Part 6

They moved to the five star hotel nearby, knowing how strict it would be with confidentiality. Quatre got the room and they quickly filed upstairs and into the large suite, knowing they would have to leave at night. Ami had heard that Quatre was wealthy but she couldn't help but be stunned at how gorgeous the room was as she entered. It was more like a large apartment, even though they would merely be a few hours.

Wufei was the last person to enter the room, closing and locking the door with the extra lock after checking the hall to make sure they hadn't been followed. Trowa and Quatre rushed to the windows, quickly closing each and every blind in the room.

Duo switched on the lights in the room to make up for the light that had been lost by closing the blinds. Annoyed by her wig, Ami pulled it off of her head, smoothing her hair. She also pulled out her contacts, meeting their eyes with the pools of blue they were used to seeing.

Every sat stiffly in the room, trying to calm themselves, before Heero broke the short silence.

"You have about three seconds to explain."

She nodded. "I know. I apologize for lying to you all those times Heero, but I'm afraid that what you all just witnessed was privileged information."

"You should have told me. I caught you so many times. It would have made both our lives easier."

She shook her head. "I'm not allowed to tell anyone. Anyways, I'm sure that during the war your identities as Gundam Pilots were equally well kept secrets."

No one could argue with that, so she continued. "I should firstly begin by saying Heero, that my fake identification had nothing to with a name change. My name is Ami Mizuno. I needed ID because I'm not from here...." she hesitated.

"What onna? Your ID had the new house you were at. Did you need a change of address immediately?" Wufei asked.

"That would be the easier explanation," she commented, but continued. "I guess it's best to be blunt. I'm from a different dimension."

Everyone stared at her like she had grown a second head, so she continued. "I know it's hard to believe, but I think that in light of recent things you've witnessed, you should let me explain."

Heero nodded for her to continue.

"Our dimensions are parallel with one another. People exist within them thinking that they are alone, when in reality the streams run side by side together. You are however, ahead in years and more technologically advanced than in my world. I do reside on Earth, if you're confused, just like you. I'm from Tokyo, Japan. Well, now. My being from Tokyo really doesn't help explain what you just saw, so I'm about to backtrack into a story that you will find even more ridiculous."

Duo nodded energetically, and she smiled and continued again.

"Well, in the world I am residing in now, I was born twenty three years ago. However, that was a rebirth. In reality, I was first born over a thousand years prior to that."

Quatre's jaw dropped. "That's not possible."

She continued, trying to help him understand. "A thousand years ago, I resided on the planet Mercury. I was next in line for the throne and I was one of the chosen warriors of my planet, Sailor Mercury. My friends, who have been taken hostage by the Dark Alliance, were also princesses on their planets and also warriors, on: Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and the Moon. Pluto was also a princess, but she wasn't taken hostage. I will explain that later. Anyways, all of these planets and the Moon made up what was called the Silver Alliance. The Earth also had a prince, and the Earth was in the workings of becoming part of the Silver Alliance. The prince of Earth Heero already saw. Do you remember Mamoru?"

He nodded, but spoke. "Thos planets you mentioned are inhabitable."

"Not then they weren't, anyways you all have been living on colonies for a while now," she pointed out, continuing. "Well, we princesses of the inner planets of the solar system were sent to the Moon to become part of the Princess of the Moon's court. She was currently betrothed to the Prince of the Earth, Mamoru, or then he was known as Endymion. Then we had trouble come our way. There was an evil woman named Beryl, who we later found out was receiving power from a being called Chaos. She wanted to dominate the Silver Alliance and was in love with the Prince of Earth. She created her dark army, the army of the Negaverse, and destroyed every planet until she reached the Moon. The Prince of Earth had four generals that we had all come to know as well, and the generals turned to Beryl's side. Beryl's armies dominated the Moon was well. Me and the other three princesses of the inner planets were betrayed and killed by the generals. Then Beryl killed the Prince of Earth. The Princess of the Moon, Serenity, who we now know as Usagi, killed herself when Beryl killed Endymion. Serenity's mother, the Queen of the Moon, was heartbroken. She had a weapon of power so great that Beryl would do anything to get it, and it is called the Imperial Silver Crystal. So the Queen, with the last of her strength, used the crystal to send her daughter and her daughter's court to be reborn on Earth, a thousand years into the future. Unfortunately, this also sent Beryl and all of her minions into the future with us as well. When the Princess of the Moon was fourteen years old, a normal junior high student in Tokyo, she was discovered by her cat guardian from the silver millennium. One by one, every one of the warriors from the silver millennium were discovered. Beryl was attacking Earth again, sending out monsters to steal people's energy to gather it for her plans to dominate, and we fought them off."

