Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlan turned in her chair and stared out the window of her office, watching the sun glimmer across the towers that comprised the central part of Minneapolis, the headquarters for the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. In one week, she would turn nineteen years old, but still be the youngest delegate of the E.S.U.N.
She stared at the papers on her desk, the ones that had been sitting there since yesterday. She reached into a desk drawer and removed a bottle of aspirin, and took two of them with a glass of water. She had stared so intently on the files yesterday and this morning, and the result had been a very surprising migraine headache that refused to give up it's fight for her brain.
Her thin fingers almost trembled as she picked up the file folder, closed it, and then opened it again, unable to tear herself away. It had been so long, and she chided herself for being so foolish, and yet...she still could not resist the urge to look.
"He still has that wild look in his eyes," she said softly, staring at the picture of Heero Yuy. Lady Une had taken up the search for Heero at Relena's personal request, and he had been located in Sicily, as the silent bodyguard for Sylvia Novinta. Relena had originally felt a pang of jealousy that Heero had chosen to become her bodyguard, but knew that he would never do anything to hurt her feelings deliberately.
"I'll kill you."
The words surfaced every now and then, but not with the same emotions that Relena had associated with the statement when she was all of sixteen at the Saint Gabriel Institute. Now, there was almost a fondness with them, a longing for the mysterious Gundam pilot--or rather, former Gundam pilot--that had promised to protect her during the Eve Wars, and after that, told her that he would be there when she needed him.
He always kept his promises. After the conflict with the Barton Foundation three years ago, he had spent a day with her, helping to clean up the physical mess left behind by the Serpent troops. He had taken a great interest in helping her then, but had seemed...embarrassed, which was hard to imagine for Heero. Relena felt her cheeks flush slightly at the thought of his head against her bosom, when she had held him in her arms, finally!
She closed the folder again and shoved it into the same drawer as the aspirin. There was work to be done, and she had no time to drool over Heero. What would he think if he saw her like that, anyway?
A telephone booth sat in front of Ellie's Diner, and a very expensive sports car pulled in front of it. A young man of average stature and build extracted himself from the vehicle, and moved to the booth with a slight bit of urgency. He tapped numbers into the phone with precision, and waited patiently for the other end to pick up the phone.
"Yeah, this is Duo Maxwell's Salvage and Scrap," a lazy voice answered.
The man smiled ever so slightly. "Give Desert Prince a message from Silent Type: 'The affair was short-lived.'" Before the confused Duo could answer, Heero hung up the phone and darted back to the car, gunned the engine, and shot off into the night once more, traveling along the routes marked as the limits of Sicily and toward it's open countryland.
He had managed to avoid a police car two miles back, but he suspected that they had likely copied down the license plate number. There was also little doubt in his mind that Sylvia's body had been discovered, and that her killer would be nowhere in sight. Heero knew that his fingerprints were on the .38, but had covered his tracks sufficently to know that it would take even the expert hacker a week to discern his identity.
And even then, the man would find nothing.
Relena was reviewing her e-mail when the computer opened a new window and beeped at her. Checking the title bar, she saw that it was a video message from a Preventer known as Rain. She clicked on the button to receive the message, and the face of Wufei Chang appeared on her screen.
"Wufei, this is a surprise honor," she said pleasantly. "How can I help you?"
"I'm in Sicily," Wufei said, cutting through her pleasantries. He hasn't changed, Relena thought to herself. "Sylvia Novinta is dead."
Relena felt someone stab her. Sylvia? "Where's Heero?" she asked in a rush.
"I saw him driving away in a sports car. The police are trying to find him, but I'm scrambling their radio transmissions, and he's evading them."
"Why are the police after Heero?" Worry was clear in her voice, and she didn't bother to hide it.
"There was a gun found next to Sylvia with an unidentifiable fingerprint on it. Also, someone matching Heero's description was seen running for the exit doors shortly after the last gunshot was heard."
"Heero," Relena breathed. "Wufei, have you contacted Lady Une about this?"
"She knows," he said simply. "The whole world is gonna know in a few minutes, the press is really hungry for this story. I'll try to keep Heero protected on my end for as long as I can."
"Thank you," Relena said earnestly.
"No problem," he said, then smiled at her. "Gundam pilots have to stick together, right?"
She nodded. "Get back to your post before they become suspicious."
Wufei answered by nodding and closing the video link. Relena sat back in her chair, trying to stop her racing heart. Heero was in danger, and she had no idea what she could do to help him. She tapped her fingers on her desk nervously, then stood up and watched the city again.
