Chapter 20
"How could you. . ." Trowa glared at the solemn looking figure half in the shadows.
"That is of no concern now. We had a deal?" Sara said, getting serious and annoyed.
"I said no deal, didn't I?"
"He says no deal. . .I guess he doesn't care about his friends and little daughter." She spoke the last words mockingly with a grin as she turned and headed toward the control panel. Trowa took a step forward and Chris pulled out a gun, training it on Trowa's chest.
"I wouldn't if I were you." Chris said, nodding his head for Trowa to back up.
"Oh don't worry, Mr. Barton, I won't kill them. . .yet." She pressed a few buttons as she had seen Mr. Hearn do and woke Hope from her slumber.
"Oh. . ." Hope moaned, weakly opening her eyes and looking up to see Trowa, "T-Trowa?"
"Hope. . ." Trowa softly whined, his face fighting the sadness inside him wanting to make him break into tears.
"So you two do know each other, how pleasant." Sara smiled sarcastically.
"She's just my daughter's sitter, why do you think she was with her when you kidnapped Precious?" Trowa tried to seem uncaring as to Hope's fate.
"Uh huh. . .you seemed forlorn a second ago, don't think your dumb military training will hide little breaks in your acting." Sara seemed unamused as she crossed her arms and glared at him.
"I-I am just his daughter's sitter, he hired me to watch her for the weekend while he was at work." Hope tried to help but it didn't seem to work.
"I saw all three of you eating lunch together, or was that part of his work?" Chris asked, still locked onto Trowa.
"He was on a break so. . .he wanted to at least have a little time with Precious. I was still watching her, so that is why I-"
"I've heard enough. You are a weak liar, Miss Hope." Sara glared up at her in anger.
"What reason do I have to lie? You will kill me either way whether I mean something to him or not, because I have seen too much. Am I right?" Hope said seriously.
"She's got a point." Chris gave her the benefit of the doubt, believing her reasoning.
"I suppose. So you mean nothing to him. . ." Sara wasn't completely sure yet. Looking up at Trowa, Hope said slowly, ". . .Absolutely nothing, business is all there is to it."
Hope. . .you're so strong. . .Trowa thought, knowing her pain to just say that much. He had sensed long ago she had feelings for him and he was burning inside with the desire to rescue her from her fate. She didn't deserve this but what could he possibly do to save her now, he was in no position to be the hero.
"Let us speak now to your little angel then, if this life is nothing but a hired slave." Sara turned and woke Precious next. Slowly, her little eyelids flickered open and she immediately spotted her father and screamed out to him. Trowa couldn't take this as he cried out her name and lurched forward. The second he moved, Chris pulled the trigger and caught his shoulder with a bullet, sending him stumbling back in pain.
"DADDY! LEAVE MY DADDY ALONE, YOU MONSTERS!" Precious screamed to them, fighting the restraints and hurting herself in the process as she whimpered.
This isn't right. . .Michael thought to himself, watching Trowa stagger back to where he had been, clutching the wound that was now in his right shoulder.
"Now that's more like it!" Sara shouted, pulling forth a gun and aiming it in Precious' direction.
"NO!" Trowa exclaimed, his eyes wide with fear.
"I won't shoot her. . .yet. But if you try anything sneaky I will. Now, we had an agreement, did we not? I don't like being disappointed."
"Why don't you get her yourselves, or are you too lazy to do the hard work?" Trowa growled, feeling the life draining from him slowly.
"Well, if you hadn't noticed, we're only safe from your powers when he's around, so unless we take him with us that can't be done." Sara motioned to Michael who glanced up in her direction, then Trowa's. Trowa eyed him curiously and Michael gently shook his head.
They don't know that he can teleport. . .Trowa knew now why they hadn't made a move on their own to take over the world.
"I don't have time for this, our visitors should be here soon and then we can continue our conversation. Until then, you can sit with the others in our late scientist's room." Sara motioned to Chris and he motioned to Trowa to walk in front of him. Trowa slowly wandered in the direction Chris pointed him in and was soon locked inside the small quarters.
"Mr. Barton! You're alive! I heard a gun fire and thought the worst." Iceman said half cheerfully as Trowa sat on the floor by the door. Sopher watched him for a second before saying, "You're hurt, sir."
"I noticed." Trowa began tending to his wound manually as best he could in his situation. Sopher looked up at the door and said in a low whisper, "What does this mean? Did we fail?" Trowa didn't respond as he silently wrapped his shoulder with stripes of his shirt. With solemn glances, the two spies returned to sitting in quiet contemplation.
