Part 32
The man never saw where the blow came from. He was out of it before he fell at Trowa's feet. The young man had crept up silently on the roof and scanned the area. Three men on that roof, two on the next one. Piece of cake. His normal tactic would be to try and take them out from behind, but Trowa knew that he would be discovered soon. Those guys had been paid for such situations, they were supposed to pay attention.
Trowa could hear Duo's chatter in the street below, and it chilled him. The voice was Duo's, the flow of it was Duo's, but there was something … so not Duo about that whole thing. It reminded Trowa of what Duo had said about meeting Quatre : that it had been good because it wasn't killing or getting killed anymore. It certainly looked like they were back to it now, and Duo had retreated behind that scary mask of death. This was the part Trowa hadn't liked at all. He loved Duo, not Shinigami. But Shinigami was a part of Duo he had to accept. Just like Quatre had to accept the cold-hearted soldier in Heero. But what Trowa had told Quatre was still true : neither of them had to like it.
Trowa's thoughts were abruptly stopped when his keen eyes spotted a shadow moving at the edge of his vision. One of the men had probably heard the soft thump of his colleague on the roof and was coming to investigate. He joined the other one swiftly.
Trowa's green gaze flickered to the last remaining man on the roof, and to the other two on the roof next to it. They were looking down in the street and cursing. Looking down too, Trowa noticed the reason for it. About a third of the men who encircled Duo suddenly seemed to change their minds about being there and fled. Trowa expressed his surprise by raising his visible eyebrow, which no one saw. But then, one of the men on the roof started loading a weapon to shoot down in the street, and the high young man leaped into motion as swiftly as a panther.
"Where's the other one ?", one man called just as Trowa's foot caught the back of his head, sending him sprawled several feet away.
"Shit !", another answered. "Who the fuck are you ?"
Trowa's face took a bland expression, or more exactly, a lack of expression that sent shivers through his enemies' spines. The expression he knew he had worn when he was killing, back then with the mercenaries, and that had frightened the living hell out of grown men. 'Guess I have my own masks too', he thought inside. 'I'm just better at ignoring them. I still wonder why Catherine never noticed how I cling to my clown mask. How I need it to be myself, because it hides me from the outside world.'
"I am no one", Trowa said flatly, catching the man he had knocked over and jerking his thumb in his carotid to cut off the circulation, only letting go once he was sure that the man was unconscious for good.
"Fuck ! What'd you do to him ?"
Trowa's only answer was a gracious somersault over the gap between the two buildings. He landed softly on his feet in front of the two armed men who were now gaping at him. Taking advantage of their surprise, it only took a couple of punches to send them out in blissful unconsciousness. Trowa smirked in spite of himself. He could understand Wufei's sense of honor, but for Duo and himself, who had had to grow up practically alone in a presumably hostile environment, dirty fight was the rule. Always sneak from behind. Always strike a man when he's down. Never let someone come under your guard just to give him a chance.
Trowa went to the edge of the roof to watch Duo. His braided lover had taken down most of his opponents, and had even been able to restrain himself from killing too much people. He was mostly landing disarming blows and knocking out people, only striking to kill if there was a direct threat to his own life. Shinigami was on the hunt, but those weren't his preys, just small fry. They didn't deserve to die just because they'd chosen the wrong alliance.
Trowa frowned suddenly. Something was wrong. The green-eyed young man started to count the bodies around, and it struck him. One was missing. Trowa had always been good at evaluating situations. He had immediately noticed how many men were there, and subtracted those who had inexplicably left after a while. One was missing.
O.O.O.O.O
Duo spun one last time, kicking his last opponent into a wall so hard there was a sickening crack. The young American had no idea what part of the man's skull he had effectively broken, too focused on scanning the street for any more potential enemies.
His street instincts spoke to him just in time. He dodged the bullet coming from behind by falling into a low crouch. In a second, the black blades were back in their sheaths as Duo drew out his two guns, and turned around, intend on giving it back to whoever was crazy enough to try and sneak on the Master of Sneaking. Of course, since the man had his gun pointed directly at Duo's head, the braided young man knew instantly he wasn't going to make it this time. No time to dodge or fire faster. 'Of all the freakin' stupid ways to die, I get that one ! Shot in a dark street by a smartass killer working for the crazy psycho who burnt my life down ! No way man ! If Shinigami's going, it's gonna be loud ! Hey what's that ?'
