AN: Hey all. Sorry for the wait…I know it was a very long time. This chapter doesn't quite make up for it…in fact it may make things worse but, oh well. Thanks for your kind regards. Now, on with the chapter!

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Chapter 5

Trowa Barton knelt down next to the lions' cage and fearlessly put his hand in between the bars. The two male lions began purring like house cats and rubbing against his outstretched hand instead of biting off the invading appendage.

"Do you truly have no fear, Trowa Barton? Or should I call you No name?"

Trowa stood slowly and turned to face the man, maintain the stoic expression on his face. The man was tall and stocky, but he could tell it was all muscle underneath his blue and white uniform. He was an older man, with lines around his face that made it look like it had been carved out of granite and hair like salt and pepper. He wore an eye patch over his left eye, but it didn't quite cover the scar tissue that ran from the man's forehead down across the bridge of his nose.

"Hawk," Trowa acknowledged.

"Not even shocked! Were you expecting me, Trowa? You haven't changed a bit!"

"I could say the same for you," Trowa replied.

"Though I never pegged you to end up in a circus," Hawk continued on like Trowa hadn't spoken. "Don't you have to play to the crows? Someone with no emotions doesn't seem to me like an entertaining show to watch."

"I'll have you know he's one of the best we've ever had!" Catherine replied tartly as she entered from the main stage. She was in full costume with hands on her hips and anger burning in her blue eyes. Then she turned on Trowa. "Why don't you stick up for yourself more often?"

"Catherine…" the one banged man said again with an undertone that Catherine couldn't seem to place. It gave the woman pause. His tone was almost pleading. Pleading? He never sounded worried, let alone anything else for that matter. Catherine eyed Hawk warily.

"The ring master wants to see you in five minutes to work on your act," she said simply, and left in a huff.

Hawk watched her go and then turned to pilot. "Well. That's another thing I never expected to see."

"I thought you were dead." Trowa said bluntly.

"No, I made it out alive," he motioned to the eye patch. "Not completely unscathed, but alive. It's been a beast trying to relearn mobile suit combat without any depth perception. Those were hard years, weren't they? Fighting the Alliance with out small brigade."

When Trowa didn't replied, Hawk continued on. "We've always been on the bottom, Trowa. When conflict happens it's the common solider that suffers. Well, it's about time we changed that."

"We have peace now. Tell me, what were we fighting for if not for now, for this moment? So suffering isn't in vain."

"Has peace made you soft, boy? Conflict will always happen. It's human nature. But next time I'm not going to be at the bottom. I'm not waiting to be shoved into a battle. If I'm going to fight it's gonna be of my own choosing. And this time, I'm going to be on the winning side."

"Trowa, I'm going to need experienced soldiers like you to help me. I need your Gundam to help me."

Trowa paused before answering. "Heavyarms was destroyed."

For the first time, Hawk actually looked stunned. "I thought that was just a rumor to make people stop asking about them." He looked into Trowa's face, hoping to see a hint of the lie he was so sure the former Gundam pilot was telling. Nothing. "I still need you," he finally said. "Just…think about it."

Then Hawk looked pointedly at the flap Catherine had left from, smiled at Trowa, and turned to leave the tent. Trowa watched him go, arms crossed across his chest. It was time he found out a little more information about this man he once knew as Hawk.

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Noin looked around the crowd, alert for anything suspicious. But nothing was out of the ordinary. They were all listening to Relena's speech. Even so, something wasn't sitting right with her. It was fairly well known that in the past Relena had been kidnapped more than once by a political faction because of her charisma and political status. So, even though they weren't sure of this new faction's motives, they could almost be certain they'd have to take care of Relena first.

Noin scanned the roofs of the buildings surrounding the small park where the stage had been set up and saw Heero prowling. Heero's presence was reassuring but still something about this set up was bothering her. Maybe it was because it reminded her so much of Heero Yuy's last speech. Maybe it was something else. Something…

"And that's why we should reach our hand across the space between us and offer peace and understanding." Relena finished to uproarious applause. "I'll entertain questi—"

A gunshot rang out, echoing off the buildings. Without thinking, Noin threw herself in front of Relena. A sharp pain blossomed in her back and she fell forward, pinning Relena underneath her. Someone screamed and the crowd rushed in all directions.

Heero cursed and looked down to see the shooter run off from the platform two stories below him. Quickly, he launched himself from the roof and landed in a crouch right in front of the shooter. He stood and drew the gun he had hidden in one fluid movement. The shooter was taken by surprise and stepped backwards and into nothing. The man, wearing a blue uniform trimmed in white with a red arm band, pin wheeled his arms frantically to save himself but it was too late. He fell from the platform seven stories until he hit the ground with a sickening thud. Satisfied, Heero took off for the stairs.

When he finally reached the stage the scene had dissolved into chaos. Relena was pressing her large white cravat to the wound in Noin's back. It was clear by the amount of blood seeping through the cloth it wasn't good. Tears were spilling down Relena's cheeks as people called for ambulances and tried to pull her away from the body.

"Miss Relena, it's not safe here. We need to –"

Relena ignored them, until Heero jumped up onto the stage. She looked up at him, looking more vulnerable then he could ever remember seeing her.

"Heero…"

"We need to go Relena. Leave her."

"No, Noin, she…Noin, you can't go. My brother will never forgive me for it."

Noin coughed and turned her face to smile weakly at the Vice Foreign Minster. "It's okay…he knows…I was just doing…my job…" Then she turned her gaze to Heero as ambulance sirens closed on the area. "Keep her safe for me…tell Zechs I…"

Then Noin's body suddenly was still.