A/N: Thank you to those who are reading thus far. I'm assuming it means the story at least piqued your interest. :) I hope this story continues to do so until the end. Enjoy!
Part 4/6
Chapter 4: The Labyrinth of Scarlet Manor
One day before Peacecraft Banquet
The boys were seated in one of the meeting rooms of their headquarters with Lady Une. Stacks of documents were all over the large mahogany table that there was barely any space for anyone to place even an elbow. In front of the vast curtain-covered window was a dry erase board cluttered with words and arrows. It was no doubt a chain of relationships and interactions of some sort between Rothman and Strauss. Although on the corner of the board, there were two words circled separately several times and surrounded by question marks: OZ and vigilante. There was no doubt of a connection between Rothman and Strauss as they were both members of the ESUN. It was the question of their relationship with former OZ members. After two days of interrogating Strauss' hitmen and tussling through seemingly infinite amounts of document, they were able to piece everything together.
Lady Une rubbed her temples. "This entire time…I can't believe it was Rothman and Strauss who had been importing and selling gundanium alloy to those people."
Wufei had his glasses on and was scribbling more notes on their board. "They were initially unaware that they were competitors. Strauss intended to have Rothman assassinated during the banquet along with the Cabinet members. That way, his seat in the Cabinet would be guaranteed."
"And a seat in the Cabinet would enable him to get closer to the Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft." Heero said as he typed away on his laptop. "But Rothman planned the same thing as Strauss, and both of them hired outside work to take the other out before taking out the Cabinet. Something tells me that this was more than just taking out the competition."
"I agree with Yuy," Wufei turned to the group, recalling the interrogation. "When Maxwell and I got through, they revealed that Strauss mentioned that he had to take out Rothman because there was only room for one of them."
Duo interjected, "At first, it sounded like just a bunch of power-hungry bureaucrats, but it seems like someone else is pulling the strings. One of the men clearly said, 'Strauss was afraid to lose favor, so he had to take out Rothman'. The major question here is who was Strauss afraid to lose favor to?"
Lady Une stood up and stepped away from the desk. The clacking of her high heels echoed in the room until she stopped at the board. With a marker in hand, she began connecting Rothman and Strauss' name to OZ. Her hand trembled faintly as she remembered her days in OZ during the war.
"Whoever they're afraid of is obviously from this group. They were more than just suppliers." Slowly she brought up her hand to her lips, deep in thought. "I think…they're regrouping again."
"They're regrouping and yet there's someone eliminating their own?" Quatre was exasperated and completely appalled by the idea.
"It's not uncommon." Lady Une murmured bitterly. Her eyes dimmed as memories of her former self shooting General Septum after she had manipulated the man in denouncing the Gundams.
"Lady Une," Trowa whispered, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. He recognized the signs of an old soldier drowning in guilt. Everyone had their own scars to carry from the war. "It's all in the past. The best you can do is try to remember. Maybe, you might know who is taking charge."
She laughed wryly, shaking her head. Her hand grasped onto Trowa's and squeezed it faintly as a way of thanks before walking to the closest chair. "Honestly, I doubt I'd remember. After I had come out from that coma, many faces and names became blurry."
"Then," Heero started to say as he still typed on his laptop, "We have to find out through Rothman. And maybe—" He glanced at the board where 'vigilante' was circled, "the girl."
Quatre followed Heero's gaze and murmured in agreement. At remembering the navy-eyed woman, his lips turned to a frown. The woman had been on the trail of this anarchist group. Only now did they've begun to piece together of a possible threat to the peace they had worked hard to achieve years ago. It was then he recalled that peculiar emotion he saw in her eyes. The flare in her eyes mirrored her resolve—to kill Strauss, to kill Rothman, to stop yet another anarchist group from revolting. For what purpose exactly, he wasn't sure. It was almost as if she was at war; take no prisoners. They no longer followed that code since the end of the war. Killing was a last resort. It wasn't necessary to kill any of them even if they were malicious. Quatre wished that the woman would see the same.
