Owning Nothing.

Segment 11:

The Gates of Hell

Summary:

Sally receives a phone call from a man claiming to be the brother of Anya Karikov, the last person to see Lita Kino alive. She decides to meet him in Volgograd, Russia. Alone. Wufei argues, but finally agrees to let her go while he takes Ami to the US to pick up Quatre, Rei, and Haruka. On L4, Relena muses about the situation in Earth Sphere, then is suddenly attacked by Leute. At that moment, Zechs, Noin, and Heero show up and help her escape while fighting off the would-be assassins. When she is safe, they ask her to start military weapons development again, but she refuses. They warn that if she does not sanction the necessary project, they will find someone to do it illegally. En route to the US, Wufei confronts Ami when she accidentally speaks Haruka's name. But rather than back down, Ami rises to his challenge and angrily proclaims that she has lost her powers and that it would be better if he killed her. After she calms down, she apologizes to him, and Wufei finds more respect for her than before.

Duo was aware of a dull, throbbing pain behind his head. Groaning, he lifted his eyelids, which each felt as though they weighed twenty pounds. Looking around, he saw he was still in Marie's hotel room, but rather than being on the bed, he was sitting on a chair against the wall. There was no sign of the magenta-haired woman, but there was someone sitting on the bed. The girl he had seen on the bus, the one with short black hair and large violet eyes, clothed in a simple black dress, tights, and boots. She was a few years younger than him, perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two, and also kind of cute. He shook his head, remembering the last cute girl, the one who'd knocked him out and apparently, handcuffed him to the chair.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, looking around the room again and then back at the girl.

She did not answer, but continued to stare emotionlessly at him.

"Hey…you hear me?" Duo pressed. He tried to stand up but the chair had apparently been bolted to the floor. Frowning, he looked back at the girl. "What kind of a hotel is this? Bolting furniture to the floor?"

"Please stop that," the girl answered softly. It was then Duo became aware of the gun in her lap. She lifted it and pointed it with a smooth hand. "It would be best if you didn't talk."

"Whoa…okay, okay, shutting up. Jesus Christ, what did I do?" he muttered.

"You've done what Setsuna asked you to do," another voice answered brightly. He looked over towards the bathroom and saw Marie, her hair damp and combed neatly, dressed in a black tank top, jeans, and hiking boots. She smiled. "Sorry if we scared you."

"Wait a min—" he clamped up immediately when he saw the dark girl's gun and remembered her orders.

Marie stared at him quizzically, then laughed. "Oh, don't worry about Hotaru," she replied, putting a hand on the armed girl's shoulder. "She wouldn't hurt a fly. Not unless it really pissed her off anyways. It's all right to talk now. We just sometimes have to make sure we're not being watched. But that's been taken care of." There was the faintest evil glimmer in her eyes.

"Okay…so maybe you're up to answering a few questions?" Duo asked.

"Like…?"

"Oh, I don't know. Like, "why the hell did you knock me out?", "who the hell are you?", or maybe "what do you mean I've done what Setsuna asked me to do?". Stuff like that," he answered nonchalantly.

"Well…" Marie sat down on the bed next to Hotaru. "To answer your second and third questions, we're Red Delta. At least, two-thirds of it. Our last member should be arriving shortly. This is Hotaru Tomoe, the best stealth expert you'll ever meet, and of course you and I know each other quite well…"

He laughed cynically. "You don't really expect me to believe your name is Marie Duma."

She blinked. "Of course not. But still…you know me, Deathscythe."

Duo paled. He had kept the secret of his former career from everyone, save the other veterans of the war. But this girl…how could she know? The identities of the Gundam Pilots was top-secret government information. Ever since the end of the war, it had been kept under lock and key. Hell, there were probably even minds erased in order to keep it hidden.

"How?" was all he could manage.

Marie smiled. "Don't you remember Duo? Christmas, AC 196. You and a certain Heero Yuy went to L3 to try and subdue a rebellion led by…"

He turned an even paler shade of white. "Mariemaia Khushrenada?"

"A pleasure," she beamed. "But my associates call me Maia."

