Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
Author's Note: I added some detail content in here specifically for Flowers because that was a really good question. I would PM you if you could sign in, but I'll have to call you out here instead. I get anxious because I'm RSD but that was a really good note, because there's definitely a dog mentioned later in the story. Thanks!
"Relena," Leland called out breathily as he rushed into the monitoring room.
Behind him, Chief Wind and Trowa Barton calmly followed.
He seized her shoulders, pulling her into an awkward hug. "I was worried. Are you alright?" He stepped back to apprise her, again.
Relena noted everyone but Heero was watching. She offered him a soft, assuring smile. "I'm fine. Juliet's fine. It was no problem."
Leland continued to look stressed and concerned as he touched her face.
She flinched at the motion then smiled.
"What happened?" He asked.
She carefully pushed his hand away and straightened, sorting through her thoughts. "There was—" Relena closed her eyes and focused. "He was there. The man from the port. So I signaled Hee—" She touched her lips in embarrassment but quickly regrouped. "I signaled General Yuy and we got out. There was nothing more we could have—" Her voice trailed off as her thoughts went back to Derickson and his family.
"Thank God," Leland said sharply, watching her expressions. He turned to Heero, the statue of a forlorn soldier in the chair. "You," he said, moving toward the General. He gripped Heero's shoulder as though to congratulate the man. "Thank you."
As soon as the hand made contact, Heero rose his feet and seized the older man's wrist, twisted it out and away. He glared down at Leland, jaw clenched and eyes burning in warning.
Relena turned toward them, feeling a jolt of panic run through her. For a moment she was silent. She was both shocked and concerned, while simultaneously realizing that she hadn't realized how much taller Heero had been than her husband. As far as she knew they'd never been in the same place, and it had been so long she had forgotten just how tall he was.
Her mouth went dry, making it harder to speak.
Leland stared back, refusing to submit or turn away. Heero moved only a fraction of an inch closer before Relena called out.
"Heero," she said softly.
He immediately released her spouse's hand and took a step back. He looked the man up and down, then turned on his heel and moved across the room to lean against the wall.
Chief Wind had watched the interaction with an expression of dark humor. Finally he spoke. "Yuy," he called.
Heero glanced at his superior, then turned his eyes back down.
"Look," Milliardo said quietly, dropping his weight into the wall beside his comrade. "About what happened today, I —"
"I did what you asked me to do," Heero bit out.
Zechs's face softened. "That's not what this is about. I wasn't going to—" He sighed and stood tall beside Heero, again. "I wanted to say thank you."
The General had a hint of surprise in his expression when he looked back up at his commander.
"Your man, back there—"
Heero cut him off. "He did his job." He turned away so Zechs couldn't see his expression.
The Chief frowned and nodded, holding his hand up over his subordinate for a few moments before dropping it heavily onto his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Yeah," he answered. "But I've been there."
He felt Heero's should shift slightly as he signed.
He did likewise, squeezing a little harder before moving back to the desk where the others were quietly discussing solutions.
"Absolutely not," Relena hissed as she crossed her arms. "I do not flee from terrorism."
Leland pressed. "Just for a little while, and then we can try again. We can take Juliet and go to where you're safe."
"You take our daughter and go, but I am not leaving this rock until I've done what I came to do." She shrugged and looked at the people moving around on the now silent screens. "There are so many things the ESUN can offer their citizens in this colony." She lay her hands flat on the desk as she leaned over the keyboard. "I have a purpose in coming out here. I will not be scared off."
"Wait," Lydia piped in. "Maybe he's right on this."
Relena drew in a breath, bringing her hands together at her chest, as she often did when she needed to communicate sincerity and courage. She turned on her heel and faced the Lieutenant Colonel. "I cannot leave here yet," she said softly. "I came here to do a job and I will not leave until it is complete. I've looked around and what these people need the most is hope. They need to know that we at the Earth Sphere Unified Nation have not forgotten them. Hope is not just some prize won in the throes of war and placed on a mantle for all to see. It's a fire that burns in people's hearts and it must be stoked and fed. They have to know that we're here with them."
