Hiding Scars
Chapter 19
A/N: FYI- Slight gore in this chapter.
Wufei, Sally and Heero return to the police station while Quatre, Duo and Hilde head off to the festival. When they arrived, the chief, looking even more tired and frazzled than when they left, had a report to give them.
"Dr. Young did the evaluation. It's so long that I couldn't even read the whole thing. I think the doctor diagnosed Munn with everything listed in the DSM," he said, handing over a thick folder. Wufei took it and flipped through.
"Sociopath, neurotic, obsessive compulsive, anxiety disorder... How can one person have this much going on at once?" Wufei asked skeptically. Sally took it and flipped through it herself. Heero was lost in the conversation already.
"Don't ask me. I avoided that career path for a reason. But I don't think this eval is going to help us much. It brings in too many extra variables, plus he could get off on reasons of insanity if any judge got a hold of this document," the chief said. "All in all a waste of an afternoon, I think."
"Let's hope not," Sally said, still immersed in the document. "If it's alright, I'd like to have a copy of this to read over tonight." The chief nodded, and pointed to the young receptionist. "She's cleared to do confidential document copies," he said. Sally thanked him and walked off towards the receptionist desk. The chief excused himself and went back to his office while Heero and Wufei sat down at empty table. They both sat in silence for a few minutes.
"This is complicated," Wufei said. Heero nodded. Sally returned a few minutes later with a fresh copy of the document and a red pen.
"I heard one of the officers say that Munn is being transferred to a different cell later tonight. I guess we'll have to go somewhere else to interrogate him tomorrow if we decide on attempting that again," Sally said after she sat down.
"I don't know if my errant imagination could handle that," Wufei said. Sally and Heero nodded together.
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Relena was just returning to her home when her cell phone rang. Milly had invited her over for dinner with Paul and the kids, and Relena accepted. The Preventers watching her house escorted her over there and continued to watch both houses until her return. Relena dug her phone out of her purse and checked the caller ID. It was Heero.
"Hi there," she said, brightly. "How has it been going today?" she asked. Heero sighed.
"Not very well. It might not make sense, but we have both not enough information on Munn and too much information on Munn. It's hard to determine a direction to take in this investigation," Heero explained.
"I see," Relena said, feeling a little disheartened at the news. She'd hoped this process would be wrapped up quickly now that he was caught, but it looked like that would not be the case.
"What are you doing for dinner?" he asked.
"I just got home from eating with Milly and Paul, and I was going to start writing up some emails to my new assistant with instructions for my return to New Port City," Relena said.
"You have an assistant?" Heero asked.
"Oh yes. I called Lady Une about it a few days ago. She found someone we could trust to help me out while I'm still over here," Relena said. Heero was silent for a few moments.
"When do you plan on returning?" he asked.
"The same time the rest of you go back," Relena said.
"Hn."
"Are you alright, Heero?" Relena asked.
"I'm fine. I'll talk to you later," he said, and hung up the phone on her. Relena pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it, confused. Cherry was looking at her from the dog bed in the corner of the living room.
"What is wrong with men?" Relena asked her dog. Cherry barked and laid her head back down.
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Heero felt like a complete idiot. He tossed his phone on the night stand in his room and began to pace. He completely lost control of his emotions while he was talking to Relena, and most likely pissed her off for hanging up on her. Heero's muscles tightened in response to his irritation. The investigation was not going well, Relena was returning to her former, dangerous life, and he didn't know how he felt about any of it. So many different thoughts were nagging at him. On top of that, he had a bad feeling deep in his gut. He mentally lashed out at Munn, blaming him for all these problems that had come up.
A knock at the door pulled him from his mental ass kicking. "Yeah?" The door opened and Duo poked his head in.
"Did you find out what Relena is doing?" Duo asked.
"She ate already," Heero said. Duo nodded.
"Let's go then."
"Where?"