"We're almost there, get ready for an assault." Heero said, bringing the ship into the forested park and searching out the falls facade.
"Weapons fully loaded and ready." Chang said, clicking closed the last gun and handing it to Duo. Looking down at the gun, Duo said quietly, "I never imagined having to handle one of these again. . .are we doing the right thing fighting them like this?"
"We have no other choices, Duo. . .it's either fight or surrender, and I'm not in the mood for giving up." Quatre answered his friend, cocking up his 44 with an uneasy but prepared expression.
"Giving up is dishonorable, I would rather die fighting. I will die. . .saving my wife if I must. . ." Chang said to himself, slowly drawing his katana to check its edge. The ship came to a stop and Heero said, "Is this it? The coordinates are correct."
"Yes. . .this is it." Rachel said, looking out almost nostalgically at the beautiful crystal falls cascading down the mountain cliff and carrying on down a long and winding river through the Cumberland forest.
"We'll go in through the falls, hopefully our way isn't blocked by a gate or other reinforcement. Get ready." Heero pulled back on the steering to get in line with the waterfall before shoving forward into a dive down through the water. They broke through on the opposite side and nearly collided with other docked ships.
"MOVE OUT!" Duo shouted, running for the door and pushing it open quickly. They bailed while Heero gave them cover fire from the ship, its mounted gattling guns discharging multiple rounds of ammunition on the oncoming base defense. The group made for the docking bay door and slipped into the halls, making their way to the plotted location of the prisoners.
"It should be just around this corner and down an elevator in the lower levels." Duo said, turning a corner and coming to a quick stop. The hallway was void of any life and reeked of a trap.
"We need to hurry, Maxwell, what's the matter!" Chang said, checking the halls anxiously for following attackers.
"This doesn't feel right, it was too easy. . ." Duo muttered, his instincts telling him to run.
"Who cares, there's footsteps coming this way!" Chang hissed, pushing him into the hallway. Against his will, he lead the group to the door and pushed the button, hearing a light ding as the doors opened. They quickly got in and closed the doors, relaxing for a moment while the elevator descended to the laboratory. The second the doors opened again, they dashed out to be greeted by an empty room.
"Is. . .this the right place?" Quatre asked, looking around nervously.
"ASUKA!" Chang ran across the room when he saw his wife hanging from her restraints.
"Chang, no!" Duo shouted to him. Suddenly, a shot rang out and Chang fell to the ground, clutching his leg in pain.
"We won't be having that, now will we?" Sara stepped out of the shadows, followed shortly by a team of armed guards that quickly surrounded the group. She stepped up to Chang and smirked down at him, giving him a kick in the side and sending him rolling across the floor. Quatre grit his teeth as he fought the urge to shoot her down.
"You wasted far too much of our time, gentlemen. . .and Miss Rachel. . ." Chris bowed his head to her, his gun drawn and ready to fire.
"We're here to get back our friends!" Duo said to Sara in a demanding voice.
"You're in no place to be making demands, Mr. Maxwell, considering there was a ransom for their return." Sara said, slowly strolling over to him with her gun at her shoulder casually.
"No deal."
"Well then. . ." She turned and aimed her gun at the hostages and they all yelled in protest.
"Please, be reasonable!" Rachel begged.
"Reasonable? Is asking for the world not reasonable? You thought it was when your leader took over the world with her weak pacifistic ethics and forced us all to do her bidding!"
"She only wants to unite the worlds in peace, you want to destroy that hope and bring on another war!"
"War is how we live, without war you kill people with the silence of lonely nights and the empty streets. Peace IS war, with ourselves! Those who are in denial call on peace because they do not know who they truly are. . .A WARRIOR CRAVING THE BLOOD OF WAR!"
"You're insane!" Duo said.
"Weak people want peace, because they cannot fight for what they truly want: power!"
"No, we're tired of fighting, we want to be able to walk outside without the doubt of making it home at the end of the day! To enjoy life without the aid of a weapon! To worry about what you're going to have for dinner and not whether you'll have something to eat!"
"You fools, you've been brainwashed by that pathetic woman into thinking peace is the right thing to do. . .peace does not exist, you can never convince the whole world to come to odds with each other and make amends! It's impossible! Countries have been fighting for centuries over family disputes and ancestral conflicts, it has been ingrained into their very DNA to fight one another! War makes them happy, it gives them a meaning in life. . ."
