"Manifestations"
By Isis cw
Chapter 6

"Well, that wasn't very eventful."

At the end of a near weeklong conference, Relena was usually a little more enthused about the topic. However, she had yet to learn anything she didn't already know or suspect about the L3 cluster.

"No kidding," Ry commented, plopping down beside her in the plane again as her assistant Dawna and Alli made their way in. "The most interesting thing they said is that they produce all of the oranges in space."

"Yeah," Dawna commented from the left row, "let's hope that food colony doesn't spring a leak like their new one did."

"Slow uncontrolled atmospheric depressurization," Alli corrected.

"Yeah, sounds like the same thing to me. One big 'Oops,'" Ry snickered.

Relena laughed at the group as they settled their gear and luggage. Del made his way into the cockpit and began the pre-flight. Causally she took an inventory of the plane, frowning a bit. They should have been one aid heavier on the way back, but they were now missing an agent.

Tapping Ry on the shoulder next to her, she leaned over. "Where's Heero?"

"Uh, something about finalizing his report with the command center," he shrugged at her. "That's definitely why I don't want to become an agent." She giggled at the thought, which only made him frown. "What? You don't think I could do it? Hey, I'll take on any of those agents you got, any time!"

She laughed again, simply patting him on the shoulder, not wanting to really burst his ego bubble.

"I'm serious! I just don't want to be promoted because then they'd have to take me away from you," he blinked at her and did his best "cute" face.

"Where's my agent when I need him," she mumbled.

"Hey!"

A second later an empty water bottle bounced off the side of his head. "You leave Miss Relena alone over there."

"What did I do?" he complained to a rather feisty Alli, and a giggling Dawna.

"I heard that, the poor woman is just begging for someone to make you to go away." She placed her hands on her hips and stood beside the cockpit door. "You'd better behave, I bet Agent Yuy wouldn't hesitate to reassign you to somewhere dark and cold if she asked him to."

"Hey, I'm not the one he feels the need to re-train on this team."

She rolled her dark eyes, "That's just because you're hopeless."

He gaped at her until he finally stood up and faced her, looking down the seven or eight inches in height difference. "Listen here, petite, you can't talk to me like that."

"Really?" she asked, totally unimpressed. "Why is that?"

"Because, I can't hear anything—" he pushed open the door to the cockpit and stood solidly in the middle of it, "—from behind the door!" he announced, closing it on her before she could intervene.

"Of all the obnoxious, rude, egotistical, slime-ball jerks!" she yelled at it anyway.

Relena stood up and placed her hands on the other's shoulders and led her towards where Dawna patted the seat beside her. "There, there," she mumbled, "you come right over here and tell Aunty Dawn all about the mean ol' man."

Alli glared at her and then sat down, crossing her arms. "Which one do you want me to start with?"

Relena saw Heero enter the back of the plane and begin to stow his luggage. "Heero," she nodded to him, as he nodded back.

Alli apparently missed the reference. "Oh he's annoyingly quiet and stony, but at least he—" Relena kicked her foot and gave her a quick warning look. Alli got the hint and jumped to her feet. Turning she almost sprinted down the aisle towards him. "Agent Yuy! Need some help with that?"

He looked up at her from the storage bin and blinked. "No… thank you," he added, when her rushed enthusiasm wasn't daunted.

"Oh, alright then. Um, we should be ready to leave at your discretion, Sir."

He nodded, standing up and moving towards the front; apparently un-aware that the conversation he had walked into was about him.

Relena smiled to him and then went back to her seat. He opened the cockpit door and left the girls to themselves for a minute. Which made the whole the plane burst out laughing.

Alli wilted into the seat next to Dawna and slumped backwards. "Oh, don't ever let me do that again," she moaned.

"Yeah, he doesn't seem the type to take a joke that well," Dawna mumbled.

Relena lifted a finger to her lips and tried to shoosh them between laughs.

"You may actually want to stay in here, Yuy," Ry advised as he turned to leave.

Heero looked back at him for an explanation and the two other team members exchanged a look.

"There's no telling what you're going to hear back there with the girls," Ry continued.

Both men chuckled and Delano shook his head. "There's a reason I'm a pilot, and that's it."

