Sharpe had heard about the wreck on the news as it was now one of the top stories about all of the events that had happened when the electricity had gone out all over the city. The only part he really heard was that it was a police officer's car and the neighborhood it had happened in, and he already began to fear for his partner's life. It was so unlike Randall Bennit to disappear for this long and not call in, and Sharpe had a horrible feeling that his partner must've been in the crash.

Relentlessly the rain continued to beat down on his windshield, he wondered where this much rain could've possibly come from but now wasn't the time to worry about such trivial matters. As he neared the neighborhood he could already see Bennit's car and recognized the license plate make it undeniably the truth. There was an ambulance still there, but it appeared that he was dead and nothing could be done to bring him back.

Still, as soon as he turned off his own vehicle he jumped out and ran up to the paramedics. They were loading him up into the ambulance, most likely taking him straight to the morgue as the medical examiner that had come to investigate the body was just standing to the side making notes.

"How did this happen?" Sharpe rudely startled the man out of what he was doing. "My partner wouldn't be stupid enough to just run into a person's house!"

"How did you get past the police? Are you family?" The medical examiner inquired pushing his glasses a little higher up the bridge of his nose. "Only immediate family are allowed past the line, I hope you understand."

Sharpe pulled out his badge identifying him as a police officer in that city, and the medical examiner quieted. "That man was my partner, so I demand whatever knowledge you know about the crash and his death."

The man sighed as he flipped through some more notes, "As far as I can figure the only way that he could've hit this house at such an angle was if he was aiming for it or if he were already driving across the rest of the yards and such. So it is typically impossible to hit this house from such an angle, but from what we can tell from his body he must've already been dead before he ever hit the house."

Sharpe was silent as he listened, not believing what he was hearing, he almost tried to make himself believe this was not Randall. Not Randall who just got married two weeks ago... not the man who faithfully came to his job and always performed at his best... There was no way such a good man could be dead when he had just barely began to start his life.

"So we're sending him to the coroner's office to test for poisons, a heart attack, or some other way of death now, but I'm not sure how the results will turn out. That young man was kind enough to pull out your partner before the roof collapsed on top of the car, if it wasn't for him the results would've surely been inconclusive. Anyways, I need to go with the body, so if you would excuse me." The man pushed past Sharpe and got into the back of the ambulance.

Right before the ambulance could take off, Sharpe rushed up to it and began to get in himself. "We might not be family, but I think I should be one of the first to know what truly happened to Randall."

Nobody questioned him or tried to force him out, so the paramedics just closed the doors and went around to get inside.

----

Wufei couldn't believe how tough this man was, and couldn't believe how easily he had lost. It was almost like this man wasn't human, his movements had been so graceful and precise that there had been no way Wufei could've beaten him. That was what pissed him off the most, not really the fact that he lost, but that all those years of self-training had amounted to nothing against this man.

"I suppose this means that I will get my two questions answered now? And I want you to be honest about this because lying will only result in your death." The brunette held his sword up to Wufei's throat threateningly. "Now here's my first question what is your name?"

When Wufei hesitated he pressed the blade a little harder, "My name is Wufei Chang."

"Good Wufei, my second question is where is Duo Maxwell?"

The teenager thought about it for a moment, just because he had to answer the question and answer honestly... didn't mean he had to be specific. "Duo is at his house most likely."

The brunette narrowed his eyes, "That's too cryptic Wufei, what's the address?"

"We agreed on two questions, and I've answered honestly." Wufei countered as he stood up, and moved the sword from his neck. He could see the brunette's anger, but the man was good at suppressing it. "I have somewhere I need to be now, so let me pass."

"I do hate to say it, but you are right Wufei... As a gift I'll give you my name in case you're ever interested in a rematch." The brunette leaned in so he could basically whisper his name in the teenager's ear. "Treize Khushrenada... remember that."

Treize turned around and walked away from the teenager leaving him stunned. Everyone knew about Treize Khushrenada, he had once been one of the most powerful men in the city until his company got shut down for him supporting some illegal operations. After a few months of bad publicity, Treize seemed to disappear off the face of the earth, and to find him here... Wufei couldn't really believe what he had heard, but he knew he still needed to get over to the hospital and now unveil the news he had just learned.

