"Reminiscing"

Chapter 11: Crimson Closures

I'm back...sorry for the lag in the updates, I know it can be a major turn off for a story, but I didn't want to rush this chapter out too soon. I had a hard time with writer's block for this chapter, and after reading the original chapters, I didn't want to make the same mistakes from my first run with this story, but it looks like I did it again at some parts. If you see any problems, let me know...I would truly appreciate it. Hopefully, I got a right combination here...though I could probably work on the battle/fight scenes more...not a violent person as you can see...I only go crazy on sugar and chocolates. ;) Anyhow, standard disclaimers apply here: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.

Tsuumi Tataku: Thanks for your review. =) It could be that Norfolk's death scene was rushed, but I didn't want to linger around too long...hehe. In my original version, he was caught by the Preventer and turned his own group in, which seems too OOC for a general. Well, thanks again for reading!

Relena awoke to an early morning light filtering through the bedroom's window. Through her closed eyelids, she didn't want to get up, "Not another day," she whispered under her breath and hid beneath the white sheets. "No more meetings please...I can't take another day of debates." She felt someone searching through the sheets and a cold draft came up from her back.

"Time to wake up, Mommy," a small child with matted brown hair tugged at her honey blonde hair.

The word, "Mommy" was a wakeup call in itself. She muttered to the child, "Where's daddy?" with sleep still in her voice and tucked back under the covers.

"At his laptop. He said to wake you up." He resumed his search of finding his mother and found her once more.

"I see." She turned around to face her child, "Just let me sleep for one more minute, okay? Mommy is very tired and if daddy comes..."

"What if "daddy" comes?" A voice trailed from the doorframe.

"Daddy!" The boy squealed in delight. His small pattering footsteps could be heard echoing in the large bedroom before his father caught him in his arms. "Go eat your breakfast before it gets cold." The boy obeyed and ran off down the stairs. He turned to his wife, "Aren't you going to get up yet?"

"I don't feel like it. I just want to sleep again." She smiled at him, "It feels so nice to sleep in late."

He walked over to her side and climbed onto the bed himself. He stared intently into her blue eyes, capturing her essence.

"You've changed so much in just the past two years, you know that." She fingered one of his brown bangs that hung near his face.

"Hn." He continued to look down on her face, "And so have you."

"But, without your help and the others...none of this would have been possible from the start. I thought I nearly lost you a couple of times back with Libra and the Mariemaia incident..."

He silenced her with a kiss, "I'm right here."

She looked into his Prussian eyes still savoring his warm kiss.

"It's time for you to get up now...you don't want the others to be waiting because of your tardiness."

The sounds of panicky alarms brought her out from her deep slumber. She looked around her room and felt a faint breeze blowing her way. Her head throbbed of pain, "Heero?" Outside in the hallways, the lights were out except for the emergency ones. She thought to herself, "Where is everyone?" She laid in her bed for the next couple of minutes and got her bearings straight, "That was only a dream, yet it felt so real." She noticed that her arms were still hooked to monitors of all sorts along with an IV bag.

The moment she placed her feet on the cold tiles, she felt the shards of glass barely piercing her soles. She shifted her feet to accommodate her weight and began to walk...holding onto the IV stand, as its wheels squeaked. Everything in the ward was out of place and she continued on, hoping to see someone that she could get help from. She passed by the nurses' station and there was someone, it was Sally; asleep at a desk with her arms sprawled out. "Sally, wake up."

"Huh," the woman looked wearily in front of her and rubbed her head. "Relena! You should lie back down. You're in no condition of walking on your own."

"What happened?"

"Never mind about that now...I need to find the others." She grabbed her radio and started to signal everyone else. The sounds of her voice echoed in various parts of the floor. Her attention was then directed to the former queen, "Norfolk came by here hours ago. There was a huge stakeout for him and we all thought he was coming after you. It turned out he was after Zechs all this time...something that happened in space two years back. I don't know what happened next...it looks like he got away." She tried radioing the others again...still no reply. "You stay right here, while I'll check on the patients and that's a doctor's order."

The young girl looked to see her turn around the corner, where the most critical of patients were stationed. Knowing that it was a cue for her to move, she quickly walked out of the area and down the hallway again. She continued down for a while, but before long she felt light headed and she grabbed onto a nearby railing. Her surroundings spun around, and she took a deep breath in, hoping her dizzy spell would go away. "Pull yourself together." She urged herself to walk a few more steps before she came upon a dimly lighted hallway. She focused in on room ahead of her and saw an arm sticking out from the doorframe. Her heart thumped with each passing minute as her fears were starting to take hold. "Please no."

