Crash and Burn
Part um, 6? 7, maybe?
Author: Nyneve
"Life is like Chex. Except it gets soggy faster." There! Quote of the day for all of you! Mmmm. I like Life. Especially Cinnamon Life. But back to business (now that I've got you in a good mood). *deep breath* I know you're gonna hurt me for this, right? Especially Mina fans. But I figured, better tell the truth now instead of wait until the end when you'll all decide never to read my stories again. *another deep breath* Here goes…I've decided to kill off Mina. MEEP!!! *ducks heavy objects* Don't kill me! Just read! Don't own the anime. I'm gonna run now!
-Nyneve (pleasedon'tkillmepleasedon'tkillmepleasedon'tkillme)
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That one shot was a fluke. I was too overjoyed at actually being able to hit my target dead center that I lost my focus and couldn't hit another target. Heero managed to get his hand bandaged, but when he came back in to check on me, I almost shot him in the head. That was when he decided it was time for me to pick a vehicle.
"Vehicle?" I asked quizzically.
"You can drive, can't you? Don't expect us to chauffer you everywhere," he remarked, then motioned for me to follow him down to the garage.
"Wait a minute. You trust me enough to let me drive one of the professor's cars?" I was still shocked. For the first time, I was starting to feel as though I belonged, and wasn't just an annoying pest that had to hang around the lab.
"Is there a problem with that?" he asked, then led me over to a navy pickup, a white jeep, and a black convertible. "As far as I know, these aren't being used. Choose the least conspicuous one."
I frowned. I was going to pick the convertible, but considering it was still early spring, it would be kind of weird for someone to be driving one of those. Looking over the remaining two vehicles, I made my choice.
"I'll take the jeep. No one ever remembers white cars," I remarked, tossing my bag in the backseat and climbing in. Pulling out a garage door opener, I opened the door.
"Requesting permission for a test drive?" I smiled. Heero didn't. Instead, he just climbed in the passenger side and shut the door without a word.
"I'm taking that as a 'yes'," I snapped, then drove out into the sunshine. The canvas top was folded up in the back, and the warm weather felt great.
As I drove, I started to wonder things. Where was the professor getting her funding? Was she rich? How long had Heero and the others known her? For that matter, how long had they known each other?
"Heero? Can I ask you a question?" I asked, making a sharp left and driving towards the city.
"That depends. Ask me the question first, then I'll decide," he replied.
"How long have you been doing this? I mean, how long have you been an assassin for the professor?" I inquired.
"Two years officially. But I've been killing people forever," he remarked.
"But didn't you…"
"You don't have to work for the Professor to be a killer. Before she was in charge, I killed for someone else. Before I killed for them, I was killing for another," he answered, staring outside, away from me.
"But, I don't understand why? Why would you want to kill anyone?" I pressed on
Heero didn't say anything. He didn't look at me. I wondered if he could answer that question himself.
"Idiot!" Oh joy. The annoying little voice. "If Duo became an assassin because he was an orphan, there has to be a reason Heero did too! Maybe that's none of your business!"
I took a deep breath. As usual, the voice was right. I wondered if I was the only one who's little voice always seemed to say the wrong things at the wrong time.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that," I murmured. "But you've got to understand where I'm coming from. I think I trust all of you. I have to. But still, I'm scared. I don't want to do what you do."
"Good job Aino. That took guts," the voice commented. I almost smiled.
"If we're lucky, you won't have to," Heero said, snapping me back to reality. "We try not to kill if we don't have to. What happened at the Embassy couldn't be helped. We had to kill them."
I was tempted to say "Why?". But that was all I'd been saying ever since I got into this mess. I know people tell you to ask questions if you want answers, but I wasn't sure I wanted them answered.
"If you don't want to kill people, then you don't have to know why we work for the professor. But if you trust us as much as you do, you'll be better use to everyone," he said.
I glanced sideways at him. He was looking at me now. For what reason I could only guess. However, the way he said I would be use to everyone made me happy.
I smiled at him. "Thank you Heero. Better get back to the lab and check out with the professor."
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When we arrived back at the professor's, I was shocked to see the Professor waiting in the garage.