Lady Une's voice cut through his thoughts. "If we're going to pin Rothman, we have to be sure to detain the men he hired in the act before they finish their job. We can't accuse the ambassador without evidence. And if that vigilante comes your way, which I have no doubts she will be, protect Rothman and apprehend her. I'm sure she has information that could help us."
Duo sighed loudly. "We certainly got our work cut out for us. Catch the bad guys, arrest Rothman, protect him, arrest the girl—yeah, this is going to be as easy as pie." Quatre chuckled beside him and gave him a pat on the back.
Wufei rolled his eyes at the comment while Trowa just shook his head.
Heero finally shut his laptop closed. "We don't have a lot of time on our hands. Let's get to work."
The day of the Peacecraft banquet finally arrived. Every year to commemorate the peace treaty between the colonies and Earth, and the birth of the Earth Sphere United Nation (ESUN), this banquet was held. As the day slowly rolled to night, all the government officials began to gather at the Scarlet Manor. The Scarlet Manor was renowned for having the largest banquet hall among the colonies. If not for the vast banquet hall, the manor's architecture was also a striking feature to beget its excellent reputation.
Scarlet Manor was surrounded by a lake which sparkled against the moonlight that evening. Cars drove in and out through the concrete bridge that was built from the main roads to the manor. Once passing the metal arched gates, the entrance was filled with valets waiting to give service and security guards to not only keep an eye out for trouble but to also check the list of guests arriving.
The inside of the manor was just as extravagant. Upon entering the threshold, the warm and friendly ambiance immediately filled the air. Pillars were lined up all the way down from the entrance to the banquet hall. Walls of ivory were dressed with vermillion curtains trimmed with gold. The crystal chandeliers which hung from the seemingly unbounded ceiling illuminated brightly revealing the evermore luster of the beige marble floors.
A lengthy red carpet rolled out from the entrance down to the grand staircase and into the elegant hallway. The hallway was adorned with expensive art pieces and statues. There were a set of weaving staircases on either side of two white double doors that were at the end of the hallway. The stairs led up to the indoor balcony which could be seen above the double doors. Further in through the balcony was sign that there were more hallways leading to other parts of the manor. And finally within the double doors was the main event in the banquet hall. The banquet hall was filled with round tables covered in ivory sheets. High officials, ambassadors, and many more packed the floor of the manor, idly chatting away before the start of the dinner.
With the celebration about to start, the Preventers began increasing security all around the manor. With the most obvious entry points covered by security, the ex-pilots took control of guarding the hidden underground tunnels of the manor. These tunnels were built as a means of escape. If anyone wanted to get into the banquet unseen, this was, by far, the best approach; given the person knew their way through the tunnels. The tunnels were modeled like a labyrinth to confuse trespassers. Now the escape route from the manor itself was uncomplicated. A set of stairs would lead down to a tunnel, and at the end of that tunnel would be a thick concrete wall. It would appear that they were led to a dead end. On the contrary, there was a switch on the side of the wall to trigger it to slide over to their freedom right outside the arched gates. Escape was pretty straightforward. Infiltrating wasn't the same.
There was no switch on the outside allowing the concrete wall to slide in thus purging the idea of those who've gone through the escape route from trying to sneak back in. To get into the tunnels, there was another secret tunnel entrance. The tunnel was dark, but only for a short while until it would lead to a very intricate maze. What made this secret passageway so unique was that each time it opened, whoever entered would never start in the same place of the maze, twice. It would almost appear that the maze was ever changing. The truth of the matter was—
"It's rotating." Heero said as he looked at the map of the maze.
"It's what? Rotating?" Duo dipped forward to get a closer look of the map, and to better understand his comrade's discovery of something rotating.
Quatre, Wufei and Trowa, too, leaned in to understand Heero's discovery. It took a few moments before one of them, Trowa, said, "I see now."