She checked on the arm and noticed it was cold. She sidestepped the arm without looking at the person's face and when she entered into the room, the first thing she saw was the blood on the floor and followed its path to a person lying against the wall. "Heero," she ran over to his side and noticed he was barely breathing. She tapped his face lightly in hopes of waking him, "Please wake up...it's me, Relena." Realized that her tapping was useless, she then slapped him instead, in hopes that it would jar him back to life. "Please don't die...I need you here with me." Her tears stung her face, "Please..." she clung to him in, "We still have our lives to live." She placed more pressure on his wound, ignoring her own pain coming from the IV, "Sally," she screamed, "I need your help!"

Her cry echoed throughout the floor and Sally came running in with a bag of medical supplies and noticed that Heero was severely bleeding from his chest. "Calm down, Relena...I'll do my best."

Zechs and Noin both awoke to the sounds in the room. The two were shocked to see Relena awake themselves and finding the mess that she was surrounded in. "You all right, Relena?"

"I'm fine Zechs." She steadied herself with the IV stand. "Heero saved us all, didn't he?"

"Indeed." He looked to where Sally was trying to revive the young soldier and noticed that Norfolk was there too. "It's all over now," he motioned her to sit down on a couch nearby.

The lights finally flickered on and painted the scene with more horrifying details. The walls were lined with bullet holes from Norfolk's gun, and to where Heero laid, the blood had splattered on the white walls. His skin looked pale and his breathing was irregular. Relena sat there horrified that it had to end like this...she focused everything out and had her sight on Heero. She heard orders coming from Sally for a crash cart, "That's not good," she thought again to herself. "This can't be happening...no it just can't be. This is all a dream...no it's more of a nightmare." The sounds of the electrical charges sent a tingle down her spine and right then, she felt someone escorting her out of the room.

"Come on Relena, we shouldn't be here," Noin tried coaxing her to move.

"I want to stay...I want to stay until the end. Don't deny me of that right!" She trembled violently.

"He'll make it, but you need your strength as well."

"I don't care," she pushed the woman aside and remained still. She heard Sally's orders to stay clear of the body and watched her place the metal paddles onto Heero's chest. The jolt sent his body upward off the floor...the monitor didn't even register a signal. "Fight Heero, you have too!"

Zechs walked up to her side, "You need to leave now, Relena. Come on."

"I said no."

"You leave me no choice then," he plunged a needle into her IV bag. The clear liquid could already be seen mixing with the saline. "I'm sorry, but I have to."

She started to feel lightheaded again and the color in her eyes drained, "If he dies...I'll never f-or-give you." She then collapsed into his arms.

"I'm taking her to another room." Noin nodded in response. "If Heero's conditions changes, let me know," with that, he walked out of the room and looked for an empty room.

Dr. Stenson appeared on the floor, "Mr. Peacecraft, I heard what happened. They finally gave me clearance to come back in." She noticed that Relena was in his arms, "Did she finally wake up?"

"She just woke up about twenty minutes ago, but we had to give her a sedative because of her bodyguard was shot by Norfolk. Sally and some other nurses are working on him right now in the waiting room."

Dr. Stenson acknowledged the info and directed the two of them to an empty room and hooked Relena back onto a monitor. "I don't know how she got away with those monitors, but I'll be back to check on her later."

"Thanks."

With that she ran out of the room and started to direct the new group of nurses to make sure that each patient was indeed safe. After that, she ran to the waiting room, where Sally still tried to revive Heero. "When was his last epp-?"

She quickly interjected, "About fifteen minutes ago." Sally resumed her chest compressions on him, while another nursed pumped oxygen.

Dr. Stenson then looked over to the other body that lay on the floor and grabbed a nearby sheet to cover him up. She went back to Heero's side and grabbed the defibulator from one of the nurse's hands. "Everyone stand clear...now charging." She placed the paddles on him and watched the electric current jolt his body again. The monitor for a brief moment carried a slight signal. "Come on Heero, come back to us." She ordered the nurse to increase the charge and with that, she told everyone to clear again. This time the monitor registered a stronger surgery. "All right everyone, let's get him to surgery."

When the group was heading out the door, Une, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei just came around to see what the commotion was all about. They couldn't believe it that Heero was the one lying on the gurney. "Out of the way...move it," shouted Dr. Stenson.

Duo tried talking to one of the nurses that worked on Heero, "Will he make it?"

"I'm not too sure, we're heading to the OR now. I'm sure Dr. Stenson will brief you all later." The nurse then left his side and ran to catch up to the team, while Sally looked back towards Duo and gestured to him that she'll inform him of any change in Heero's condition.

The braided pilot was then left in the hallway, while the others combed about the evidence and cleaning the room. Une crouched down to the covered body and noticed that a small wallet was on the floor. She picked it up with her gloved hands. She fingered through it and found a picture of a woman, "This is Norfolk's all right...here's a picture of Alexis...I'm assuming."