"Back to the festival. We're all hungry. You can't just stay here and mope," Duo said before Heero could reject the idea.
"Fine," he said grumpily, grabbed his jacket off his bed and followed Duo down the steps.
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Relena lost track of the time as she outlined her plans and ideas, sent email after email to Molly with instructions on what to do with her old house and all the items inside. Relena took only the things that were truly important to her from that home, and the rest of her sentimental family objects were in storage anyway. She also worked on her autobiography, continuing to add details that she'd intentionally left out before.
Cherry was lying on the floor, pouting that Relena was still up and working instead of lying in the comfortable bed upstairs. Occasionally, Relena would reach down and pet Cherry and apologize, but continued to work. She'd opened her window as the sun was setting to let in some of the fresh, night air. It was rejuvenating to her, and she loved that slightly wet smell of the dew settling over the grass and bushes. The cool summer breeze blew in behind her, rustling papers on her desk every once in awhile.
A small noise pulled Relena from her work. Cherry lifted her head as well, ears perked up and alert. Relena looked around, and shrugged, blaming it on the wind. Cherry wasn't so easily convinced, and she rose up and walked around the office, sniffing at the air. Relena returned to work.
A few minutes later, she heard the noise again, like twigs snapping and leaves being pushed around. She stopped working again and looked around. Cherry began to growl low in her throat. Relena rose from her desk chair and stepped up to the window to look outside. She couldn't see anything outside except for her bushes and plants, and her car in the driveway. She began to feel anxious, so she closed the window and locked it, then pulled the thick curtain closed. Relena left her office to wander around her house, checking the windows and doors, with Cherry close to her heels. Relena checks out the front window, and sees only one Preventer car parked in the street. Everything else was silent and still.
Against her better judgement, Relena opens her front door and steps onto the front porch.
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Heero and the others had returned from their festival activities rather late, and Heero went straight to bed. It didn't take long for him to fall into a restless sleep, overcome with exhaustion from the day but restless thoughts keeping him from falling into a deep sleep. In a state of confused dreaming, Heero is woken up by the loud chirping of his cell phone. He dragged his eyes open and fumbled for the phone on the night stand. The caller ID indicated that Wufei was calling.
"Why so late, Chang?" Heero asked before answering the phone. He pressed the button to answer the call and held the phone to his ear.
"Do you know what time it is?" Heero asked as a greeting.
"Munn as escaped."
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Relena felt her stomach drop. Cherry stood close to Relena, the hair on her back raised up and the growl growing louder in her throat. Through the lights on the outside of Relena's house, she could see Howard Munn standing in her driveway. She swallowed hard. He had a wicked looking grin on his face as she stared at her. Relena squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and stepped down off her porch and stood in the cool grass, facing Munn.
"You," she said. Munn stared at her, the grin on his face never wavering.
"Hello my pet," he said. "You have been very naughty, running off like that," he said. He took a step closer to her. Cherry barked loudly in response. Munn ignored the dog. "I made you mine for a reason, and you just thought you could leave." Impulsively, Relena reached up to the scar on her shoulder, as it began to itch slightly. Munn's grin widened. "Yes, Relena," he said, taking another step forward. Relena could now see that he held a large knife in his hand. Part of her scoffed at such a puny weapon.
"I am done running from you," Relena said. "I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again." Munn barked a laugh.
"That was quite funny. I didn't realize you were funny," he said. "But it doesn't matter, because you'll be dead." At that, he lunged forward, running across the dewy grass. Relena took a few steps back and shouted the only German phrase she taught to Cherry.
"Angriff!" Cherry lunged forward at Munn.
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Heero threw on the first clothes he could put his hands on and sprinted out of the house and down the block towards Relena's house. He was panting slightly by the time he arrived, but when his eyes adjusted to the limited light, he stopped in his tracks.
