Traitor to the Cause –

I do not own Gundam Wing. This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.

AN: No, Polka Dot, my non existent fan club does *not* have a newsletter.  :P :P :P

This fic is complete.  However, due to Fanfiction.net's wonderful 'upgrades' and downtime, I haven't been able to upload the chapters. Here's to hoping AuthorAlerts are working.... Thanks for those of you still with me.  Two chapters and one epilogue to go.  ^__^  Love, Rose

Chapter 27

A genuine smile curved Trowa’s lips for the first time in months as he looked over the scanned pages he had succeeded in decrypting.  “Catherine did it,” he thought and saved the documents to the desktop machine he was working on.  He then turned to the videocomm device and started to secure a connection, but before it was completed, Colonel Une cut in.

            “Trowa,” she said in a crisp tone.  He nodded to her in greeting.

            “I hesitate in contacting you regarding this situation, but since it affects a member of your family, I felt I had no choice.”

            “Where’s Catherine?”

            “We don’t know.  She’s late reporting in.  We sent a team of investigators out this afternoon to find out what they could, but Talmadge is dead, and Catherine is nowhere to be found.”

            Trowa shot an icy glare at the screen.  “She shouldn’t be a Preventer.”

            “And you shouldn’t attack unmanned military bases in an attempt to help Relena escape, but we all have lapses in judgment from time to time.”

             Trowa disregarded Une’s last comment, determined to get back to the real reason behind this conversation.  “She sent me some files.  They are, from what I can tell…important documents essential to Relena’s situation.  I was just about to contact you.”

            The Colonel stared at him intently, a trace of curiosity crossing her features.  “We’ll need that information as soon as possible, but I’m not sure how secure these lines are right now, we’ve had a couple of hacking incidents lately.  Can you bring the files here in person?”

            “I can, and I will...  But only if I’m allowed to help with the investigation regarding Catherine’s disappearance.”

            “That’s unadvisable.”

            “It’s my terms.”

            “We could subpoena those files.”

            “Yes, but it could take weeks, and I could delete them in the meantime.”

            “Perhaps, but you wouldn’t do that to Relena.”

            Trowa paused briefly before replying. “No, you’re right, I wouldn’t.”

            “Bring the files, we’ll reinstate your position, and you can help with the investigation.  But you will not bepermitted anywhere near Relena.”

            “I’m on my way.”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            No sooner had the Colonel terminated the connection with one Gundam pilot, than the face of another appeared on screen.   She took a step back, shocked by the ghostly pallor and angry strain of his features.  She had never seen Heero Yuy like this.  Never.  Still, the Preventer collected herself, prepared for the worst - and so one had to be when dealing with this young man in particular.

            “Why the hell didn’t someone tell me?”  His voice was an low growl, though it seemed as if the rage contained within could shatter the very screen on which his image appeared.

            “Oh well hello to you, too Mr. Yuy. Long time no see.”

            “You heard me.”

            Une tried to keep up a complacent air.  “You should be glad I’m so forgiving, Heero.”

            “Forgiving?”  His eyes pierced right through her from hundreds of miles above the Earth.. “I want to know why I was told she wasn’t pregnant!  Why someone killed our child!  And I want to speak with her right NOW!”

            She had to look away from the screen.  “Heero, Wufei only shot her to stop her from killing herself.”

            All the color fled from his face as he choked on the revelation.  “She wouldn’t….  She’d consider…no….NO!”

            Une inwardly winced, feeling her heart drop onto the floor.  “She didn’t know, Heero.” She blinked her eyes closed slowly, before looking back up at the monitor to meet his gaze – and whatever judgment he would pass upon her. “We told her the tests came back negative.  It was only a temporary measure….” 

            “She didn’t know?”

            “No.”  She stared down at her hands. “And now that she’s lost the baby, we figured it was best left unknown. I wish you wouldn’t hack our systems.”

            “What the hell happened?”

            “We had no idea she was that depressed…. That she would ever.”  The Colonel stopped and took a deep breath. She met his eyes once more. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

            “Sorry?”

            “Heero, she’s resting and she doesn’t need this right now. You have a game to play, and we’ve got some new information coming in from one of our operatives that could be the break we’ve been waiting for. I promised her no one would come after you.  I will keep that promise.”

