Still own…absolutely nada.

Segment 13:

A Second Reason to Cry

Summary:

After a sixteen hours of running from Saint Teresa's, Quatre, Haruka, and Rei pull in to rest at a hotel in Missouri. Rei notices the hostilities between Quatre and Haruka, and she tells him that he has to talk to her about her being a Senshi. Reluctantly, he agrees. After some argument, Haruka explains why she hid her identity, then also goes on to explain the truth of Quatre's birth, and the reason she chose to stay with him: he is the descendant of her former partner, Michiru Kaioh. Ami and Wufei arrive in Colorado to start looking for the three fugitives. While driving through Kansas, she tells him Rei's story, about her being abandoned to the hands of the Leute while Uranus and herself escaped to freedom. Finally, the five meet up and head to Wichita to catch a shuttle back to the colonies.

"The coffee here is excellent," Sally commented, drinking deeply.

The man sitting across from her laughed softly. He was about her age, with dark maroon hair and large green eyes accented by sharp eyebrows. His name was Alexander Venli, a Volgograd journalist, and it was he that had contacted Sally about Anya Karikov. In the past two days since the Preventor had arrived, he had explained about his sister's marriage to the Russian Ambassador, and her adoption of a young boy called Aaron. Venli then went on to point out the strange, sudden death of his brother-in-law, an incident kept quiet for fear that it was assassination committed by Siberian extremists. Two months after that, his sister made the strange move of joining an intelligence group, presumably working for the Russian Government. That was the last he had heard of her.

Shortly after Lita Kino's death, he had learned that she was brought in for questioning by Romanian authorities, and was later charged with the Preventor's murder. Then before she was about to go on trial, she was found in her jail cell, dead of a shot to the heart. But the strangest thing was that there was no gun or bullet found in the jail cell; indeed, the shot didn't appear to have come the standard issue firearms that the guards (illegally, by Relena's laws) used. When an autopsy was done, no slug was found anywhere in her body, but the doctors were shocked to find that her heart and a section of her right lung were severely burned, despite the fact there was no sign of burning to her skin.

Now, Venli sat across from Sally in a quiet coffee shop. Both had agreed that it would be good to take a little break from all the work and cross referencing they had done. Besides that, Sally had also spent the past several hours trying to call Wufei to explain the situation. Unfortunately, a late winter snowstorm had hit the area, and most phones weren't working. Even her cell was having difficulty finding a good signal through the falling snow.

Until now.

Her phone had been set on vibrate and was stowed in her left breast pocket of her jacket, but she had mostly forgotten that since she had not received a call for a few days. The sudden motion made her tense, and her first thought was that the Russian writer had made a unexpected pass at her (a thought that didn't seem to bother her much, despite it's unlikelihood. He was sitting across the table, a good four and a half feet, by her standards), but she quickly got her bearings and answered it.

"Hello?" she asked, holding up a finger to the surprised Venli.

"You're alive."

She blinked and smiled. "Wufei! Hey, how're you doing?"

"All right. Amy and I managed to locate Quatre and the others. We flew back to L4 this morning. We've decided it would be best for Rei Hino to receive therapy from the Winners' psychologist. She's quite calm; Quatre said her condition started improving immediately after she left Saint Teresa's. But she's still hostile towards Haruka, and she also talks to herself and suffers hysteric fits. Oh, and by the way, Haruka is also a Senshi," Wufei finished.

"What?"

"Apparently she's "Uranus", one of the "Outer Senshi". Meioh forgot to mention that," he commented. "And although Amy claims that both she and Rei lost her powers, Quatre's aunt seems to have hers in perfect condition. If you believe his account of Saint Teresa's destruction, of course."

"I saw that on the news last night," Sally nodded. "It had me a little worried. But everyone's okay?"

"Yes. And you?" Wufei asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." She looked across the table and smiled slightly. "Mr. Venli does seem to be the real thing. Hold on a moment."

Sally put her hand over the mouthpiece and looked at Venli. "It's my partner. Mr. Venli, I'm hoping you'll allow me to ask him to join us here on Earth."

Venli smirked. "You don't trust me, Miss Po?"

