Heero Yuy closed his laptop, having just RSVPed for Relena's wedding. He sat back. She was getting married to some government official. No doubt someone she works closely with. He remembered her talking about the guy several times, but Heero had never actually met him. He made a mental note to arrange a meeting with this guy before the wedding. Heero had to make sure Relena got the best.
His computer beeped. Heero was tempted to ignore it. He had to go to work, and he was already running behind. But it might be important. He opened his laptop and saw it was a call from Duo Maxwell. It was somewhat strange that Duo would call this early. He usually called later in the evening. After about a month, Heero had gotten used to Duo's weekly calls. They weren't too long. Heero knew he called all the other Gundam pilots, as well, and it was comforting to hear from an old comrade.
Heero checked the time. No, no time. He closed the laptop, knowing Duo would get a recorded message. He had to go to work.
What work could a former Gundam pilot and soldier possibly do during peacetime? Heero had worried about that for a while. He'd been trained to be a soldier his entire life. It was a bit of a shock to put away his weapons and actually do something else. Well, actually, he kept his gun.
Heero worked at Cy-Tech Corporation, a massive information company. He managed to put his computer skills to good use in their networking department. Basically, he made sure everything worked right. It wasn't glamorous, but it didn't really need to be. It was a living.
Heero put on his coat and left the apartment. He'd made a nice home for himself on an L1 colony. His job allowed him to take "business trips" to Earth, where he would visit Relena and see how she was doing. Occasionally he'd get sent to another colony. He'd seen Quatre once, but that was all he'd seen of the former Gundam pilots. Except for the weekly Duo call, that is. He had had a chance to buy a car. In fact, he had planned on it for a while. But he decided that the walk to work was good exercise. He still tried to find time to work out. Just because he wasn't a soldier anymore didn't mean he could let himself get out of shape.
It was still dark outside. The artificial lights of the colony hadn't been turned on fully. The colonies tried their hardest to simulate the Earth environment. Still, nothing could compare to the planet below them.
Not many people were out, so it didn't take Heero very long to notice the person following him. You didn't train your whole life to be a soldier just to be blind to something like that. The person was doing a good job of looking inconspicuous. Heero had no doubt that if he were any other person, he would not have noticed the man. As it was, his tag-along had made a bad mistake by trying to tail Heero Yuy.
Heero continued his walk to work. No reason to stray from it, yet. He could sense the man behind him, following just close enough to keep an eye on him. Heero looked around. Still fairly empty. Good. Not many people would get involved.
Not many people at his work knew that Heero always carried a gun on him. True, Heero had sacrificed a lot for total peace. Yet he had always felt that throwing away his gun would be stupid, and it was situations like this that proved his point.
I'm sorry, Relena. Heero thought as he ducked in between two buildings, pulling out his gun. He braced himself against the wall and waited for his shadow to catch up to him. He was very close to his workplace. It wouldn't be too hard to identify the tag-along, take care of him, then head to work.
Heero heard it first. It was a fairly silent morning when the loud explosion cut through the stillness. Having heard that sound before, Heero instinctively crouched down and braced himself for the impact. Then he felt it. A wave of heat and pressure pushed him back against the building. He shielded his face with his arm, gritting his teeth and waiting for it to pass. It did shortly. Heero stood up and walked back to the main road. The explosion had been close. He looked around.
His shadow was nowhere in sight, and the Cy-Tech building had been completely destroyed. Heero stared, eyes wide. Several years ago, he might have expected something like this. But now? When there had been peace for over a year?
Sirens could already be heard. Heero knew that anybody in the building was probably dead, as was any person walking by it. Fortunately, it was well before the regular work day started, so not many people would have been in there.
But there had been people in there.
Heero hurriedly hid his gun again and looked around. His tag-along had disappeared. The bomb in the Cy-Tech building had, undoubtedly, been meant for him. He normally would have been in there, but Duo's call and his shadow had made him slightly later than usual.
Somebody was trying to kill him.
****
"Hey, Hilde! Heero's not answering my call!" Duo stared at the computer screen, hoping that somehow his penetrating gaze would make Heero answer.
"Maybe he's at work!" Hilde called from behind the closed door of her room.
"What time is it?" Duo looked up. They really needed to get a clock in the living room. Either that or Duo really needed to fix his watch.
"It's 5:30." Hilde stepped out of her room. "It's a new day. That's why I'm changing my clothes, remember? What time did you think it was, silly?"
"5:30?" Duo asked loudly. Then he slapped a hand to his forehead. They had stayed up all night watching bad B-movies. Well, all B-movies were bad, but these were just horrible. He hadn't realized how late they had stayed up. Then he relaxed. "Well, at least I have today off!"
