Chapter 12

(Annabelle's POV)

I walked down the hallway of the base and growled softly in frustration.

"Bored, bored, bored. There's nothing to do around here." I muttered to myself. I couldn't get any of the guys to fight me because I'd beaten them all so much. There was pretty much nothing for me to do anymore. I walked past a doorway to a room that wasn't being occupied at the moment, and something reached out and grabbed me and pulled me inside the room. I didn't have time to shout a warning before something was stuffed into my mouth. Someone put handcuffs on me and then tied my feet together. Only then did I see who I had been kidnapped by.

"Think she'll do?" a guy with a long braid asked. A blonde-haired guy stood beside him, looking me over.

"Yeah, yeah. She'll do." He said. Then he looked at me. "If you promise not to yell, shout, scream, or anything like that, I'll take the gag off. Do you promise?" I nodded, noticing a darker haired guy standing by the window, holding a gun. The one with the braid reached down and pulled the gag out of my mouth.

"You're the Gundam pilots!" was the first thing out of my mouth. Quatre quirked an eyebrow at me and shook his head, but I knew that he wasn't falsifying it.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Annabelle Atalante." I replied. "Why are you kidnapping me?" I queried.

"That's our business. Now, just co-operate, would you?" He replied. I tilted my head slightly.

"And who said I'll listen to a bunch of men?"

"That's where Erishi comes in." he said, and a woman stepped out of the shadows. I hadn't noticed her there before.

"My name is Erishi Wakatsuki. Sukie Taki is, or was, my partner when we worked for OZ." She said. I repeated the name over in my head a few times.

"Oh, you mean that girl that Munroe kidnapped?" I asked. The one known as Heero bristled at the mention of Munroe. Duo had gone over to stand by him, had one hand on Heero's arm, and was whispering stuff into his ear.

"If it was Munroe, then yes." Erishi replied. I nodded.

"Black hair, green eyes?" I asked.

"Yes, she has black hair and green eyes. Do you know where she is?" Quatre asked suddenly. Erishi looked over at him.

"Quatre, we're going through with the plan. Don't get any ideas." She told him. I looked between the two of them and narrowed my eyes.

"What plan?" I demanded. Duo strode over and stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't think you're in any type of position to be demanding things from us, little lady." He commented nonchalantly, and looked over at Quatre. "Are we ready to go?" he asked. Quatre nodded briskly. Duo nodded back and took a rag out of his pocket, put something on it, and looked at me. "I want you to inhale this. No fighting, no nothing. All right?" he said. I just glared at him. He sighed and handed it to Erishi. She came up to me.

"Look, we can't have you knowing where the safe house is, ok? So just inhale this, it won't hurt you, I promise. It'll just make you go to sleep." She explained. I looked at her suspiciously, sighed, and nodded. She put it up to my face and I inhaled deeply. I started to feel sleepy, and then everything went dark as sleep claimed me.

Chapter 13

(Sukie's POV)

I sat on the bed with my elbows on my knees, and my chin resting on my right fist. I sighed softly. Not only was I stuck in this room alone, but there was absolutely nothing for me to do. I had been here for about two days; I wasn't really sure.

'Why haven't they come for me yet?' I wondered to myself for the millionth time. I shook my head. "No Sukie. Quatre is looking for you. I know he is. He wouldn't just sit around and do nothing." I told myself softly. I heard a commotion outside my door, and I lifted my head. I got up quietly, walked over, and pressed my ear up to the keyhole to try to hear what was going on; I could hear Munroe and someone else talking.

"What do you mean they've kidnapped Annabelle?" I heard Munroe growl. He sounded quite upset.

"Th-Th-They've kidnapped Annabelle and they're demanding ransom for the girl. They said they'll give back Annabelle when we give them the money and the girl back." The officer stammered. As I listened, I smiled; Quatre was looking for me, and he had come up with a plan to try and get me back.

"That's my Quatre." I whispered softly to myself. I realized Munroe was speaking again and I listened.

"Give me the note and then get out of my sight." He snarled. I heard the officer hurry off, and then I heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock. I hurried back to the bed and sat on it and leaned my head back against the wall, so it looked like I was staring at the ceiling. I heard Munroe walk in, and I looked at him. He was seething in anger. He tossed a crumpled up note at me and it landed on the bed beside me.

"Read it." He growled. I picked the note up, and tried to smooth it out as best as I could. As I started reading it, I had to suppress a smile.