He grabbed a pencil nearby and began to draw on the map. Starting where the entrance tunnel began, he started to circle around the entire map until it returned back around to its starting point, thus encompassing the maze and entrance tunnel in a bigger circle. It was just as Heero said.
"The entrance tunnel is the one that rotates around the maze. That's why no one ever finds themselves in the same place the second time around. And see here," Trowa pointed to the dead ends all around the borders of the maze, "they are all potential starting points depending where the entrance tunnel stops."
"Oh great," Duo scratched the back of his head, sweatdropping at the new discovery. "So we're being spun around like Russian Roulette. Wherever we start, it's all by chance."
Trowa and Quatre laughed at the clever analogy.
With the mystery solved, it was only the matter of the maze itself that needed to be deciphered since where they would begin was purely by chance. Despite the unique intricacies of the tunnels, they had somehow figured a way to crack the system. They were unsure of the number of men Rothman had hired, and ended up separating into different sectors to cover more space.
/Do not engage if there's too many. Call for backup./ Trowa said in the earpiece. They all wore one to keep each other inform about any suspicion or danger. Suddenly, the rumbling of applause above them revealed the start of the banquet.
/Show time./ Duo said after the rumblings ceased.
An hour and a half passed, and there was still no sign of any trouble. There was no movement, no disturbances or anything; just the hushed tones of classical music playing from the party above them. Everyone was becoming restless. And the longer they stayed in the tunnels, the more they realized how dim, chilly, and web-infested these tunnels were after all these years. It didn't even look like anyone had gone through these tunnels even once in the last decade. Perhaps that the existence of this secret passageway had gone unnoticed.
/You know,/ Duo started to say, /there's a more likely chance that they're going to attack from the surface instead./
There was a palpable sound of indignation over the radio. /Our place is down here in the tunnels. Be quiet and do your job./ Heero reprimanded.
They continued their patrol in silence afterwards. There were still hours more before the banquet ended. If there were any attacks from the surface as Duo suggested earlier, they didn't hear any rumblings of thousands of people running and screaming above them. As Wufei turned at the bend, a familiar braid bounced ahead of him before turning left at the corner ahead. He furrowed his brows and placed his hand on his earpiece.
"Maxwell!" he hissed as quietly as he could into the radio, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be watching your sector. Did you get lost?"
/What! Lost?! What are you even talking about? I don't get lost. I am in my sector!/
"What?" That certainly couldn't be right. Wufei was sure he wasn't delusional. He cautiously walked down the passage, his gun at the ready. Wufei paused and pressed his back to the wall by the corner where he first caught a glimpse of the braid. As he glanced over the corner, he once again saw the braided individual sprinting from shadow to shadow with a gun in hand. He noted that they were also getting closer to the tunnel leading up to the manor.
/What's going on, Wufei?/ Trowa asked over the radio.
"There's someone here. I've counted one so far."
/Are you okay on your own?/ He heard Quatre ask.
"Yeah I'll be fine."
/Let us know if there's trouble./ Heero said before the radio went silent.
Wufei followed the shady individual, hoping to take them down by surprise. The closer he got to the Duo look-alike, the more the person looked nothing like him. For one thing, their figure was more slender and had curves in places he was sure Duo did not have. And if that wasn't a dead giveaway, this imposter was a good two inches shorter than Wufei. The real Duo was at least a quarter inch taller than him. He knew it well because the braided ex-pilot always teased him on their height differences, which only infuriated Wufei further.
This has to be the woman from the café. Wufei mused, silently sneaking closer to the imposter.
As soon as he got close enough, he pressed the barrel of his gun against the back of their head. "Slowly put your gun on the ground, and—"
The imposter spun around with one hand outstretched, knocking the gun away from Wufei. And before he could even react, a kick to his chest had thrown him off balance. He recovered quickly with a back flip the moment his hand grounded itself for momentum. Once upright, he gave her no time to even aim. He rushed towards her hurling his fist to her stomach. There was no way for her to avoid the hit. Right before his fist landed, he saw her jump back with the motion, significantly lessening the force of the blow and avoiding what could have been a knockout punch. She tumbled backwards from the force. He heard her curse and hiss in pain.
