Gundam Wing Episode 2 *Aggressive Adversaries* 10:50pm

Wufei and Sally enter a motel after questions they asked brought them there. Very fortunate to get some answers so soon, they get the keys to Sophia's old room. Sally opens the door and turns on the light. "It doesn't look like she left much." The room was nearly spotless. "It doesn't even look like she even used this room."

"She's what Americans call a neat freak." They walk around and start to dig though everything looking for any clue about Sophia's whereabouts. The owner didn't see it necessary to clean it.

"I can see that." Sally begins looking in the between the matrices of the bed.

She did leave a clue. Wufei picks up a piece of paper after searching a drawer he was digging through. "The circus"

Sally looks up as he says it a little confused at his sudden out burst. "The circus won't be here until tomorrow evening."

"We'll have to contact Trowa. The problem is convincing her that we are here to help her. It takes a lot to change her mind on something." She's probable still hasn't forgiven me, yet.

"It's not your fault; you felt needed there." Wufei looks up at his partner. She walks over and wraps her arms around his neck. "She can't be as bad as you were."

@_! A set of triplets enter a dark room with only the light of a lamp on a desk that didn't admit much light. Behind the desk, is a chair facing the window? The only sound is the squeaking of the chair as it swings back and forth like chimes in the wind. "Where's the kid?"

"Sorry sir, but we haven't had any progress with him."

"I'm disappointed in you Jeff. You Hyena Brothers hardly make any mistakes." The voice is calm, soft, but serious.

"Fox just won't stay caught." The chair stops swaying like someone who presses down on the break petal of a car.

"Forget about Fox and find the girl." The voice is slightly annoyed this time. "He's the only one left out of that a cursed Predator group. Find Sophia at all casts."

"Yes, sir" The Hyena Brothers say in unison.

"By the way, what ever happened to Brian?"

"He was eliminated." The chair starts swaying again.

"I see . . . Oh and one more thing. If you see Fox and he gets in your way." The chair turns around, but most of his face is still covered. "Kill him."

o _o The shuttle had just departed from one of the L1 colonies and heads for the Colony L2 cluster an few hours ago. The circus team rests in one of the two hangers that they attached to the shuttle for safe passage to the next colony. One hanger held the animals and tent trucks while the other held the trailers of the circus crew. Fox opens his eyes slowly realizing he had fallen asleep. Opening his laptop, he checks the time.

"Ten hours and fifty minutes. They should have left by now." Fox slowly gets up with his laptop and shoes now on he opens a window. After confirming the coast was clear he slides though it and heads for the animal hanger. He hears Trowa's voice, but decides he had more important things to do then ease drop. Fox now in the animal hanger stops by the big cat cages.

He watches them a moment before opening his laptop and connects a headset to it after pressing a few buttons. "Hyperactive Tiger come it." He does this over a course of five minutes. "Tiger come on; where are you?" Frustrated and upset he throws it down. I know she hasn't been at her post for two months. Damn it, Tiger not you too.

He closes he's eyes the tears escaping from the sides. Fox flings his head back and shouts at the top of his lungs as some of the tears float in the air. The roaring of the big cats drowned out his howl as though sharing his sorrow.

Now, I really am alone. Fox's face turns serious. Time to get back to work. Wiping away the tears from his face, he stands up. He sighs as the realization of his duty now heavy on his mind. "It's all up to me, so I guess I am leaving and sooner then expected. Time for operation robot"

Fox exits after watching the animals slightly longer leaving the hanger heading quickly to the trailer. He climbs though the open window and pokes his head into the living room. Seeing that the coast was clear, he cautiously enters and jumps on the couch after kicking off his shoes. Fox going back to his laptop opens a few files. He looks at them before choosing one and closing the others. Printing out the one, he chose he carefully places into an envelope and sticks it into his book bag.

Fox jumps up, quickly slips on his shoes, grabs his book bag, and goes into the kitchen then opens the window. With his laptop in hand, he slides slowly out and carefully selects a suitable foothold. "It's easier to use the door." The sound of Trowa's voice made Fox jump losing his foothold and his grip on his laptop. Fox fell backwards while his laptop went forward in to the sink.

Six hours has passed since they landed safely to their destination. The crew starts putting up the tents. Trowa notices something in the elephant van while he's passing by. He begins to unlock the van to check it out when Catherine calls. "Trowa, we need your help to put up this tent!" He gives one last look inside before leaving. He meets up with Heero on the way who tagged along the entire trip.

