Author's Note: Periodically I feel the need to thank everyone for their follows, favourites, and reviews. You guys always have the most thoughtful comments, ideas, and reactions. So thank you so much for following and reading this story.
Fallout
The recently completed family kitchen was a large open space, equipped with the latest state of the art stainless steel appliances and a complete array of cooking implements. A breakfast bar, separated the dining area from the kitchen proper. Oakwood accents on both sides of the bar unified in the two sections of the kitchen, giving the entire room a sense of modernity not found in the other rooms of the Royal Palace.
This kitchen was separate from the staff kitchen, still under construction in another part of the Palace. This kitchen wasn't meant to act as an operating base for the future full time kitchen staff of the Palace household. This space was reserved for an imagined Royal family to cook for themselves and dine in a more informal manner. It didn't matter that Relena was the only effective residence of the Palace. She wanted to create a spirit of family and intimacy within the Palace to counteract the natural pomp and majesty the rest of building inspired.
It seemed to be working. There was something irresistibly comfortable and intimate about the moment they found themselves in. The light from the overcast sky outside poured through the tall glass doors that led out to an enclosed courtyard, presumably for occasions for outdoor dining should the opportunity arise. Soft shadows caressed Heero's torso, accenting his natural form, reminding Relena of his strength and his surprising gentleness. To her, this all felt like a distant yet familiar dream. In some hidden way, this was all she ever wanted.
She stood at the entrance of the space, just looking at him with adoration. He felt embarrassed but he had always been embarrassed by her attention. He understood on an intellectual level that whatever perceived shortcomings and flaws he found in himself were completely unnoticed by Relena. She had this unique ability to see past what everyone else saw in him, the humorless, stone-faced killer. Still, that fear that one day, she would come to know him and see him as others did, forced him to preempt some distance between them, lest he be shattered when that day came.
But it seemed as though it was not this day and after the torrid confessions and grueling arguments from the night before, Heero felt no need to rehash what had already been said. She looked so beautiful in wearing his shirt, her hair still damp from her shower, with her bare legs exposed. She was everything good in this world and yet all he ever did was make her cry.
"Sit," Heero said as he gestured towards the breakfast bar.
Relena did her very best to contain her giddiness as she hopped onto one of the stools and waited with eager anticipation to be served. Heero placed a plate with poached eggs and bacon on an English muffin in front of her. He then turned around to fetch the Hollandaise sauce and drizzled it all over her eggs. Eggs Benedict! It was one of her favorites, she wondered if he knew that.
She took a bite. It was perfect.
Of course he's good at this too. She mentally rolled her eyes. That was Heero's way. Everything he did, he did with supreme expertise, and those things that he was deficient in, say expressing his inner feelings, he took great pains to avoid. So it should've come as no great surprise that Heero was at the very least an accomplished cook, given his willingness to do such a thing for her.
"I programmed your security system this morning," Heero said as he leaned against the breakfast bar. "The password is peacemillion01, you can change it later if you want. Also, Quatre installed a pretty advanced biometric verification system in addition to the standard password lock. We should get your info into the system."
"I'm sorry, I'm too busy enjoying these eggs," Relena said with her eyes shut, savoring her food. "Do you want some? You should really try this. It's delicious."
"I know, I made it," Heero said with almost a hint of a chuckle.
Relena sighed and slouched slightly as she stared at him, just standing there on the other side of the bar, waiting for her to finish breakfast. "Why are you being so sweet to me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you left," Relena said. "When I came out of the shower, you weren't in my bed and I thought you had just run off again."
"I do tend to do that to you," Heero said.
"I'm glad to hear you admit it," Relena said as she took another bite of her food.
Heero made his way over to the refrigerator took out a bottle of orange juice, grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and came back to the breakfast bar. Sliding one of the glasses over to Relena, he poured her drink first before filling up his. They clinked glasses before they both took a sip.
"I'm glad you're still here," Relena said as she rested her cheek on her hand, still unable to take her eyes off of him.
"Me too," Heero admitted.
"Well I'll admit, that's surprising."
"Look Relena," Heero said as his voice deepened. "I'm still not convinced I can be the man you need me to be. Beyond the war and the things I've done. We're separated by worlds. This… all of this, this is your world. Beneath the Preventers badge, beneath the Gundam pilot, beneath the soldier, I'm just a kid from the street. I'm a stranger here. But..."
"But…" Relena echoed his words with some trepidation in her voice.
"I don't want to hurt you anymore. I think… I think I had you convinced that I didn't notice or that I didn't care that I make you cry everytime I leave," Heero said. "I just don't want to do that to you anymore."
She was fast, much faster than he had expected. Relena had hopped onto the breakfast bar in one swift movement, almost knocking over her plate and her drink, and planted her lips on his. She was soft, as he had always imagined her to be. She was gentle with him, as she had always knew that she would need to be. Heero's whole life had been a series of tragedies, one after another. She just wanted him to know, to feel, that it was okay to relax, to know there was more to this life than a constant struggle.
Happiness was possible.
"Relena…" Heero whispered as they finally broke their kiss.
"Heero, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words," she began to tear up.
