Chapter 9 Introduction at Gun Point
"So report." ordered a stern voice as an sixty year old man with salt and pepper hair as he sat down at the head of the long oaken table located deep inside the head Earth Nation European government building in London England. The whole Earth was just too large for a single government to rule effetely, so they had settled on a modifying the federal system. Each continent would have its own capital their own with Asia and Africa having two and be ruled from it above them all would be a smaller Earth Nation Congress with a President elected from popular world vote. The current president was a British National named Cole Barker. All around the table people opened to the first page of the massive report. "Is it Heero Yuy?"
"It's Heero," stated Dou Maxwell as he looked toward his president. "I saw him."
"I know you saw him commander Maxwell but we have to know for sure, this could be a trick done by the Coordinators." Stated a civilian political aid as she looked at one of her own reports "In recent poles it is clear that 75% people support military actions against the coordinators but when asked if it meant going up against Heero Yuy it fell to 66% in favor. It dropped even less if it meant an open war between these other nations form the other verson of earth Orb, Zaft and Earth Alliance."
"We can't let polls drive military actions." Stated Lady Une as the civilian head of the Preventers turned toward her present "However we need to know if it is or is not Heero."
"It's Heero." confirmed Zechs as the highest military officer.
"Please tell me you have something more than a feeling?" inquired President Barker as Zechs opened his own file and handed a photo to the president, it was a photo of a spent pistol shell. Thanks to some black dust, a fingerprint was clear as day for all to see. "The finger prints prove its Heero; we have his prints and DNA on file from when he was taken by Sally Poe all those years ago at the start of the Gundam's assault on Earth."
"Heero was wearing gloves how did the prints get on them?" asked Duo
"He didn't have gloves on when he was loading them into the magazine." explained Zechs as the other gundam pilots shared a look with each other.
"What?" inquired Relena as she sat directly to the right to the President; it was a well-known secret that once Relena reached the age requirements for President she would almost certainly get the office. Some political pundits had already joked she was the President in all but name. "This proves it was Heero."
"Heero would know that we would check any spent shells for prints so why wouldn't he clean the rounds to make sure his prints were not found." Explained Trowa "It is a rookie mistake to make something we have all been taught not to do."
"Maybe he left it for us to find?" offered Quatre as he held his tongue making sure not to give any information that he learned last night over dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Yuy. "He said he wanted to do a no contact mission, maybe he left the prints so that if he was discovered he could leave proof of his ID behind."
"That I buy." Confirmed Trowa
"So it is Heero," confirmed Lady Une "Now we just need to find the ID of this woman who broke into Dayton at the same time and helped with the download."
With that the image of red head woman dressed in a Preventer uniform appeared on the screen at the far end of the room. Quatre tried and secede in hiding his recognition as he looked at the face of Lunamaria Yuy.
"With her acting as his spy in Dayton and him in France they downloaded almost 90% of all our files including those in the highest databases." Explained President Barker "They know almost everything we know."
"The highest files are encrypted it would take them weeks to break into the lowest level encryption." Added the technical aid
"So Heero should have them all unlocked within a day." Added Zechs as the technical aid glared at him "He has the Zero system and if he has improved Wing Zero and made it into Wing Angel you can bet he has done the same with the Zero system."
"I have to agree with the lightening count on this one since Heero seamed more emotional than normal when he spoke." Noted Duo as he looked down at his own paperwork "A new Zero system would be totally within the realm of possibility considering all the other toys he now has his buster rifle, two swords, energy shields and these feathers."
"He could have almost anything in that suit of his." Offered Lady Une
Far away from the halls of power, another meeting was taking place on Thames River, two women sat on a riverside coffee and tea house within sight of the historic warship HMS Belfast, the tower of London and tower bridge. Both of them sat looking out at the historic landmarks.
"All this was destroyed in the Break the World Incident." Noted Lunamaria Yuy as she looked at the tower of London's ancient stonewalls. "Water from the tidal waves spread across the world and came up the Thames smashing everything in its path."