"Wha…but you…how…" he babbled incoherently.

Hotaru looked at him. "Maia is the head of Red Delta. With her military past, she's extremely capable of leading a revolution. But this time, it's against the Leute."

Mariemaia's face fell slightly. "Please understand Duo. Everything I did then, I did under the influence of my grandfather Dekim. That's no excuse of course, but if I had known better, I would've never done those things. And that's why I'm with Red Delta. I'm trying to atone for my past sins. You see?"

He nodded. "I think so. But…" he paused and glared at her. "Why did you knock me out?"

She jerked her head back in surprise, and Hotaru cracked a small smile, then started giggling behind her hand. Mariemaia looked at him sheepishly. "I guess it was kind of unnecessary. But I needed to wait for the others to show before I could tell you about everything. And well…considering the mood we were both in…" she blushed. "I didn't trust you or myself not to ah, "engage" an act which would make us both look bad if we were caught."

"So you knocked me out because you were afraid we'd get caught having sex?" he simplified. Hotaru turned her head and coughed to cover her giggles.

Mariemaia rubbed her temples. "Yes, Duo. That was why."

He thought a moment to some information he'd seen during the Christmas Revolution; stats on Mariemaia Khushrenada. Her year of birth…AC 189. And it was AC 196 then…so that made her…

"But you're only seventeen!" he realized, somewhat horrified at the thought of what he'd almost done. "You're still a minor!"

She sniffed indignantly. "I am not. My birthday's in January. I've been eighteen for six weeks."

Duo was about to say more, but then thought better. He sighed. "Well…nothing happened…so I guess it's all good."

"Yeah…" Mariemaia muttered. She looked at her watch. "Damn it…she's late."

"Should I go look for her?" Hotaru asked.

She shook her head. "No. You stay here with Duo. Oh, and take the cuffs off him too. I'll go get her."

Mariemaia walked over to the door and opened it, then gasped. Feeling the handcuffs fall off his wrists, Duo stood up and looked over at the door, then blinked in surprise. It was the waitress from the club downstairs. Her pink hair was tied in two spindle like buns on either side of her head, then fell down in twin ponytails to her calves. She was dressed in a sheer black shirt over a clingy short black dress, and silver bracelets jingled on both wrists. Her black pumps had straps that wound their way up her legs to her mid thighs. But it was her eyes that were frightening. Demon red and full of fear and anguish.

"Chiba?" Mariemaia asked uncertainly, looking at Hotaru. She nodded, then went to her comrade and put a hand on each shoulder and guided her down onto the bed.

"Rini…what's wrong?" Hotaru asked softly.

The girl, Rini, didn't answer at first. She took a deep, shuddery breath, then threw her arms around Hotaru and buried her face in her shoulder, sobbing.

Duo and Mariemaia stared awkwardly at each other as the girl cried for several minutes. Hotaru looked at them helplessly, and rubbed Rini's back and shoulders comfortingly. She also whispered gentle words in her ears. Finally, the girl regained her composure and sat up.

"I'm…I'm really sorry about that," she smiled weakly. "That was really unprofessional. You won't tell Puu, will you Maia?"

Mariemaia shook her head. "Not unless she brings out the torture devices."

Next to her, Duo's eyes widened. Rini looked at him. "She's just joking, you know. Maia does that."

"So I've learned," he shot a dirty look at her. The spy's face was completely innocent. Far too innocent to be really innocent.

Rini stood up. "I'm Serenity. Serenity Chiba, but you can call me Rini. You're the one Setsuna sent?"

He nodded. "Duo Maxwell, at your service." He paused, remembering her name. "You said your name is Serenity Chiba?"

"Yeah. And yes, I am one of the people you've been looking for," she answered.

"You mean Red Delta? I kinda figured that," Duo replied.

Rini shook her head. "No, I mean one of the ones from the picture. Remember? Setsuna said she told you…"

"You mean, you're the princess? Serenity's daughter?" he cried.

For a moment, it looked as though Rini was going to start crying again, but she nodded and took a deep breath. Hotaru put a hand on her shoulder. Duo looked at Mariemaia.