This last bit was prompted as two long hands suddenly appeared at each side of the man's face. They took his chin almost delicately, before violently jerking it, breaking the spinal cord in a loud pop that echoed in the now silent street The man dropped his gun and flopped bonelessly onto the floor, revealing Trowa.
Duo was left to fall gracelessly on his butt, blinking stupidly at his lover who was contemplating the corpse at his feet.
"Tro ? How the hell did ya …"
"I jumped", Trowa said, dismissing the remark.
"From … the roof ?"
Trowa looked up, then at Duo again.
"It's not that high."
"Not that high ?", Duo repeated, not really sure he had heard that. "This is ten freakin' stories up !"
"Not that much higher than the trapeze. You alright ?"
"I … yeah, think so, can't believe I didn't see him comin', though. You … god, I'm shakin' now !"
The braided teen hauled himself to his feet and flung himself in Trowa's arms.
"You got to stop scaring me like this", he mumbled in Trowa's turtleneck. "I'm the one who's supposed to pull stupid stunts and get out of it alive, remember ?"
"Only works if you agree to stop scaring me too", Trowa said, holding him tight, "and I don't see you stopping any time soon, you're such an adrenaline junkie."
"Heh. You gotta take me as I am."
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
There was short silence as they simply hugged each other, inhaling each other's scent and taking comfort in each other's warmth.
"C'mon", Duo said eventually. "Job's not over. We got to find Heero. Where d'ya think they'll go ?"
"Not sure, but if Zechs has any say in it, he'll try to head for less populated part of town, not towards the market or that kind of things. Of course it would be simpler just to call Heero and check."
Duo stared at his lover for a while before he noticed the earpiece Trowa was wearing.
"You got a microphone", he said dumbly.
Then, "Why didn't I get one ?", more indignantly.
"Because you talk to much to Heero's taste when you kill. His words, not mine. Now let me try and find him. 01, 03 in, location ?"
O.O.O.O.O
Zechs was not really sure he was awake. The black jeep had distanced the motorcycle, and the platinum-haired man had successfully convinced Une to change her path to a less frequented area. Right now, he was trying not to replay in his mind what had happened earlier, namely the fact that Heero Yuy had taken a shot in the shoulder and had not even blinked, but rather started running at top speed after them. From what he had seen, the two on the motorcycle had been Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton. Zechs had no idea where Quatre Winner and Chang Wufei were.
Then, a moving shadow appeared at the edge of his vision, and he turned almost instinctively, holding out his gun …before he felt his jaw drop to the floor of the car quite painfully. For what he had seen was unmistakably Yuy, running down a street parallel to the one they were driving down right now, and methodically taking out the sentinels that had been posted to slow down the security service. They had orders not to shoot Yuy, but he had no orders not to shoot them, and they were falling one after the other.
Zechs lost sight of the young man as a building came between them, only to find him again once they passed it by. This was insane. Heero Yuy was running with a bullet through his shoulder. Running quite fast. In fact, he was almost keeping up with the jeep, which was, according to Zechs, impossible by normal human standards. He was holding out two Birdsong Glocks, and not even slowing down as he coldly eliminated one sentinel after the other.
'Oh my god, let it be some kind of horrible nightmare ! How can he even stand after taking that shot, let alone run after a car and shoot down enemies at the same time ? This is just impossible !'
Zechs looked briefly up at Une, who was standing on the passenger seat, looking ahead. She had apparently not noticed a thing, and Zechs would be dead before he would say a word. He went back to following their silent hunter, ice-blue eyes piercing through trees and anxiously watching after each building to see of he was still there. And then, Heero Yuy turned his head and glanced directly at him.
The eye contact in itself didn't last more than a few seconds, but Zechs felt his throat become dry. If glares could burn, the jeep would have been reduced to cinders by now. There was a promise of death in that look. Whose death, Zechs was not sure, but he really hoped it wasn't his own. A second later, Heero Yuy suddenly vanished, leaving Zechs with a very uneasy sensation in his stomach, and a sudden regret to have taken a breakfast that morning.
