Part Nine

Relena was sitting behind her desk when the gray-eyed woman burst into her office. Her eyes flew up from her paperwork only to meet with the barrel of a gun. She gasped, so surprised that for a moment she was completely unable to think.

"Ms. Dorlian," the woman stated, "get up from your chair and move to the side of your desk with your hands on your head. This is a coup d'état. If you do as I say, you will not be harmed, do you understand?"

"Wha-" Relena started to demand, but was cut off as the woman began repeating her previous statement more forcibly.

Relena's brain suddenly began to work again. There was a large panic button connected directly to the Preventers Headquarters on the underside of her desk. If she could just reach it, there would be agents swarming the building in under five minutes. If she could just reach it…

She slowly put her hands on the side of her desk, as if going to use it to push her chair back, but her fingers were scrabbling against the underside in search of the button.

"Ms. Dorlian!" the woman snapped, and fired her gun once. It was a warning shot, and the bullet went smashing harmlessly through the glass of the window behind Relena's head. "Place your hands on your head and get up from your chair!"

This time Relena gladly complied. She had no need to push the button now; the shot through the window would have precisely the same effect as if she had.

"Good. Now walk into the hall. Keep your hands on your head."

There were men and women outside, staring at her with odd, slightly amazed looks on their faces. The woman pointed to two of the men. "Take the Vice Foreign Minister outside," she said, and smiled at the two soldiers. Relena's heart froze with a sudden, understanding terror.

Each soldier took a tight hold of one of her arms and led her in that manner down the stairs and outside. One of them let go of her and she was spun to face him as the other one took a hold of her released arm. He smiled at her, and strangely it was not an unkind smile. Then he said to her, "Thank you, Ms. Dorlian, for your services to the world."

Relena had her mouth open, to ask him what he meant by that, and what he was going to do with her, but she never got the chance to say a word. With screeching tires, a large van appeared, and before it had even stopped Preventer agents were leaping out and had killed the two soldiers. "Vice Foreign Minister!" they called to her, gesturing her to their van as more vehicles arrived and more agents jumped out and began swarming towards the building.

Relena was unable to take her eyes away from the two dead young men as she was led gently away from them into safety. As the van she was shepherded into sped away from the scene, she continued watching out of its rear window, feeling suddenly helpless and utterly confused.

===

Wufei bolted upright. It was the second time that night that he had been woken up by dreams of the sickening roar and pain in his head from earlier that afternoon. Even thinking about it caused a dull ache to radiate across his skull -- but it was becoming increasingly clear that he was going to have to start thinking about it if he wanted it to leave him be.

He slumped backward and adjusted the pillow underneath his head. Then, finally, he allowed his mind to relax. Immediately afterwards, it returned to him -- the noise and the pressure in his skull. But, oddly, it was bearable this time; it lacked the overpowering intensity it had had when it was actually happening. Wufei wondered in the corner of his mind that remained his if that was because he was only thinking back on it, or if people could actually immune themselves to hearing some divine power's voice… But those thoughts soon vanished as Wufei realized that Duo was right, the longer he concentrated on the sound and tried to ignore its effects, he could almost hear the words in it. Yes, the message was resolving itself… Almost -- he could almost recognize it --

…Warrior… Lead the people.

…You will be…

…Warrior… Lead the people.

…You will…my great warrior…

"Enough," Wufei gasped aloud to himself; he didn't want to hear anymore. Warrior -- lead the people -- hadn't he already done that; wasn't that what his job at the Preventers was all about? Wufei wiped away the sweat from his forehead and tried to control the trembling in his limbs. He didn't want to lead anybody anymore; he just wanted to be left to himself, to live a comfortable life together with Sally.

Sally. Just thinking about her spurred a wave of loneliness and melancholy. He wanted to see her again, if only to explain to her why he was hurting her; if only to say goodbye to her once and for all. I wonder if she'll understand. Wufei was unsure -- she had always seemed to grasp his actions so clearly, but this…he just didn't know.

Surely one phone call wouldn't hurt.

Wufei sat up and took in his surroundings. He was lying on one of the mattresses in the Laundromat's basement; Duo's own mattress was next to his, and his friend was sleeping soundly beside him. The other makeshift beds, which had all been empty before, were now almost all filled with sleeping bodies; there must have been at least fifty people asleep, and in the dimly-lit corners of the room other people were still clustered, talking in low voices. It was incredible -- where had all these people come from in so short a time? Were the people of the colonies really so resentful towards the Earth as all that, when such a short time ago they had been on such good relations?

