Okay, I'm back. So sorry for falling behind, I've been absolutely drowning in school work and I had to get the next chapter of Occam's Razor finished, (it's up now!). Anyway, hopefully I'll be back on track now. Alright, on to the story! I will admit that I went a little overboard with Dorothy in some parts, but I just couldn't resist and I loved every second of it . . . hope you do too. Enjoy!

Mutually Assured Destruction

Chapter Seven – A Mobile Strike

Tynan

- - - - -

"The problem is that the two of you are being too kind about this whole affair."

"We are no –"

"First you locked them up, while naked, in an office and a locker room. While your intentions were admirable, you still gave them the benefit of privacy whilst they worked through their dilemma."

"Yes and then we –"

"Second, you forced them to attend a Recruitment Night on behalf of Preventers, and while this did serve to bring their humiliation out into the public eye, they did not have to find a way to work themselves out of their predicament, they just had to wait for it to be over."

"So what you're saying is that we need to put them in a publicly embarrassing situation that they need to find a way to remedy on their own."

"That is exactly what I am saying. This, ladies, is war. It is not enough simply to defeat your opponent. No, you must crave his demise with all your being, you must make it so that you cannot stand that he lives on unpunished for the pain he had inflicted upon you, and you must want to kill him just to watch him die."

". . . Relena, Dorothy's kind of scaring me."

"Do not fear battle nor the consequences of it, that will be your undoing."

"We understand Dorothy. Now to comply with the stipulations you have laid out, we'll need to make our next move while they are at work. It's Friday now, which means that we have two days to plan for this."

"Two days is more than we will need."

- - - - -

Monday morning. As far as Duo was concerned there should be some sort of law against these things. Monday was simply an awful way to spend one seventh of your life with no way around it. But today was different. This day, this Monday brought promises of potential calamity with it.

He downed what had to be his at least his seventh cup of coffee as he made his way to Heero's office; pausing before every corner, every open doorway, just to be sure, before continuing. His hands were shaking the tiniest bit, probably from all the caffeine, as he raised one to knock on the door of his best friend's office.

A voice came from the other side, "What Duo?" and he took that as an invitation to enter.

He stuck his head in cautiously, as through expecting to be attacked; his action did not go unnoticed.

"I haven't seen Relena at all today, Duo."

The braided man slapped a hand to his forehead, "What?! Heero, how could you –"

Heero looked up from his laptop, "Why are you –"

"Because," he practically shouted back, "three days ago we glued all of their furniture to the ceiling of their offices and they've had a whole weekend to plan how to get back at us!"

Heero nodded.

Duo growled in frustration at the nonchalant attitude of his friend, "And for the love of God, you're team is supposed to be keeping an eye on her movements –"

"And yours is supposed to be keeping an eye on her at her home." Heero cut him off.

"Y-yeah . . . but they haven't seen anything suspicious, I asked them."

Heero shrugged at him, "My team hasn't either." Duo lifted his head in a startled sort of way to look at Heero, who continued speaking, "Which is why I'm not that concerned at his moment."

Duo leaned back against the wall behind him, "Well, don't you think that we should, ya know, be ready for them and all?"

Heero closed his laptop and stood from his seat, "I won't make the mistake of underestimating Relena and Hilde again, however, one thing they are not is subtle, especially Relena. There aren't many places that both she and the two of us can go where she wouldn't be recognized instantly and Hilde couldn't pull something off like what they've been doing all by herself. Aside from that, Relena is under the constant watch of either my team or yours."

"And they'd tell you if she was doing anything weird or something?"

The Japanese man stopped to look at him, "Aren't yours doing the same?"

"Well, yeah but –"

"Then for now, don't worry. We have work to do." He checked his watch, "And a meeting to attend."

Duo sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "Who the hell called this one anyway? I just got in today and the secretary had a message for us to be at Building C at 9:00."

"The heads of Security and Intelligence are meeting with Une and the Prime Minister's staff to go over arrangements for his trip next month." Heero paused to open his desk drawer and remove some folders.

Duo looked at him with a confused expression, "I thought that meeting was next week."

"They moved it up apparently, which is another reason I'm not concerned about Relena."

"Huh?"

Heero looked up with a small smirk on his face, "She's going to be stuck in this meeting all day with us."

- - - - -

"I have to say Miss Relena, I am impressed; a pure stroke of genius."

"Well, it's not as through the Prime Minister's staff can refuse the request of the Foreign Minster. I made sure to make it very clear to them that today was going to be the only day for the next month that I could block out at least five hours for them. That will be enough time Hilde?"

"As long as Wufei doesn't come back early; I'm going to do Heero and Duo's first then him. You're sure he'll be gone all afternoon?"

