He tried to get back to sleep. To just ignore the pain in the back of his head, but it wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried. He was beginning to wonder if they waited for him to fall asleep in order to toss him around the room a couple of times. But that would include drugging him again because he would probably wake up in the process of being thrown. Did they actually think that was going to work. Or were the just going to leave him in there until the silence and darkness got to him and he gave in to their demands. They seemed to know him a bit better then that, since they knew alot about Operation Meteor and his assignments. But he didn't care how well they knew him, he was going to eventually get out of there and he didn't care how he would do it. Even as a Preventer, even though he wasn't suppose to kill anyone ever again, these people had over stepped their boundaries. Relena came back to mind. She probably wouldn't want him to do anything rash. He wondered how she was doing now. He assumed that she was worried about his safety. He was amazed that they hadn't taken her with them. He didn't care what happened to him or if they killed him. But if they had brought her along with them and threatened her, he would have no choice but to comply with their demands. The more he thought about how worried she was, the more he knew he just had to get out somehow. It usually wasn't a problem for him, however they knew so much about him and had taken so many measures in order to predict him. It was hard to determine how to catch them off guard.
It felt like he was sitting there for hours until the door opened, letting in more light then he had expected. He closed his eyes again putting his hands up in order to block some of it. He wondered if they kept it so light out there on purpose. It wouldn't surprise him. This time there were two people. He couldn't tell if they were guards or not. They went over to him and grabbed him by both arms. He tried to struggle only to realize he didn't have the strength to fight back. They had to be guards, there was no doubt about that now. He tried to get his feet to move but they were going so fast that he couldn't seem to get his legs to cooperate. They brought him down a long hallway and into a large room where someone was sitting at a desk looking through some files. He didn't recognize the guy. The two officers forced him down in a chair infront of the desk.
"Sir, we brought you Heero Yuy as you requested." The one soldier said stepping back.
"Thank-you, the two of you can leave us now." He told them. The both looked at him in disbelief. "Are you sure that's such a wise decision to leave you here alone with HIM?" The other one asked. The man just waved the two away.
They left and Heero just sat there waiting for some explanation for him being there. The man continued to look through his files until he was ready to talk. He looked up with a slight grin, regarding Heero's features. He looked like he hadn't slept well in quite awhile. His hair was all messed up and his clothes were dirty. Heero just glared back with cold eyes, not really caring about his appearance. The man placed his elbows on his desk and folded his hands together, leaning forward.
"I decided I'd try to convince you to cooperate now before things really get out of hand." Was the first thing the guy said. Heero didn't bother responding.
"You do of course understand that there is no way you can leave here unless to give us that information." He added still waiting for some kind of answer from across the desk. But there was nothing said. He sat back in his chair still looking Heero over.
"Do you even know how long you've been here?" He asked, but Heero just continued to stare back, his facial expression unchanged. The man finally let out a low sigh. He picked up his papers on the desk and tapped them lightly so that they were now in a neat pile infront of him.
"Well I had hoped you would reconsider helping us out. I would think that you would be somewhat cooperative. Afterall you are a soldier and well I thought you'd understand our position in this matter. Regarding the Wing Zero being rebuilt." Heero realized how irritating this guy was. He was never one for sitting down and talking things over. They didn't come to him like that, they took him by force. He thought about what to say back but decided just to sit there and wait to be taken back to the dark cell. The man across the desk however, didn't seem ready to do that just yet. He apparently wanted to continue this one-sided conversation.
"Perhaps it wasn't explained to you what we're trying to do here. We are a group that wants peace however, we want the colonies and earth to be separate from each other. We feel as though the earth is going to continue to take advantage of us even if peace has been declared. The fact of the matter is the colonies want to be independent, well that would mean being completely separate from the earth and it's government. Does this make any sense to you? There will be peace but the two need to be separate. Otherwise the conflicts between the two will never end because there are people on both sides who aren't satisfied with the result. I just feel it would be in everyone's best interests for earth and the colonies not to unite under one government. Wasn't that the main idea behind Operation Meteor?" He explained. Heero couldn't hold it in any longer.
"You don't know anything about Operation Meteor." He stated bitterly. Then he sat back and was quiet. The man smiled slightly, happy with himself for getting a response out of Heero.
