A Normal Life
By: Jade Starlight


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi again! I'm sorry these are getting shorter, but I'm
beginning to get writer's block. Because this one and the last one were so short, I've
decided to combine them. So, please read the revised version, or you'll be lost.
Also, I want input from you guys, the readers. Should Heero and Relena make it
out, or should I have the Gundam guys and girls come and rescue them? Please,
PLEASE review! So far, only one person has, and I need input from ALL OF YOU!
Thanks again Qiana, for reviewing! But please everyone else who may be reading, I
NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU TOO!!! I can't stress that enough! Anyway, on with
the next chapter...



Chapter Seventeen: Shocking Revelation



While Heero slowly gained conscious, he began to take in his surroundings. His
eyes were struggling to open.
Well, at least I'm not dead. He squinted in pain as his head began to throb
severely. Deciding to keep his eyes closed, he used his Perfect Soldier training to help
him. He could feel his hands chained to a wall, and his feet bound to the floor as well.
He guessed the floor was concrete and the wall was brick and stone. He didn't see any
light through his lids, so he assumed that either there was no window or lights, or they
were very dim. That or it was nighttime. He faintly smelled blood, but he wasn't sure if
it was his.
"Damn it! My head." Someone next to him was groaning in pain. He recognized
the voice.
"R-Relena?" he stammered in surprise. He heard the sound of moving chains.
"Heero, you're here?" she whispered, also surprised. There were more sounds of
movement, and then a desperate whimper.
"It's no use, Relena. They're too strong," he told her.
"Heero, I can hardly see you. This pain, it's too much!" Her voice was panic-
stricken, and he could tell that she was scared.
"Come on, Lena, don't start losing control yet. Remember your training," he
encouraged. There was more clinking, and then a stomp.
"Heero, I can't do it! I'm too weak," she whispered. He dared to open his eyes,
noting that the pain was sinking away. He saw her form outlined by the moon, which
shined through a small window located about five feet above their heads. In the
moonlight she looked like an angel, battered and bruised or no. Her face held the
expression of an innocent, helpless teenaged girl. It was that innocence that was always
present and always broke his barricade down, for her. She was staring at him in distress
as his thoughts brought him back.
"You can Relena, but you must focus on this, as if it were a mission." He
watched as she closed her eyes and sighed. While he was watching, he noticed that she
wasn't chained to the wall like him, but to the floor. She had more lenience than he did.
He noticed that she was staring at him, and her eyes traveled back and forth, from his
chains to hers.
"What are you thinking, Heero?"
"By looks of it, they think that you can't do too much, so your restraints aren't
very strong. My legs and arms are chained, but only your arms are, not to mention that
the chains enable you to walk around, at least five feet in every direction." She smiled as
she realized what he was saying was true. She began to walk to him, and they found that
she could probably hug him if she really wanted.
"Well, this means they think I'm still the helpless Relena I was during the war,
and they have no idea about this last year!" she exclaimed. Heero glared, and she
realized that she had said that rather loudly. They froze as they waited to hear any
movement, but all they heard was snoring, loudly.
"Relena, check your pockets, and then mine. See if you can find anything that
can help us," Heero ordered. Relena did what he said, pulling things out of her jacket
pockets. Then she moved to her pants, and then to Heero's jacket. When she went to dig
in his pockets, she stopped herself, blushing.
"Relena, what's wrong?" he asked her. When she wouldn't look at him, he
realized she was probably blushing.
"Relena, it's fine, really," he assured her. He watched her hand lift hesitantly, but
then she finished her task, quickly. When she looked at everything on the floor, she
sighed.
"What do we have?"
"Two paper clips, gum, three pennies, lint, a bobby pin, and my cell phone
number on paper." She got up and began to pace. Heero was deep in thought as well as
she. What seemed like an eternity later, Relena stopped, her face brightening.
"I can use the bobby pin to get these chains off of me, and then I can work on
yours!" Her lips formed a huge smile as Heero's shaped a smirk.
