Chapter Nineteen
Heero looked at Wufei as if he had not fully understood what the Chinese man had said. Then, as if he had suddenly acknowledged Wufei's words, Heero's gaze moved to focus on Milliardo.
"Go…you've got to go to her…" said Milliardo understanding Heero's feelings.
"Where is she?" finally managed to say Heero.
Wufei explained Heero the way he had to follow and he started walking to the door when he stopped like if he had suddenly remembered something.
"What happens if you find Dr van der Veert?" the Japanese man asked.
"We'll make sure he does not escape…at all costs…" replied Milliardo very determined not to let the man that had cost the life of his sister's unborn baby get away once again.
Hearing this, Heero turned around and started running towards where his wife was.
Wufei, without saying anything, started walking to the laboratory's entry. Everyone, of course, followed him without asking any question.
They entered the laboratory knowing that they could find anything and anyone there. All four men were holding tightly to their rifles. Even though they had prepared themselves for anything, what they saw inside the laboratory was too sickening for words.
In perfect display, there were huge glass jars containing the results from Dr van der Veert's genetic experiments. He had obviously tried numerous times to clone Heero with the genetic material he had kept from when they had 're-trained' him.
"Guys, take a look at this!!" Quatre suddenly shouted. The other three men looked through a glass pane to see at least fifty mobile dolls in perfect formation waiting to be used. By the looks of them, they were fully armed. Not only this, but next to them, there was a mobile dolls' manufacturing chain.
Wufei started filming everything so they gathered as much evidence as possible. They only had to find the responsible for all this madness. Unfortunately, Dr Pieter van der Veert, was nowhere to be seen.
When Heero found the room where Relena was, she was really close to her limit. The lack of a full gravity made things even more difficult since there wasn't the extra push that gravity gave so Relena had to make an even grater effort with the pushing.
Sally was beginning to get worried. Relena would not last too long without some kind of anaesthesia, Duo was now constantly looking at the ceiling since he found everything altogether too gross to keep looking at what was going on.
"Come on baby…one more push…I can see the head now…you've got to be this brave only for a little while…" said Sally not really knowing if her words of encouragement were really helping.
"Relena, I'm here…I'm sorry it took us so long…" Heero said as he entered the room.
"Oh…thank goodness…" said Duo seeing his best friend.
Relena, too tired to speak, just turned her head to look at him and gave him the smallest of the smiles. Heero was terrified, she looked so weak…this was inhuman...no one deserved to give birth in those conditions.
"I'll take over here…" said Heero relieving Duo from his task. Just at the same time yet another contraction hit Relena and the girl started pushing again.
"I'll go and help the guys then…" said taking his radio to call Milliardo to ask him where they were. He looked back and smiled seeing Heero and Relena finally reunited.
With Duo having left the room, Heero and Sally refocused their attention on Relena. The American-Chinese doctor was really worried. The girl was just too exhausted and Sally did not think she would cope with much more.
Besides this, Sally had kept checking Relena's pulse and it was now getting dangerously slow. Relena's usual rosy complexion, was now as white as the sheets from the bed where she was laying. That was definitely not good taking in consideration she should be deeply blushed due to the tremendous effort she was making.
Heero kept brushing the now wet blond locks away from his wife's sweated face. Sally was amazed seeing the amount of tenderness Heero was showing. Maybe he had not expressed it with words but, Sally was sure that Heero loved his wife deeply.
Relena was now pushing again, the baby's head was now almost completely out. One more push and its little body would finally come out.
Sally was about to ask Relena for another push when she realised that the girl was drifting in and out consciousness. Sally, knowing that she did not have any option, started pulling the baby out herself trying to be as careful as possible not to damage neither Relena nor the baby.
As soon as the baby's body was out, Sally realised what was wrong. An abnormal amount of blood followed the baby. Relena, more than likely, had some kind of internal haemorrhage. Sally now recognised all the symptoms, Relena was cold, she was too white and her pulse was faint. She was suffering a shock and Sally knew that, unless Relena got to a hospital really soon, she would not make it.
