A/N: The story is almost done. One more chapter after this. Thank you for those who are reading this far. Although it'd be nice for a review to let me know that you're enjoying the story *hint hint*

Part 5/6

Chapter 5: Rothman's Demise

The banquet was in total chaos. Rothman's little army had broken into the manor, ready to shoot down anyone who got in their way. Security had done their best in taking out most of their forces, but there was simply too many of them to begin with. Their own forces were either shot down or pushed back all the way out of the entrance doors of the manor. The guests had closed up the hall doors and blocked it with several chairs and tables in an attempt to hinder the enemies from breaking through. They only needed to hold it off long enough for Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft and the Cabinet members to escape into the tunnels. Rothman, who had handily left the banquet hall before the chaos, smirked at the top of the grand staircase. Everything was going according to plan. He clutched the detonator in his hands, waiting…

"Rothman!" Rothman's eyes widened and turned to the sound of his name. Somehow among the chaos, someone had escaped and found him just nearing the pinnacle of his plan. He scowled at the braided individual that had dared to ruin his plans. His teeth tightened as the anger bubbled inside him. There should've been no trouble at all. His plan should've been perfect.

"Who are you?!" Rothman yelled.

The braided character grinned, "Duo Maxwell at your service!" He cocked his gun at Rothman. "Give me the detonator, and I won't shoot."

Somewhere in the halls behind Duo were sounds of gunshots and men yelling in pain. Rothman was sure that it was his men being taken out too. He gritted his teeth. "You're not alone, are you?"

"Nope," Another voice said nearby. From behind Duo, Quatre appeared with a gun also pointing at Rothman. "There are more of us. The Preventers already know what your plans are."

Duo glared. "So give up the remote. It's already over."

They had expected for Rothman to rage about his plans unraveling, or maybe even trembling in fear at the thought of losing everything he had worked hard for. Instead, the man just cackled. Duo and Quatre looked at one another in confusion.

"No matter, I will still finish the job and take out the Cabinet members." He ran down the grand staircase.

"What!" Quatre and Duo began firing at Rothman to stop him. Many of their bullets grazed through parts of the man's attire. A couple of them actually penetrated his skin around his legs, but still it was not enough to stop him from running off. Rothman ran through the hall, nearing the closed banquet hall doors where many of his men stood.

He stood next to his men, and commanded, "Shoot at them!"

As soon as his men showered them with bullets, Duo and Quatre immediately took cover behind the pillars. They tried to return fire but they couldn't do much damage.

"There's too many of them!" Duo yelled.

"Heero, we can't get to Rothman!" Quatre yelled over the sound of gunshots into the radio.

/We're almost done disarming the bombs. We need a little more time./

Duo nodded, "Okay. We'll do our best, but you better hurry!"

Almost like clockwork, a peculiar round metal ball rolled past the two of them and down the end of the hall. One of Rothman's men fired at it and set up a small explosion, crippling some of their forces. More shots were fired but from the opposite direction, taking out a couple more from battle. From the grand staircase, Duo and Quatre saw a braided character run in, shooting at Rothman's forces. The moment their eyes met, Quatre blinked in shock. He couldn't forget her eyes.

"It's her!" Quatre exclaimed, "The woman from the café."

When she took cover behind a pillar closest to them, Duo couldn't help but gape at her disguise.

"Are you supposed to be disguised as me?"

She answered him by rolling her eyes before she continued to fire back at their enemies.

"Seriously, why?!" He yelled dubiously.

Her eye twitched. "Are you seriously asking me now at a time like this? You heard your friend earlier. There isn't a lot of time."

Without further complaints, Quatre and Duo moved in closer, still taking cover behind a pillar while the enemy continued to fire. The two of them alone were able to injure a good number of their forces, but they couldn't move past enemy lines. They were stuck to the closest pillars near the double doors. And Rothman was already on the move. Duo set his back against the pillar to take cover from oncoming fire. Above him in the balcony, he could see Rothman running with the detonator in his hand. More of them were coming in, and they began to close in on them. At this rate, they wouldn't catch Rothman in time.

"Dammit, he's getting away!" Duo yelled as he continued shooting back at their adversaries.

There was a sudden hurried tapping of footsteps before a voice yelled, "Sorry!"

