Chapter II

Hysteria

It's holding me, morphing me

And forcing me to strive

To be endlessly cold within

And dreaming I'm alive

'Cause I want it now

I want it now

Give me your heart and your soul

I'm not breaking down

I'm breaking out

Last chance to lose control

And I want you now

I want you now

I feel my heart implode

And I'm breaking out

Escaping now

Feeling my faith erode

Car horns honked loudly in the thick Manhattan traffic. The sun shone brightly on the pavement, adding even more warmth to the crowded streets. The smell of freshly baked bread and coffee hung in the air, mingling with the stench that could only belong to throngs of people wedged in together. Adrian wove his way in and out of the crowd with ease. Trading his Cinque Kingdom attire in favor of a long black trench coat over simple slacks and a shirt, he blended right in. Not that he had anything to worry about, of course.

No one will ever suspect me—I'm head of the Foreign Relations Department, for crying out loud, he thought. A smirk crossed his attractive face. This plan is infallible. Adrian went over the master plan in his mind as he slipped unnoticed into a warehouse building in the meatpacking district. No, despite the shadow of Adrian Guilermo lurking about, business went on as usual in Manhattan.

The room he entered was dimly lit, and he walked forward cautiously while his eyes adjusted to the new light. Small puffs of smoke and the faint smell of alcohol led him to his next destination. Heading up the creaky staircase, he heard a raucous whoop of laughter, making the meeting room easy to locate. Adrian opened the door to find a large group of men, all who appeared to be in their twenties and thirties, playing a card game while smoking cigars and downing bottles of beer. The room fell silent when Adrian entered, and all eyes focused on him. Looking at their expectant faces, Adrian planted himself in a chair at the head of the table and began to speak.

"I thank each one of you for coming here today. I'm glad to see you enjoying one another's company, but let's not let it distract us from the mission at hand." All of the men nodded and grunted their agreement, dropping whatever cards they held. Adrian continued. "Each one of you is a brave soldier, willing to do whatever it takes to make our point. For so long we have let the governments of the United States of America and the Cinque Kingdom treat us as their stepping stones while they achieved greatness and popularity. I know that you all despise the Cinque Kingdom and everything it stands for as much as I do. As you know, the United States has done nothing but help the Cinque Kingdom. We cannot let such a thing go unpunished; both the U.S. and the Cinque Kingdom will pay. Our voices will be heard!" Adrian clenched his fist for emphasis. With that, a spirited roar filled the room, and the men began whooping, slapping hands, and guzzling beer all over again. Adrian cleared his throat, and the men quieted into submission again. Adrian smiled slyly.

"Now, before we get too excited, we must go over our plan of action. Jason, your group is taking colony LX-316." A young man with sandy blond hair and brown eyes nodded enthusiastically.

"Nathan, you're headed for LX-316." A dark-haired man who looked about thirty grunted his acknowledgement.

"Gabriel, I want your group to surround the Cinque Kingdom when ready." A dark-haired boy with large blue eyes looked up in surprise, but nodded in agreement.

"Jabez, you and Victor are keeping your groups in New York. You need to help one another at the UN. This is perhaps the most crucial mission of all." Two young men who both appeared to be no later than twenty looked over at one another. Jabez wore his light brown hair in a low ponytail, his blue eyes sparking with interest. Victor's red hair was cut short, with bangs that kept falling in front of his pewter grey eyes.

Adrian turned to the rest of the group. "Your group leaders have already been assigned. I want you to find them and agree to meet again once more by tomorrow to go over the plan in more detail. Never come to this location again; do not even walk on this street. I know for certain we are being tracked by the Preventers, which is good for now. The more we confuse them, the better. Is everything clear?" A pin drop could be heard in the room, which Adrian took to be a good sign.

"Beautiful." He smiled. "Well, the business part is over. What do you say we have some fun now, gentlemen?" The men whooped their approval, and an intense game of poker ensued, the men focusing all of their zealous anger on the card game until they had the chance to attack a better target...

"Target sighted!" Quatre called cheerfully to his fellow Preventers.

"All right!" Duo punched his fist into the air enthusiastically. "We'll get 'em this time, just wait and see!"

Wufei smirked. "Don't get so cocky, Maxwell."

"What do you mean? This thing's in the bag."

"You're wrong Duo," Trowa said. "Think fast."

In a matter of seconds, Duo was on the floor pounding his fists. "Nooo!" He moaned. "I thought I had it!"