Duo leaned back in his seat and moved to put his hands behind his head. He had thought that the seat would support his back, as it was supposed to, but instead, it gave out and sent him tumbling backwards to the floor. Hilde gave him a hand up as he rubbed his head. He had to remember to get that chair fixed. Maybe after they get a clock for the living room.
"Duo, you can go up against dozens of mobile suits and repair a Gundam with scrap parts, but you can't fix a simple office chair?" Hilde motioned to the decrepit chair that they used for the computer.
Duo picked it up and set it back upright. "There, fixed."
"Yeah, until you lean back in it again." Hilde had her wallet out and was counting some money.
"Where are you going?"
"Do you forget everything? I'm spending the day with Jeb, that guy I met."
Duo sat down on the couch. "Oh yeah. Jeb." Duo rolled his eyes.
Hilde glared at him. "There's nothing wrong with Jeb. He's very nice."
"And very boring! Remember when you brought him home for dinner? He didn't say one thing that was interesting."
Hilde's glare turned to a smile. She bent over and hugged Duo. "You're so sweet when you're protective!"
"Yeah, yeah." Duo sighed and put his feet up, taking up the whole length of the couch. He was mentally planning his day. Take a shower. Wash hair. Nap a bit. Maybe go out and see if anybody wanted to do some sports at the gym.
Hilde was just leaving when she turned around. "Oh yeah! Howard called. He needs you to go in today!"
Duo sat up straight. "What? When'd he say this?"
"Oh, he called yesterday while you were in the shower. I just now remembered to tell you. Bye, Duo!" Hilde waved and then left, closing the door very quickly.
"Hilde!" Duo yelled angrily. Damn! There goes his plans. Oh well. Sleep deprivation wasn't THAT bad.
It was nice having Hilde as a roommate. After all, that meant he only had to pay half the rent. But she really needed to work on passing on his messages.
Duo got up and went to the small kitchen. Whenever they had company over for dinner, which wasn't often, they would put the couch in Duo's room and move a table out into the living room. They didn't have a dining room, so that's the best they could get. They had looked into getting a larger apartment, but Duo didn't really feel like it. The small and cozy feel suited him just fine.
He opened the fridge. Good. One last can of some generic caffeinated beverage. That oughta keep him awake till at least noon. Then he'd go from there. Duo grabbed the can and picked it up. It felt kind of...light. He looked inside the open can. Empty.
Duo growled and put the can down again. Hilde! She couldn't have sabotaged him better if she had tried! Duo sighed. No point getting mad at her. They'd had several arguments since they'd moved in together after the Mariemaia incident. She had a list of things he did that annoyed her, and he had the same thing with her. Seems they were both a bit too set in their ways to compromise even a bit.
Maybe this Jeb guy will ask her to marry him, and she'll move away with him, Duo thought while changing his clothes. Then he paused. No. He didn't want anybody taking her away. Hilde was all he had right now.
Duo really didn't like people leaving him.
He looked in the mirror. Not enough time for a shower. His work was quite a while away by bus, and he'd have to leave now if he wanted to get there on time.
There was a knock on the door. The doorbell had long since been broken. Come to think of it, most of the things in the apartment were broken.
Duo opened the door, prepared to leave as soon as he got rid of whoever it was.
It was Jeb, Mr. Stuffyhead, himself. "Good morning, Duo!" Jeb said cheerfully.
"What's wrong? Hilde forget something?" Duo asked while straightening his shirt.
"No, actually, I'm picking her up. She no-showed at our meeting place, so I figured she got off to a late start."
Duo looked up at him. "She left a good 10 minutes ago. Where's the meeting place?"
"Uh...Halftown Park." Jeb pointed a finger to the wall behind him.
That wasn't very far...only a few minutes away from the apartment. And even if she were late, Jeb would have seen her on his way to the apartment building.
"She's not here?" Jeb asked.
Hilde...
"Just a sec." Duo held up a finger. Hilde should have her cellphone with her. Duo dialed the number, reading it off a notecard on the fridge. He heard a phone ringing from Hilde's room. Duo cursed and ran into her room. On her bedside table was the phone. Damn. She had forgotten something.
Duo sent a quick message off to Howard, telling him he'd be late today. Then he put on a coat and walked out the door, closing and locking it behind him.
"Um...Duo?" Jeb looked confused.
Duo put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, pal. We're going looking for her. She must've just gotten turned around or something."
That was partly to reassure the very worried-looking Jeb. Duo knew that Hilde had lived on this colony for over a year now. She wouldn't get turned around so easily.
****
Trowa polished the flute Quatre had given him for the 3rd time in a row. After all the animals were fed and taken care of, there just wasn't much to do when the circus wasn't open. And the ringmaster had given everybody a weeklong vacation to rest. Trowa had decided to stay at the circus for that week.