            The former gundam pilot shook his head, as if the woman’s answer was still unacceptable. “You should have told her. I could have been there….”

            “Heero, we thought we were doing what was best for her.  She would never lie to you, but she didn’t want you involved.”

            “Well, from now on, I am involved.”

            “Whatever you think you can accomplish, you will only succeed in hurting her further.  One thing I know is that she would die to protect you – even from yourself.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            The same thick voice answered the electronic peal of a cell phone.  She could picture in her mind the man that belonged to that voice - shorter than Trowa with a neck and two arms the size of tree trunks.  He wasn’t the only one in the room where she was being held, but it was obvious from what went on that he was the ringleader – at least on this end of the phone.  From the snippets of one-sided conversation she caught, it was easy to tell someone on the other end was truly calling the shots.

            The hood was suffocating and hot, but she could breathe all right, and see star-shaped patterns of light through the natural weave of the fabric.  She tried to minimize the sound of her exhale whenever Thick Neck was on the phone. 

            “He’s going to be where?”

            There was a long pause.

            “He’s got the data.”

            Catherine held her breath not wanting to miss anything at all of this exchange.  “Who has the data?”

            “Yeah, we’ll get there before he brings it in.  We’ll need his name, though.”

            “Please tell me they didn’t find Trowa….”

“Trowa Barton, right.”

Once again the heavy footsteps moved in her direction, echoing menacingly until they stopped in front of her.  His breath was hot on her already flushed and swollen cheek.

“ Hey pretty lady, ya don’t happen ta know a Trowa Barton, do you?”

            She shook her head.

            There was a hint of amusement in his voice as he spoke into the phone.  “She says she doesn’t know him.  Yes, Mr. Krizova, I’ll handle it.”

            Hands clamped down over her wrists where they were tied to the arms of the chair.  She felt a body lean over her, and his lips whisper, brushing  against the fabric over her ear.  “You just made a big mistake, girlie.  But, I can forgive you.   Now you’re going to help us get that data back.  And after that, I’m going to do you a favor.  Wanna know what that favor is?”

            Catherine shook her head.

            “I’m going to let you die with your brother.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            “Damn, Yuy, I thought you were dead the way your head connected with that goal post.  But hey! Hell of a goal, son.  You all right?”

            “Yeah.”

            The coach put a fatherly arm around his star player as they walked towards the locker rooms. “Ya know, I know you told me you’ve been having girl trouble and all, but I can’t help but think it’s more than that.  It’s a coach’s job to know his players, and you’ve always been the type of guy that doesn’t allow distractions in his life.”

            “I…”

            “You don’t have to tell me,” the older man said kindly.  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.  But if you do need an ear, my door is always open to you – even now that the season’s over.” 

            Heero nodded and kept his eyes on his shoelaces. Coach really had been the closest he had come to having a father figure in his life since Odin had died.  A strange sensation stirred in his chest whenever he lied to the old man, and he felt it again, now, just by avoiding his questions.

            “You feel up to an interview tonight? You know they all want to talk to you.”

            “No.”

            Coach patted his back and gave him a half-hearted smile.  “Then I’ll tell them that you’re being checked out for a possible concussion.” He frowned.  “You really should see the trainer.”

            “I’m fine.”  Heero turned to leave.

            “Good game, son.  I’ll be sorry to see you go,” he choked out, watching the striker walk away.  “But  you’ve got a bright future ahead, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            He stepped into the ring of light cast upon the ground by the streetlamp and scanned the night for his…contact.  Trowa had received a page from Wufei indicating he had been assigned to meet him at the shuttleport, get the disk, and then brief him on whatever information they had on Catherine.  The acrobat took a deep breath of the earth’s muggy air and wanted to cough it right back out.  The colonies never had humidity over thirty percent.

            “Trowa Barton.” A voice resounded in the darkness, thick and gravelly like the smog.

            Green eyes sliced through the night, glittering emeralds searching for the source of trepidation in his veins.  “Some call me that.”

            “We have something you might want.” The embodiment of the voice stepped forward into the ring of light, but Trowa had already made out their shapes in the darkness.  Four to one.  Not good odds…for them.

“It’s not likely,” Trowa replied, sighing in annoyance that the stranger was trying to play games with him.  He wanted to take care of business here, and get right to Headquarters and find out what had happened to Catherine.         “Oh, it’s not, huh?” The black-clad figure brought a walkie-talkie up to his mouth. “We found ‘im Charlie.”

