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Part 4

Heero pulled up at the Preventers headquarters and headed back upstairs. He was not surprised when Duo nearly jumped him, trying to drag him into her private office. Quatre stood next to Duo, looking worried as he spoke. "What took you so long to question that poor girl?"

Upon entering the office, he saw Wufei, sitting and looking pissed off like usual, and Trowa, who seemed to the normal eye uninterested although Heero saw a glimpse of curiosity in his eyes and a smirk beginning to form on his face.

Quatre shut the door and locked it, covering his ears as Duo began to talk loudly.

"You took forever, I knew I should have come with you!"

Thinking back to the events and words of the last hour in detail, Heero was positive that he should have allowed Duo to come and perhaps a third party would have prevented it. Although he hated to admit that he didn't mind the last part so much.

"Calm down," he said softly and monotonously, although his glare immediately shut Duo up.

"I will tell you what I am about to say only once, and we will not discuss it again. Anything new we learn is another story."

Everyone leaned in, not understanding.

"I was suspicious of Ami for a few reasons that had to do with my neighbours moving out so quickly. She also has no idea what she's talking about in terms of real estate," he shook his head sourly although everyone just gaped, utterly confused. "Apart from my suspicions about that monster knowing her yesterday, this morning I caught her writing down something from the documents she was filing. It was on the Dark Alliance. I went through her purse when I went to grab it earlier and found the proof."

"Perfect, we'll bust her, stupid onna," Wufei muttered. Heero shook his head.

"I accused her of being affiliated with the Dark Alliance, but she tore up the papers. I told her that it was still my word against hers and we argued back and forth," Heero spoke confidently, but from how thoughtfully he spoke Duo was sure Heero was editing. "Then she confessed that her friends were missing thanks to the Dark Alliance and that the monster knew her because of that. I made her swear not to play hero and she could come back to work."

"That's it?" Trowa asked.

Heero nodded.

Quatre stared at him a moment, exchanging a look with Duo. "That's not it Heero," Quatre said, shaking his head. "What are you keeping from us? What took you so long?"

"We were arguing a long time," Heero said with a shrug.

Duo smirked suddenly. "Whatever you say, Heero."

"Right," Heero said, not falling into Duo's taunt. No way was he telling his friends all the accusations he and Ami had thrown at each other, let alone what he had suggested even though he hadn't been serious. They would never let him live it down.

"Well, did you ever find out what Ami is sick with at least?" Quatre asked, still perturbed by the situation but not knowing why.

Heero nodded. "Heart surgery last year, she replaced a faulty valve and is having a lot of complications from the surgery."

Everyone nodded, having no proof to prove otherwise, and Heero exited the room indicating that the conversation was over.

The next morning, Ami was surprised to hear a knocking on her door as she finished getting dressed for work. She had been about to call for a cab and set the phone down, wondering what anyone would want at eight thirty.

Opening the door, she was further surprised to see Heero standing outside her door.

"Oh, good morning Heero," she said curiously.

"Morning. Did you call a cab?" He asked. She shook her head. "I was just about to."

"I thought we could carpool," he stated, "since we are going to the same place."

"Um....okay. It's nice of you to offer," she added, not sure why she was hesitant. She and Heero had seemingly cleared everything up, true with some white lies on her part, but she still felt odd around him and she knew why. She kept allowing herself to forget the small portion of the argument when they had made out. "I just want to grab my purse, come in."

He nodded, entering the apartment and shutting the door as Ami headed down the hall to her bedroom. He watched her go, everything she did since the previous day catching his eye. He had argued with himself on whether or not he should offer the carpool, but it was true that they lived right next to each other. Allowing her to take a cab wasn't right, and they were sort of friends, right? Well...maybe not friends. Not acquaintances either, nothing seemed like the right word.

Ami entered her room, taking a deep breath. Heero was obviously trying to be her friend, maybe he hadn't thought too much about the kiss like she had. Maybe he had moved on from the topic and she was still lingering on it......