----

His day couldn't be going any worse than it was now, as he continued trying to reboot his computer it seemed something had been fried when the lights had gone out. Timothy Maxwell was not the kind of person who liked being behind on his work, and that's exactly what he was at the moment. His coworkers weren't nearly as bothered by it as he was, but then again they weren't relying on this job to support themselves and their teenage sons.

Most of them had husbands or wives that worked just like they do, and that let off some of the pressure about worries of money. He on the other hand was the only source of income his family had, and Duo refused to get a job because he claimed he had better things to do than make fast food for the fat people in the drive-thru. As he continued to type up everything again for his boss, Tim could hear the soothing silence of the office as everyone went to the break room for lunch. He knew he needed to finish this up within the next hour and get home soon.

"You shouldn't work so hard all the time, soon your hair will turn gray and fall out at the rate you're going." A man said from behind Tim, but he didn't bother to look at who it was.

"Please don't bother me right now, I'm busy if you can't tell." He continued typing until he suddenly dawned on him that he knew that voice. He turned around in his chair to see exactly who he had been hoping never to see again. "Zechs... What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to collect the debt you still owe Treize and I. It's long overdue now, but we've decided to take it easy on you by accepting another one as well. Along with Duo we want to have Heero Yuy, as he is quite the interesting one." Zechs smirked at the man as he noticed the glare Timothy was giving him. "Don't look at me like that, this was all your doing after all. Well should I say you and Katherine, since she participated in this as well."

Zechs motioned for Tim to stand up, and the man did so knowing what would happen if he didn't. The blonde then gestured towards the door leading out into the hallway, they continued like this all the way out of the office building and into Zechs' car. Tim didn't bother asking where he was being taken because he knew exactly where he would be taken.

He knew this was punishment for his cruel deal with Treize, his former boss, all those years ago. And there was probably no way of escaping out of it like he had before, that and he had sworn never to go to such lengths to get away. At the time he had been so desperate to save Duo from his fate, and instead had probably given him an even worse one.

"Why couldn't you have just left us alone? He's only a teenager... he has so much life ahead of him..."

"You know we won't kill him, but we just desire his life to be with us and not you." Zechs started the car and then looked over at his hostage. "You shouldn't have tried to run away, then Katherine would be alive and your brother wouldn't be so pissed at you right now."

"Shut up Zechs, my family matters are none of your concern. So I'm wondering, are you two still fucking around all the time? And tell me what rock did you go hide under when the company was shut down?"

"You shouldn't be so hasty to anger people, after all you don't know what they'll do when they're pissed at you." Zechs put the car in reverse and began to head out of the parking lot, just as they turned onto the main road there was some sort of explosion from the building behind them. Timothy looked back to see it had been in his office building, and that it was now on fire even with the pouring rain. "I hope you weren't having any office romances or hoping for some promotion."

Tim didn't lose his temper at Zechs, but he wasn't able to hold his tongue completely. "You're a sick bastard Zechs, that hasn't changed even after all those years."

----

"You don't have to protect me Trowa... what if he goes after them and tries to hurt them?" Quatre grabbed his cell phone and was about to dial Heero's cell phone number, but Trowa stopped him.

"No, the man said he would kill you if we interfered!" Trowa hated sacrificing Duo and Heero like he was, but what choice did he have? It was either them or Quatre, and he would always choose his lover. "We're all out of options Quatre! They've outsmarted us and cornered us."

Quatre suddenly felt his temper flare, which was unusual for the good-natured teen, but he couldn't accept what Trowa was trying to tell him. "My life is not more important than theirs Trowa! You can't just decide to leave them clueless and expect me not to try to help them after telling me such horrible things!"

The brunette quieted for a moment and then allowed Quatre to have his phone back. The blonde left the room to call Duo and Heero, but Trowa didn't want Quatre to get caught up in all of this. Not that he was left any choice now, all he could really do now was follow Quatre's lead and attempt to help his friends.

"Why do all of the people I love have to have such a strong sense of justice? Self-sacrifice will amount to nothing once your dead..." Trowa held Catherine's hand and held it gently. "At least I will know you're safe here."

----

So, was it exciting enough for everyone? I hope it was worth the wait, and I'm sorry it took so long. Lately I've been having a hard time motivating myself to actually sit down and write. So if the chapters take a little longer to come out, that will be why. But I'll try not to take too long, the most I'll make you wait is about a week.

Anyways, hope ya'll enjoyed!

Please R & R!

Shari Maxwell