Relena repositioned herself so that she was sitting on the breakfast bar with her legs gently wrapped around him. He made no attempt to disengage. His hands merely merely loosened and fell onto her thighs. She held him close, her hands on his cheeks. For a moment the world stood still. Somewhere in that infinitesimal span of time, as their bodies were locked together in serene harmony, both of them realized that it had all led to this moment. The faint promise of this in the back of Heero's mind is what kept him alive as fell to Earth in his race against Libra. Neither of them spoke, there would be time enough for that later. But for now, finally had a moment to breathe.
"Listen, Heero," Relena said as her gaze fell down onto his chest. "I'm not asking for forever, I'm not even asking for a commitment. I understand life hasn't been fair to you—"
"We both suffered during the war," Heero interrupted. "I just don't want to be a constant reminder of that time for you."
"Heero, the thought of you is what kept me going," Relena said with a slight tremble in her voice. "Your strength gave me strength."
"I'm scared…"
Her eyes darted up, she looked at him with utter bewilderment. She had never heard him utter those words before. He had faced down impossible odds in the most hopeless battles without ever showing an ounce of fear. Indeed, she thought fear was a quality that his training had utterly erased from his character.
"Of what?" Relena finally managed to ask.
"Of how much I want you, of how much I want this. Being around you like this… I'm losing control, Relena. You make me dream, you give me hope…" Heero said.
Relena expression of astonishment melted into one of warmth and gentleness. "Heero, those are not bad things."
"I know," Heero said with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "I'm just not sure to process it all yet…"
She felt the instinctive need to caress him. For all of his discipline and restraint, there was something wild about him. As if he was always on high alert, always stressed, and always ready to react. She didn't know for sure that anything she did truly relaxed him and allowed him to out his guard too. Perhaps, she couldn't undo years upon years of conditioning, but she could make him, at least temporarily, more comfortable.
"I promise, nothing bad is going to happen," Relena said. "We'll take it slow. One day at a time. We're going to figure this out together. Just promise me you'll stay. No more running."
There was a moment's pause. Heero thought about the question Relena asked her last night. Did he trust her? "I promise."
They leaned against each other. Their bodies mere inches away from the other. They had become comfortable with one another, slowly but surely, all of their fears and their apprehensions from the war were beginning to melt, revealing the hidden tenderness between that was always there.
Their phones rang.
Interrupting their moment of intimacy and tenderness, both of them let out a conciliatory sigh, broke their embrace and went to answer the call. In the end, they were both creatures of duty. Relena took her call on a wall mounted handset linked to her mobile, which was still sitting upstairs charging. Heero took his call on his mobile, which he was more astute about keeping on him at all times. They did their best to switch into professional mode but given the mood of the last 12 hours, they had to take a few moments to mentally switch over. Their both their calls ended roughly around the same time.
Relena looked at Heero from across the room, wearing an expression of muted disappointment. "That was my boss, I need to go to Brussels."
"Is this about yesterday?" Heero asked.
"It's probably about a lot… Since you know… A lot has happened since yesterday."
"I have to go to Brussels too," Heero said. "Director Une called me in."
"Is this about me, about us?" Relena asked. "Oh God, did I just get you fired?"
"I don't know, I guess I'll see when I get there."
Wufei and Sally watched from a monitor on the bridge of the UESS Advent as the prisoners were escorted off the ship by Preventer agents. The ship had docked in the Port of Tanjung Priok just a couple of hours ago. After a long and mostly fruitless journey at sea, it was time for them to return to base and regroup.
"What did you promise the kid?" Wufei asked.
"Six months and probation," Sally answered. "And if he returned to school and kept his grades up a letter of recommendation for college."
"That's pretty generous."
"It's not his fault," Sally said. "He just got caught up with the wrong people."
Captain Wayland entered the bridge from the sea cabin. He greeted Wufei and Sally with a smile.
"Well that's it," he said.
"Thank you for your help," Wufei said as he walked over to shake the man's hand.
"Don't mention it," Captain Wayland said. "I know the crew has been less than inviting while you were aboard. Just know, we do appreciate the work that you people are doing. And we're happy to help."
Soonafter saying their goodbyes, Wufei and Sally disembarked the Advent and made their way into the city. They took a cab into the downtown core of the city where the Preventers regional headquarters and their apartment were.
They reached their home, a forty-storey highrise in the middle of the city, just a couple of blocks from the office. Their wrinkled uniforms and sea soaked duffle bags made them look rather out of place in the marble lobby of the building. But the security guards knew Wufei and Sally and welcomed them back with a familiar smile. The ride up the elevator was long and silent. They had been alert and on for so long, any break in the action was desperately taken advantage of. Afterall, Sally, less than 24 hours ago, had been on a sinking ship in the middle of the sea, desperately fighting for her life, and had just managed to escape with her life.
Wufei unlocked the door with his iris and his fingerprint. The door swing open and the both of them threw their bags down as soon as they got in.
Their apartment was a fully furnished modern condo unit with floor to ceiling windows that revealed a gorgeous view of the city. Not bad for a couple of government workers. They had been renting the place for the last several months but the two of them together had only spent a total combined time of around two weeks living in it. Work kept them busy and away from home for weeks at a time. What's more they rarely had the same days off so other than the weekend they moved in, they hadn't slept in the same bed since they got here.