She checked her outfit in the mirror one last time, it consisting of a royal blue short sleeved blouse and black skirt. She had on black pumps and a small silver clip was pinning her hair on one side today. She grabbed her purse, not wanting to keep him waiting and hurried into the hall, grabbing her house keys as well. The two stepped out and Ami locked the door, following Heero downstairs and to his car. He climbed in, Ami also doing so and feeling a bit more comfortable than the day before, although she was still on edge.

He started up the car, and pulled out, apparently always driving fast. Ami, not sick like the day before, felt like he was going fast but didn't feel unsafe at all. He had the radio playing low in the background, and she spoke.

"Heero, since we're carpooling and I don't have a car, can I pay you for your gas?"

He shook his head. Ami opened up her mouth to speak, and not finding any words she leaned back in her seat silently. Heero smirked from where he sat, turning his attention back to the road. They arrived at the office five minutes later, Heero pulling into the spot just as swiftly and smoothly as he drove.

Ami unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car, thanking him for the ride as the two headed inside and went upstairs.

The elevator opened, and the room was silent. Ami stared at where the four secretaries were clustered, chatting with Quatre and Duo at their desks. Trowa and Wufei were at the coffee machine. All were staring.

"Wow, I didn't know riding in elevators in pairs wasn't normal," Ami commented softly, Heero smirking.

The two exited, headed for the wonderful coffee machine. Everyone clustered at the desks inched behind them slowly, looking ready to pounce. Ami ignored them, pouring herself and Heero a mug first, before turning to face anyone. Heero stared at the pilots, tipping his head at them. What was up with everyone?

The secretaries were the first to act, grabbing Ami and excusing her as though she couldn't speak as she was dragged off back to the desks. After a thorough questioning, she assured them that she and Heero were merely neighbours and had opted for a carpool.

Stacey and Laura looked disappointed, Nina commenting that she wanted to for once witness an office romance involving the Gundam Pilots. Layanna nodded her head in agreement, Ami frowning at the four and thanking God that she was a good liar. Not that she and Heero were having any kind of a relationship. They had only kissed once- and that had practically been an accident, right?

Meanwhile at the coffee machine the others grilled Heero, them only being Duo and Quatre. Wufei and Trowa looked on somewhat interestedly but refused to comment.

"He-man, why would you offer to have a carpool with her if you didn't like her or at least think she was hot?" Duo questioned.

"It makes sense to have a carpool with your neighbour going to the same office," Heero stated. "She pays for a cab every day and we come and leave at the same time."

"Ah, so you do care that she is wasting her money on taxi cabs everyday," Quatre said, grappling at nothing at the moment and hoping that something would make sense. Heero raised a brow at him.

"No, I'm an environmentalist," Heero said flatly.

"Well hang on. Is Ami paying you for gas? If she is, then it's a carpool and you're not really doing her any favours," Duo said, knowing what the answer would be. Heero glared at him.

Duo chuckled. "You told her not to?" He asked, reading him like a book.

Ami shook off the girls, returning to the coffee machine to add milk to her coffee. The girls had dragged her away, and she refused to drink it black.

The pilots grew silent when she approached, Ami feeling all of their gazes on her as she quickly added milk to her coffee. She turned to look at all of them, and they all looked away. She raised a brow delicately, glancing at Heero who turned to meet her gaze. Ami didn't hold his gaze for long, hurrying away with her coffee and not glancing back.

Duo stared after Ami as she went, checking out her ass as per usual, before he caught Heero's eyes watching as well.

"Yes!" He shouted. Quatre threw his hand over Duo's mouth, but Duo fought him off, leaning in and whispering excitedly to everyone. "I was checking out Ami's ass and when I looked at Heero he was too!"

Heero fought an uncharacteristic groan, reminding himself to watch his roaming eyes when Duo was around. "So you do find her attractive at least," Duo was saying, "plus you two totally made eye contact right now and then tried to play it off!"

Heero left the obnoxious conversation and headed to get some work done, although he wasn't sure how he would. Everyone else dispersed, Wufei lecturing Duo even though he secretly agreed with everything he had said.

