* Landing roughly, Sai felt her delicate body being compressed slightly. Pure weightlessness surrounded her, and the nonexistent gravity worried her. Where was she this time? Managing to open her tired eyes, the last thing she saw before she fell asleep was a very familiar face. A face she was, concerned to say, she was happy to see.
)(
Jump, run, jump, run, jump, run, " Sai!" 'fall'.
Sai sat up , barely breathing hard, and stared at the man who had stopped her from finishing the hurdles she had been jumping. Since her return from the Bebop world almost a year ago, she had been living with the crazy doctors from the Gundam world. Doing their dirty work got tiring, but at least she had a place where people considered her worthwhile and needed- a place where they took her fighting skills seriously.
" Sai, I have just received word that there is a new Red Fang base. I need you to destroy it. Don't hack the computer, just blow it up. Mission accepted?"
" Yeah, mission accepted. Where is it?"
" Ten miles east of the last one. They're getting bolder. Show them someone is watching them closely, and that if they mess with peace, they'll be sorry."
" Roger that Doc J. Those idiots will be in fear up to their necks when I'm done with them."
"Sounds good. Go to it." With that, the doctor left the training room and Sai got together her infiltration gear.
She quickly pulled on her sleek bodysuit and tied her hair up tightly so it wouldn't interfere. Adjusting her gun holsters so they wouldn't create any noise or complications to her movement, she added a knife at her ankle and guns at her calves, and thighs. The finishing touch was her sword, which she perched on her back. Then she put her capsule of explosive devices in her belt loophole and headed out for the base.
Apparently, since the war had ended, rebel groups had begun popping up all over. Usually the Preventers handled them, but after the Eve Wars with Marimeia, she had decided to give them some help. The Eve Wars. She had returned just in the nick of time to assist with them. They were still burned into her memory, as if they had happened yesterday.
)(Sai once again sat in her black Taurus. She looked over the switches and finally ignited the engine. Up in space, a battle loomed. While she watched the crazed and misguided pilot of Shenlong fight the pilot of Wing Zero, she waited for the old Aries shipment that was being sent as back up to the battle on Earth. She was going to stop it before they could inflict any more damage to the fragile peace that had been achieved only the year before.
As the shipment drew closer, she watched as Shenlong turned to watch the shipment as well. She saw the pilot of Wing Zero turn his Gundam to face her. She knew he saw her, but didn't make any move to either help her or destroy her. Did he remember her from the last battle against Earth? Then the carriers began to move again, and Shenlong attacked Wing Zero. Sai, too, began her attack upon the Aries troops. She saw as she destroyed the last of the troops the two Gundams fall into the atmosphere to end their fight on Earth.
)(Since then, a group that referred to themselves as the Red Fang had appeared on Earth. They hated the colonies for all the trouble they had caused them, and wanted to destroy them. They were beginning to gain more power, so she and Doctor J had taken the next steps. If they had gotten any larger than they had been when they had been discovered, Doctor J would have skipped over having Sai handle them and gone straight to the Preventers. However, Sai had been able to keep them at a minimal in numbers and supplies by destroying bases and shipment lines.
Soon she reached the base. Severing the chain link fence, she tiptoed into the base without the soldiers on guard ever seeing her. Strategically placing her bombs all over the base, in a hanger here, a soldier's barracks there, she smirked. This would be a piece of cake; they would never know what hit them. But this, she knew, would not be enough. She was supposed to instill fear upon them, not just destroy them. When she got to what appeared to be the main office, an idea struck her. Quickly and quietly using ki blasts to kill the workers, she stepped over to the loud speaker.
"Attention, may I please have your attention. As of this moment, you are all now hostages of mine. This base is now mine, and any attempts to over take it will be in vain. If you resist, you will be killed. If you do as ordered, you will prolong your life as long as I see fit. If anyone so much as moves, and I can see you all from my position, you will be killed instantly. There are bombs set all around this base- I suggest not trying anything foolish. On another note, I would like all senior officers to the Office now! Thank you, and have a nice day."
Sai smirked as she said the last line. This was one base that would be sorry they had to deal with her. She looked up as a knock on the door was heard. She stepped beside the door and said to the people outside : "You may enter." Ten men all came in, all with guns firing all over the room. They stopped, seeing no one.
"Thank god, no one's here, it was all just a…"" Just a joke? I'm afraid not." The men turned to face a closed door- and the woman who had closed it. " Drop your guns, now." The men complied. "Good. Please, have a seat on the floor." She smiled brightly. The men scowled. Her bright smile made them uneasy in a way they couldn't explain.
"What do you want from us?" One of the older, more superior officers wanted to know.
" To punish you for trying to disrupt peace. Here's the deal. Russian Roulette, as it is called, is my favorite game, and I haven't had the chance to watch it played for a while. How to play you ask? It's quite simple. I'll bring you in a soldier, and you can either hold the gun to his head and shoot him, or hold it to your own head and hope to Kami the gun has no bullet. Sounds like fun, doesn't it now?" She gave a strained giggled.
" Your sick in the head. We won't play your twisted game!" Sai turned and shot the man who had spoken.
"Anyone else want to sit out?" No one answered, so she pulled a soldier from out in the hall into the room. "Let's begin."
An hour later, Sai finally decided it was time to end the massacre. "What a pity. And he was cute too. Oh well, only four officers left, and no more contestants to play against. Whatever shall I do with you all? I know. For being such good sports and playing so nicely, I'll let you go. Tell you what. I'll give you fifteen minutes to get off this base. And twenty four hours to get to the Preventer's headquarters to tell them about your little scheme against the colonies. If I find out that not all of you go, I'll kill you all. If you all go, I'll leave you to the Preventers. What do you say?"