"If you hadn't shown me the video I wouldn't have understood the scale." expressed Dorothy with such sadness remembering the historical video that Heero and Luna had shown them last night.
"That Warship ended up beached on top of what used to be four storied building." Added Lunamaria as she remembered the photos of it from the news "And London was one of the lightest hit, whole Indian cities where flooded for weeks with bodies floating in the streets. Sorry I shouldn't go on like that."
"It's a horrible event," confirmed Dorothy as she looked up and over Luna's shoulder, "You may want to put a smile on your face."
"Dorothy!" cried another woman as Luna turned to see a black haired woman with short hair walking toward them. Behind her were four other women, instantly Luna recognized them from the photos on her husband's desk only the youngest was unknown to her.
"Hilde it has been too long." Laughed Dorothy as she stood up and hugged her friend, behind her walking in tight formation was Noin, Sally Poe and Catherine Bloom. The only one unknown to her was a young woman maybe 15 or 16 years old with long red hair and deep blue eyes.
"Ah, how is Mariemaia, Noin I wasn't expecting you two?" greeted Dorothy to the young woman who was already considered a political leader duo to her father being Treize Khushrenada and her adopted mother being Lady Une. On top of her parents the fact that Relena had taken the young girl under her wing as almost like a big sister/mentor it was clear she was being groomed for leadership.
"Lady Une wanted someone to protect her daughter," explained Noin as she noticed Luna sitting at the table where Dorothy had been sitting.
"Ah, this is one of my friends Lunamaria," explained Dorothy "I hope it is alright that she joins us for some food?"
"No problem." Added Catherine as she sat beside Luna as the rest of the women moved around to take their seats, two more chairs where quickly brought out by the staff as the eight women ordered more drinks and some food.
"So Lunamaria?" started Sally
"Please call me Luna," offered Luna as the older woman smiled "So where do you know Dorothy?"
"We just meet actually but my husband knows Quatre." Explained Luna hoping that they would not ask how the husband's know each other.
"I see." answered Noin as she studied the woman, something just did not seem right about her. She could not place a finger on it but something wasn't sitting right with her about the woman.
"So you are all related in some way to the gundam pilots?" inquired Luna as Hilde smiled and nodded her head.
"Noin and I are married to one each, Dorothy will soon be in the same boat as us, a few years ago we found that Catherine is Trowa's lost sister." started Hilde as Luna's head snapped toward Catherine.
"Your Trowa's sister?" asked Luna
"It was a surprise to all of us. I thought my entire family had died in the crossfire during an uprising, I thought my brother lived though it. It wasn't Trowa pulled some strings to have a search done in the DNA database the we found it, it was him." explained Catherine "It was amazing to finally find my brother and it explained why I was always somewhat protective of him."
"I understand, my husband had a reunion with a sister he never knew he had." Explained Luna as Dorothy's eyes widened as she realized what Luna was saying.
"Shit we forgot to tell her about Stella." Thought Luna as drank some more tea and made some small talk with the women and got to know them.
Across the road from them near the top floor of a towering news building, an older woman dressed in a teal pantsuit walked through the newsroom.
"Frank I need three so called experts of politics and Heero Yuy ready for my show at four." ordered the woman as her stage manager nodded his head toward possibly the most respected news reporter in the world, Mrs. Ann Brown. Mrs. Ann Brown had been in the news business for almost fifty years and had reported from multiple battlefields and had interviewed every political leader in the world. "And try to make sure they have something new to say instead or repeating the same old shit, it isn't news if it is the same stuff from yesterday."
"Yes, Mrs. Brown." Confirmed Frank as the old woman entered her corner office closing the door behind her.
"I need a nap, I can't keep going at my age." complained the 83 year old Mrs. Brown as she moved to sit down behind her desk only to stop when she saw a finger dressed in a white military uniform standing by her window looking out over the river.
"Who are you?" inquired Mrs. Brown as the man turned to her only to show her the face of Heero Yuy.
"Mrs. Brown, I am Admiral Heero Yuy Orb Special Forces Angel squadron I believe you saw the little skirmish I was in a few days ago." Greeted Heero as the old woman blinked at him not once but three times.