            “Relax,” The man said with a smirk. “We just brought you a little present.”

            “Hn.”

            A car pulled slowly up to the curb, and three more dark shapes emerged, one was struggling against the other two that held her tightly between them.  Catherine…

            “I take it there is something you want in exchange.”

            “Give us the disk, and you can have the girl.”

            Now it was Trowa’s turn to play. “What disk?”

            “You know what disk, and I know what disk. Let’s stop with the games Just hand it over.”

            A slight smile curled Trowa’s lips.  “Fine, but I want to see that she’s all right.”

            “Good.”  Two men pushed Catherine roughly into the lamplight, yanking off the hood in a swift motion.  He didn’t flinch as he took in her battered appearance – at least she was alive.

            “Trowa…” Catherine choked and stepped towards him, blinking as her sore and tired eyes adjusted to the glow of the streetlight..

            “Untie her… gently,” her brother instructed the captors, but quickly turned his gaze back to the man who was moving ever closer..

            “We’ll take that disk now,” the leader said, ignoring the Preventer’s command.  His two associates released Catherine and closed on Trowa.  He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, not wanting to start anything that would put his sister in danger.

            They patted him down rather roughly, shoving him between them as they felt his pants legs, then knuckled his ribs.   Finally, one of the thugs pulled the disk out of the inside front pocket of Trowa’s jacket.  They retreated and brought the object to their boss; Catherine took the opportunity to throw herself into the safety of her brother’s arms.

            “Cathy…Here, let me untie you.” His fingers started to work at prying apart the rough fibers of the rope.  They were interrupted by the voice of the Leader again. 

            “Are there any more copies?”

            “No, that’s my only one.”

            “Good.”  He dropped the disk on the ground and crushed it beneath the heel of his boot.  It made a sick, cracking sound as the plastic split and the information contained was lost. 

            “Trowa…They’re going to kill us,” Catherine whispered to her brother.  He didn’t answer her as he finished loosing her wrists, but simply moved to stand in front of her, shielding her with his own body.

            “And you don’t have a copy anywhere else?”

            “No. You have the only one.”

            The sound of a safety being disengaged split the night.  “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

            Trowa stood rigid, stiffening his posture as Catherine clung to his shoulders. “When I say go, run as far away from here as you can.” He kept his voice low and barely moved his lips as he gave the vital instructions to his sister.  She nodded her understanding, taking a slight step back – waiting… 

“Go!” Trowa leapt high into the air as the first gunshot rang out.  Catherine ran for her life, charging through the darkness in the direction of the shuttleport he had arrived from a half hour ago. 

The acrobat landed behind the shooter, who spun quickly to face him.  With a graceful, well-placed kick, Trowa knocked the gun from his grasp.   The remaining men prowled around him, predators in the night waiting for the right moment to pounce.  Intently they focused on the green-eyed Preventer, never noticing the figure moving through the shadows behind them.   The glimmer of the sword flashed in Trowa’s eyes as Wufei emerged from the darkness wielding his katana.  Painful shouts echoed in the night as the two Preventers made short work of the band of thugs.  They left four men unconscious on the ground, and took the other two into custody.   

            Trowa helped Wufei load the shackled men into the back of his van and slid the long door shut.  “I guess I don’t need to update you on your sister’s disappearance,” the Chinese man said, carefully placing his sword beside the driver’s seat.”

            “She’ll be fine.  I’d better go after her, though.” Trowa stepped away from the curb, heading in the direction Catherine had taken. 

            “Is this the data?” Wufei asked, kicking at the remains of the plastic coated disk.

            His friend nodded.  “It was.”

            “Damn.”

            The acrobat smirked.  “Good thing I was prepared and brought a copy.”

            “But they frisked you. Where…?”

            Trowa lifted his shirt, revealing three wide strips of duct tape across his chest.  He gingerly peeled them off one by one, wincing as the tape snagged small hairs that his skin apparently thought he needed.

            “It’d be easier if you pulled it off quickly.”

            “Yeah, but it hurts like hell.”

            Wufei snorted.  “Weakling.”

            Trowa finished removing the tape and handed the disk to his fellow Preventer.  He turned around to start after Catherine, but froze, smiling gratefully upon seeing her running across the street.

