Chapter 1
AC 197
May 10
Preventer's HQ
Earth
9:15 a.m.
Duo Maxwell exploded into the Preventer's main briefing room, a scowl etched on his normally cheerful face. "Where the hell is Lady Une?" He asked the room's sole occupant irritably.
Heero Yuy looked up from his morning cup of coffee and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know." He replied. "What are you doing here, Mawell?"
Duo huffed angrily and plopped down in the nearest chair. "Hell if I know. Lady Une called me last night and told me to get on the first transport to earth I could find, so, I haul ass down here but now no one knows what's going on and I can't find Lady Une. I had to drop everything to get here, you know? And Hilde's pissed because I promised her we'd go on a vacation…"
Heero tuned out Duo's incessant babbling and stared into his coffee cup. There had to be a problem, a big one since Lady Une had felt compelled to call Duo back into service. Duo worked on and off for the Preventers. Mostly, though, he preferred to stay on L2 and work in his salvage yard with Hilde. Something was wrong.
Before he could dwell on the matter fully, the door burst open again and Lady Une rushed into the room. "Turn on the TV!" She snapped at Duo, who was closest to the set. He looked startled but complied, reaching over to flip the set on. A newscaster's voice filled the room.
"…there is no official word yet from either the family or the government. To repeat, Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft has been shot in an apparent assassination attempt. Minister Peacecraft was visiting L3 as part of a goodwill tour through the colonies to…" The newscaster paused and placed a hand over her earpiece to listen to something she was being told. "I have just been informed that Miss Peacecraft has not been taken to any hospitals in the area, she seems to have disappeared…"
"This wasn't supposed to happen. They said she would be safe." Lady Une said angrily and tossed a folder onto the desk.
"We knew about this?" Heero's voice was dangerously low. Both Lady Une and Duo looked at him with alarm. His face was pale and his mouth was drawn into a tight line.
"We just found out about it. There wasn't enough time to mobilize..." Lady Une replied carefully.
"Where is she now?" Heero asked.
Lady Une plucked at the folder and could not meet his eyes. "I don't know exactly. I was told that someone was going to be there to protect her, but I was not told anything else."
"You don't know where she is? She could be in danger! Who have you been communicating with?" Heero was getting very close to losing his control.
"She's not in danger. I've been communicating with someone named Shiro. He's been very helpful to us in the past and he had people on standby until we could come in. Whoever those people are, they have Relena now and they are taking care of her, I'm sure of it. Otherwise, she'd be dead for certain."
"Find out where she is. Now." Heero was beyond being reasonable. Lady Une glanced over at Duo and then back at the angry young man.
"You'll have to wait until I find out more, Heero." She said evenly.
Wufei's entrance interrupted Heero's next comment. "Lady Une, there's some woman on the communicator and she insists on talking to you." He said, clearly irritated.
"Maybe this is what we were waiting for." Lady Une said carefully and gestured for the boys to follow her.
The woman on the communicator had blood spattered on her shirt and in her long brown hair. She wasted no time on pleasantries or introductions. "We have Relena. She was shot. I would have contacted you earlier, but we had to rush her into surgery." She reached off screen and produced a towel from somewhere to wipe some of the mess off. The large dark stains unnerved the group.
"Is Relena okay?" Heero addressed the woman directly. She looked up from her ruined shirt and nodded.
"We've stabilized her. One of the bullets nicked a lung and it collapsed. The other shattered her arm. She lost a lot of blood and we'll have to do additional surgery to repair her arm. We'll probably have to fuse some metal to the parts of the bone that can't be reconstructed." She mused.
"So she'll recover?" He asked.
The woman peered at his image on her screen and nodded again. "I didn't get your name, kid." She said.
"Heero Yuy." He replied testily.
"Really? You don't look dead." She said with a laugh. She chuckled for a moment at her own joke and then yelled a response to someone off screen. "I've got to go, Shiro's waiting for a report. You guys have the number where you can find me. My name's Hannah Ryan, by the way. I'll keep you updated on any changes in her condition." She waved a still slightly bloody hand and then the monitor switched off.
"What a strange woman." Duo offered. Wufei nodded emphatically, but he was the only one who responded. Both Lady Une and Heero appeared lost in thought.