Sally immediately took off her jacket, stripped off her shirt, and ran towards the bathroom.
"Don't take too long, we still have that meeting," Wufei said as he went into the kitchen to grab a drink of water.
"Jesus Christ, Wufei, can I just have a few minutes to take a shower?" Sally asked from the bathroom.
Sally looked at herself in the mirror. There was a strange compliment to the bruises of her skin to the colour of her bra. Her muscles were strained to the limit. She had lots a noticeable amount of weight during her time undercover. She gently touched her right collarbone and immediately winced at the pain. Wufei came into the bathroom and saw her standing there, examining her wounds.
"Hey," Wufei said softly.
Sally turned to look at Wufei. He held in one hand a shot glass and in his other a bottle of vodka. He handed the shot glass to her and filled it up. Sally offered a conciliatory smile and shot the whole thing in one gulp. She let out a deep relaxing breath before opening her eyes again.
"You don't have to come with me," Wufei said. "I can take the meeting myself."
"No no," Sally said. "I've known Une much longer than you've known her. She gets some crazy ideas sometimes. Someone needs to be there to talk her down."
"You don't think I can do that?"
"No are just crazy enough to go along with it," Sally said with a slight chuckle.
"I'm not the one that just sank a ship in the middle of the sea by myself," Wufei said as he took a swig from the bottle.
Sally chuckled a bit. "God, is this what our lives are? I thought it was supposed to get easier after the war."
"You live what you know," Wufei said. "And hey, this place isn't half bad."
"If only we had more time to actually live here," Sally said as she took the bottle from Wufei and took swig.
Wufei and Sally silently stood in the bathroom of their condo, staring out at the lights of the city, passing back and forth the bottle for a few minutes more. This was their little reprieve, an oasis from the work and the life they had chosen for themselves. In the end, during war or peace, they were who they were and circumstance could do little to change that.
"It's a little loose around the shoulders but the length is right," Pagan said as he patted Heero down.
"Thank you, I'm sure this will be fine," Heero said.
Heero looked at himself in the mirror. He looked weird. He was wearing the old leather jacket of one of the long dead members of the Sanc Kingdom's Royal Family. Apparently the jacket he was wearing belonged to a brother of King Marticus, who would've been one of Relena's uncles. It had begun to snow just as they were preparing to leave and Relena insisted, despite Heero's constitution that he couldn't simply just wear a dress shirt out.
"You look very nice," Relena said.
Heero turned to look at her. She had just come down from her bedroom upstairs again, this time dressed like her usual diplomatic self, the pink blazer, the pants, and a pair of white heels, not quite as tall as the ones from the night before. Her hair was pulled back and tied together with her signature navy blue bow. She was herself again, all grown up. It seemed amazing to Heero, the way she could just turn it on and become the public version of herself that everyone knew.
"Are you sure you don't want a ride into the city?" Relena asked.
"No, I've got the motorcycle," Heero said. "And I don't think it's a good idea for you to be seen with me right now."
"So you saw the news reports," Relena said with a defeated sigh.
"I did read a few of them while you were in the shower," Heero said with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.
"Oh god," Relena said. "That wasn't the way I wanted for you to find out."
"It's fine, Relena," Heero said. "I've been called a lot worse than an unknown man with a motorcycle."
"I know how much your privacy means to you."
"Relena, it's okay. Don't worry about it," he said as he took her hand.
"I'm still holding you to your promise," Relena said for a moment sounding rather petulant. "This doesn't change anything."
"I know," Heero said reassuringly. "I'll see you for lunch."
Heero placed a kiss on Relena's cheek before leaving through the front door. Relena watched him from the window next to the door as he mounted his motorcycle and sped off. She felt a pang of sadness, she already missed him. But his promise gave her hope and even inspired her. It was a Saturday and she had to head to the capital for an emergency meeting with her boss, not to mention all the media attention she was getting right now. Still, knowing that at the end of the day she would get to see Heero again made it all worth it.
Pagan pulled her limousine around just a few moments later. Her ride into Brussels was quiet and contemplative. So much had happened within the last 24 hours, she barely had any chance to process it. Thoughts battled for her attention as she stared out the window of the vehicle as she watched winter's first snowfall blanketed the landscape in white. She enjoyed her moment of respite, she knew it would not last.
The Valknut
Heero parked his motorcycle in the underground parking facility just to avoid contact with the protesters and journalists that have flooded the streets of the capital in the wake of Relena's speech in Parliament. Making his way into The Valknut and through security, he immediately noticed the not so subtle glances of the security guards and receptionists. News travels fast in Brussels.
The Valknut was a large complex of steel, glass, and concrete construction. Three sections shaped roughly like triangular prisms stood tall and intertwined into the shape that gives it its name. Its construction began during the last month's of the Eve Wars, and was originally intended to be used as the new headquarters of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's Armed Forces. But as the armistice was signed and the Preventers was established, the building was repurposed to act as the headquarters of the new organization.