"She's right," Heero said coolly. The others looked at him with varying degrees of surprise. "These people need to hear what Relena has to say and Relena has to be the one to say it. Our war was fought to end an oppressive regime but it wore us out, and the people were ready to accept any authority to end the fighting." He stood away from the wall to face them with folded arms. "It was Relena who stood in the face of the false peace and demanded things be settled appropriately, and because she is who she is — what she is — the people rallied behind her." He locked eyes with her. "It is Relena who has brought the era of peace we now live in. And that's why she helped birth this colony. This is an outlet for peace but it cannot be that if the people lack hope. What they need is someone to remind them why they're here. Someone to encourage them. To rebuild that hope. And there's only one person for that job." He turned his eyes on Zechs. "They need Queen Relena."
She could feel an aching in her chest.
Believe in me, she heard his voice say in her mind.
She abruptly turned away.
"I don't know," Zechs responded. The argument for her exit was deflated but he still wanted to keep her safe.
"Believe in me," she finally said softly. Again, the Minister looked up into her brother's eyes. "These people need to know that they're not forgotten, Milliardo. You're not forgotten."
He let out a defeated sigh. "Well, we'll still continue our efforts to find him. Trowa?"
The tall, silent pilot stepped forward, away from the shadows that had obscured his presence.
"You have security footage of the auditorium?" The Chief asked.
Trowa nodded. "There's no way we were able to catch an image of who dropped that bag, though."
"That's fine. I need footage of the people coming in. Will you be able to see everyone who entered the building?"
"Yes."
Wind turned back to his sister. "You said you saw his face. You were able to recognize him?"
"Yes," she answered, feeling more hopeful than she had all day.
"Barton's team will try to identify each of the attendees for you to look at. It should take a few days."
"Days?" Relena looked genuinely horrified.
The Chief frowned. "Yes, Relena. Our equipment is not nearly up to par with the rest of the ESUN. This is the 'Devil's Asscrack'. I apologize for the inconvenience." The last bit stung of sarcasm.
She looked away and pursed her lips. "That's why you didn't have an explosive ordinance dog?" She asked.
Zechs glanced at Heero, then looked back to her guiltily. "We have a cadaver dog. I ordered eight dogs but four died in transit, two failed to thrive after arrival, and one died of an apparent infection."
She looked horrified, and rightly so.
"Barton has suggested attempting breeding here but we lost our females. I'm in negotiations for another shipment but —" His voice trailed off. "Do you actually care about this?"
Relena pressed her lips together before speaking. "I care that a lack of adequate supplies and, in this case, non-human assistance cost a good man his life. His poor family —" Her voice weakened at the end as she looked at the floor.
"There could be a faster way," Lydia chimed in, returning to the issue of finding the bomber.
Relena gave her a curious look that was both serious and hopeful.
"We could at least review the citizens we know have a violent past."
Trowa shook his head. "Half of these men are soldiers. Some are ex-cons who came out here to start over. That's too broad of a criterion."
"Gundam Pilots," she answered in an enthusiastic voice.
A pregnant silence fell on the room, finally broken by Relena's polite chuckle. "It's not the Gundam Pilots," she smiled.
Lydia did not take the response as well as it was intended. "With respect," she said venomously, "I don't think we need a politician's input on this issue."
Relena was taken aback by the meanness of it but she thought one of the Gundam Pilots would speak up for themselves. She looked to Heero but he had stiffened, looking pointedly at the floor.
"No, no, Relena," Zechs said, still wide-eyed. "Let's hear the woman out." He glanced at Heero and pursed his lips, then turned back to her as he settled into the chair. He crossed his arms and listened with an expression of false seriousness. "You want to find the Gundam Pilots, you say?"
Lydia looked around the room hesitantly then straightened herself as she continued. "They were your enemies in the war?"
He nodded.
"They're resourceful adversaries and terrorists," she said in a pressing tone. "Surely they would jump at the opportunity to harm your sister?"
He raised his brows and glanced at Heero, again. "Terrorists?" He repeated.
Heero closed his eyes and sighed almost imperceptibly.
"I take it your family hails from the colonies?" The Chief asked her.