"Like the Dark Alliance does today," Trowa commented suddenly.

Ami nodded. "Exactly."

"So Beryl is running the Dark Alliance?" Quatre asked. Ami shook her head.

"No, we destroyed Beryl nine years ago. We destroyed several enemies after Beryl. You see, the evil that Beryl was taking her power from, Chaos, was basically a manifestation of all of the evil in the world and the evil in the heart of man. We only learned years later, after defeating our very last enemy, Galaxia, that Chaos had always been the one behind every evil being we faced. Sailor Moon, my friend Usagi, she destroyed Chaos the last time we fought with the silver crystal. However, this new enemy that kidnapped my friends we had no idea about, because we weren't supposed to face anyone else until we form the city of Crystal Tokyo."

"Woah, what's Crystal Tokyo?" Duo asked.

"Oh, it's the Kingdom we are going to create on Earth. You see, my friend Usagi is going to be Neo-Queen, and Mamoru, the Prince of Earth, will be the King."

"You're taking over the free world?" Heero questioned.

She shook her head. "No, the Earth must freeze over for several millennia, everyone on it going into a deep sleep. When the time is right, the Neo-Queen of the world, Usagi, will bring the world to life again, and unite everyone under one nation. All of the Earth's wars and previous problems will no longer exist under her ruling. We the Senshi will remain her loyal guard and protect the royal family and the Earth. I'm sure you all think that's optimistic, but we've actually been to our future and know exactly what is to come."

"That's not possible," Heero contradicted.

"It is. That last Senshi I told you about, Pluto, is actually the guardian of the gates of time. She is the one who transported me to this world and got me set up in my apartment in a mere hour. Usagi and Mamoru are going to have a girl, named Rini. When we were fifteen, she came back to visit from the future because an enemy called the Black Moon had attacked and had totally taken over. She needed help and had been in search of her mother's past self so that she could use the crystal to save the future. We travelled to the future to fight and restored it to normal, and Rini still visits us regularly."

Everyone merely stared at her, the information of the last fifteen minutes almost too much to take.

"Anyways, back to the present. My friends and I were attacked, untransformed and unsuspecting, two weeks ago. We were at one of the Senshi's apartments, simply hanging out together. The Dark Alliance attacked us and captured all of my friends, bringing them to this dimension where they had their headquarters located. I have no idea why they wanted my friends and didn't just kill us if they thought us to be a threat. Also, they only turned Mamoru to their side, no one else, so I really can't tell you what they want. All I know is that if they turned Mamoru, he didn't possess something that the rest of us do."

"Why weren't you taken?" Trowa asked, raising a brow.

"Sheer luck. Sailor Pluto figured out what was happening and came to help. Most of my friends had already been carried out and I was one of the last. She destroyed the straggling youma there to take me, but could do nothing about the ones who had been taken. I honestly wish she had been able to save Usagi, not me."

"Why? You should be thankful," Heero said. "You got off lucky."

"I don't believe so. Usagi's safety was far more important than my own."

"That's not exactly a healthy way to look at things Ames," Duo said, scratching his head. She shook her head.

"Duo, Usagi is the possessor of the Silver Crystal, the most powerful weapon to ever be seen. It feeds off of its user, Usagi, but can defeat the worse of enemies if she is strong and we can help her. She is the most important Senshi that exists. Also, she is the only one who can step up to the throne and create Crystal Tokyo. It is her birthright and destiny. Mine is to be her dutiful and loyal defender. That is why it so important to save my friends. You all have weapons but trust me when I tell you this: you will never be able to defeat the Dark Alliance. You all saw Kaden, and how strong he is. He was higher in rank than the men with him, but there are many more Dark Alliance workers that are as strong as Kaden, and Kaden gets his power from someone who is horrendously stronger than he. I believe that they are the toughest enemy we have faced yet just from observing their lowest workers, like Kaden. We Senshi all died last time we fought our enemy Galaxia, and I do not believe she possessed the power that they do. You all need Sailor Moon and her crystal to save your Earth and colonies right now. If she and the others are not rescued soon, we are all done for."

