***(The next morning)
Relena was up unreasonable early but that was because she hadn't slept very well. She got dressed and opened the doors to her bedroom getting ready to go to breakfast. The first thing she saw was the three Preventers, who had all crashed on the couches. It was an unusual sight to see and she couldn't help but smile to herself. Trowa was on the one couch while Quatre and Duo were propt up against each other on the other couch. She wondered how long they had stayed up, keeping watch. There were afterall plenty of guests' bedrooms that they could have used for the night. She just assumed they considered themselves on the job. From what she could tell they didn't intend on falling asleep. But she had had nights like that. She would be working late and sleep would just sneak up, so she understood. She tried to get by without waking them up but Trowa woke up before she made it to the doorway. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned back, motioning for him not to say anything. That wasn't a problem for him. He stood up and left the room with her.
"Did you sleep at all?" He asked once they were out in the hallway. She shook her head but smiled that he even bothered to ask.
"You didn't have to sleep on the couches though, there are plenty of guests rooms." She mentioned but he just shrugged.
"We were okay. Besides what if someone tried to get to you. They'd have to pass by the three of us." He answered ending the conversation. Relena looked away and got caught up in her thoughts. She realized how much she missed Heero and wondered if he was alright. The same things that went through her mind the night before. It made her feel sick, the more she thought about the situation. They were both quiet the rest of the way to the kitchen.
***
Back in the sitting room outside Relena's bedroom Quatre woke up first, seeing Trowa was gone. He quickly sat up, causing Duo to fall over.
"Duo, get up. Where's Trowa?" He asked shaking Duo awake. Duo sat up suddenly when he heard him mention Trowa missing.
"You joking right? Now he's missing too?" He said looking over at the other couch and then saw Relena's door open. They both walked over to see she wasn't in there. They started to search the entire house only to find her in the kitchen, along with Trowa.
"You guys scared us, you can't just leave like that." Quatre said sitting at the table, trying to calm down. Duo walked over as well, turning one of the chairs around, sitting in it backwards.
"Well we assumed that you'd find us eventually." Trowa mentioned in his normal stoicistic way. Relena nodded to them.
"I didn't want to wake you up." Relena admitted. "So are you two going to stay for breakfast?" She added. Duo just shrugged and Quatre sat back in his chair thinking.
"I guess we can stay but then we really have to leave. Sally needs our help tracking this guy." Quatre told her. She nodded in agreement.
"I'll have one of my cars take you to the spaceport afterwards then." She offered them.
"Thanks, we really appreciate it." He answered.
***
When he finally woke up, the first thing he realized was how much his head hurt. He tried to focus on his surroundings. He was handcuffed, behind his back and on the floor. Probably in the same spot he was thrown. Suddenly his memory kicked in. Whatever happened he wasn't in the Sanq Kingdom anymore. The only question he had now was how did they find him in the first place? No one else knew where he was, or at least no one else was suppose to know. He hadn't even called Relena when he was planning to come, just because someone could have been listening in on the conversation. He sat up finally, feeling kind of sore. He doubted that they had treated him nicely while he was unconscious. Whoever they were, they were going to pay for what they did to him and especially for what they did to Relena.
They had alot of nerve getting her involved in this. Although he kind of did that himself. But he never expected them finding him either. They could have come after him while she was away at her meeting. He looked around but couldn't make out any details. All he could see was pitch black. There were no lights, not even a way to tell where the door was or if there even was one. He wished he had a flare on him, but he never carried them anyway. He could hear two people talking, somewhere outside the room. Their voices were muffled so he couldn't tell what they were saying. Suddenly there was a bright light that caused him to shut his eyes. There was a door afterall, apparently that was where the light was coming from. Then there was a shadow, someone standing in the doorway.
"So it would seem that these peaceful times HAVE affected you." Came an unfamiliar voice. "Especially since we were able to catch you so off guard." They added. Heero blinked a couple of times to get use to the light and glared back up at the stranger.
"Well if you think I've gone so soft then why not uncuff me and find out." He said, his tone low and threatening. The stranger just laughed back as though what he said was funny. He didn't say it as a joke though. He meant it and planned on knocking the grin off this guy's face. He didn't like being handcuffed or thrown into a dark room. And he especially didn't like being tracked down and then drugged.