The back door of the van door opens slowly. Seeing no one around Fox jumps down and closes the door as an elephant's trunk slides out of the barred door. "I'll see you later Precious," Fox whispers to the elephant as he moves swiftly to Trowa's trailer. He clears the workers no problem and hops in the trailer. Now I can get my laptop and leave. I just hope they didn't hack into my system.

"I knew you'd be back." Startled, Fox turns to face Trowa. "So it was really you in the elephant van."

Fox stuffs the laptop in his book bag and as he walks past Trowa. "If you follow me I won't hesitate to fight you." Heero steps in front of him as he walks out the door. "You're not going to stop are you?" Fox looks at him annoyed. "You can tell your friend here to leave me alone as well or I'll use a different kind of force next time." He nudges past Heero.

"Fox, how did you get here so fast?" Catherine asks suspiciously.

Damn it Cathy! "Um, I'd like to say thanks for the hospitality and any I have to leave before I cause you any more trouble." Fox looks at Heero and Trowa as he says it. Catherine looks at Trowa then back at Fox confused.

"What do you mean cause you anymore trouble; Fox, who told you that, huh?"

"I don't want anyone getting in trouble because of me!" Fox backs up from Catherine.

"What do you mean, Fox, are you in some kind of trouble?" she asks as he backs up even further.

Fox looks at them and smirks. "You should see the look on all your faces! I've just overstayed my welcome anyway. You know I don't stay too long in one place."

Catherine doesn't buy the fake smile. "Fox, I've known when you're lying to me."

Fox notices three figures move towards the tent. No! They couldn't have followed me here. "I don't want . . . I don't want you to get involved." Fox breaks away from Catherine's grip and runs toward the big tent.

"Fox stop! Don't run away!" Fox stops and turns to face Catherine. His eye right twitches as if fighting himself then continues running toward the main tent with Heero, Trowa, and Catherine running after him. Inside they stop running.

"Fox! Come out; tell me what's wrong! We can help you!" Trowa from backstage notices someone on the high wire podium and walks toward it. As Heero follows Trowa, they both see that its Fox curled up in a ball on the podium. Trowa and Heero climb opposite sides.

"It would be easier if you just told us instead of running all the time."

"My job is so dangerous that my father is dead. One mistake and you're gone. I don't need hostages or people getting killed because of me. is that enough information for you!"? Fox growls angrily his face stone cold and unchanging.

"You mean Catherine, right."

". . . She reminds me of my older stepsister I lost. She married a boy who was my uncle's student during the war." Fox stops embarrassed then stands up shaking his head as though to shake away what he had just told him. "I don't even know why I'm even talking to you." Trowa blocks his way to get down. "Why do you people keep doing this? Fine, I'll play your little game!"

"I'm doing this for Catherine." Fox ignores Trowa and jumps on the high wire. Seeing Heero on the other side, Fox now knew he's trapped. Now they begin to close in on Fox.

"You two will never quite will you?" Fox smiles, now directly in the center, he was ready to fight. Suddenly, a gun goes off and a bullet flies past Fox's head grazing the side. As they look down, they see two identical men in black tuxedos. All man, not now.

"It's hunting season, Fox! You better start running Fox because the dogs are coming after, Yah!" They both raise there guns and start shooting. A bullet hits the wire. As it breaks, they fall begin to fall about 20-25 feet in the air. Heero seizes the trapeze on the way down. Fox grabs the other trapeze snagging Trowa's arm as he passes.

It turned out to be harder than Fox thought as Trowa's weight dragged Fox down until the only thing keeping him from falling was his feet crossed over the trapeze bar. "You're. too heavy, Trowa. I can't pull you up." I knew I should have worked out more. "Hey, don't get any ideas. The only reason I am saving you is because Catherine wouldn't forgive me if I let you fall, on purpose."

"Nice trapeze act, Kid! Tell us where you've hidden the girl and we'll leave your friends alone and maybe spare your life."

Catherine comes running when she sees their predicament. "Fox! Trowa! Hold On!"

"Hold it right there, sister; you're not helping anyone." Black Tux2 points his gun at Catherine. Fox starts swinging back and forth.

"Let's have some target practice before we get down to business." Black Tux1 watches them swing back and forth aiming at Fox and Trowa who are now swinging steadily back and forth in rhythm with Heero. Fox tosses Trowa to Heero as the gun goes off. As Fox swings back, two bullets hit and break the trapeze ropes and he goes flying.