He made his way up to the fifth floor and followed the instructions of the receptionist and found his way to the conference room. Heero had never been on this floor before. He scanned his key card and provided his retina for further identification before the door unlocked. He found himself in a dimly lit room with no windows, wood panelling on the walls, and a flag of ESUN in the left corner of the room, and the flag of the Preventers in the right. In the center was a large round conference table with a projector in the middle, presumably providing the information for this rather impromptu meeting.
He was greeted by Director Une, a woman, presumably her assistant, Sally, and Wufei. It took Heero a second to notice that Sally and Wufei were holograms.
"I'm glad you could make it on such short notice," Director Une said as she reached out to shake his hand.
"So this isn't about what happened last night," Heero said as he shook her hand.
"We can talk about that later," Director Une said as she returned to her side of the conference room. She gestured to the woman standing beside her. "This is Hope de Vries, Deputy Director of the Global Clandestine Division, she'll be running this operation. And you know already know Sally Po and Chang Wufei."
"What's up Heero? You're looking upbeat, did you have a good night?" Sally said with a hint of a smirk as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Does everyone know?" Heero said in his usual flat tone.
"Yes, everybody knows," Director Une said curtly. "Can we get back to business?"
"What business?" Heero asked as he took a seat in one of the empty chairs.
Hope tapped on her tablet and dimmed the lights until nothing was visible but the large screen at the far end of the room.
"Several weeks ago, Preventer Agent Water, infiltrated a splinter cell of the remnant of the Barton Foundation operating in the South Pacific," Hope announced to the whole room as he changed the slide. "She tracked an illegal shipment of a Serpent mobile suit, commandeered the transport vessel, and sunk said vessel at sea, along with its cargo."
"That was reckless," Heero commented.
"How about a little leeway for us mere mortals?" Sally asked sarcastically.
"Agent Water did manage to take several of the crew prisoner before the ship capsized and sank," Hope continued. "From interviews with one of the crew members, we ascertained that their contact was someone inside of the multinational shipping conglomerate, Lucio Internationale."
Lucio Internationale, he knew why he was here now. You couldn't live in Buenos Aires for as long as he did without at least cursorily coming across one of the largest corporations in the city. He could still vividly remember the shining glass cylinder that was their headquarters and how it blended in so perfectly with the rest of the city's skyline. Heero recalled how often he would see that white block text of the company's logo on trucks and ships everywhere in the city. He had even once hijacked a shipment of luxury cars from one of their tankers. But his connection to the corporation was tenuous at best. He had stolen from them once or twice but had never worked for them, nor did he know anyone inside the company.
"We don't know who," Hope said as she switched to the next slide. "We do not have a complete personnel manifest, but of none of the executives in the company have any public ties to the Barton Foundation whatsoever."
"Right," Heero said. "But what do you want from me?"
"Personnel and other sensitive information of the company cannot be accessed from the outside. There is a hardened firewall between the outside networks and their internal servers. Unfortunately, the Preventers regional station is rather understaffed and we have no high level connections within the organization," Hope continued. "We were hoping to use your underworld connections in the region to get one of our operatives into the building to establish a data link."
"Your approach is flawed," Heero said.
"Excuse me?"
"My criminal contacts will only have access to lower level employees and will not be able to get your men close to Lucio's internal server farms," Heero explained. "Cultivating trust and establishing a relationship with any of my contacts will take months at the very least. You cannot afford that time."
"You could make the introduction," Hope suggested.
"I don't know your men," Heero said. "I won't vouch for anyone I don't know."
"Well that's just plain rude." The voice was familiar. "Three years, a couple of wars, a countless dead men later, and you still pretend to not know me?"
Heero turned around.
Heero wasn't sure what he was expecting when he saw him. It had been two year. He hadn't changed much at all. Still covering up his nihilism with that devil-may-care smile, still wearing his hair in a ridiculously long braid, Duo Maxwell was still Duo Maxwell.
"Long time no see, Heero," he said as he made his way over to the table.
"Duo," Heero replied.
Heero stood up and shook the Duo's hand. It was a little awkward but Duo appreciated the gesture. He figured it was as much as he was gonna get out of Heero. In his mind, the handshake was tantamount to a big friendly hug. Sally and Wufei tried to contain their laughter and cringe at the sight of the two's greeting.
"Sorry, I'm late, everybody," Duo said as he took a seat next to Heero. "Traffic was a nightmare."
"We were just discussing operational conditions and the objective," Hope explained.
"Would you like us to start over?" Director Une asked pointedly.
"No need, I read the brief on my way here," Duo said.
"You got mission notes?" Heero asked.
"Duo has been working closely with the Preventers since the end of the Barton Insurrection," Director Une explained.
"What happened to the salvaging business?" Heero asked.
"It's still going," Duo answered as he put his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair. "How do you think I help these guys out?"
"Duo occasionally does business with Lucio," Director Une said. "That's why he's here. He will provide infil/exfil."
"How big is your team?" Heero asked.
"Four, former OZ special forces," Hope said.
"That's too many," Heero said. "You'll never get anywhere near the target area. This isn't a military compound, burly men with thick beards will not go unnoticed for very long."
