***@---***
When they returned to the house, it was past five o'clock. The sun was just about to set. The door being slightly ajar was the first sign of trouble. Duo noticed this first and hurried inside.
"Hilde..?" He called out. Quatre ran in as well and then Heero, who hadn't even noticed the door.
"What's wrong?" Heero asked. He placed the box of invitations down on the coffee table as he took in the scene. There was a lamp knocked over. He glanced behind him to see the door was no longer connected to the wall.
"Relena...?" He muttered softly. He tried to say it louder but for some strange reason he couldn't find his voice. Duo was now on a frantic search through the apartment. He kept calling for Hilde. He came down the stairs quickly, Quatre on his heels.
"Someone really wrecked the upstairs." He informed Heero, catching his breath. Heero could only nod back. That actually irritated Duo.
"Hey! This is serious." He called over to him. Heero disregarded Duo and headed into the kitchen. A sick feeling came over him. He knew who had been here. Quatre and Duo followed him.
"Maybe they just went out." Quatre offered, trying to think positively. Duo smiled grimly at Quatre.
"Yeah and they had to take the door off the wall too." His statement dripped with sarcasm. Quatre backed off. They entered the kitchen. Heero was now standing next to the table, holding the note in his hand, reading it. No one spoke while he read. His expression didn't waver at all when he was finished. He lowered his hand to his side. Duo snatched the note away and began reading it as well.
To Heero Yuy-
The letter started- " Since you have decided not to cooperate with us, we've had to take drastic measures as you now know. Despite your attempts to disrupt our plans we will continue as we feel fit to. Unfortunately that means involving civilians. If you value them then you should show up at the spaceport of this colony. Unarmed and with the stolen plans for Wing Zero as well as the Zero system. If you do not comply, we cannot guarantee their safety. We want to dissolve this situation as soon as possible."
Duo tossed it back on the table, still not speaking.
"We need to leave." He finally said, turning towards the door.
"The note never mentioned you. You're not a factor in this." Heero said calmly, causing Duo to stop in his tracks. He grit his teeth, not turning back as he spoke.
"Yeah, well guess they forgot this 'factor'. They got Hilde involved and that involves me." He said through his teeth. He went to leave again when Quatre grabbed him by the arm.
"Duo, wait..." He started but stopped when Duo shot him such a glare that his voice got stuck in his throat. Duo's eyes flashed angrily, Quatre had never received such a look from HIM before. All he could see was anger now where before there was only concern. It was definitely the God of Death who was glaring at him now. Quatre tried to talk again.
"We can't be too rash about this. If we don't do what they say, they could hurt Hilde and Relena." He spoke slowly. Duo's shoulders slumped and Quatre felt his arm relax. His expression changed as though he was thinking.
"But we can't just give them what they want." He said softly, looking at the floor, sadly. Quatre let go of his arm. Heero continued to think of what to do. He looked down at the magazine from before. He stared at it for a long time before he spoke.
"Quatre...do you still have those plans? From when Zero was first built." He finally asked, catching Quatre by surprise. He didn't look up to see his expression but he knew what it was.
"Are you sure we should do that? Isn't there another way?" Quatre inquired, looking at Heero from the side. Heero looked back at him squarely and nodded.
"We'll put a tracer in the disk and won't give them all the information. By the time they realize it's not all there, we'll have them back and know where they're hiding. It's the only thing we can do right now." He decided. Quatre tried to see some kind of emotion in Heero's eyes but couldn't find any; not even a glimpse.
"And we're not getting the other Preventer's involved either." Heero added flatly. Quatre was surprised at that as well. He wasn't sure where his loyalties were going to be in this situation. He felt weak and obviously didn't have any control over what Heero and Duo did. He nodded slowly, still not fully agreeing with the actions they were about to take.
"I've got equipment down in the basement." Duo offered, leaving the room and heading downstairs. Heero bent down to pick up Relena's magazine off the floor and placed it back on the table. Quatre picked up the two mugs, luckily they weren't broken. Neither one of them said anything. Heero picked up one of the chairs that had been knocked over. Quatre put the mugs in the sink.