"Heero Yuy?" inquired Mrs. Brown
"Yes, now I have an offer for you." said Heero as he placed his white orb military uniform cap down on the oaken coffee table located between two lounge chairs.
"An offer?" inquired Mrs. Brown
"Yes, my reintroduction went off horrible and I need to correct that," explained Heero "I want you to interview me."
"Really?" asked Mrs. Brown with a smile she knew what the first interview with Heero Yuy would be worth not only in terms of rating but to her legacy of news. She was already consider a legend the equal of Walter Cronkite but this may put her over the top. "Any conditions?"
"I have two, first I will not answer any military questions and second you will wait four hours after I leave the building before airing the interview." explained Heero as he looked at the watch "That would be 3 in the afternoon. Those are my demands."
"Very well, let's get you into makeup and in front of a camera," ordered Mrs. Brown as Heero shock his head.
"No, we do it in here. The less people who knows I am here the better." ordered Heero as Mrs. Brown nodded before reaching for her phone.
"Frank can you get Chris and the sound crew up here I need to talk to them and tell them to bring their portable gear and get my makeup man up here as well." snapped Mrs. Brown into the phone.
"Why?" asked Frank
"We have a deep throat," said Ann knowing that was company code for an inside source which needed to kept secret. It also told everyone that something was going on but did not tell them what. Today people would expect some Preventer officer releasing information about Heero but no one would believe Heero himself was in European office of the largest 24 hour news company in the world.
It took only a few minutes for the three men to enter the room with the camera and sound equipment, at first they simply looked at Heero with surprised before their training took over and they went to work setting up the cameras, lights and sound equipment. Within ten minutes, Heero was sitting down across from Mrs. Brown with the cameras on him.
"Welcome and today we have a special guest Admiral Heero Yuy of the Orb Military, you may know him from the gundam wars and more recently the battle in Southern France." started Mrs. Brown before turning toward Heero "Heero you left our universe and have spent almost 9 years in another version of Earth."
"Correct, I am a veteran of both Bloody Valentines wars between Earth and Zaft." confirmed Heero "I joined the Orb military near the end of the second war and formed Angel Squadron with the other gundam pilots. Our goal it the same as your Preventers to make sure there is peace in the world."
"Some would say that the only ways for there to be peace is for coordinators not to be around since they are not human and they will cause a war between the races." said Mrs. Brown
"I would have to disagree with you, half my friends are coordinators and they are just as human as anyone else." stated Heero as he took a deep breath to deliver what was likely to be the headline of the news report "My wife is a coordinator."
"Your…wife?" asked Mrs. Brown as she tried and failed to hide her surprise.
"Yes, I have been married for just over a year and a half now to Lunamaria," explained Heero as he pulled out a photo of Lunamaria dancing with him on their wedding day with their gundams in the background. "She is a pilot just like me."
"Beautiful woman." said Mrs. Brown as she looked at the woman "But what about Relena Peacecraft don't you love her?"
"Relena was my first love and I will never forget her but once during a battle the Zero system gave me a choice between going to Relena and staying with Luna. I choice Luna." explained Heero "I still have a photo of her and the other of my friends from here on my desk right beside photos of my coordinators friends. Maybe once this is all over a joint photo could happen."
Just over an hour later Relena and her other friends and family where sitting inside a black unmarked SUV as it moved though London traffic toward the only thing she was looking forward to all day. A light rain had started falling meaning that instead of sitting out under the warm sun she would be inside. The SUV came to a stop and Relena stepped out before walking into the restrount only to be greated by the sound of laughter. She turned toward the source to see the rest of her friends sitting around a table enjoying some food and drink.
"Relena." greeted Dorothy with a smile as walked toward her friend, the whole establishment had been rented out for their get together only two waiters, a barman and the cooking staff where in the building as Zechs, Duo, Wufei, Trowa, Quatre and Lady Une entered after Relena.