She frowned. "I don't see how that's relev—"
Relena let out a frustrated breath. "Don't answer him," she warned softly. "He's mocking you."
The Colonel gave her a cross, confused look but let her take the lead.
"We don't have time for this," the diplomat told her brother. "Why are you talking this girl in circles?"
He rolled his eyes and relaxed. "I'm amused," he answered. "Believe me when I say that you should be, too."
Relena sighed and turned to Colonel Prichard. "We know exactly where the Gundam Pilots are," she explained. "To my understanding, there have never been more than four on this planet at any given time, and one of those moments was my arrival."
Lydia opened her mouth in surprise but did not speak.
The blonde continued. "I asked one of those men to handle a situation on a local resource satellite so I could focus on my work here. Now there are three."
"They work for you?" Lydia's eyebrows knit as she tried to understand.
Relena shook her head and smiled. "No," she answered. "They're more — friends." She swallowed and stole a quick look at Heero who was still as tense as when Zechs had been tormenting the younger woman. "My point is that we can trust them. And we know exactly where each one of them is." She leaned back on the desk next to her brother and folded her hands in front of her. "There are three Gundam Pilots, including my brother," she said, "and every one of them is standing in this room."
Lydia's eyes widened as she looked away at nothing in particular. Leland was too old to have been one of the teen pilots during the war, she realized, which meant that every one of the other men had been a Gundam Pilot.
Including Heero Yuy.
She realized that Chief Wind had very much seized the opportunity to embarrass her, and he had succeeded. She only looked back up at him when he spoke again.
The Chief opened his mouth and rolled his tongue along the inside of his cheek, as though to stretch out the cruel grin that was threatening to take away the seriousness of the discussion. "Well," he said, lifting his arms behind his head in a more leisurely posture. "That was fun, but now we still have to get back to the issue of identifying the real terrorist, whose work, according to my intel, is clumsy and sloppy. By that information, we can probably rule out the Gundam Pilots, Trowa Barton and Heero Yuy."
Lydia's breath caught at the statement. She closed her eyes, slowly. Of course, she realized. She had sensed the tension between her and the chief commander for months. She knew it was because he knew about her relationship with Heero, but she could't quite prove it. But why did it matter to him who Heero dated? He'd given her no unreasonable favors.
Then she remembered how that woman — the Chief's sister — had touched Heero when they didn't know she was there. Did he know about that?
He frowned at her, rising to his feet. "I think it's best if you focus on protecting the Foreign Minister's family. You'll go from here and retrieve Miss Juliet, then you remain with her and her father until you are relieved. I expect you to make sure that they feel as secure as possible. No adventures, including any more of the Foreign Minister's events. Do we understand each other?"
She came to attention before him and saluted.
Zechs turned back to his sister. "I'll have Trowa start the work on identifying those citizens who attended the speech today. We should have something for you to review as early as tomorrow, but it could take a few days to identify everyone."
Relena nodded and shifted her weight to go.
"Oh, yes," the Chief of Staff added, looking at General Yuy. "We don't know how much this guy knows or what he can access, so I expect that there will be no distractions until the situation is handled. Do you understand?"
Heero narrowed his eyes.
Zechs motioned back and forth between him and the Colonel. "You two are not going to discuss this issue until you're both relieved. Not on my time. Are we clear?"
Heero frowned and clenched his jaw.
"That's not reasonable." Lydia looked as surprised as anyone when she heard the dissent escape her lips. She covered her mouth, but her eyes still burned with rage.
The Chief took a deep breath, touching his chin in mock-thought. "Hm," he answered. "Maybe, but it's true. It would be a distraction." He leaned back on the desk, laying his hands flat behind him. "Also," he added with a shrug, "I don't really like you."
"Milliardo," Relena hissed, horrified at the unprofessionalism.
Zechs frowned and ignored her. "Why don't you take Mr. Marks to get his daughter?"
She took a breath and complied, leading the diplomat's husband out the door.
Zechs met Heero's angry glare with his own stubborn expression. "For now, you two will go back to the apartment we prepared."
"Is it really even safe to let them remain in the same lodgings?" Trowa asked.
"This is one man," the Chief responded as he rose to leave, gesturing for Trowa to follow.