"I hope she's alright." Heero mentioned, looking down at the table. Quatre glanced over. This was definitely starting get to Heero, he noticed he looked sad now. Heero realized Quatre was watching him and came back to reality. "If you don't want to be part of this I understand. This could costs Duo and me our jobs as Preventers. So if you don't want to help, I won't hold it against you." He told Quatre. Quatre just shook his head.
"No, I'll help you out." He promised, realizing he was the only one that wasn't about to snap under this stress. The phone rang causing Quatre's thoughts to vanish. Heero answered it quickly.
"Guess you got our note." Came a familiar voice. It was the older man who knew so much about him. Quatre left the room. Heero assumed he was going to straighten up the other parts of the house.
"Don't worry. I'm coming to the spaceport with your information." He admitted.
"Good. Now that wasn't so hard was it? Now I won't have to worry about furthering this situation. I have a strict policy against hurting women. It doesn't seem very kind, or gentlemen-like, either." Heero forgot how much he hated to hear this guy talk. But after what he just said, Heero was glad he had gotten to the phone before Duo had.
"So then they're okay?" Heero sounded demanding.
"They'll be okay, so long as you do your part." Came the reply. He didn't seem to want Heero to know what their current state was.
"You guys sure don't play fair, that's for sure." Heero heard Duo's voice on the line. He had apparently picked up at some point. He walked into the kitchen with a portable phone and tossed two semi-automatics on the table as well as extra ammunition. Heero just looked at him, waiting to see what he was going to say to this guy. Probably whatever he wouldn't dare say.
"I'm assuming this is one of the other Gundam Pilots?" The man said. Duo grinned slightly.
"You guessed right. So why don't you and your dumb group forget about the women and deal with us straight." He suggested as he met Heero's gaze. The man began laughing. The two pilots exchanged glances, both of them narrowing their eyes.
"This MUST be Duo Maxwell I'm talking to." Came the calm response from the other end of the phone.
"Hey you're pretty good at this guessing game. Want to go for the grand prize and guess how you managed to piss me off so well today?" He answered casually.
"Oh I think I already know that. You can just consider it pay back for what you did to our computer systems. Thought you were soo funny didn't you? Well you certainly are paying for it now." Duo gave Heero a nervous look.
"Or should I say someone else is paying for it now." Heero knew that statement was going to cost this guy later. The same flash of anger from before crossed Duo's face. He balled his fist at his side, no longer looking at Heero.
"If you lay one hand on her, you'll seriously regret it." He warned, his voice low and threatening. The man laughed lightly again.
"And what are you going to do, lock me up? Do you really think that'll work?" He mocked, knowing that they were both Preventer's and that's as far as they were able to go. He continued to laugh at his joke.
"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of killing you. I mean I'd probably loose my job but that's alright. I've got other things I'm good at." Duo said with a hint of insanity in his voice. It was enough to make the man uncomfortable. Heero finally cut back into the conversation.
"I already told you I'd handle this. You're not needed." Heero said, glaring at Duo. Duo looked at him in shock. The man now chuckled lightly when Heero said that.
"What are you talking about? I thought..." Duo started but Heero cut him off.
"Get off the phone, Duo." Heero warned. He quickly received the same death glare Quatre got before. Heero considered that Duo could probably become quite a threat in spite of how angry he was right now. And he could tell Duo was considering the same thing from the look he was giving him. It even made Heero feel somewhat uncomfortable. That rarely happened. There was a moment of silence. Heero suddenly mouthed to him: "You're not helping her now." Duo nodded solemnly and turned off his phone and left again.
"Now as much fun as this is, I have some information I need to look up." Heero said, letting the guy know that they were the only two on the phone now.
"Alright, we'll meet you at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the east gate." The man informed him.