"Wha—" Duo turned his head and suddenly felt a heavy pressure upon his shoulders before being forcefully pushed backwards. The woman had run up behind him at full speed, and used his shoulders as a stepping stone to reach the balcony above them. As he fell back on his butt, he blinked in bewilderment at his supposed look-alike running after Rothman. He shook his head and grimaced whilst rubbing his shoulders. "Haa…Damn woman could've given the warning a little earlier."

Rothman kept running until he reached the farthest side of the Scarlet Manor. He would be away from all the chaos that would descend upon the Cabinet members. The Preventers presence down in the tunnels had caught him off guard; they knew Rothman was not what he appeared, but it no longer mattered. His men would distract them long enough for him to eliminate the Cabinet members. That itself was enough. Even if he would no longer be one of the new Cabinet members, Rothman was sure that he would find himself in that man's favor. He would save him somehow if Rothman did this right. This was his final chance to complete the plan. His maniacal grin grew wide as he looked down at the detonator in his hand.

A gunshot rang in the cold crisp air. The detonator dropped while a bullet imbedded itself in his hand. He screamed in pain and looked up at the perpetrator.

It was that woman who was alongside the Preventers.

She roughly pushed Rothman against the ledge, his face looking down at his possible doom. He tried to struggle but a sharp prick on the back of his neck stilled him. Slowly, he turned his head. The woman's blade shone against the light of the moon as its tip hovered over his vulnerable neck. Following the blade up, he looked into the eyes of his executioner. She narrowed her eyes and placed a foot on his back to shove him into the ledge once again. He glowered at her even when she held up her gun with her other hand, and pointed it at the back of his skull.

Rothman sneered, "Better let me go, girl. The Preventers will be here any minute to take you. And if you kill me now, I guarantee you'll get the death penalty."

She didn't even bat her eyes at the threat. All she did was lean in closer, her blade moving closer to his jugular. "I'm sure they'd take you in too. They're already well aware of your plans to get rid of the Cabinet members. Your hoodlum friends already ratted you out. And I'm sure by now the Preventers disarmed the explosives—your great and brilliant plan." Suddenly a sardonic smile emerged on her face. "As for killing you though, you're going to need a better threat than that to save your life."

Suddenly, he lost the air in his lungs as she again shoved his body against the ledge, half of his body threatening to fall over. He cursed at her, but she didn't seem to care.

"Who are you working for?" she hissed. Rothman's breath hitched at the distinct click of the safety being released, "Mind you, I don't have a lot of patience."

There were a few hesitant moments before he answered, "You're sadly mistaken, girl. I have no boss."

"You're not giving them up, huh?" The blade slithered down his cheek, leaving a bloody mess along its trail. He shouted profanities, and begged her to stop. His words didn't faze her. "Are you that afraid or just unbearably loyal?"

He growled, "What does that matter? I said I have no—AUGGH!" The blade plunged into the side of his stomach.

"I already said I don't have a lot of patience." She pulled the blade out letting the blood spill. Again, she hit the back of his head with the barrel of her gun. "I suggest you talk now before you die of blood loss."

Rothman pointlessly tried to cover his wound with his bare hands. It left him bloody and in pain. Dread fell upon his features and soon enough his resilience disappeared.

"I-I don't know his name!" When he saw the blade twitch, he yelled out again, "I swear!"

"What do you know?"

"He's called King."

She scoffed, "King? How original."

"King, the one in charge, no one in the lower ranks knows who he is or what he looks like! Whenever we see him or hear from him, it's always through a screen. You can't even see his face! His back or his chair is always turned!"

Her eyes narrowed, "You're lying. You're an ambassador for goodness sake, how can you even be considered one of the lower ranks?"

"I-It's true! Only his personal council knows who he truly is. I was working my way up to be in his favor, possibly become part of his council. H-He told me that there's no room for both Strauss and I to be in his council. S-So I had to get rid of Strauss, and place myself in the Cabinet to get close enough to get rid of the Vice Foreign Minister! If that didn't work, I was just going to get rid of the Cabinet for the King!" Rothman started to panic further as more blood pooled onto the ground. He pleaded, "Please! I've told you all I know! I need to get to a doctor—a hospital! Please!"

"No need." She removed her foot from his back.

"What!" He slowly turned his body around to look at her incredulously. Was she just going to let him slowly die from blood loss?

She placed her gun between Rothman's eyes. Her eyes darkened making every joint in his body stiffen.

