"Reminiscing"

Chapter 3: A New Threat

Hi everyone, sorry for the long delay, but to make it up, I posted two more chapters!! Hopefully the characters aren't too OOC now (thanks Ukchana.) I revised the previous two chapters again, lol, it seems like the revamping process will never end...anyhow, enough with my rambling. Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.

Back at Zechs's home, Noin and him were sitting on the couch in his study. "You seem to be worried all of the sudden. She's coming home in just a day, Zechs."

"I know and that's what worries me. I'm not even sure if the so-called reporter that came here just a month and half ago was joking about his threat. I just have a funny feeling."

Noin cupped his hands in hers, "You did send Heero after her, once you figured out where she was in France through her credit card transactions."

"The only problem is that he's not responding through our communications."

"You know how he is, he doesn't liked to be bothered...I'm sure he's watching her right now." Zechs looked into her soft eyes and saw the reassurance.

"I think you should get back to work now before more agreements come through," she winked at him.

"There's no time like the present." With that, Zechs went back to his makeshift office in his own home, while Noin decided to drive to the Preventer Headquarters to see if there were any updates on their renegade prisoner that had escaped. On her way there, her cell phone rang off.

"Noin here."

A voice on the other end began to speak, "We have some bad news here, the prisoner that escaped from here, made an appearance."

"Where?" she asked.

"Our sources say in France."

Right then, Noin immediately knew that Relena was in danger. "Call Zechs to tell him about the news. Has the prisoner attempted anything yet?"

"We're not sure about that. The reports are still sketchy."

"Damn them, tell them to get on the case right away." She abruptly ended the conversation and began to floor her car in order to get to the headquarters. After taking a variety of left and right turns, she eventually ended up taking a side road that led up to her destination. In her speeding frenzy, she left a trail of brown dust at the rear of her jeep. She finally managed to pull up to the front gates, where a Preventer was on guard and realizing that it was Noin, he quickly lifted the gates, allowing her to speed right through.

After finding a nearby parking spot, she jumped out of her jeep and headed indoors to the main control room, where the communications network were wired throughout the world. Lady Une was standing under one of the larger flat computer screens looking through French news reports to see if any story of Relena was released to the public.

"What's the update?" asked Noin who was catching her breath from her run from the parking lot.

"Nothing. It seems like the story hasn't leaked yet, about our hit-man."

"Are any of our officers closet to Relena?"

"They're spread throughout the countries right now."

Lady Une then went to the closet phone and dialed Relena's hotel number, but received a busy signal on the other end. Noin looked on and noticed that Une's face showed agitation. "I've tried calling the hotel a couple of times before, but I keep receiving the same tone on the other end."

"Has Zechs received the news yet?"

"He has."

"How did he take it?"

"He was shocked to say the least, but Pagan is with him right now."

Noin then led her thoughts back to Heero's whereabouts, "Let's just hope that Heero is nearby."

Lady Une acknowledged, but the feeling of worry was washed across her face, while the same can be applied to Noin. The two continued to work throughout the day in hopes of hearing something from Relena to let them know that she is safe.

The intruder kept his hold on Relena's neck as she tried to fight him off with her legs kicking him in the groin. After kicking him a couple of times, the assailant began to feel the pain and dropped her on the floor, she was no where near to where her gun was. She gasped for air and tried to run from him before he eventually caught up with her near the door.

"Where do you think you're going my love?" in a harsh tone. He then grabbed her by the arms and yanked her back towards him.

"Someone, help..." her voice was cut off with a hand over her mouth. She tried to bite him.

Right then, the intruder took out some syringe and she felt the needle go into her neck. She felt the substance go through her veins and she became limp in her attacker's arms. He then carried her towards the bed and placed her there.

"That should do the trick." He then went over to his backpack and pulled out a metal object. "It's a shame that I have to kill you now to fulfill his plans." He walked over to her side and looked on in a devilish way, noticing that she was still breathing. A smirk was seen on his face. "Unless..." He dropped his weapon on the floor and began to stroke her face gently. Eventually, his hands began to slip the shoulder straps off her nightgown.

"Get your hands off of her." Heero suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pounced on the attacker. "I should have known that you would come back." He then slugged the so-called reporter in the abdomen, where he eventually fell to his feet and coughed violently. Heero continued to attack the man, but the intruder also threw punches back at him.

"I should have killed you when I had chance," screamed the man. Heero didn't respond, but continued to defend himself against Relena's assailant. Eventually, the intruder went towards his knife that he had dropped and flashed it in front of Heero. The intruder made quick jabs here and there, but Heero was too fast for him. Eventually, Heero threw a chair at the intruder making him dodge to the ground, while at the same time, Heero decided to hide from the intruder in an effort to stop him. "Where are you? I know you're in here, somewhere." The man continued to look behind furniture and in closets. Unknown to him, Heero was hiding behind the curtains that led towards the balcony. He held Relena's gun his hand, knowing that his own was empty for the time being.

Heero kept his sight on the intruder as he was making his way towards him and within a second, he caught the intruder off guard and the knife slipped from his hands. The two started another wrestling fight, but before long, the gun that he was holding was knocked out of his hands...it was sent spiraling across the carpeted floor.

The man dove for his knife again, but Heero managed to wrestle it away from him and right then, the intruder slumped to the ground. He checked to see if the man had a pulse still, in which he did. He went over to the gun and picked it up, just in case there were others around. He went over to Relena's side and carried her over to his room, which was just down the hall. After placing her on his bed, Heero went back to her room, but when he entered it, he noticed that the body of Relena's assailant was gone. The red stains from the fight were still there. He did a peripheral scan of the room to see if anything out of the ordinary would hint at some clue, but after turning up nothing, he then called the Preventer Headquarters to inform them about the situation and what had happened.

One sentence brought relief to them, "Relena is safe." He returned to his room and found Relena still unconscious, but breathing and with that sign, he let out a slight sigh of relief. He went to his bathroom and brought back a basin of warm water with a small washcloth with him. He then moistened the cloth in the water and gingerly patted her forehead and her collarbone. In the process, he also noticed the marks on her neck, which were pale purple now. He gently stroked the bruised area and placed ice around the area to help reduce the swelling. Once he was done, he pulled up a light blanket over her and sat in a chair nearby just in case she awoke during the night.

Back at the Preventer Headquarters, everyone was scrambling to collect information, but to no avail could they find any leads about the person or the group in charge of the attack.

"Are you sure you can't find anything?" asked an agitated Lady Une, who was talking to one of their sources in France on the vid phone.

The man on the other end, "For the second time. I'm sure. We examined the room and found the blood stains on the carpet and a syringe lying close to the door. Otherwise the main weapon and the assailant are nowhere to be seen. Whoever this group is, they're pretty picky about leaving any clues behind."

"Did you do a fingerprint and DNA analysis yet?"

"One of my officers over here examined the syringe and found nothing. As for the DNA, it looks like they tampered the site because when we analyzed here, the blood cells were clumped together with different blood samples."

"That's just great. Thanks any way." She closed the link and looked on towards Noin, who had just walked into her office.

"What did they say?"

"They couldn't find anything. You should go back to Zechs, he needs you."

"All right then." Noin then left the headquarters and headed straight towards Zechs during that late afternoon.

TBC