Wufei leaned over Duo and shook him awake, noticing as he did so that while he had been asleep someone had taken care of his hurt shoulder. "I need to make a call," he whispered urgently when Duo grunted to show his awareness.

"Upstairs," Duo mumbled into his pillow as he rolled away from Wufei's hand. "Outside. Payphone. Don't say anything stupid."

"Thanks." Wufei hurried up the steps. Instead of the balding man, a sleepy-looking teenager sat behind the counter now staring blankly at small television set he had set up to keep him occupied. Wufei ignored both him and the few late-night occupants and hurried outside to the payphone. Luckily, he did have his wallet with him, and a small amount of money he could make the call with.

The phone rang twice before Sally picked up with an exhausted, "Hello? Une?"

"No. Sally… It's me."

There was a long pause during which Wufei held his breath before Sally asked, her voice high-pitched and trembling as if she were holding back tears, "Wufei?" And then, gathering strength as she drew herself back together, "Wufei! Where are you? What's going on?!"

"I…can't tell you that. I'm sorry, Sally. Um, Sally, I -- I may not be coming back. I have to call off the wedding."

"What?" Sally asked sounding utterly confused, but there was a growing suspicion and anger in her voice. "I don't understand. Why have you stopped trusting me? Is… Is what Noin says about you true? Are you there with Duo, Wufei?"

"I can't talk about this Sally! Please."

But she was relentless now in her demands. "Why did you abandon Relena? Were you in on it -- how much of this did you plan, Wufei?"

As she continued her assault, Wufei shouted what he had to say over her voice: "I love you Sally -- I love you, you know that, don't you? Tell me you know that I love you…"

All sound ceased on the other end of the line. Then came Sally's horribly calm voice saying, "You have a funny way of showing it," which left Wufei speechless until the click in his ear told him that she had hung up on him.

He stayed in the booth for a long time after the dial tone had started buzzing in his ear, just standing with the phone in his hand and slumped against the clear plastic window. It seemed that there was no hope for them, then. Even if he were to go back, it seemed unlikely that Sally would want him now; she thought he didn't trust her. And he had given her reason to think that way, hadn't he? He had lied to her, had even used her. He had screwed things up to the point that there would be no use going back anymore, even if he could now that he had taken Duo's side of the war.

Why did he have to keep losing everything he cared about in these wars? Everyone he cared about?

Someone knocked on the door of the booth, and Wufei jerked to attention, spinning around to face the person. It was Duo. Wufei's heartrate slowed, and he hung up the phone and opened the door. "What do you want?" he asked nastily.

"You okay?"

"Yes," Wufei answered curtly, shoving his way past Duo and moving back towards the Laundromat.

"Did you call Sally?"

Wufei stopped, sighed impatiently. "Yes."

"And…? Did she accuse you of betraying her?"

"Not in so many words, no. Why are you asking me these questions?"

Duo ignored him. "Are you two…finished?"

Wufei swallowed, but managed to growl out, "Yes. We are."

Duo walked up beside him and offered a comforting pat on the back. "Well, at least you two weren't married yet. There are fewer complications this way."

"Nothing to regret having done," Wufei agreed, relieved he had always kept his self control. Now Sally could move on, find someone else… Wufei became so wrapped up in that thought that for a minute he didn't realize that Duo was still talking to him, his serious tone gone and replaced with a teasing twinkle in his eye. Apparently something in his tone had let on that he hadn't meant the marriage itself.

"Wait -- wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that you and Sally never --" Duo wiggled his hips suggestively to illustrate his point, and Wufei turned away in disgust, not bothering to answer. "You were gonna get married and you never -"

"Will you shut up?!" Wufei yelled. "I told you, at least this way she won't have anything to regret."

"Yeah," Duo said, serious again. "Either that or she'll think you never loved her. I mean, Hilde and I never came close to marriage…and I guess we're probably about as finished as you and Sally are now…but at least she knows how I felt about her, has something to remember, y'know?"

"There are plenty of other things to remember about a relationship, okay? Now drop it, Duo, before you go too far." There was something else about his conversation with Sally that was nagging at his mind. What was it? -- Wufei spun around to face Duo and demanded in an accusing rush, "Did something happen today? On Earth?"

Duo nodded, a little guiltily. "Yeah. We weren't going to lead an attack on the Earth for a while, but as things have gotten complicated, we've had to shuffle our plans a bit. Middie's down there now with our very best. Actually, we should be hearing from them very soon, to find out how it's going."