"Heero, I've been looking all over for you. We've got a Code 17," she said. Her normally calm face seemed nervous.
"How close?" Heero asked, forgetting about me and climbing out of the jeep.
"Thirty miles five minutes ago. Going 60 mph. They'll be here by seven," she replied. "I've managed to shut down all the computer systems, but there's something in Basement 7. I can't move it, and if they find it, all of us will be in grave danger."
"Not a surprise," Heero said. "Is anyone else here?"
"Trowa was just securing the backup schematics upstairs. I'm going to need one of you to go with Mina back to the school and one of you to stay here with me to make sure they don't get into Basement 7," the Professor replied, acknowledging me for the first time.
"What's going on? What's a Code 17?" I asked, feeling like an idiot.
The Professor and Heero looked at each other, then at me. "We can't tell you right now. We don't know if there's any spy probes around."
Just then Trowa came into the garage. "I've secured all of the schematics. What now? Do we just wait?"
If I didn't have an acute sense of trouble, I might've made a comment about how Trowa just said three whole sentences. However, I figured that wouldn't be appropriate during a Code 17, whatever the hell that was.
"Trowa, you and Mina go back to the school. Let the others know what's going on. It would be best if you took your time getting back though. And don't go directly to the school. If you feel like you're being followed, Trowa, get out, let Mina take over, and she'll come back and get you," the Professor instructed, then looked directly at me.
"Do you consider yourself a good actress?" she asked, looking hard at me.
"I played Tom Sawyer in my sixth grade school play," I replied. "I'll do my best."
"Mina, you understand that is very serious. If you get pulled over, if someone you don't know starts asking you questions, you know nothing. Right now, no one but us knows that you're working for me. They won't suspect a girl," the Professor said, then looked at the clock. It was 6:45.
"You two get going. Take Mina's car. They don't know what it looks like," Heero said.
Trowa gave him a nod of agreement, then climbed into the passenger seat. I took a deep breath, then put my foot on the gas pedal.
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The first five minutes of our flight was fine. My jeep was indistinguishable from all of the trucks, and cars, and SUVs that were the remainder of the rush-hour traffic.
"So, where should we go?" I asked Trowa, exiting off the freeway. The school was about five miles north still, but I decided to wait until 7:30 to start heading towards it.
He paused to think, then pointed off to the right. In the far distance, there was a bunch of lights. I turned on the next road to it.
"What's over there?" I questioned, glancing behind me to make sure I wasn't being followed.
"Shopping mall. If worse comes to worse, you can pretend you were going shopping," he explained.
"I get it. Not a hard story to defend," I agreed. "But let's just hope that…"
I froze. Were those headlights I saw behind me?
No, just my imagination. And besides, the area we were in wasn't very populated. It was forested, with a house here and there. The road was old and rough, but straight. I hadn't seen a fork in it since we'd turned onto it. Far behind me I could see the freeway.
"What is it?" Trowa asked, turning his head.
"Turn around! If they get close enough, they'll see you!" I cried. "Look in my purse, I have a makeup mirror in there. It should magnify it enough so we can see."
He picked up my purse from the floor, then held it up.
"It's two guys in a green van. I thought I saw them get on the freeway right after us," Trowa said.
"Do you want me to drop you off somewhere?" I asked, starting to sweat. Oh God, this wasn't happening.
"You'd better. See how far ahead of them you can get, then when they're out of sight, slow down. I'll jump out," he instructed.
"Wait! Where'll I find you again?" I cried. I could see my hands on the steering wheel were growing white in the sunset.
"See how long they follow you. Put on an act if they stop you. If they won't leave you alone afterwards, go to the shopping center like we planned. If you can't pick me up by morning, I'll find a different ride home," he said. "Now let's go."
I hit the accelerator and we took off. I had to admit I never knew a jeep could move that fast. Three minutes later, we were a good ways ahead of them. I couldn't see the light from their headlights anymore.
I slowed down, and Trowa jumped out. "Be careful!" I whispered.
"You too. Good luck," Trowa replied, then took off running into the woods.