Fast thinking on her part… To say the least, he was impressed with her reflexes. Although her fast reflexes alone wouldn't help her win against him. He could hear his comrades' voices in his head, asking what was going on, but he ignored them to concentrate on his fight.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glint of her gun that had fallen when she took his punch. Wufei made a grab for it only to be stopped by a roundhouse kick aimed for his head. The woman was definitely fast to come running at him like this. He only had time to block the kick with his forearm. The force dropped him to the floor. He took that opportunity to swipe his leg at her ankles causing her to fall on her back. They both got up swiftly, but Wufei got to the gun first. He aimed, but she was already too close. Her right hand reached for his wrist attempting to disarm him. Instinctively, he grabbed her forearm and twisted himself around to flip her over his shoulder. With a resounding thud, she landed on their back against the cold hard ground. She groaned at the pain. When she finally opened her eyes, she found herself staring into the barrel of Wufei's gun. She heaved deep breaths as she glowered at Wufei. He had been right. This was the woman from the café.
When her breath finally steadied, she sighed dejectedly, "I didn't think I'd run into any of you Preventers anytime soon."
"Your impersonation of my comrade was very weak. You should've chosen a better disguise. Now, get up, slowly. Hands behind your head."
/Wufei, what's going on?/ It was Quatre.
"The woman from the café, I have her." He watched her sit up, her back turned to him, and placing her hands behind her head.
/I'm heading to you./ Both Trowa and Heero murmured.
Wufei carefully watched the woman sit in silence. He and the others knew that she worked outside the laws of society. Her goal was to eliminate all those who were planning to rebel against the current alliance between the Earth and Colonies to start another war. A part of him could understand that desire—that need for justice, and the direct approach to kill the perpetrators seem to be the only effective method.
"I used to be like you."
"What?" She was startled, but more by the fact that he was making conversation with her rather than the comment itself.
"Fighting for the weak. Restoring justice where it's needed. One death to justify the lives of all."
She blinked, astounded. Not that he could see since her back was facing Wufei. "If you understand, why are you with the Preventers now?"
"Because if everyone followed the path you're on, we'd be burying more innocent people than saving them." He could see clearly how her shoulders tensed up at his statement. "And the path you're on isn't for those innocent people as you claim to—"
"Excuse me?" She flared.
"And you show no mercy to your enemies—"
"Do you think they deserve mercy? Those people—"
"Those people are malicious and foul, but they are still human. You say you're fighting for the weak, but killing everyone off isn't the answer. You're on a path of revenge."
He expected her to lash out, but all that was returned was cold silence. Her shoulders went slack. He could hear her breathe in deeply before she decided to speak.
"Revenge, huh? I can't really deny that, I guess," She murmured, "But the innocent benefit from my revenge. I don't think—"
"Do you think they'd benefit from your death?"
"I don't see why not." She answered with a shrug. Her response came way too abruptly for his comfort. "I'd think after I'm done, there would be peace."
"Maybe. But there are better ways to go about this without becoming an emotionless killing machine."
"I don't think I'm that—"
There was a faint and distinct click.
She clicked her tongue. "Someone's coming."
He knew she wasn't lying when he heard the soft thumping of boots approaching. It definitely wasn't Trowa or Heero. Wufei looked behind him to see two masked men looking in their direction. Before they gunned them down, Wufei was hastily shoved to the side behind one of the walls. He held the back of his head, cursing in his native tongue. The sounds of guns firing echoed through the tunnels, alarming the rest of the Preventers.
/Wufei, are you okay? What's going on?/ Wufei could hear the echo of gunshots over the radio. Trowa was closeby.
"There are two men, armed, keeping us pinned. I'm fine if not a little disoriented." He muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry," She uttered as she returned shots at their enemy. "I should've been more delicate, but there wasn't enough time to gracefully pull you aside."