"Oh I don't do I? Who do you think gave them all the equipment and funds? It all came from my organization. Yes the Barton Foundation helped too. We all hoped that the Gundams would fulfil this idea. Then plans got altered and before we knew it our idea wasn't the main objection anymore. But it's not like it was your fault for any of that. You just went with what you were told to do and when you didn't have any orders, you improvised the situation. It would have worked but too many obstacles got in our way." He told him. Heero sank in his seat. He wasn't able to think clearly. He had never met this man or was told about where the supplies had come from. He looked back up at the guy angrily.
"Now if you don't want to join us I understand. But I would like that information and I really don't see why you should have to endure any more here. So even if you don't want to join at least give us what we need so that we can continue with our plan. I know you can understand that, coming from the colonies yourself." He added, waiting for Heero to reply.
"I am not going to help you. Simply because of the fact that what you're doing is going to result in many unnecessary deaths. So you might succeed but the cost will be devastating in the end." He said, ending the conversation. The man just stared at Heero disappointingly.
"Very well then, I don't have any other choice." He said standing up. "I was trying to help you. You see my soldiers follow my orders but I trust them to make their own judgements on certain situations, without coming to me first. Guess your just going to have to be one of those situations." He decided picking up his folders. Heero read the subjects on each of them. This man didn't try to hide anything. He recognized the titles and understood each one. They were mostly things about codes that had to do with Operation Meteor and himself. No one was suppose to have that kind of detailed information. The guards came back in and grabbed him roughly. The man who had just talked to him, had vanished. He didn't even bother to figure out where to.
The soldiers threw him back into his cell again only this time they didn't leave. One of them pulled out a piece of cloth and tried it around Heero's face like a gag. The soldier backed away, grinning wickedly.
"You had your chance to talk before. Now it's too late." He said smiling even more. Heero recognized him as the soldier from before. The door made a loud sound as the other one closed it, once again making the room darker then before.
'So we're going to fight in the dark, huh?' Heero thought to himself. This did give him some kind of advantage since they couldn't see him. But then again he couldn't see them either. Plus the fact it was two against one didn't help much either. Heero heard them both coming for him and he sidestepped, trying to get to the door. They heard him move though. He knew they had figured out where he was. The one came close enough to where he could punch the guy with both hands. He was still cuffed afterall. He heard the guy fall backwards hitting the wall, then he leg-swepted the other one. They both groaned loudly, trying to get back up.
Heero continued his way to the door when a strong hand came from behind and grabbed him by his shirt. He could hear it tearing while he was being pulled back. Heero reached for the gag around his face and threw it to the ground. It was making it hard to breath. The soldier slammed Heero against the wall, hard. His shoulder made contact first with the concrete. It made an awful cracking sound and he fell over. As he tried to stand up, the soldier came over and with one swift movement, kicked Heero in the chest. He coughed as the air was knocked out of him. But he didn't have enough time to catch his breath as the guy's fists hit his face knocking him to the other end of the room. Just how big was this guy anyway? Heero stood back up wearily, trying not to gasp so much for air. It gave his position away. They were shocked he was back up so quickly. He felt a boot hit him in the back, sending him to the floor again. So much for his advantage.
He stood up again and tried to figure out where they were now. He ran straight for one and slammed into the guy, head on. But the other one was right behind him ready to slam him against the nearest wall. The cell wasn't big enough for a fight like this. He leaned against the wall. He forced himself to stand, preparing to attack again. A shot rang out, echoing around them. Heero felt a sharp pain shoot through his left leg. He fell back still gasping for air. 'Stop breathing so hard.' He lectured himself trying to stand steadily once more.
"What yah go and shoot him for?" He heard the one say to the other. "He's moving too much. I don't want to chase him anymore." The other decided, with his gun still aimed at Heero. Heero just smiled to himself ironically. That wasn't such a bad shot considering it was in the dark and the guy still managed to hit him. He was thinking too much like a Gundam Pilot, again. And it wasn't helping either. He started to feel weak. Another shot rang out, this time the pain was in his shoulder. That one barely missed but not by much. He tried to grab his shoulder, cringing. If they were going to kill him, he wanted it over with. He sank to his knees looking at the ground, as if giving up. There was another kick in the chest. Then a heavy, painful, force came down on his back causing him to collapse on the ground. He was still breathing hard, despite his efforts. He went to push himself back up only to feel the weight of one of the soldier's feet land on both arms. He groaned angrily as the guy kept stomping his foot on his arms. He tried to roll out of the way. He succeeded in that attempt, now on his back.