"Thank the gods you're gifted with quick thinking. How long will it take?"
"Well, no more than five minutes, but I doubt I'll need that long even." She
scooped up the bobby pin and began to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sir, we have both of them in our custody. Shall we leave them in the cell room
for now, or move them elsewhere?" The red haired man stared back at his commanding
officer through the video link and smiled.
"No, that's quite alright, Thomas. Leave the two children in the cell until further
orders." He terminated the connection and turned his chair back to his desk. His gloved
hand reached for a framed picture of a woman with brown-red hair and a small boy with
red hair.
"Soon, my son, soon." He smiled as his gaze lingered on the picture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Millardo Peacecraft continued to pace back and forth while his wife watched with
concern for her husband's state of mind.
"Millardo, please stop pacing and sit! You'll only make matters worse if you
continue your ruthless movements!" Lucrezia hissed. The platinum blonde pilot stopped
and turned to her, icy blue eyes fixing on her blue orbs. Anger was extremely apparent in
his eyes, and for a moment it looked as if Zechs Marquise was back. Noin sunk back a
little as he finally tore his gaze from her and began to pace.
"Lucrezia, do you honestly expect me to sit down and be calm knowing that my
sister was taken by the enemy, and for all we know she is now dead!!!" he yelled.
"Of course not, Millardo, but at least try to calm yourself, for me," she pleaded.
He stopped again, but this time he obeyed her and took the empty place next to her on the
couch. They were waiting in the "guest" room at Dr. Hino's secret base.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relena tore off her wrist cuffs and set them silently on the floor. Without
hesitation she moved to Heero's ankles and began with those.
"Nice job Relena, that was under two minutes at most," Heero said. She smiled
up at him and then hastily continued.
"I told you it wouldn't take long. I'm an expert at picking locks." She was done
with the left and moved to the right.
"Out of curiosity, how'd you learn to do that so well?" Relena giggled.
"Well, I used to sneak out of my room a lot when I lived with the Dorlains. I
went onto the roof of the school when I was younger and gazed at the stars for hours on
end. Sometimes I'd stay there until sunrise."
"Hmm." Heero shook his head. He never imagined that goody goody Relena
would do something like that. Then again, he also never imagined that she would
become a Gundam pilot, or that she would match his strength in battle.
"So, what's next Heero? How are we going to escape?"
"Well, I was thinking that we could do one of two things: take our clothes and tie
them together, making a rope. Then we can take the paper clips and poke then in the
cloth, slinging it up and around the bars on the window and escape that way. Or we can
pick the lock on the door, take out the guards in the hall, dress as soldiers, and make a run
for it."
"I like option two better," she answered him. He was now free of his chains. He
nodded and they went to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeremiah, Isis, Duo, and everyone else was in the sick bay of the base, waiting for
the three of them to finish being treated for their injuries. Noin and Millardo had already
been taken care of, and they were now waiting for further plans.
"So, did we get a lead on who the head of ICS is?" Shiri asked Dr. Hino. He
sighed heavily, glancing at everyone's hopeful looks.
"Yes, we did." He turned around and began pacing back and forth.
"And?" Duo chimed in, growing impatient.
"This leader was very hard to discover. As you all know, we had tried every way
possible to figure out his identity, but we always came up with nothing, or a false lead."
"Dr. Hino, I don't mean to disrespect you sir, but please, get to the chase!" Jade
said.
"Well, I'm trying to tell you that we have reason to believe that he didn't want us
to know until he was ready to tell us."
"Okay, I have to agree with Jade now, who is it?" Trowa asked. Dr. Hino sighed
in defeat and turned to Jeremiah. Everyone kept their eyes on him, waiting for him to
start speaking again. Finally, he pulled out a photo and handed it to the young red head,
which gave him a quizzical look, taking the photo.
"The leader and the brains behind all of ICS's operations is Darrel Kinsley,
Jeremiah's father." Collective gasps were heard throughout the room. Jeremiah could
feel tears come to his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Jeremiah, but sadly it's true. Your father is our enemy, and right now
he has Relena and Heero."