That is, until Une swore loudly.
"Son of a bitch !"
Turning to watch the road in front, Zechs discovered … Heero Yuy, feet firmly planted on the ground in the middle of the road, and pointing his two Glocks at the windshield, and more precisely at the driver's and Une's heads. At that point in time, Zechs pinched his arm, the sharp pain convincing him that this was actually reality in spite of everything he had witnessed. The car was still driving at top speed, but the hesitation of the driver was palpable. Which was comprehensible. After all it's not every day that you have the greatest killer of the galaxy pretending to slow down your jeep with only two guns and his own body.
"Don't stop !", Une ordered the driver. "Faster !"
The driver was terrified of Yuy, that was obvious, but unfortunately for him, Une was closer and armed, so that disobeying an order would have been a very bad idea. For his part, the Japanese man didn't move an inch, glaring murderously at the fast approaching car, guns still pointed and ready to fire. But suddenly, at the last second, he changed his aim and shot the two front tires, which had the immediate effect to send the huge car in the nearest wall in a resounding crash while Yuy dodged and disappeared in a nearby street.
Zechs had rolled into a tight ball, protecting his head, as soon as the car left its track to come in violent contact with the building, but he was still shaken. Not just by the crash, but also by the deed in itself. Heero Yuy had not moved, holding his ground until the last moment, and efficiently destroying their best means of escape with two bullets, before gaining a position where he would be able to follow them. But he had not killed Une. He could have done it easily, but he hadn't.
"Are you okay, Zechs ?", Une's voice asked.
"Yes, I … I think so", the blond man answered, testing his limbs and relieved to find he was badly bruised, but had not broken anything.
"Let's move before he finds us. That little bastard ! How dare he resist me like this ? Once I get my hands on him, I'll make sure that he begs for his death !"
"The driver …"
"He's dead."
Zechs shot a look to the driver's seat. The young man in it had had his ribcage crushed by the wheel, but just as Zechs made a move to get out of the wreckage, he heard a soft moan of pain coming from there.
"Une ! He is still alive ! We must …"
Before he could finish this, Une took out her gun and shot the poor unsuspecting driver in the head.
"Now he is dead. Could we please not lose time on inconsequential matters and run, now ?"
" … Sure", Zechs answered, his heart in his throat and trying to control the little voice in his head that was telling him to throttle Une right here, right now.
O.O.O.O.O
"Shit !"
'That sums it up quite nicely', Zechs thought as he and Une found themselves blocked in a dead-end.
The place was circular, with three ways leading out of it, all going roughly in the same direction, and buildings all around. And it was conveniently deserted, too, which meant the footsteps coming closer were clearly audible.
Yuy was not even running after them, now. He had led them here, into this trap. Several times, Une had tried to take a way to get out of the maze that this popular neighborhood was, but to no avail. Each time, a dark silhouette in the background and the echo of rapid footsteps behind had forced them to choose another path, and to get deeper and deeper, until there was nowhere left to go. Zechs could not have done it better if he had worked on it for weeks, and Yuy had improvised from the start, leaving the blond young man very impressed and with a slight feeling of jealousy that he was trying to ignore.
Heero came out of the darkness in the middle way, straight in front of his targets. Both of his guns were raised, and he was walking calmly, completely ignoring the wound in his left shoulder. His arm was not even trembling, and his blue gaze was fixed on Une. He smiled, the same kind of empty and not so sane smile Une could do when she thought she had reached her goal.
"Konnichiwa (1), Une-san."
The voice was dripping with sarcasm. And the eyes so cold. Chillingly cold.
"How nice to see you again, Une-san. We didn't get to finish that interesting conversation we had on L3."
"I have nothing left to tell you, Yuy", Une spat. "You're wounded and outnumbered, what can you sincerely hope …"
"You don't touch what's mine", the Japanese young man interrupted. "You don't touch my family and get away with it."
"Your … family ?"
Heero cocked his head to one side, as if studying an animal that would be ready to pounce.