"Very well, you better bring them with you." Heero warned. The man laughed again. "You don't seem too worried about them. Especially the Vice Foreign Minister. I hear the two of you are engaged. Quite interesting. You don't need to be concerned about my part. You just be sure to give us all the information we need. Until then we'll be enjoying the ladies' company." He said, causing all sorts of questionable things to go though Heero's mind.
"Like Duo said, if you want to continue breathing, you won't do anything to them." He said, keeping his voice low so no one in the house could hear him.
"Just do your part. Do that and their safety if assured." And with that the conversation ended. Duo entered the kitchen again with more 'toys' from the basement. He started to load one of the guns. Heero picked up on of the grenades. Duo refused to look at him. Heero decided it was best for him to speak up first.
"I'm sorry about that." He started, then waited for a reply from Duo.
"You really aren't going to want to talk to me right now. I'm starting to get irrational." Duo said in a low tone, not looking up from what he was doing. Heero sighed to himself. He took a seat and started to help load their weapons.
"Is this going to be enough?" He asked Duo. He didn't get a response this time. Heero continued to wait. "So now you're not going to talk to me at all. That's fine." He said. Duo looked up at him finally.
"He said they would be enjoying their company. I can only guess what he meant by that." He mentioned, revealing that he had still been listening even when Heero thought he wasn't. He didn't respond at that point and just let the matter drop. Although bringing that phrase back to Heero's mind made him realize how angry he was as well. The idea of anyone hurting 'his' Relena made him just as irrational. He forced himself to focus on the task. He started loading the weapons faster. He remembered how they treated him when he was captured. He couldn't bare it if they did anything like that to her. Duo interrupted his thoughts again.
"Don't you have some information to get." He said, not looking up again.
"Hmm..." Heero stood up and headed for the living room where the computer was. He buted it up and located the Preventer's system. He had to hack into their private files in order to get the information. Quatre was now upstairs, cleaning up. Heero was glad he wasn't down there now. He knew most of the codes already so it wasn't so hard getting into the locked files. The ironic part was Hilde was the one who set up this security grid. They didn't even know they had the one person who was most equipped for hacking into this system.
When they returned to the house, it was past five o'clock. The sun was just about to set. The door being slightly ajar was the first sign of trouble. Duo noticed this first and hurried inside.
"Hilde..?" He called out. Quatre ran in as well and then Heero, who hadn't even noticed the door.
"What's wrong?" Heero asked. He placed the box of invitations down on the coffee table as he took in the scene. There was a lamp knocked over. He glanced behind him to see the door was no longer connected to the wall.
"Relena...?" He muttered softly. He tried to say it louder but for some strange reason he couldn't find his voice. Duo was now on a frantic search through the apartment. He kept calling for Hilde. He came down the stairs quickly, Quatre on his heels.
"Someone really wrecked the upstairs." He informed Heero, catching his breath. Heero could only nod back. That actually irritated Duo.
"Hey! This is serious." He called over to him. Heero disregarded Duo and headed into the kitchen. A sick feeling came over him. He knew who had been here. Quatre and Duo followed him.
"Maybe they just went out." Quatre offered, trying to think positively. Duo smiled grimly at Quatre.
"Yeah and they had to take the door off the wall too." His statement dripped with sarcasm. Quatre backed off. They entered the kitchen. Heero was now standing next to the table, holding the note in his hand, reading it. No one spoke while he read. His expression didn't waver at all when he was finished. He lowered his hand to his side. Duo snatched the note away and began reading it as well.
To Heero Yuy-
The letter started- " Since you have decided not to cooperate with us, we've had to take drastic measures as you now know. Despite your attempts to disrupt our plans we will continue as we feel fit to. Unfortunately that means involving civilians. If you value them then you should show up at the spaceport of this colony. Unarmed and with the stolen plans for Wing Zero as well as the Zero system. If you do not comply, we cannot guarantee their safety. We want to dissolve this situation as soon as possible."
Duo tossed it back on the table, still not speaking.
"We need to leave." He finally said, turning towards the door.
"The note never mentioned you. You're not a factor in this." Heero said calmly, causing Duo to stop in his tracks. He grit his teeth, not turning back as he spoke.