"I don't think uncuffing you would be in my best interests. I have a good idea what your capabilities are though." Was the response he finally got back. Heero tried to stand up but only made it half way before feeling dizzy again. The stranger grinned even more at that.
"We drugged you alot more then your girlfriend." He said causing Heero to look up at him again. "We have to be able to control you afterall." He added still smiling.
"No one controls me." Heero shot back angrily.
"Oh sure, no one. What about the Preventer's, or Dr. J before them. You're used to people controlling what you do." Heero continued to glare at him. This guy had no room to talk, considering he was probably following orders himself.
"What do you want with me?" He finally said trying to get out of the handcuffs without being noticed.
"I think you already know what we want. Afterall you left L2 and went to earth before we even started looking for you. You know more about Wing Zero then anyone else. More specifically the Zero system. We want that information." Heero didn't bother answering.
"We already know that Wing Zero isn't worth anything without the system." The guy added.
"And you just assumed that I'd give it to you." Heero finally replied. The stranger stopped smiling at that point but glared back at Heero.
"Oh I'm sure you'll give it up, but when you do is completely up to you. In the meantime we'll be sure your stay here isn't a very pleasant one." So now he was threatening him. He could deal with that. They weren't getting that information though, no matter what they did.
"You might as well leave cause I'm not telling you anything." Heero told him. That made the man angry and he pulled out his gun and aimed it right at Heero's forehead. He didn't even flinch.
"And shooting me isn't going to get you the information either." He added not sounding remotely intimidated. The stranger removed his gun from Heero's head but hit him across the face, hard. Heero shook his head as the guy went back to the door.
"Well get comfortable then cause your going to be in here for a while." Was the last thing he said before shutting the door. The room was plunged into darkness again. Heero maneuvered so that he could get his hands around to the front. Once he did that, he checked his jaw to see if it was bleeding. The guy didn't seem to hit him that hard. At least he was gone now. He talked too much and was annoying. The least they could do was send someone who didn't talk so much. He found a wall to lean against and continued trying to get the cuffs off. Since there was no light it made things more difficult. He also didn't have anything on him that would help get them off. He finally let out an angry sigh. If things kept going this way, they better hope he didn't get them off. He usually didn't enjoy his assignments but blowing this place up, he probably would.
By now the Preventer's had caught on to the fact that he was missing and were on the search. He wondered if they had figured out that Relena's maid was in on this whole scheme too. Hopefully the 'maid' didn't stay in the Sanq Kingdom but left with whoever else was a part of it. He sat back against the wall, the room was kind of cold now that he thought about it. 'They'll get me out of here, I know they will.' He told himself confidently.
***
"We'll never find him. We don't even know where to start looking." Duo sighed slouching in his chair. Everyone looked over at him then went back to looking at the file Relena gave them earlier.
"Well there's an address here for this lady. As well as one for that other guy. So that's a starting point." Sally informed them.
"So do these people have names or what?" Duo asked looking over at the papers infront of them.
"Yes but those are probably not their real names anyway. So we're not getting into that." She answered.
"So we should check these two addresses to see if we can find any leads there right?" Quatre suggested. Sally nodded back.
"I think that Relena should come here for her own protection and that way Trowa can help you in finding them. Then you can split into teams of two." Sally decided crossing her arms infront of her, still thinking about their strategy.
"So what are we expecting to find at these two addresses anyway?" Wufei asked her.
"Anything that will help us find where they took Heero. There has to be some kind of evidence. Now to discuss the two separate teams. When Trowa gets back,..Quatre, the two of you can take this one address." She said handing him one sheet of paper. He looked over it before folding it in half and putting it in his pocket.
"Alright, I'll let Trowa know about the plan." He told her.
"Okay so that leaves Wufei and Duo to take the other one." She said handing the other paper to Wufei.
"What did I do to you?" He demanded looking at her. She looked back not sure what he meant by it.
"You had to team me up with him?" He added gesturing across the table. Duo realized he was talking about him.
"Hey! You're not the best person to work with either. Sheesh." He grumbled putting his hands behind his head. Sally just smiled and stood up.
"I'm sure you can handle this one assignment together." She answered and left the room. Wufei got up and followed her out.
"I guess Wufei doesn't like to handle these situations." Quatre noticed leaning on the table.