Ami paced around the office around five-thirty, waiting for Heero to get off so she could get home. This was the one bad part about a carpool: waiting. The floor was practically deserted, everyone having run away at five. She headed over to the window, staring outside. It was beautiful out. She groaned. The pilots had been called into a meeting a few minutes before five, being briefed for a mission. Heero had asked her to wait, but it seemed to be taking a long time as it had been more than half an hour.

The walk couldn't be more than twenty five minutes; it was only around a little over a five minute drive and beautiful out. Ami decided to just go. She quickly wrote a note for Heero and stuck it on the door of his office, knowing he would have to go there to get his keys anyways.

Grabbing her purse, she headed downstairs and waved goodbye to the security guard still remaining at the door. He smiled at her and she exited and walked across the parking lot and to the sidewalk, beginning to walk left. It was still very sunny out, the sun still high but lower than a couple of hours before. She debated entering a cafe on her way, but knew it would ruin her appetite and she had wanted to have a decent dinner for once.

A woman exited the store on her left, dragging her screaming child behind her. Ami winced, hoping that when she did one day have children they wouldn't behave like that. She turned her attention back to the road, jumping slightly when a voice cut through her thoughts.

"Excuse me, miss?"

She berated herself at being so jumpy, glancing up at the man who was speaking to her. He was tall, much taller than she was, with broad shoulders and a harmless smile on his face.

"I'm so sorry if I startled you. It's just that I'm a bit lost and I was hoping you would be able to give me some directions?"

"It's alright," Ami said. "I'm new in town though, but I might be able to help."

"My girlfriend asked me to meet her at a cafe called Magenta, but I haven't been able to find it and I was told it was on this street."

"Oh," Ami paused. "Well I did actually pass by a cafe five minutes walking from here, but I didn't catch the name on the sign."

"Thanks, that's great," he said, his green eyes glinting as he pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. The man was attractive, that was for sure, but Ami wasn't moved as she smiled at him and stepped around him. The man looked like he wanted to say something else, but a couple exited the salon on their left and Ami had to avoid hitting into them, all three of them offering apologies and light chuckles as she continued down the street.

She walked down the sidewalk for another ten minutes, sure that she was at most five or ten minutes walking from her apartment. Her clip slipped from her hair, and she paused to pull it out, realizing that someone now stood in front of her and taking a step back.

The man she had given directions to only ten minutes before was in front of her. Last she had seen him, he had been walking down the street in the opposite direction. How had he even gotten here? She felt her stomach flip flop as an uneasy feeling began to spread through her. The part of the street she was on was practically deserted as she was now away from the downtown area and walking by the apartment complexes. She hoped that perhaps any residents were exiting their apartments, but it was around six and she was sure they were inside eating dinner or something as the street was empty.

His stance was casual, his hands tucked in the light brown jacket he had on. He also had on a pair of beige pants and a polo shirt beneath the jacket, his clothing totally casual as well as he had been walking the streets. He smiled at her, and she knew he knew that no one was around.

"You're the one," he stated, his voice much less friendly than it had been minutes before. Her heart thundered loudly in her chest. What was he talking about?

"The one?" She repeated, taking a step back and cursing her luck. The man stepped forwards just as quickly, and Ami froze in fear. If she screamed, that would only cause him to take action quicker and take her away, if he was indeed with the Dark Alliance. No, it was best to keep him talking for a minute, and she hoped she would be able to think.

"Yes, the missing Senshi. You're the one that was promised to me when they were done with you. I chose your file." Her file? Promised to him? When who was done with her, the Dark Alliance? What were they doing with her friends, and what was the plan when they were finished, to give them to Dark Alliance agents? She was sick. Plus, his simple statement had just confirmed what she had thought, that the Dark Alliance had been watching them a while before capturing them because they had been captured untransformed. For God's sake, they had files on each one of them.

"What have you all done with my friends?" She demanded, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. He ignored her question, infuriating and frightening her further as he spoke.

"Imagine my surprise when they captured all of the Senshi and I realized that the one I was promised after my leaders were done with you all was not among them. Naturally, I figured you would have to be searching for your friends. So I searched the other dimension for you. When I didn't find you, I figured you had come to this dimension."

