Steel and Fire
By Zapenstap
Relena's head fell back against the hard wood with a thump and she stifled a cry as the lid snapped shut. Darkness consumed everything. She sat still for several minutes merely breathing, adjusting her eyes to the darkness within the trunk. Her heart beat painfully in her chest and the blood pounded loudly in her ears. The absolute blackness and stifling confinement was terrifying, but she breathed and stared and slowly grew calmer. Even when she was sure her eyes were completely dialated she could make out nothing, but her senses told her the dimensions of the box. Her legs were bent, but not completely folded, and there was space around her head and torso for her arms to move. She could shift and turn around, but she could not sit up or do much else. It was like being trapped in the trunk of a car, and she could not get out. Best not to think of that.
Courage, Relena, she told herself, breathed again and closed her eyes. The minute she did she saw Heero's face, as she had last seen him, shadowed but beautiful. He always made her feel calmer, braver. He was not here, but he was coming. He would rescue her, somehow; he always did. But she was afraid for him to come, and felt horribly selfish for wanting him to.
Why was she here? She could only assume she was bait, an arbitrary victim and a means to some greater purpose. She certainly had no comprehension of her situation, and knew she had no importance in it. Who was this Teleb who had taken her? He had done...something when she pulled a gun on him. It had left her hand, but she had not dropped the weapon; her grip had been steady, she was sure of it. No, it was like some sudden force ripped her fingers apart and shoved her. She had felt the pain in her head of being struck, could feel the bump even now, but she had seen nothing. One moment she had been facing an enemy with a steady hand, the next she had fallen back into her dark confinement, unconscious. It was like magic. Now she was both devoid of a weapon and her freedom. That's where her retaliation had gotten her, but she was not sorry she had tried, nor even that she had resorted to threat of violence. She was exceedingly angry, angrier even than she had been at Lady Une for the assassintion of her foster father, and the angrier still because she did not know why her life was being threatened.
Abruptly, the lid to her prison was opened. Relena blinked as light flooded her eyes, surprised. Teleb was crouched beside the trunk, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him. There was nothing readable in his expression, but he seemed to be considering her, studying her, even as she studied him. She sat up, wiggling her legs beneath her, and leaning back away from him. His eyes were glued to her, dark, glittering eyes set in a face almost too beautiful for a man.
"You are not afraid," he stated almost pleasantly, "or perhaps you are too bewildered to be frightened?" A small smile appeared on his face, a smile not reflected in his eyes. Those eyes scared her, but she fought to conceal her fear. "That may prove unfortunate for you, " he said softly, and added with an underlying hiss, "you would do better to be afraid."
Relena's heart quickened in her chest and she could feel her limbs shaking, but her mind was steady and clear. Perhaps a diplomatic approach would yeild more than her last attempt to level the playing field. Could he see her planning in her expression? "I ask only why I am your captive," she said in her most congenial business tones. She could see clearly now that Teleb, whoever he was, was not one to be moved by pity or compassion, nor by threat or courage. Whatever his business with her, it was only that; business.
"I am making an exchange," he said, still in those same pleasant tones, eerie to her ears. "You for my crystals. If there are no hitches, you will not be harmed, so be a good obedient girl and play the role you were meant to play. No outbursts of personality, no acts of bravery. Do nothing to compromise your own position, and you will be safe. No one will think ill of you if you do that." To her horror, he reached out and stroked her cheek with one finger. "I've heard about you. If you will not be docile, I will make you docile, so be a good little girl and act your age, my dear. Remember, you are young and have much to live for, for as long as your short life allows. Do not think of compromising yourself." She opened her mouth, trembling, but he silenced her with an added whisper. "Do not think of it." There seemed to be a hollow quality in his words; they rung strangely in her head. Her mind seemed to be sinking into sleep. Was he glowing?
Relena swallowed and her mind retreated even as she stared at him. Fight, fight, fight, a voice cried at her, and somehow, inwardly, she woke herself up. Inside, she fumed and stomped her feet and recoiled in horror from this man's gentle, yet horrifying words. Her head nodded with sleep, but she would not give in. She refused to give up, even admist fire and death she would not give up, even if it meant defiance to powers beyond and above her, she would work as she could. Yes, she had been in this place before. In all her rage, a line of reason burrowed its way from her heart to her brain and a veil of diplomacy dropped over her face. Her passions, her fears, her emotions, slowly separated from the rest of her, from the gentle reason of her mind.
She awoke suddenly. He was smiling at her. "You do have some control," he murmured. "I think I'll let you keep it if you behave."
"I understand you," she said smoothly, not with the quail of a child or the tremble of frightened hostage, but the steady tones of a woman who knew her situation was a compromise whatever she did. "I will be good."
