Chapter 13

It was late when Lady Une called for them. They stood facing her in her office, and she surveyed them over laced fingers. These partnerships have worked well. She mused as she looked at them. Four pairs had obviously got closer, as was evident by the way they stood by each other. It was subtle, but they were closer together, and Duo and Hilde looked almost glued at the hip. Good, just as I planned. If they are working with someone they love, they will work twice as hard to protect them. Une permitted herself a small pat on the back. Relena and Heero however, stood as far apart as possible without looking obvious. That was a problem, but she hadn't expected anything else from the Perfect Soldier.

"The hostage co-operated, after much...persuasion." There was no reaction from the young people in front of her. "We have also managed to decode a disk that was delivered to us along with the Gundams. What is left of the Preventers after Du Lac's attack is working on a battle strategy for the attack on the base. In the meantime, you are required to train and rest and you will be informed of your mission soon enough. Dismissed." The pilots filed out of the room.

By unspoken agreement, the girls all headed for the gym. They changed quickly and spaced out on the floor, then ran through drills. By the time the guys came in, they were warmed up and Relena stood in the middle of the floor area, surrounded by the other four. The boys stopped to watch, as the girls began to attack her, throwing controlled punches and kicks that would have felled a large man. Relena blocked, ducked, twisted, jumped, and pushed them away. Seeing her opening, Relena crouched and threw her leg round, taking the feet from under the two nearest her. Raising herself quickly on her hands, her legs flew up in a split position, joining at the top and hitting the chin of another girl as they went. Transferring her weight to one hand, she twisted her body, turning the handstand, and flipped over, landing gracefully. Standing quickly, she thrust her hand out, her fist at the remaining girl's face, who stepped back and dropped to sit, cross legged on the floor in a gesture of supplication.

"Well that was new." Hilde said as she got up. Heero couldn't believe what he'd just seen.

"Where'd you learn that?" Cathy asked, coming to stand with Relena.

"Just came into my head." Relena shrugged. Heero's face, impassive as ever, would not reveal how impressed he actually was. He briefly imagined her supple body wrapped around his, her head thrown back in ecstasy as she screamed his name...

"Heero?" Duo waved his hand in front of Heero's face. Heero glared at him and set off on the running track in the gathering gloom, his feet pounding to the rhythm of his quickly beating heart. Duo watched him go, shrugged, and settled down to his own training.

Around him, the others were doing the same. Dorothy had started on the rowing machine, Quatre keeping time with her, Hilde was doing sit ups next to Duo. Catherine was doing complex tumbles and twists, Trowa along with her. On the mats, Sally and Wufei had squared off and were sparring together, Wufei trying to guess the measure of Sally's skills, and Sally trying to show him that women were not weak. Relena wanted to keep her heartbeat going, and set off around the racetrack. She sprinted hard, working her muscles to their full potential, and enjoyed the feeling of the burn in her muscles. Concentrating on her sprinting, she didn't realise as she passed Heero, still going at a steady pace. He grabbed her arm as she went past, and she jerked to a stop.

"That is going to hurt tomorrow." She complained, rubbing her shoulder and breathing hard.

"You shouldn't run like that." Heero said in his usual monotone. "It's an easy way to damage your ligaments."

"I'm fine." Relena snapped. "I know my limits."

"Obviously you don't." Heero cut across her. "You look terrible."

"You've got a real way with words, you know that?" She pulled her arm out of his grasp. She set off again, wanting to get away from him as fast as possible. Next thing she knew, she was on the floor and her legs couldn't move, mainly because of the man sitting on them. Heero had set off after her, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down, pinning her with his body.

"You have to get your breath back. A pace like that will cause you problems." He stated calmly as she struggled beneath him. He tried not to feel it, but the heat from her body and the smell of her perfume was intoxicating, and he was completely aware of her breasts heaving with exertion in his eye line. He felt the now familiar ache of need for her, and he tried to think of something else as his traitorous body showed its desire the only way it could.

Relena stilled as she felt something hard pressing against her lower belly. She gasped as she realised that his gun was tucked into the back of his pants, which meant it was only one thing. She suddenly became acutely aware of everywhere that they touched, from her smaller hands placed on his shoulders for leverage out of her compromising position to her hips on which he sat, dominating and powerful. Her breasts ached with arousal, and she was sure that he could see her hardened nipples through her skimpy vest top. She shifted her hips slightly, trying to buck him off, and jerked her head up when Heero uttered a groan in the back of his throat. Her sapphire eyes locked with his Prussian eyes, and he stared down at her, his hands on either side of her head.