AC 197
May 10
Preventer's HQ
Earth
9:15 a.m.
Duo Maxwell exploded into the Preventer's main briefing room, a scowl etched on his normally cheerful face. "Where the hell is Lady Une?" He asked the room's sole occupant irritably.
Heero Yuy looked up from his morning cup of coffee and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know." He replied. "What are you doing here, Mawell?"
Duo huffed angrily and plopped down in the nearest chair. "Hell if I know. Lady Une called me last night and told me to get on the first transport to earth I could find, so, I haul ass down here but now no one knows what's going on and I can't find Lady Une. I had to drop everything to get here, you know? And Hilde's pissed because I promised her we'd go on a vacation…"
Heero tuned out Duo's incessant babbling and stared into his coffee cup. There had to be a problem, a big one since Lady Une had felt compelled to call Duo back into service. Duo worked on and off for the Preventers. Mostly, though, he preferred to stay on L2 and work in his salvage yard with Hilde. Something was wrong.
Before he could dwell on the matter fully, the door burst open again and Lady Une rushed into the room. "Turn on the TV!" She snapped at Duo, who was closest to the set. He looked startled but complied, reaching over to flip the set on. A newscaster's voice filled the room.
"…there is no official word yet from either the family or the government. To repeat, Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft has been shot in an apparent assassination attempt. Minister Peacecraft was visiting L3 as part of a goodwill tour through the colonies to…" The newscaster paused and placed a hand over her earpiece to listen to something she was being told. "I have just been informed that Miss Peacecraft has not been taken to any hospitals in the area, she seems to have disappeared…"
"This wasn't supposed to happen. They said she would be safe." Lady Une said angrily and tossed a folder onto the desk.
"We knew about this?" Heero's voice was dangerously low. Both Lady Une and Duo looked at him with alarm. His face was pale and his mouth was drawn into a tight line.
"We just found out about it. There wasn't enough time to mobilize..." Lady Une replied carefully.
"Where is she now?" Heero asked.
Lady Une plucked at the folder and could not meet his eyes. "I don't know exactly. I was told that someone was going to be there to protect her, but I was not told anything else."
"You don't know where she is? She could be in danger! Who have you been communicating with?" Heero was getting very close to losing his control.
"She's not in danger. I've been communicating with someone named Shiro. He's been very helpful to us in the past and he had people on standby until we could come in. Whoever those people are, they have Relena now and they are taking care of her, I'm sure of it. Otherwise, she'd be dead for certain."
"Find out where she is. Now." Heero was beyond being reasonable. Lady Une glanced over at Duo and then back at the angry young man.
"You'll have to wait until I find out more, Heero." She said evenly.
Wufei's entrance interrupted Heero's next comment. "Lady Une, there's some woman on the communicator and she insists on talking to you." He said, clearly irritated.
"Maybe this is what we were waiting for." Lady Une said carefully and gestured for the boys to follow her.
The woman on the communicator had blood spattered on her shirt and in her long brown hair. She wasted no time on pleasantries or introductions. "We have Relena. She was shot. I would have contacted you earlier, but we had to rush her into surgery." She reached off screen and produced a towel from somewhere to wipe some of the mess off. The large dark stains unnerved the group.
"Is Relena okay?" Heero addressed the woman directly. She looked up from her ruined shirt and nodded.
"We've stabilized her. One of the bullets nicked a lung and it collapsed. The other shattered her arm. She lost a lot of blood and we'll have to do additional surgery to repair her arm. We'll probably have to fuse some metal to the parts of the bone that can't be reconstructed." She mused.
"So she'll recover?" He asked.
The woman peered at his image on her screen and nodded again. "I didn't get your name, kid." She said.
"Heero Yuy." He replied testily.
"Really? You don't look dead." She said with a laugh. She chuckled for a moment at her own joke and then yelled a response to someone off screen. "I've got to go, Shiro's waiting for a report. You guys have the number where you can find me. My name's Hannah Ryan, by the way. I'll keep you updated on any changes in her condition." She waved a still slightly bloody hand and then the monitor switched off.
"What a strange woman." Duo offered. Wufei nodded emphatically, but he was the only one who responded. Both Lady Une and Heero appeared lost in thought.