Drive.

Chapter Ten

Flightlessness

By EvilBunny

            Heero kept his eyes firmly fixed on the small patch of road that the headlights illuminated. There weren't any turns on this road, nothing that he really needed to be watching for, but he still stared at the moving gray before him.

            He'd driven this path once before, sent on a resupply trip by head office. He had dutifully followed orders on this entirely pointless waste of time; probably another attempt at getting him to take a break. He'd memorized the route, spent the unloading time evaluating the area's defenses and on his return delivered a full report on the military viability of the safehouse. Unsatisfactory at best, but this was the closest, and he didn't want to stick Releena in another air carrier. This was also the most isolated, and since there wasn't a hope of her blending in with the crowd, it would have to do.

            Just as well he didn't need to transport her far, he'd had to find the largest van on the compound to accommodate her wings, and they were still a tight fit. Judging the transportation had come so easily, finding the doors she could fit through, a seat that would hold her. But he was a soldier, judging wingspan was part of the training. The wings flowed over and around her, shifting reproachfully with each turn or uneven jostle, occasionally brushing just the tips against him.

            He'd put her in the seat beside him, where he could watch. Never put someone behind you, it was bad tactics. Keep them somewhere you can have them in view at all times. Always have the civilians in arms reach in case they do something stupid. If he'd put her in the backseat he could only have seen her through the mirror or by turning around. This way she was a constant presence in his peripheral vision, and he knew every shift, every sigh, nearly every heartbeat, all while staring stonily forward.

            Heero also counted every glance she sent his way, and there were many. What did she want? The low glow of the dashboard lit her every feature, adding a blue, surrealistic ting to her already pale skin and making her wings seem even less real. If not for the small noises made by her clothes, her breathing and the occasional scent of honeysuckle, he could easily believe that she was one of the hallucinations from stress that some of the other soldiers spoke of. An apparition to be ignored in case the distraction got you killed. But she wasn't.

            Back in a dress, her hair still slightly damp, she now looked more like the ethereal being he'd stumbled onto than the half-crazed and abused girl he'd found in the hallway. Heero's grip tightened on the steering wheel, though the girl covertly watching through her eyelashes never saw a change in his expression. He would make certain they never got her. A few weeks for Noin to work out the politics and he'd be done.

            His plan stopped there. What could or would happen afterwards wasn't his business. She was safe with him for now, and that was that. If it all went wrong he'd destroy her like he'd promised and go back to the way things were.

            She stared quietly out the window now, at the blur of trees they passed. Too dark and thick to really see anything, he wondered what she watched. It'd been over an hour since they'd seen another car, and that was before they'd started up into the mountains. By this point they'd already started the climb upwards, and there shouldn't be any more traffic. At their present speed they'd arrive in less than thirty minutes. Everything they needed would be there, food supplies and clothing, computer equipment and weaponry. There would even be a new laptop for communications.

            Releen shifted again, and Heero found himself squashing down the impulse to turn to her and ask what was the matter, if she was comfortable, if the seatbelt bit too far into her shoulders. He was here to protect, not babysit. If there was a problem she'd have to bring it up to him, he wasn't going to hover over her. She didn't need to be comfy, just safe.

            Anyways, speaking to her would open up the floor to more conversation, and he didn't want to know where that would lead. They'd made it this far through the trip with just a murmured thank you and a noncommittal grunt, and Heero saw no reason  to start chatting now. Silence was safest, it meant you could hear the enemy coming. Nor did he want to hear the same prying questions  he got from everyone, the questions they seemed to feel had to fill the silence.

            He especially didn't want to see how she'd affect his answers. He didn't seem to work properly around her, but as long as he could keep her quiet he could pretend that she didn't change anything. That this was a mission like any other.

            So it was with grave reservations that Heero observed Releena's slowly firming resolve. She would look at him, down at her hands, back out the window, then back at him again. He watched her wet her lips nervously, traced the patters her restless fingers made with each other, all without betraying his interest.

            He caught himself almost turning towards her, but that was unacceptable. He didn't want to hear her questions, her voice, her interest in him. He didn't.

