Always Hunted
"Exactly. That's why only the two of you were marked as targets and why you would have ended up beaten, raped and chopped into little pieces to be delivered to your husband like a Christmas present. He wants Zechs to suffer and he wants it to be very slow and painful. One body part delivered at a time." Keyda said and wondered if maybe she shouldn't have gone into such fine detail given Noin's rather white appearance with a tinge of green. "So far we've obviously managed to prevent that from happening but I'd be lying if I said it was easy."
"That son of a bitch." Noin swore suddenly followed by every single four letter she'd learned in her twenty-six years on earth. "I'll kill him." She added not caring that the man in question's granddaughter was in the room. "He's a dead man."
"Given that you haven't been able to catch him much less kill him in the past you should realize that the chances of that happening are very slim." Eve commented for the first time as she stood straight and tall beside Keyda's chair. Noin was a fool if she thought she stood a chance.
"Why are you helping us?" Noin said locking eyes with Keyda, needing something to focus on other then her need to slowly peel off Yamachi's skin while he was still living. "Why are you risking his wrath to help us? Family doesn't mean anything to him, killing you wouldn't bother him in the least. I know Zechs was friends with your brother but that wouldn't be enough of a reason so why?"
"Because Trowa asked for my help and I owe him." Keyda said simply not about to say anymore then that. She knew that Preventers knew that Trowa was involved somehow. She wanted it made clear that he hadn't done anything wrong. "For him we risked our lives."
)
"Why? What do you owe him for? It must be something big for you all to be willing to risk so much." Noin said thoughtfully, her eyes sharpening. "And he'd have to know you all well, know he could trust you to keep us safe. He would never have intrusted us to you unless he was sure you could handle it."
"He knows more about us then most." Keyda said with a shrug then seeing no point in hiding it leaned forward. "The hantas are helping you of their own free will, for him. I only passed on the request."
"Why would they..unless...we managed to find old records about the break out and one of the scientists who survived said that a group of about half a dozen broke into the labs, that they were headed by someone highly trained. That the leader was young with brown hair and green eyes. Was Trowa part of that group? One of the ones who headed it? Did he..did he know someone being held there?" Noin asked with a horrified look on her face. She didn't want to think that someone Trowa cared about had been taken and processed through those hellish labs.
"No, no one he cared about at that time was there." Keyda said, softening slightly at Noin's obvious affection for Trowa. She was glad to see his friends were so loyal. "But yes, he headed the group I formed to get them out. My grandfather had taken me to the lab in China, you see. I'd seen the children, seen what was being done to them. And I knew they were all going to be killed after fighting so long and so hard to survive. So I got them out...and those like them. I understand you had a visitor tonight, a real fan of the hanta project. He's been working very hard to try to slip into his father's bloody shoes."
"Yes we did. Darius told you about that?" Noin said, figuring that was the most likely answer even though she hadn't even seen Darius to mention it to him.
"We've been monitoring him since he came into the country. Where he goes death tends to follow quickly enough." Keyda said with a cool smile, well aware that at that very moment the young fanatic was getting a taste of the pain he'd inflicted upon others. "Unfortunately there will always be people like him. Morals can vary so much from person to person."
)
Seconds later as Noin was absorbing the simple comment a loud beeping noise sounded and Noin could tell from the looks on Keyda and Eve's faces that it wasn't good. Both rushing out of the room, quickly followed by Noin, they came to a stop in the front stairway where large windows flaked the large oak doors. Looking out the windows they could see several military trucks driving up the lane in the dim outdoor lights. The people rushing out to stop them were being shot down like animals, like a person brushes off a stray hair.
"He know." Keyda said softly as she watched the trucks approach knowing that her grandfather had finally learned of her actions. "And he's come to see us pay."
"We'll take down as many as we can." Eve said softly, knowing that there was little chance that they would be leaving the house alive. Good-bye Quatre, she whispered to him mentally as she turned around and hollered for J.C. and Darius, telling them to arm themselves as they came running down the stairs. Today was as good a day as any to die.
)
An Hour later
Taps had been put on Trowa's phones in the house he lived in when he was in the area. There were also trained soldiers watching the house, waiting for him to leave but Trowa had yet to even appear at one of the windows much less try to leave. Of course if he did few had little doubts that he would spot and lose the tails easily enough. As there was nothing else to do everyone crammed into the room that had been set up solely for monitoring their friend. "In coming message to him now. Tracking call." Heero said as he broke the silence in the room, setting the dials on audio as everyone came closer to hear better.
"Barton, yes?" Came Trowa's rather sleepy voice though there was an alertness to it that he never lost."
"It's Annalise. Yamachi knows and he came after us. he has Keyda." Came a female voice, apparently named Annalise. "We held them off as best as we could but there were just too many of them. The house is full of bodies as it is."
"What...they have Keyda? They took Keyda!" Trowa demanded, his voice ringing with fury and fear now, any traces of sleep gone in a blink of an eye.
