Jaid: Okay, I'll make this short, since I'm sure all of you are dying to know what happens. Thanx to all my reviewers! You guys literally made this possible!

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Chapter Twenty – Four

            The sun rose, bright and strong the next morning. The air was still, except for the occasional chirp of a bird flying overhead. Heero's Prussian blue eyes watched the landscape sharply. Behind him, the Maguanacs and Luke were just beginning to stir. Today was the day. A normal man would've been nervous, maybe slightly exhilarated, or even scared at the events that would take place today. But Heero Yuy was  not the normal man. All he felt was the determination to take out a threat. Nothing more, nothing less. Though it could be argued that his thoughts strayed more than once to a certain young woman, with honey blonde hair and ocean colored eyes.

*  *  *

 Iria's house was all in a bustle. Mariemeia watched the hallway from her bedroom. It was almost funny to see everybody bustling about; almost because she knew that some of them might not see another day. She shivered slightly, trying to push away the unpleasant thought.

Lucrezia, Hilde, and Sally, all dressed in pants, were with the men. Iria and Une were going over some more things and Dorothy was standing by the window, looking slightly disconnected from the rest of the world. WuFei and Meiran were in the corner, arguing in Chinese and glaring at each other. 

"We're ready."

Everyone stopped and looked at Zechs as he said it. Then everyone looked at each other. There was a quiet period. Several people prayed silently. When everyone was ready, Zechs nodded, and they left, leaving Dorothy, Mieran, Une and Iria with Mariemeia.

*  *  *

Late morning. Midii walked out of the boarding house she had spent the night in and was struck by the lack of people on the streets. It was eerily quiet and Midii found herself nervously grasping the locket she wore. Turning, she saw several men walk up the main street. Paling, she recognized one of them as "Boss". She withdrew into the shadows of the front door.

Zechs walked forward, Duo and Lucrezia next to him, the others behind them. Duo and Lucrezia were his deputies; he would've liked Quatre at his side, but that wasn't possible. Zechs' hand clenched. If that bastard had killed his friend…

The two groups stopped with a good amount of space between them. Armond smiled easily as he saw Zechs.

"So, the prince has come to claim his kingdom, eh?" he asked. Zechs drew his chin up. He didn't know how Armond had found out, but he figured it had something to do with the papers stolen from WuFei.

"Yes." he answered. "And no. The main point here, Traycsant, is that you have been terrorizing the people of my town, and as my duty as Sheriff there, I place you under arrest. If you resist, then I will kill you if need be."

Armond's smile never dropped. "Fine."

Trieze stiffened. He didn't like Armond's tone. It's a trap. He's got something up his sleeve. Treize thought. Be careful, Zechs.

"I'm not going to give up what I've worked for. Not without a fight." Armond said, then his group turned and walked away. Zechs' jaw tightened and he looked at Lucrezia.

"This is it." he whispered. Lucrezia opened her mouth to say something, when there was a sharp crack. Lucrezia's brown eyes widened in shock and a queer, sort of gasp escaped her mouth. Zechs caught her and lowered her to the ground behind some barrels they had been standing by, completely unaware of the chaos that had erupted around him.

*  *  *

Damn, damn, damn! That was the only word going through Duo's head at the moment, as he shot back at another man. He looked over to where Zechs was trying to stop Lucrezia's bleeding, then winced as a shot came to close and grazed his ear.

"Zechs!" he shouted, taking another shot. "Is she okay?"

The blonde man didn't seem to hear him. Duo sighed. Okay, forget I said anything.

*  *  *

"This is nuts." Relena murmured, not for the first time. Une, Mieran, and Dorothy all turned to give her a collective glare. Relena rolled her eyes, and winced at the sounds of shooting a couple blocks away.

"Do you think they are all right?" she asked. The other women exchanged looks and shrugged.

"Right now, we have to concentrate on getting Quatre out, Relena." Dorothy told her, suppressing the urge to say "Ms. Relena."

Approaching the building, they had Mieran and Une stand guard at the back door, while Une and Dorothy went in quietly, pistols in hand.

"I don't think anyone is down here." Relena said quietly, after a few minutes. Dorothy nodded and they proceeded up stairs. Peeking around the corner, Dorothy saw a man leaning against the wall. Raising her pistol she shot and the man fell with a slight cry. Dorothy walked down the hallway, Relena at her back.

"You're a natural." Dorothy said amused. Relena didn't look at her.

"I'm a school teacher, not a soldier. Can we please get this over with?" Relena commented.

Dorothy smiled and proceeded to open doors.

"Where is everybody?" Relena asked.

"Fighting your brother most likely." Dorothy answered softly, opening another door. Quatre was on the floor, hands and feet tied. The room was dark, so Dorothy could barely see his outline. She went over and knelt by him.

"Quatre?" she whispered, touching his shoulder. Quatre flinched, and moved away, moaning slightly.

"Relena, do you have that pocket knife you said Heero gave you?" Dorothy asked. Relena nodded and pulled it out of the pocket of the pants she was wearing. Dorothy cut Quatre's bonds and then gently tried to wake him.

After a few minutes, Quatre's eyes opened and widened. "Dorothy!" he whispered hoarsely, sounding like someone who has gone with out water for a while. "You're safe."

"Yes." Dorothy answered, relief flooding through her. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." Dorothy helped Quatre to his feet and allowed him to lean on her slightly.

"Hello, Lena." Quatre said. Relena smiled slightly, then led the way out.

"Quatre, do you know where everybody is?" she asked as they walked past the body of the man that Dorothy had shot.

"No." Quatre answered. "Why, what's going on?"

"A show-down." Dorothy answered as they descended the stairs. They all stopped abruptly as voices floated up to them.

