Disclaimer: Neither Gundam Wing nor Sailor Moon are mine. Need I elaborate? ^^
Chapter 11: A Bleak Three Hours
The second hand of the clock ticked loudly, drowning out all other thoughts as she struggled to bite back tears. The phone was still in her hand as she stared dazedly at Hiiro's prone form.
The dial tone brought her out of her reverie and she started. Slowly, she hung up and leaned against the wall, sliding down, never taking her eyes off of Hiiro. "Why did you have to go and get yourself shot?" She blinked hard and finally got up and grabbed some towels from the bathroom at one end of the short hallway.
Tentatively, she draped them over his chest and applied pressure over the plastic and the wound. Biting her lip at the spreading blood, she took two more, folded them into quarters and tried again.
Volatile crimson spread and flowered on pristine white.
…………………..
"Where the hell do they think they're going?" Wufei yelled at nobody in particular. Trowa rolled his eyes. He hated his partner's habit of loosing his cool when stressed out.
"Do I look like I know?"
Wufei shot him a nasty look for the barb. "Well, what're you doing just standing there? We need to get a chopper! NOW!"
Trowa rolled his eyes again and started sprinting out of the room, Wufei hot on his trail. "Keep your pants on, sheesh."
…………………
Artemis leaned back in his seat and strapped himself in, preparing himself for a long ride. Not five minutes later, the land crew proclaimed the tank full and signaled for them to get going. Five more minutes later, he was staring blankly at the pre-dawn blue of the sky and wondering if, at the end of the day, Hiiro Yui would still be alive.
Now that he had time to reflect upon the situation, Artemis had to admit that had Usagi not been involved, he wouldn't have given a damn about Hiiro Yui. In fact, he probably would have laughed. HA indeed! The FBI was now killing off its own members? What a hoot.
Because she had insisted to be notified the instant Usagi was found again, Usagi's financial backbone, as he liked to call her, was coming along for the ride. He had protested, valiantly, but there was no arguing with her. So despite the risks, she was coming with or without his consent.
"Are you nervous?" Ami glanced back from her co-pilot seat at the two of them and smiled.
The woman beside him looked troubled.
Artemis tried to look nonchalant. "Only for Usagi."
The woman sighed and shook her head at him sadly. He was suddenly suspicious.
"Were you … did you know Hiiro Yui?"
She looked up quickly before looking away. "No … yes."
Artemis frowned deeply and looked out the window again. Ami turned back so that she was facing the front again.
He hated Hiiro Yui and Hiiro Yui probably hated him too. But once Usagi got involved … then it got tricky. But Usagi had better not be in love with him or be attached to him in any way. Because if she were…
He would shoot Yui whether he needed to be or not.
…………………
She had been given broad discretionary powers. It all boiled down to stopping the blood flow from his body and keeping the oxygen in it. As long as she did this, he was okay. Didn't matter how.
Luckily, Hiiro had stopped soaking towels through and through. She was tired but unwilling to leave his side and continued to apply pressure. Usagi checked his breathing and pulse periodically and though both rates were far more sluggish than the norm, he was not in desperate need of oxygen. Hiiro was still precariously hanging off of the cliff; one wrong move could start the blood flow again or cut off the air to the rest of his body and the six o'clock news would be screaming about the murder of Agent Hiiro Yui. More than likely, all fingers would point to her as the culprit.
The tears that she had been too busy to remember came now, slowly but surely.
"Don't go, Hiiro. I'll do anything … I'll-" She sniffled and brush away the tears on her cheeks. "I'll tell you my past if you want me to." She sighed and adjusted her position so that she was leaning onto the wall next to him.
"I was … so normal before. I had a younger brother, Shingo … he was…" She brushed away more tears. "He was four years younger and … and our parents adored both of us. We lived in a well-to-do neighborhood in Chicago with a school system second only to one in Sacramento. Sammy and I both lived a very … sheltered life." She gave up on brushing the tears away.
"Dad worked at the school and had access to everything. I wasn't really the social butterfly … far from that, actually. Then Esmeraude, the prettiest and most popular girl at school invited me into her little posse. With a few requirements, of course. I mean … nobody gets into the most popular crowd in school for nothing, right? But it was difficult to do the tasks at first. Especially after I found out about her connections to the city's most volatile and deadly gang.
"I had to lie, to cheat, to steal … However, as time progressed, it became easier and easier to look my parents in the eye and lie to them and to sneak out for the night.
"The tasks were all simple: change a grade from a D to an A, steal a little bit of bourbon from the cabinet – Mom worked as a flight attendant and would take the little samples of wine they had. It was all good and well until Esmeraude demanded more. She wanted revenge on the school. She found a recipe for a bomb and wanted me to plant it in Ms. Zimmerman – our science teacher's – room.
"I didn't want to do it so I refused her. And that day … after I got home from school … my family was gone. A note told me they were dead. I guess they were because I never saw them again. But it would have been impossible to get anything to stick on smart, pretty, athletic Esmeraude with her politician father and stay at home mother. She probably had somebody else to do her dirty work.