Everyone listened to what she was saying, the urgency of what this meant for their finally peaceful Earth and colonies setting in.

"Wait, you died?" Quatre questioned. She nodded.

"We've died a few times since we were reborn on Earth. If we die trying to defend our princess, she can gather the strength she needs to beat the enemy, and can bring us back. I don't know how the crystal does it, but she can. Sailor Moon being captured is also dangerous because the crystal, in evil hands, can lead to catastrophic results."

She paused, feeling sick from what was going to be an attack, and grabbed a wad of tissues from the table next to her. Heero watched her.

"I shot you in that arm. How are you moving it?"

"I don't heal the same as you." She moved her arm again, wincing slightly. "It stings but it will probably be fully healed in another day or two." Another jaw dropper, and she could fully understand. She had been shocked when learning all of this news, and she had learned it all slowly, not in twenty minutes.

"How did those men recognize your computer?" Heero questioned, just remembering what he had been wondering.

"Ah, well apparently the Dark Alliance had extensive files on my friends and I. I knew they would recognize the computer, which is why I didn't want you waving it around like that."

"What were you doing with it?" Wufei asked. She reached into her bag, opening it and pulling up her records.

"I was having it scan the buildings so I could know where every entrance or possible exit was. It did three of the four buildings before you four showed up and ruined everything," she joked lightly, tossing Wufei the computer. He was intrigued, he and Trowa going through the information.

She was starting to really feel sick. She wondered if they would mind if she slept a while. This attack was going to be a bad one and she knew they weren't planning on leaving until late at night anyways.

She coughed into the tissues, tucking her feet beneath her on the bed and leaning against the headboard as she tried to control herself, not liking to have these attacks in front of other people. Duo stood, wanting to help but not knowing how.

Heero chanced asking the one last thing that had been bothering him, earning Quatre's attention.

"Are you really sick from complications from heart surgery?"

Ami shook her head between her coughs, pausing and clearing her throat. "Remember how I told you the Earth is going to freeze over?"

Quatre, Duo, and Heero nodded. "That's supposed to occur in a year on Earth in my dimension...and I'm the one who's supposed to do it." She paused again to cough more blood into more tissues.

Trowa and Wufei looked up, slowly going back to the readings on the computer.

"A-Ami," Duo stuttered, "I didn't know you were that strong!"

"I'm not," she confessed. "At least, not usually. It's destiny that I freeze the Earth, however as you can imagine this takes an incredibly huge amount of power. My body is slowly accumulating this power. The power cannot be used or channelled now, it won't help me in battle in any way. However it continues to build a little at a time, day by day. The issue is that the power is too much on my body, so every time I gain a bit of power, once or even sometimes twice a day, I tend to have a reaction. This could mean I will pass out, or have one of the attacks I am sure I'm about to have since I'm beginning to cough up some blood, or just experience severe pain. This is still better for my body than accumulating all of the power at once, because that would probably kill me. So there's really no medical cure for what happens to me, which is why I always refuse a hospital...." She turned to cough into the tissue once more, adding lightly "....I'm really glad the attack waited until we got in the hotel room; that would have been bad."

Heero nodded, the true explanation much more complicated than what he had thought. Still, now that they knew everything about Ami, he was fully prepared to trust her. He couldn't take back every time he'd given her a hard time but.....his eyes hardened. His thoughts had been moving towards wanting to grow closer to her, and he had to stop himself. She had just said she was from a different dimension, a dimension she had duties to. Even if everything turned out okay and they all survived, she would have to leave.

Heero suddenly turned to look at her. She had stopped coughing, but her body was shaking and her hands continued to grip her stomach like he had seen her do so many times before. Quatre and Duo were trying to help her lay down, and he heard them telling her to just try and sleep until it wore off.