"And the target was Relena?"

"Wufei, I told you, I want to kill as few people as possible. Relena may be one of the most important politicians the Earth has, but she's definitely not a soldier. Our aim is to capture the building and anything useful it has inside. That will give us a lead on Earth, not to mention show everyone that we mean business!"

"Exactly how many people are in on this venture, anyway?" If there were enough people on Earth to take over its single most important government building and enough on the colonies to successfully defend themselves from Heero and Noin, it would have to be quite a lot.

"About five hundred so far. Enough for a small army. Enough to win, if we're clever about it."

"You've found five hundred people in two months -- in just one colony?"

"More than one colony," Duo corrected. "It took a little while before I was able to get to L-3."

"That's incredible," Wufei murmured, dumbfounded. So the people of the colonies really felt such animosity towards the Earth. Certainly, only the more radical among them would support a war, but with a backing of moderates also feeling resentful there would probably be enough power to deal a serious blow to the Earth, if not to succeed in a full coup d'état.

"It's not so amazing as all that, Wufei. You just haven't been living here the past several years. Now come on, I want to be there when our guys clock in."

Wufei followed Duo back inside, still feeling a little lost and overwhelmed by it all. As they descended back into the basement, a cry came up from a huddled group, and they were both pulled over into the cluster. Everyone was centered around the rather bulky radio Wufei had been examining earlier, and he understood immediately that it must be the group on Earth checking in.

"Well?" Duo demanded as soon as he got there, eyes bright with excitement.

There was a crackle, and then a male voice responded proudly, "We did it, Duo."

A muffled, celebratory whoop went up. Duo beamed. "Excellent!" he exclaimed, and allowed everyone to bask in their moment of glory for a minute longer before turning to more serious matters. "Casualties?" he asked.

"Five, sir," the voice on the other end of the line replied, his tone turned somber. "And one person captured. Middie."

"Damn," Duo swore as everyone else in the room fell silent. "Still, it could have been worse; after all, she knows what to do. You all can hold the building without her?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"Great. Send all the information you can find, and keep us up to date."

"You can count on us, Duo! Signing off."

"Signing off," Duo echoed, then looked round at everybody. "We're on our way," he told them.

===

Sally's hand was shaking as she put down the phone.

She sank down onto the couch, struggling to get back in control of herself. Weakly, she dropped her head to her hands and began to massage her temples. It had been such a trying day -- how could Wufei have had the nerve to telephone her like that?

"The insane, reckless, bastard," she whispered to herself, but without any enthusiasm. "Coward. Liar." God -- why couldn't saying the words aloud make her believe them? Her breath hitched on its way into her lungs. Sally held it and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the threatening tears. She would not cry for him; no, she wouldn't! Wufei was nothing to her now, he was just a soldier on the wrong side of a war…worse, he was one of the instigators of the war. He was a threat to peace, to the world's stability. He has to be stopped.

Somehow, the conviction just wasn't there. There was confusion, there was hurt and a sense of betrayal, but Sally somehow couldn't kindle her anger against Wufei. She was still reeling from the shock of having misunderstood him so badly.

They had met just over seven years ago, and from the beginning Sally had felt a special connection to the young Chinese pilot. She had trusted him instinctively, admired him, worried about him. But now it seemed that the special understanding she had believed they shared was nonexistent after all. For the life of her, Sally just could not see what had lured Wufei away from peace. Didn't he know what he was doing? Didn't he realize that he was methodically destroying everything he had worked so hard to achieve?

Couldn't he have explained things to her? He had got down on his knees to ask her to marry him, couldn't he have explained now why he was leaving her? Couldn't he have at least asked her to come along? Had he always had so little faith in her?

"This is not the track to go down, Sally," she tried to warn herself. She had a job to do, and right now that consisted of restoring the promise of peace to the world. That was what it had always consisted of: that was what she believed in. That was, she knew regretfully, why Wufei had not asked her to join him, because he had known what her answer would be. Just as she knew that she could no longer convince him to return to her. They were both fighting for their beliefs, and they were both too damn stubborn and unyielding to give them up for the other. Knowing that didn't lessen the sting of Wufei's flight, but it did choke down any of Sally's possible anger and force her to recognize her continuing respect.

The telephone rang again, shrilly. Sally jumped, startled, and then pounced on it, terrified and yet blindly hoping that it would be him again. It wasn't.