"Did you know?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well yeah. You tend to tell people things like that if you're trusting them with your life. I also know that Hotaru's a Senshi."

"Wha? But…there were only supposed to be four! Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, right?" Duo blinked.

"Those are the Inner Senshi. Didn't Setsuna tell you that?" Mariemaia said. "Hotaru is Sailor Saturn, one of the Outer Senshi. She's way stronger than any of them. Probably the strongest Senshi who ever lived. Except the queen and the princess, of course."

He tilted his head and took a second look at Hotaru. She certainly didn't look strong. She was dark and pale and kind of fragile looking, like a china doll. He had no trouble believing she'd be great at stealth work, but in combat? He had his doubts.

"It's true," Hotaru answered. "But I'd really rather not go there. Rini and I try to avoid showing our true selves as much as possible."

"Which reminds me," Mariemaia looked at Rini. "Chiba…why did you come in and break down like that? What did you find?"

Rini took another deep breath, then pulled a disk out from a hidden pocket in her dress. Silently, she went to the computer that had appeared on the table at some point (probably when Duo was unconscious) and put it in. A few minutes later, a video window opened.

The Leute Duo recognized as the infamous Aethrin was on the screen. He was in what looked like some sort of high-tech laboratory, and he was standing next to a medical table. There was a woman on it, a short woman with long blond hair in two ponytails similar to Rini's however her buns were round instead of spindle-shaped. She wore a long, flowing white gown stained red with blood. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was barely rising. The woman was undoubtedly close to death.

"This is a message to Red Delta, and whoever else is serving Setsuna Meioh. The woman you see before you is the former Queen of Crystal Tokyo, Serenity Tsukino Chiba. If you disbelieve this, then here is your proof," he raised his cupped hands. A golf-ball sized white crystal floated a few inches above them. It glowed with a silvery light that reminded Duo of the Moon. "We have the Ginzuishou, and by keeping it whole and using it as necessary, we are granting Serenity her ability to live. A warning to you: oppose us and the Ginzuishou will be destroyed, the queen along with it. This is also one last message to those remaining Senshi as well as to Princess Small Lady Serenity Chiba, that if you surrender to us, you will not be harmed. But if you continue to resist, you will be killed mercilessly, and not before we have made you suffer. And also, a warning to any humans watching this: your doom is at hand. Justice will be served."

With that, the screen went blank.

Duo looked at the three women. Hotaru and Rini had both broken into sobs halfway through and were holding each other tightly. Mariemaia's eyes were narrowed to slits, part out of anger, part out of attempting to hold her own tears back. She had succeeded mostly, but there were a few shiny trails running down her cheeks. Not many, but they were there. He didn't blame her. Although he had hardly any clue about who Serenity was (other than that she was a some thousand year old queen with the key to saving the human race), the fact that the Leute now had what they needed to destroy the humans was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Even now, he struggled to hold them back.

They were silent for several minutes, then Mariemaia knelt sat down next to Rini and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Rini…" she said softly. "Hey, everything's gonna be all right…you'll see…"

"How Maia? How? If they don't kill her, then they'll kill the rest of us! How can you say everything's gonna be all right?" Rini sobbed.

To his surprise as well as everyone else's, Duo found himself answering. "Hey kid…you should listen to her. She knows a lot about losing battles. Hell, I do too," he replied. She looked up at him, searching for something in his face. He tried to smile comfortingly. "I know you're probably hundreds and hundreds of years older than me, but I still know a thing or two about fighting wars. And one of the key thing's you've gotta remember is that the bad guys always pull trump cards like this when they're afraid of you. I mean, think about it. Why shouldn't they be? You know they've found Ami and Rei and Haruka, right? And then there's you two…and the humans like Maia and me who're all fighting back against them…that's getting to be a handful. And then if we get weapons…" he shrugged. "It's harder to fight well when you're terrified. So the odds are going in our favor."