The three moved into the second room of the suite, more like a living room, and Trowa and Wufei followed.

Duo shut the door slightly so Ami could get to sleep, but left it a crack open in case anything happened. He was thrilled that Ami wasn't evil. Wufei and Heero had been making him feel bad about being her friend.

Wufei and Trowa passed the other three men the mini-computer.

"What it picked up from those three buildings is unbelievable. The technology of this computer is as advanced as ours, perhaps beyond. The three buildings she managed to scan are all mapped out for us, with every exit and entrance," Trowa said, impressed.

The other three looked the data over, also impressed. Heero was a bit shocked at how poor his intuition had been. He had disregarded the security buildings and Ami had picked up on it.

A couple of hours later, Ami freshened up and exited the room she had been sleeping in. She felt a lot better than she had before, and pushed at the door to the sitting room lightly, wondering if they had fallen asleep in there.

They hadn't. Now that the door was open, she could see that Wufei and Duo were trying to quietly fight over her mini-computer, Quatre trying to calm them down and shush them while Heero and Trowa smirked at the two.

Seeing Ami standing in the doorway, Duo released the mini-computer and hugged her happily. "Ami I'm glad you're up! I was bored!"

She laughed lightly, hugging him back and entering to sit at the table the other two were sitting at.

"When are we leaving?" She asked, Quatre coming to sit and speaking.

"Not for another few hours, we want to leave after dark and still make it back to be able to get to work in the morning. I assume you considered Preventers headquarters safe because the Dark Alliance wouldn't have wanted anything to do with it?"

She nodded at him. "Yes, actually."

Heero was watching her, still silent, and it made Ami uncomfortable so she turned her attention to Trowa.

"We have some reports to file when we get back. Are we going to try to lead a full fledged Preventers investigation?"

Wufei joined the conversation now. "We have to."

"You have to wait on the attack," Ami said, shaking her head. "If you want to help free hostages, and mind you I don't know if any civilians that are missing are alive or just recruited to work for them, that's different- but we can't take them down unless we have help from the other Senshi."

"I understand your friends are powerful," Quatre interjected. "But....and I hate to ask this, are you sure they're alive still?"

She nodded, totally confident in her answer. "I would know. I can't explain to you how, but I know they're alive."

"Okay, when we get back to work tomorrow, you will work with us....and maybe call that other woman," Heero paused in thought. "Pluto? She's the woman from the park, Setsuna, right?"

Ami nodded.

"Okay, when we get back tomorrow we have to make plans on how to free your friends."

"I don't know if Sets can leave the gates of time, but I will ask," Ami said. "I can ask her now."

She went to go grab her beg, returning with it and pulling out her communicator. She pushed a small button on the screen, pausing a moment when she heard Setsuna, or rather Pluto's voice on the other end.

"Ami, how are you doing?"

"Okay, but I'm sure you already know that," Ami said, her smile widening a bit as Pluto chuckled.

"So are the Pilots in the room right now?" Pluto asked. All of the Pilots eyes widened.

"How does she know that?" Duo asked worriedly.

"Pluto is the guardian of the gates of time," Ami reminded, turning back to her conversation. "So since you know what's going on, can you come to the Preventers office to talk tomorrow?"

"I can only leave the gates for a short while, perhaps later in the day, around four?"

"Okay," Ami said. Even if they needed more than an hour in the office with Setsuna, they could stay later and start planning before she got there. Anyways, it was probably best to keep up appearances at the office, meaning more useless filing even though Ami already got what she needed.

"I will see you all then. Take care leaving everyone," she added, the line cutting into static.

Ami pursed her lips as she set down her communicator. They would have to be careful.

At around one that night, Wufei and Trowa left the room to walk the three blocks to where they had parked the van they had come in that morning. Heero kept watch out the window until he saw the van pull up.

Quatre was already in the lobby checking out, and he climbed into the van as well. Ami, Duo, and Heero were the last to descend from upstairs, she and Heero both wearing hats pulled low over their faces.

Ami quickly clambered into the back of the van, Duo and Heero following. Wufei and Trowa were up front, Quatre and Duo sitting in the middle. When she got in, the only seat left was the seat next to her for Heero, as if things weren't awkward enough.

