Count Down...
"This must be the party of the century, as far as New Years Eve goes. Relena must have invited everyone in the system."
Duo picked up a champagne glass and followed Quatre to the lobby level of the mansion. Glancing around, he caught a glimpse of Heero closely guarding the Foreign Minister.
"He doesn't need to be up her butt twenty four -seven."
As much as you would like to believe it, the peace of the nation has not come to everyone. There still might be some crazy assassin out there that could take a shot at her."
"Or you Quat. You're pretty high up on the committee too and I don't see..."
04 stopped him and pointed to the balconies where men where standing with earpieces. Raising an eyebrow, he moved on to another room of the mansion. Grinning, Dup sipped at his drink and moved on cringing. Non-Alcoholic- figured. Placing it down, 02 looked to the large grandfather clock. Two hours to midnight...plenty of time until his big moment with Hildi.
"What are you daydreaming about, Maxwell?"
Wufei nudged Duo awake, Trowa not far behind.
"Nothing."
"A whole lot of nothing, can mean big thins for you Duo," remarked Trowa before taking a sip. He too, cringed at the taste.
"Gentlemen," came a voice from behind them. 01 had joined their private party.
"Good to see you, Yuy," Wufei greeted.
"Planning on an exciting evening?"
"Duo!"
Trowa ignored his comrade's rude comment and looked around for something to remove the vulgar taste from his mouth.
"If you're referring to the New Years kisses don't expect much. Sorry to ruin your year."
Shaking his head Duo looked past his hopeless friend to the lost maiden in the doorway. A crystal blue dress draped over her angelic form, wings fastened tightly to the back. All the girls' dresses required these to fit the new years theme: Angles for the Future.
" If you'll excuse me boys, I have a date."
With a devilish smile beaming, he sneaked away to her side.
"How do he do it?" they thought.
"Happy New Year."
"Duo! I've been looking for you. You're not going to back out on my kiss this year are you?"
"Not a chance."
Pulling her close, the two moved out onto the dance floor. Just then, a servant raced over to Heero.
"Mr. Yuy, Miss Relena needs a word with you in the upstairs office."
"Of course." Without word, he made his way up towards the study.
"So much for peace."
"Relena...what's wrong?"
"We need to secure the guests and if need be not panic them."
"About what?"
Closing the door behind him, he moved to the other side of her desk.
"There are three terrorists from Oz on the property. They have placed a bomb somewhere on the house and it's set to go off at midnight. If we try to evacuate anyone, they'll set the bomb off early.
He words shook, almost defeated. Heero placed a hand under her chin.
"I'll talk care of this. Tell no one, stay calm. Pretend you never heard anything."
"Heero you'll get hurt, I know it. I don't want you risking you or your friend's safety. I can have a bomb squad here in twenty minutes."
"No. They'll take you out long before then. Let us do what we were trained to. This will all be solved by midnight, just keep everything as normal as possible."
Gently, he kissed her on the forehead. They brought their heads together in a short tender moment.
"You'll owe me later."
"Nice office, Heero. Can we hurry this along it's getting close to next year."
"Sorry but if you want to see next year you'll have to deal with the broom closet and listen up."
It was then he told them everything.
"What do they think they'll prove? The war is over and no one supports them anymore."
Wufei leaned against a sink on the wall of the small broom closet.
"They must believe that Relena's brainwashing the public. Get rid of the problem that defeated them and there's a chance OZ could resurface. It's just a strange twist of fate that the five of us were here also."
Trowa made a good point and supported it splendidly per-usual.
"What are our assignments?"
Quatre rose to the occasion, as did the others.
"I'm going to stake out the cherry tree in the side garden. I'll take my laptop and our five-way hook up. Quat, Trowa, Chang; you'll all go off after those three bastards. As for you..."
"Let me guess...bomb duty."
"Your best subject. I can locate it; you just have to disarm it. Not hard right?"
"No, but if I screw up it's only my fault. I'll have to hear about it when I snip the wrong wire."
Quietly the boys walked out back to the party and separated.
One hour and thirty minutes to midnight...
The party moved on, no one realizing the absence of five of its members. One of which looked of the party from the tree outside. He watched as Relena strolled along greeting guests casually as told. Soon he had snapped back to his computer screen, checking everyone's stats.
"Trowa report."
"I'm following someone. He seems to be sneaking around. . I'll check back with more later."
"Wufei?"