"Not at all," she replied matter-of-factly. "And I also think my partner would like to hear your story as well."

"If he's willing to listen, I'm willing to tell," Venli responded, matching her tone.

"Thank you," she put the phone back up to her ear. "Wufei, would it be nearly impossible to ask you to leave Quatre's world of luxury to meet me down here in this frozen hell?"

"I'm boarding my shuttle in twenty minutes," Wufei answered. "If you can give me a location and a time, it'll be far more convenient than having to go over the entire city looking for you."

"All right…" Sally checked her watch. "Six hour flight…9:00 PM, at a coffee shop on the river called Shvibsik. Mr. Venli and I will be waiting in the back booth by the window."

"…Okay." Wufei answered slowly, then spoke again. "You sound a little to happy about something."

"Do I?" she mused, looking back at Venli. "Hm. I'll try to get depressed by the time you get here."

"You're hilarious."

"I know. I'll see you in a while."

"Good bye."

"Bye."

Venli tilted his head as she grinned, shook her head, and put the phone back.

"Tell me, is your amusement at apparently nothing an American thing, or a woman thing?"

Sally raised an eyebrow as she stole her partner's words. "You're hilarious."

Rashid stared out the shuttle's window. Setsuna had contacted him that morning and had requested he meet her on MO-III, though she had neglected to explain why, claiming it was a matter of the utmost urgency. She had also told him to leave their son with the neighbor woman who watched over him during the day. Lera had a boy the same age as Jabreel, so it hadn't been difficult to get him to stay behind. But that didn't stop his father from missing him.

But on the bright side, he was looking forward to seeing his wife. Although she had only left a few days ago, she was never far from his thoughts and the occasions when they could just be together were rare. Then again, it wasn't likely that this was one of those times.

"Sir, would you care for something to drink?" the stewardess asked as she wheeled a cart up the aisle. "Soda, coffee, tea, wine…"

"A cup of tea, please," he answered, somewhat absentmindedly. His mind was still on the thoughts of his family.

"All right," she placed a steaming black ceramic mug on his tray table. "Here you are sir. Anything else?"

"No thank you."

"Okay," she moved up to the next row.

Slowly, he emptied the contents of a single sugar packet into the tea and stirred slowly. His eyes were still focused on the blackness outside the window. Perhaps it was a trick of the light reflecting off the glass, but he could've sworn something was moving towards the shuttle. Something large.

There! A flash of light! Or…was that a camera flash from the family sitting two rows behind him? Rashid set the mug down squinted. There was a large dark hole in the multitude of stars. Another shuttle? An asteroid, perhaps?

No. It passed in front of the Moon off in the distance, and his heart caught in his throat. A huge black shape stood out against the silver-white orb. Even thought it was still a thousand yards away, it dwarfed the communications satellite about five hundred feet to the left of it. And he knew for a fact that that particular satellite, Nextel Lunar Unit No. 0462, was fifteen hundred feet in diameter. It had broken records when it went up twenty years ago.

The dark shape was at least twice as long.

By now, other people on his side of the shuttle were noticing the strange colossus. Whoever it was with the camera was flashing pictures rapidly, and the stewardesses had all gathered together and were whispering to each other. Several passengers tried to ask them what the object was, but there was no answer. A cold feeling wormed its way into Rashid's chest; he knew whatever that dark thing was, it did not bode well.

Suddenly, there was an eruption of crimson light behind the object, and it rapidly began to grow. It took those on the shuttle a moment to realize that this strange, gigantic thing was a spacecraft, it was moving towards them. Now it was five thousand feet away…two thousand…seventy-five hundred…

Then it paused.

It was at that moment Rashid knew he would never see his wife and son again.

"Allah protect them," he whispered.

Thirteen bright lights suddenly blinked on all along the side of the ship, and thirteen bright beams shot towards the shuttle.

They knew no more.

Setsuna was aware of the exact moment of her husband's death. So was Jabreel. While his mother locked the door to her MO-III office and wept for the cruelty of Fate, the boy stared up at the sky that had claimed his father, and marveled at the mysteries of it.