He looked down at the flute. It was the same one he'd played when he'd first met Quatre. He'd actually tried to play it by himself, but it just didn't sound the same. Quatre had given it to him as something of a good-bye gift. That's what Quatre had called it. Trowa felt guilty at the time. He hadn't gotten anything for Quatre, but Quatre said not to worry about it; that Trowa had given him more than enough.
Trowa supposed that Quatre gave all the pilots little good-bye gifts, but he liked to think that he put a bit more thought into his. He had wanted to ask Quatre if it were possible to stay with him on L4, but he wasn't sure how Quatre would have reacted to that. He was running the Winner estate now, and Trowa hadn't been invited to stay. Trowa had spoken to Quatre a couple times in the past year, but he wasn't really one to call people. Quatre always seemed occupied with his business. Trowa almost wished that Quatre would come visit him sometime.
"Trowa, are you cleaning that thing again? You're wasting polish." Catherine walked over to him. She was carrying a suitcase.
"Where are you going?" He ignored her question.
"Hey, I love the circus. But I don't often get a vacation. I was thinking of going to Earth for the week. Wanna come?" She smiled.
It's true they didn't get many vacations. The last one was about 6 months ago. It was only a couple days off, and Trowa and Catherine had gone to a nearby colony, mainly just to say they had gone somewhere.
"Who would watch the animals?" Trowa glanced behind him at the animals in their cages. People told him they got restless whenever he left.
"Trowa, there are other people who can handle the animals! You need a break!"
Trowa hesitated. He didn't really feel like going anywhere. He felt comfortable at the circus, even if it wasn't open.
"If you'd rather, we could go to an L4 colony." Catherine crossed her arms and waited.
An L4 colony? Catherine must have guessed that he wanted to see Quatre. Well, he did have the flute out, and she knew who the gift was from. But Trowa really felt like he should stay. He didn't know why.
"No, Cathy. I'll stay here." Trowa looked back down to the flute.
"Okay, then. Don't complain when I tell you how much fun I had! Bye." She waved over her shoulder as she picked up her suitcase and left.
Trowa got up. Maybe he should give Quatre a call. No. Quatre was busy running the Winner estate. Trowa had no idea, but he could guess that that took a lot of time.
Why was he thinking about Quatre all of a sudden? He normally didn't think about the guy this much! They'd gone their separate ways a year ago. Yes, they were friends. Close friends. But Trowa had never regretted his decision to stick with the circus.
Trowa decided that he would call Quatre. Quatre would be happy to hear from him, wouldn't he? Quatre was happy to hear from anybody. Trowa smiled to himself. He could just imagine the look on Quatre's face if one of the former Gundam pilots decided to pay him a visit.
He didn't have to imagine it. He could have seen it for himself if he had gone with Catherine. But...
"Trowa Barton!" He heard a voice call his name.
Trowa turned around. The first and only time he'd seen her, she'd been decked in fighting attire and had just wounded Quatre in a swordfight. He'd left her by herself to come to terms with her feelings and actions. He never thought he'd actually see Dorothy Catalonia again. Now she was wearing civilian clothes. Stylish. She obviously had money from somewhere.
"Dorothy," he said in greeting. She didn't seem to be approaching as an enemy.
She walked towards him. "I heard there was a circus in town, and I thought it might be yours. Too bad you're closed."
"Just for a week." Why did she want to see him?
"I don't suppose you've seen the news today?" Dorothy asked. She was smiling. Obviously she enjoyed playing the messenger.
"No, I've been here all morning."
"A branch of the Cy-Tech Corporation in L1 was bombed this morning. Nobody inside survived." Still smiling. With just a hint of sadness. Some people would never change.
Cy-Tech bombed? Trowa had heard about that company. It had helped develop and run an information network larger than anything else ever created, but it hadn't really made any enemies. Who would want to bomb it?
"I'm sorry." Trowa said in reply. What else could he say?
"Do you know who worked in that building?"
"Who?"
"Heero Yuy." Dorothy looked him in the eyes. Trowa remained passive. She continued, "His shift started at 5:30 AM. The building was bombed at precisely 5:30 AM."
Heero? So was it an attack on him or Cy-Tech? And did Heero manage to survive?
Dorothy seemed to almost read his mind. "They're still putting a casualty list up as they go through the wreckage. Heero's name hasn't come up. Yet."
"You think he was in the building when the bomb exploded."
"Do you think Heero Yuy would be late to work?"
"No." Trowa looked down. "So why are you telling me this? I would have found out later in the day without your help."
"Because I'm going to L1 on an afternoon flight to look for Heero. Even if he is dead, I want to at least try to help."
Trowa looked up at her again. Her expression had changed. She was sincere.