"It's great to see you," said Relena as she kissed Dorothy on both cheeks before turning toward the large table, she knew everyone around the table they were her family. "It's been so long since all of us have been together."
"You don't know how right you are." said a female voice as Relena's eyes fell on the one person she did not know, the red headed woman. For a moment she did not realize who was sitting there, Duo was the first as he pulled his pistol from his holster and pointed it at the woman.
"Duo what are you doing?" yelled Hilde as he kept his gun trained on the woman she had become friends with over the past few hours.
"He is doing is job." confirmed Luna as she stood up and raised her hands before moving toward Relena.
"She broke into the Preventer base in Dayton to steal files." Stated Wufei as he and Trowa pulled their own guns, only Zechs and Quatre did not pull theirs. By now Noin and Sally Po where up and their guns also drawn.
"You can put your guns down." ordered Luna as she looked at Noin and Sally over her shoulder "I took the magazines from them a long time ago."
Both women quickly lowered their weapons realizing just by weight alone the guns where empty.
"Don't worry I am not here to hurt you, we want to talk and maybe have lunch together." explained Luna as she took one of her hands and took off the colored contacts from her eyes changing them from green to the indigo color which was unnatural.
"You're a coordinator?" said Relena in surprise as Luna blinked from the contacts.
"Yes and can we please lower the weapon?" asked Luna as she looked at the three guns pointed at her "You wouldn't fire anyhow so why keep the weapons out?"
"Why wouldn't we?" asked Wufei
"Look at her placement; she has positioned herself so that if we shoot our wives are in the line of fire." Reported Zechs as Luna grinned.
"Also the guns up in the balcony doesn't hurt." added Luna as Duo looked up to see two heavy machine guns set up on automatic turrets locked on them. They all knew that with a push of a button the room would be painted red with their blood. It was a clear case if you kill me I kill you so the best move was not to play.
"So we are captured?" snared Relena as she looked up at the guns "If I don't report back in two hours they will come looking for us and my proactive detail is outside, you're trapped."
"No we are not and neither are you." said Luna with a smile "You're free to leave and we will not harm you but it's the only chance you may have to ask questions before the world knows and you would like to know before the world."
"Knows what?" asked Lady Une
"Why we are here and who I am?" explained Luna her eyes never leaving Relena.
"Why would I care who you are?" snapped an angry Relena as the woman smiled
"Maybe you should ask who she is Relena?" came a voice which caused Relena's heart to soar. As everyone turned to see Heero Yuy walking out from the kitchen, he was dressed in a green shirt and jeans, with a black jacket over it all. He paid no mind to the pistols which were still in peoples ands and the two robotic turrets in the upper dinning area.
"Heero." said Relena as her heart soared as Heero walked closer and closer to her however he made no move to embraced her instead he moved toward the woman and kissed her lovely on the lips. He even placed a hand on her cheek as both of them closed their eyes. That kiss was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off in her heart as everyone else just blinked confused at the sight of Heero kissing a woman who wasn't Relena.
"Had fun with the girls?" asked Heero as he pulled away.
"Too many lies but it was still fun." Admitted Luna as Heero shrugged.
"Nature of the beast." explained Heero "Want a drink?"
"Sure, the usual please." said Luna as Heero walked back toward the bar and pass his stunned friends. Duo's mouth hung opened as he tried to process what he just saw as he stood there, Heero stopped beside him.
"Duo if you or anyone else points a gun at my wife again I will personally kill whoever is doing it." explained Heero before placing a hand on Duo's shoulder before moving on.
"W…wife?" stuttered Duo in amazement as everyone else just blinked as the realized who Luna was.
"I should introduce myself fully." Expressed Luna as she took a deep breath and offered her hand again to Relena but she just blinked and looked at the red headed woman "I told them my name is Lunamaria Hawke but Hawke is my maiden name, I am in truth Vice Admiral Lunamaria Yuy."
"Good now that the Masquerade is over can we have a nice lunch like civilized people?" inquired Dorothy with a smile.
Well I hope you liked this chapter and how I introduced Luna to Heero's old friends, now until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.