A Normal Life
By: Jade Starlight

Chapter Twenty: The Final Victor Part 2

Heero slid silently into the shadows of the stairway, careful not to startle the patrolling soldier. He watched as
the young man went his rounds and headed back up. When Heero heard the door click shut, he waved a hand. Relena,
Jade, and Jeremiah approached equally cautious.
"Up?" Relena whispered. Heero looked at them and nodded. With that, the four teens quietly began their
ascent to the third floor, where Kinsley would be waiting.
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Trowa sat in his Gundam, breathing slowly as he waited for the signal from Wufei.
"Trowa?" It was Quatre's voice who broke the deafening silence.
"Yes Quatre?"
"Are you sure about this new plan? Heero doesn't even know, and we haven't seen a hair of either Relena,
Jade, Jeremiah, or him. What if they don't get out in time?" The blonde boy's voice sounded entirely sincere, and he was.
These were his friends' lives they were putting into jeopardy, and he didn't like that thought.
"Quatre, I promise all will be fine. You needn't worry about those four. I gurantee they'll be out before we
do anything."
"Okay Trowa, I'll take your word for it, even if I don't like it." Please be alright, he added silently to his
friends, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to hear.
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"Please be alright." Relena turned to Jade, who was walking beside her.
"Did you say something?" she whispered. Jade shook her head, giving Relena a funny look. Relena, however,
didn't see this because she was now completely baffled.
Maybe Jeremiah said something then, she pondered.
"Hey, Jeremiah?"
"Yeah Lena?"
"Did you say something to me just now?"
"No, why?"
"Quiet, we have company!" Heero scolded before the conversation could continue. The other three followed
his lead as he dove into an open closet. He shut the door behind him and listened to the conversation on the other side.
"Kinsley is pissed! Those idiots at the shack let Miss Peacecraft and her friends escape."
"I know," the other man replied. "Is it true that one of them is a Gundam pilot?"
"You mean from the original group? Yeah. I think it's Heero Yuy, the Wing Zero pilot."
"Damn, sucks to be the soldier who crosses his path. Did you hear about all of the things he did during the
Eve Wars?"
"Hell yeah, everyone knows about that boy. I'll tell ya, I'm sure as heck not gonna be here tonight for too
much longer, not with him around!"
Heero smiled to himself when he heard this exchange. It's good to know people fear me, he thought. A
couple of minutes later, the two men were gone, and the four teens were heading farther down the hall. The room they
need was only ten doors away.
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Wufei reflected the sun off of his trident. In about two minutes the enemy's backup would be here, and
everyone needed to be ready.
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Trowa saw the faint glint and immediately sent a message to Quatre. Any minute now the final battle would
begin.
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Duo took in a huge breath to calm his nerves. He had to get everything right because his friends' lives were at stake.
Again he took a breath, still attempting to focus completely on this mission.
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Jeremiah stopped a few feet away from the door that would lead him to his father. Jade saw this and
approached him, smiling.
"It's fine Jeremiah. We'll all be okay. You just have to be brave and face him for what he is." She laced her
fingers with his and pulled him along.
"Jade is right. I know he's your father, but what he's doing is wrong. If you talk to him, maybe you can make
him understand, and he'll stop this little war before any others get killed or injured," Relena encouraged him. He nodded
and stepped foward. Heero moved aside and fell back with Relena, who grabbed his hand for comfort. Jeremiah grabbed the handle and twisted it. He pushed it open and frowned.
"Shit!"
"What is it?" Relena asked. The other three peered inside and immediately backed away. Sitting on the desk
in the room was a large bomb with a note attached. It read BOOM in large black letters. The clock read fifteen minutes,
and counting...
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"Wolf 1 here, any sign of the rebels?"
"No Wolf 1, Wolf 3, do you see them?"
"Negative Wolf 2, no sign of the enemy. What do you make of it?"
"My best bet would be-" The line lost clarity and all the ICS soldiers heard was static coming through the
com link.
"Wolf 2, what's going on?! What's wrong over there?!" The soldier tried desperately to get an answer, but
again more static. The one known as Wolf 3 began making his way towards the are his friend was in. Unfortunately for
him, he didn't get very far. A green flash was all he saw before his suit exploded.
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"Nice one Wu-man!"
"Maxwell, don't call me that, and move out! We have a mission to complete!" the Chinese teen scolded as he
dove behind some trees. Duo huffed and quickly left, heading to his other target.
"Sometimes I think that guy is rediculous," he grumbled quietly.