"Nothing. I've searched the entire North entrance. I'm moving south."
"I think we're only looking for two now." Quatre voice just filled the airway. "I just found one of them dead. He must have been killed by his comrades for backing down."
"All right. You and Wufei head back to the party. Report what we have to Relena. This should be over soon."
"What about me?" Duo chimed, sounding very annoyed. "I haven't found a damn sign of a bomb anywhere, have you?"
"It's not picking up. It has to be a mess of plastic explosives. Keep looking, I'll send updates."
"Sure."
Setting his hand down from his ear, 02 brought his binoculars back up. These guys were good, he'd give them that, but he was better. Below him he could hear the rustling of feet. A brief glimpse confirmed it was 03 following another figure. Over his radio, he could hear Quatre and Wufei re-entering the party.
"Miss Relena, could we have a word?" "Of course. Please excuse me ladies." She motioned for the two to follow her upstairs. Heero watched the trio head upstairs to the second half of the mansion. Looking down at his watch he could hardly believe the time. Forty-five minutes to midnight...
"What's your position?" asked the soldier hiding in the bushes.
"I'm at check point alpha and waiting for my target to get into position. Wait! The three have entered the study. I'm just waiting for a clean shot."
"Make sure you don't miss. We need the money."
"Why? Who paid you?"
Quickly, the soldier turned around realizing he was no longer alone.
"It was a huge mistake following me boy."
"I've made worse. Give yourself up and Miss Relena might spare you for trying to assassinated her."
Manically, the man laughed at Trowa, pulling out his gun.
"Who said anything about Relena Dorlain. We have more important fish to fry then that rich bitch. She can go up with the bomb in the bell tower along with the dumb ass I sent up there with it as a sniper."
Just then, Heero's voice filled Trowa's earpiece.
"Quatre and Wufei have just begun their meeting."
"Winner's in place. Just as planned."
"QUATRE GET OUT OF THERE!"
But it was no use; his earpiece was shut off. Acting fast he kicked the gun out of the mans hand. He threw a punch at 03, but missed as Trowa ducked and tripped the man. He fell to the ground hard and was pinned by his opponent. Duo heard the entire conversation and began to run to the bell tower on the west side. He ran past quests on the patio and leaped to the garden below. He didn't bother following the shrub maze like the others but instead climbed through them. Finally, he reached the doorway, to the tower, realizing, what a hike to the top it was.
"I can't stop now. I like Quatre and the others alive."
Without haste, he made his way up the stairs.
"Why Quatre?"
"He's one of the richest deals out there. We kill him and his family pays big bucks to catch the jerk who did it. I drag in the scorched body of the kid in the bell tower dead and walk away a millionaire. As for you," he said as he jammed a knife into Trowa's hip, "you're not walking away from anything."
"Neither are you..."
Pulling the knife out, he proceeded in forcing it across the man's throat. Blood spilled to rapidly for anyone to stop. Trowa fell to his side applying as much hand pressure as possible to his wound. He couldn't stand on his own, but needed to tell the others about the tower.
"Heero? Do you copy?"
"What's going on?"
"There's a sniper in the bell tower along with the bomb. It's all a huge set up to kill Quatre!" His words were forced through great pain. Heero knew something was wrong. "Trowa, are you all right? I'm coming to your position. It seems Duo's headed in that direction anyways." "I hope he makes it..." Looking at his now blood stained watch he could just make out the time. Ten minutes to midnight...
Duo climbed faster than he thought possible. Only three more flights...
Two...
One...
He arrived at the platform door and quietly opened it. On the far side was a man aiming carefully at the mansion. Not waiting another moment, he changed at the guy pushing him aside just as his gun went off. Glass shattered as the bullet came through the window of the window of the office. Quatre fell from the chair to the floor, Wufei rushing to his side.
"Quatre!"
Blood spilled to the floor, but his hand came up to his shoulder to stop it.
"Don't worry it was a clean shot. Lucky for me, my shooter had bad aim."
"Come, will get you to my chambers. I'll have my doctor look at your shoulder."
Duo watched as the three left the room. With great anger in his eyes, he turned to look upon the shooter, whom now was advancing on him. In martial arts style he landed a kick right into the man's jaw sending him back unconscious.
"Don't fuck with the God of Death." Suddenly his watch beeped.
One minute...