“Thank you, both, I’m so relieved.” She buried herself into her brother’s arms again, not caring what Wufei thought of his fellow agents.  Trowa pushed her away gently. 

            “Let me see your face,” he requested and stepped back so the streetlamp could illuminate the injuries to her eyes and cheek.  He frowned, but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that a few bruises were the worst of it.  “Nothing too bad.  We’ll go see Sally immediately and have her fix you up.  But Catherine, I expect you to resign and never put yourself in this kind of danger again.”

            “They needed a woman, and infiltrating the bad guys seems to run in the family,” she said with a watery smile. 

            “Hn.” He turned his scowl towards Wufei.  “Give us a lift to headquarters?”

            The Chinese man grunted affirmatively in response.  The three climbed into Wufei’s van and headed towards the same Preventer base Trowa had left just the day before.  As they moved along the darkened roads, he closed his eyes and tried to block out the events that had taken place the last time he was there – the blood that coated his skin had taken hours to remove, the clothes had been burned in denial, but the evidence that remained in his memory… there was no way to destroy it, nothing that could wash it away or make it disappear.            “She’ll be all right…”

            Catherine’s voice interrupted his thoughts.  “I found out who one of Talmadge’s accomplices is – it’s not in the data I sent, but I heard his name mentioned by one of the goons holding me hostage.”

            “Good. Wait until we get to headquarters.  You can tell everything you found out to the Colonel.”

            “I can’t wait…for that, and to get out of these clothes.” She yawned and fell back into her seat, exhausted from her ordeal over the last 72 hours.  It took barely a few seconds before she drifted off to sleep, thinking, “I’m safe now….”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            After a grueling night interrogating the two goons Trowa and Wufei had brought with them to headquarters, Une was running on empty.  A knock sounded on her office door, jarring her from a sleepless fog.  “Enter.”

            Relena’s lawyers, Holden and Levy walked briskly into the room.  Mr. Holden spoke first.  “It is our understanding you have information that could assist our client.”

            Une stifled a yawn and shuffled through the print outs of the documents brought in the night before. “Yes, here is a signed confession given by Prime Minister Talmadge before his death.  We’ve already had the signature authenticated, and we have the results of a debriefing of an under cover agent that was previously working in his employ.  There are two additional ESUN members who were reportedly in on this.  Our agent found out their names, but we only have solid evidence against one – Representative Krizova.”

            “This is excellent news.  We’re going to cancel our deal with the prosecution, and make them file for a trial, then submit this as evidence requesting dismissal.”

            The Colonel lifted an eyebrow at Mr. Holden.  “You have, I am assuming, Relena’s approval for this?”

            “While she’s been under the influence of pain killers, we’ve contacted her brother, whom we found out was living, and obtained his permission.”

            “She’s not going to like that.”

            “She will once we win.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

He moved silently through the infirmary, having seen Catherine safely into Sally’s capable hands.  He knew he was supposed to stay away, but was drawn there, unconsciously it seemed, his feet carrying him of their own accord across the polished tile floors.  Arriving at the door, he raised a shaking hand, exerting what seemed to be the last of his strength just to let himself inside.

The air in the room was stale – he had never liked the way hospitals smelled.  Her body lay there, its skin almost translucent in the glaring overhead lights beating fluorescent rays upon it – but it wasn’t her.  It seemed as though the spark…that divine spark had died, and left in its wake a glass corpse lying on the hospital bed.  Trembling, he walked forward, compelled to move to her side, and prove to himself that she was still alive.  “Relena.”  His lips moved, but no sound escaped.

She must have sensed his presence, he thought as he watched the ghost of the woman he had tried to free only yesterday move ever so slightly. 

“Trowa…” Her eyelids opened with some effort while she slowly turned her head in his direction.  “You…they didn’t arrest you, did they?”

“No…”

She smiled up at him, and he forced his eyes to meet her gaze.  She was still in there – more alive than she had looked the last time…the last time…. He swallowed against a lump in his throat, swaying like a reed in the wind before falling to  his knees beside the bed, sobbing into her chest like a child in his mother’s arms.

She brought a hand up to smooth his hair away from his face in a comforting gesture, holding him in a weak embrace.  “Shhhh….It’s okay.  I promise that no matter what, everything will be all right.”