"I told the doctors I'd kill everyone who would try to kill Katoru. So far, I shot down twenty-six of your little cronies. Just give me one good reason why I should not finish this, Une-san. One good reason why I should let you live after all the harm you've done to my family !"
Heero was shaking with suppressed rage now, but the aim was still flawless, both Glocks pointed at Une. Who did not look remotely afraid, but more puzzled.
"We're two and you're alone, Yuy", the woman said. "I hit you, I know it. Do you really expect …"
"Well, actually, we're three and you're two, so I guess you're the one outgunned here, Lady !"
All heads turned to the way that was most to the left. Duo and Trowa were standing there like silent vigils. Well, Trowa was silent. Duo was grinning madly, and waving and winking at Heero, and managing at the same time to shoot disgusted looks at Une.
"Oi, Hee-chan ! How's it hangin' ? Need any help here ?"
"Hn."
"What that a 'yes-hn' or a 'no-hn' ? What do you think, Tro ?"
"I think that was a 'shut up-hn', love."
Duo stopped talking and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before he shrugged.
"Whatever. We found the psycho bitch from hell. What do we win ?"
Zechs was watching the exchange with wide eyes, until Une pulled his sleeve.
"Let's go", she hissed, indicated the third way.
Unfortunately, Quatre chose that moment to arrive precisely by that way, followed very closely by Chang Wufei and Sally Po and effectively blocking the last route out.
Wufei was swearing in all the languages he knew while running. Not only did Quatre run very fast, but he knew the place. Following him ended up being a mad run into deserted streets as the blond young man took turns without hesitation.
The Chinese young man came to an abrupt stop as the scene in front came into better view. Zechs and Une were cornered against the building, Duo and Trowa guarding one of the way and Heero standing in the other one, weapons raised. With their addition, there was no way out of that place. Wufei took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. At least, it was over.
That lasted three blissful seconds, before Quatre barreled at full speed in the place and stopped a few feet away from Heero.
"Kisama, Katoru !", Heero hissed. "I told you to stay there !"
Quatre reddened with anger, all but pounced on Heero and grabbed a fistful of his turtleneck, effectively bringing the Japanese man's face level to his own and furiously glaring at him.
"If you don't want me to become violent in the next seconds, just SHUT UP ! AND DON'T YOU DARE SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN !", he yelled.
This left Heero quite paralyzed, and Zechs could have sworn the young man paled under his natural tan. His eyes were not cold and concentrated anymore, but staring widely at the shorter young man in front of him.
"Katoru …"
"You are NOT going to die in my place, and I certainly did NOT keep you by my side so you could take bullets in my stead, so don't you ever DARE try that kind of stunt again or I'll make sure you won't want to try them again for a long long time ! Hey, who's the one who said 'I should be the one who decides whether I hurt or not'? Is it only going one way ?"
"Katoru …"
Everyone was glued to the scene, watching in awe as Quatre Winner scolded the most dangerous man of the colonies as if he were a disobedient child. A fact that Une didn't miss. She was trapped, and she needed a way of escape. Again, she tugged Zechs' sleeve.
"We should go while they…"
She had the greatest surprise of her life when Zechs took his sleeve back none to gently and suddenly pulled his weapon on her.
"I suggest you don't try to get away, Lady Une. Or this could end very badly for you."
"Zechs, what the hell do you think you're doing ?"
"Stopping you ?", Zechs suggested.
He turned to Sally.
"Water, call Fire and tell her the subject is captured."
"Roger", Sally answered before making a short call.
When she went back, she was smiling very coldly, looking at the woman who had ended so much lives needlessly.
"Nice to finally meet you, Lady Une. I worked on your handiwork for months on L5. Couldn't wait to meet the artist."
She shot a look to Wufei, who was prudently staying back, his arms crossed on his chest, and looking everywhere but at Lady Une, dismissing her presence by his apparent inattention. He was probably not taking it too well, but he was there.
"Zechs, what is going on ?", Une snapped. "What are you doing ?"
"Oh, but I don't think I've introduced myself formally yet", Zechs said. "I'm so sorry, I'm losing all my manners. I am Agent Wind, from the GSA Special Squad. You are under arrest for at least seven first degree murders on L5, one first degree murder on L4, and two first degree attempts."