"Yeah, well guess they forgot this 'factor'. They got Hilde involved and that involves me." He said through his teeth. He went to leave again when Quatre grabbed him by the arm.
"Duo, wait..." He started but stopped when Duo shot him such a glare that his voice got stuck in his throat. Duo's eyes flashed angrily, Quatre had never received such a look from HIM before. All he could see was anger now where before there was only concern. It was definitely the God of Death who was glaring at him now. Quatre tried to talk again.
"We can't be too rash about this. If we don't do what they say, they could hurt Hilde and Relena." He spoke slowly. Duo's shoulders slumped and Quatre felt his arm relax. His expression changed as though he was thinking.
"But we can't just give them what they want." He said softly, looking at the floor, sadly. Quatre let go of his arm. Heero continued to think of what to do. He looked down at the magazine from before. He stared at it for a long time before he spoke.
"Quatre...do you still have those plans? From when Zero was first built." He finally asked, catching Quatre by surprise. He didn't look up to see his expression but he knew what it was.
"Are you sure we should do that? Isn't there another way?" Quatre inquired, looking at Heero from the side. Heero looked back at him squarely and nodded.
"We'll put a tracer in the disk and won't give them all the information. By the time they realize it's not all there, we'll have them back and know where they're hiding. It's the only thing we can do right now." He decided. Quatre tried to see some kind of emotion in Heero's eyes but couldn't find any; not even a glimpse.
"And we're not getting the other Preventer's involved either." Heero added flatly. Quatre was surprised at that as well. He wasn't sure where his loyalties were going to be in this situation. He felt weak and obviously didn't have any control over what Heero and Duo did. He nodded slowly, still not fully agreeing with the actions they were about to take.
"I've got equipment down in the basement." Duo offered, leaving the room and heading downstairs. Heero bent down to pick up Relena's magazine off the floor and placed it back on the table. Quatre picked up the two mugs, luckily they weren't broken. Neither one of them said anything. Heero picked up one of the chairs that had been knocked over. Quatre put the mugs in the sink.
"I hope she's alright." Heero mentioned, looking down at the table. Quatre glanced over. This was definitely starting get to Heero, he noticed he looked sad now. Heero realized Quatre was watching him and came back to reality. "If you don't want to be part of this I understand. This could costs Duo and me our jobs as Preventers. So if you don't want to help, I won't hold it against you." He told Quatre. Quatre just shook his head.
"No, I'll help you out." He promised, realizing he was the only one that wasn't about to snap under this stress. The phone rang causing Quatre's thoughts to vanish. Heero answered it quickly.
"Guess you got our note." Came a familiar voice. It was the older man who knew so much about him. Quatre left the room. Heero assumed he was going to straighten up the other parts of the house.
"Don't worry. I'm coming to the spaceport with your information." He admitted.
"Good. Now that wasn't so hard was it? Now I won't have to worry about furthering this situation. I have a strict policy against hurting women. It doesn't seem very kind, or gentlemen-like, either." Heero forgot how much he hated to hear this guy talk. But after what he just said, Heero was glad he had gotten to the phone before Duo had.
"So then they're okay?" Heero sounded demanding.
"They'll be okay, so long as you do your part." Came the reply. He didn't seem to want Heero to know what their current state was.
"You guys sure don't play fair, that's for sure." Heero heard Duo's voice on the line. He had apparently picked up at some point. He walked into the kitchen with a portable phone and tossed two semi-automatics on the table as well as extra ammunition. Heero just looked at him, waiting to see what he was going to say to this guy. Probably whatever he wouldn't dare say.
"I'm assuming this is one of the other Gundam Pilots?" The man said. Duo grinned slightly.
"You guessed right. So why don't you and your dumb group forget about the women and deal with us straight." He suggested as he met Heero's gaze. The man began laughing. The two pilots exchanged glances, both of them narrowing their eyes.
"This MUST be Duo Maxwell I'm talking to." Came the calm response from the other end of the phone.