"How did you know what city I was in?" She asked, trying to keep him talking until someone walked by although she was actually curious.

"I didn't until two days ago, when reports emerged about an unknown Sailor Senshi destroying one of our youma that attacked the park in this area. Naturally, the search for you moved here."

Ami cursed. Pluto had destroyed the youma that had recognized her, but they had still come after her because someone with powers had destroyed the youma.

"Our sources were wrong. They were sure you would have been in the city of our headquarters already."

"Where is that?" Ami questioned. He laughed, his green eyes twinkling as though she had told him a hilarious joke. His hand shot out of his pocket and grabbed a firm hold of her wrist before she could blink. "Well, you're about to see."

Ami struggled to pull her arm free, her eyes widening as she realized that the man hadn't moved an inch since he had grabbed her, looking amused again as she tried to pull free. It was like she was trying to pull free out of a steel hold on her, and while the term was used quite often Ami meant it quite literally. He was so strong that she wondered how easy it would be for him to crush her skull with one hit if he wanted to. Even transformed, she would be no match for him if he wasn't at a great distance from her, and this was without knowing how resilient, fast, or skilled he was in other areas of fighting.

"There's no point in trying. I'm supposed to bring you back without too many injuries so my superiors can do to you what they are the other Senshi, and to be honest I prefer that you not be too beat up for me until I get to you later." He spoke so calmly that he may as well have been discussing the weather, but his words sent chills up and down Ami's spine.

"What are they doing to them?" She asked again, her worry for her friends having doubled during their encounter. Her friends were clearly in more trouble than she had predicted.

He shook his head. "That is classified information. I can't just tell you things like that out on the street in the open." He was mocking her, but he continued. "Anyways like I said, you'll see soon enough."

At this, he dragged her into the alley by where they had been standing, silencing her cry by covering her mouth. Ami knew this was a good place to drag her into whatever portal he had come out of, her eyes widening as he didn't move to do so right away.

"Since I've had to go through the trouble of finding you, I think I deserve a preview of what's to come," he said. She shook her head, him allowing her to do so but not removing his grip.

"Well Mercury...or Ami, it's Ami isn't it? I think you don't have much of a choice in the matter. We've had these plans for over a year. I chose you over a year ago. My superiors promised all of us that you would be left alive for us when they were done you see, and I've searched for you because of that."

He continued to scare her, speaking in the same calm voice and yet not disclosing any information to her on what his "superiors" wanted with the Senshi. Denying himself no further, he spoke.

"I'm removing my hand from your mouth. Scream and I will kill you and tell everyone you weren't found."

He removed his hand, and Ami naturally didn't listen and screamed loudly.

The man growled, raising his other arm and punching her in the head. Ami blacked out a few seconds, coming to with a groan and realizing he hadn't put much effort into the hit at all despite what it had done to her. Seeing she was injured, he shrugged.

"Scream again, I dare you."

She was silent, her head swimming, and he smirked. "I thought so."

Before she could get her bearings and comprehend what was happening, his lips were on hers, bruising kisses being replaced with hungry ones as his tongue fought for access into her mouth. He shoved her roughly against the wall, her head hitting it, and once again got what he wanted as his tongue entered too, his hands roaming her body and making her sick.

One arm pinned her to the wall as his left hand raised her skirt, travelling up her thigh and grabbing at her roughly. She was positive that he was bruising her every where he grabbed her from how rough he was being, but he didn't seem to care as he continued to do so. He released her mouth, glancing down at her chest. Ami knew he would hit her but screamed loudly anyways, hoping anyone would hear and call the cops at least.

He didn't disappoint her, removing his hand from her thigh and punching her in her chest, knocking the wind right out of her. She grabbed at it dully, her eyes watering as she tried to regain her breath and scream again, unable to do so. Where was her purse? It contained her transformation wand....she knew it was a long shot to beat him alone with how strong he was, but....