Vigorous head nods were seen from all four of the men, who were still sitting on the floor… surrounded by thick puddles of drying blood. The stench was beginning to drive them crazy, and if that wasn't enough, there was a pile of bodies lying beside them, each as lifeless as the last. "Good. Clock starts now. Go!" With that, the four men ran with all their might.
"What wimps." Sai said to herself as she walked out of the base. After fifteen minutes, she pushed the little red button on the clicker she held, and the base was turned into rubble. "Mission complete."
)(
"Your telling me that you planned to blow up the colonies?"" Yes, and we're sorry! Please tell her we came! Please don't let her kill us!"
" Please keep her away! We all came!"
" We told you! Please!"
" Slow down! All three of you are going too fast. And what is wrong with him?" Lady Une, head of Preventers, Wufei Chang, Sally Poe, Lucretia Noin, and Zechs Marquis all sat around a large round table, with four very upset men next to the door. Three of the men were babbling about how they had come, how they had told her their plans, and were begging her to save them from her as they put it.
The fourth was just standing there, not saying anything with his mouth wide open. Though she had continuously asked what his problem was, none of the others seemed to hear her.
"Enough!" Cried Wufei. He held up his gun for good measure, thinking it would scare them into silence, but all it did was make them cry louder. Suddenly, the one who had been in shock seemed to wake up. 'The gun must have triggered his response' thought Wufei scornfully.
" I'm sorry. We've just had a very terrifying experience. Put them in another room, and I'll explain."
" Fine. Zechs, help me with them." Noin said, standing up. Even she was beginning to get a headache from the crazy men. When she and Zechs returned, the man was finishing his story up.
"…Fifteen minutes to get out, and twenty four hours to get here, or else we die too. So, we came right over. Please, protect us. We're sorry for plotting against you like we did, but please help us."
The Preventers in the room, with the exception of Noin and Zechs, sat still. "We'll put you in a well-guarded room. Noin, Make sure there are guards near the other three men as well." Lady Une stood to take charge. Then, Wufei stood up.
" I would like to take this as a case and work on it with more professionals."
"Who in particular, Wufei? It's too big for just you and Sally." Une answered, already knowing what he had in mind.
"Not with Sally, but the other Pilots."
"You've got it then. But I want full updates on a regular basis. Sally, I need you here to check on the well-being and mental health of our guests anyway, and Zechs and Noin, I want security here stepped up to it's highest possible point. We take no chances from now on, both with the Red Fang, or this new, seemingly free-lance assassin who is so deadly, got it?" A chorus of "yes mame" was heard around the room.
Wufei stood and stretched. It was time to pay Quatre and the other three pilots a visit. Knowing they were all staying at Quatre's home on the boarder of the Sanq Kingdome, he prepared to break to them the news of their new mission. Frowning, he left. They weren't going to enjoy hearing about this new assassin, or the sick games she liked to play.
"…Made them play Russian Roulette? That's horrible!" Quatre cried. Just as Wufei had predicted. He had to inwardly smile at it.
" It was a good idea."
" Hiiro, how can you say it was a good idea? It nearly made them crazy!"
"Quatre, in making them play, and then letting them get out alive, who ever this person is has shown the Red Fang that they are being watched carefully, and if they do more than they should, they will be punished for it. This new assassin scared the Red Fang into hiding, which means we have more time to find them before they attack the colonies hard." He answered. But just because he thought it was a good idea didn't mean he liked the thought. It made his stomach churn. His own conscience and guilt would have eaten him alive if he had been that ruthless.
" Hiiro's right. It may not have been the nicest thing to do, but it got this 'Sai's' point across. "
" Trowa, you think letting people kill others and themselves is a good thing to do too?"
"No, but Hiiro's right too. Though it wasn't moral, it did help us. The thing we must be careful of now is this new assassin getting to bold with all of her future missions."
" Regardless of what we think or feel, we need to catch the Red Fang's main base. As I've checked into it so far, I've found a great number of bases; all of which have already been hit, and hit hard. Sometimes, there wasn't even any building foundation left, only scorch marks on the ground."
" Wufei's right. When I check all the supply lines, they had been destroyed the same way, no remains, just scorch marks." Added in Duo.
" I have, however, noticed a pattern in the places of their bases."
"Hey, Wu-man, you're a poet and you didn't even know it!"
" Damnit, Maxwell, let me finish. They all go in a circular pattern around the Sanq Kingdom, all of them right outside the country's boarder as a matter of fact. We finally found a base that hasn't been hit yet, but security is incredible. There are only two entrances, and five guards on the outside of each. There are booby traps, trigger alarms if you don't know where to step, secret passage ways, and probably cameras and sound bugs everywhere. They don't want it to be hit the same way the others were, and none of the other bases have been as heavily guarded. Therefore, we assume that this base is the main one."
" Sounds good. Do we leave tonight?" Asked Trowa.
" Yeah, everything is set up and ready to go. If everything goes according to plan, the base will be destroyed, and hopefully the rest of Red Fang's plans as well."
"You've thought of everything except one thing, Wufei."
" What did I forget Hiiro?"
" If everything we've heard about this new assassin is true, this 'Sai' will have already figured the same things about the base. Will another person complicate our plans?"
" Yui, this 'Sai' character won't stand a chance against us. We are not weak, we are superior in fighting skills, piloting, and infiltration. Sai will not be a problem."
"I hope you're right Wufei, for your sakes that is."*