Heero couldn't help it. She moved and he groaned, his need reaching new peaks as her body unconsciously stroked his aching manhood. Her sapphire eyes burned into his, innocent and wide, her dusky pink lips parted slightly with her laboured breathing.

She's so beautiful. The thought flew across his mind and Heero leant closer to her, his eyes clouding with latent passion. He paused a centimetre from her lips, unsure of her reaction, and watching her face closely. Her eyes had drifted shut, and he could feel the heat radiating from her supple body beneath him. His breath tickled her face and danced across her lips.

"Heero..." She breathed. It was all the encouragement he needed. Their lips met in a gentle kiss, his rough lips to her soft petals. She tasted like cherries and chocolate, and Heero ran a tongue around her lips, tasting every inch of them. She gasped, and Heero took advantage of her slightly parted lips to quickly taste what her lips kept away from him. He moaned deep in his throat when he realised how good she tasted, and her tongue delicately slipped around his and stroked his inner cheek.

Relena's hands stroked up Heero's arms and around his shoulders. Her fingers skimmed through his rich dark hair, and her tongue wound around his as they lost themselves in their kiss. Time seemed to stop as they engrossed themselves in exploring each other, a long unfulfilled fantasy that both shared, but neither admitted to. Eventually, they came up for air, and Heero rested his head against Relena's panting slightly. Relena tilted her head, and looked into his half closed eyes.

"We have to get going." She murmured regretfully. "We have to get back to the others." Heero fully opened his eyes and nodded. He stood up and extended a hand to help her up. She took it, and his strong arms pulled her to her feet and straight into his waiting arms. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder, trying to imprint on his memory the feel of her body against his, the sound of her heartbeat drumming through his body, and the unique scent of her jasmine perfume and coconut shampoo. After a short while, Relena drew back, and ran her hand along his cheek. Standing on tiptoe, she pressed a gentle kiss to the end of his nose, grinned at him, and then sped off into the dark, leaving Heero to think on the dark track.

Lady Une watched as her protégés again graced her office. She sighed heavily.

"Du Lac is holed up in the Andean Mountains. He has a base of operations there from which he can control his faction. It is guarded by fifty mobile dolls and the mountains themselves. It is a nigh impregnable fortress, with constant surveillance of the air, land, and nearby cities. We have a window of twenty minutes to attack. There is an annual system check that changes date and time every year and lasts for twenty minutes. Through the hard work and dedication of certain officers..." Lady Une's voice tailed off as she remembered Phelps and Gulag briefly, then shook herself and ploughed on. "Certain officers died to bring us this information. We would do well to make good use of it. The Gundams will attack from the front. Meanwhile, the Shifters will infiltrate the facility and place bombs at strategic structural integrity points. You shall set the timer to five minutes and extract the hostile combatant for trial. Meet with the Gundams and Shift to base, are we clear?"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" The girls chorused. The men merely nodded. Une nodded approvingly and spread her hands.

"Good luck."

Duo sliced through another suit and spun to face another, his scythe cutting swathes in the air. Around him, the other pilots were locked in battle, the mobile dolls holding a good fight against them. Sweat poured down Duo's face as he locked with another doll, his double beamed scythe inching slowly towards the dolls neck. Across the battlefield, Heero gritted his teeth as his beam sabre took the head off a doll when another one grabbed him from behind. Zero's proximity alert started to whine as the doll began to crush the Gundam, and Heero grimaced as he struggled to turn his sabre. For a brief moment, Relena flashed across his mind, her taste came to his lips again, and he swore he could smell her perfume in the small space of his cockpit. Smiling to himself, his eyes hardened and he flipped his sabre round and stabbed the doll in the side. It let go of him, and he pushed it away from him, watching it explode.

"I will survive." He said grimly, looking towards the facility.

The girls nodded to each other, then split up to go their different ways. Pax headed for the bridge, where she was to extricate the hostage. Ebony, Tumble, Scorn, and Rebel headed for the north, south, east, and west supports, where their bombs would do the most damage. Minutes later, they were speeding out of the complex, an unconscious dictator slung over Pax's shoulder. As they reached the Gundams, they joined to them and began to initiate the sequence. Dolls and soldiers poured out of the facility like a river, intent on getting their leader back. The girls punched the button, and the Shift began. There was a loud scraping noise of metal on metal, and the juddering feeling similar to a car scraping along a wall, and the girls fell forward into the empty hangar, the Gundams nowhere to be seen.