"That sounds like Traycsant." Dorothy murmured. Quatre nodded. Relena paled.

"What are we going to do?" she asked in a controlled voice. "I don't think I can shoot them."

"I can." Quatre said quietly. He held out his hand and Relena placed her pistol in it. "Let's go down and see if they are in the way. If not, then we leave, got it?"

Dorothy and Relena nodded. They quietly made their way downstairs, barely missing Charles and Traycsant as the two walked into his office.

"Ready?" Une asked as they exited.

"Yes." Dorothy answered. Une helped her support Quatre.

"Where are we going now?" Mieran asked, stumbling a bit in her English.

"Where Zechs is." Quatre said quietly. "I should be out there helping."

"Like hell you are." Dorothy told him. "You can hardly walk on your own."

"That has nothing to do with my aim." Quatre said calmly. "They may need help." He looked at Dorothy right in the eye. "I'm going."

*  *  *

Lucrezia felt dizzy, hot, and cold all at the same time. There was a burning sensation in her right side, near her hip. She was dimly aware of shouting and shooting going on, as well as Zechs' voice and his face just above hers.

Hilde aimed and shot again. Next to her, David Smith slumped. She gasped as she saw red spilling out of his chest. She turned quickly as a bullet grazed her temple.

Trieze frowned. He couldn't see Traycsant anywhere. Where in hell's name is he? What's he  up too? Losing concentration as he saw David fall, dead he half turned as a bullet hit his arm. Stifling a cry he fell back down. Desperately, he pulled out his handkerchief and tied it around the wound, then supporting his arm with his left, he shot again.

*  *  *

WuFei bit his tongue. He was rapidly running out of bullets. He slapped his pocket to see how many where left and winced. Not many. Suddenly, somebody shot behind him and hit the man that was shooting at WuFei. Stunned, WuFei turned. Mieran crouched next to him and grinned.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded in Chinese.

"Helping." Mieran answered shortly, pushing her rifle in his hands and taking the pistol and re-loading it. WuFei mentally sighed and raised the rifle.

"Is she all right?" Sally asked, having made her way over too Lucrezia. The woman's eyes stared at her with a strange distant look.

"You're going to have to help me, okay Zechs?" Sally asked over the din. Zechs nodded, then as an afterthought, handed Duo one of his pistols. Duo flashed him a cocky grin then continued shooting.

*  *  *

"You okay?" Dorothy asked. Quatre nodded and raised his gun, shooting. It was getting pretty desperate, he realized.

"Things aren't good, huh?" he commented. Dorothy shook her head. Suddenly, the shooting stopped. There was a low rumbling, like the sound of thunder…or the sound of horse's hoofs beating the ground.

*  *  *

Heero and the Maguanacs swept in and "cleaned up", so to speak. Zechs stood up and ran over.

"I was wondering when you would get here." he commented. Rashid nodded curtly.

"Where's Traycsant?" he asked.

"Back at his headquarters." Relena told him, coming up. Heero and Zechs turned to look at her in shock.

"You're supposed to be at Iria's." Zechs told her.

"He might still be there." she continued, ignoring him.

"Rashid!" Quatre said. "You're okay! I could have sworn all of you were dead when I found-"

Rashid silenced him with a gesture, a quiet smile on his face. "We are going to confront Traycsant." he said.

"I'll come." Quatre offered. Heero dismounted and handed Quatre the reins. Quatre looked surprised, and mounted, wincing slightly.

"Are you sure?" Relena asked. "You're not exactly at peak condition."

"I know." he answered. "But I feel that I have too."

Turning, the remaining Maguanacs and Quatre trotted towards Traycsant's. Heero turned to Relena. Zechs noted them, then walked away, anxious to be with Lucrezia.

"What are you doing here?" Heero asked.

"Helping?" Relena smiled weakly.

"You could've gotten hurt." he pointed out.

"And you wouldn't?" Relena asked. Heero merely raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I thought you would be glad to see me at least." She mumbled and turned away. Heero grabbed her arm.

"I'm sorry." he said softly. "I , I didn't mean it like that." Relena turned to face him.

"I know." she whispered, then hugged him tightly. Heero returned her embrace.

*  *  *

Traycsant and Charles exited the building, only to find twenty Maguanacs and Quatre waiting for them on horseback. Turning, they found that about ten more Maguanacs were standing. Armond frowned and went out to meet Rashid.

"What are you here for?" he demanded.

"You." Rashid answered. "You will be coming with us."

"And you'll kill me?" Armond asked.

"Perhaps." Rashid told him. "But I am not the judge of that –" the rest of his sentence was cut off as the men who had been with Traycsant began shooting out of the windows of the upper building. Armond smirked and went for cover, as did the rest of the Maguanacs. For a few minutes, there was a fire fight, till the Maguanacs inside were able to get rid the rest of the gang.

Regrouping, the Maguanacs had formed a tight circle around Armond. Rashid was seething, Quatre could tell.

"I never said I was going without a fight." Armond said. Rashid turned and began to give orders to his men in Arabic. Quatre looked as Armond began to pull something out of his coat and Quatre's reflexes took over. Quickly, he turned his horse to try to get Rashid out of the way of what ever Armond was going to do.

"Rashid! Look – Ahh!" Quatre cried out in pain and slumped over the horse's neck. At the same time, Rashid turned, shock on his face and Abdul shot Armond, right through the head.

Quatre moaned and began to fall. Rashid caught him and pulled him into his own saddle. "Abdul! Auda! Get every one together!" he ordered. Then urging his horse into a gallop, he rode towards Iria's house.

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Jaid: Don't kill me! The Epilouge should be out by tomorrow!

Naga: Kill her, please.

Jad: Hear, hear.

Jaid: Okay, you two are outdoors until Legolas comes home…