"Well I wish he'd stop taking it out on me." Duo said back sighing. "I hope we find something soon." He added. Quatre nodded back.
***
Later that day, Quatre called Trowa to let him know the stategy. Duo and Wufei were both on their way to the L4 colony area, where their assignment was. Since Relena had some work she had to get done before they left, Trowa decided they would wait till she was finished with that and then they would head to space to meet up with the rest of the Preventers. Relena had been in her office the entire day and wasn't able to get much done since she was so preoccupied. She finally gave up on working by seven that evening. She turned out the light and headed for her bedroom. She didn't see Trowa anywhere in the house. It was very quiet and dark now. She noticed the light was on in Heero's guestroom and she poked her head inside the doorway to see what was going on. Trowa was typing away at the laptop obviously trying to find something. She came all the way into the room not making any noise so not to disturb him.
"I'm checking for any files on Wing Zero." He said before she was in sight. She practically jumped when he said that.
"There might have been some information that they didn't already have." He added. She moved farther into the room.
"Why would they want any plans for it though when there's nothing left?" She asked him. He didn't look over at her as he talked.
"It wasn't completely destroyed. They stole the left over parts from the Preventers and don't have all the information they need to finish it. They're mostly after the Zero system."
"But I thought that only Heero could handle that system? So why would they want it?" She mentioned. Trowa glanced over at her, a bit surprised that she knew so much about the Zero system.
"As true as that is, there are still people out there who think they can eventually get to a point where they will be able to handle it. But they're wrong. That system is dangerous." He answered her. Relena stood back amazed that she was getting this much information out of Trowa. He usually didn't say that much to her. Or to anyone else either.
"Why are you telling me all this anyway?" She finally said. He still didn't look at her.
"Because your involved in this case now. And you have a right to know. If it wasn't important for you to know then I wouldn't be telling you." He remarked. Relena covered her mouth as she yawned. She desperately tried to hid it.
"You had better get some sleep now. We have a long trip tomorrow." He added still typing. She just nodded sleepily and headed off to her bedroom.
Later that evening, Relena woke up suddenly from her sleep. She wasn't quite sure why, maybe she had a bad dream. She sat up in bed to realize that she was still in her business suit. She got up and went out into the sitting room. The clock on the wall showed how late it was now. She headed for Heero's room but froze when she heard a low voice from behind her.
"What are you doing up this late?" She forced herself to turn around to see Trowa on the couch again. 'Did he always sleep so light?' She wondered trying to calm down from the sudden fright.
"I was checking to see if you found anything. Of course I didn't realize it was this late." She admitted. He turned on the couch, trying to settle back down to sleep.
"Don't worry about it. Just go back to bed." He added. She nodded her reply but he probably didn't see it in the dark. She headed back for her room. She attempted to sleep but it wasn't easy.
***
The next morning, they headed for the spaceport where they got their shuttle. The entire time, Relena didn't say anything but looked out the window. She usually did that when she went into space. She was trying not to think about Heero but she couldn't help it. She was anxious to know his whereabouts and whether or not he was alright. It was the same thing for three days now. The same worries and questions. It didn't change during this time. She just sighed to herself and closed her eyes. She realized that there was some anger in her worries. It had been forever since she was able to spend time with him and finally had the chance. He wasn't distracted by anything and that was a rare thing. They had to pick NOW to take him away from her. She might not have even known about this situation if they hadn't done it now. She usually didn't have these selfish ambitions but she did afterall deserve a break too. She had been working so hard and was expected to be so professional all the time. It was starting to get tiresome.
"You okay over there?" Trowa asked looking over at her. She looked up not sure what to say.
"I'm fine. Really, I just want to get there as soon as possible." She lied. He leaned over to check on their status.
"It shouldn't be much longer." He answered.
"Thank you for taking me." She smiled
"Don't mention it." He said in his monosyllabic way. "It's my job."
Once they got to the ship, they headed to the control room where they found Sally and Quatre. Sally gave Trowa his orders and Quatre followed him out of the room. Relena sat down in the chair infront of Sally's desk. Sally was busy filing and didn't really notice her sitting there. She finally saw her.
"Did you want something, Relena?" She asked leaning back in her chair. Relena looked up suddenly at her.