Wufei was driving this time, and he pulled out quickly and moved towards the highway exits, wanting to put a lot of ground between them and Garderville.

Ami leaned her head against the window, turning away from Heero and his calculating stare as she tried to get to sleep. Seeing Ami turn away, Heero smirked to himself. He knew she hated when he stared but he couldn't help but watch her, whether it used to be out of constant suspicion or intrigue.

They arrived two hours later at Quatre's house, everyone getting into their own cars to head to their own homes. The others all waved and climbed out of the car, Heero turning to look at Ami, who was sleeping still.

He wondered if she would wake up if he simply carried her to the car, but when he touched her arm lightly she jumped, apologizing quietly, sleep still in her voice as she began to shift.

"Sorry, are we here?"

"Quatre's place, I left my car here earlier." He climbed out, Ami following as he pulled out his keys and unlocked his car. Sleepily she followed, climbing in the car as she tried to wake up slightly, figuring she'd get to sleep when she got home.

Ami buckled up, the car starting up with a quiet hum as her head lolled back onto the seat tiredly. She was totally exhausted even though she had napped a couple of hours at the hotel, but she figured it might still be her body recovering from the slight rise in power from that afternoon. Even if she recovered quickly it usually took its toll.

Heero waved at Quatre, who stood at his porch, as they were the last to take off. He quickly pulled out of the driveway, heading home. It had been a long day. He glanced down at Ami, who was totally out of it although it was clear that she was trying to stay awake. Forcing his eyes back to the road, they were home in fifteen minutes. He pulled into a parking space outside the building, Ami jarred awake by the car coming to a stop. She unbuckled her seatbelt, blinking slightly and glancing at him, her eyes glassy.

A small, genuine smile graced his features. He couldn't help himself, unable to think of anything but how cute she looked at the moment. She smiled back, although her smile was questioning, probably never having seen him actually smile, even if it was only slightly more than his usual smirk.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he climbed from the car and she grabbed her bag and got out too, the slamming of her door waking her further. The two headed inside and went upstairs. Heero waited patiently as she dug around in her bag for her key. The bag was stuffed, with her fake wig and other items that she had brought along. How annoying.

Heero smirked as she leaned against her door in an irritated way, digging through her bag with more fervour than before.

"Can't find it?" He questioned, approaching to stand in front of her as she dug around her bag. "I know it's in here somewhere," she muttered distractedly, although she was positive the 'distraction' came from the fact that he had come closer. He was so confusing, one second cold and the next second so nice to her that he made her forget how cold he had been a few minutes before.

"Let me help," he offered, digging out his keys, which had a small light attached. He leaned down closer and shown the light into her bag, and she quickly located the key, smiling.

"Thanks," she offered, as he switched off the light and met her eyes. Ami resisted stepping back on impulse, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing what effect his eyes had on her constantly.

Unfortunately, she gave herself away when she still clumsily dropped the key back into her bag.

Heero must have been very practiced in being still, because he made no motion to move at all. Ami was sure she was holding her breath, his soft voice prompting a response.

"Do I scare you?" What game was he playing at now?

"Huh? No," she said, annoyed at how breathless her own voice sounded but not lingering on it long.

"No?" He repeated, "Not at all?"

"Not......at all," she stammered as his face came even closer to hers, his breath tickling her face. Her heart began to pound loudly in her chest and she actually wondered if he could hear it, the only thing currently between the two of them being the bag she still had clutched tightly in her hands.

His lips now hovered mere centimetres above hers, but he still did not move, leaving her totally unable to tear her eyes from his. He spoke even softer now, "Should I move?"

".....no," she finally managed, and at that small form of consent he closed the small gap between their lips, Ami dropping her bag on the floor and wrapping her arms around his neck. Heero grabbed her waist, stepping forwards and pushing her fully against the door as he deepened the kiss. They broke apart for air only a moment as Heero's lips trailed down her jaw and to her neck, inhaling the sweet perfume that still lingered there as his lips continued to tease her.