The note read: "Munroe, we have Annabelle Atalante. If you want her back, I suggest you give us back Sukie. Oh, and while you're at it, you can bring 100,000 credits with you as ransom money. If we don't get Sukie back, don't expect to see your precious Annabelle again. I have on very good authority that she's one of your favorite soldiers. And she's a very good pilot. Meet us in the dead end alley on Third Street on Thursday. You had better be there.

Signed,

Quatre Winner."

I looked up at Munroe and stared at him for a few minutes. Suddenly, I felt very brave for no reason. Maybe I just had a death wish. Who knows?

"You certainly didn't think that they were just going to not do anything, did you? Because if you did, you're seriously misinformed about the Gundam pilots." I told him matter-of-factly. He narrowed his eyes and stalked over to the bed. "And, from what Heero says, you're going to pay for slapping Duo." I told him. He reached over and swiftly slapped me across the face. My hand flew up to my cheek as I cried out in pain and shock.

"You little bitch. I won't be spoken to in that manner. Speak to me like that again, and you won't be as lucky to get away with just a slap." He growled and turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door as he went out. I gently rubbed my cheek as I looked at a calendar on a far wall.

"It's Tuesday, I only have to put up with this for two more days." I told myself softly, but at the same time, my mind was asking, "Yeah, but how much can Munroe do to you in two days?" Frankly, I didn't want to think about it.

Chapter 14

(Annabelle's POV)

As I woke up, I saw a curly-blonde-haired boy hovering over me.

"Oh, good. You're awake. Do you want something to drink?" he asked. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton, so I nodded, and he went off to get me something. I lay there trying to figure out where I was. I certainly wasn't at the base anymore. Then I remembered; the Gundam pilots and that Erishi woman. Slowly, I sat up and rubbed at my eyes. The boy brought me a glass of water and I thankfully drank half of it in one gulp.

"Thanks. Who are you?" I asked.

"You're welcome, and I'm Rufus. I'm pretty much the resident house-cleaner, or that's the best way I can describe it." He said. "I take it you're the OZ soldier they kidnapped to try to get Sukie back." He stated. I nodded.

"I guess." I replied, shrugging and taking another drink of my water. I tried to watch him inconspicuously, and finally I decided that he was too bad looking. I held out my hand to him. "Annabelle Atalante." I said as he shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you Annabelle." He replied, smiling. He looked past me and gave a small wave. "Hey Erishi. She's awake." He said. I turned around and saw the woman from the base, standing in the doorway, with her hands on her hips. She seemed to be studying me very hard and her eyebrows were furrowed together. "Erishi, what's the matter?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. Erishi shook her head as if clearing her mind of something.

"Nothing, it's just that you," she pointed at me, "Remind me of Sukie for some reason." She said as she walked over to stand by Rufus, still watching me. I must have looked confused because she explained further. "There's something in your manner, or the way you hold yourself. I don't know why, but it reminds me of Sukie." She shrugged and held out her hand. "Erishi Wakatsuki at your service." She said. I shook her hand. I was about to introduce myself, but Erishi held up her hand to stop me. "I know who you are, so don't even bother. If we didn't know who you were, we wouldn't have kidnapped you."

"How do you know about me?" I queried, watching Rufus out of the corner of my eye. He seemed to be fidgeting with something.

"We have our ways of finding things out about people and places. Like where Sukie is being held and stuff like that. All of that stuff is thanks to the wonderful skills of our very own Mr. Heero Yuy." She explained. I nodded slowly, absorbing all that she was telling me.

"When do I get to go back?" I asked, stretching slightly.

"Well, if all goes according to plan, Thursday, but like I said, that's only if everything goes right." Erishi replied, then she looked over at Rufus, who was holding up what looked like a picture and he looked like he was comparing me to the picture. "Rufus, what are you doing?" Erishi asked.

"Comparing Sukie's picture to Annabelle, because they look a lot alike. See?" he said and handed the picture to Erishi. She glanced at it and then glanced at me and then smiled triumphantly.

"That's why you remind me of Sukie! You two look extremely alike!" she proclaimed. "I knew it had to be something!" Erishi looked thoughtful again. "Ya know, Sukie has never mentioned having any sisters or anything like that. She's only mentioned a brother who was killed by OZ." She shrugged. "Hey, ya never know."

"I never knew my family. My first memory is of being on an OZ base." I said; as I finished drinking the last of the water that Rufus had given me. Erishi shrugged again.

"Like I said, ya never know." She told me. I nodded slowly.

"I guess…" Secretly, I thought it'd be pretty cool to have an older sister. Even if she did work for the Gundam pilots.