            He'd almost convinced himself that his disinterest had convinced her to keep quiet when a shiver through the feathers around them both signaled a straightening of her back. Still he kept his eyes forward, noticing that she kept hers on her hands, although they had stilled their worried dance.

            "Where are we going?" Her voice was quiet, almost fearful, a hint of wistfulness threading underneath. What kind of a question was that? Surely she could wait the extra few minutes to find out. He didn't answer right away, and her eyes rose from her hands to the windshield and the ongoing road, and then finally to his face.

            He couldn't resist the full pull of her eyes, and turned just enough to acknowledge he saw her. There was some unknown fear in her posture that prompted him to answer.

            "Somewhere safe." That should be enough, how much did she need to know? He'd told her that he'd take care of her, he shouldn't have to explain all the little details; she just needed to learn some patience. What would she do with the information anyway? Heero was well used to ignoring the unnecessary questions so often posed by those around him that it was with a bite of dismay that he heard himself continue.

            "There's an old safehouse used by agents that the enemy has discovered. You're to stay there until they can get the politics finished. "

He sounded…concerned, almost as if he was trying to reassure her, and deliberately took himself back to the road. Not that he wasn't still aware of her, senses focused on her throughout the ride now refused to ignore her, but he tried.

            He knew she still sat looking at him, she she'd let out a sigh of relief but that the blue glow now illuminated new lines of tensions. Less fear, more a sense of sadness and resignation. She still wasn't satisfied and this wasn't over, there'd be something more.

"For how long?"

That he could answer with a shrug, and did. Better to leabe it open, and option available to change and renegotiation. He didn't know when NOin would contact him with the all clear, what exactly the all clear would be. The arguments at court could go on for days or the issue could not even be looked at for weeks only to be decided in a day. He wasn't even sure if he'd listen to their all clear. He would be the final judge of safety.

Nor did he know when the next mission would open for him. There hadn't been one that required his blend of expertise in months. Even this last one could easily have been performed by one of the other agents. Due could just as simply impersonated a servant and the infiltration of the castle had been child's play/ The one man battles of skill and death had all ended the year before, along with the war.

With the end of the war, he'd gone naturally into the Preventers, mopping up the spills of the disgruntled solders, neutralizing the odd madman, and tracking down the mysteries not deemed urgent enough during battle to destroy, but which posed pressing questions now during peace.

It just didn't work the same. The enemy wasn't as clear, and everyone around him seemed to expect him to return to some life he'd had before the fighting took over. But there wasn't one. Battle, reflexes, observations, skills, these were everything. Everything he'd been told he'd need. This was who he was.

]So he completed every mission that came in, and when they couldn't find him a new battle soon enough, he'd beat the hackers to the prey, send them the report, and be suited up before they stamped the assignment. The only challenge lately had been tracking down the miscreants in the first place, and playing hide and seek through networks and alias was a poor second to the open skies of the fights and the cool reason of battle.

The road had by now begun to harrow considerably, the overgrown forest crowding along the edges as the cement abruptly ran out and the van continues its way on the bumpy gravel. The occasional branch would now scrape its way along the window and the staccato of bouncing rocks provided counterpoint to the abrupt scratchings.

Heero adjusted easily to the increased turbulence, but the white mass around Releena began a constant storm about her as each revolution of the wheels sent them flying in a different direction. After lying dormant so long, he'd forgotten how quickly they took over all available space when angered.

They filled the van, keeping only a small area clear enough for him to see the road. But worse, they seemed to whisper along his arms deliberately, a tempting caress that promised more than he knew to ask and the increased demands of the road did nothing to distract him.

He pushed further on the accelerator, hoping for the speed to save him, but this only sent them higher; his neck, his cheek, fingering through his hair. He could hear Releena's breaths increase while she tried to control them, the two rising in tandem as he in turn went faster and faster. He had to get out of this van. The trees sped by the windows, they were going too fast but he knew where they were and they were almost there..

            He turned into the clearing with a spray of gravel, bringing the van to a stop beside the modern looking cottage and exited the van in a calm, though hurried manner. Without looking back, he marched up the steps to the front porch, unlocked the door, and entered.