"I was just wondering if you've found anything that will help in your investigation" She mentioned what she had been obviously thinking about for awhile.
"We've gotten a few leads that we are looking into." She answered back. Relena nodded her response. Sally didn't want to get her hopes up if they didn't find anything.
"If we do find something then you will be the first to know." She added. Relena lowered her face and clenched her fists in her lap. She almost seemed angry and upset at the same time. Sally wasn't sure why she was doing that.
"Are you okay?" She asked leaning over the desk. Relena hid her eyes and stood up.
"I'll be fine. I guess I'm just tired from the trip." Sally could hear the sadness in Relena's voice. She would have stood up and walked Relena out but she decided that she probably wanted to be alone.
Relena left the room and headed out into the hallway. She wasn't even sure where she was going. She didn't know this ship very well. And she also didn't know everyone either. It seemed as if anyone that passed by, she didn't recognize. She suddenly felt lonely. But despite the way she felt she swallowed and blinked the tears away. 'I feel so powerless here. I want to help but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.' She had stopped walking at this point.
"Heero where are you? I want you here with me." She said softly wrapping her arms around herself comfortingly. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. 'This isn't helping either. All this thinking.' She lectured herself and started walking again. She wasn't about to make a scene infront of all the strangers. She turned the corner and finally saw a face she knew. Hilde was reviewing some files when she saw Relena coming towards her.
"Hey! When did you get here?" She asked greeting her friend. Relena smiled slightly almost forgetting the frustration she had just recently been feeling.
"I just got here today." She answered trying to sound cheerful. They went into one of the break areas.
"Well this is great. I was just about to go on my break. So how are things in the Sanq Kingdom?" She asked nonchalantly. They both sat down and Relena folded her hands on her lap and sat up straight.
"I guess you heard what happened?" She mentioned obviously needing to talk about it. Hilde looked back at her seriously and nodded.
"Yes, Duo told me about it. But I know Heero's okay. He can definitely take care of himself. And after what I went through I have a better perspective on these situations now." She said confidently. Relena smiled at her enthusiasm.
"Thanks I could really use some encouragement right now. No one else seems to understand that." She realized. Hilde smiled back at her.
"Well I can definitely relate. I'm sure he'll be just fine." She remarked then added; "Are you hungry? I was on my way to the cafeteria if you want to come." Relena decided to take her up on the offer since she hadn't eaten all day.
***
After Relena left, Sally got in contact with Trowa and Quatre to see how they were doing on their side. They had located the one address. They were on L1 at that point and had checked out the area in which they were assigned to search. No one was there however so they had to ask around to see if anyone else knew anything.
"As it turns out that guy who tried to get a job as a Preventer, was a part of the White Fang and disappeared once the war had ended." Quatre explained to Sally over the Preventer's secret line.
"So this whole thing with Wing Zero could have started then? But why didn't they just steel it from Heero right after the war if they wanted it so badly." Sally thought outloud.
"From what everyone here has told us, this guy admired Mariemia's revolt against earth so there was a good chance they didn't start this until that entire ordeal was over with. And Wing Zero was already destroyed by then." Trowa informed her.
"So did anyone tell you where you might actually find this guy?" She asked back.
"No they didn't really know where the guy could have gone. It seems that the Preventer's were the last ones to have any contact with him." Quatre answered.
"Well since your finished on your end I suggest you come back here immediately." She told them. The conversation ended there. She then called Wufei and Duo to see if they had found anything.
"Nope. This ones a dead-end. Sorry." Duo said to her. She let out a frustrated sigh. Wufei pushed Duo out of the way quickly as though he had found some new information.
"What about the other two?" He asked, implying Trowa and Quatre.
"They ended up with the same thing you did. But they did find out alot about the guy. We just can't seem to find him." She answered.
"From what I've found there is another address that we overlooked before." He told her. She perked up and leaned closer to the screen.
"Where'd you find that?" She inquired. He smiled back at her, looking very proud.
"I found the forwarding address from this one. So we still have one shot left." He explained. Sally sat back in her seat rather impressed. Duo sat there with his arms folded infront of him. "It would have been nice of you to let me know what you found." He grumbled to himself. Wufei ignored his comment. Sally decided to have them come back as well that way all four of them could go on this assignment.
Relena was up unreasonable early but that was because she hadn't slept very well. She got dressed and opened the doors to her bedroom getting ready to go to breakfast. The first thing she saw was the three Preventers, who had all crashed on the couches. It was an unusual sight to see and she couldn't help but smile to herself. Trowa was on the one couch while Quatre and Duo were propt up against each other on the other couch. She wondered how long they had stayed up, keeping watch. There were afterall plenty of guests' bedrooms that they could have used for the night. She just assumed they considered themselves on the job. From what she could tell they didn't intend on falling asleep. But she had had nights like that. She would be working late and sleep would just sneak up, so she understood. She tried to get by without waking them up but Trowa woke up before she made it to the doorway. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned back, motioning for him not to say anything. That wasn't a problem for him. He stood up and left the room with her.
"Did you sleep at all?" He asked once they were out in the hallway. She shook her head but smiled that he even bothered to ask.
"You didn't have to sleep on the couches though, there are plenty of guests rooms." She mentioned but he just shrugged.
"We were okay. Besides what if someone tried to get to you. They'd have to pass by the three of us." He answered ending the conversation. Relena looked away and got caught up in her thoughts. She realized how much she missed Heero and wondered if he was alright. The same things that went through her mind the night before. It made her feel sick, the more she thought about the situation. They were both quiet the rest of the way to the kitchen.
***
Back in the sitting room outside Relena's bedroom Quatre woke up first, seeing Trowa was gone. He quickly sat up, causing Duo to fall over.
"Duo, get up. Where's Trowa?" He asked shaking Duo awake. Duo sat up suddenly when he heard him mention Trowa missing.
"You joking right? Now he's missing too?" He said looking over at the other couch and then saw Relena's door open. They both walked over to see she wasn't in there. They started to search the entire house only to find her in the kitchen, along with Trowa.
"You guys scared us, you can't just leave like that." Quatre said sitting at the table, trying to calm down. Duo walked over as well, turning one of the chairs around, sitting in it backwards.
"Well we assumed that you'd find us eventually." Trowa mentioned in his normal stoicistic way. Relena nodded to them.
"I didn't want to wake you up." Relena admitted. "So are you two going to stay for breakfast?" She added. Duo just shrugged and Quatre sat back in his chair thinking.
"I guess we can stay but then we really have to leave. Sally needs our help tracking this guy." Quatre told her. She nodded in agreement.
"I'll have one of my cars take you to the spaceport afterwards then." She offered them.
"Thanks, we really appreciate it." He answered.
***
When he finally woke up, the first thing he realized was how much his head hurt. He tried to focus on his surroundings. He was handcuffed, behind his back and on the floor. Probably in the same spot he was thrown. Suddenly his memory kicked in. Whatever happened he wasn't in the Sanq Kingdom anymore. The only question he had now was how did they find him in the first place? No one else knew where he was, or at least no one else was suppose to know. He hadn't even called Relena when he was planning to come, just because someone could have been listening in on the conversation. He sat up finally, feeling kind of sore. He doubted that they had treated him nicely while he was unconscious. Whoever they were, they were going to pay for what they did to him and especially for what they did to Relena.
They had alot of nerve getting her involved in this. Although he kind of did that himself. But he never expected them finding him either. They could have come after him while she was away at her meeting. He looked around but couldn't make out any details. All he could see was pitch black. There were no lights, not even a way to tell where the door was or if there even was one. He wished he had a flare on him, but he never carried them anyway. He could hear two people talking, somewhere outside the room. Their voices were muffled so he couldn't tell what they were saying. Suddenly there was a bright light that caused him to shut his eyes. There was a door afterall, apparently that was where the light was coming from. Then there was a shadow, someone standing in the doorway.
"So it would seem that these peaceful times HAVE affected you." Came an unfamiliar voice. "Especially since we were able to catch you so off guard." They added. Heero blinked a couple of times to get use to the light and glared back up at the stranger.
"Well if you think I've gone so soft then why not uncuff me and find out." He said, his tone low and threatening. The stranger just laughed back as though what he said was funny. He didn't say it as a joke though. He meant it and planned on knocking the grin off this guy's face. He didn't like being handcuffed or thrown into a dark room. And he especially didn't like being tracked down and then drugged.