"What do you suggest?" Hope asked derisively.
"Two operatives at the most," Heero answered. "Working independently. Separate objectives. Higher chance of making it through the building without raising any suspicion. This way you can tap the facility's servers but also gain access to the executives' personal hard drives which will most definitely be kept separate from the internal network."
"What you're suggesting is impossible—"
"I agree with Heero," Duo chimed in. "Four is too rowdy. No point going in all guns blazing when we're just trying to gain access to their porn stash."
"Two fake credentials are a lot easier to forge than four," Director Une added. "It would take less time too."
"Ma'am, I'm concerned about the realism—"
"Hey, if your guys can't handle the heat, we can do it, can't we, Heero?" Duo said as he looked over at Heero.
Heero leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. His stoic demeanour was his way of agreeing with Duo without actually dating the words. It was a cryptic way of communicating to be sure, but luckily he was amongst friends who knew him and his unique mannerisms.
"Are you sure?" Director Une asked. "This is Lucio's international headquarters, security will be tight."
"Can't be any harder than an OZ military installation," Heero said.
Department of Foreign Affairs
"You'd think the statement itself would've been quite enough, but no, why not throw more fuel to the fire?!" Egert Brandt rambled on loudly as he stared out the window of his office. "What were you thinking, Miss Relena?"
"If I ever let a man-"
"This isn't about the dress and you know it," Egert cut her off before she could deploy her usual bag of rhetorical tricks. "Although it certainly didn't help."
He was a quick wit. And much more capable than his demeanour and stature would suggest. Egert Brandt was the Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Relena's immediate superior. He was in his mid-60's, grey haired, with a slightly slouch and a slight limp in his walk, and was just a few years from retiring. He had spent the war as a diplomatic liaison between the various factions of Earth, gathering allies, and maintaining the intricate web of alliances that allowed Treize to wage war in space. Having been a lifelong civil servant, Egert was well acquainted with Relena's father and considered him to be a friend. After the death of the late Vice-Foreign minister and seeing the quick rise of Relena under the tutelage of Dermail, after the end of the war, he made it a point to take Relena under his wing, lest she be corrupted by the influence of less honorable political types.
Their relationship was tumultuous but ultimately friendly, even loving. Relena's bright-eyed ideas about Total Pacifism had always meshed poorly with Egert's pragmatic style of diplomacy. Through years of tough lessons and after many shouting matches, Relena had learned to temper part of her natural enthusiasm in favour of sober political skill. For his part, he learned to see the world once again through the hopeful eyes of youth, and tried to be less fatalistic in his approach to his work. But for all of their differences, both in temperament and outlook, they respected and trusted each other immensely. He was as close to a father figure as she had in the world. But Egert never treated Relena with kid gloves, to him, she had always been her equal and never underestimated her.
"I say what I believe," Relena said with a sigh and shrug. Feeling rather small, sitting in the chair, facing Egert's desk.
"That's the last defense of a girl without a coherent argument," he said softly. "Just tell me you understand what kind of bind this puts me in."
"You, out of all people, must agree that those houses are a ridiculous waste of space. Gaudy monstrosities, monuments to an age of corrupt aristocratic privilege and an brutal military oppression," Relena said.
"Oh enough with the highfalutin words," Egert said dismissively. "You aren't running for office… yet.
"The point is…" Relena said with a softer tone of voice. "I know you. You don't care about those houses."
"Of course I don't," Egert said as he spun around to finally face Relena. "They are ridiculous displays of outlandish wealth. Good riddance for the city trying to get rid of them. But that's not what we do here. You don't work for the city government. You work for me. And I'm telling you to stay out of it."
"There's a shortage of housing after the war, lots of refugees and dislocated citizens," Relena said. "Those people are part of my job."
Egert leaned against his desk, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers and winced. "Relena, Relena, Relena. I know you want to save everybody. That's what makes you so effective. But that's not the job. We're here to try and maintain the relationships between all of the territorial governments of Earth and the colonies. That requires a certain… macro approach. We deal can't involve ourselves in every little dispute. And the municipal politicians wouldn't appreciate that either."
"Look, I didn't speak on behalf of the Department," Relena said. "I was speaking as a citizen and…"
"And what?" Egert asked with a certain satisfied grin on his face.
"A member of the former aristocracy," Relena said with a petulant sigh.
"There it is," Egert said as he returned to his chair behind the desk. "I don't doubt your intentions in this matter. In fact, I think they are admirable. But you're stretched too thin as it is. Doing your job here, attending university, jumping on motorcycles and going on wild goose chases with the paparazzi—"
"That's not what it looks like," Relena interjected.
"Hey, you do whatever you want on your off time, you're a big girl, I expect you to make good decisions, I feel like that goes without saying," Egert said as he reached into his desk and pulled out a cigar, a stack of files, and a portable hard drive. "But remember, you represent not only this Department but the World Government itself. I'm not saying you can't have fun… just keep things in perspective."
Relena simply nodded.
"Now, I didn't call you into the city on a Saturday to chew you out," Egert said as he slid the files and hard drive over to her. "Although, you most definitely deserved it. These are the relevant files related to the next month's negotiations with the delegates from the British Isles. Read up on it, I want to know what your recommendations are by next week."
