again.
Heero fought ever instinct in his body not to fight her back. No matter what they had done to her mind, she was still Relena.
"Enough, Relena."
She stopped with her knee half way through the swing and continued to stand over him. "I don't want you to finish your job, yet. We have to wait for Alex to return." The amusement was apparent in the man's voice as he sat in the chair and watched the scene unfold, acting as the director while they were all puppets.
The sound of heavy footsteps soon filled the room. Heero strained to turn his head and spat more blood onto the ground. He watched as Alex walked into the room; carry both Duo and the President over her shoulders, with very little effort. Duo was no lightweight, Heero knew that for sure and his guess of the President's weight was about 75 pounds heavier than Duo. 'What is she?'
Alex dumped both of the unconscious men onto the floor, propping them up against the wall closet to Heero. As she walked past him, she smiled and kicked him in his other side. The man stood up from the chair as Alex took her place next to his side.
"Well, Heero Yuy, you wanted answers, didn't you?" Pulling the glasses off his face, he looked at Heero with the same intense green eyes that Alex had just seconds ago. "My name is Dante Petrov, but my name isn't familiar to you, is it? But you'll figure that out soon enough. But first let me introduce you to Alex."
Placing his hand on her shoulder, he continued, "Alex is very special, did you know that? Artificial Life-form Epsilon Ten; or ALEX for short. She's my prized creation, an android, if you will. But she's so much more than that. Alex is the ultimate fighting machine, capable of so much more than any 'perfect soldier' ever could do." Petrov nearly spat out the words 'perfect soldier' in his short speech.
Heero's eyes narrowed as he was forced to listen to the mad man's ranting. "Have you ever taken a good look at her, Heero?" Motioning to Relena, she grabbed a fist full of his dark hair and pulled Heero up into a nearly sitting position. Alex left his side and stooped down in front of Heero.
"Take a good look at her, Heero. For if you look close enough, you'll see the face of my daughter. The one you killed!"
Heero's memories flashed in front of him, the face of the young girl with her dog appearing, only to fade and be replaced with a similar face staring into his face.
"The flower..."
"Yes, the flower. She told me about the young man she meet in the field near the factory and how she had given him a flower to cheer up his day, like I had done numerous times with her mother." Petrov paused to collect his thoughts; control his rage. "I was downtown when you blew up the factory. Mistakes, your mistakes killed my family. In the matter on 5 minutes, I lost everything. My wife, my daughter and my life. And its time for payback."
He moved over to where Duo and the President lay slumped against the wall. "A fitting revenge...die passende rache. I have been planning this for a long time; to take away everything with meaning from you. What would be a fitting revenge against you?"
Relena and Alex grabbed Heero, pulling him to his feet. Heero watched as Alex pulled out a gun and tossed it to her creator. Raising the gun and bringing it level with the President's heart, Petrov laughed. "How about destroying the symbol for the peace that you 'fought' so hard for? The fragile peace that is sewn together by a tiny thread." The sound of the single gunshot resounded throughout the room. The President's eyes immediately opened and a strangled cry broke the silence in the room as the pain radiated through his entire body. Placing his hand over his heart, he desperately tried to steam to the flow of blood that stained his white shirt a deep crimson color. The light in his eyes dulled as the blood began to puddle underneath of him. His final breath rang in Heero's ears as his body slumped to the floor.
As the lifeless body of the President lay on the cold floor, Petrov flipped open the chamber of the gun, dumping the remaining five bullets to the floor. "I love a good game of Russian Roulette, don't you?" Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out one single bullet. The light blinked of the silver casing as he placed the bullet into the chamber of the gun and locked it into place. Petrov undid the safety on the gun and ran the chamber along the sleeve of the jacket.
"Let's see, what else could I possible do to you? How about taking away your peaceful 'queen', the woman you love, and change her to a hateful assassin?" Alex grabbed hold of Heero's arms pinning them behind his back. He tried to struggle against her, but he was no match for a machine. Relena appeared in front of him, a seductive smile played across her lips. She lifted a small white pill to her mouth, placing it between her teeth. His eyes widened as Relena leaned toward him, placing her lips on his. She grabbed his jaw, forcing his mouth open and quickly spitting the pill inside. Keeping her lips on his, she allowed enough time for the pill to dissolve on his tongue. She licked his lips as she pulled away.
Heero tried to spit out the chalking taste that lingered in his mouth, but to no avail. He had no idea what Relena had given him, but he could already feel its affects. His head felt detached from his body, his vision became blurry and a cold sweat and chills began to rack his body. Heero watched as Petrov moved over to Duo's body and grabbed a hold of his long braid. Pulling out a knife, he hacked off half of the braid, throwing at Heero was he took a few steps back from Duo's unconscious form.
"And, how about killing your best friend?" Pointing the gun at Duo, he turned to Heero. "None of this will ever be enough payment for what you've done to me, but it makes me feel better."
Heero watched through the closing tunnel of darkness as Petrov slowly pulled back the trigger. The last sound Heero heard before he passed out was the deafening 'click' of the gun.
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A/N: Okay before you grab the pitchforks and chase me around for cutting off Duo's hair, please let me tell you how hard it was for me to type that! I blame it all on my muse, Karick, who has taken it upon himself to throw me into the abyss of angst. Oh, BTW, sorry this chapter took forever to post, it's been a crazy past couple of months. Hopefully, the next part won't take me as long...until then TTFN!