"Oh after the little mess I've stirred up for him there's no way that Agent Chang will be getting anywhere near his office until at least four o'clock."

"That's cutting it a little close Dorothy, but I think we'll be able to manage."

"These men you hired Dorothy, we can trust them?"

"Of course, one of them works for me personally; I assure you that he is quite skilled."

"Alright then, best of luck you two. I have a meeting to get to."

- - - - -

Officer Second-Class William Cummings was doing everything in his power to stay alert as possible. It was his week for escorting Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft and Agent Yuy had given his specific instructions to keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior from her and report it him immediately. But frankly, he just couldn't understand what Agent Yuy had been talking about.

As best he could tell the Foreign Minister was in her usual pleasant, if not somewhat harried mood. She smiled congenially to his as they made their way towards her 9:00 meeting.

Yes, as far as he could tell, nothing was wrong.

- - - - -

"Excuse me ma'am."

One of the five receptionists that staffed the reception desk on the first floor of Preventer's Head Quarters Building A, looked up from the magazine she had snuck a moment to read. Flustered by being caught off guard, she quickly stuffed it into a drawer and looked up to the short, dark-haired girl before her. "Y-yes can I help you?"

The young woman smiled, behind her were two very large burly men; all three of them were wearing the same khaki colored work suits, each of the two men had heavy looking tool belts wrapped around their waists. "Yes ma'am, I was hoping that you could direct me to the freight elevator, I have several large pieces of equipment that are going up to the 38th floor."

"One moment please," she scanned her the list of scheduled deliveries for the day that sat on her desk, easily finding one listed for the 38th floor, "Ah yes, Security and Intelligence, Agents Maxwell and Yuy?"

"Yes ma'am, and we also have a shipment for an . . ." she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and skimmed it, "Agent Chang?"

"Oh yes, Special Operations, the 26th floor." She leaned over her desk to point to the outside, "If you'll just take your vehicle around to the back of the building you'll find the loading docks and access to the freight elevator."

The young woman smiled at her, for some reason the smile made her uncomfortable, "Thank you for your help, enjoy your day."

- - - - -

Wufei Chang was not in a good mood; this was more than apparent to George Morganthau as he followed the man down the hall. As Agent Chang's intern, it fell to George to try and make his life easier . . . but this task, no this was something only a seasoned agent like Wufei Chang could handle.

George tried not to shudder as they returned to the room he had just left not ten minutes ago. "A-agent Chang, I-I'm very sorry for all this sir, I j-just . . . well, I couldn't –"

"It's fine Morganthau . . . you are dealing with a formidable opponent."

George tried not to look confused, "O-opponent sir? It's just a meeting with –"

But Wufei did not hear him as his hand closed around the door knob and the offending piece of wood was flung open. He stepped inside the room and rounded on its occupant, "Dorothy Catalonia."

- - - - -

It was quiet for a Monday . . . well in a sense anyway. With all of the department heads in Building C for their meeting, there wasn't much to do. This should have given Jackie the chance to catch up on her paperwork from last week before Agent Yuy returned.

However, there were currently a series of very strange noises coming from his office, which she found highly distracting. About an hour ago, several people in work uniforms had carried or carted dozens of boxes of all shapes and sizes into the office, and were piling them up empty outside the door.

A loud crash caused her to spill some of her coffee on what she was reading. Jackie stood from her seat, intent on giving whoever the hell was in there a piece of her mind. Work order or not, this was still an office and –"

The office door suddenly opened and two men and smaller woman emerged. As they marched off in the direction of Agent Maxwell's office, Jackie couldn't help but notice the smell of gasoline wafting after them.

- - - - -

"Dorothy, this is absurd. What could you possibly need this much heavy equipment and man power for?"

"Well Agent Chang, I would certainly love to divulge that information, but I fear that it is considered classified by your organization."

"I know that! I'm the one who classified it!!! You can't come to Special Operations, demanding the assistance of Preventers and not present a logical and acceptable reason for the requisition. I don't care what your company is willing to pay for the outside contract, you have to tell me what you'll be us for!"

". . . I think that I'm going to need something in writing stating that you have the proper clearance to possess this information."

"Arrrrghhhh . . ."

- - - - -

Heero was in full blown panic mode, behind him Duo jogged to keep up. What exactly she had done he couldn't be quite sure yet. Duo had sensed it too and they had bolted across the compound, back to their offices to try and determine what had happened as soon as the meeting was over. Several attempts to contact Wufei were made but met only with his voicemail.

The two men blew through the lobby and to the elevators, ignoring the receptionist's attempts to get their attention. Heero stood perfectly still while Duo paced the elevator like a caged animal, "You don't think she – no, where would you even get that much jello . . ."

With a ding, the metal doors slid open and the vessel's two occupants emerged, making a beeline for Heero's office. "I'll call my team, you get yours together, find out if any one's been –"

"Agent Yuy!"

Heero spun on his heels, but managed to stop himself for reaching for his gun as Jackie Murphy emerged from around the corner . . . just the person he wanted to see. "Officer Murphy," she fell into step behind him as they approached his office, "assemble the team, they are to be in my – ooof."

For a moment Duo and Jackie did not move. Neither could be sure exactly what had happened; Heero had gone to open his door, there had been a banging noise, and he had been knocked to the floor. They locked eyes for a moment, not sure what to do, but as Heero got to his feet their attention was drawn back to the door.

"What the hell . . ." Heero pushed on the already slightly ajar door gently. It opened another few inches but came to an abrupt stop again, as though something very large was blocking it.

Jackie took a hesitant step towards her commander, "Umm, Agent Yuy, I –"

"Hold this, I'm going in." he cut her off as he slid off his jacket and holster and handed them to Jackie, a bewildered looking Duo standing beside her.

"Dude, are you even going to fit through there?"

But no sooner had he spoken the words than Heero had managed to squeeze himself through the fourteen or so inch gap. His foot caught on the edge of the door, causing him to trip, but was able to stabilize himself by grabbing hold of –

Heero stood against the wall, gaping in disbelief at the scene before him. He was only brought out of his stupor by Duo wedging himself through the gap as well.

"All clear then? Man, I keep forgetting how skinny you are, that's a tiny little –" His voice failed him, "How the hell did they . . ."

- - - - -

Wufei grumbled as he marched back down the hall towards his office. That woman was exactly what was wrong with the human race. Behind him George was scuttling to keep up as they approached his office, but at this point he didn't care; it was quarter to five and all he wanted was to go home and –"

Wufei's head connected painfully with his office door as it opened halfway and refused to go any farther; at the same time some sort of alarm began to go off, loud blaring noises filled the air as people looked out of their offices to see what the commotion was. Wufei glanced around for a minute before realizing the sound was not that of a usual alarm, although it still sounded familiar somehow . . .

Dread filled his stomach as he finally was able to place the sound; he managed to poke his around the half opened door and into his office, confirming his suspicions. Somewhere through all the racket he heard George come up behind him; the younger man gasped upon sighting the source of the commotion as well.

"A-agent Chang . . . i-is that your car?"

- - - - -

"Cheers!"

The clinking of glass was followed by the twinkling laughter of the three women seated on a thick blanket in the middle of the park-like area that sat between the four buildings that comprised the Preventer's Bureau World Head Quarters Compound. They were not phased by the curious looks from those walking by, they seemed too engrossed in their little picnic and spectacle before them.

"Oh look, they got another crane!"

"Hmm, I think that that one will probably be tall enough."

"That's what you said about the last one."

"Well now Dorothy, they did manage to get Wufei's car out with that one."

"Yes, but does this one really look like it can go eleven stories higher?"

"It looks like they're going for it, so I guess we'll find out."

"-sigh- If only they worked on the 50th floor, this could be so much more entertaining."

"We're in enough trouble as it is, Hilde. You know how they are about their cars."

"And rightfully so, I'm telling ya girls. You've got to see what Heero's got under the hood of that thing, I almost felt bad having to take it apart in the garage and put it back together in such a tight space."

"I really do hope that none of them are damaged, they really are fond of them."

"Which is exactly the reason this ploy worked so smoothly; they were so easy to distract."

"Tell me, how did you keep manage Wufei in a meeting for two hours?"

"Now now, Miss Relena, Agent Chang and I had a very pleasant discussion –"

"Oh hey, look I think they've got Heero's car!"

All three applauded politely and continued to sip their wine.

- - - - -

"What? They've got Wicked Brows with them now too?"

"It's too great a coincidence. What are the odds of her showing up today to keep me in a meeting and out of my office for hours?"

"I agree . . . clever Relena, very clever."

"Aw man, with Cat involved this gets taken to a whole new level now."

"Which is why we need to form a new alliance of our own."

"What?"

"Our new enemy possess a different kind of cunning and skill, one that brings a new element to the dynamic of their team. It is essential that we gather the information we will need in order to prepare for our next attack."

"Heero, be serious. Who do you think is going to know anything about big bad . . . oooooh. Oh, yes I see."

"Do you think that he'll help us?"

"We'll have to be careful, obtain the information covertly."

"Yes, I agree. So what's the plan?"

-

-

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I don't know why but I just see the guys being really into their cars now that they don't have Gundams to be playing around with anymore. ;) Thanks for reading, be back soon!