Ami was sure starting any kind of a relationship with Heero was a big mistake, for obvious reasons. The thought of it made her head pound, but a moment later she was positive her thoughts weren't responsible for her sudden headache. It was only worsening and quickly. Bad timing as usual...

"Heero," she mumbled, and he stopped his actions abruptly, only to catch her as she slumped backwards, her hands sliding off of his shoulders. He inhaled sharply and caught her around her waist and shoulders, her body totally limp in only a moment's time. She had probably just had one of those attacks out of the blue.

"Ami," he said, shaking her slightly. She didn't move, and so he checked her pulse. It seemed fine. Holding her up by her waist, he grabbed her neglected bag off the floor, picking her up. He hated leaving her in her apartment alone when she was unconscious, so he walked over to his door, managing to pull out his keys and balance her before unlocking the door. It swung open with a small creak, and he headed into the darkened apartment, shutting the door behind him.

Heading down the hall, he laid Ami out on his bed, stopping himself from thinking how natural she looked there. Seeing her there should have looked out of the ordinary. Heero headed into the hall to grab a pillow and blanket for himself as he headed for the couch.

He set his watch to wake him at seven thirty, groaning as he realized it was already almost four in the morning.

Ami rolled around in her bed, hugging the covers closer to herself. She did not want to get up that morning, everything hurt. What time was it anyways? Her head fell tiredly against her pillow, and she froze when she took in the sort of musky smell on the pillow. It sort of reminded her of Heero's cologne actually......

Ami bolted upright, taking in her surroundings quickly. Oh God. Was she in Heero's room? What the hell had happened last night? All she could remember was that they had been making out and that- wait, she couldn't remember anything else. Had she passed out? Where was Heero anyways?

She crept out of the bed, seeing that she was still wearing yesterday's outfit, and peered down the hall. She could hear the sound of the shower coming from what was obviously the bathroom. She continued down the hall, noticing that there was a pillow and blanket on the couch.

Good, so he had slept on the couch. Well of course he had, he had given her the bed. Aw, that was actually really nice.....

The sound of the shower turning off shook her from her thoughts, and she jumped slightly, turning to look at the washroom. The door opened and Heero stepped out, a towel wrapped securely around his waist, which Ami thanked the heavens for, and another one drying his hair. He stopped when he noticed her, offering a rare smile as he approached.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"Morning, I'm good," she said quickly, averting her gaze from his body and meeting his eyes, which also caused her to blush lightly. "I'm sorry, I passed out yesterday, didn't I?"

He nodded. "Don't apologize. By the way, it's about quarter to eight if you were wondering."

She nodded too, wondering if her exaggerated nodding was part of a continued attempt to hide her embarrassment and keep her eyes from his body. "I was, thanks. I'm gonna go home and change."

"Okay, be careful," he added, causing Ami to roll her eyes as she was only headed down the hall but stop as he reached down and gave her a light kiss on her forehead, pushing her bangs from her eyes and smirking at her blush before heading down the hall. He just couldn't stop himself from growing more attached to her everyday, and while he knew it would be a problem later he had decided not to think about it for now.

Ami turned, dazedly wandering over to her purse and hurrying to her apartment to shower. Perhaps all attempts to keep away from Heero before she went back to her dimension were futile....

After showering and fixing her hair, Ami applied makeup, doing the usual mascara, blush, and nude lipstick. Heading into her room, Ami slipped on a chocolate brown pencil skirt that stopped a few inches above her knee. Now she just needed a top....

Locating a simple, cream coloured blouse, Ami hurriedly put it on and looked at the time. Seeing as she still had a couple of minutes, she put some simple silver hoops in her ears, small but different than what she usually wore. She also put on a thin silver watch, which was more decorative but still informative.

Grabbing the smaller purse she usually wore to the office, she dumped the contents of it into the smaller bag sans the wig and brown contacts. She paused at this action. The brown wig and contacts were useless now since she had been recognized yesterday, and she debated whether she should at least get a different wig. After all, Kaden was sure to be pissed and back looking for her....

Then again, she only went to the office and back home, and as of yet no one in the Dark Alliance knew where she lived or worked. Plus, Pluto had reminded her that the Dark Alliance would try to keep away from the Preventers.