He turned his head slightly, eyes still boring into her. "Don't think yourself too clever. You are no mystery. I will be watching you. Now get out. The time draws nigh."
Relena stood on command and smoothed her skirt and coat. Teleb rose and provided a pathway for her, though despite his courtesy, his eyes had not changed. Swallowing, she stepped lightly from her box and walked to where he directed, taking in what she could of her surroundings, noting all exits and assets.
"Sit in the chair," he said, waving at a wooden chair sitting alone and forlorn in the corner. She sat and folded her hands in her lap. "There's a girl," Teleb said with some amusement. "You handle your fear well, but I see the glare in your eye. Be patient. You will not have to wait long. Your Heero is coming."
Relena did not respond, but sat quietly. She knew immediately that she was nothing to Teleb, whoever he was. He regarded her as one might regard a slave or a servant, perhaps less. He wanted crystals, he had said, and Heero was somehow bringing them. It had to have something to do with Mandred. But she also knew that Heero would never aide a dangerous enemy, not even for her, and certainly not at Mandred's expense.
If anything happened to Heero because of her, anything at all... Her hands twisted in her lap. Oh God, Heero. Please be careful. When was Heero ever careful? She hadn't seen him in months and it felt like years. She began to tremble in anxiety, watching Teleb leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes hawk-like on the entryway. Relena sat and thought furiously.
*****
Heero and Duo approached the entrance to the building side by side. "It looks deserted," Duo muttered.
"No," Heero disagreed. "Someone was smoking here," he said, kicking a stub lying on the ground. "I doubt it was Teleb."
Duo grumbled in assent, folding his arms. "He had minions when Felicia, er... Falora, and I went after him before. I guess it's not unlikely he hired some more, or found the same ones, though I doubt that after the beating I gave them." He chuckled. "Still, I don't see why he would need them."
"I don't either," Heero said, "not if he's as powerful as Kyra claims."
"Teleb should be expecting us, so his minions shouldn't give us any trouble," Duo postulated.
Heero frowned. "Maybe not, but I'm not so sure. Why have minions at all?"
Heero and Duo walked cautiously to the glass doors and pushed them open without incident. As they entered the establishment, Heero caught the sounds of movement in hidden places scattered throughout the hallway. They were being watched. Duo's ease melted away as he too caught the subtle movement in secluded corners. Heero counted, separating the sounds. Three, four, five, hidden people, and at least one on the balcony above them. Six watchers.
"There are four or five people watching us," Duo said under his breath.
"Six," Heero corrected. "And they're hostile. You have a weapon?" Duo nodded. "Then be ready," Heero whispered. They continued to walk as if they had noticed nothing, but every alert system Heero possessed was operational, and his fingers itched toward his gun.
The silence seemed to stretch in all directions. The sounds off their footfalls, even their very breath, seemed to echo alarmingly. The tension stretched out like taut wire, a web of thick anxiety devouring the oxygen, suffocating them. Duo's eyes darted from side to side, but he walked steadily, keeping his head up and his hands still at his sides. Heero breathed easily and walked more fluidly. Danger warnings beat in time with his heart. He could feel rhythm in the stillness.
A gun shot exploded the silence.
Abruptly, men jumped from behind counters and corners, above railings and striding through the very door they entered. Heero and Duo neither stopped nor slowed, but guns came smoothly to their hands. Shots fired from all points of the room. The man closest to Heero went down with one bullet in his chest before he could even raise an arm. Vaguely, he noted Duo taking out the man on the balcony. Several shots fired past Heero on the left and from behind, but all missed as he ducked and rolled behind a pillar only to come up to one knee again. The man behind the counter went down after firing six shots at Duo and himself. Propping himself up lightly, Heero returned fire; one was sufficient. He fell back again and scanned the room for Duo. He spotted him crouched in a doorway on the opposite side of the room, a man lying unconscious at his feet. Heero had seen Duo elbow him in the face while ducking for cover. The two men who entered from behind had taken cover as well, but not well enough. One man he could not reach, hidden behind a bit of wall that stuck out from a hallway on his right. The other was safely out of Duo's sights, but not Heero's, provided the other man didn't shoot him first.
Heero glanced in Duo's direction and an understanding passed tacitly between them. Heero rose to both feet quietly and without caution or preparation, stepped from behind his cover and shot Duo's assailant. He went down with one bullet in the head, his gun clattering to the floor. The man behind the wall raised an arm and weapon to Heero with nothing to block his path and Heero's back to him, but before the shot could be fired, Duo's weapon rang out and he too collapsed.
All enemies were cleared.
"Not enough to take down two gundam pilots," Duo muttered, but he sounded a little shaky. "Is Teleb shortcutting on this deal?"