He ignored her actions, trying to pull up her shirt as a couple of tears trailed down her cheeks, her hands which tried to stop him almost seeming nonexistent to him.

The sound of a gun being fired caused the man to stop his actions abruptly. He glanced down at his right arm, now bleeding, and towards the entrance of the alley. Heero stood, gun raised and looking livid as he glared at the man.

The man glowered at Heero, and Ami's heart began to pound faster as she spotted him and screamed suddenly. "Heero, run!"

Heero was taken aback by Ami's warning. He had just shot the man, and had the upper hand obviously. His eyes widened slightly as the man suddenly shoved Ami away and rushed at him at an inhumane speed. Heero had never seen anyone move so fast, not knowing where the man was until he was in front of him. Almost as if he had disappeared.

Ami screamed, the man's fist connecting with Heero's face and taking him out in one hit. The man was as strong as she had thought and she wondered if he had killed Heero with the hit.

The man turned his attention back to Ami, glaring.

"When my superiors let me have you again, you're going to pay for him shooting me. Trust me, you're not going to like it."

He grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her forwards with little effort despite the fact that Heero had shot him in the arm.

Another shot was fired, followed by another, and the man froze, giving a shout of rage as Heero shot him in the back twice. He spun around to face Heero, still on the ground but with his gun held out. He moved towards Heero again, but Heero shot at him in the chest twice, stopping him in the tracks. The man coughed up a bit of blood, screaming in rage.

"Stop goofing off Kaden," a cool voice interrupted. All three of them spun around to the darker part of the alley, where someone else had just appeared. Ami recognized the voice, her eyes widening.

"No."

"Yes," the man, now known to be Kaden spat out, turning to look at Ami. Mamoru stepped forwards, his hands in his pockets and a cold look on his face. He was dressed in jeans and a black zip up sweatshirt, not looking out of the ordinary but certainly acting like it.

"All of them?" Ami questioned Kaden, wondering if this was what he had meant when he had told her that his superiors wanted them first. Kaden laughed hoarsely, shaking his head.

"You wish. Just him, the others we have more plans for, and that includes you especially. Your friend Mamoru here let us in on something that we didn't know, and it makes you a bit more interesting than most of your friends, save for Usagi of course."

Ami stiffened, realizing he might be talking about her freezing the Earth- but how would that interest the Dark Alliance? She had no control over it....

"Since you're clearly wounded Kaden, I'll get Ami here back to headquarters," Mamoru was speaking to Kaden now, ignoring her. Kaden was hardly able to stand by himself, his breathing haggard as he had been shot five times.

Mamoru grabbed Ami by the wrist, dragging her forwards. From the corner of her eye, Ami saw Heero raise his gun and realized what he was going to do.

"Heero no!" The shot was fired at Mamoru's chest, Ami not having a second to think as she tried to shove Mamoru out of the way, the bullet hitting her in her upper arm. She cried out slightly, falling against the wall again and gripping her arm tightly. She had never been shot before.

"Ami," Heero said, disbelief shining through his normal monotone and wide eyed. He had just shot her- what was she doing? Why was she protecting that man?

Mamoru glanced down at Ami, his face tipped at her slightly.

"So you would still protect me."

"Yes, but not just for you. For Usagi and Rini," Ami said, not releasing her arm as blood seeped from the wound.

"They're dead to me," he said, staring at her calculatingly.

Ami met his gaze. "I know you don't mean that and I hope you realize soon."

Mamoru said nothing, stepping away from Ami and turning his attention to Kaden, who was crouched on the ground.

"I'll help you get your wounds taken care of. We know she's in the city, you'll get her," Mamoru said, shooting Heero a glare as he helped Kaden stand.

"I'll be back for you as well," Kaden warned Heero, disappearing with Mamoru. Heero's eyes widened at the men's departure. Were they from the Dark Alliance? What was Kaden made of? He had been shot five times and was hardly affected by it, plus when the man had punched him it had felt like someone had taken a large, heavy mallet and smashed him in the face with it. He knew his entire cheek and probably part of his eye would be bruised the next day. He felt his lip carefully, realizing it was split as well. Damn that was a good hit. Too good to be human. Plus Ami hadn't let him shoot the other man. Who was he and why had she risked her life to protect him?