The other Preventers looked at each other and shrugged. Then they heard a female's voice say, "Playing video games again, boys?" The guys looked up to see Sally Po leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded across her chest. They all flushed, embarrassed.

"What video game? I don't see anything! Heh-heh..."

"Well, you see, it was only a game..."

"..."

"It was all Maxwell's idea!"

Sally just rolled her eyes and laughed lightly. "Well, just in case you're finished playing games for a while, I have some information on our current mission... That is, if you're interested."

Remembering what they were supposed to be doing, the boys jumped up to follow Sally out of the room.

"The FBI has dug up some files they thought we could use to find the terrorists," Sally explained as they entered the main control room, where they stored most of their computer data.

Quatre frowned. "But we're not certain there are any terrorists, right? I mean, we've only heard threats; nothing's happened yet. Remember, innocent until proven guilty."

"That's may be so, Quatre," Trowa interjected. "But we have to check out every single file on anyone we can find, guilty or not. You can never be too careful."

Quatre nodded and weighed the thought in his mind while Sally began to pull some files up on the computer.

"Now we're still not sure who the threats are coming from. We've been receiving them here at headquarters for the past few months. There have been a few more isolated threats against Relena Darlian's life, and we assume those originate in the Cinque Kingdom."

"Whoa, that just doesn't make sense!" Duo said, scratching his head. "Who in the Cinque Kingdom would ever want to hurt Relena? She's their royalty, for crying out loud! She's done nothing but good for them!"

"Perhaps not everyone sees it that way," Wufei offered. "For now all we have are cold, hard facts, Maxwell. Someone, or perhaps a group of people, threatened to kill Relena, and all we know is that they're from the Cinque Kingdom."

"Maybe," Quatre piped up. "We still don't know anything for sure."

"I think that the threats are definitely related. One of the latest threats warned Relena to stay away from the Global Summit here in New York. I think whoever these people are, they're trying to scare the American people at the same time and brace them for an attack while they try to kill Relena." Trowa leaned back, satisfied with his analysis.

"Well, there's still a lot of missing information," Sally informed them. "But here are the files from the FBI." She pulled up a list of names affiliated with the Cinque Kingdom's imperial guard."

"Wow," Quatre said in surprise. "I didn't know the Cinque Kingdom had any kind of military."

"It can hardly be considered a military force—it's more like a group of highly trained bodyguards," Sally explained. "Relena was reluctant to hire anyone, but the leader of the Cinque Foreign Relations department was insistent." Sally typed onto the computer as she spoke. "There," she murmured as a series of pictures appeared on the screen with brief facts listed beneath each one.

GABRIEL LUIS

AGE: 21

ORIGIN: CINQUE

JASON MARCUS

AGE: 22

ORIGIN: GREECE

VICTOR STONE

AGE: 18

ORIGIN: USA

NATHAN WAINWRIGHT

AGE: 30

ORIGIN: ENGLAND

JABEZ WALKER

AGE: 19

ORIGIN: UNKNOWN

Some additional information about these four men and the rest of the army was displayed on the screen. Quatre shook his head in disbelief. "Why are they suspecting these guys, who are hired to protect Relena? I don't understand."

"We're hoping that whatever was said in this group was a joke, because these are the last people we would normally suspect," Sally said with a low sigh.

"Which is why we should check them out first," Trowa interjected.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter who's doing it, as long as we keep them from destroying anything... and from hurting Relena," Quatre added.

"Hey, no need to worry—Heero's on it as we speak!" Duo stretched his arms above his head.

"Yes, but it's not like he's concentrating very hard," Wufei intoned sarcastically.

"Speaking of which, we need to focus on the task at hand," Trowa spoke up.

"Right!" The Preventers got to work tracking the new suspects.

Meanwhile, Adrian and Victor walked down the long hallway of the UN building. They stopped outside the conference room, where Relena and the other delegates were going to be meeting very shortly.

"Have the others departed yet?" Victor asked.

"Yes. William and Jason left this morning." Victor said nothing as Adrian pulled out his communicator and contacted Jabez, who was on the twenty-third floor preparing the final touches on their plan.

"Is everything ready?" Adrian inquired.

"It's all set here," Jabez reported.

"Excellent," Adrian replied.

Just then, Relena and Heero came walking out of the elevator towards Adrian and Victor. Adrian greeted them both with a wide smile. "Good morning, you two. Heero, I need to speak with you, privately," Adrian said without making eye contact with Relena. Heero nodded his response and followed him down to the end of the hallway, while Victor escorted Relena into the conference room. Adrian seemed to be waiting until Relena was out of sight and ear shot before speaking, but Heero didn't give him the chance.