Heero knocked on the door and she slipped on her brown wedges, grabbed her key and opened it up, him stepping back when he realized she was ready to go. The two quickly got in the car lest any Dark Alliance agents had been wandering around, Heero keeping the windows up as they were tinted.

Ami sipped her coffee happily, conversing with the secretaries far more than usual that day as she had already located the headquarters. The pilots were in one of their private offices, having a meeting with their boss.

As far as Ami knew, they had explained to her the day before that they weren't going to tell the Preventers they had found a lead until they talked with Pluto that day. She would help them decide whether or not it was a good idea to involve Preventers troops. It would be good to have the manpower to free her friends, but since all of the Dark Alliance agents had powers it was likely that many troops accompanying them would be killed. She thought it was best that she and Pluto, accompanied by the Pilots, saved her friends, and that was only if the Pilots were willing. Their guns could harm Dark Alliance members but they couldn't take them down with one shot, although she didn't know how agents that weren't as powerful as Kaden would handle gunshots. Plus, what if the Dark Alliance lower agents were some of the missing people, just brainwashed?

After their boss left the office, Duo turned a sly grin to Heero. "Ami is in an awfully good mood this morning. In fact Heero, you are too. I believe you gave her a full smile, not a smirk, a smile, when she gave you a mug of coffee today."

"Hn," Heero said. "If you thought I was in a good mood why are you ruining it?"

Duo's smile hung in the air, but his eye twitched. Heero hadn't glared at him. He had calmly responded, but he hadn't glared.

"Dear God you are in a good mood!" Duo exclaimed, Quatre laughing slightly at Duo's tone. Wufei rolled his eyes at Duo, sharing a look with Trowa, who was smirking.

"Well let's not change that Duo," Quatre finally cut in, dragging Duo away from Heero. Heero watched Quatre drag Duo out of his office, the other two following while Wufei complained about needing another mug of coffee to deal with Duo that day.

He was in a good mood and he just couldn't help himself. He watched from the window of the office as one of the secretaries joked with Ami, Duo running over like a lost puppy needing attention and Quatre following.

Ami was the reason for his good mood. When he and Relena had broken up, he hadn't been able to relate to anyone for a long time. Having Ami there was nice; she almost pushed him to talk more and smile more and just be happier and she didn't even know it.

He frowned when he saw Wufei and Trowa, at the coffee machine, turn to look at something by the elevator pointedly. A look at all of the secretaries, Ami, Quatre, and Duo showed him they were staring at the same thing. Heero made sure his gun was with him, exiting the office and stopping between the coffee machine and the cluster of desks, frowning deeply.

The blonde, green eyed man stopped a few feet from Ami's desk, smiling charmingly. The other secretaries could only wonder why everyone was tense. The man was unfamiliar but extremely attractive, and he was wearing slacks and a white button up shirt, looking like he belonged in the building.

"Excuse me sir," Laura asked politely. "Is there something you need?"

He turned a devastatingly handsome grin her way. "No thank you, I've found what I was looking for." Laura nodded, suddenly nervous although she didn't know why as she backed away to sit at her desk. The other secretaries clustered around her looking confused.

Kaden turned his attention to Ami, nodding at her. Ami's head was spinning. No way would he attack her. There were five Preventers right in the room, all with guns. Quatre and Duo were only a foot behind her, Heero about five feet away and glaring dangerously at the man and Wufei and Trowa at the coffee machine, also only about ten feet away and glaring. No one had moved an inch since Kaden had entered the room, perhaps assessing what he was going to do.

Kaden took a step forwards, extending his hand and touching Ami's cheek lightly. "Hello Ami." She stepped away from his touch immediately, bumping into Duo and Quatre.

"I hope you know, I was up all night searching. I am exhausted, and to be honest your attack was painful to me and devastating on my men. They've been in the infirmary ever since." His voice was friendly, happy almost, but the look in his eyes suggested that he was a lot more irritated than he was putting on. He continued when Ami didn't speak. "I must hand it to you though, you're very clever. You and that bitch, Setsuna," he added, Ami glaring at what he had called Setsuna. He continued anyways. "I mean, I never even thought to check the Preventers for you. I waited outside every other office in town ever since the park attack, hoping to spot you and checking their rosters. I never though, thought to come here, for obvious reasons of course."