"We definitely know that we have a true motive now," Trowa looked about the room and noticed the blood splatters. The effects of the sleeping gas still affected him slightly, "He sure went out of his way to cover his tracks with the sleep-inducing gas and all..."

"It looks like he wasn't connected to any political or military groups. The last active cell was from Mariemeia, but that was neutralized," replied Wufei.

"We still shouldn't take any chances..." Trowa took the wallet from Une and examined it for any more clues to the true nature of Norfolk's group.

Quatre then entered the room, trying to catch his breath after racing up the stairs, "I heard something about Heero over our radios downstairs."

"He's been shot...they've just taken him to surgery," Duo walked back in after collecting his thoughts for a while.

"Is Relena safe?" asked Quatre.

"She's with Zechs right now in a private room. We had to sedate her, she wouldn't leave Heero's side." Noin looked down at the floor and wondered if it was the right decision in the first place.

Trowa continued to fidget with one of Norfolk's ID cards and noticed whenever he flashed it in UV light, something like a hologram appeared under the picture. He went over to the window and held the card there for a while before an image of a phoenix appeared. "It looks like we finally have an answer to our mysterious group...a phoenix."

Une took control of the group, "All right then, I want a full background and surveillance scan once we get back to HQ. I don't want anyone becoming rash and infiltrating the area and causing a bigger ruckus then intended. You got that everyone?" The group nodded in response. "I'm sure with their general dead, one of his officers might take control of the group and carry out his true plan...whatever it might be. Let's get a move on it."

The group disbanded allowing other Preventers to take their places in the hospital...by mid-morning, everything was running back to normal, but the news reporters were still biting at every chance they could get with hospital staff of what truly happened in the pre-dawn hours of the standoff. Duo decided to linger around a little bit longer. He paced back and forth outside the surgical rooms, hoping that Sally would come out any minute. "Damn...it must be serious...otherwise they would have been out by now," he looked at his watch and sat in a small seat. He placed his hands on his head and closed his eyes.

The sounds of one of the automatic doors opened and out came a different surgical team rushing their patient to the recovery room. He looked back down onto the linoleum tiles. Another ten minutes passed before the door swung open again, "What's taking them so long?"

"Duo?" Sally emerged with a blood-stained blue smock.

"Well?"

"He gave us a scare, but he made it through."

"Thanks," he released a sigh of relief.

"No problem...well I better head back in to make sure the transfer has no glitches in it," she tapped his shoulder and left him once again.

Back at HQ, everyone focused in on their work, hoping to dig up anymore vital clues to Norfolk's group. "How are the reports coming along?" Une looked up from her stack, as Noin entered the room.

"We're at max capacity...one of our satellites had picked up movement from the base about three weeks ago. Wufei is comparing the pictures now to make sure it's the right location. By the looks of it, they're moving gundamium alloy somewhere. It looks like they were going to start building new mobile suits, even though the gundams have been totally destroyed."

"Has there been any activity at any sites marked for possible mobile suit development?"

"Not yet."

She looked out her window from her seat, "So Norfolk just wanted to cause another war with the Earth and the colonies...once he eliminated Zechs. We need to act now...sooner than I thought...if that alloy leaves earth and heads into space to their factory districts...Norfolk would have the last laugh at us." She pitched the files in front of her to the corner of the desk, "Who's covering Zechs right now?"

"Wright is, but Duo is still at the hospital." Noin looked a little a worried, "Should I send in more officers then?"

"No we don't want to draw more attention over there...the news have already leaked Norfolk's death out, but they're still sketchy about Zechs's location."

"That's a good sign then."

"Indeed," the commanding officer rose from her seat, "I want three new teams to be assembled now and have them ready to attack by nightfall."

Noin obliged to her commander's request and headed to the main office, where everyone was still situated. "Listen up everybody," she yelled over the commotion of keyboard strikes and small chats, "Une wants us to form three teams now to infiltrate Norfolk's base. Whoever wants to come, meet me in the conference room for a debriefing."

In no more than five minutes, a group of thirty assembled in the medium sized room with their gear in hand. A small presentation was given out...letting them familiarize themselves with the type of complex that they were up against with the majority of the info given personally by Travis. Their main objective was to locate the alloy and destroy it along with any mobile suit parts that were in development.

Une gave the final order from their debriefing, "All right, everyone clear out and be careful. I don't want to lose anymore officers."

Within forty minutes, the three teams arrived at the supposed back entrance to the base. Everyone had their night vision goggles on and radio signals were heard about on a low channel frequency. "Epsilon in place..." a low static was heard, "Sigma in place..." and "Omega in place."

Une radioed behind a tree, "All right everyone on my mark...3-2-1." Right then, a barrage of yellow sparks was seen diverging from three different locations around the base. "Everyone be on the look out for snipers!" A bullet just grazed her own shoulder, "Where are you?" She duck behind another tree and waited to see a spark coming from one of the sniper's riffles. "Gotcha." She fired and in no time, she saw someone stumbling out from his hiding place.