Looking around he saw a wire attached to the bell ringer. All he had to do was cut it and the trigger would be shut off. Sighing at how stupid people could be, he pulled out his pocketknife and sliced the wire. Just then, the screen on the bomb began to count down from thirty seconds.
"A back up system!?"
Panicked he began to pry the faceplate off the bomb revealing a mess of wires.
" Shit! Which one?! Blue, Red, VIOLET!!"
Inside the people at the party began to count down to midnight.
"Twelve..."
"Eleven..."
"Ten..."
"This one?"
"Nine..."
"Maxwell what are you doing?!"
"Eight..."
"Maybe the brown one...?"
"Seven..."
"Just pick one!"
"Six..."
"It isn't that simple Yuy I could blow this place..."
"Five..."
"...To kingdom come."
"Four..."
"Come on...!"
"Three..."
"Damn it!"
"Two!!"
"Green." Snip
"One...
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"
The band perked up playing the New Year's tune. Duo, however, stayed as he was until Heero's words brought him back to reality.
"Good job, Maxwell. I'll see you inside."
"Hilde."
The band began to play the song again as 02 walked in the door. He scooped everywhere, soon finding his love hugging Sally Po. He raced to be besides her taking her into his arms.
"I thought you choked at the last moment."
"Never. It's too dangerous that way."
Leaning in, the two kissed passionately receiving some cheers and many stares.
At around one in the morning, the quests all went home, not noticing the police entering through the back. The men's bodies were taken away. Inside, the group gathered around the large guest bed where Trowa lied. Hildi had drifted asleep in Duo's arms while the others tried hard to stay awake.
"One hell of a party," Duo said as he stroked Hildi's bangs from her face.
"Well I hope not to have one like it again."
"It's over now and everyone's all right. That's what's important."
Wufei took a seat at the end of Trowa's bed.
"Relena, could I speak to you a minute outside?"
"Of course, Heero."
The two left the room, all eyes on them.
"That sly dog..." Duo added as the door closed.
"I still owe you, Heero," she said as she stepped into the moonlight.
Softly he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. Lowering his head, he stole a kiss from her.
"I've been paid," he whispered.
Smiling, he let her thoughts. He did care about her; in fact Heero Yuy might even be in love. No, he was, as was she.
"Happy New Year," she whispered.
End Transmission.
"This must be the party of the century, as far as New Years Eve goes. Relena must have invited everyone in the system."
Duo picked up a champagne glass and followed Quatre to the lobby level of the mansion. Glancing around, he caught a glimpse of Heero closely guarding the Foreign Minister.
"He doesn't need to be up her butt twenty four -seven."
As much as you would like to believe it, the peace of the nation has not come to everyone. There still might be some crazy assassin out there that could take a shot at her."
"Or you Quat. You're pretty high up on the committee too and I don't see..."
04 stopped him and pointed to the balconies where men where standing with earpieces. Raising an eyebrow, he moved on to another room of the mansion. Grinning, Dup sipped at his drink and moved on cringing. Non-Alcoholic- figured. Placing it down, 02 looked to the large grandfather clock. Two hours to midnight...plenty of time until his big moment with Hildi.
"What are you daydreaming about, Maxwell?"
Wufei nudged Duo awake, Trowa not far behind.
"Nothing."
"A whole lot of nothing, can mean big thins for you Duo," remarked Trowa before taking a sip. He too, cringed at the taste.
"Gentlemen," came a voice from behind them. 01 had joined their private party.
"Good to see you, Yuy," Wufei greeted.
"Planning on an exciting evening?"
"Duo!"
Trowa ignored his comrade's rude comment and looked around for something to remove the vulgar taste from his mouth.
"If you're referring to the New Years kisses don't expect much. Sorry to ruin your year."
Shaking his head Duo looked past his hopeless friend to the lost maiden in the doorway. A crystal blue dress draped over her angelic form, wings fastened tightly to the back. All the girls' dresses required these to fit the new years theme: Angles for the Future.
" If you'll excuse me boys, I have a date."
With a devilish smile beaming, he sneaked away to her side.
"How do he do it?" they thought.
"Happy New Year."
"Duo! I've been looking for you. You're not going to back out on my kiss this year are you?"
"Not a chance."
Pulling her close, the two moved out onto the dance floor. Just then, a servant raced over to Heero.
"Mr. Yuy, Miss Relena needs a word with you in the upstairs office."
"Of course." Without word, he made his way up towards the study.
"So much for peace."
"Relena...what's wrong?"