Ami exhaled shakily, and he smiled at her silence. "Anyways, I'm just telling you this to make you realize just how much trouble I've been through." His voice became lower, more dangerous, and he spoke. "I can guarantee you this, when my superiors are finished with you Ami I am going to make you suffer. You are going to pray for death every day and I will never allow it. I hope you won't cross me again and just make things worse, understand?"

Heero clenched his fist, his gun drawn as he stared at Kaden. Kaden turned to look at him, smirking.

"How's the face? Trust me, I don't just intend to just make the other side match. You signed your death warrant the other day."

"Leave," Heero commanded firmly, Duo and Quatre also raising their weapons from behind where Ami stood, trying to stay perfectly still. Her wand was in her purse, only about a foot from her hand on her desk, but the other secretaries were in the room and she didn't think she'd have a chance to transform before Kaden grabbed her. Plus, if Kaden grabbed her he could summon a portal right where they stood and no one could do anything about it.

Trowa watched from the coffee machine as Ami clearly assessed how easy it would be to transform, and he pulled out his gun to even out her odds. Wufei preferred his katana but pulled a small gun out as well.

The other secretaries had barely breathed since they clustered around Laura at her desk, and Ami feared for them most of all. Would Kaden use them to get to her? She hoped not.

Kaden saw where Ami's eyes lingered and laughed. "Ami, I am so much more imaginative than that. Anyways, it seems I am a tad outnumbered right now- not that I couldn't kill at least two of them before they got me down," he added. Ami glared at how he had assessed the Pilots, knowing he had misjudged them from his ego.

He continued. "I'll leave, but I'd suggest you be wary when you get off work. Who knows, I could get you when you leave work. Or....I could follow you to your apartment. It really just depends on what I feel like doing. Trust me on this though, now that I've figured out where you are working, I've won. So you may as well just walk outside and hand yourself over to me."

Ami placed her hand on her desk to steady herself, not removing her gaze from Kaden. She had felt secure here and now that security was gone.

Kaden turned to leave, and she wondered if he would disappear in a portal and make explanations to the secretaries more difficult. He didn't, he at least had the courtesy to go back out the way he came.

Her hold on the desk slackened dangerously, and she felt Duo grab her shoulders from behind her, having forgotten he was there entirely.

"Are you okay Ames?"

She could only nod mutely, staring at where Kaden had left from.

It took about three seconds more for the secretaries to scream hysterically, Laura swooning in fear as she had approached the man.

Trowa, Wufei, Quatre, and Duo headed to check on the four, helping Laura up and sitting them down. Quatre explained to them that Ami had been working in the Preventers because she was part of the witness protection program and that all this meant was that she would have to be a little more careful.

"Why didn't you shoot him?" Demanded Nina, Layanna patting her shoulder lightly to calm her.

"We can't just go around shooting people. He left on his own. Had he made a move to attack someone we could have tried to arrest him or shoot him if we had to," Duo reminded, all of them nodding. Wufei nodded at what the idiot Duo was saying. They could have shot him, but gunfire in the building without a decent explanation would have caused them a lot of trouble, especially if they fired at him when he hadn't attacked or even tried to attack an employee.

While the others calmed the secretaries, Heero approached Ami, who still stood stiffly by her desk. He touched her shoulder lightly and she jumped, having been deep in thought.

"Sorry," she apologized dimly, looking away again.

Heero looked down as well, speaking. "Pluto's coming at four, we'll figure out something then. We won't let him get you."

She nodded. "I know, and....I'm not afraid of him getting me so much as I'm afraid of what will happen to the rest of my friends if I get caught too."

"Stop worrying about everyone else," Heero said, shaking his head. He noticed her eyes becoming glassy even though she tried to keep her head down, and he reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

"It's okay, we're going to save your friends. I promise."

She nodded, and he gave her a quick kiss and pulled her into his arms, Ami not resisting in the slightest as she leaned tiredly against him and Heero not really caring who saw on the other side of the room.

Although, they both did chuckle lightly when they heard Stacey on the other end of the room proclaim loudly "I knew it!"

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