"I don't think uncuffing you would be in my best interests. I have a good idea what your capabilities are though." Was the response he finally got back. Heero tried to stand up but only made it half way before feeling dizzy again. The stranger grinned even more at that.
"We drugged you alot more then your girlfriend." He said causing Heero to look up at him again. "We have to be able to control you afterall." He added still smiling.
"No one controls me." Heero shot back angrily.
"Oh sure, no one. What about the Preventer's, or Dr. J before them. You're used to people controlling what you do." Heero continued to glare at him. This guy had no room to talk, considering he was probably following orders himself.
"What do you want with me?" He finally said trying to get out of the handcuffs without being noticed.
"I think you already know what we want. Afterall you left L2 and went to earth before we even started looking for you. You know more about Wing Zero then anyone else. More specifically the Zero system. We want that information." Heero didn't bother answering.
"We already know that Wing Zero isn't worth anything without the system." The guy added.
"And you just assumed that I'd give it to you." Heero finally replied. The stranger stopped smiling at that point but glared back at Heero.
"Oh I'm sure you'll give it up, but when you do is completely up to you. In the meantime we'll be sure your stay here isn't a very pleasant one." So now he was threatening him. He could deal with that. They weren't getting that information though, no matter what they did.
"You might as well leave cause I'm not telling you anything." Heero told him. That made the man angry and he pulled out his gun and aimed it right at Heero's forehead. He didn't even flinch.
"And shooting me isn't going to get you the information either." He added not sounding remotely intimidated. The stranger removed his gun from Heero's head but hit him across the face, hard. Heero shook his head as the guy went back to the door.
"Well get comfortable then cause your going to be in here for a while." Was the last thing he said before shutting the door. The room was plunged into darkness again. Heero maneuvered so that he could get his hands around to the front. Once he did that, he checked his jaw to see if it was bleeding. The guy didn't seem to hit him that hard. At least he was gone now. He talked too much and was annoying. The least they could do was send someone who didn't talk so much. He found a wall to lean against and continued trying to get the cuffs off. Since there was no light it made things more difficult. He also didn't have anything on him that would help get them off. He finally let out an angry sigh. If things kept going this way, they better hope he didn't get them off. He usually didn't enjoy his assignments but blowing this place up, he probably would.
By now the Preventer's had caught on to the fact that he was missing and were on the search. He wondered if they had figured out that Relena's maid was in on this whole scheme too. Hopefully the 'maid' didn't stay in the Sanq Kingdom but left with whoever else was a part of it. He sat back against the wall, the room was kind of cold now that he thought about it. 'They'll get me out of here, I know they will.' He told himself confidently.
***
"We'll never find him. We don't even know where to start looking." Duo sighed slouching in his chair. Everyone looked over at him then went back to looking at the file Relena gave them earlier.
"Well there's an address here for this lady. As well as one for that other guy. So that's a starting point." Sally informed them.
"So do these people have names or what?" Duo asked looking over at the papers infront of them.
"Yes but those are probably not their real names anyway. So we're not getting into that." She answered.
"So we should check these two addresses to see if we can find any leads there right?" Quatre suggested. Sally nodded back.
"I think that Relena should come here for her own protection and that way Trowa can help you in finding them. Then you can split into teams of two." Sally decided crossing her arms infront of her, still thinking about their strategy.
"So what are we expecting to find at these two addresses anyway?" Wufei asked her.
"Anything that will help us find where they took Heero. There has to be some kind of evidence. Now to discuss the two separate teams. When Trowa gets back,..Quatre, the two of you can take this one address." She said handing him one sheet of paper. He looked over it before folding it in half and putting it in his pocket.
"Alright, I'll let Trowa know about the plan." He told her.
"Okay so that leaves Wufei and Duo to take the other one." She said handing the other paper to Wufei.
"What did I do to you?" He demanded looking at her. She looked back not sure what he meant by it.
"You had to team me up with him?" He added gesturing across the table. Duo realized he was talking about him.
"Hey! You're not the best person to work with either. Sheesh." He grumbled putting his hands behind his head. Sally just smiled and stood up.
"I'm sure you can handle this one assignment together." She answered and left the room. Wufei got up and followed her out.
"I guess Wufei doesn't like to handle these situations." Quatre noticed leaning on the table.