"Yes. Eve, Darius, J.C. and others went after them. Myself and four others also stayed behind in case they decided to come back for the survivors. Keyda was obviously the goal though. He'll want to make her pay the piper himself. What are your orders, Trowa?" Annalise asked in a calm and collected voice.
"I'm on my way there. The children are all alright? Elizabeth?" Trowa wanted to know, his voice mixed with the sounds of rustling that were from changing into more appropriate attire.
"The children were automatically brought to a sealed location, Elizabeth was wounded as she was used to force Keyda's surrender." Annalise replied, looking over at the people in question. Elizabeth was lying on a couch while the children circled her protectively. They saw it as their duty to protect their grandma.
"All right, I'll be there in under twenty." Trowa replied then hung up the phone, Annalise doing the same.
"I've got the coordinates. It's a house about fifteen to twenty minutes from here." Duo said with a grim look on his face.
"Lets go." Heero said as he got up, ordering the girls to stay behind except for Sally. Ignoring him Lady Une insisted on going and soon they were all piling into Preventers vans, all of them armed.
)
Nearly missing the driveway they pulled in to see gates that had been smashed through, two men lying dead in the middle of the road having been run over. Cursing under their breaths Heero and Duo got out, each dragging a body off the road then taking their jackets off placed them over the men's faces. It was all they could do for now. Driving up the driveway they found the grounds littered with more bodies. Pulling to stops everyone got out and looked at the carnage, the front yard littered with bodies, weapons and broken glass from the house windows. The door had been broken off its hinges. They were all set to go in when a car came speeding up the drive way and with a piercing screech of tires came to a stop, Trowa getting out in one swift movement having not bothered to wear a seat belt. "Enjoying the fruits of your labors?" Trowa asked coolly before taking off running into the house, the others following.
"What do you mean the fruits of our labors? Trowa, we didn't do this." Quatre demanded to know, keeping time with Trowa through sheer will.
"If you hadn't been so busy sticking your noses where they didn't belong Yamachi would have never looked her way." Trowa bit off as he reached the top of the stairs, jumping over the bodies that littered that area. Everyone silent they followed him through the carnage to a dead end, everyone quietly watching as he took a painting off a wall to reveal a control panel which required retinal, voice and fingerprint scans before the wall separated. Walking through with their guns ready the pilots were stunned at the sight before them. Five adults stood like a wall, their hair different colors but all streaked with white, their guns pointing at them till Trowa nodded at them, telling them it was alright to move. As the five moved away a small figure dressed in blue pajamas came running to Trowa followed by six more, all in pajamas, all between the ages of three and five. They ran to Trowa, locking onto his legs like leeches, all looking up at him as though he were their salvation.
"Daddy, bad men came and took Mommy." One of the older ones announced seriously, the voice more of an adult's then a little girl. "Everyone tried to stop them but there were just too many and no one would give us guns."
"That's because you're not allowed to even hold a gun until you're ten, remember." Trowa said softly as he crouched down so that he was closer to them, the children forming a circle around him now, leaning against him for support and comfort. "Elizabeth, how are you holding up?" Trowa wanted to know after he'd given each of them a hug.
"It's my fault." The woman said weakly, Sally already there tending to the woman who was obviously hurt. "Keyda would have gotten away if they hadn't caught me. If I hadn't made her bring me along....now my baby is going to die. He's going to kill my baby just like he killed my boy, my little boy." Elizabeth said with tears streaming down her face that had nothing to do with the pain of having Sally studying the bullet wound in her arm. "You have to save her, Trowa. You have to get my baby back."
"I'll get her back. Did they say where they're taking her, Annalise? Any of you?" Trowa asked as he got to his feet, absently telling the children to stand guard over their grandmother which prompted them to rush back to their original positions, several eyeing Sally suspiciously.
"His island, he'll take her to the island." Elizabeth said weakly, knowing in her heart rather then in her mind that that was where Yamachi would want to end her baby's life. "She always hated that house, called it Purgatory. That house was evil she use to say. He'll take her there, end it there because he knows how scared she always was of it. That's where the others went looking."
)
"That fits, Trowa." One of the males in the group said, his black hair streaked with white in what was natural now rather then a fashion statement. "One of the men Eve took with her said he heard Keyda mutter something about meeting her end in Purgatory."
"Okay." Trowa said with a nod then finally remembering that his friends were there turned to face them, noticing they all looked more then a little shell shocked. "I need you guys to take the children and Elizabeth back to the house with you. These five will go with you too to see to their protection. Will you do it? It will be dangerous because there are plenty of people hunting them at the moment and they won't think anything of killing any of you to get them."
"Of course we'll take them, Trowa. You can count on us, man." Duo said softly, his eyes on the children. Somehow he knew that these were the children that bastard had been talking about earlier, the children that had been taken from the labs. These little kids had been experimented on, likely put in extreme amounts of pain and had lord only knows what else done to them. These little innocent faces had known cruelties most people went their whole lives never knowing even existed. God but what a world they lived in. "But don't you want us to go with you?"