"One shot, point-blank. That's all they really need to know."

Her finger twitched against the trigger.

"DON'T!"

She pursed his lips and narrowed her eyes at Rothman. Something wasn't quite right. His eyes were engulfed in the darkness of his upcoming demise and his lips trembled in terror. The voice that left him was desperate, but it wasn't Rothman's voice. Her finger now only stroked the trigger delicately; her gun never lowering from her target. Without leaving her gaze on Rothman, she could hear people running to surround her, cornering her to the ledge.

"Please, drop your knife and gun, Marie."

Oh, now she was fully aware who had yelled earlier. The corner of her mouth twitched faintly as the memories of Marie Bennet crossed her mind. Her job was completed without a hitch much to the Preventers chagrin. And she was sure that he, along with everyone else in his team, was enraged by her actions. So then why did this man say the name in such a lighthearted tone? She didn't know what the man was playing at, but she was game.

"That's not my name, Kyle." She turned her body askew, allowing her to have a better look at the man while still pointing her gun to Rothman.

"So why don't you tell me your name then?" Quatre lowered his own gun onto the floor as a sign of compassion.

Some of the other guys threw perplexed looks at Quatre. Duo was the only one who spoke their concern, "What are you doing?"

All Quatre did was smile at them to let them know it was okay. She couldn't help but arch a brow at the man. Did he really think that it was going to be that simple? Furtively she glanced around at his team. Maybe this was a plan to distract her. If that was it, he was sadly mistaken to think this would be easy. Still, none of them made any movements; only kept their guns pointed at her.

Surprisingly, Quatre sighed dejectedly. "I know that you're just trying to do the right thing here; saving innocent people. But there are better ways to go about this. We're not at war anymore."

"I'm not delusional. I'm fully aware the war has been over for years." She deadpanned.

"Then why are you fighting like we're back in the war?" He took in her confused expression before continuing. "Is what you're doing really saving innocent people?"

"Taking out malevolent people like this bastard here," she shook her gun at Rothman to emphasize, "would help out plenty."

"Violence begets violence. Nothing good can come out of that." He smiled sadly, "At this rate, you're going to lose yourself in this vicious circle—your path of revenge. You don't trust anyone, but soon enough you won't trust yourself if you continue on."

Trust. The words he spoke hit a small nerve in her, but she refused to let it show. She groaned in frustration, not wanting to hear anymore. "I honestly have no idea what game you're playing at here, but I'm getting tired of it."

"No games." Quatre raised both of his hands as if in surrender then took another step forward. "I think…I believe there's a way we can work this out."

Her shoulders tensed and reflexively she took a step back. "We have different ways of working things out, if you haven't realized. You work with a flawed system, I work around it."

"True. Different systems, but that can always change."

"It won't ever change—"

"I trust that it will, and it is changing, slowly."

Again, the word: Trust. The word tasted so foreign in her mouth. She believed she was better off working alone and trusting no one.

"Can't you trust me?" He asked.

She blinked at him in shock. Her father's exact words on the night he talked to her. Again, trust. She looked at the blonde as his eyes glistened with his emotions. Somehow he trusted her when he placed his own weapon down to talk. He trusted her…and that drove her insane. She couldn't fathom it at all. She cringed at the thought. Trust. Could she ever trust anyone entirely? Was it safe? The gun trembled in her hand slightly, her emotions getting the best of her. With an indignant huff, she approached Rothman. The men around her tensed as their fingers went rigid against the trigger at her sudden movement. She pulled Rothman away from the ledge by the collar of his shirt.

"Here," she said gruffly, pushing Rothman to the group around them.

Rothman stumbled and fell in front of the group. His petulant tirade was disregarded as Wufei took that moment to apprehend him. The rest of them watched her carefully. She tried to keep her emotions in check. Trust was such a frustrating and difficult topic for her. She despised talking about it. Her hands clenched tightly around her weapons, irate. She narrowed her eyes at Quatre.

Quatre smiled at her and took a step forward. "Do you trust me?"

She looked up at him, shaking her head. "No," She stepped backwards to the ledge,

Quatre ran forward, reaching out to grab her arm. "Wait—"

The woman was too quick. As she fell backwards over the ledge, she twisted her body around to gracefully dive into the cold, silent lake surrounding the building. The boys watched from the ledge waiting for the woman to resurface, but there was nothing but the ripples in the water.

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