Just as the other soldier stood right above, aiming his gun at him. This shot he knew was coming as the soldier cocked it. He put his arms up to block his face and turned on his side quickly, avoiding most of the shot. The shooter angrily grabbed Heero off the ground by his hands, causing them to bend in an unnatural way. He could feel his fingers starting to ache. He kicked at the guy, hitting him several times but he didn't let go. He felt a couple of the guys ribs crack from his sneaker hitting him in the chest. That caused the soldier to become angrier. He was about to stop Heero from kicking him again when his partner interrupted.
"I think that's enough for now." The other said straightening up.
"But he just..." The guy started to say.
"I don't care. You should have been more careful." Came the curt response. The one, still holding Heero off the ground just angrily tossed him against the far wall one more time. His head hit this time, causing the room to spin. The one soldier went over to picked up his gun. Heero coughed and gasped even more now. The soldier looked at him maliciously.
"Now maybe you'll tell us about that system." He smirked heading for the door. Maybe he should just let them have the Zero system. Then it would drive them all crazy like it usually did to 'normal' people. But then that would have made these last twenty minutes that went by not worth it. And besides whenever that system went out of control, there were usually casualties involved. The door slammed shut again. He coughed one last time and rolled over to sit up. He leaned against the wall, just trying to breath normal.
Everything seemed to hurt. He went to whipe the sweat off his face when he noticed his hands were bleeding. Both of them. He tried to move his fingers and more pain shot through them. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the light to get a better look at his injuries. He noticed the cloth from before and picked it up, hoping to use it. He put some pressure on his leg where he had first been shot. It made his hands burn even more. Anyone else would have quit right there. Now breathing was starting to hurt. Once his leg stopped bleeding, he ripped the cloth with his teeth and tide it around the wound. He did the same for the cut on his shoulder as well. When he was done with that, he did the same to his hands.
He slouched over and pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around them. It seemed to get colder now. His stomach growled loudly and he realized how hungry he was. He wasn't sure if they would actually kill him any time soon. He almost wished for it now though considering how much his body ached. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his knees. If they really thought that beating him up and starving him was going to work they were highly mistakened. He'd been in similar situations and food really wasn't something he worried about. He wanted to sleep but there were too many thoughts and he couldn't find a position where he wasn't hurting.
His thoughts drifted to Relena. Would they go after her? That one guy did mention her being his 'girlfriend'. Was she his girlfriend? He never actually thought about it but he guessed that would be the best description of their relationship. He had always respected her and they got along for the most part. And whenever he thought about her, he tried to hide it. She would be upset if anything happened to him. He remembered what Hilde had gone through only a few months ago. Would Relena go through that too if something happened to him? Would one of the Preventer's step in where he wasn't anymore and take care of her? Watch over her like he always had. Quatre was always working as was Wufei, Trowa had a home to protect, himself and now Duo had his own life with Hilde. It would be too hard putting something like that on them. He had to make it through this if not for himself then for her.
"Relena." He muttered under his breath. "Things would be simpler if I wasn't so close to you." He told himself. But he had to admit that he had changed over the past couple of years. He could have kept himself at a distance but then he wouldn't have all the good memories he had now. And he didn't have too many good memories before Relena came into his life. Actually he couldn't think of almost any. The more he thought about it the more it made sense that his life would be empty without her in it. She was always something to look forward to. All he had now was his job and the people he worked with. There wasn't anything outside of that, other then Relena. He wasn't getting any sleep at the rate he was going. Too many thoughts. More questions then he could answer right now. But he was determined to find out.
***
All the Preventer's working on this case were now present in the conference room, onboard their ship. They had located the next target in the investigation. They would leave shortly after this briefing. There was still alot that was unsure of in this case however the clock was ticking and they didn't know how long Heero had. Once the meeting was over, the former Gundam Pilots headed for their shuttle. Sally handed the case file to Duo for him to bring into the filing room. He'd join the other three in the hangar. Sally had shown Relena to a room where she could rest. She was there unpacking her things for the duration of her stay. Or that's where she was suppose to be. No one had checked on her lately. Hilde and she had lunch a couple hours ago and then Hilde got back to work at her desk. She was finishing up transferring some important documents when she felt a gentle arm come around her shoulders from behind. At first it caught her by surprise but then she relaxed in Duo's embrace. She leaned back and rested her head under his chin.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that yah know." She mentioned looking up at him. He just smiled back, proud of his stealthiness.