"Sally?" Une's voice rapped out.

"Yes," she sighed.

"Sally -- we're ready to begin questioning. If you would please join us, we'll begin as soon as you've arrived." Une was understandably terse, and Sally could tell from the sound of her voice that she was not going to be particularly pleasant to be around that day.

"Um…yes. I'll be there as soon as I can. Une…" She hesitated, not wanting to admit what she knew, but knowing it had to be done. Whatever feelings she might have once had for Wufei had no place here; they had to be forced aside somehow. "…I just received a call from Wufei."

Une's voice fairly crackled with intensity as she prompted, "And?!"

"Noin was right. He's gone."

"Damn," Une growled, then sighed heavily. "Damn. We've got to get him back, he'll be invaluable to the rebels. He's been with us for years, he knows --" Une cut herself off. "I can't think about that right now. Get over here now. We're going to begin the interrogation."

Sally did not waste time. She had been sent home to get a few hours rest, but she had never even gotten around to changing out of her uniform. Now, she simply walked back out the door and began driving to the Preventers HQ. Arriving, she marched straight into the underbelly of the building, where the holding cells and interrogation rooms were; Une met her there with a steaming cup of coffee, which Sally gratefully accepted, and they went together to meet Middie Une.

She was there, seated serenely at the table with her hands folded as though she was unaware of the fact that she was wearing handcuffs. Une dismissed the guard by the door, and he respectfully dipped his head and went outside to wait for them to finish. Sally went to seat herself across from the captive; Une remained standing, pacing agitatedly back and forth in front of the door. Sally reached out and pressed the record button on the tape recorder set on the table, but the silence continued for several moments longer. Middie remained still, apparently unfazed. Finally, she shook her head, tossing a stray lock of blonde hair back over her shoulder. Une spoke.

"You told us last night that your name was Middie Une. I presume this is correct?"

"I have no reason to lie."

"You were leading the attack on the Vice Foreign Minister's office."

"I was."

"What was the purpose of this unprovoked attack?"

"I would not call it unprovoked. It is a culmination of the past six years of false promises and deceit practiced by the people and government of the Earth. The colonies will not, and should not have to, stand it any longer. This is our declaration of war."

"The name of your leader is Duo Maxwell, is it not?"

A smile twitched at the corner of Middie's mouth. "That is the name of our commander…but I would not say he was our leader. We act on orders from a much higher authority."

"Who?!" Une slammed her fists down on the table and glared at Middie, but the young woman only stared back at her calmly.

She replied composedly, "God himself."

Sally interjected, "If we were to tell you that Duo Maxwell does not communicate with any god, but instead suffers from a debilitating mental illness, what would your reaction be?"

Middie's eyes shifted to her and she said, "I would know that you were either a liar or a fool. It wouldn't surprise me if you were both."

That was the last thing that they could get out of Middie that morning, and when Une came out with Sally, she looked even grimmer than she had when they had gone in. She looked down at her watch and sighed again. "I have a press conference in half an hour and nothing encouraging to pass on…"

"Not nothing," Sally protested feebly.

"The colonial diplomats claim they had no knowledge of the attack. That's it, and it doesn't mean anything. They did not acknowledge the Gundam attacks in the Eve Wars either, and during those months there were still extremely destructive battles fought. The facts are that we were unable to prevent an attack on one of the most important government buildings in the world, have been failing to capture the leader of the attack for months, and one of our top agents -- whom we should have been watching more carefully on account of his past behavior in connection to this rebel group -- has betrayed us to them."

"Relena was not killed," Sally pointed out. "None of our government officials were. All the rebels have is a building -- they don't have hostages; they don't have control. We have the upper hand by far. We have agents already in the location that Duo and his group were last seen, and we have ordered all transportation to and from the colony stopped. And Heero Yuy has returned, on our side. It's only a matter of time, really, before we find them and put the rebellion down."

"Unless they have something we don't know about. Which I highly suspect they do. Besides which, let's not forget who it is we're dealing with, Sally. We may have Heero on our side, but Duo and Wufei are both highly, highly skilled. If anyone can get past us, it will be them, won't it?"

Sally swallowed against the sudden lump building in her throat. "We'll see," she managed to say around it. "We'll just have to see."

===========

There are a few more chapters being edited at the moment, but I'm leaving for college in a week so I don't know when I'll be finished with them. I'll try not to let myself fall back into the pattern of vanishing for months on end, though…

Comments and criticism are always appreciated -- thanks for reading!