Heero looked at them both a bit oddly but shook his head. "I'll keep that in mind."

He opened the door again, only to find the three women all flushed and laughing. When Relena composed herself to look up at him, he mumbled, "We'll be leaving shortly," and closed the door again.

"Told ya."

"The team's fine," Heero mumbled a response as he typed away.

"I imagine Miss Relena will be happy to get back to the Colonies with you."

"Hn."

Sally Po slumped back in her seat across the desk from the younger agent. Apparently frustrated with the amount of information she wasn't getting from him. Well, her interrogation tactics needed work.

"I didn't figure you for the bored bodyguard type," Wufei commented from behind him as he watched each code crack Heero tried fail.

"Hn." Heero didn't feel the need to justify his actions as an agent with the two of them. If anything, it was easier to deal with his group who knew nothing of his past. After a month of Sally implying things about Relena, and Wufei mumbling about his weak choice of assignments, he may have to transfer to a different office.

"I've worked through the typical backdoors already. Someone didn't want this to be easy," Wufei moved on, continuing with the task at hand.

Heero nodded as he tried the last two password cracks that he could think of. "This isn't a standard encryption."

Wufei slouched a hip onto his desk next to him and crossed his arms. "Well there are more just like it."

Heero stopped, looking up at him, "How many more?"

"Three others confirmed," Sally added. She stood up to pace over to the corner window, fingering one of her typical braids that draped down either side of her neck.

"We began monitoring for them last week after a routine scan flagged them as suspicious," Wufei closed his eyes to think.

Heero stared back at the message program in front of him. It was a short file, probably less than a page worth of text, most likely a letter or instructions. "Where is the origin?"

"L5 Colony 18756, executive offices," Sally offered, leaning back against the sunlit window.

"So far we have noted three different receipt locations. It's a public domain address, so it's impossible to guess the next pickup point."

"What's the timing between messages?" he asked.

"Two to three days," Wufei commented. "It was a pure accident that we tripped onto the first one."

Heero sat back and stared at the screen. It wasn't illegal to encode sensitive material and email it, but something this iron tight was worth the effort of finding out exactly what the material was. "How's Trowa?" he quietly asked.

"Free lancing," Sally smiled.

"And he already has a copy," Wufei finished.

Heero nodded to himself. This was too serious to be let out to the general officer staff. If someone was encoding, and doing that good of a job of hiding it, it was something incriminating. Besides, their own legality would be an issue if this was leaked too far.

The phone on his desk rang, three short peeps, indicating an outside call. Not pausing in his efforts he answered, "Yuy."

"Good morning, Agent Yuy."

Heero finally blinked, pausing his search for a programming language that would open the file. "Vice Minister."

There was a snicker from the corner of the office, and he pinned Sally with a warning glance.

"May I interrupt you?" she asked, a slight giggle at their formal references obvious in her voice.

"Hn." Heero forced himself to close his eyes and give the conversation his attention while his brain worked at the code problem… and so that he could ignore the silently mouthed comments from the other two agents present.

"My meeting with Representative Crumbaker for next week has been cancelled. The Colony has quarantined itself with a virus problem."

"Quarantined?" It wasn't that unheard of for a colony to go into a temporary quarantine if a certain portion of its citizens were infected by an illness. However, it was becoming more and more of an unlikely event as the air systems and treatment facilities became advanced enough to remove viral and bacterial organisms from the returning airflow. Illnesses were almost of thing of the past in the controlled colony environments.

"Yes, they are cutting off most human interaction so to not spread it. Apparently they have gotten a number of high officials on other Colonies sick as well. I think they are trying to save face," she sighed. "But that leaves a couple days open on my schedule next week."

"Hn."

"I was wondering if I could change destinations on you?" There was a slight hesitation in her voice that he picked up on.

"To where?" Regardless of their past relationship, being in this role certainly gave him insights into her that he wouldn't have gained any other way. Her voice patterns were one of them. He was use to her speeches; he had heard more of them then her own aids had. But personal communication was different, subtle, and often completely unspoken.

"Home, actually. I haven't seen my mother in a while. I thought maybe I could take a long weekend."

Home. Heero paused noticeably. Relena had grown up nearly down the street from St. Gabriel's Academy, an area that didn't come with a lot of good memories as far as he was concerned. But he also knew that the area was under normal surveillance, and that measures were already in place for her usual visits there. And, well, it wasn't his job to have personal feelings about the places she visited.

"That can be arranged."

"If it's not too much trouble, of course," she added. Relena was still sitting in a monitored room, and on a usually monitored line, and she was giving him a way out.

"I'll have the team ready, Relena," he added softly. She had a very careful touch with their little waltz, more so than she needed to. He had become more accustomed to the touch of pride that he felt with her, the idea that she would go through this much work for him was… endearing.

He heard the near-silent chuckle from Wufei beside him and very forcefully ignored the "kissy" sound effects coming from near the window.

"Thank you, Heero. I will be sure to inform Lt. Dave so he can turn on the stuffs up there."

The "stuffs" were mostly remote access to Relena's family home's security system so that it could be monitored by the officers stationed at her house here. He didn't know why, but the choice of words may have brought a smirk to his face if he wasn't working down the impulse to use the phone cord as a gag. "That will be fine," he said instead.

The other three on his team had been to Relena's at least once before, if he remembered their records correctly. It would make the mission routine to them.

"Have a good day, Heero."

"Hn." He hung up with out pre-ambles. "I'll stay at this," he commented to the other two, halting their little game.

Wufei nodded and headed towards the door, "So will I. And we need you Friday, Presidential speech."

Heero nodded, he'd already been briefed on the rally assignment.

Sally walked around behind his chair, her smile slightly greasy, and mumbled, "Nice to have you back, Yuy," before she exited with her partner.

The Presidential speech wasn't an important event; it would be a footnote, at best, in the evening news. The President was making a play for support for an upcoming bill, and the group gathered in the giant courtyard of the Government building was there to voice their agreement.

And if they weren't, well, that was where the Preventers team came in. Uniformed officers, Heero included, stood around the perimeter of the throng of people in chairs in front of the removable stage. Just as many plan-clothed officers mixed in with the people and carried equipment back and forth along the grounds.

Standard procedures.

Heero stood at the corner of the stage, on a second level catwalk set up with lighting equipment and media cameras. On the other side, stood Wufei, just slightly visible to him behind one of the massive spotlight assemblies.

In his ear, status reports as well and vague comments about certain crowd members were heard from the rest of the team. Reports on the roving officers filtered in, as well the information from the infrared security sweeps inside and outside of the protection area.

A fluttering movement of brown caught Heero's eye again as he scanned the crowd.

"Is anyone else noticing the guy in the third row, left?" a voice called in his ear. "Male, Caucasian, 30s, brown trench coat. He's been sitting on pins and needles the whole time."

It was the same one he'd spotted, fidgeting in his seat. The man was there very early to get that close of a seat, and Heero had noted him when he walked in with a portable microphone box in hand.

"He went through as a college recorder, some political professor," another voice from the check-in station answered.

Again the man fidgeted, just enough to seem very uncomfortable with his surroundings.

"Looks like a bad case of hemorrhoids to me," another interjected, followed promptly by a group laugh.

"Enough," Wufei admonished, his appointment as lead on this assignment evident. "Who's closest?"

"Uniform 187, stage corner." A young officer spoke just noticeably to himself from below Heero's vantage point.

"Uniform 74, perimeter left," another interjected from somewhere below.

Heero slowly moved down the catwalk, careful to avoid being seen between the equipment. "Agent 02, catwalk," he identified himself as the second agent in the command chain. "Directly across," he finished as he positioned himself exactly in line on the man in question's left side.

"Yuy, any form of weapon seen?"

"No," he confirmed back to Wufei.

"Alright, surveillance. PCs, who's sitting by him?" A couple of hands around the man reached up to rub their noses at the question, marking them as plain clothed officers. The first was the centurion in the front row, his job specifically to get to the stage and get the President off if anything came to that. The second was four rows behind the suspect, seated next to the center aisle.

They were all too far out. The man was seated in the middle of the row, the flood of people giving him shielding from any direct line of fire. Except for Wufei, himself, and two sharpshooters stationed in the back of the rigging. All of who would make it a lethal shot if it came to that.

"Alright, keep him in sight."

The conversations moved on as the speech progressed. Heero stayed in his chosen spot. All other individuals pointed out were out of his range anyway, and the brown trench coat nagged at him.

The man was obviously not an assassin, his moves were shifty and uncomfortable, and he had drawn far too much attention to himself for someone who did this for hire. The man was not following the speech, yet he checked the equipment next to his feet every time the crowd applauded. His movements were shaky, but he was not eyeing the crowd or the officers creating a perimeter around the area.

Something was wrong with him though.

As the President finished his prepared speech and began chatting into the microphone in his own words the crowd cheered him on again. And again the man checked the recording devise… spending longer at it this time.

Heero narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the man's moves. "Brown trench coat, left side, third row," he calmly called in.

"Changes?" Wufei asked.

Heero stared down at the man as he went from the equipment to casually retying his shoe, his movement now… calm. "Suspicion," he answered back honestly.

"Left side, eyes on him. Stage crew, ready for departure."

The President finished with a customary joke, and raised both hands in a wave to the people. As the rest of the row stood up in ovation, the man moved just enough.

"Shooter!"

The yell was out of his mouth even after his feet left the catwalk as Heero used his arms to hoist himself over the side of the railing, dropping to the ground.

He ignored the flying comments in his earpiece as he landed into a one-kneed crouch, thrusting his left hand down he used the counter weight to push off at a dead sprint.

The man had risen after the rest of the crowd and brought both hands just over his head, in a makeshift applaud, but the object nearly concealed in his right palm was anything but a microphone. In a quick move he reached out, pushing the person in the row ahead forcefully out of the way, needing the open space to take aim.

Heero's eyes never blinked as he closed the gap to the edge of the seating area. The only avenue available to him were the vacated chairs between the two as he leapt onto them.

Running full speed down the row of folding chairs he clipped through anyone unknowingly in the way. Eight hazardous strides closed the gap as the man tracked the tiny weapon towards the stage area.

Barreling down, Heero used his speed as he made a grab for the gun with his left hand and launched himself onto the ground beside him, connecting his right fist directly against the other's temple area. The man's head spun backwards with the force and Heero let his body fall away as his own feet fought for stopping balance as they met the ground in the throng of confused people.

The shooter's right hand stayed perfectly upright as Heero's iron-tight grip didn't loosen when the man buckled. Stripping the gun out, he let the man fall, the remaining spectators attempting to flee from the immediate area. By the time the man hit the ground Heero heard three clicks as safeties were removed and weapons trained on the shooter.

He dropped after him, forcing the body face-first onto his own equipment, grabbing both hands behind the trench coat and grinding a knee into the small of his back. He grabbed his handcuffs from the holster under his jacket, and had latched both hands back before he ever checked to see if the man was still conscious.

Without taking his knee away he reached a hand up to check for a pulse and found it racing just under the skin of his throat. But he made no move against him, denoting that the force of the punch was well placed enough to knock him cold.

Heero finally blinked away the fog obscuring the rest of his vision as the screams and pounding of feet brought the scene back into focus. Scanning the stage area he found no trace of the President, and the officers now surrounding him were pushing the crowd back. Holding up the tiny, pieced together semblance of a gun, they backed down, the threat eliminated.

The rest of the officers fanned out to crowd control as Wufei barked out orders in his ear to watch for secondary suspects. Lockdown was being initiated and it wouldn't be long before the remainder of the Government building was emptied.

Hoisting himself up, he grabbed an arm of the suspect and was assisted by another officer to drag the man bodily from the row of chairs. Sally was already next to them as she flagged off two other officers to help their group, hurrying them to the stage's side and to the back exit.

"Congratulations, Heero," she mumbled, rechecking the man's pulse as they quickly slid him over the courtyard grass, "you just made the news."

"I do think that we could easily call a council meeting to cover the repair issues. I would offer my services as well if you feel it would help you."

"I would appreciate that, Vice Minister. And if we could go through—"

The door to Relena's office burst open as two uniformed officers rushed. She blinked at them as they hurried to her side, one motioning for her follow them.

"Uh… Representative, we seem to have a situation," she turned back to the video display. "I will contact you again when I am able." The other blinked and then nodded. She didn't give him the chance to say a formal goodbye as she cut the connection. "What's going on," she asked rising from her desk and allowing the two men to lead her out of the room.

"There has been an attempt on the President, Ma'am. We are to secure the building and remove personnel."

Around the floor she could see other officers rounding up and removing aids and members of the cabinet to the stairway entrances. She quickly followed along. Turning down the hall she found Dawna pressed up against a wall out of everyone's way. Seeing her, the aid quickly latched an arm around hers and the two made their way down the emergency stairs with the guard force.

They were rushed down four stories to the basement where they were quickly led through the underground escape tunnels to the Preventer building across the street, and into the bomb shelter safety rooms. This was the first time that she had actually needed to see the inside of this secret route.

Fighting through the eerie murmurs of the remainder of the government officials they immerged into the much brighter lit Preventer holding area.

"Miss Relena!" Ry's tall figure was seen over the rest of the crowd, and she and Dawna fought their way through to a side staircase alcove.

"Are you two all right?" Alli asked, pulling them both close and out of the way of the rest of the throng of people.

"We're fine," she said. "What's going on?"

"All we know is that there was an attempt on the President's life at the rally. They've cleared the building on standard procedures."

It was then that she noticed the three were dressed in casual-issue exercise clothes instead of their uniforms, and frowned slightly. "You weren't at the rally, then?"

"No, we weren't assigned," Del added, watching the crowd as if inventorying them.

"Agent Yuy was, he expressly wanted us to find you and stay put," Alli added as the tunnel between the two buildings was closed and locked down, the rush of suits and jackets were slowly filing into any one of seven side rooms.

"Heero was out there?" she asked, feeling a very familiar sense of worry creep in.

The other three nodded. Ry took both of their arms and led them toward the least crowded room behind most of the rest of the rescued officials. "Might as well stay comfy," he mumbled as they entered.

The front of the room showed a television monitor propped up on top of a desk so it could be seen through the room. The individuals already present sat, or stood against the walls, following the live news report. Finding a couple of chairs still left, Ry and Del pulled them to the back and plunked Relena and Dawna down on them, the other three stood behind them, keeping careful watch.

The scene on the TV wasn't much to look at; it was a helicopter feed from above the courtyard area where there was nothing but a large crowd of people very slowly being let through to the parking lot beyond. But all members of the group were glued to it for some sort of explanation. She noted at least two-dozen officers standing around the area, quietly watching as well.

Perhaps everyone was in the dark.

"This is the scene as we see it now. The crowd that had come to hear the speech is being slowly rechecked and rescanned for any and every form of concealed weapon. No one is getting out of the security barrier without proper identification and clear display of innocence in these events. Security here is taking no chances."

The scene cut back to a studio feed and a young reporter flipping madly through her stack of papers. "We have this just in to us now and confirmed by the Preventers Agency here at the Capital. They have confirmed that there was a shooting attempt on the President from a member of the crowd. That attack failed. We have confirmed reports that the President is all right and has not been harmed in any way. He has been taken into safety."

A rejoicing round of yells and clapping was heard around the holding rooms.

"We go live to a statement from Preventers Commander Une at the Government building."

The scene shifted to an outside shot of Commander Une surrounded by media reporters. "I am confirming that there was an attempt on the President's life just moments ago. That attempt failed when our Preventers took down the shooter before any shots could be fired. There is no harm to the President or to anyone else. The suspect is being held and questioned."

A roar of applause was heard as the officers present cheered on their fellow men and women.

"That is all that I can relate at this time." Commander Une cut off the questions as she strode through crowd.

The scene shifted again and the reporter once again reiterated that the President was unharmed. "For those just joining us, we take you back to the footage recorded by our own news crew coving the Presidential speech. Once again, this is pre-recorded footage."

The entire room leaned in as the screen showed the President standing on the stage, waving to the crowd as he began to walk off. From the stage area two uniforms emerged from behind the curtain and another two came running on from the sides.

From the very left of the screen came an agent sprinting towards the crowd of standing observers, as well as two other officers coming up from the side. The camera zoomed in on the President as the officers got to him and bodily blocked him from sight, whisking him behind the curtain, two staying to form a barrier against anyone attempting to flee that way.

The reporter's voice came back as the scene froze. "Our second camera recorded the events in the crowd. Please watch the left side of your screen." The TV reset itself to the beginning of the same clip, but from a different angle.

Ry squatted down behind Relena's chair and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, watching over her head. "Was that just…."

He trailed off, but she nodded anyway. "Heero."

The scene played again, but this time you could plainly see him coming into view on the very side of the screen a few feet above the ground. He dropped to one knee, and pushed off like a sprinter for the seating area. Two other officers then joined the chase, but he was faster by far then the rest. Leaping onto the vacant chairs, the group in the room let out startled gasps as his head and shoulders bolted through the crowd.

They could see his aim, as a woman in the second row collapsed and the man behind her started to track his right hand toward the President who was being shoved off the stage.

In a second they could see Heero meet the man, apparently punching him and knocking him sideways. At this the onlookers around started to flee as the other officers pushed their way through and surrounded the shooter. Through the people there wasn't anything else that they could make out of what happened. In a couple seconds Sally had joined the group and a set of officers with Heero dragged the man out, handcuffed and apparently unconscious.

"That was Yuy," Ry stated quietly from just behind her. Relena blinked away the image, realizing that she had unconsciously clasped her hands over her heart during the playback.

"Wait, where was he?" Alli asked from beside them.

Relena looked up at her and found Del close by, inspecting the film. "The media rack."

She felt Ry's head snap up. "No way. That thing's sixteen feet up."

Delano closed his eyes a moment and shook his head. "Standard setup for the courtyard is two agents. The assignment leader, and the second in command, both are in the lighting catwalk on opposite sides, as well as two sharp-shooters on the other ends."

"In case they need clear shots," Alli added.

"But you don't just jump sixteen feet to the ground and take off like that!" Ry interrupted.

"Well he jumped from somewhere, and that's the only thing around."

The TV went on to repeat the scene. "We have yet to identify the Preventers officer who took down the suspect. All information is sketchy at this time."

"How the heck did he get over the chairs like that?" Ry mumbled.

"He outran everyone else in the area," Delano added.

"But…" Alli paused, wrapping her arms in front of her over the workout tank top. "But his moves are so… calculated."

Relena finally blinked back to herself as she looked up at her. She felt Ry nod against her shoulder. "…Perfect."

Alli shook her head a moment, a strange look to her eyes. "But more… lethal."

That sense of worry in Relena's stomach boiled into fear at the comment.

Alli's dark eyes seemed hooded as she stared at the screen. "I mean, I've trained with him, we all have," she muttered finally turning to look at the other two. "But…" She trailed off and turned back to watch the live report.

Relena finally looked away, her breathing coming shallow and quick. The terms "perfect" and "lethal" were words that she herself had used on a couple of occasions when thinking of Heero. Her knowledge of his true potential was limited; his fighting had been mostly away from her over the years. But she had seen him more than enough times to know exactly how fitting their comments were.

Glancing up, she knew that nothing good could come out of the three of them thinking on those lines. If they learned to fear him… she didn't know what that would mean.

She dropped her hands to her lap again, lacing her fingers together to keep them steady. Finding a tactic, she swallowed. "Do you still want to be an agent, Ry?" she asked, and hoped that she sounded teasing.

She felt him pull away enough to move around and look at her, a weird expression on his face. She gave him a cocky smile and he relaxed into a smile as well. He slowly shook his head, "Maybe I do have a ways to go…."

She forced herself to chuckle at the comment, and glanced up at the others. "Congratulations," she smiled to them. "Your commanding officer just helped save the President's life today."

The three looked at her, mildly confused, before taking a look around at each other and shrugging. "Yeah," Alli commented. "I'd say you're right."

"Humph, I suppose there is a reason he outranks all of us put together." Del crossed his arms and nodded to himself.

"Dang," Ry added, leaning in and wrapping both arms around her shoulders in a backwards hug. "I'm sure glad he's on our side."

Relena nodded to herself, keeping the pleasant smile up and finally taking a long, deep breath. I'll keep your secret, Heero, she thought. But you're not making it easy on me.

"Friends are just enemies who don't have enough guts to kill you." – Unknown :D

Proofed by: Melika Elena. Thank you.