"It makes you wonder," Lucrezia said softly as she and Zechs watched the shuttle explode into a dispersed mass of metal and flesh and bone and blood. Both of them were safely hidden in a two-person shuttle well masked by signal jammers. Unless the Leute craft were to smash into them directly, the chances they'd be noticed were slim.

"About why they're so willing to murder innocent people?" her husband answered. His voice was nearly emotionless, and yet, it was tinted with the slightest tone of sadness.

She shook her head. "No. It makes me wonder how long until they start going after satellites…colonies…perhaps even Earth itself."

Zechs put an arm around her shoulder. "Never. They can't. It's not Earth they want to destroy. It's us. And once they've rid the world of humans, they'll want to use what we've left behind for them. No, I think the colonies and the planet are safe."

"A relief…I suppose…"

He could tell she was thinking of their children, and thanking god that none of them had been on that shuttle. But no doubt there had been children on the shuttle; and men and women and elderly and teenagers. All civilians. Then again, in a world of peace, a world without a military or weapons, everyone was a civilian. Except for Setsuna Meioh's people, of course.

"At least we now know what it is we're up against," Lucrezia sighed. "What did Setsuna say their crafts were called?"

"Chimaeras."

Setsuna had contacted the Marquises shortly after Lita Kino's murder. Although both had been suspicious of Setsuna at first, they had eventually agreed to join the revolution after witnessing Roderick Bailey's execution. Since then, their three children had been staying safely at their grandmother's house, while their parents were busy looking after Relena, avoiding Leute assassins, and been out scouting on intelligence missions, not unlike that moment.

The Chimaera hesitated near the wreckage of the passenger shuttle for about fifteen minutes before the red boosters lit up and it pulled away and vanished amongst the stars. Zechs looked at his wife and nodded, meaning they should do the same. She took a drink from a water bottle floating near her shoulder, then started to turn their shuttle around.

"Shit shit shit shit SHIT!" Mariemaia cursed as the TV in the spaceport's waiting area depicted the destruction of the passenger shuttle. Immediately, she pulled out a cell phone and dialed Rini's number.

"Pick up Chiba…come on…"

Duo glanced at her reassuringly. "Maia, relax. Rini and Hotaru couldn't have been on that shuttle. It was headed for—"

"Shhhh! Shut up you imbecile!" she snapped. As it turned out, Rini and Hotaru were the ones late getting to the spaceport. Nearly an hour after their shuttle to MO-III had left, they arrived breathless and sweaty, claiming they had been attacked by Leute while leaving the hotel. However, there hadn't been much substance to the story, considering that the number of Leute ranged from five to twenty each time they (Rini, actually) repeated the story, and the description of the was "they just looked like ordinary Leute". However, Mariemaia had a pretty good idea of the truth, and rather than snap at the two women for engaging themselves in the wrong activity at the wrong time, she simply amused herself by looking at Duo's confused face when she dropped hints. But on the downside, they could no longer get four seats together on a flight to the satellite. Indeed, they couldn't even get four seats on a single shuttle to MO-III, so they were going to go two and two: Mariemaia and Duo, and Rini and Hotaru.

But now, it seemed that all flights were suddenly being cancelled. Hence Mariemaia's angry phone call to her fellow team member.

In a different waiting area of the spaceport, Rini picked up her phone.

"Hello?"

"We're in deep shit Chiba," Mariemaia snapped.

"No kidding. Watch your language Maia."

"Don't tell me to watch my fuckin' language. If we don't think of somethin' fast, we're gonna be stuck here. Meioh wants us ASAP, and I don't want to deal with a bunch of panicking civilians asking me questions about a Chimaera! Oh, and by the way, I think there's Leute in the spaceport!"

"First of all, you're not supposed to let on that you know about those. Second of all, what the hell do you want me to do? We can't even get a charter shuttle without blowing our cover, which is suicide if you're right and there are Leute in the spaceport," Rini glanced around. Sure enough, there was a little blond-haired hermaphrodite peering into the gift shop window across the concourse.

Hotaru stood up, but Rini grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down, shaking her head and mouthing the word "No". On the other end of the phone, she was vaguely aware of Mariemaia and Duo murmuring to each other. Finally, the redhead's voice spoke again.

