Chapter7
Heero listened while the others told them what they knew. Suddenly, a beeping noise from his laptop interrupted Quatre mid-flow. Turning, his fingers flew across the keyboard.
"There's been an attack." The others held their breath. "A factory owned by Thomas Du Lac. There have been rumours that it was producing mobile suits illegally. Let's go!" He said, running out of the room. The others followed, heading for their motorbikes.
"Lena, watch your back!" Hilde cried through the com system. Relena ducked and missed the missile that had been speeding towards her. She jumped and twisted to land behind the bigger mobile suit. Drawing her beam daggers, she plunged them into the back of the enemy suit as she came down and flipped off, leaving it to explode while she turned to deal with another suit.
"There wasn't this many in the recon report." Cathy panted as she stood back for a second.
"It doesn't matter, they are all illegal anyway. I personally signed the law that forbids mobile suit manufacturing." Relena said as she efficiently dispatched another suit.
"Never mind the fact that we have suits too." Sally laughed as she plunged her staff into another suit.
"That's different. These aren't mobile suits. Things have changed since I was in office."
"Did you really expect any difference?" Dorothy grimaced as she plunged her beam sabre through the head of a mobile suit. Running down its arm, she jumped clear as it exploded.
"I suppose not." Relena fired her cannon at the ankle of a suit, bringing it down, and jumped to its chest area, slamming her beam daggers into it. Putting her feet against it, she catapulted off, and Cathy grabbed her outstretched arm, pulling her safely to the floor.
Cathy started off after another, but was distracted by an incessant beeping from her left. Turning her head, she did a double take, then wheeled round and focussed her view. Zooming in, she saw the five Gundam pilots speeding towards them, intent on the battle in front of them.
"Damn." She opened a com link to the other girls. "We've got company. The pilots are incoming."
"What! This is not a good time!" Hilde cried as she vaulted over a missile and shot one of her own at the offending suit. Hitting its point, the suit exploded, and Hilde grinned satisfactorily.
"Finish the mission. Worry about them later." Relena commanded. "Sally, how we doing?"
"One minute. Just enough time to finish off these last suits." Sally said as another two crashed to the floor.
"Alright then, let's go!" Relena yelled. The five suits threw themselves into the battle taking down suit after suit. Fifty seconds later, they were the only ones standing. Behind them, five bikes roared to a standstill. Turning, they faced the Gundam pilots, who looked at them steadily.
The girls shot side glances at each other. Then Relena opened a channel.
"You might want to duck." She told them, and the factory behind them blew sky high. When the boys straightened, the suits were nowhere to be seen.
The girls stepped out of their suits and grinned at each other.
"Report." Lady Une's sharp command rang out. Standing to attention, Relena spoke.
"Mission complete." Une looked at them and smiled.
"Very good. Go get some R&R." The girls relaxed and grinned.
"Thanks Lady Une." Hilde said as they all headed for the showers.
Safely out of Lady Une's supervision, they began discussing the sudden appearance of the pilots.
"Do you think they realised it was us?" Cathy asked worriedly.
"No. They can't have. They probably just turned up because there was an attack and they wanted to know what was going on." Dorothy answered. Relena kept silent, and her mind flashed back to the brief meeting.
As she looked at the pilots sitting astride their bikes, she couldn't help but see Heero, who looked directly at her, as if he could see behind the eyes of her mask. She tried to tear her gaze away, but as usual, he held it captive, his beautiful Prussian blue eyes so intense, it was as though he was reading her soul. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she knew that the 'childish infatuation' that she had convinced herself was over was no infatuation, but full blown, heart racing, once-in-a-lifetime love. Even as her mind railed against it, her heart screamed for him. Her eyes drifted to his lips, and he silently mouthed a single word.
'Relena.'
Her mind took control with a sudden thump. Looking at the others quickly, she opened a com channel.
'You might want to duck.' She grinned evilly as the factory exploded, then with the others shifted to their co-ordinates.
"-but they can't have known. They don't know what we are doing here." Hilde was saying.
"They know." Relena's voice was quiet. "Heero knows."
"How?" Came the shocked reply from all directions.
"He just ... knows. He knew it was me tonight. I don't know how, but he knows. We had this thing, I can only describe it as a moment."
"A moment? Honey, that's impossible. He couldn't see your eyes." Sally said, a tinge of concern in her voice.
"I know, but he saw through it. He mouthed my name. It was all in a heartbeat of time, but he knew." Relena sighed. "I have to tell Une that we have been compromised." The other girls looked around worriedly.
"Leave it till tomorrow." Hilde soothed. "Tonight, we should just be pleased that our first mission had no hitches. Bar that one." She smiled ruefully.
"Besides, we can always kill them if they get too close again." Dorothy said seriously. Relena couldn't help it, she laughed. The others stared at her, but her laughter was infectious, and soon they were all laughing.