Mariemaia stared at him, astounded. She liked Duo right from the start, mostly because he was cute and funny. But she would've put fifty dollars against the fact that he was also caring and reassuring, as opposed to whiny and annoying in a situation like this. And he had hope. And hell knew how long it'd been since they'd had some of that. Ever since Red Delta had been formed a year and a half ago, the three members always seemed to find out that things were going from bad to worse. The news of Neo-Queen Serenity's capture was now about as low as physically possible. And yet, here was a carefree ex-Gundam pilot who was gullible and easily distracted (resulting in his being knocked out for eighteen hours) was giving them hope. The irony of it all…well, Setsuna had never let them down before, and she certainly wasn't now. Duo Maxwell had been a good choice for the one to bring back Red Delta.

"Duo's right," Hotaru said softly, standing up. "It isn't going to do any good for us just to sit here crying like little girls. Serenity isn't dead yet, and we aren't going to let her die."

Rini paused, then nodded. "You're right. All of you." Her businesslike manner reappeared as her face became serious and her stance determined. "Duo, Mariemaia will escort you back to your hotel to get your stuff. Hotaru and I will finish up things here. We'll meet at the spaceport in two hours. There's a 10:00 shuttle to MO-V. We'll meet Setsuna there. Agreed?"

"No prob. Let me just grab my stuff, and we'll go, okay Duo?" Mariemaia looked at him and smiled. Not a flirtatious smile, or a knowing smile, or a fake-innocent smile. Just a thankful, kind smile. It made him blush slightly.

"Yeah…okay sure," he answered.

Mariemaia shoved some shampoo and other toiletries in a suitcase, grabbed her jacket, then stood at the door. "We'll see you guys in a few!"

"All right. Don't take too long," Hotaru replied. And please don't start falling for Duo she added silently. She saw the way the two looked at each other. Oh, she could hope it was just chemical attraction between the two, but she knew that was just wishful thinking. She couldn't help but worry about the effects if Mariemaia suddenly found something more important than Red Delta. We still need you Maia. Don't desert us for him. Please.

"Well…we're home," Lady Une said as she, Dahlia, and Trowa walked through the door to her little house in Naples. Although she had told Dahlia they would be spending a few days before coming here, it had actually been closer on two weeks. So much had happened since then. They'd received the horrifying message that the Leute had the woman called Neo-Queen Serenity, Quatre had managed to get Rei Hino out of Saint Teresa's, Sally was in Volgograd with a man named Alexander Venli, and Heero and the Marquises were starting to dabble in illegal activities.

"It's very nice," Dahlia commented flatly. "Where's my room?"

"Upstairs," Trowa answered. "Come on, I'll show you." He shot a backwards glance at Lady Une. He'd been keeping an exceptionally close eye on both her and Dahlia since she'd been adopted. Although he knew she could take care of herself, he knew that she was also more likely not to give in to the Leute's wishes should she get a hold of Trowa, rather than the other way around. He liked to think that he could stand up to Dahlia if she tried to use Lady Une against him, but deep in his heart he knew he couldn't. He loved her too much.

He led his "daughter" to a room at the end of the upstairs hall. Formerly, it had been just a sitting room with some paintings on the walls, a few bookshelves, and two couches. But after they had formulated their plan, Lady Une had set to work turning it into a bedroom for the Leute. Now it had an antique brass bed with a dark red bedspread, a desk with a computer for her "schoolwork" (they could monitor what Dahlia was doing at all times from Lady Une's computer), a crimson armchair in the corner, one of the old bookshelves, a tall armoire with mirrored doors for her clothes, and a music stand for when she played her cello.

"I like it," Dahlia said softly. Her eyes wandered to the window. It was cool here, but the Mediterranean climate was much more welcoming than some of the other places in the world. Already it was starting to feel like spring here, even though it was only February.

"We were hoping you would," Trowa answered.

She turned to look at him curiously. For the trillionth time, emerald met onyx and sparks flew as the two searched for deeper meanings within each other's words. Then a slow smile crept across Dahlia's lips.

"Do I make you uncomfortable Dad?" she asked, her voice hissing yet almost purring, like a cat. She seemed more confident now. Although she had only seen it five seconds ago, she was now in her room, her territory. Trowa felt the change in the atmosphere like someone changing a channel on TV.