"You scum ! Treize-sama …"
"Treize-sama will be most disappointed to realize that his objectives will not be fulfilled, but I'm sure he will not really have the time to regret it, since he is supposed to be arrested by GSA Agents … about now", Zechs said, checking his watch and smiling.
O.O.O.O.O
Same time, L1 Colony Cluster, KI Banks Building
Treize was frowning at the figures in the papers in front of him, which had no effect on them whatsoever. They kept saying the same thing, that thing being that his company was close to bankruptcy and quickly losing all of its supporters. As soon as the markets had opened, WEI had offered all of its shares in KI for sale, followed by thousands of shareholders who trusted WEI, which, had the expected effect to make the value of the shares drop to alarming levels. Several partners had called to announce their future withdrawal from the company, and two of his best directors had decided to quit. There had been no major trouble after the first board reunion at WEI, and Quatre Winner had apparently succeeded in winning indefectible loyalty from his own directors. And Dermail had called to say his own company was suffering from the same things.
"If you want to play it that way, Mr Winner, that's fine by me", Treize muttered to himself. "I may have lost a battle, but …"
He was rather rudely interrupted as the door opened and slammed in to the wall, revealing his head of security holding a disc and looking frantic. The man gave a short bow that bordered on rude, and held out the disc.
"Shitsurei shimashita (2), Treize-sama, but …I … I think I … I think I found the mole."
Treize frowned.
"I thought I told you to leave it until Zechs' return, Yamaguchi-san."
The man had the decency to blush and lower his gaze.
"I know, Treize-sama, but I thought I could begin to watch the security discs so that he wouldn't need to start it all by himself and … I found this."
He held out the disc. Treize raised an eyebrow.
"Well ?"
"I think you should watch it, Treize-sama."
"Alright."
Treize sat back in his chair as Yamaguchi went to put the disc in the player next to the great screen that covered a half of the wall and was usually used for video conferences.
There was some static, then the date appeared, August 23rd. When the picture cleared, Treize could see Zechs' office, just next door. It was empty. Then, the tall young man appeared, put a stack of files on his desk and took out a small device, connecting it to his vidphone before sitting down and dialing a number. The angle of the camera did not allow to see what the number was nor the screen of the vidphone. A female voice answered.
/"Fire in."
"This is Wind."
"I was expecting news. Glad you could make it. No problem ?"
"Not one. I got the files."
"Good. Just a minute."
Pause.
"Wind, this is Water, our pathologist on the case. She is the one who compiled the files and started the inquiry."
"I saw that. Glad to see you again, Water. It's been a long time."
"Too long. You guys have been doing a lot of interesting things without me."
"What should we do ? I have no one trustworthy enough to send you the files, and I can't just send them through a postal service. I can't have an agent contact me, because I am still under surveillance and that would blow my cover."/
"I am sorry, Treize-sama", Yamaguchi said, turning to his boss and shocked to discover he was smiling.
Suddenly, there was static again on the screen.
"What is that ?", Treize asked. "Has the disc been tampered with ?"
"I don't know, Treize-sama, I didn't watch that far, I brought it to you as soon as I found out."
The static disappeared once more, showing a very calm and composed Zechs, wearing a GSA uniform and looking straight at the camera. The background was bland.
"Hello, Treize. If you are watching this, then it means my mission is over and you've lost. I wish I could say I am sorry I did that to you, but the truth is I was supposed to be hired by you to bring you down. Guess I had just the right profile. In fact, if you are watching this, it means your building is surrounded by GSA agents who are going to arrest you in approximately ten minutes. I don't advise to try and run, it would be most unwise, since those guys have orders to shoot to kill if they can't capture you alive. Likewise, if I am not here to tell you this in person, it will probably be because you sent me to Lady Une, which probably means she has been arrested by the Special Squad by now. I suppose I should thank Yuy for stealing those files from the L5 morgue, it gave us all the proofs we needed. I think I'll probably see you again in court. Oh, and, for that recording you asked … well I am sure if I ask Mr Winner kindly, he'll be most delighted to give it to me."