"Okay, look. Duo's got an idea that might work. Can you meet us in the food court near the baggage claim in five minutes?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem. What are you planning?" Rini whispered.

"We'll tell you when we get there," Mariemaia paused. "Sorry about being bitchy before. I get nasty under pressure, don't I?"

"No worse than PMS, Maia. See you in five," she replied, then folded up her phone and stowed it. Grabbing Hotaru's hand, she led the black-haired girl to the food court, with the other hand buried in her coat pocket filled with change…or rather, shurikin hidden as loose change.

When the reached the food court, Duo and Mariemaia were seated at a table with two paper bags from McDonald's between them on the ends. Hotaru and Rini sat down across from them on the bench, and all four leaned forward behind the cover of the bags.

"Okay, so what's this great plan?" Rini pressed.

Duo grinned. "A lot of confusion around here, isn't there?" he asked. They nodded in agreement. Everywhere people were standing in groups gawking at the TVs mounted on the walls, or huddled near the floor crying and praying, or running around in a panic and looking for spaceport personnel. Not quite a three-ring circus yet, but if the Leute located sporadically around the complex made a move, no doubt it would erupt into chaos.

"So how long do you think it would take people to notice that a shuttle took off without authorization?" he continued.

Hotaru frowned. "But how would you get the access codes to get into the hangar?"

"Apparently, he's a hacker," Mariemaia answered, shooting a skeptical look at the smiling man.

"Not the best, but pretty damn good if I say so myself. Government databases aren't too bad, so spaceport security should be a piece of cake. That is, if you three can cover me long enough so that we can actually enter the codes without getting noticed by either personnel or Leute," Duo explained.

"Once the codes are entered, we make a break for the shuttle. Rini and I take out any guards while Hotaru slips to the control booth and sets the launch sequence, then Duo gets us all on board and pilots us to MO-III," Mariemaia finished. "What do you guys think?"

Hotaru and Rini looked at each other. Finally, Hotaru spoke.

"There isn't really any other option is there, except for to try to charter a shuttle, let the Leute know about our presence, and try to fight off however many they've got here while avoiding civilian casualties and a try for successful escape."

"…Exactly what I was thinking!" Duo blinked. Rini and Mariemaia rolled their eyes.

"Anyways, you two pick the poison yet?" Rini asked.

Mariemaia nodded. "Yes. Hanger C25 Alpha. It was one originally headed for MO-III. We figure if we should get caught after leaving, they won't chase after us, assuming that the pilot was just ignoring directions and going to the original destination. It was also going to be a small flight, so all the passengers have left the waiting area, and the entire thing has been aborted. However, there may still be a few general security people there, so we'll have to be ready."

"Okay. I'm in," Rini said.

"So am I," Hotaru added.

"Great," Duo stood up and looked at them. "Well ladies? Time's a'wastin!"

Red Delta looked at each other and wondered what they'd gotten themselves into, but followed anyways. Both Duo and Mariemaia had seen the entrance to the hangar prior to going to the food court, and luckily there was no one near it, and the waiting area was empty. But the next waiting area and hangar entrance was only about thirty feet away and populated with about a dozen people glued to the TV screen, so they would have to be a bit cautious.

"You sure you can handle this?" Mariemaia whispered to Duo.

He patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it babe."

She let out a little laugh and shook her head. "You'd better not get us killed Duo. It'd be a shame to have to strangle that pretty neck of yours."

Saluting her, he quickly turned to the keypad and plugged a calculator-like device into it. Meanwhile, the three women crowded around the hangar entrance in front of him and began to talk in low voices. A few people passed by, but none paid any attention to them, assuming they were gossiping about the horrible shuttle crash (or was it a crash? Everyone was saying they saw it destroyed by a gigantic spacecraft). About four minutes later, there was a beep and a rush of air as the hangar door opened.

"All right we're in. Come on," Duo hissed, hoping no one noticed. The four entered, looked at each other, then took off running at top speed down the corridor to the hangar. To their surprise, all the lights save those on the control booth were off, and there was only a single guard sitting on a chair in the corner. Asleep.