"Being a killer has no meaning, you become empty inside. . .you lose meaning and sight of why you started fighting in the first place. It's not a war you want, you want total anarchy!"
"And is there something wrong with that?" Sara grinned, tossing her long brown hair and saying, "You BORE me with your ideals. My demands are still the same and you are running out of time. Although I need Mrs. Peacecraft Yuy for my world dominance, I also need someone else's. . .aid." She stared at Rachel and she said, "Me?"
"You may recall something you did many years ago to one of the greatest rulers of our time, you do remember the assassination of Commander Khushrenada?" Rachel hesitated, saying in a lowered voice, "What of it."
"You killed him, you can bring him back to life."
"Impossible, he died over 3 years ago! I can't-" Sara motioned to the guards and they ran off as she aid, "You will do what I want, or your friends die." The guards returned with Trowa, Sopher, and Iceman in tow.
"Trowa. . ." Rachel's heart began to race as she thought over what she was going to do.
"It's your decision." Sara said, her face dead of any emotions as she glared at Rachel, her gun trained on Trowa.
"You know my powers have no use here, not with Michael present." Rachel reminded her.
"Well, how ever did you know? Mr. Chamberlin?" Michael stepped out of the shadows and walked up to her side.
"Yes, Ma'am." Michael muttered obediently, keeping his eyes from crossing paths with Rachel's.
"Now, I have a dilemma on my hands. I can't risk losing your protective force field and she can't use her powers in your presence. Just how far does your power stretch?"
"About 100 feet." Michael responded.
"Good, then it shouldn't affect her in my office. If you'll follow me. . ."
"No." Rachel said defiantly.
"No?"
"No deal, how do I know you won't kill them while I'm with you?"
"Well, you don't but you also don't have any choice."
"I have another idea, why not a contest?" Sara cocked an eyebrow, saying, "Contest?"
"Yes, if you win you get what you want and if we win we get what we want."
"So if you lose, I can kill all of you?" Sara smirked. Hesitantly, she responded, "Yes."
"Rachel!" Duo stared wide-eyed at his girlfriend as she put their lives on the line.
"So, you're challenging me? To what, dueling?" She tapped her sword with a smile, knowing her own skills.
"No, I challenge you." Everyone stared at Trowa in surprise as he looked up weakly.
"Oh? You? You're barely standing, what could you possibly manage to challenge me to?" Sara was amused by his comment.
"Chess." Everyone looked at each other in confusion and Sara laughed, saying, "Chess? You'll lose in five moves!"
"I wouldn't doubt his chances, he's quite good himself. He will be the challenger, a battle of wits, winner takes all!" Rachel said, the others unsure of her decisions. Glancing in Trowa's direction, Rachel gave him a nod and he returned it.
"Well then, if you insist he can beat me, let us see! Guard, retrieve my chess set from my office!" One of the men saluted and ran for the elevator. She waved to the guards and said, "Do have a seat." The guards hit them all behind the knees and they fell to the floor painfully, glaring up at the men who attacked them. Sara nodded to the men holding Trowa and they brought him forward, dropping him at her feet.
Oh no, he's hurt! Can he really do this? Rachel thought to herself, seeing the bloody shoulder sagging in his shirt.
"Guards, get the table and chairs from the quarters and bring them here." Sara said lazily, waving to two of the men guarding the group. They quickly did as requested. Within minutes, the guard returned with the chess set and set it on the newly placed table. Dragging Trowa into his seat, the guards kept watch on him in case he thought of doing anything sneaky during the game. Michael stood behind Sara's chair to protect her as well during the game. Sara sat gracefully across from Trowa, setting up her pieces as she said, "I do hope you're better than you appear to be at doing things, you did fail to infiltrate my base successfully without being seen. Hopefully you don't mind being the black pieces, they're so stereotypically evil. Oh, I do love it when there's a crowd watching, makes the game seem so much more 'fun'." Sara motioned to Chris who activated all the holding cells. The prisoners woke and stared in surprise at the game before them.
"Trowa!" Hope called out again, seeing his wounded state and worrying.
"Daddy!" Precious called out, wiggling about.
"Chang. . ." Asuka looked down at her husband in surprise, not expecting him to be there.
"Quiet! You all have the honor of witnessing Mr. Barton here duel for your lives, isn't that exciting? Hopefully he won't mess up too much with such attention. Are you ready?" She said, confident in her abilities as she smugly crossed her arms. He nodded and she said, taking one of her pawns, "I will go first."
