Author's Note: The fourth chapter unfolds, and I promise, the much-anticipated reunion is close at hand. Now, esteemed reader, no more interruptions. ;-)

Iron Lung Serenade

Chapter 4 – Duck and Run

Wufei moved ahead to shield Sally as the three Preventers cautiously maneuvered their way through the dank and dripping halls of D'Abur's cave, fastened to that one light, that one hope that shimmered so elusively in the distance. The light grew stronger now and flickered. Sally bit her lip and felt cold dread shoot through her veins - foreign voices had also become clearer as they approached.

Heero pressed his back to the stone wall and motioned for the others to do the same. He swiftly and cautiously pulled out his revolver and scraped the metal barrel over the dark, wet stone. One of the men, attentive to the noise, laughed and stepped into their corridor.
"Harid?" he called out, expecting a familiar response. Puzzled, the guard took a few more steps toward Heero's position in the darkness. Deftly, Heero struck out from his corner and pressed the barrel of his gun to the guard's neck as he pinned the man's shoulders to the wall. Within seconds, Sally pressed her burqa to the guard's mouth to act as a sort of gag, while Wufei secured his rifle. Heero pressed his fingers into the man's throat, long enough to allow him to lose consciousness.

As the man slumped to the floor, Heero pulled off the guard's military cap and placed it on his own head, pulling the brim low over his eyes. He and Wufei cocked their guns simultaneously, and on Heero's signal, they appeared at the doorway of the room of unsuspecting revelers.

~

Relena lowered her head and allowed her limp, honey-blonde hair to fall over her face. Her wrists and ankles chafed at her constraints, and her mouth felt parched. Sivehn and his associates had since disappeared into the control room, to map out plans and deliver commands via satellite link to D'Abur's site. Relena wanted to scream for her helplessness, and could only bite her lip in frustration as she distantly heard Sivehn's booming voice somewhere down the corridor. The gun she brought with her had long since slipped out of her sleeve and clattered to the floor, and Sivehn had angrily summoned the newspaper boy to carry it away, sneering at Relena's intended treachery. Relena shut her eyes momentarily, sick with futility and despair. Suddenly, Relena remembered the comm. link that was clipped within her collar, and maneuvered her restraints to rest her chin on her collarbone, whispering words into the metal chip that, to her dismay, she found had never functioned properly at all.

"Are you praying Miss Relena?" a strained, familiar voice asked from behind. There was a sound of clicking heels as Relena's blood froze under the influence of shock. Turning her head slightly, Relena peered through her screen of honey-blonde hair that she did not have the capacity to push away, barely able to discern the features of the woman behind her. After a moment of hesitation, Relena whispered, in a voice soft and strung through with dread,

"Dorothy?"

The unidentified woman stepped forward briskly past Relena and stopped a few feet down the corridor. She wore a deep red ensemble, with two jeweled black high-heeled shoes glinting beneath the hem of her skirt. The woman then spun around swiftly to face Relena, wearing a falsely piteous expression and clasping her hands behind her back as her long, white-blonde hair swirled about her. Relena could clearly identify Dorothy, and as she opened her mouth to speak and question, Dorothy flew forward and put a finger to her lips, shaking her head. She took a step back and smirked at Relena.

"Oh, but to see you again Miss Relena! In all of your glory, at the very pinnacle of your power…" Dorothy curtsied and dipped her head low in a scornful bow. Relena found that she had lost the ability to speak.

"You want to know, perhaps, why I am here?" Dorothy shrugged one shoulder and smiled a secret little lopsided smile. Relena parted her lips and squinted in rage and disgust at the girlish woman who stood before her.

"You mean that you and Sivehn…"

"Yes, yes, and yes! You see, my dear princess, I have found where my true loyalties lie. Now, would you care for a glass of water Miss Relena? Your voice seems terribly cracked."

Relena set her teeth and glared at the smirking, mocking, black-heeled woman before her. She strained her wrists against their confines and hissed,

"At least let me go. I can't serve any purpose to you or Sivehn restrained like this."

Dorothy assumed an expression of mock-contemplation, and suddenly Sivehn's silhouette emerged from the shadows.

"I suppose you're right, Minister Peacecraft," he said, polishing his glasses with a cloth and glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "You have quite a mission before you."