"So, what was so urgent that you needed to detain me from my mission?" Heero said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall.

"Your mission?" Adrian laughed. "Both you and I know that Relena is more than just a mission to you." Heero raised his eyes in apparent surprise as Adrian continued. "Personally I feel that you may be distracting her too much. She needs her concentration, you know. So, I've decided that for the meeting Victor will be looking after her, and you can come back afterwards."

Heero stood up straight, slightly embarrassed that his emotions had become so transparent. Adrian's words had given him a shock. "I understand," he murmured, then trudged off in the opposite direction. Before he exited, he looked over his shoulder and gave Adrian a steely glare.

Meanwhile, back at Preventer headquarters, the rest of the team finished researching their files. Quatre completed printing up a copy of the information for Heero and passed it off to Trowa.

"I thought we would bring this to Heero; he'll probably want to see it," Quatre explained, scanning over the list in front of them.

"Hmm, I see..." Trowa said, more to himself than anyone else.

"I'm sorry, Trowa, did you say something?" Quatre looked up.

"Perhaps we should all pay a visit to Heero at the UN. I think that he may need some of our assistance."

"I don't know, I think Heero can handle things just fine, knowing him." Duo called from the corner desk he was sitting on top of.

"I agree with Trowa. I bet there's more to this than we're aware of," Wufei said as he shrugged on his Preventer jacket. He walked over to where Quatre and Trowa were, then Duo slid off his desk and joined them. Quatre picked up the last piece of paper that printed and put it in a manila folder with the rest of the report.

"Well, I guess that's it. We should be going," said Trowa.

Duo grinned widely and approached the others. "So, what's it gonna be, guys—cab or sub?" No one seemed to hear him as they headed out the door, each focused on completing the task at hand, but they headed to the subway nonetheless. A short while later, hey arrived at the UN building. They entered the lobby and were immediately overwhelmed by its vastness.

"I wonder on which floor the meetings are taking place?" Quatre asked rhetorically.

"Well, it's not like we have a lot of time to figure it out," Wufei remarked.

Duo scratched the back of his head. "Anybody got a clue? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank here." They all stood in silent contemplation.

"Excuse me." They looked up to see Trowa talking to a receptionist. "Could you kindly tell me which floor the Global Summit is being held on?" The receptionist raised her eyebrows skeptically at first, questioning why he would need such information. "Oh, I'm sorry," Trowa said, answering her unasked question. "I'm from the Preventers. We have some data for one of our members who's participating in the meeting as we speak. It is vital that we convey this information to him immediately."

The woman eyed his uniform admirably and smiled. "You'll find it on the twenty-third floor, cutie," she said in a thick Manhattan accent. She winked, and Trowa flushed slightly.

"Man, why didn't I think of that?" Duo smacked his forehead.

Trowa rejoined the group, a little red in the face.

"What'd she do, slap you?" Duo teased. "Next time, why don't you let someone who knows how to handle the ladies do the talking?"

"Let's face it, Maxwell; if you were doing the talking, we'd never get past the lobby," Wufei retorted.

"Hey, I don't need to be taking pointers from you, Wufei." Duo sneered.

Trowa and Quatre looked at each other impatiently.

"If you guys are just going to stand there all day, Quatre and I are going to leave and find Heero without your assistance," Trowa interrupted their banter. Wufei and Duo glared at one another before falling into step behind Trowa and Quatre as they headed to the elevator. Once they reached the twenty-third floor, they headed to the conference room and found two guards standing outside the doors.

"Oh great, another obstacle," Wufei observed cynically.

Quatre gulped and whispered, "Those guys look pretty serious."

All of them seemed unsure about who would approach them first. Trowa decided to step forward again and cleared his throat; but before he could say anything, Duo came from behind.

"Hey, we need to see someone in there right now," he said impatiently. He was getting tired of all the time this trip was taking. The guards looked down at him, unimpressed. Trowa released a low sigh and walked up next to Duo, who was stuck as what to next.

"We're Preventers, and one of our guys is acting as a bodyguard for Vice Foreign Minister Darlian," Trowa spoke in a controlled voice.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" One of the guards muttered, rolling his eyes.

"All right, you can see if he's in there," the other one said. He opened the door and let peer inside. He didn't see Heero, but did notice one of the guys from the list they had received at headquarters. He shut the door and turned to the others, motioning them to move further down the hall so that the guards could not hear them.

"So, was he in there?" Quatre asked.