Relena looked down at the massive stack of papers, and the even larger stack that was no doubt contained on that hard drive. A daunting task in any circumstance, at least midterms were over so she had a week free to focus. "I thought those negotiations weren't until after the new year?"
"Yes well, I get the feeling that Ireland and Scotland are keen to form their own territorial governments, separate from London, before the next general election," Egert said as he sunk deeper into his chair and chopped his cigar.
"There's no smoking in the building," Relena said as she pulled the top file from the pile and began to flip through it. "I can't imagine the Supreme Assembly would go for that."
"The Supreme Assembly sees this as an opportunity," Egert said as he tossed the cigar onto his desk.
"How so?" Relena asked without averting her gaze from the file. "Increasing the number of seats in the Lower Chamber can only lead to more legislative deadlock."
"I'm sure they think the a newly formed Scottish and Irish territorial government will be more amenable to the Assembly's long term goals," Egert said. "Provided the right incentives. This can be an opportunity for you as well, Relena."
"And how is that?" Relena asked sounding only half interested.
"That terraformation project of yours isn't anyone's favourite," Egert said. "Even some of the colonies are beginning to sour on it. But if you play your cards right… You may yet be the architect of the Martian colonization effort."
"After such a terrifying series of wars, you'd think people who have higher aspirations than naked power and glory," Relena commented with a hint of derision in her voice.
"They might even build a statue of you on Mars for your part in terraforming the planet," Egert remarked.
"I wouldn't want it."
"The war may be over, dear Relena," Ebert said as he picked up the cigar from his desk once again and sniffed it. "But politics never ends."
Director Une's Office, The Valknut
"If you tell me they are capable of pulling this off then I believe you," Hope said as she sat on the couch in the far corner of the office, still reviewing the notes from the meeting. "But I have my concerns. One of them seems completely unqualified, both in appearance and temperament. And the other one seems like a sociopath."
"Oh… I guess they do come off that way don't they," Une said with a hint of a smile.
Hope returned her attention to her laptop. She tried to make sense of the plan that the two men from the meeting had hatched. Duo, the long haired one was rattling off ideas left and right, some of them decent but most of them completely insane, all the while, Heero, the quiet and seemingly more serious one, did nothing but occasionally nod at Duo's insane suggestions. What baffled her the most was Director Une's silence. Not only did she listen to their ideas, she seemed to be taking them seriously.
Hope was born into a military family. Her older brothers had both served in the Alliance as mobile suit pilots. One of them even became a Special. War was in her blood. She had served as an operations officer under the Alliance South American Command. She served with distinction and was promoted by General Treize himself on the personal recommendation of Brigadier General Une. In many ways she was a younger version of Une, with all of her quiet tenacity and unwavering attention to detail. She wore her dark brown her in a bob, always kept her uniform pressed, and smiled as infrequently as possible.
"Just who are they exactly?" Hope asked as she came upon a restriction when trying to access Duo and Heero's files.
Une let out a deep breath and turned to her laptop. "Alright, I suppose if you're going to be commanding these guys. You should know who they are."
Hope stood up and walked over to Director Une's desk. She sat down across the desk from her superior. Director Une transferred the classified documents from her laptop to the holographic projector that emitted beams of light from underneath the glass surface of her desk. Hope sat silently and carefully read the text of the classified document.
"Oh my god…" Hope whispered. "These are the guys?"
Director Une nodded.
"They're so young, they must've been just teenagers during the war…" Hope said as she read their files rapidly. "It was them all along? How is this possible?"
"You skipped past it. Scroll up," Une said from the other side of the holographic projection. "Read Heero's history prior to Operation Meteor."
Relena left her meeting with the Foreign Minister a little rattled. There weren't many men in Brussels who could make her feel like a petulant child. Her early trials against the likes of Treize, Dermail, and even her own brother had taught her out to handle the egos of men. Diplomat or military types, they were all essentially the same. Their fatal weakness was that they never took her seriously. They never saw the subtle power of Relena's eloquence and the ineffable grace of her sincerity. They either saw her as docile and incapable or capable but naϊve or stupid. There was always an aspect of her character that they missed, something they didn't anticipate or refused to see in her.
Egert was different. He saw her for what she was. He saw her strength and her incredible talent, but he also saw her youth and the shortcuts that she tended to take. Relena took a moment to herself to calm down and reorient her mind. Her day was officially over but she needed to mentally prepare for the massive amount of work that was coming her way. The negotiations with the British delegation wasn't something she was willing to go into unprepared. She didn't like the stench of politics over these meetings but she recognized that as the world settles into this new peace, politics would take the place of war and however personally distasteful that was to her, it was the new reality. And for all of the venom and bile of politics, it was still preferable to war.
She began to walk towards her office when Cindy and Augusta came charging around the corner towards her.
"It's okay guys, I'm fine," Relena said reassuringly.
"Yeah… don't care about your meeting with the old man," Augusta said in her usual frank way. "We gotta talk about what happened last night."