Munn was indeed standing in Relena's front yard, but he appeared to be trying to fend off Cherry. The dog was barking and growling and snapping at him. Nearby, he could see Relena, standing still and speaking to someone on the phone. Heero took a few more steps forward and reached under his shirt for his gun. He pulled it out and took aim at Munn. It was hard to get a clean shot with him moving around, and with Cherry fighting back.
"I'm sorry Relena," Heero said, knowing he was about to break his promise to her from so many years ago. His finger began to close around the trigger when Munn threw Cherry off of him. Heero could see the glint of a knife in Munn's hand. Cherry bounded back to her feet and launched at him. Heero stopped what he was doing when he saw Cherry's jaw clamp down around Munn's throat. Heero's eyes widened and he lowered his gun. He glanced to Relena, who was watching the scene, her cell phone still in her hand, with an inscrutable expression on her face.
With a final, sickening noise, Cherry ripped away at Munn and dropped down the ground, crumpling under her own weight. Munn's blood exploded from his neck, or at least where it used to be, before he too crumpled to the ground. Heero jogged up the yard, just as Relena moved closer as well. The grass was covered in blood, and Cherry's fur was matted down in blood as well, most likely Munn's and her own. She'd let go of the piece of Munn she'd ripped apart and tried to rise up onto her feet. Relena dropped down to her knees and reached for the dog, who slowly crawled into Relena's lap and collapsed, panting hard, her sides heaving up and down with every labored breath.
Heero stepped up to Munn. He pressed two fingers to Munn's wrist. No pulse. He was dead.
"Cherry," Relena mumbled, pulling the dog to her. Already, Relena's clothes were covered in blood. As Heero watched her, he heard the loud screech of sirens out in the distance. They must have been moving fast, because the sound got louder and louder until the flashing lights appeared at the end of the street. It was a police cruiser. Two more whipped around the turn and sped down the street towards Relena's house. Two ambulances followed, then more police cruisers. Several unmarked black cars sped down as well; Preventers were arriving on the scene, too. One black Preventer car pulled up onto the curb and the doors flew open. Wufei and Sally jumped out of the car and sprinted across the lawn. Wufei went to Munn while Sally stopped beside Relena and knelt to the ground.
"Will she be alright?" Relena asked quietly, still smoothing down the fur on Cherry's neck.
"Let me take a look at her," Sally said, pulling the dog into her own lap. "I didn't study animals, but I will do my best." Relena nodded, her eyes still blank.
Heero watched this exchange, feelings of worry and relief colliding in his stomach. He wanted to go to Relena, but something was keeping him from moving forward. She simply sat on the ground, her hands in her lap, blood covering her clothes.
"Yuy," Wufei said, who'd appeared at Heero's side. Heero tore his gaze away from Relena. "What happened here?" Heero sighed and tucked his gun back into his waistband.
"Cherry killed him," Heero stated.
Sally moved her fingers slowly over Cherry's body, inspecting her for wounds. There were several cuts from Munn's knife, but the bleeding had stopped for most of them. "I think she'll be alright once she is treated properly," Sally concluded, shifting Cherry's weight back into Relena's lap. Sally rose, her Preventer uniform covered in blood as well. Relena saw two EMTs running up the lawn, small cases in their hands.
"Miss Darlian, are you alright?" they asked, skidding to a halt on the dewy grass and dropping to their knees.
"I'm fine. Please, save Cherry," Relena said. The shock of the situation was wearing away, and the full realization of what happened crashed down into her heart. She felt her chin begin to tremble, and tears threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. The EMTs saw this in her eyes. The male EMT carefully gathered Cherry up into his arms.
"I'll do what I can," he said. The woman took Relena's hand and helped her to her feet.
"Let me at least give you a once over," she said. Relena nodded complacently, and tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, only managing to smear blood. The EMT smiled sadly, took a cloth from her pocket and wiped the blood and tears away. "Come on." Relena followed. Two more EMTs rushed past Relena and dropped to their knees beside Munn.
"He's dead," one of them mumbled to his partner.
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