Heero tucked his gun in his belt behind his coat and surveyed the scene. "No. He has no interest in Relena. If this was a test, I think we passed."
"A test, huh? Yeah, well it's not over yet," Duo said. "Have you ever killed anyone like this before, Heero?" he added more quietly.
"Yeah," Heero said quietly. "But not for a long time." His heart felt strangely numb, but not in a sickening way. He had a job to do. "Come on. He's waiting."
They passed down the rest of the hall with confidence and nothing hindered them. Nor did Heero sense anything. Six was a poor number to send to destroy anyone with any battle experience, but perhaps Teleb knew nothing about them, or knew only rumors. It had to be a test. The question was, what conclusions would Teleb now draw, and what action would he take as a result of those conclusions?
There was only one clear direction to go and Heero and Duo took it, straight to the main conference room for whatever businesses this building used to house. The large double doors were shut and locked, but Heero knew Teleb was in there. He could almost feel Relena on the other side, and he could always sense the presence of his enemy. Heero lifted his gun to the locked doors, but Duo touched his arm. Heero paused as Duo withdrew from his coat a small box. Flipping open the lid, he withdrew a thin sturdy wire with an odd contraption attached to it.
"Lockpick," Heero murmured in recognition. Duo grinned and Heero crossed his arms as Duo knelt before the double doors and inserted the small wire. Perhaps a minute of increasing impatience and they both heard a distinct click. Duo withdrew his tool and deposited the entire kit back in his coat.
At that moment, Heero heard somebody approaching from behind.
As Duo rose to his feet, Heero whipped his gun out from behind his back and twisted on his feet until he was face to face with his new enemy, gun in hand.
Kyra and Falora's head's snapped up and Falora took a step backward, but they said nothing. Kyra's eyes darted to the left, out of sight from the door, and Heero nodded. Falora followed Kyra and they vanished from the sightpath into the hallway. They were backup, and disaster if they were discovered before the propper time.
Heero turned again and met Duo in the eye. Heero nodded and Duo pushed open the unlocked doors.
The double doors swung inward, revealing a large room with overhanging light and a few trunks and cases. Whatever furniture had once occupied it had been removed, save one. Heero's eyes were immediately drawn to the back of the room where a girl sat stiff and still in a plain wooden chair. Other than rumpled clothes and a smallish bruise on one side of her head, she looked unharmed. But he could see an iron will in her eyes, stern and commanding, fueled by a boiling rage. And beneath that, anxiety, a fear quelled by the same will that tamed her rage. And that was focused on him. Indeed, her eyes seemed glued to him, and hope glimmered there as he smiled reassuringly. The anxiety he saw did not abate. She was afraid for him, not herself.
Teleb had not escaped his attention. He overshadowed the room, though his size was not remarkable. His body was a perfect form, tall, broad and trim, and the light of youth glowed in his face. But age and wisdom lingered also in his eyes and expression, blank though it was, and he seemed to have a mastery over himself quite astounding. There was also a sense of power and authority about his person, a confidence unchallengeable. In all of this he was like Mandred, but there was no benevolence in him, no kindness or good will toward others even of his own kind. The way he looked at Heero and Duo might have better been left unsaid, for it was condescending and insulting, but in it there remained a glimmer of truth, for Heero knew instantly that Teleb indeed, and Mandred too, was above him. But from this man, as it had never been with Mandred, he did not like it.
"You defeated my guards, so you are no fools. You've brought my crystals?" Teleb said. His voice was smooth like music, and there was no weakness in it.
"I have," Heero said in answer to both questions, and reached into his pocket. He lifted out his hand and revealed the crystals, but he did not let go of them. "Release Relena," he said, "and I will toss them to you."
"If you promise to let us escape unharmed," Duo added, and there was a tinge of fright in his voice.
Teleb chuckled. "The girl is free to go. I am not restraining her."
Relena looked at Teleb and, swallowing visibly, stood and took several paces in Heero's direction, though her eyes darted once or twice in the direction of her captor. Teleb waved her away and held out his hand. When Relena was within a few feet of him, Heero reached out and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her close. He squeezed her briefly, feeling her tremble against him. "Just escape," he whispered fiercely in her ear, his face buried into her hair. "This man is an Alfarian, a magician of sorts, and he is dangerous. Do you hear me?" Relena nodded her head silently, but still she trembled. He passed her over the Duo, forcibly having to push her away, for her hands clung to his jacket.
Gritting his teeth, Heero tossed the crystals into the air. At the exact same instant they left his hand, Teleb shouted suddenly in some other language, surging to his feet. Fire seemed to blaze about him, but was swallowed by a flash of light that burst from the doorway behind Heero.
Heero ducked, shrinking from the explosion and the light equally, amazed
as all Hell broke loose.
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