He turned his attention to Ami, who was shakily trying to step away from the wall. He stood, approaching her and helping her stand. She instead wrapped her arms around him, shaking slightly.

"Thank you," her voice trembled slightly and he knew she'd had quite a scare so he hugged her back lightly, releasing her and using her uninjured arm to pull her from the alley.

"We're getting you to a hospital. We will talk later," he said. She said nothing

His car was on the street, his door still open from how quickly he had moved. Seeing her looking at the car, he explained.

"I was driving past and I heard a scream." Now that he was in the light, he could see that the side of her temple was already beginning to bruise from where the man had obviously hit her. Her collarbone was also turning purple, and he shook his head.

"We should hurry, you might have some head trauma too," he said. "Let me look at your arm."

She flinched slightly when he touched her arm, and he pried her other hand off to try and assess how bad it was.

He turned to glance down at her, frowning as her face became laden with guilt.

Ami could have kicked herself. Half of Heero's entire face would be bruised horribly tomorrow, plus he had a split lip.

He grabbed the first aid kit he had in the trunk, wrapping her arm with a cloth tightly to last for the ride to the hospital, only about ten minutes away.

"Get in, the hospital isn't far."

Ami complied, and Heero drove to the hospital quickly, parking by the emergency as he helped Ami inside. She was walking sort of aimlessly, and he lead her to the reception desk.

"Gunshot wound and possible head trauma," he said, ushering at Ami. A woman at the reception desk called for a nurse, asking Heero if the police had been called. He explained that he was a Preventer and that a report would be filed.

Ami stood next to him, her head beginning to spin. She could feel the blood trickling out of the quick wrapping Heero had done. She had taken a few hits to the head but she didn't think it was so....

The woman at the reception desk gasped and pointed, Heero turning and hardly catching Ami's unwounded arm before her head hit the ground again. The woman came around the reception desk and crouched next to them, reaching for Ami's pulse.

"Her pulse is okay, but she's out cold," she said to a nurse who approached with a stretcher. Heero picked Ami up off the ground and set her on the stretcher, watching as she was carted down the hall.

The woman at the reception desk stood and passed him a clipboard. "If you fill out all the paperwork I'll consider having someone take a look at your face," she said lightly, smirking.

"How generous of you," he replied dryly, taking the clipboard and getting to work. He had Ami's purse still, so he took her information from her driver's licence. It was unnecessary since she didn't have a car, but he paused and frowned. He held the ID up to the light.

No way.

It was fake. It hadn't been given out by the government. It looked exactly the same, perhaps the best fake he had ever witnessed, but recent ID's from the last two years had a shiny reflective symbol for the Alliance on the top corner, and Ami's was lacking.

The ID even had her current address, at the apartment. She had moved in only a week and a half before, and the ID was dated that it had been given out the previous month. Ami had told him that moving into the apartment was spur of the moment, purchased the day of, thanks to his neighbours "family emergency." So how could Ami have known that she would be residing in the apartment three weeks prior to the date she heard about it?

For that matter, why was she attacked by that Dark Alliance man? He had clearly been in the wrong, trying to rape her, but he had continued to talk about taking her back to headquarters. He had also continuously mentioned his superiors wanting her first. What would the highest ranking members of the Dark Alliance want with Ami Mizuno? Also, why had she defended that other man? He had also been trying to take her to headquarters against her will. She had told the man that she had protected him for someone else, but the name had slipped Heero's mind.

How did the Dark Alliance always evade them using illogical and supernatural tricks? It was odd, but he had a feeling that Ami knew exactly what kind of powers the Dark Alliance possessed. After all, the man that had hit him today had not been normal. Ami had shouted for him of all people to run.

He looked for another ID in her wallet, but all she had was the driver's license. He didn't know her medical history or even her blood type. He stood, giving the woman the incomplete clipboard.

"I don't know anything more."

She nodded. "Let's get your face checked out."

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