"Hey you're pretty good at this guessing game. Want to go for the grand prize and guess how you managed to piss me off so well today?" He answered casually.
"Oh I think I already know that. You can just consider it pay back for what you did to our computer systems. Thought you were soo funny didn't you? Well you certainly are paying for it now." Duo gave Heero a nervous look.
"Or should I say someone else is paying for it now." Heero knew that statement was going to cost this guy later. The same flash of anger from before crossed Duo's face. He balled his fist at his side, no longer looking at Heero.
"If you lay one hand on her, you'll seriously regret it." He warned, his voice low and threatening. The man laughed lightly again.
"And what are you going to do, lock me up? Do you really think that'll work?" He mocked, knowing that they were both Preventer's and that's as far as they were able to go. He continued to laugh at his joke.
"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of killing you. I mean I'd probably loose my job but that's alright. I've got other things I'm good at." Duo said with a hint of insanity in his voice. It was enough to make the man uncomfortable. Heero finally cut back into the conversation.
"I already told you I'd handle this. You're not needed." Heero said, glaring at Duo. Duo looked at him in shock. The man now chuckled lightly when Heero said that.
"What are you talking about? I thought..." Duo started but Heero cut him off.
"Get off the phone, Duo." Heero warned. He quickly received the same death glare Quatre got before. Heero considered that Duo could probably become quite a threat in spite of how angry he was right now. And he could tell Duo was considering the same thing from the look he was giving him. It even made Heero feel somewhat uncomfortable. That rarely happened. There was a moment of silence. Heero suddenly mouthed to him: "You're not helping her now." Duo nodded solemnly and turned off his phone and left again.
"Now as much fun as this is, I have some information I need to look up." Heero said, letting the guy know that they were the only two on the phone now.
"Alright, we'll meet you at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the east gate." The man informed him.
"Very well, you better bring them with you." Heero warned. The man laughed again. "You don't seem too worried about them. Especially the Vice Foreign Minister. I hear the two of you are engaged. Quite interesting. You don't need to be concerned about my part. You just be sure to give us all the information we need. Until then we'll be enjoying the ladies' company." He said, causing all sorts of questionable things to go though Heero's mind.
"Like Duo said, if you want to continue breathing, you won't do anything to them." He said, keeping his voice low so no one in the house could hear him.
"Just do your part. Do that and their safety if assured." And with that the conversation ended. Duo entered the kitchen again with more 'toys' from the basement. He started to load one of the guns. Heero picked up on of the grenades. Duo refused to look at him. Heero decided it was best for him to speak up first.
"I'm sorry about that." He started, then waited for a reply from Duo.
"You really aren't going to want to talk to me right now. I'm starting to get irrational." Duo said in a low tone, not looking up from what he was doing. Heero sighed to himself. He took a seat and started to help load their weapons.
"Is this going to be enough?" He asked Duo. He didn't get a response this time. Heero continued to wait. "So now you're not going to talk to me at all. That's fine." He said. Duo looked up at him finally.
"He said they would be enjoying their company. I can only guess what he meant by that." He mentioned, revealing that he had still been listening even when Heero thought he wasn't. He didn't respond at that point and just let the matter drop. Although bringing that phrase back to Heero's mind made him realize how angry he was as well. The idea of anyone hurting 'his' Relena made him just as irrational. He forced himself to focus on the task. He started loading the weapons faster. He remembered how they treated him when he was captured. He couldn't bare it if they did anything like that to her. Duo interrupted his thoughts again.
"Don't you have some information to get." He said, not looking up again.
"Hmm..." Heero stood up and headed for the living room where the computer was. He buted it up and located the Preventer's system. He had to hack into their private files in order to get the information. Quatre was now upstairs, cleaning up. Heero was glad he wasn't down there now. He knew most of the codes already so it wasn't so hard getting into the locked files. The ironic part was Hilde was the one who set up this security grid. They didn't even know they had the one person who was most equipped for hacking into this system.