"A little," he replied. He too was feeling more confident, in the hopes that Dahlia was becoming over-confident. Because if she started to put too much faith in herself, she was bound to slip up somewhere. But that didn't mean he was going to underestimate her. Hell no. The sudden coolness and unfamiliarity of the room reminded him of who and what he was dealing with. It was in Dahlia's nature to be dangerous. And she was not going to be the exception to that rule, he could tell.

"Don't be," Dahlia answered. "After all," she gave him a knowing look. "We're both getting used to this whole "family" situation, aren't we?"

Trowa didn't answer, then turned and started to walk away. He could feel Dahlia's eyes on his back still, and he looked back at her. "If you do anything to hurt her, I will kill you."

The Leute laughed. He had never heard her do that before, and he didn't care much for it. "You're so silly Daddy. But I'm going to unpack now, okay? We can tell jokes some other time."

Their gazes were hard, almost projecting images of the two iron wills clashing. It was difficult to tell who would win this battle. Until Trowa used the worst, most dishonorable, most effective weapon of all.

"You're right, Dahlia. We can," he paused, then put a hand on her shoulder and swallowed anything slightly resembling pride. "I love you."

At once, the Leute's will collapsed as her "father" turned and walked down the hallway, and disappeared down the stairs.

"Dorothy?" the woman asked. The heiress turned to look at her guest. It had been nearly three weeks since she had found her wandering around the estate. She'd had a simple cold then, which turned into simple pneumonia, which had robbed her of strength for the past seventeen days. Although she hadn't been sure of the woman's identity at first, a few calls to some old acquaintances had been made, and her suspicions confirmed. Even if she hadn't been deathly ill, it wasn't likely that the opportunistic young lady would've sent her away.

"Yes?" Dorothy answered.

"Would it trouble you too much if I asked for a cup of tea?" she requested.

Dorothy smiled. "Not at all. Would you like anything with it? Sugar…lemon…honey…"

"Sugar please," the woman smiled weakly. "Thank you so much. I don't know how I'll be able to repay you for all of your kindness."

"Trust me, I'll think of something," Dorothy replied. Her voice was calm, but there was no tone of joking to it. She left quickly and made her way to the kitchen. Suddenly, she thought of something and stopped at the phone. Picking it up, she dialed the personal number for a certain cell phone.

"Hello?" the person on the other end asked.

"Relena!" Dorothy greeted. "How are you?"

"Dorothy?" Relena asked, her tone cheerful. "Hello! It's been ages! I'm just fine! Yourself?"

Liar. Dorothy thought. She knew full well about the Vice President's refusal to defend the citizens of Earth Sphere. No doubt she was feeling guilty. And there would be even more guilt.

"Lovely. Listen, Relena…" she twirled the phone cord around her finger. "I'm calling because I have some interesting news…"

The conversation only took about five minutes. When it was over, Dorothy hung up and went to the kitchen to fix tea. Setting everything on a silver platter, she walked back to the guest room. To her surprise, the woman was joined by a young girl with short blond pigtails and bright blue eyes.

"Oh my…is she disturbing you?" she asked her. Dorothy sent a hard look to the little girl, who glared back at her.

"Not at all. She's an absolute joy. Is she yours?" the woman asked.

Dorothy set the tray down on the bedside table. "In a matter of speaking." She looked at the little girl. "Run along now Phoebe. Go on."

Phoebe glared at her. It is said that children are innocent, but this child was staring at the heiress with a look of pure hatred. Stomping her foot only once, she turned and ran down the hallway.

"She's got a bit of an attitude," Dorothy explained.

"So I see," the woman laughed. "I remember when my daughter was that age. But they grow out of it, you'll see."

"I sincerely hope so," Dorothy paused. "You said wanted to repay me for all of this, right?"

"I did," the woman answered, sipping her tea.

"Well, if you swear not to say a word about Phoebe to anyone, and I mean anyone, I will consider the debt repaid."

Her companion frowned. "Well…if you say so…but I don't really understand."

"That's quite all right," Dorothy replied, taking a drink of tea. "No one needs to understand. Not right now. Not for a long time yet."