Trowa was the first one closet to the base and wrestled a couple of guards down only to render them unconscious. "I'm in," he radioed in, while green eyes flashed around, "they've just sounded the alarm." Being quick to his feet, he immediately took off his night vision goggles and ran to the nearest hallway. He was met with a barrage of bullets coming down a corner and he waited for them to come to him. He heard them reload their guns and quickly ran towards them, kicking the weapons out of their hands and punched them in the abdominal area.

The intercom rang out, "Level 4 stations...Level 4 stations...perimeter has been breached."

He then left the area where he was met with a gun towards his face, "Drop your weapon." The officer stood his ground and cocked his own gun. Trowa grimly tossed his gun on the ground.

"You sure about that, solider?"

"Don't mock me, Preventer."

"I'm just giving you a fair warning that's all."

Another voice chimed in, "I think you should drop your own weapon now." Quatre immediately rendered the soldier unconscious. "You should be more careful, Trowa."

"Yeah...thanks." He picked up his gun. "Where are the others?"

"All over the place...the radio signal here is so weak. I think we might be close."

More soldiers were heard coming down the hallway, "Look...there they are!" A barrage of gunfire rang on the two men.

"After you," responded Quatre.

"My pleasure."

Meanwhile, somewhere near the control room, "Get out of my way!" Wufei fired back with his own gunfire. "If I had Nataku this would be much easier," he gritted his teeth as more soldiers came out of nowhere. He finally broke through the glass door along with some other Preventers. "Sigma team move in." He signaled to the rest of the team members and before long, the control room was secured. He radioed the success back to Une, who was still outside finishing off a few conflicts here and there. "I'm moving out to Sector H, where Trowa and Quatre are at."

"Roger that," replied Une.

Wufei quickly ran over to the area, where Trowa's and Quatre's locaters were showing them to be at. "What's the update here?"

"We found the alloy, but there's only one glitch." Trowa looked up towards the ceiling of the hangar.

"Don't tell me...damn them! He pounded the walls with his fists. "They were diverting our attention all this time."

Quatre radioed in Une to tell her that their mission had failed. "The alloy is being transported out...it's heading into space."

"Acknowledged," right then, she heard the jet propulsion systems kick into action and the winds generated from the engines nearly knocked her off her stance. She quickly called back to HQ, "Noin I want you to launch into space with one of our modified planes. The target is a transport carrier...I'm about to send you the necessary info."

"Roger that, I'm on my way right now." She was about to head toward the hanger herself when she was stopped by Duo. "What are you doing here? I'm about to head up into space. Get out of my way, Maxwell."

"I'll go instead...they have some serious payback to do." He quickly suited himself up for the flight and in no time, he was already in the cockpit.

"You don't even know what you're looking for," she called out to him.

He signaled Une, "Send me the coordinates from the last location of the transport carrier."

"Duo, I told Noin to go into space," a shocked voice came into the cockpit.

"It doesn't matter...just send me the coordinates." He closed the com link off and in seconds, he punched the last known coordinates into the navigation system and with that, the booster engines went on. "The God of Death has returned!" He piloted the lightweight jet into the atmosphere and found the transport carrier heading in the moon's direction. "You can't escape from me," he was about to fire one missile when the master alarm went off. "You're starting to get on my nerves!" A light appeared from the side of his jet. "Damn you!" He used evasive maneuvers until the blitzkrieg of missiles died down for a brief moment and used the opportunity to his advantage. "This is for Heero!" The missile locked onto its target and in seconds, a small explosion appeared. He rested against the chair and opened his com link, "The carrier has been destroyed...I'm returning now."

Back on the ground, the rest of the soldiers were dropping their weapons. Une wrapped her shoulder in some gauze from one of the medical teams that came on deck and assessed the area. "The operation was a success," she said to herself.

"For now," replied Quatre, who was also accompanied by Trowa and Wufei.

"I see you all made it out..." She placed her head down and felt relieved that her officers caught the incident in time before a new war started. "Time to head back now...we're going to be busy for a while." She looked over to the group of surrendered soldiers and saw the three of them nod in agreement.

On the ride home, something didn't feel right at all especially to the former Gundam pilots and their commanding officer. Even though, the majority of them slept on the short ride, there was uneasiness that they couldn't drive off. The vans finally pulled into the back lot and when the vans ran over the speed bump that was placed, everyone awakened from their light sleep. Noin greeted the returning Preventers, but she held a deeper message for a certain group.

"What's wrong, Noin?" a worried Quatre appeared from a van.

"It's Heero," she tried to stop a tear falling from her eyes, "the hospital just called...he took a turn for the worse."

TBC