Sally laid the baby carefully on the bed next to Relena. It was a boy. A beautiful baby boy. Sally checked him thoroughly and found nothing wrong with him. She lifted him and slapped his little bum. The baby started crying energetically. He was perfectly healthy. Sally grabbed one of the pillows and, removing the pillowcase, wrapped the baby with it.
"Heero, Relena, you've got a beautiful baby boy…" said Sally hoping that the news would help Relena to stay conscious.
"Relena?" said Heero seeing his wife's lack of reaction. Then he realised that Relena was unconscious.
"RELENA!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?!?" shouted Heero.
"Heero, we need to get her to a hospital soon…she's got an internal haemorrhage…" said Sally still holding the baby.
"CAN'T YOU DO SOMETHING? YOU'RE A DOCTOR FOR PITY'S SAKE!!" Heero shouted getting almost mad with the worry.
"I can't…I've got nothing to give her…I've lost my bag…we need to get her to the shipper now…" said Sally feeling so bad she could have cried.
Hearing this, Heero took Relena in his arms not caring about the blood that was now staining the space suit he was still wearing. With his wife secured in his arms and knowing that Sally followed him closely with his baby son, Heero started walking towards the shipper.
Duo was walking to where the other guys were. He had almost made it to the laboratory when Duo saw a group of four people sneaking out one of the rooms. At first Duo thought it was yet another group of guards but, taking a second look, he recognized one of them.
The realisation hit home almost instantly. It was that fucking bastard. The one that had started all this mayhem: Dr Pieter van der Veert himself.
Duo, not thinking twice and grabbing one of the rifles he had stored on his back, ran behind the group and, without giving them time to turn around, fired three sleeping darts knocking out the three guards that accompanied the doctor.
"Right, now, you better stop right there. I may actually spare your life…" said Duo with his darkest voice.
"Ah…you're one of Heero's friends, aren't you?" asked the doctor turning around and without waiting for a reply, added "Well…and what do you think you're going to do…are you going to shoot me with those sleeping darts?".
"That's an idea…" said Duo shooting him, then, something strange happened. The doctor did not even wince when the dart pierced his left shoulder and he did not dropped unconscious like every one of the guards they had shot before.
"Don't you realise? I've got so many bionic parts that no matter how much anaesthesia you gave me, you won't knock me out…on the contrary, you're very much human…" said the doctor pulling out a gun. He was ready to shoot him when, in a quick move, Duo got the other rifle and, started shooting.
When the first bullets hit him, the doctor looked almost surprised. Duo, just for safety, did not stop after the first three shots. He kept firing till the rifle ran out of ammo.
"DUO!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" shouted Quatre that, like the rest, had come out the laboratory because of the shooting.
"Is that…??" started asking Trowa. Millardo was just too happy to see that bastard dead to say anything.
"Yes Trowa, it's HIM, and Quatre…technically, he was already dead…I cannot be processed for the death of a dead person, can I?" said Duo looking at everybody wickedly.
"For once, you're right there…in any case, I don't have any intention of reporting you…I have not seen you shooting him anyway…" said Wufei confirming Duo's theory.
"Well, you're the preventer here…if you say you've seen nothing, we'll all say the same…" said Quatre looking around himself to see Milliardo's and Trowa's nods of agreement.
Suddenly, something moved behind Duo, then Trowa, with a swift move, grabbed his rifle, the one with real ammunition, and shot three more times at the doctor.
"Now I can say again I have never failed a mission…" said Trowa with what looked dangerously like a smile.
"Trowa…careful there, you may end up being better than me at making jokes!" said Duo almost laughing.
"I don't want to ruin your fun but I rather get to my sister now…" said Milliardo reminding everyone what they were supposed to do there.
"You're right…this time though, this sucker is not going to go anywhere…this is just in case all those shots aren't enough…" said Wufei tying Dr Pieter van der Veert.
They were about to start walking when Quatre saw a red light starting to blink coming from the wristwatch that the doctor was wearing.
"Guys…what is this?" asked Quatre pointing at the light. Then, before anyone could speak, a female electronic voice announced something that made everyone stare at each other in disbelief.
'AUTODESTRUCTION PROCEDURE ACTIVATED. THIS SATELLITE WILL DESTROY ITSELF IN FIVE MINUTES'.
END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN