Hola Amigos! How are all yall doing? Well, I just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and comments. They really help and I appreciate you taking the time to write me something.
CarrotTop - I understand that the action in Chapter 6 sucked ass and I apologize. I'm really not good with action but I am definitely going to try harder and make it more interesting and please don't fret because I definitely won't turn Heero into a "useless sissy" but I'm not quite sure what you mean by making the pilots "idiots" but either way I doubt that will happen.
Yaoi Angel - All I want to say is I LOVE YOU! I totally love all your stories. I've read Traffic like 10 times. I love that fic and hope that you update with a sequel soon.
Okay that's it... to the story!
Revised: No Matter What
Chapter 7
x1-TaKeN-oVeR
"There had better be a good god damn reason as to why I've been sitting in this same fucking chair for the past 2 fucking hours." Duo grumbled loudly as he stared down at clenched hands resting on the gray table top. The others weren't surprised by his outburst because the closer the time came to meeting Heero the more talkative and impatient Duo began to be. He was anxious to see his ex-love; it had been 6 years since the last time he'd seen him.
Quatre sighed and swivelled around in his chair slowly. "I don't understand where they could be!" He cried before banging a flat hand on the chair's arm rest. "They should've been here 1 hour and 40 friggin' minutes ago. The shuttle port is nothing but 10 minutes away-20 if there's traffic."
"They've got 5 minutes and 59 seconds before I go and hunt them all down myself." Wufei growled as he cleaned and assembled his hand gun.
"I'll tell you one thing, I will personally see to it that this is Brawnsfield's last field mission for the rest of his natural born life." 1 Trowa stated seriously as he shuffled his papers for the hundredth time.
The four men, along with Relena, Dorothy and other important people, like Senator Dockson, Ms. Swib, and a few agents were currently milling around the conference room awaiting the arrival of Brawnsfield and his team with 01. They'd been stuck in the, although rather spacious with a wonderful window view, room for 2 hours and counting. Some people were slowly going insane because they hadn't felt natural air in over 48 hours.
Senator Dockson lit up a large, Cuban cigar. He took a few puffs before commenting, "So, Miss Relena, these are the qualified young men that you had trusted with retrieval of 01? Great job, if I do say so myself." He looked at her and winked before chuckling to himself.
Ms. Swib, noticing the rather nasty way Relena was glaring at Sen. Dockson spoke up. "Senator, I totally agree with you," she said opting to ignore the way Dockson had meant his remark, "These fine young men and women-she added with emphasis- did an excellent job in the retrieval of 01 and I want to personally thank you for your hard work." She sat back in her chair and clapped lightly.
As she did this a little bit of the tension in the air began to seep away. Her goal of lighting the mood in the conference room, even a little bit, was a success.
Dorothy spoke reluctantly, "But we still haven't solved the matter of where Brawnsfield is with 01." She thought for a moment before saying softly, "You don't think that Brawnsfield took him somewhere and..."
Sen. Dockson barked loudly. "Ha! Miss, don't be absurd. I'm sure they just stopped for a little doughnut break or something."
Dorothy glared heatedly at Dockson and began a mental list with the title, 'Ways to Kill Senator Dockson...Slowly.'
Duo spoke again, "Absurd or not, there is no reason why he shouldn't be here with 01. He could've at least called in to notify us if something had happened or there was a change a plans."
"Which there shouldn't be," Wufei put in.
Duo nodded his countenance with Wufei and continued, "Yeah, and I think we should really start thinking of all the possibilities."
"I agree, something isn't right," Trowa spoke as he finally stopped shuffling useless papers.
Relena stood up, "I agree as well and propose that we take this to Une and demand that she..." She was cut off by a loud bang that sounded like it came from down the hallway. She jumped slightly, "What was that?"
No one made a sound and just a few seconds later another bang came forth, only this time it sounded a lot closer. In the background they could hear various shouts by different men.
"What the hell is going on?" Duo slowly stood up and his hand unconsciously strayed towards his holster.
Wufei snapped his gun together and looked at the door in anticipation just as a series of bangs started to sound off.
Senator Dockson saw this and his face turned deathly pale. "Sh-Shouldn't someone g-go out there and s-see what's happening?" He stuttered as he began backing up as the bangs grew closer and closer.
Relena jumped and almost fell into her chair as the next bang sounded hard against the door. It was so hard that the door shook on its hinges, threatening to come off.
Ms. Swib screamed as the door flew open and numerous bodies, encased in black and camouflage, fell through the door. They seemed to be wrestling with something over their head and in the back of her mind she concluded that it was a body.
And indeed it was. A body, held over Brawnsfield and his team's heads, was struggling out of their grip with ardor. Brawnsfield felt his grip on the body decrease and threw it onto the table with disgust.
Quatre jumped out of his chair with a gasp while Duo, Trowa and Wufei jumped back, tripping over their individualized chairs. Relena and Dorothy cried, "Oh my goodness" as the body hit the table hard. Ms. Swib, and the agents could only stand and watch in shock, Dockson leaped back and slammed into the wall.
The men at the door stood their, waiting for the next move from the figure on the table. Brawnsfield wiped away blood that was dribbling down his chin and felt at his split lip. He swore loudly before kicking a stray chair in frustration.
The figure slowly got up to where he was in a sitting position and looked up at the man in front of him. He winced slightly as he moved his jaw around and spit out a wad of blood in the direction of Brawnsfield. Heero smirked as he noticed the blood land on his shoes.
Brawnsfield had pure murder in his eyes. "You little fuckwad."
"Eat shit and die," Heero snarled and barely suppressed another wince as his jaw felt a little more than just bruised.
Suddenly, Brawnsfield chuckled and wiped at his mouth again. "Well, Miss you got your 01. Happy?"
"You and your men are dismissed, Brawnsfield." An agent spoke next to him. He snorted before gathering his men and hittin' the bricks.
Heero tensed as he heard a gasp from behind him. 'Fuck it, nothing else could top this,' he thought but quickly found he was wrong. He turned around slowly and found his eyes focusing on a pair of cornflower blue. Now it was his turn to gasp and he did so loudly.
Relena raised a pale hand to her mouth and felt her eyes begin to water. "Heero," she whispered aloud and choked on a sob.
"Oh my God," he whispered back. Standing in front of him was a 23 year old "Queen of the World." He could honestly say he didn't know how to act. 'This is too bizarre,' he thought. What were the odds that everything that had happened to him recently were linked to Relena Peacecraft. "Oh God," he spoke again softly and broke eye contact only to be zapped into a pair of ice blue eyes. He felt himself become faint as he realized he was now looking at Dorothy Catalonia. What the fuck!
This was getting just too weird as he stared at her and she stared right back. There was a bit of uncertainty in her eyes as she began to look over his form. He raked a trembling hand through wild chocolate locks, afraid at what he'll see next.
He scanned the next few people quickly, recognizing them automatically. Quatre. Trowa. Wufei. Senator Dockson of California. And then, his eyes locked onto violet and he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. The only thing he could do was drown in the endless pool of amethyst. Abruptly, feelings came flooding back to him. Fear. Love. Security. Freedom. Ecstasy. Pain. Anger. Distrust. Loathing.
Heero clearly remembered the last few feelings and snapped out of the hypnotic gaze.
Duo continued to stare at Heero before slowly letting his eyes drift away. Just looking at him brought back so many memories and feelings. He could even smell Heero, a distinct smell of Jasmine 2 and felt himself fall for the quiet young man all over again. 'Too bad he hates me,' he thought sullenly and felt his mood slowly spiral into the ground. 'Pull yourself together man, we have a job to do. Personal matters come later.' There might still even be a chance for him. Just 5 seconds ago they had a little moment and Duo would be damned if he didn't try to get that moment back. It didn't matter if Heero was plotting to kill him, he would still get Heero to talk to him, one way or another. He'd done it before and damn it, he was going to do it again.
Heero had enough. Too much shit was happening to him; the very people that-for six years-he'd been hoping were all dead with maggots infesting their sorry bodies were standing in front of him very much alive with zero maggots covering them. His hair was a mess, he smelled, his feet were killing him and he could feel a nasty headache slowly taking over his mind. This was definitely not a good day.
He groaned and put his head in his hands. He distantly heard someone yell for some water. 'It better be some sugar water dammit! I need a kick of something.'
"Someone get him some water," an agent next to Duo yelled out as he snapped out of his trance. That seemed to be the proverbial light switch for everyone began to move. Even though it was only to heave themselves into chairs, it was a move nonetheless.
Ms. Swib, since she was the closest to the door, decided to be the one to go get 01 some water. She came back shortly and slid the tall glass into his hand.
Heero knocked the glass back and emptied it in 2 big gulps, once he was finished he wiped his mouth with his arm. Once he felt slightly hydrated he spoke gruffly. "What the fuck is going on?"
"U-Uh," Ms. Swib tried but his glare was quite domineering.
Senator Dockson cleared his throat loudly to get the attention on him. "First of all, would you please take a seat."
Heero fought a blush and slid off the table and into a large swivel chair. He rested his forearms on the table and looked back at the Senator.
He cleared his throat once more. "Well 01," he noticed that the young man had flinched in reference to his code name but he paid no heed to it, "we called you here today on an important matter. But let me just say, for the record, you are one tough young man to find." He chuckled at his joke and soon found that he was the only one to think his joke funny.
Heero stared at him as if he was a bug he wanted to crush...hard.
Dockson coughed. "But ,uh...what I mean to say is that it took a great deal of skill to find you, but you were worth it. The reason to all of this is that we need you. You represent something very important, you symbolize something." He stood up and began to walk around the room as he went on, " You, as well as the 4 young men across from you, fought a grueling battle 6 years ago that we are all appreciative of. No one more than I. You may not have known but I was also a participant in this unmerciful clash between right and wrong. I was a second- in-command General for..."
Relena cleared her throat suggestively as if saying 'Get back to the real topic asswipe.'
"Uh, anyway since a year after the end of the war we have been having a sort of country wide event where we celebrate the day the war officially ended. Ms. Swib, will you fill him in on the rest." Dockson headed back to his chair and sat down.
Ms. Swib blushed before nodding. She opted to stay in her seat and talk directly to 01. "First off, let me say welcome to Earth. I know the means as to how you got here was less than desired but, dare I say welcome anyway. Now, to finish where Senator Dockson left off-we do have a little celebration that we hold on the day the war ended every year. It is held on July 20, as you know. 3 We have a big cook out, puzzles, games and prizes for children as well as adults. Musical entertainment, sports games and we've even got clowns and such.
It's a very big deal, not just to us, but to other people as well. We have this event for many reasons. Mr. JoHansen, another 'founder' of this event, who couldn't be here due to health problems gave another reason as to why we have this event: to commemorate our soldiers for their obvious job well done, to share our bad times and good times with others who have gone through the same thing and to remember friends and family that were lost during the cause to peace."
As Ms. Swib paused Relena cut in softly. "Every year we have the pilots come out and sort of go around and talk to people. Mingle with them, share stories with them, that sort of thing." Relena stared into cobalt blue and almost cried at the coldness that was swimming there. "Every year shows a percentage of people who don't show up. That reason is because Pilot 01 isn't there."
Heero fought to keep the shock from showing. 'Why would someone want to see me? Who really cares about me?'
Relena continued, "This yearly reunion is more like a therapy session to some people. To show that there really is peace and that peace will stay. And many people would like to meet the saviors of the world...all of them. People have noticed that you aren't there Heero and they figure if you don't come, why should they?"
Heero absorbed the information given to him and began to analyze it. Of course he had heard of the country wide reunion. Who hadn't? They had it broadcasting every year, every where but he had refrained from watching it for obvious reasons.
He didn't think that they needed him, though. 'Only because there was a decrease in public attendance did they decide to contact me...or rather kidnap me,' he snorted mentally and it was true. That had to be the only reason. Otherwise, at this current moment, he would've been shaking his ass in some 70+ year old man's face.
"So, let me get this straight. You want me to attend this year's reunion because the people aren't coming as much as they used to?" He questioned as he looked from Relena, to Ms. Swib, to Senator Dockson. He refrained from looking anywhere in front of him.
They all nodded 'yes.'
Heero nodded and said, "Okay."
"Okay? Like yes! You'll do it?" Relena spoke excitedly with clasped hands held against her chest.
"No." He said flatly.
Relena frowned, slightly confused. "Wait, no?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"Yes, you'll do it?" She said with a slim eyebrow raised in question.
"No," he repeated with a smirk. This was just too fun.
She huffed and leaned back in her chair. "No, you won't do it?" She tried again.
"Right," he decided to conclude. He was tired of the game and eager to get home.
Relena's face fell, "Heero, why not? It would be really beneficial to a number of people."
"Except me," he said but took one look at Relena's crestfallen face and quickly added, "look, what you're doing is great but I can't do it. I'm sorry." He cursed himself for ever growing a conscience but it was true. He couldn't be here any longer than necessary. He couldn't take the fact that the very group of men that he was trying to forget ever existed were currently sitting across from him, staring right at him with no shame.
"01-Heero-it would be in your best interest if you reconsidered." Senator Dockson spoke staring dead at him.
"You trying to threaten me, Senator?" Heero drawled slowly.
"No, sir. I'm just saying, it would be in your best interest, as well as others, if you decided to stay and participate in our function. You'd be up here for a total of 3 weeks, more or less and I understand that you may have had prior engagements to attend to but we will make it worth your while. Simply put, we will pay you."
All heads turned to Senator Dockson who was fishing for another cigar in his coat pocket.
Relena glared at him hotly, "Oh, we will?" She had been put under the understanding that they were only to pay him as a bribe if he wouldn't come with Brawnsfield to Earth. But clearly, he is here so...what the hell?
"Of course we will. 350,000 dollars to you, if you choose to stay." He remarked smoothly.
'Holy shit! That's a lot of fucking money. I could get out from under Johnny, get out of that shitty apartment and maybe even go to college.' He thought excitedly. But then again, he had to deal with old demons and situations that were better left alone. 'Fuck them, I can benefit from this and help a few people along the way. It's not like I'll have to see them everyday either. Just once in a while, I'll probably be dealing mostly with Relena, Senator Dick and this other lady-Ms. Swib.' Not too bad of a sacrifice.
"Alright then," he spoke finally, "I'll do it."
There...chapter 7. Yall, happy now? Was it to your liking? You know what to do to let me know.
1 - I'm sorry but I really couldn't help my self.
2 - I don't know what it is but everyone matches Heero with the smell of Jasmine and it really is a pretty smell so why not jump on the band wagon, huh?
3 - Dunno when the war really ended so I just picked a month. Am I close?
Music
Ryan Carbrera - True and 40 Kinds of Sadness
Dave Matthews Band - Anything really but Space Between is great!
Kelly Clarkson - only for Behind These Hazel Eyes
Saliva - Rest In Pieces
Matchbox Twenty - Anything
Gwen Stefani - Rich Girls and Holla Back Girl
CUZ I AINT NO HOLLA BACK GIRL!