"They're alive?!" Isis asked. Dr. Hino nodded as he continued.
"However, we don't know how long that'll be."
"What does he want with them?" Quatre asked.
"There's something you don't know about me and Relena. We have a little bit of
a history together," Jeremiah said.
"What do you mean?" Trowa asked. Everyone's eyes were fixed on him as they
waited for his tale.
"Well, when I was little, someone was sent to assassinate my family. You can all
guess..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relena couldn't believe how stupid their guards were. When they broke out of
the cell door, the guards were still asleep, so it wasn't hard to knock them unconscious
and take they're weapons. The only downside was that the clothes were a little big on
Relena.
"Come on Relena, we have to hurry. The next exchange is in half an hour, so we
have to work fast if we want to escape." Heero turned and grabbed her hand, leading her
out of the information center in the base. After they exchanged clothes with the guards
and threw them in the cell, the two headed for this place to find out when the next cargo
plane left.
"Heero, will we make it?" Her eyes looked hopeful as she walked beside him in
the hall. A couple more minutes and they'd be at the hanger they needed. Two officers
passed them and nodded. Relena nodded back, thankful her hair stayed tucked up in her
hat.
"Yes, now stop worrying and focus on your mission. This isn't like you."
"I can't help it. I mean, this is the first time I've been in this type of situation
since the war."
"And now you're a skilled pilot who can handle anything. Don't worry, we'll
make it."
"Okay Heero, I'll stop now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Millardo and Noin jumped when they heard the door open. The group of teens
waltzed in, frowns on their faces. Millardo stood up and glared.
"Care to tell us what's going on?" he asked. Dr. Hino came in and approached
him.
"I assume you already know me, so let's get right to it. Your sister and Heero
were captured by ICS a few hours ago. We know who the leader is, and we think we
know what he wants."
"Well?" Noin said. Millardo sat down and ran his fingers through his platinum
blonde hair. Noin laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Well, the leader is Darrel Kinsley, Jeremiah's father. We think he's using Heero
and Relena as a trap for the others to try and rescue them. He probably also thinks that
you might try, and we know one of his objectives is to get rid of the remaining Peacecraft
bloodline. Also, he naturally wants his son back, and this is a way to lure him."
"But what will he do with them if no one goes to retrieve them?" Millardo asked.
He was afraid of the answer.
"He will definitely kill Relena for personal reasons, but Heero we aren't sure. My
guess would be they will both die."
"So what's the plan then?" Noin asked. Dr. Hino smiled sadly.
"We're going to wait for a day and see if Heero and Relena make back alone. If
they do, then we will proceed to the next step, which is destroying the ICS's base."
"And if they don't?"
"We go in after them," Amara answered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darrel Kinsley arrived at cell 121 and frowned.
"Where are my guards, Walker?" he growled. The young officer approached him
shakily.
"I don't know sir. They were here fifteen minutes ago when I came down."
Suddenly, there was banging in the cell and muffled yells. Kinsley unlocked the door
and barged through, only to grow angrier.
"Where are they?!" he yelled. Walker undid a gag and let the guard talk.
"Sir, they broke out! They jumped us and knocked us unconscious!"
"I can see that you numbskull! Walker?"
"Yes sir?"
"Dispose of these idiots at once." The young officer's eyes grew wide.
"Yes sir!"
"Johnson, sound the alarm! Put every officer who isn't on duty on the lookout for
these two! They can't escape!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heero and Relena crawled into the back of the plane, behind a bunch of huge
crates and boxes. They settled in closely, making sure they were hidden well. Relena
laid her head on Heero's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her
closer.
"Well, Heero, let's hope we can make it before-" she was cut off by the sound of
an alarm. Her head bolted up, face paling. Heero's eyes grew wide as they listened to
the shouts and running of officers.
"Oh shit!" he whispered. Relena and he looked at each other and then to the back
of the plane. The door wasn't closed yet!
"Heero..."
"Shh!" There were some officers at the back of the plane, talking. One of them
looked inside...