"Thanks…" The dripping sarcasm incensed him, but he didn't argue. There was no time for arguments right now. In fact, there was no time to even apprehend her under the circumstances. He grabbed a gun nearby, whose it was didn't matter anymore, and looked at the woman once more. After she fired a couple more shots at their enemy, she braced her back to the wall to take cover once more. It was then she noticed Wufei's gaze.
She guessed what had been troubling him. "I have no time to deal with you right now, but if you'd still like to arrest me go ahead. But if you're not, then let's deal with this first. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"
Wufei nodded, "Just for now." He took the space closest to the corner in front of the woman and crouched down in order to make his returning shots.
"Ah, your friends are nearby."
Sure enough, Wufei saw the men shooting in a different direction. After being overwhelmed with bullets from different directions, both men were pinned down and cornered before taken down by Heero and Trowa.
"Good, we made it in time," said Trowa who tied up two of Rothman's thugs. He raised his brows at the sight of the Duo look-alike standing beside Wufei. And before another word was said, Heero raised the gun to her neck.
"Drop the gun."
She visibly swallowed and dropped the gun. "Got it…"
"Please!" One of the men yelled. "You have to let us go! We're going to die here if we don't!"
"What do you mean?" Heero's face darkened in anger as he turned to the man.
"Rothman set up bombs in the banquet hall! We're only supposed to set up more in the tunnels and outside the gates! Please!"
"But," All eyes turned to the woman. She looked at Heero nervously as he only pushed the gun harder against her neck. Then, she continued, "Isn't he only after the Cabinet members? With that many explosives, he'll take out everyone, even Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft."
"He won't take out the Vice Foreign Minister." The man said, "They always make her priority in evacuations. Once she's out, Rothman will take out the Cabinet members—"
"And anyone else around them!" Trowa clenched his fist. "It won't matter to him as long as the Cabinet members are out of the way!"
"How many are there!?" Wufei reached out to grab one of the men by their collar.
"I-I'm not sure! We're just setting up the last of the bombs. H-He has men at the ready to crash the party as the distraction."
"When?! And where will Rothman be?!" Trowa demanded.
The other man answered, "We don't know. All we know is that he has the detonator and this place can collapse anytime now!"
"Shit." The ex-pilots muttered in unison.
Heero turned to Trowa, "Trowa, take these two and the woman out of here. I'll disarm the bombs. We'll get Duo and Quatre to have everyone evacuate—"
A thunderous pounding echoed through the tunnels. Muffled shouts and screams could be heard over them. Rothmen's plan was beginning to reach its final climax. They tensed up and felt the adrenaline running through their veins. There was not a lot of time left now.
"We have to disarm those bombs NOW." Wufei said and looked to the two men. "Show us where they are."
"Hey!" Heero yelled as the woman did a leg sweep during the distraction. As soon as he was on the ground, she grabbed her gun and ran off. Wufei shot at her feet to neutralize her, but none of the shots hit. She was already gone. Heero growled and was about to run after her when Trowa grabbed his arm.
"There's no time," said Trowa, "We need to disarm the bombs."
He reluctantly concurred. Placing a hand on his earpiece, he called out, "Duo, Quatre."
/Yeah./ Both Duo and Quatre answered.
"We need you to go and find Rothman. He's set up explosives everywhere and he has the detonator. We'll try to disarm the bombs. You'll probably run into that woman too. She ran off. And she's no doubt looking for Rothman too."
/Got it./ Quatre replied.
Duo's voice brimmed with confidence. /We'll get to him before she does./
A/N: I'm not very well versed in action scenes, but I hope that the readers got the picture. Also, the idea of the labyrinth was inspired of many hours playing Professor Layton. For anyone who loves puzzles and mind-boggling riddles, Professor Layton is a must. Anyway, let me know what you thought in a review! I'd appreciate feedback! Thank you!