Sivehn slipped an arm around Dorothy's waist and whispered for her to free the constraints. Dorothy did so, with resentment etched on her features.

"You know full well about the detonating sensor we've implanted," said Sivehn, with his eyes still focused on polishing the lens of his glasses, "And I trust that you won't try anything rash. We hear and see everything. Everything."

Relena stood from the chair shakily, and pressed her palm firmly to the tabletop.

"Give me your word now, Sivehn. Stop this now."

Sivehn's eyes snapped up, and he looked displeased. "Not until I see that you've carried out your task. Now I think we understand each other perfectly." Sivehn snapped his fingers, and a burly man appeared in the doorway of the control room. "Gareth will show you out."

And with that, Relena's arm was gripped roughly as she was pulled away from the table. Dorothy smiled and waved, even as Relena was pushed out the doorway and the door had slammed abruptly in her face.

~

     Three off-duty guards had been leaning casually on a natural rock shelf, with a decanter of liquor between them and three or four lanterns at their side. Their laughter was cut short as Heero and Wufei advanced with merciless looks in their eyes. Heero extended his arm and shot each of the men's guns out of their holsters one by one. Aiming carefully, he shot one of the guns again as it lay on the floor, and the ricochet effect caused it slide in the opposite direction toward Heero. He kicked it towards a startled Sally, who picked up the gun and glared at the guards, in spite of her shaking aim.

"Where is the exit?" demanded Wufei, accosting the guard closest to him. The guard swallowed once and motioned to the wall behind him. His hand dropped suddenly. The dark-skinned guard at his side, taking this as a signal, lowered his outstretched palms to swiftly reach for his fallen rifle.

Heero aimed and took shot, and Sally stifled a scream as she watched the man slide downwards, proceeded only by a trail of dark, glittering red. Wufei struck both of the remaining cowering guards firmly with the butt of his rifle as Sally pressed anxious fingers to the wall of the cave behind them, seeking a hidden spring or other secret passage.

Heero moved across the room to examine a control panel that had been hidden by the decanter of liquor. Sally soon gave up her pursuit to join him in his study of the row of illuminated buttons.

"Of course," she whispered, tapping the buttons in a fleeting, well-established pattern that she had committed to memory. She had seen D'Abur use such a sequence when she had been sent to retrieve the disk.

There was a rumbling of stone, followed by a sharp click. Wufei and Heero set their backs to the wall and pushed outward. A hinge had been revealed, and the stone obstruction slowly budged under the pressure of their combined force. As the opening widened, Heero was finally able to get out, and as Wufei followed, he slipped his hand back in to grope for Sally's. She reached for it gratefully, but just as soon as her fingers had brushed his, they were yanked back. Sally screamed for Wufei the instant contact was broken, and in his fury and shock Wufei violently pressed himself through the small opening, pointing his gun at nothing. The revived guard had snuffed out the lantern as soon as Wufei stepped foot on the stone floor, and secretly stood at the far end of the room, pressing the nozzle of his gun against Sally's temple. Wufei remembered his flashlight, and with smooth swift movements, he managed to point it straight ahead, highlight the vaguely surprised face of Sally's assailant, and fire his gun at the same circle of shifty, yellowed light. Sally, upon prying herself loose, immediately dropped to the floor like Wufei to avoid the onslaught of ricocheted bullets. Wufei lifted himself up on elbow, and stared ahead at the dusty darkness.

"Sally?" he said experimentally, his voice inevitably choked-up. When he had seen her drop to the floor like that…

"Wufei," affirmed a small, weak voice at the opposite end of the room. Wufei immediately raised himself, and strode in the direction of her sound. He knelt to the ground and reached out, touching her hair. He slid his hands down and gripped her shoulders, causing her to stand up with him. There was blood in her hair and across her cheeks and neck. Was it hers? Sally looked up at his silhouette, and slowly leant forward, pressing her cheek against his chest and simply closing her eyes. Wufei looked down uncertainly and heard her small gasps of horror start to subside. Wanting equally to hold her close and push her away, Wufei quietly suffered the tightness and anxiety he had always felt around her. Only when Heero's shadow blocked the weak light of the cave exit did he stir, grip Sally's arm, and lead her to safety.

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Finally, the prologue/explanation is coming to a close, and the real story shall begin. Next chapter: the much-awaited 'reunion'!