"I don't know any better." He teased handing her the file he had received from Sally. She looked at it and tossed it next to her keyboard. He bent over to see what she was doing.
"So you're leaving again I guess?" She said sounding kind of sad. He nodded back still looking at her computer screen. She continued typing as she leaned over, close to his ear.
"Just be careful." She said a little above a whisper. He smiled back confidently.
"You don't gotta worry about me. I'll be just fine." He assured her. He stood up and caught the concerned look on her face.
"What? I'll be fine." He said again. Her facial expression didn't change as she put her head down. He leaned down to her again, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hilde, what's the matter? If it's about what happened a couple of months ago, I pro..." She cut him off.
"This has nothing to do with that." She started still looking away from him. "Duo...these people are,..they're dangerous." She mentioned sighing to herself.
"Yeah I know but that's why we have to stop them. No one else can." He answered in a gentle tone.
"There's something I didn't tell you about them." She said back slowly. Duo's eyes grew wider. He turned Hilde in her chair to look at her face to face.
"What are you talking about?" He said, trying
not to sound so demanding to his wife.
"Remember about a week ago, when Sally needed you here and I stayed home?" She began and he nodded his reply slowly. "They showed up at the apartment. I didn't let them in, but they were looking for Heero. I didn't let them know that I even knew who they were talking about but they knew anyway. They weren't very nice and claimed they were only going to leave us alone if they got that information from Heero. I was so shocked they even searched on L2 for him." She ended and took a breath. Duo continued to stand there, not saying anything. She couldn't see his eyes since his bangs were in the way.
"Are you mad at me?" She finally asked, causing him to look up.
"At you, no way. You just gave me another reason to get back at them. I'm just glad that your okay." He explained giving her a slight smile. She knew what that mischievous grin meant. She had seen it before. Those people were certainly going to pay for all the problems they had caused. She had no doubt of that now. She placed her hand on top of his, he glanced back at her, waiting for some kind of reason behind her touch.
"Promise me, you'll be careful." She said with an intense look in her eyes. He smiled more at her and nodded. "I'm coming back. I always come back but this time I have someone to come back to." He said lightening the conversation. She finally gave him a half smile and he stood up to leave. Before leaving the room he called back to her.
"Just be sure that file makes it's way into the filing cabinet. We wouldn't want it getting lost." He added and headed down the hallway. She just sighed to herself and went back to work. Once he made it to the shuttle, they headed to their destination.
It felt like he was sitting there for hours until the door opened, letting in more light then he had expected. He closed his eyes again putting his hands up in order to block some of it. He wondered if they kept it so light out there on purpose. It wouldn't surprise him. This time there were two people. He couldn't tell if they were guards or not. They went over to him and grabbed him by both arms. He tried to struggle only to realize he didn't have the strength to fight back. They had to be guards, there was no doubt about that now. He tried to get his feet to move but they were going so fast that he couldn't seem to get his legs to cooperate. They brought him down a long hallway and into a large room where someone was sitting at a desk looking through some files. He didn't recognize the guy. The two officers forced him down in a chair infront of the desk.
"Sir, we brought you Heero Yuy as you requested." The one soldier said stepping back.
"Thank-you, the two of you can leave us now." He told them. The both looked at him in disbelief. "Are you sure that's such a wise decision to leave you here alone with HIM?" The other one asked. The man just waved the two away.
They left and Heero just sat there waiting for some explanation for him being there. The man continued to look through his files until he was ready to talk. He looked up with a slight grin, regarding Heero's features. He looked like he hadn't slept well in quite awhile. His hair was all messed up and his clothes were dirty. Heero just glared back with cold eyes, not really caring about his appearance. The man placed his elbows on his desk and folded his hands together, leaning forward.
"I decided I'd try to convince you to cooperate now before things really get out of hand." Was the first thing the guy said. Heero didn't bother responding.
"You do of course understand that there is no way you can leave here unless to give us that information." He added still waiting for some kind of answer from across the desk. But there was nothing said. He sat back in his chair still looking Heero over.
"Do you even know how long you've been here?" He asked, but Heero just continued to stare back, his facial expression unchanged. The man finally let out a low sigh. He picked up his papers on the desk and tapped them lightly so that they were now in a neat pile infront of him.
"Well I had hoped you would reconsider helping us out. I would think that you would be somewhat cooperative. Afterall you are a soldier and well I thought you'd understand our position in this matter. Regarding the Wing Zero being rebuilt." Heero realized how irritating this guy was. He was never one for sitting down and talking things over. They didn't come to him like that, they took him by force. He thought about what to say back but decided just to sit there and wait to be taken back to the dark cell. The man across the desk however, didn't seem ready to do that just yet. He apparently wanted to continue this one-sided conversation.
"Perhaps it wasn't explained to you what we're trying to do here. We are a group that wants peace however, we want the colonies and earth to be separate from each other. We feel as though the earth is going to continue to take advantage of us even if peace has been declared. The fact of the matter is the colonies want to be independent, well that would mean being completely separate from the earth and it's government. Does this make any sense to you? There will be peace but the two need to be separate. Otherwise the conflicts between the two will never end because there are people on both sides who aren't satisfied with the result. I just feel it would be in everyone's best interests for earth and the colonies not to unite under one government. Wasn't that the main idea behind Operation Meteor?" He explained. Heero couldn't hold it in any longer.
"You don't know anything about Operation Meteor." He stated bitterly. Then he sat back and was quiet. The man smiled slightly, happy with himself for getting a response out of Heero.
"Oh I don't do I? Who do you think gave them all the equipment and funds? It all came from my organization. Yes the Barton Foundation helped too. We all hoped that the Gundams would fulfil this idea. Then plans got altered and before we knew it our idea wasn't the main objection anymore. But it's not like it was your fault for any of that. You just went with what you were told to do and when you didn't have any orders, you improvised the situation. It would have worked but too many obstacles got in our way." He told him. Heero sank in his seat. He wasn't able to think clearly. He had never met this man or was told about where the supplies had come from. He looked back up at the guy angrily.
"Now if you don't want to join us I understand. But I would like that information and I really don't see why you should have to endure any more here. So even if you don't want to join at least give us what we need so that we can continue with our plan. I know you can understand that, coming from the colonies yourself." He added, waiting for Heero to reply.
"I am not going to help you. Simply because of the fact that what you're doing is going to result in many unnecessary deaths. So you might succeed but the cost will be devastating in the end." He said, ending the conversation. The man just stared at Heero disappointingly.
"Very well then, I don't have any other choice." He said standing up. "I was trying to help you. You see my soldiers follow my orders but I trust them to make their own judgements on certain situations, without coming to me first. Guess your just going to have to be one of those situations." He decided picking up his folders. Heero read the subjects on each of them. This man didn't try to hide anything. He recognized the titles and understood each one. They were mostly things about codes that had to do with Operation Meteor and himself. No one was suppose to have that kind of detailed information. The guards came back in and grabbed him roughly. The man who had just talked to him, had vanished. He didn't even bother to figure out where to.
The soldiers threw him back into his cell again only this time they didn't leave. One of them pulled out a piece of cloth and tried it around Heero's face like a gag. The soldier backed away, grinning wickedly.
"You had your chance to talk before. Now it's too late." He said smiling even more. Heero recognized him as the soldier from before. The door made a loud sound as the other one closed it, once again making the room darker then before.
'So we're going to fight in the dark, huh?' Heero thought to himself. This did give him some kind of advantage since they couldn't see him. But then again he couldn't see them either. Plus the fact it was two against one didn't help much either. Heero heard them both coming for him and he sidestepped, trying to get to the door. They heard him move though. He knew they had figured out where he was. The one came close enough to where he could punch the guy with both hands. He was still cuffed afterall. He heard the guy fall backwards hitting the wall, then he leg-swepted the other one. They both groaned loudly, trying to get back up.
Heero continued his way to the door when a strong hand came from behind and grabbed him by his shirt. He could hear it tearing while he was being pulled back. Heero reached for the gag around his face and threw it to the ground. It was making it hard to breath. The soldier slammed Heero against the wall, hard. His shoulder made contact first with the concrete. It made an awful cracking sound and he fell over. As he tried to stand up, the soldier came over and with one swift movement, kicked Heero in the chest. He coughed as the air was knocked out of him. But he didn't have enough time to catch his breath as the guy's fists hit his face knocking him to the other end of the room. Just how big was this guy anyway? Heero stood back up wearily, trying not to gasp so much for air. It gave his position away. They were shocked he was back up so quickly. He felt a boot hit him in the back, sending him to the floor again. So much for his advantage.
He stood up again and tried to figure out where they were now. He ran straight for one and slammed into the guy, head on. But the other one was right behind him ready to slam him against the nearest wall. The cell wasn't big enough for a fight like this. He leaned against the wall. He forced himself to stand, preparing to attack again. A shot rang out, echoing around them. Heero felt a sharp pain shoot through his left leg. He fell back still gasping for air. 'Stop breathing so hard.' He lectured himself trying to stand steadily once more.
"What yah go and shoot him for?" He heard the one say to the other. "He's moving too much. I don't want to chase him anymore." The other decided, with his gun still aimed at Heero. Heero just smiled to himself ironically. That wasn't such a bad shot considering it was in the dark and the guy still managed to hit him. He was thinking too much like a Gundam Pilot, again. And it wasn't helping either. He started to feel weak. Another shot rang out, this time the pain was in his shoulder. That one barely missed but not by much. He tried to grab his shoulder, cringing. If they were going to kill him, he wanted it over with. He sank to his knees looking at the ground, as if giving up. There was another kick in the chest. Then a heavy, painful, force came down on his back causing him to collapse on the ground. He was still breathing hard, despite his efforts. He went to push himself back up only to feel the weight of one of the soldier's feet land on both arms. He groaned angrily as the guy kept stomping his foot on his arms. He tried to roll out of the way. He succeeded in that attempt, now on his back.
Just as the other soldier stood right above, aiming his gun at him. This shot he knew was coming as the soldier cocked it. He put his arms up to block his face and turned on his side quickly, avoiding most of the shot. The shooter angrily grabbed Heero off the ground by his hands, causing them to bend in an unnatural way. He could feel his fingers starting to ache. He kicked at the guy, hitting him several times but he didn't let go. He felt a couple of the guys ribs crack from his sneaker hitting him in the chest. That caused the soldier to become angrier. He was about to stop Heero from kicking him again when his partner interrupted.
"I think that's enough for now." The other said straightening up.
"But he just..." The guy started to say.
"I don't care. You should have been more careful." Came the curt response. The one, still holding Heero off the ground just angrily tossed him against the far wall one more time. His head hit this time, causing the room to spin. The one soldier went over to picked up his gun. Heero coughed and gasped even more now. The soldier looked at him maliciously.
"Now maybe you'll tell us about that system." He smirked heading for the door. Maybe he should just let them have the Zero system. Then it would drive them all crazy like it usually did to 'normal' people. But then that would have made these last twenty minutes that went by not worth it. And besides whenever that system went out of control, there were usually casualties involved. The door slammed shut again. He coughed one last time and rolled over to sit up. He leaned against the wall, just trying to breath normal.
Everything seemed to hurt. He went to whipe the sweat off his face when he noticed his hands were bleeding. Both of them. He tried to move his fingers and more pain shot through them. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the light to get a better look at his injuries. He noticed the cloth from before and picked it up, hoping to use it. He put some pressure on his leg where he had first been shot. It made his hands burn even more. Anyone else would have quit right there. Now breathing was starting to hurt. Once his leg stopped bleeding, he ripped the cloth with his teeth and tide it around the wound. He did the same for the cut on his shoulder as well. When he was done with that, he did the same to his hands.
He slouched over and pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around them. It seemed to get colder now. His stomach growled loudly and he realized how hungry he was. He wasn't sure if they would actually kill him any time soon. He almost wished for it now though considering how much his body ached. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his knees. If they really thought that beating him up and starving him was going to work they were highly mistakened. He'd been in similar situations and food really wasn't something he worried about. He wanted to sleep but there were too many thoughts and he couldn't find a position where he wasn't hurting.