"Let me handle this," Hotaru whispered. She drew a small bottle of Tylenol out of her purse, then pressed a handkerchief over her nose and mouth and motioned for the others to stay back and do the same. Flipping the cap of the bottle off with her thumb, she held it under the sleeping guard's nose. In the fluorescent light of the control booth, little greenish fumes were visible coming out of the bottle. The guard inhaled, groaned, and his jaw went slack. Jamming the cap back on the bottle, Hotaru put it back in her purse and removed the handkerchief.

"Wow…what'd you do to him?" Duo asked.

She shrugged. "Nothing special. Just made sure he would have a nice long nap, and that we wouldn't interrupt him." She crouched down in front of the panels in the control booth and began to type and set the launch sequence. Two seconds later, she was finished and the door to the cockpit opened up.

"Okay, let's go. Duo, when the engines ignite that'll start the launch," Hotaru said, securely closing the door to the control booth behind her.

"Oh, but you're not going anywhere."

The four turned to see a group of about a dozen Leute standing in the entrance to the hangar.

"Shit…" Mariemaia groaned. A red haired Leute stepped forward and smiled.

"Duo Maxwell…I've been hoping to finish our little elevator scuffle for a while now," it replied.

He narrowed his eyes. "You'd be Aethrin then?"

"I am," Aethrin replied, then looked at the three Red Delta members. "Lord Eljira is not happy with you three. You, Lady Khushrenada, are number one on the Lord's list ever since you robbed us of Juril. As for Saturn and the Princess…well, your fate was foreordained."

"You can tell "Lord Eljira" to go fuck a dog, if he can figure out how," Mariemaia spat. "And I hope you rot in hell with your precious Juril."

At the last remark, Aethrin had forgotten all about Duo and the two Senshi and gone directly for Mariemaia. But she had expected this and suddenly had a pair of nunchaku out and flailed them into his arms and torso. Everyone watched the fight in shock as human and Leute battled it out.

Suddenly, Aethrin spun into a roundhouse kick that took Mariemaia square in the stomach, and she flew sprawling under the shuttle. The spell broken, the other Leute dashed forwards and went for the remaining fighters.

But all three of them had excellent reflexes. Four went for Duo, who avoided their knife strokes and managed to take down three with the gun concealed in his jacket. The other one he shoved against the wall and punched in the face, then fell to his knees and looked for Mariemaia. She struggled to her feet and began grappling with Aethrin again. Rini, on the other hand, was dealing out her "change" with deadly accuracy, causing several Leute to scream in agony as shurikin gouged out their eyes. Hotaru had pulled out a pair of daggers and dealt quick death blows to those that fell.

Under the shuttle, Duo tried to aim the gun at Aethrin, but realized he couldn't get a clear shot with Mariemaia at such close quarters. Cursing under his breath, he slipped behind the Leute assassin, grabbed him by the waist, and nearly threw him across the hangar. Enraged, Aethrin pulled out a gun of his own and aimed at Duo, but suddenly the gun too went flying as the wooden handle of one of Mariemaia's nunchaku connected with the Leute's wrist. He was about to go for her again when Duo punched him in the gun and he dropped to his knees.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her wrist and waving to Rini and Hotaru. The two women nodded and finished their tandem kill, then joined the other two on board the shuttle. Slamming the door shut before the few remaining Leute (including Aethrin) could get in, Duo climbed into the pilot's seat and ignited the engines. The launch sequence commenced.

As the airlocks in the hangar began to open, the Leute realized they needed to get out or be swallowed by the vacuum of choice. With Aethrin leading the retreat, all but the dead managed to escape. Those were crushed beneath the wheels of the shuttle as it jetted forward.

As the tunneled runway flew past, Mariemaia, sitting in the copilot's seat, looked over at Duo.

"You save my life," she murmured softly.

He glanced at her and smiled slightly. "Hey, you saved me too."

"Yeah, but you saved me first. Why? You could've shot him right there," Mariemaia pointed out.

Duo shook his head. "Somebody's gotta think about the costs of human life in a war. If I totally disregarded your life, that wouldn't be any better than a Leute, would it?"

"I guess…"

"And besides," his smile grew. "It'd be a shame to have to kill a hottie like you, especially since you're so good to have in a fight."

Mariemaia laughed. "Same to you, Duo. Same to you."