Dorothy held up two tickets. "I thought you might like to come along. Heero would probably be more receptive if you went to help him with me than if I did alone."
She must have known he was here. She wouldn't have wasted the money on an extra ticket if she weren't sure. Trowa did have a week off, and he didn't think Heero was dead. And if he weren't, he'd need some help.
Trowa nodded. "I'll go with you."
"Good! I'll wait here while you get your stuff packed. There's always a long wait to get onboard the shuttle. We best get there early."
Trowa nodded again and turned to his room. He knew there was a reason he stayed behind. This must be it.
****
Quatre swallowed the two aspirin pills and put the glass of water back on the tray. Hopefully that would get his headache to stop for a couple hours. Then he looked up at Rashid again.
"But why would anybody want to do anything against Cy-Tech?" Quatre asked after Rashid had told him about the explosion earlier that day.
The Winner estate had several ties with Cy-Tech. The two companies worked together on a lot of projects. An attack on Cy-Tech was nearly unthinkable.
Of course, Quatre knew immediately that the branch bombed was the one where Heero worked. He hadn't talked to Heero in a long time, but he did manage to keep track of the other pilots. It seemed to Quatre that the target was probably Heero, not Cy-Tech itself.
Why go to the elaborate trouble of bombing such a well-known company just to kill one man? Perhaps because that man is near impossible to kill through any means.
Quatre frowned. If somebody was going after Heero, that probably meant that the other former Gundam pilots were targets, as well. Why was somebody doing this now? After all they'd done to bring peace...
It made Quatre mad. Too many people had been hurt in the war of several years ago. He didn't want any more people getting hurt.
Quatre looked up and realized that Rashid was waiting on him to say something. What could he do?
"Rashid, I'm going to the earth." Quatre stood up. He knew what he needed to do.
"But, Master Quatre! Why?"
"To find out more about what's going on." Quatre was sure one of the other pilots would be heading to L1 to check on Heero. Probably Duo. Quatre could do more good by taking a visit to the Preventers to offer some help.
Quatre looked around his office. He needed to leave now. No time to pack. He had to leave now to get to the earth.
****
"Wufei!"
Wufei opened one eye to see Sally entering his room. He uncrossed his arms and sat up on the bed. "What?"
Sally was already in her Preventer's uniform. "Get dressed. Lady Une wants to see us immediately."
"What's going on?" Wufei got up and got his clothes out.
"I don't know. She just woke me up. See you when you're ready." Sally left.
Wufei frowned. They had just gotten back from Moscow, and both Sally and he were sleeping off the jetlag. Must be something pretty big to call them out now.
It didn't take long for Wufei to get dressed and go to the meeting room. The Preventers had a fairly large amount of money, giving them the luxury of providing a residence for their agents. Sally and Lady Une were already waiting.
"I'm guessing you two managed to sleep through the morning news." Lady Une said. Wufei sat down in a chair beside Sally and waited for Lady Une to continue. "Several days ago, we heard a rumour of an organization that was planning on eliminating the former Gundam pilots."
"Why?" Sally asked.
"We don't know. You two were in Moscow at the time, taking care of other business." She paused. They all knew what that business was. A simple uprising calling for the old days of OZ. Somebody had to take care of it. "We were investigating this rumour and had sent a couple agents out to watch the pilots."
"Why not just warn them?" Wufei asked.
"Unconfirmed rumours usually turn out to be hoaxes. We get upwards of 20 reports of this type in a normal week. We can't possibly act on every one of them. They usually turn out to be nothing."
"But it wasn't nothing." Sally said. A simple statement.
"Heero Yuy's place of work, Cy-Tech Corporation, was attacked this morning. We had an agent following Heero to make sure nobody would go after him. Our agent reports that Heero wasn't in the building at the time of the explosion." Lady Une sat down at her desk.
"Where is he now?" Wufei asked.
"Safe for the moment. Our agent's watching him closely. We need to get the Gundam pilots to come here. Quatre sent a message to us saying he's coming over. Our agent will contact Heero and bring him here. We've been unable to get a hold of Trowa or Duo."
Wufei narrowed his eyes. "What will be the plan once all the Gundams are together?"
"The rumours say that this organization is based on a colony in L2. They probably hope to eliminate the Gundams so that there will be no obstructions when they attack. The organization is supposedly led by a man named Blanc. Not much is known about him, other than he was a former OZ soldier who had defected to the White Fang during the war. He managed to escape to the colonies."
"And now he's started a little rebellion." Sally smiled. "Well, L2 is the place to do it. I'm sure you could get plenty of weapons on the Black Market there."
"So we're going to find Duo and Trowa?" Wufei asked.
"No," Lady Une shook her head. "You're going to L2."