"No, but one of our suspects is, so we need to locate Heero now more then ever."

"We should split up and find him," Wufei suggested.

"What are you guys doing here?" came Heero's voice from behind. Duo practically fell over from the shock, but managed to keep his balance.

"Sheesh, did you plan that or what?" he asked, only half-joking.

"I didn't need all of you to come down here. I can handle this mission by myself," Heero glowered. Quatre paid no heed to his glare and handed him the folder, and Heero's eyebrows rose as he accepted it.

"We just needed to bring you this; it may come in handy," Quatre explained.

Heero nodded and tucked it inside his jacket, suddenly causing the other Preventers to notice his Cinque Kingdom attire.

"Hey, where'd ya get the outfit from—Relena?" Duo smirked. Heero glared at him icily but said nothing, and Duo just smiled even wider.

A sudden commotion made them all turn around.

"Hey, someone call the fire department! Looks like a fire in there!" One of the guards cried. Heero bolted as fast as he could to the conference room door, where smoke was sieving out of the bottom.

"Relena!" He called out, pounding on the door in vain. "It's locked," he grunted, jamming the door handle. Trowa appeared behind him.

"The others went for help," he explained. "We need a battering ram." Heero frowned, giving Trowa a look that said, and just where would we get one of those? They both nodded in sudden agreement, and started slamming their shoulders against the door. It started to crack, and the force of their third hit broke it open. Delegates ran out of the room in a stampede, and the two Preventers had to jump out of the way of the frenzied crowd.

"Relena!" Heero called again when he didn't see her with the others. He pushed past the crowd and disappeared into the smoke. Trowa stood outside, asking a few of the escaped diplomats what had happened. The crowd dispersed and smoke continued to pour out of the room. All of the sudden an explosion erupted, and Trowa to leapt away from the entrance. Flames shot out into the hallway, then disappeared. Trowa began to cough while lying on the floor. The shattering sound of the explosion had ricocheted throughout the building; upon hearing it, Quatre and Duo flew back down the hallway to Trowa's side.

"Trowa! What happened? Where'd Heero go?" Quatre reached out a hand to help Trowa off the ground. Before Trowa could answer, Duo was making his way inside the conference room.

"Heero and Relena are still in there," Trowa warned. Wufei came bounding from around the corner with a fire extinguisher, realizing too late that it was no longer needed.

Inside the room, Duo was trying to see through the smoke as he made his way to the back. There was no sign of Heero or Relena anywhere. He was about to turn back and call to the other when something caught his eye—a large black bag that looked more like a woman's purse than a briefcase. Could this be Relena's? It rested near a pile of rubble in the corner of the room, and Duo quickly went to work uncovering the debris. The first sign of Relena was her hand, and Duo anxiously picked up the pace to get her out.

"It's all right!" He called to her. "Just hold on, okay?" He found Relena still conscious, but a little disoriented. Her dress was torn, and there was a deep gash on her forehead that needed immediate treatment. Other than that, Duo thought she looked all right in spite of what she had just gone through.

"Heero, is that you?" She murmured groggily. Duo rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "No matter what I do, it's never enough." Casting his ego aside, Duo scooped Relena up and carried her swiftly into the hallway, where she would safe with the other Preventers. Duo laid her on the floor and propped her against the wall, and Trowa quickly ran over to inspect her injuries.

"Did you see Heero in there?" He asked calmly as he tore off a piece of his shirt and began to dab the wound on Relena's forehead.

"No, I didn't. It was hard enough finding her. She was almost completely buried. I hope to God no one else is trapped in all that debris."

Trowa frowned. "But he ran in there. Heero has to be around, somewhere."

Relena's eyes flew open at the mention of Heero's name, and she had a brief coughing fit.

"Heero wasn't in there with me," she said weakly. "Victor was sent to look after me instead, and I don't know what happened to him. But I know Heero never even came into the meeting because Adrian sent him somewhere else."

The Preventers exchanged looks of astonishment. Relena didn't know that Heero had gone in after her, just before the blast went off.

"Relena," Quatre said calmly. "Try not to worry, but Heero is in there… somewhere…right now. He ran in just before the explosion and… we think he's still trapped."

Relena's eyes widened, and her hand flew to her mouth. "Heero? Trapped?" She tried to leap up off the ground, but grew dizzy and sank back down to the floor, holding her head. "Please," she looked up at the others with bleary eyes. "You have to find him!"

