Chapter Five

Old men bickering.

That was what he awoke to... and it wasn't a very pretty sight. All noise stopped and if a pin were to drop, it would make a crack in the side of a mountain.

He was staring at them and they to him. It would have been somewhat comical...if they hadn't kidnapped or captured him while he was in a hospital, wounded him, and brought him to be fought over.

To say the least, Heero was pissed. And a pissed off Heero was not a very pretty sight, and they sure knew that judging by the intense glare he was giving them. Now they knew the meaning of the phrase 'looks can kill', that much was for sure.

"What the hell is going on?" All eyes were on him now, noting that from Heero's expression that he wasn't pleased with the silence after his question. Most averted their eyes, showing they weren't the ones that would answer his question.

He narrowed his eyes even further, if possible at all, and let his glare go from face to face. He paused, stopping at the face of someone that brought a memory to his mind. There was a blurred picture of the man's face in his minds eye, a fiery sky distorting the picture.

He growled, clenching his fists together. His wrists were bound with metal to a regal looking chair. He tensed, as if testing the metal while staring at the General Weissridge. "Where am I?" The question wasn't directed at the council, but more to him.

Someone cleared their throat and Heero glanced his cold and fury-filled eyes towards the person. It was a woman with hair tied back in a crimson ribbon. She stood, wearing a regal looking military uniform. He assessed her, looking to see if she was a threat and looking for her weak points. She held her chin high as she stared at him, "You are at the council area of Gabrielle..." she bowed her head and looked up at him through her bangs, "...my Prince..."

The world seemed to freeze for a moment. Heero's eyes widened for a minute second... Then, all hell broke loose.

"What do you mean that he's gone!" Relena jumped up from her chair. She spun around and stared at Sally, who looked at the messenger sent to tell them of the news.

Sally put away her instruments and finished tying the knot to Relena's bandaged arm. Luckily, the girl escaped from the mess almost unscathed. Trying to keep her cool demeanor, something Relena lost instantly at the news, "Explain." she curtly snapped, straigtening herself.

"I--we--ah--" the young nurse was at loss for words, sweat beading on her forehead and her fingers entwining themselves repeatedly overtop her bleached skirt. She straightened her uniform, looking down at the floor. Like most people, she was unused to situations such as these...

"Out with it." The words were what snapped her into attention, bringing back days from her medical training in a little OZ hospital.

"He's simply gone. There was a man dressed in black and he--"

Relena was gone with her words, the door slamming behind the nurse that made her jump. Casting a nervous glance behind her shoulder at the door, the young nurse took her eyes off of Sally. The wise medic walked up, gently put a hand on the nurse's shoulder and bowed her head, and was gone just as quickly as Relena was.

"What an odd pair..." She murmured to herself, deciding to shrug the situation off her shoulders. "I hope that young man is all right..." After all, it wasn't every day that people got kidnapped out of hospitals.

Heero remained silent, simply staring at the group. They had yet to release his bonds, not yet sure that he wouldn't try and escape.

"You must think of us as a group of gaggling idiots." Heero continued to stare, earning a unsteady laugh that died all too quickly. His expression answered her question; 'no, really?'

"Either way, if you believe us or not, you are the true prince to this kingdom."

Raising an eyebrow, Heero responded just as sharply, "And why should I believe you? All that you've been babbling on about would be of stories."

The woman that had first called him 'prince' huffed her chest out, looking rather like a pompous chicken in Heero's eyes. "So, I assume through your words, that you wish for evidence?"

Giving a curt nod, the woman stood up and all but sauntered over to him. Heero would have rolled his eyes if not for the fact that she pulled out some keys from her breast pocket. His mind instantly calculated situations that could happen.

"I'll show you proof--there is evidence enough on your body like all the royals of this line." The key found the lock ontop of the binds and it clicked.

That was her first mistake.

In an instant before any council members could blink, Heero's hand was on the woamn's throat. The guards were instantly at attention, weapons at hand.

A cold look from Heero stopped any movement, "Move and she can just as easily die." He punctuated his statement with a squeeze to the girl's throat, which made her gasp.

Mentally, Heero was shouting at himself to drop the girl. He never wanted to kill again. He narrowed his eyes; these people were possible threats to the peace the pilots and many soldiers fought to attain. They had weapons and numbers of people following a group of people with power. Either way, they had to be dealt with.

"Drop her," Weissridge looked at Heero calmly, "Please."

Heero met his gaze calmly, "I'll release her only when I'm returned to the Peacecraft estate--now." The council members all glanced at one another with worry and concern in their eyes--worry for the short-tempered girl in Heero's grasp, and for the fact that this was probably the only chance that they would get of having Heero in their presence.

TBC