"No, this isn't a fight you'd be of use in but thanks for offering." Trowa said, his face softening just a bit before going back to its former hard mask. "I'm trusting you with my children, don't fail me." Trowa said, his eyes flashing slightly before he headed out of the room leaving everyone behind.
)
"You're the lady they talked about." Everyone turning to see who'd broken the silence they saw that it was the girl who'd called Trowa Daddy earlier. "You're Lady Une. You helped fund the original hanta project. The scientists talked about you. They said you'd give them lots of money so that they could make more of us."
"No, no I'd never give them money to do that." Lady Une said as she looked at the children with pain and sadness clearly on her face. "I give you my word on that. If anything I'll give people lots of money to stop them from doing this ever again."
"Daddy said you wouldn't, that you learned your lesson. Aunt Eve said that she didn't trust you as far as an ant could throw you. An ant couldn't throw you at all." One of the boy's said as he shook his dark head. "But Mommy said if you did try to help them they'd stop you."
"We need to get her to a hospital." Sally said briskly, her heart breaking over these children even as she tried to remain level headed. "The bullet went straight through but she's lost blood and she needs more."
"We're supposed to take care of her, Annalise and Daddy said." The girl from earlier again spoke, the leader of the group everyone was beginning to see as she turned to glare at Sally. "Right, Annalise?"
"Right but you guys aren't doctors and your Daddy would want you to get her to the hospital." Annalise said in a soft voice the guys recognized from the phone tap. She was about the pilots' age with long, curly brown hair with one long streak of white in her hair that reminded Duo of Rogue from X-men. "So we need to collect your stuff and then get out of here like your daddy said, Kisa. I need you to take command okay? You know the drills."
"Okay." Kisa said with a nod then marching away she stood in front of the children with the pilots at her back. "Everyone get your partner and lets see a straight line. NOW!" Instantly the other six children rushed over to form perfect lines of two. "Lets see those hands." Joined hands were lifted up to prove they were holding hands. "All right then, here's your orders." Kisa said sounding like a military general. "Don't bother to change, go back to your rooms and gather all the stuff you need, only what you need or can't leave behind. Myself, Yuki, Hatori, Hiiro and Arisa will then report to the vault and retrieve our medication and the rest of yours. Haru and Hana, you two will then remain with grandmother until such time as we arrive at the hospital and make sure the location is secure. Any questions?" Kisa added as she spun on her heels to look at the pilots, her eyes just daring them to contradict her. "Some of you will need to come with us to the vault to carry." Kisa added as an after thought.
"Okay. Oh and was there another woman here. One with short purplish black hair and similar eyes?" Milliardo asked with urgency in his voice, the shock wearing off enough for him to think more clearly. "Her name is Lucrezia Peacecraft? Noin?"
"Yes. She was here. She went with the other to find Keyda." Another girl, Arisa spoke up, a thoughtful look on her face as she twisted a finger in her curly pigtail. "She said it was payback time and to tell her husband Milliardo not to worry if we saw him or one of her friends."
"Was she hurt?" Heero wanted to know even as Milliardo let out a sigh of relief.
"She gots banged up but she was okay." The smallest boy, Haru called out. "We should go now."
)
Soon everyone was given a job and the children were soon filing down the hallways towards their rooms. The pilots walked along side them, all the pilots trying to steer or block the children's' views of the bodies that littered the floor. "You don't have to do that you know." One of the males, a man of about eighteen said. "To these children the dead are constant companions. They've been surrounded by death since the day they took their first breaths."
The pilots not knowing what to say to that Duo almost gave a yelp when he felt a small hand slid into his. Looking down he saw the smallest girl in the group looking up at him with a hesitant smile on her face, as if to ask if it were okay to hold his hand. Squeezing it Duo kept her hand in his which made the girl beam up at him before turning her attention to walking up and over a fallen soldier as though she climbed over dead every day. "That's Hana, she doesn't speak." The one called Annalise said, noticing that the girl had taken Duo's hand. "She has a thing for long haired guys."
"Do none of these children have parents other then Trowa and Keyda?" Quatre wanted to know as they simply followed the children since they were the ones who knew where they were going. The little girl. Kisa was leading the way and Quatre would imagine she'd make one hell of a soldier one of these days.
"No. They were purchased from their mothers while they were still in the wombs. I'm Matthew by the way." The man with the black and white hair said before calling out to the children to pick up the pace which they did. "The scientists in this case went to pregnant teen mothers who were planning to abort their fetuses rather then continue with their pregnancies. After checking over the fetus for health and the background of the child's parents they paid for the fetuses, had them removed then grew them to term in their labs. The fetuses were all altered as they grew, to make their bodies better able to withstands the medications and alterations they wanted to make. Behold, the perfect little soldiers." Matthew said softly as he motioned to the seven children marching along, the littlest one still holding tight to Duo's hand.