Trowa nodded resolutely and raced into the conference room. Duo gaped at him, then ran after him to the door. He grasped Trowa's arm and whispered intensely, "Are you crazy? There's no way you're gonna find him now! You could get trapped in there too!" Trowa ignored him and disappeared into the smoke.

"Fine, don't listen to me," Duo grumbled. Quatre and Wufei waited with him in anxious silence. Duo paced up and down the hallway, then pounded his fists against the wall in frustration. He drew them back and howled; he hadn't realized how much it would hurt. He glanced sheepishly at the other two Preventers.

"So what should we do now?" Duo asked Wufei, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"What we need to do is find out who's responsible for this," he replied angrily.

Quatre was kneeling down in front of Relena with his arm resting on her shoulder to still her shaking. After a minute she seemed to calm down. Her eyes were brimmed with tears, and she wasn't looking at Quatre. He gingerly brushed her bangs off her face and murmured words of comfort, but there was no response. Panic surged through Quatre.

"We need to get her out of here!" he cried. "She's losing too much blood." He tried to pick her up, but she felt heavier than he anticipated. Her body swayed and fell limply into his arms. He quickly caught her again and glanced over at Wufei, his eyes desperately pleading for help. Wufei grudgingly went over and scooped Relena up as if she was an infant and carried her to the elevator, with Quatre running at his side.

"Okay, then… guess I'll just stay here..." Duo's voice trailed off as he shrugged and leaned against the wall. All of this waiting was torturing him, but he couldn't bring himself to go back into the conference room. He knew all too well what he would find in there. When he had uncovered Relena from the rubble, he knew how lucky she was that he'd found her in time. Even then, she was rapidly losing blood and consciousness. Heero had to have been the one to shelter her from the blast, or else she would be dead right now. That could only mean that Heero…

Inside the room, Trowa pulled a large piece of sheetrock off the inner wall. The smoke was beginning to escape out of the broken windows.

"Heero!" he called out for what felt like the hundredth time. Just like every time, he was met with silence. As the smoke fled and the perimeter of the room became more visible, Trowa could see Heero against the farthest wall, slumped on the floor. Tiny bits of debris clung to his clothes and hair. Trowa wasted no time and carried Heero out to where Duo was waiting.

"Come on, we have to get him to the hospital," Trowa urged. Duo was shocked to see Heero this way, but tried not to let that affect him as he and Trowa ran to the elevator. They were on their way down to the lobby when Trowa set Heero down on the elevator floor. As he moved away he noticed blood dripping off of his own sleeve. Trowa pulled opened Heero's Cinque Kingdom jacket to reveal a gaping wound that was still oozing with blood.

"This is the worst I've ever seen him," Duo whispered in horror, taking a step back. "Is he...?" His voice caught in his throat.

"No. Just unconscious," Trowa responded. But he knew the severity of Heero's condition, and it was imperative that he get treated right away; otherwise, it might be too late. The elevator stopped and both men carried Heero through the lobby, out to where an ambulance was already waiting. Quatre and Wufei were standing outside with a group of police officers and emergency technicians. As soon as they saw Heero, they carefully placed him on a stretcher and wheeled him into the ambulance.

"Nice job, Quatre," Duo said, knowing that he was the one who called for the ambulance.

"Where's Relena?" Trowa asked as he finally caught his breath. He and Duo had made quite a hike to get Heero to safety.

"Quatre called another ambulance for her, earlier," Wufei said.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Duo asked.

"Why don't you and Quatre go to the hospital with them, and we'll head back to headquarters to track down whoever was responsible for this," Trowa suggested. His green eyes sparked with fury. Wufei nodded his agreement, and the four Preventers went their separate ways. The driver's side door was open on the ambulance, and Duo curiously walked over to see the driver.

"Excuse me," he spoke politely.

"Huh?" The driver looked up to see Duo grinning at him maliciously. "Scoot over pal—I'm drivin'." Duo pushed the driver over to the passenger side.

"Hey!" The driver protested, but was called into the back of the vehicle before he could object any further. Quatre jumped into the passenger side and closed the door.

"Do you even know where the hospital is, Duo?"

"Sure I do. They know me pretty well over there. Hey, look, a siren!" He grinned and flipped it on. He peeled out of the parking space quickly, and the spinning tires screeched against the pavement.

Quatre fell backward against his seat. "Have you ever driven an ambulance before?"

Duo didn't answer the question directly, but gave Quatre a confident smile. "If I can pilot a carrier, I doubt this is much different." His eyes narrowed as he focused on finding the fastest route to the hospital. Quatre quickly fastened his seatbelt.