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Relena ran as fast as she could, the first one to enter the stairwell they had just come out of. She heard the
close footsteps of her friends behind her as she ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Just as she turned onto
another set, someone dropped in front of her.
"God Jeremiah, think you cold warn me next time!" she scolded, still running.
"Sorry babe," he yelled over his shoulder. "Next time I'll just scream on the way down!" Relena smiled in
spite of herself as she follwed him down again. They both burst through the door, only to stop in their tracks. Eight
soldiers were stationed at the bottom, which happened to be the door they just burst through.
"Oh shit," Relena whispered.
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Trowa began to fire upon the approaching mobile suits as they flew overhead. Three went down very quickly,
leaving seven more puzzled.
"Alondra, go!"
"Roger that, boss!" she whipped out her vulcan cannons and got to work. She finished all of them in three
minutes.
"Okay Quatre, you're up!"
"Right." Sandrock quickly made its way forward, carful to dodge the trees.
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"Get them!" All of the soldiers immediately took off after Relena and Jeremiah as they darted back up the
stairs.
"What is it?" Heero asked as he and Jade changed direction.
"We uh, met up with some really unhappy people," Jeremiah answered. Jade glanced back and sprinted
forward.
"I'll say! What's ya do?"
"What makes you think we did something? We just came bursting throught the door and bam, there they
are!!!" Relena yelled. The four of them burst into the hall they were in before and ran down past the room with the bomb.
"Halt or I'll shoot!" They ignored the warning and continued running, turning left into another hall.
"Guys, in here!" Relena darted into a dark room. The others followed, vanishing into shadows.
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Quatre flew forward, slicing through any suits and making his way to the front of the line. There, he would
wait for his backup to arrive.
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"Quick, this way!" The soldiers entered a room and turned on the lights. Then they began searching the entire
room.
"Sir, you better check this out!" one of them yelled. The leader jogged over to a large screen and immediately
turned around.
"Leuitenant, evacuate the base at once! Move out!" Everyone cleared out and the thought of capturing the
intruders completely left everyone's mind. Now all they had to worry about was the bomb.
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Deathscythe Hell darted around the suits and fought through the crowd, heading to the base. Duo used his
beam scythe to slice through whatever got in his path.
"They don't call me shinigami for nothing!" he shouted with glee as he continued fighting through the suits.
"Duo, quit playing and help me! I can't clear the way for Heero and the others alone!" Quatre's distressed
voice commanded.
"Sheesh, Q-man, hold on a sec! I gotta get there first!"
"Well, HURRY!!!"
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"You go on ahead, while I take care of these guys!"
"No Heero, we won't leave you!" Heero grabbed Relena's arms and pulled her close, so that their noses
were touching.
"Relena, I promise you I will catch up. Now go!" He thrusted her back as he darted the other way, towards
the pursuing soldiers. Relena watched helplessly as he disappeared into the small group. Then, before she realized what
was going on, Jade and Jeremiah were pulling her along, forcing her to turn away from her lover. They turned into a
doorway which led to a hanger. No one stopped them because the soldiers were too busy evacuating to care. Halfway
through Relena stopped, her dream coming back to her, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Relena, lets go!" Jade scolded. Relena turned around before she or Jeremiah knew what was going on and
headed back to the hallway. She was halfway there when she saw Heero stumble into the hanger, bruised and trying not
to limp.
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Quatre tried to stop it, but it was too late. He watched helplessly as the mobiled doll above him shot right at
the base, hitting a hanger. An explosion was heard as all of the suits and soldiers tried to flee for cover. The building
started to crumble.
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Relena felt the ground shake as she heard an explosion from above. Supporting Heero, they fell together
from the tremor. Realization hit as she saw the image from her dream. Quickly she grabbed Heero's hand and pulled
him up.
"Run Heero! The beam, it's going to fall!"
"But Relena, look, it's-"
"SHUT UP AND GO!" She pulled him along as they ran top speed to the other side, where Jade and
Jeremiah were waiting. Just as they reached their friends, the beam fell, just as she said. Heero looked at her,
understanding in his eyes.
"Um, can we leave now? I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I certainly don't wanna be around when
this place falls!" Jade said. Without an answer the four of them ran from the collapsing base and through the trees,
heading for the small clearing where Wufei would be waiting.
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Altron was standing in the clearing, looking fo the four teens. Suddenly four traces appeared on the tracking
screen, beeping and flashing red. Wufei smiled in spite of his usual nature.
I knew you could do it my friends. And I'm glad you're safe. He lowered Nataku's hand for them to climb
into. he watched as they did so, and waited for a thumbs up from Jeremiah before taking off and heading back home,
back to California.