"We need to secure the guests and if need be not panic them."
"About what?"
Closing the door behind him, he moved to the other side of her desk.
"There are three terrorists from Oz on the property. They have placed a bomb somewhere on the house and it's set to go off at midnight. If we try to evacuate anyone, they'll set the bomb off early.
He words shook, almost defeated. Heero placed a hand under her chin.
"I'll talk care of this. Tell no one, stay calm. Pretend you never heard anything."
"Heero you'll get hurt, I know it. I don't want you risking you or your friend's safety. I can have a bomb squad here in twenty minutes."
"No. They'll take you out long before then. Let us do what we were trained to. This will all be solved by midnight, just keep everything as normal as possible."
Gently, he kissed her on the forehead. They brought their heads together in a short tender moment.
"You'll owe me later."
"Nice office, Heero. Can we hurry this along it's getting close to next year."
"Sorry but if you want to see next year you'll have to deal with the broom closet and listen up."
It was then he told them everything.
"What do they think they'll prove? The war is over and no one supports them anymore."
Wufei leaned against a sink on the wall of the small broom closet.
"They must believe that Relena's brainwashing the public. Get rid of the problem that defeated them and there's a chance OZ could resurface. It's just a strange twist of fate that the five of us were here also."
Trowa made a good point and supported it splendidly per-usual.
"What are our assignments?"
Quatre rose to the occasion, as did the others.
"I'm going to stake out the cherry tree in the side garden. I'll take my laptop and our five-way hook up. Quat, Trowa, Chang; you'll all go off after those three bastards. As for you..."
"Let me guess...bomb duty."
"Your best subject. I can locate it; you just have to disarm it. Not hard right?"
"No, but if I screw up it's only my fault. I'll have to hear about it when I snip the wrong wire."
Quietly the boys walked out back to the party and separated.
One hour and thirty minutes to midnight...
The party moved on, no one realizing the absence of five of its members. One of which looked of the party from the tree outside. He watched as Relena strolled along greeting guests casually as told. Soon he had snapped back to his computer screen, checking everyone's stats.
"Trowa report."
"I'm following someone. He seems to be sneaking around. . I'll check back with more later."
"Wufei?"
"Nothing. I've searched the entire North entrance. I'm moving south."
"I think we're only looking for two now." Quatre voice just filled the airway. "I just found one of them dead. He must have been killed by his comrades for backing down."
"All right. You and Wufei head back to the party. Report what we have to Relena. This should be over soon."
"What about me?" Duo chimed, sounding very annoyed. "I haven't found a damn sign of a bomb anywhere, have you?"
"It's not picking up. It has to be a mess of plastic explosives. Keep looking, I'll send updates."
"Sure."
Setting his hand down from his ear, 02 brought his binoculars back up. These guys were good, he'd give them that, but he was better. Below him he could hear the rustling of feet. A brief glimpse confirmed it was 03 following another figure. Over his radio, he could hear Quatre and Wufei re-entering the party.
"Miss Relena, could we have a word?" "Of course. Please excuse me ladies." She motioned for the two to follow her upstairs. Heero watched the trio head upstairs to the second half of the mansion. Looking down at his watch he could hardly believe the time. Forty-five minutes to midnight...
"What's your position?" asked the soldier hiding in the bushes.
"I'm at check point alpha and waiting for my target to get into position. Wait! The three have entered the study. I'm just waiting for a clean shot."
"Make sure you don't miss. We need the money."
"Why? Who paid you?"
Quickly, the soldier turned around realizing he was no longer alone.
"It was a huge mistake following me boy."
"I've made worse. Give yourself up and Miss Relena might spare you for trying to assassinated her."
Manically, the man laughed at Trowa, pulling out his gun.
"Who said anything about Relena Dorlain. We have more important fish to fry then that rich bitch. She can go up with the bomb in the bell tower along with the dumb ass I sent up there with it as a sniper."
Just then, Heero's voice filled Trowa's earpiece.
"Quatre and Wufei have just begun their meeting."
"Winner's in place. Just as planned."
"QUATRE GET OUT OF THERE!"
But it was no use; his earpiece was shut off. Acting fast he kicked the gun out of the mans hand. He threw a punch at 03, but missed as Trowa ducked and tripped the man. He fell to the ground hard and was pinned by his opponent. Duo heard the entire conversation and began to run to the bell tower on the west side. He ran past quests on the patio and leaped to the garden below. He didn't bother following the shrub maze like the others but instead climbed through them. Finally, he reached the doorway, to the tower, realizing, what a hike to the top it was.