I resumed my normal driving speed. Trying to act natural, I turned on the radio. I relaxed a bit. I could do this. This was what I was good at. Fooling people into thinking I was something I wasn't. I smiled, turned up the radio, and began to sing along.
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I didn't see the car for several more minutes. But soon enough, there they were, following me again. But I was calm, cool and collected now. Even if they stopped me, they would never know what I was doing.
The radio went to a commercial break, and I hit the SCAN button. Just then, I noticed something on the floor of the jeep. It was a silver chain, with a broken clasp. At the end of it was a silver cross. I recognized it as the one Trowa had been wearing.
As if Fate had planned some cruel joke, the car pulled up next to me and rolled down its window. A middle-aged man with auburn hair smiled at me.
"Excuse me Miss. We were wondering if you would pull over for a minute so we could ask you some questions," he said.
Show time. "Oh, sure. Up here, okay?" I said, pointing to an area where the tree line went away from the road.
The man nodded and sped up, the car parked at the spot. I stopped about fifteen feet behind it, and managed to impulsively shove the cross in my bag.
The man with the auburn hair stepped out of the passenger side, followed by an older, bald man with a wrinkled face and white mustache carrying a clipboard. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn't think from where.
"Evening Ma'am. We work for a science foundation, and we're searching for a Professor Trista Meioh. Now, we saw your vehicle leave Professor Meioh's laboratories, and we were wondering if you know where she is," the younger one asked.
"Kristen Mayo?" I asked, tilting my head as though I was trying to remember.
"Tris-ta Mei-oh," the older man repeated, then pulled a photograph from the clipboard. It was a photo of the Professor.
I took it from him, and studied it closely. She looked a little younger in the picture, but not much. It was a year or two old, I guessed. She was standing with five other men, all a lot older than her.
"Hm. Saw a woman like that in the grocery store once. Never seen the guys though," I replied, handing it back.
The older man sighed, but the younger one seemed determined to get as much info from me as possible.
"Well then, that's okay. Now then, do you know any of these boys?" he asked, handing me photographs of Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei. "They attend your school, our sources say."
"Hm…oh yeah! I know them!" I cried.
The two men looked at me joyfully.
"They got expelled about a year ago. Got caught with guns on school property," I said, handing the photos back.
At this, even the auburn-haired young man seemed disappointed.
"Very well then ma'am. We're sorry to have bothered you. But just for the record, can we have your name?" he asked.
I froze. Improvisation time. "Oh, Venus. Melody Venus."
"Well, thank you for your help Miss Venus. The Colonial Space Science Foundation thanks you for your help," the older man thanked. The two got back in their car, and drove off.
Sensing I wasn't quite out of the fire yet, I began to drive towards the shopping center like Trowa had advised. Every now and then I would notice the green van behind me, but when I did arrive at the shopping center, it turned around a drove off.
I sat in my jeep for ten solid minutes, just staring up at the sky. It was dark now, and cold. I pulled my jacket out of my bag, put it on, then got the canvas from the back and put it on.
Finally, I drove out of the parking lot and headed back towards the forest area. I drove slowly, and blared my music again, like I was sure Trowa had heard as he ran off.
About an hour and a half later, I thought I saw an animal up ahead on the road. However, when I approached it, it didn't run away. Then I realized it was Trowa.
I turned down the music and stopped the car. Then, overwhelmed with my relief at having gotten away from those two guys, I gave him a hug.
He seemed taken aback at first, but then patted my back. "So you got rid of them?"
I blushed, then let go. I waited for the little voice to make an evil, cynical remark, but it didn't come.
"Uh, yeah. Hey, I think you'll even be safer at school. I told them you were expelled a year ago, and they believed every word I said," I remarked.
Trowa gave me a little half-smile. "Seriously?"
I sniffed indignantly. "Playing Tom Sawyer in sixth grade was harder. I think we'd better get back to school though, now."
He nodded, then climbed in. "I'm proud of you Mina. I'm sure everyone else will be too."
Wow. Someone was proud of me. And it wasn't for getting a 4.0 GPA, or winning a medal in track, or anything like that. I smiled all the way back to school.
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Then Mina died. The end. APRIL FOOLS!!!! MINA'S SAFE!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! R+R+R!