The screen went blank. Treize did not move, his smile larger than ever.
"Zechs. My greatest weakness, and apparently my greatest mistake. I should have known you were too good to be true. Well done, my friend. Very well done, indeed."
"Treize-sama, you must go now !", Yamaguchi said, panicked.
"It's useless", Treize said calmly. "You heard him. I played. I lost. I'll accept the consequences. I was tricked, but it was done with such efficiency and elegance that I can only admire it."
"Treize-sama …"
"Enough, Yamaguchi-san ! Please open the doors to the gentlemen who must be waiting downstairs. If I have to go, I want to do it with a minimum of dignity, and there is no use for these people to scare my staff or break doors to get in."
"Hai, Treize-sama."
O.O.O.O.O
"You traitor !", Une spat. "You dishonorable prat ! How could you ?"
"Traitor ? If I am a traitor, it means I was loyal to Treize at one point. I'm sorry if this causes you any grief, but making him fall was my goal from the start, so I don't think it's a treason. If you expect the part where I didn't tell him what I was really doing, of course", Zechs said.
"He trusted you ! You stole my place because he trusted you !"
"And that will be his loss", Zechs interrupted. "Water ?"
"Fire is coming with backups."
She turned to look at the five youngsters. Quatre was now fussing over Heero's wound. Wufei saw indecision flash on her face and stepped forward.
"Go. I'll watch her."
She shot him a relieved smile and went to fuss along with Quatre. Wufei took a step forward and stood in front of Une, looking into her eyes.
"I do not envy your fate", he finally said, "but since you probably don't regret what you've done …"
O.O.O.O.O
"And look at that", Quatre ranted, helping Heero to get out of his now ruined leather coat and prodding the wound. "You must have lost a lot of blood. That was insane to go after her and run with such a wound …"
"It's superficial, Katoru", Heero interrupted.
"Superficial ? I'll give you superficial !"
"Calm down, Mr Winner", Sally said, coming closer. "Let me see this."
"It's okay", Heero protested, before Sally glared at him.
"You don't discuss the doctor's order, young man ! Sit here and let me look at that."
She took several minutes to examine the wound.
"It's fine", she finally said. "It was a clean shot, the bullet went out, I hope Noin will be able to retrieve it from the scene, assuming the journalists did not stomp on everything. You'll need a few stitches and a bit of rest, but frankly, I am amazed you could stand, and even run after that."
Heero gave his best 'I told you so' look to Quatre, only to lose it when Sally kept on talking.
"This is not an invitation to do it again, Mr Yuy. If Mr Winner asks, I'll be most happy to sedate you if you try this again. Maybe we should call an ambulance …"
"I don't need an ambulance", Heero protested. "Let's go back."
Quatre helped him get up, his face stubbornly set in a reproachful expression but not adding a thing. The Japanese draped his arms around the slender shoulders and brought his mouth close to Quatre's ear.
"Gomen nasai, koi."
Quatre couldn't help smiling.
"It's okay, just … don't do that again. It's scaring me when you go all like that."
"I promise."
They both shot a last look to Une, who was glaring murderously at the two of them.
"Good luck, Une-san", Heero said, and this time he sounded sincere, not an ounce of sarcasm in his tired voice.
He turned around, taking Quatre with him.
Things happened too fast for anyone to stop them. Afterwards, Zechs blamed himself endlessly for not thinking to confiscate Une's weapon. She drew it and aimed at Quatre. Wufei saw her and jumped, but the only thing he managed was to lower her arm, shifting her aim from his head to his midsection. The shot rang in the closed space between the buildings.
Quatre stumbled, feeling a searing pain tearing his lower back. He put his hand there, and was surprised to feel moisture. When he brought his hand back in front of his eyes, he saw blood. Not understanding what had happened, he stared at his bloodied hand, then looked up at Heero. Then he began to feel nauseous and dizzy, and his vision darkened. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
O.O.O.O.O
(1) Japanese for 'Good morning'.
(2) Another way to say 'I'm sorry'. In fact, this way to say it implies that you know what you just did or said was rude. This is also the way you say goodbye on the phone before hanging up.