"I am so done talking about what happened last night," Relena said as she started to march towards her office.
"You might be, but everyone else has just begun to talk about it," Cindy said as she held out her tablet at Relena with the morning's headlines. "Look!"
"Yeah, I already saw those," Relena told Cindy as she threw up her hands in surrender. "What can I do?"
"You have to make a statement," Augusta cut in. "You can't just ride off on the back of a motorcycle with some random boy! It's unbecoming of the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom!"
"Oh, so now I'm the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom?" Relena asked sarcastically. "Funny how I'm the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom only when it suits you."
"It doesn't suit me! It suits the narrative," Augusta countered as they reached Relena's office. She reached over to open the glass door for Relena. "Runaway princess! Who's her knight in chrome armor?!"
"Did someone write that?" Relena asked as she grabbed her white winter trench coat from the couch. "That's a terrible headline."
"No I just made it up off the top of my head and yes it is terrible. But that's not the point!" Augusta said. "That's all of the headlines! They're all that bad!"
"I'm getting requests for interviews from everyone," Cindy said, sounding rather panicked. "The Brussels Times, The World News Network, Vanity Fair, Vogue, The Colonists, The Guardian, The Celestial Report, New Horizons, The New Century Prospect, Playboy!"
"I'm not giving an interview to Playboy…" Relena said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not doing interviews period. I just got a verbal spanking from Egert for being too loud."
"We have to say something," Augusta protested. "We can't let the media control the narrative here. It's too big."
"Guys," Relena said with an emphatic pause as she threw her coat over her shoulders. "Breathe. I have to prepare for a meeting with a British delegation that's been moved up by several months. Not to mention my monthly coordinator's meeting with the guys over at the terraformation project. I've got enough on my hands without the stupid media."
"Yeah, that's another thing!" Augusta went on. "What are we going to do about that impromptu campaign speech that you pulled in Parliament yesterday?!"
"I think I was pretty clear on that," Relena joked.
"That's not funny," Augusta said.
"I thought it was kinda funny," Cindy said.
"You're not helping," Augusta said.
"Perhaps that you should be your new gimmick. Tell jokes."
It took Relena a few moments to recognize the voice. It had been so long since they last met. Relena had spotted her in the crowd of the armistice address after the end of the Mariemaia's rebellion but never got a chance to speak to her. The last time they spoke was when they were on Libra. She was Milliardo's second in command back then. What a foolish girl she had been, wearing that army green uniform so proudly. But Relena supposed she had been naïve as well. There was a part of her that truly believed that disaster could be averted. She wanted so badly to spare Heero that final battle with her brother.
Dorothy Catalonia walked into Relena's office slowly, her black leather heels clicking against the tiled floor. Cindy and Augusta watched speechless as this unknown blonde entered so fearlessly and confidently into the office of the Vice Foreign Minister. They didn't know who she was, but instinctively they understood her to be formidable.
"Hello, Relena," Dorothy said.
"Dorothy," Relena said.
"May I have a word?" she asked politely.
Relena nodded to the two girls, signalling to them that she would like some privacy with her guest. Hesitant but not wanting to disobey Relena, the girls quietly retreated out into the hall and closed the door behind them. Dorothy looked over her shoulder and gave the girl's a little wave.
"It's been quite a busy day for you, hasn't it?" Dorothy asked, as she returned her attention to Relena.
"What do you want, Dorothy?" Relena asked directly, although not aggressively.
"Can't I drop by to see an old friend?" Dorothy asked, feigning innocence.
"No one just drops by here," Relena said. "Do you have a visitor's pass?"
Dorothy reached into the breast pocket of her black trench coat and handed Relena her visitor badge. Relena took a look at it. It looked like a real badge but knowing Dorothy, Relena wouldn't put it past the girl to enter the building with a forgery. In any case, it didn't matter. She handed the badge back to Dorothy.
"I'm very busy, Dorothy," Relena said sternly.
"Of course you are," Dorothy said. "That's why I'm here. I want to be your Chief of Staff."
Heero and Duo cleared out of the conference room after the meeting had ended. However, Duo insisted on catching up with everyone and found them another room for them to talk. Duo found an empty office down the hall from their original conference room.. It was small room with a couch and a desk. There was a window that faced outward towards the street. Heero looked outside. He could see some scattered protesters and police. He wondered how much worse it must've been at Relena's office. Duo had stolen the holographic projector from the conference room and hooked it up to the power supply and computer in the room and booted it up.
After fiddling around with the device for a couple of minutes, Duo finally managed to get everything set up. He turned on the projector and punched in the username and password into the computer and a few moments later, Wufei and Sally appeared in the room.
"Finally," Sally said. "We were just about the leave the office."
"Sorry, technical difficulties," Duo said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Hey Heero," Sally said.
Heero turned his attention away from the window and sat down in the office chair before Duo could.
"Sally, Wufei," Heero said plainly.
"So what did you guys think of my plan?" Duo asked.
"It's doable," Wufei said.
"It's not very elegant but I suppose that's not what's needed right now," Sally added.
"Heero?" Duo asked.
"I have no objections," Heero replied.