His thoughts drifted to Relena. Would they go after her? That one guy did mention her being his 'girlfriend'. Was she his girlfriend? He never actually thought about it but he guessed that would be the best description of their relationship. He had always respected her and they got along for the most part. And whenever he thought about her, he tried to hide it. She would be upset if anything happened to him. He remembered what Hilde had gone through only a few months ago. Would Relena go through that too if something happened to him? Would one of the Preventer's step in where he wasn't anymore and take care of her? Watch over her like he always had. Quatre was always working as was Wufei, Trowa had a home to protect, himself and now Duo had his own life with Hilde. It would be too hard putting something like that on them. He had to make it through this if not for himself then for her.
"Relena." He muttered under his breath. "Things would be simpler if I wasn't so close to you." He told himself. But he had to admit that he had changed over the past couple of years. He could have kept himself at a distance but then he wouldn't have all the good memories he had now. And he didn't have too many good memories before Relena came into his life. Actually he couldn't think of almost any. The more he thought about it the more it made sense that his life would be empty without her in it. She was always something to look forward to. All he had now was his job and the people he worked with. There wasn't anything outside of that, other then Relena. He wasn't getting any sleep at the rate he was going. Too many thoughts. More questions then he could answer right now. But he was determined to find out.
***
All the Preventer's working on this case were now present in the conference room, onboard their ship. They had located the next target in the investigation. They would leave shortly after this briefing. There was still alot that was unsure of in this case however the clock was ticking and they didn't know how long Heero had. Once the meeting was over, the former Gundam Pilots headed for their shuttle. Sally handed the case file to Duo for him to bring into the filing room. He'd join the other three in the hangar. Sally had shown Relena to a room where she could rest. She was there unpacking her things for the duration of her stay. Or that's where she was suppose to be. No one had checked on her lately. Hilde and she had lunch a couple hours ago and then Hilde got back to work at her desk. She was finishing up transferring some important documents when she felt a gentle arm come around her shoulders from behind. At first it caught her by surprise but then she relaxed in Duo's embrace. She leaned back and rested her head under his chin.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that yah know." She mentioned looking up at him. He just smiled back, proud of his stealthiness.
"I don't know any better." He teased handing her the file he had received from Sally. She looked at it and tossed it next to her keyboard. He bent over to see what she was doing.
"So you're leaving again I guess?" She said sounding kind of sad. He nodded back still looking at her computer screen. She continued typing as she leaned over, close to his ear.
"Just be careful." She said a little above a whisper. He smiled back confidently.
"You don't gotta worry about me. I'll be just fine." He assured her. He stood up and caught the concerned look on her face.
"What? I'll be fine." He said again. Her facial expression didn't change as she put her head down. He leaned down to her again, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hilde, what's the matter? If it's about what happened a couple of months ago, I pro..." She cut him off.
"This has nothing to do with that." She started still looking away from him. "Duo...these people are,..they're dangerous." She mentioned sighing to herself.
"Yeah I know but that's why we have to stop them. No one else can." He answered in a gentle tone.
"There's something I didn't tell you about them." She said back slowly. Duo's eyes grew wider. He turned Hilde in her chair to look at her face to face.
"What are you talking about?" He said, trying
not to sound so demanding to his wife.
"Remember about a week ago, when Sally needed you here and I stayed home?" She began and he nodded his reply slowly. "They showed up at the apartment. I didn't let them in, but they were looking for Heero. I didn't let them know that I even knew who they were talking about but they knew anyway. They weren't very nice and claimed they were only going to leave us alone if they got that information from Heero. I was so shocked they even searched on L2 for him." She ended and took a breath. Duo continued to stand there, not saying anything. She couldn't see his eyes since his bangs were in the way.
"Are you mad at me?" She finally asked, causing him to look up.
"At you, no way. You just gave me another reason to get back at them. I'm just glad that your okay." He explained giving her a slight smile. She knew what that mischievous grin meant. She had seen it before. Those people were certainly going to pay for all the problems they had caused. She had no doubt of that now. She placed her hand on top of his, he glanced back at her, waiting for some kind of reason behind her touch.
"Promise me, you'll be careful." She said with an intense look in her eyes. He smiled more at her and nodded. "I'm coming back. I always come back but this time I have someone to come back to." He said lightening the conversation. She finally gave him a half smile and he stood up to leave. Before leaving the room he called back to her.
"Just be sure that file makes it's way into the filing cabinet. We wouldn't want it getting lost." He added and headed down the hallway. She just sighed to herself and went back to work. Once he made it to the shuttle, they headed to their destination.