"NO!!!" Catherine watches in horror as Fox flies dangerously close one of the high wire beams. His back slams upside down into the pole and slides down headfirst. Fox grabs hold of one of the steps of the ladder he used earlier to climb up, but his body does a flip and he hit the pole again face first with a thud. Now in even more pain, Fox quickly finds a foothold, but when a shoot grazes his arm, he lets go and falls, again, this time he's stopped by the ground and lies still.

As Heero and Trowa make it down, Black Tux2 has them at gunpoint. "Sorry guys, but we need to have a word with him. That's if he's still alive." The last triplet walks in this one wearing a blue tuxedo. "Hey, Jeff the kid's over there."

Jeff walks past his brothers. He kneels beside Fox as he coughs up some blood and slightly opens his eyes. "Well, well so you are still alive. I never thought I'd see a fallen, Fox." He grabs his hair and pulls him to his feet. "Tell me where she is, NOW!"

Fox coughs again causing a trickle of blood to run down his mouth. He just gives a weak smile. "You still can't find her? I guess her disguise works better than I thought. She's in plain sight."

Jeff angrily throws Fox down by yanking his hair down. "Tell me where she is! I'm tired of playing games with you!"

"You haven't said please." Fox closes his eyes as he says it. Jeff kicks Fox in the ribs out of frustration.

"So, she could be in this room." He looks at Catherine. "Hey Kim, bring that girl to me! Min, if either of them move, kill them." As Kim brings Catherine over Heero kicks the gun from Min's hand while he was checking out Catherine. Trowa catches it and shoots Kim in the arm and he hits the ground in pain.

Kim drops his gun and falls to the floor in pain. Heero runs over and grabs his gun as Catherine runs to Fox to make sure he was, ok. Jeff pulls out his gun and points it at Catherine as Fox opens his eyes and he painfully stands up shielding her from his gun. "Fox, don't do this."

Jeff was surprised at first to see Fox up and then laughs. "And what are you going to do, kid. Where's your weapon?"

"Right here" Fox reaches over his head to his back and pulls out a sword. "I have chosen my weapon."

He laughs even harder. "A sword against a gun; okay, now I've seen everything and I thought you had a grenade or a bomb."

"Don't under estimate me!" Fox dives for him. Surprised, he moves back, but with a quick slash the hand that held the gun fell to the ground with blood gushing endlessly like running water and he starts to scream hysterically. Catherine looks away in disgust.

Heero goes to call an ambulance when Fox falls to his knees using his sword to hold him up with one hand on the ground. "Fox, how did you get mixed up with them?" Catherine holds Fox now instead of his sword.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you, Cathy." Fox looks away from Catherine's face and throws up some of it dark red.

Wufei and Sally walk up to the circus grounds to see police and two ambulances. What happened here? Sally wonders as she walks in the tent with Wufei.

"What happened?" Wufei asks Trowa and Heero as they walk toward them.

"We were attacked by three men almost getting a chance to get answers from someone who won't cooperate with us. The men said he was hiding a girl from them."

"By any chance did they say the girls name was Sophia Dragon, Heero?" Heero shakes his head no, as Catherine reads something.

"Try and get some information from him and call us if you get. We'll question the men that attacked you to see if we can get any leads." Catherine finally reaches; her expression filled with worried.

"He ran away." Catherine's eyes turn glassy as they all look at her. "Trowa, I want you to find Fox for me and make sure he's ok."

"Don't worry Catherine I'll find him."

Dear Catherine, The incident that happened today is what I was afraid would happen, so I decided. Hey, it's time for me to go. It's not your fault so don't go blaming yourself for my decision. I promise I'll return someday, but not any time soon of course. This is for your safety along with everyone in the circus. Don't try to follow me.

Fox P.S. When this whole thing blows over, I'll bring you something to express my apology, and if you never see me again you're the best substitute mom I ever had. Thanks for understanding.

#_# Four hours later since that stupid circus incident, I hope Catherine is ok about this. Fox sighs feeling dizzy as he walks up the steps to a small house painfully and exhorted. He rings the doorbell, but no one answers. Fox swings around the back and with the key on the roof sneaks in. Looks like everyone is asleep. Fox turns on the lamp near the couch after going trough the kitchen. After taking off his book bag, shoes, and turns off the lamp, he lies on the couch and instantly falls asleep when his head hits the hand rest.