"Look at you, being all agreeable and shit," Duo said with a wide grin. "You're not going soft on me, are ya?"
"It's a simple infiltration mission to gain access to a private network," Heero commented. "Minimal security presence, no mobile suits, hardly the most exciting mission ever."
"Yeah, I got the itch too," Duo admitted.
"I don't have the itch," Heero said.
"Right, you got that other itch," Duo said as he arched his eyebrow at Heero.
Opting to ignore Duo's obvious jab at no doubt, some ridiculous headline he had read this morning on the way into the city, Heero asked, "so how come you guys aren't on this?"
"Unfortunately, we've been a little loud over the last couple of months," Wufei explained. "Our activities in the South Pacific have made us a known quantity. Whoever is coordinating this knows about me and Sally. We'd be made right away."
"So you are sure about the intel," Heero asked.
"Positive," Sally replied.
"How?" Heero asked.
"I trust the kid, he's just like you guys," Sally answered.
"We're a bunch of murderers and thieves," Duo said.
"I know, but I know when you guys are telling the truth," Sally replied.
Heero received a buzz on his phone. He took it out of his pocket to check the notification. It was a text message from Relena.
"Who's that?" Duo asked with a knowing smile.
"Yeah Heero, who's that?" Sally asked.
"Yeah, who's that?" Wufei asked.
"Shut up," Heero said as he got up and walked to the corner of the room.
In a meeting with an old friend, can we turn lunch into dinner?
Sure.
Her heart lifted and immediately sank again after she received his reply. She definitely would've been at least an hour late considering the traffic just outside of the building. And the last thing she wanted to do was stand him up. They had made quite a mess last night and it would've been foolish for her to assume that there would be no fallout. How different she felt now, sitting in her uncomfortable work clothes, feeling the still air of her air conditioned office compared to the crisp cold of rural Vustgaarde and her fabulous if a little too risque party attire from the night before. Sometimes she felt like two separate people inhabiting one body. Still, there was a part of her that wished she could put all of this aside, the negotiations, the tabloid stories, Dorothy, just to finish what they had started last time.
"Was that lover boy?" Dorothy asked, as she leaned against Relena's desk. "You know it took you guys way too long. It was so obvious right from the beginning."
"Dorothy, I don't need a Chief of Staff," Relena said, opting to ignore Dorothy's verbal jabs.
"Really? You could've fooled me," Dorothy said as she leaned back against her chair. "Because unless I'm mistaken, I walked in on you and your assistant and your publicist arguing in circles. You need someone to create order."
"And what makes you think that someone is going to be you?" Relena cocked her head and asked with a devilish grin.
"My my, haven't you grown up fast," Dorothy said sounding rather impressed. "But face it Relena, between school, work, and that circus outside. You could stand to delegate."
"I think Cindy and Augusta are doing just fine," Relena said.
"Oh, I don't mean to suggest that they aren't," Dorothy said. "I just mean you need someone to unify their scattered efforts, to present a clear vision forward."
"And what's in it for you?" Relena asked.
"Whatever do you mean?" Dorothy asked.
"Dorothy, I've known you long enough," Relena said, revealing that grin once again. "And I'm not the naïve girl you met back in the Sanc Kingdom anymore. I know you and you always have an ulterior motive. So I'll ask you again, what do you want?"
Dorothy stared directly into Relena's eyes for a moment, reading her. Relena held her gaze undeterred. Even after all these years, there was still a certain familiarity between them, a comradery of women who survived the war. Both knew each other's games so well now that the pretense almost seemed comical, Dorothy's cryptic dialect, Relena's faux-innocence, but it was just how they were. That was their rapport.
"Alright," Dorothy said finally. "The general election is next year, I want to run for office."
"I think that's great," Relena said genuinely. "What does that have to do with me?"
"I'm a Catalonia, that name doesn't count for much these days," Dorothy said. "My father was the architect of OZ, my grandfather was the face of Romefeller until the end."
"Chilias and Dermail made their choices," Relena said. "That has nothing to do with you."
"If only the public was as reasonable as you, Miss Relena," Dorothy said. "Unfortunately, that's not how the world works."
"So what do you want, to be my Chief of Staff for a year? Build your credentials?" Relena asked.
"Have some of that Darlian magic rub off on me, yeah, I wouldn't mind," Dorothy said with a shrug.
Relena considered Dorothy's proposal for a moment. It certainly sounded plausible. Dorothy always did have a taste for power and given the right circumstances, Relena figured that Dorothy could be an effective leader in public life. Noin had told her about Dorothy's role during the Mariemaia Insurrection and she had to admit, it was quite impressive. Still, the girl was not without her demons, regardless of who her father and grandfather were.
"Look Dorothy, I can't give you an answer right now," Relena said as she clasped her hands together on her desk. "But I promise I'll think about it."
"That's more than fair," Dorothy said as she closed her eyes in resignation.
Dorothy got stood up first, followed by Relena. They shook hands. Dorothy turned towards the door.
"Oh, one bit of free advice," Dorothy said as she looked over her shoulder.
"What's that?" Relena asked.
"Do an interview. One interview… with…" Dorothy thought about it for a second. "With Vogue."