"I can't stop now. I like Quatre and the others alive."
Without haste, he made his way up the stairs.
"Why Quatre?"
"He's one of the richest deals out there. We kill him and his family pays big bucks to catch the jerk who did it. I drag in the scorched body of the kid in the bell tower dead and walk away a millionaire. As for you," he said as he jammed a knife into Trowa's hip, "you're not walking away from anything."
"Neither are you..."
Pulling the knife out, he proceeded in forcing it across the man's throat. Blood spilled to rapidly for anyone to stop. Trowa fell to his side applying as much hand pressure as possible to his wound. He couldn't stand on his own, but needed to tell the others about the tower.
"Heero? Do you copy?"
"What's going on?"
"There's a sniper in the bell tower along with the bomb. It's all a huge set up to kill Quatre!" His words were forced through great pain. Heero knew something was wrong. "Trowa, are you all right? I'm coming to your position. It seems Duo's headed in that direction anyways." "I hope he makes it..." Looking at his now blood stained watch he could just make out the time. Ten minutes to midnight...
Duo climbed faster than he thought possible. Only three more flights...
Two...
One...
He arrived at the platform door and quietly opened it. On the far side was a man aiming carefully at the mansion. Not waiting another moment, he changed at the guy pushing him aside just as his gun went off. Glass shattered as the bullet came through the window of the window of the office. Quatre fell from the chair to the floor, Wufei rushing to his side.
"Quatre!"
Blood spilled to the floor, but his hand came up to his shoulder to stop it.
"Don't worry it was a clean shot. Lucky for me, my shooter had bad aim."
"Come, will get you to my chambers. I'll have my doctor look at your shoulder."
Duo watched as the three left the room. With great anger in his eyes, he turned to look upon the shooter, whom now was advancing on him. In martial arts style he landed a kick right into the man's jaw sending him back unconscious.
"Don't fuck with the God of Death." Suddenly his watch beeped.
One minute...
Looking around he saw a wire attached to the bell ringer. All he had to do was cut it and the trigger would be shut off. Sighing at how stupid people could be, he pulled out his pocketknife and sliced the wire. Just then, the screen on the bomb began to count down from thirty seconds.
"A back up system!?"
Panicked he began to pry the faceplate off the bomb revealing a mess of wires.
" Shit! Which one?! Blue, Red, VIOLET!!"
Inside the people at the party began to count down to midnight.
"Twelve..."
"Eleven..."
"Ten..."
"This one?"
"Nine..."
"Maxwell what are you doing?!"
"Eight..."
"Maybe the brown one...?"
"Seven..."
"Just pick one!"
"Six..."
"It isn't that simple Yuy I could blow this place..."
"Five..."
"...To kingdom come."
"Four..."
"Come on...!"
"Three..."
"Damn it!"
"Two!!"
"Green." Snip
"One...
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"
The band perked up playing the New Year's tune. Duo, however, stayed as he was until Heero's words brought him back to reality.
"Good job, Maxwell. I'll see you inside."
"Hilde."
The band began to play the song again as 02 walked in the door. He scooped everywhere, soon finding his love hugging Sally Po. He raced to be besides her taking her into his arms.
"I thought you choked at the last moment."
"Never. It's too dangerous that way."
Leaning in, the two kissed passionately receiving some cheers and many stares.
At around one in the morning, the quests all went home, not noticing the police entering through the back. The men's bodies were taken away. Inside, the group gathered around the large guest bed where Trowa lied. Hildi had drifted asleep in Duo's arms while the others tried hard to stay awake.
"One hell of a party," Duo said as he stroked Hildi's bangs from her face.
"Well I hope not to have one like it again."
"It's over now and everyone's all right. That's what's important."
Wufei took a seat at the end of Trowa's bed.
"Relena, could I speak to you a minute outside?"
"Of course, Heero."
The two left the room, all eyes on them.
"That sly dog..." Duo added as the door closed.
"I still owe you, Heero," she said as she stepped into the moonlight.
Softly he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. Lowering his head, he stole a kiss from her.
"I've been paid," he whispered.
Smiling, he let her thoughts. He did care about her; in fact Heero Yuy might even be in love. No, he was, as was she.
"Happy New Year," she whispered.
End Transmission.