"Well I wish he'd stop taking it out on me." Duo said back sighing. "I hope we find something soon." He added. Quatre nodded back.
***
Later that day, Quatre called Trowa to let him know the stategy. Duo and Wufei were both on their way to the L4 colony area, where their assignment was. Since Relena had some work she had to get done before they left, Trowa decided they would wait till she was finished with that and then they would head to space to meet up with the rest of the Preventers. Relena had been in her office the entire day and wasn't able to get much done since she was so preoccupied. She finally gave up on working by seven that evening. She turned out the light and headed for her bedroom. She didn't see Trowa anywhere in the house. It was very quiet and dark now. She noticed the light was on in Heero's guestroom and she poked her head inside the doorway to see what was going on. Trowa was typing away at the laptop obviously trying to find something. She came all the way into the room not making any noise so not to disturb him.
"I'm checking for any files on Wing Zero." He said before she was in sight. She practically jumped when he said that.
"There might have been some information that they didn't already have." He added. She moved farther into the room.
"Why would they want any plans for it though when there's nothing left?" She asked him. He didn't look over at her as he talked.
"It wasn't completely destroyed. They stole the left over parts from the Preventers and don't have all the information they need to finish it. They're mostly after the Zero system."
"But I thought that only Heero could handle that system? So why would they want it?" She mentioned. Trowa glanced over at her, a bit surprised that she knew so much about the Zero system.
"As true as that is, there are still people out there who think they can eventually get to a point where they will be able to handle it. But they're wrong. That system is dangerous." He answered her. Relena stood back amazed that she was getting this much information out of Trowa. He usually didn't say that much to her. Or to anyone else either.
"Why are you telling me all this anyway?" She finally said. He still didn't look at her.
"Because your involved in this case now. And you have a right to know. If it wasn't important for you to know then I wouldn't be telling you." He remarked. Relena covered her mouth as she yawned. She desperately tried to hid it.
"You had better get some sleep now. We have a long trip tomorrow." He added still typing. She just nodded sleepily and headed off to her bedroom.
Later that evening, Relena woke up suddenly from her sleep. She wasn't quite sure why, maybe she had a bad dream. She sat up in bed to realize that she was still in her business suit. She got up and went out into the sitting room. The clock on the wall showed how late it was now. She headed for Heero's room but froze when she heard a low voice from behind her.
"What are you doing up this late?" She forced herself to turn around to see Trowa on the couch again. 'Did he always sleep so light?' She wondered trying to calm down from the sudden fright.
"I was checking to see if you found anything. Of course I didn't realize it was this late." She admitted. He turned on the couch, trying to settle back down to sleep.
"Don't worry about it. Just go back to bed." He added. She nodded her reply but he probably didn't see it in the dark. She headed back for her room. She attempted to sleep but it wasn't easy.
***
The next morning, they headed for the spaceport where they got their shuttle. The entire time, Relena didn't say anything but looked out the window. She usually did that when she went into space. She was trying not to think about Heero but she couldn't help it. She was anxious to know his whereabouts and whether or not he was alright. It was the same thing for three days now. The same worries and questions. It didn't change during this time. She just sighed to herself and closed her eyes. She realized that there was some anger in her worries. It had been forever since she was able to spend time with him and finally had the chance. He wasn't distracted by anything and that was a rare thing. They had to pick NOW to take him away from her. She might not have even known about this situation if they hadn't done it now. She usually didn't have these selfish ambitions but she did afterall deserve a break too. She had been working so hard and was expected to be so professional all the time. It was starting to get tiresome.
"You okay over there?" Trowa asked looking over at her. She looked up not sure what to say.
"I'm fine. Really, I just want to get there as soon as possible." She lied. He leaned over to check on their status.
"It shouldn't be much longer." He answered.
"Thank you for taking me." She smiled
"Don't mention it." He said in his monosyllabic way. "It's my job."
Once they got to the ship, they headed to the control room where they found Sally and Quatre. Sally gave Trowa his orders and Quatre followed him out of the room. Relena sat down in the chair infront of Sally's desk. Sally was busy filing and didn't really notice her sitting there. She finally saw her.
"Did you want something, Relena?" She asked leaning back in her chair. Relena looked up suddenly at her.