"I felt so stupid, weak, foolish. I hated myself. I was out on the streets, living in shelters when the weather got too cold and staying in my car when it was okay. Artemis found me. Promised me revenge and promised me that I would never be weak again.
She paused to sniffle and check his breathing again.
"Esmeraude … a few years back Art found a file on her. She was homeless, living in the streets of D.C., constantly either stoned or drunk. I suppose … I suppose in the end, people always get what they deserve…"
She trailed off and pondered the last thought. Her eyes were dry and the tears were mere streaks down her cheeks by now.
Usagi sighed and stared down at Hiiro's pale face, glad to note that the crimson on the towel hadn't spread much further during her storytelling.
She pecked him on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder, half leaning on it and half leaning against the wall.
"I love you, Hiiro. I'll do anything … just … don't go…"
…………………
"We found a call traced from Calais to Innocence. That's all we know. Head towards Calais and the rest of the spying will have to be done by car or on foot."
Wufei cursed as Trowa calmly replied, "Roger that. Barton out."
"I can't believe they can't trace a simple little call. This is child's play!"
"Shut up, Wufei. Innocence is a highly guarded organization. If Une says she can't trace the call then nobody can."
"Except Innocence," Wufei sulked.
"I'd like to see you talk them into doing that." Trowa sighed and glanced over at his co-pilot. "That is, if you can get past Innocence's high security gates."
Wufei humphed and looked out the window.
"Ever wonder why nobody can get into Innocence?"
"No."
Trowa ignored the answer. "Because it's damn near impossible."
"Why couldn't Artemis just ride a commercial plane? Make things easier for us."
Trowa laughed out loud. "Yeah, right. So we can call the plane down and force it to land in Maine. And then we can ask Artemis to wait for us to get over there to arrest him, right? He's not an idiot, Wufei."
"And neither am I."
"I never said you were," Trowa retorted smoothly.
Wufei sighed and admitted that he had lost the battle. "How much longer until we reach Calais?"
"Two and a half hours."
…………………
Usagi jerked awake at the sound of the phone ringing. She carefully got up and grabbed the phone from its cradle.
"Usagi? We're in Calais. Where are you?" Artemis's voice shouted in her ear. In the background, she could hear the sound of blades slicing air as the helicopter's propeller gradually slowed to a stop.
She quickly recited the address and almost smiled in relief when Artemis informed her that they'd be there within the half-hour. Returning the phone to its proper position, she glanced back down at Hiiro.
Usagi knelt beside him and tried to find his pulse. When she did, it was slow and lethargic. Hiiro was much paler than he was two hours ago.
Her doubts began to mount.
…………………
"Can you see anything?"
"Stop nagging," he shot back tiredly as he peered through the binoculars. "I see the helicopter."
"Well? Zoom in, zoom in!" Wufei rolled his eyes, pacing behind Trowa as the man focused in on the people exiting the helicopter, noting each person as he or she stepped out.
The pilot, unidentified female doctor, Artemis…"
"Is that it? Does the doctor look familiar? Damn it, Barton! Hand over the binoculars!" Wufei was getting more and more frustrated as Trowa refused to utter another word.
The binoculars fell from his hands with a clatter as Wufei swooped down to grab them, shooting Trowa a nasty look as he dusted them off and adjusted them to focus in on the crowd now outside of the chopper and hailing a taxi.
"My God!"
The binoculars dropped a second time and broke.
Trowa remained silent.
"What the hell is Relena Darlian doing here with Artemis?!"
…………………
Another cliffhanger. No surprise there. This was written quite a while back, around the middle of March. In fact, GM was officially done the first weekend of April but … shrugs. Recently re-read Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes). It's … touching, definitely. Has a few questionable parts but the entire idea and … tone … was very emotional. I don't know why I'm talking about this but…It's like my Les Miserables craze a while back. And the Tale of Two Cities craze and… Anyhow, my life has been a bit chaotic lately but, as always, thanks for reading. ^^ Yours, Angel.
Angel: Thanks! Here's the next chapter.
Angellus Lee: Heh … moi? The best? Is this soon enough? ^^
Ishtar: AHH!! Aloha? Lilo and Stitch … ~sniff~ That was a good movie (just watched it ^^;;;). Heh. And I'll do it again and again and again … but there's more! :D
Obsessed: Don't worry. There'll be plenty more cliffhangers. ^^ At least … I think they are…
Crazygurl70: Lol. ~fans her~ You pass out a lot, don't you? ^^ Every day is a bit much … how 'bout every other third day? ^^
Rheia: ~pokes Hiiro~ Nope. Hiiro died. ^^;;; Just kidding.
_hot_chick_1231: Thank you! I completely agree! My chapters are long enough. Lol. ^^;;; I'm glad it carried over nicely – Artemis's protection over Usagi. Thanks for the review! ^^
Serena Yuy: Lol. Well … this once that you're prepared it actually turned out okay! Usagi did say she loved him. ^^;;; Of course … the fact that there are about nine more chapters says a lot about the usefulness of that. ^^ Thanks for the review!
E-mail: angelight97@yahoo.com