"I was just wondering if you've found anything that will help in your investigation" She mentioned what she had been obviously thinking about for awhile.
"We've gotten a few leads that we are looking into." She answered back. Relena nodded her response. Sally didn't want to get her hopes up if they didn't find anything.
"If we do find something then you will be the first to know." She added. Relena lowered her face and clenched her fists in her lap. She almost seemed angry and upset at the same time. Sally wasn't sure why she was doing that.
"Are you okay?" She asked leaning over the desk. Relena hid her eyes and stood up.
"I'll be fine. I guess I'm just tired from the trip." Sally could hear the sadness in Relena's voice. She would have stood up and walked Relena out but she decided that she probably wanted to be alone.
Relena left the room and headed out into the hallway. She wasn't even sure where she was going. She didn't know this ship very well. And she also didn't know everyone either. It seemed as if anyone that passed by, she didn't recognize. She suddenly felt lonely. But despite the way she felt she swallowed and blinked the tears away. 'I feel so powerless here. I want to help but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.' She had stopped walking at this point.
"Heero where are you? I want you here with me." She said softly wrapping her arms around herself comfortingly. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. 'This isn't helping either. All this thinking.' She lectured herself and started walking again. She wasn't about to make a scene infront of all the strangers. She turned the corner and finally saw a face she knew. Hilde was reviewing some files when she saw Relena coming towards her.
"Hey! When did you get here?" She asked greeting her friend. Relena smiled slightly almost forgetting the frustration she had just recently been feeling.
"I just got here today." She answered trying to sound cheerful. They went into one of the break areas.
"Well this is great. I was just about to go on my break. So how are things in the Sanq Kingdom?" She asked nonchalantly. They both sat down and Relena folded her hands on her lap and sat up straight.
"I guess you heard what happened?" She mentioned obviously needing to talk about it. Hilde looked back at her seriously and nodded.
"Yes, Duo told me about it. But I know Heero's okay. He can definitely take care of himself. And after what I went through I have a better perspective on these situations now." She said confidently. Relena smiled at her enthusiasm.
"Thanks I could really use some encouragement right now. No one else seems to understand that." She realized. Hilde smiled back at her.
"Well I can definitely relate. I'm sure he'll be just fine." She remarked then added; "Are you hungry? I was on my way to the cafeteria if you want to come." Relena decided to take her up on the offer since she hadn't eaten all day.
***
After Relena left, Sally got in contact with Trowa and Quatre to see how they were doing on their side. They had located the one address. They were on L1 at that point and had checked out the area in which they were assigned to search. No one was there however so they had to ask around to see if anyone else knew anything.
"As it turns out that guy who tried to get a job as a Preventer, was a part of the White Fang and disappeared once the war had ended." Quatre explained to Sally over the Preventer's secret line.
"So this whole thing with Wing Zero could have started then? But why didn't they just steel it from Heero right after the war if they wanted it so badly." Sally thought outloud.
"From what everyone here has told us, this guy admired Mariemia's revolt against earth so there was a good chance they didn't start this until that entire ordeal was over with. And Wing Zero was already destroyed by then." Trowa informed her.
"So did anyone tell you where you might actually find this guy?" She asked back.
"No they didn't really know where the guy could have gone. It seems that the Preventer's were the last ones to have any contact with him." Quatre answered.
"Well since your finished on your end I suggest you come back here immediately." She told them. The conversation ended there. She then called Wufei and Duo to see if they had found anything.
"Nope. This ones a dead-end. Sorry." Duo said to her. She let out a frustrated sigh. Wufei pushed Duo out of the way quickly as though he had found some new information.
"What about the other two?" He asked, implying Trowa and Quatre.
"They ended up with the same thing you did. But they did find out alot about the guy. We just can't seem to find him." She answered.
"From what I've found there is another address that we overlooked before." He told her. She perked up and leaned closer to the screen.
"Where'd you find that?" She inquired. He smiled back at her, looking very proud.
"I found the forwarding address from this one. So we still have one shot left." He explained. Sally sat back in her seat rather impressed. Duo sat there with his arms folded infront of him. "It would have been nice of you to let me know what you found." He grumbled to himself. Wufei ignored his comment. Sally decided to have them come back as well that way all four of them could go on this assignment.