The computer bleeped, and she opened the message, revealing the face of Lady Une. "Miss Relena," she greeted. "I trust that Wufei has already contacted you."
"He did," she replied. "What can we do about this?"
"Not much, I'm sorry to say," Lady Une answered. "However, I think I may know where he is headed."
"Go on," Relena urged.
"Fire and Wind are flying to Minneapolis as we speak from that conference in Paris," she said. "They have to stop and re-fuel in a town not far from Sicily."
"How would Heero know something like that?" Relena was more confused than upset.
"Apparently Wufei told him."
Relena smiled. "They know how to stick together." She paused, and Lady Une waited. "Why was Wufei in Sicily?"
"Why, performing your search for Heero," Une said matter-of-factly. "We were about to approach him when this happened."
"Thank you, Lady Une. Keep me informed." Relena closed the link and flipped the computer monitor off, not wanting to be interrupted by any more messages. She walked across the office, the mauve carpet with the cream walls, and stepped out into the main offices of the Foreign Affairs department, turning to her right to her assistant, Chris Kelabeck.
Chris was a computer trainee with the Preventers, but turning his tenure had discovered some better office skills, and Relena had taken him in. He was a bright guy, about her age, with a clean and gelled head of raven hair and determined green eyes.
"Chris, no calls until I say otherwise," she said.
He looked up at her from the computer screen, removing his spectacles. "What for?"
"An important personal matter."
"Understood, Relena. What should I tell anyone who calls?"
"That I am busy in a meeting with Lady Une."
Chris blinked. "But you're not."
Relena rolled her eyes; sometimes Chris's honesty was embarrassing. "That's just what you tell them, please?"
"Okay," he said reluctantly. "Anything else?"
"Total press shutout," she clipped. "No reporters, no columnists, no editors."
"You got it," Chris said, turning back to the computer. "Now this is when the job gets exciting."
Relena smiled at him and shut the door, locking it with her personal code. She stood up against it, and tried again to calm herself and her thoughts. Why was Heero looking for her brother and Noin? And better yet, would he go to a former enemy for help?
"Funny, you would think that french fries would taste better in France," Zechs Marquise mentioned as he walked across the airport. Lucrezia Noin was at his arm, a bag of the golden strings in her hand. Both of them wore their Preventer jackets, since no one really knew what they stood for and thought that they were a fashion statement.
"You can't believe everything you hear," Noin said, and she wrapped an arm around Zechs's waist. "Did you hear the latest rumor about you?"
He smiled gently. "What is it this time?"
"They said that you were lost in the terraforming project on Luna and that I was grieving your loss heavily."
He stole a french fry from the bag. "Those reporters don't have a clue." He looked at Noin with his blue eyes, and he saw her become a bit shy, then turn back to him.
"I, uh--" she stumbled. "I think these are getting cold." She withdrew her arm and ate a few of them, standing by the exit to the Preventer jet. It was small, almost a private craft, but was too fast to be classified as such. It looked like any normal mid-sized plane out there, but as always, appearances were deceiving.
Zechs brushed Noin's amethyst locks away from her eyes gently, a caress that he knew she loved. She seemed to recognize his intent, and turned her face up towards him, eyes closing, lips smiling. He brought an arm to her back and gently held her as they shared a meaningful pre-flight kiss.
What seemed like forever was gone in a minute, and Noin handed him the fries. "I'll go check on the plane."
"I'll have the tickets cleared," he said, and before they parted ways their eyes met, and unspoken words passed between them.
As Noin stepped onto the tarmac, Zechs moved to the counter and flashed his Preventer identification, then the ticket. The clerk nodded, slammed the ticket into a reader device, and handed it back to Zechs.
"Mr. LaMancha, you are cleared for takeoff. Runway three, and have a safe flight," the clerk said.
"Thank you," Zechs replied, and moved outside into the brisk but refreshing air. He pulled the blue-tinted sunglasses from his pocket and slipped them on, hiding his eyes from the sun as he nibbled on a french fry and contemplated his relationship with Noin.
She had this...odd problem with not being able to say that she loved him. Maybe she was too proud, or too afraid that he would still reject her. He was a different person around her, and because of their help, the terraforming project had an excellent start. He had no plans or ideas about their future; rather, he lived every day as it came, glad that he was alive and with a better purpose than before.
Noin was standing by the right wing of the plane, her hair shifting slightly in the breeze. Zechs dumped the fries in the open cockpit and walked up to her. "Is she ready to fly?"
"Ready, willing, and able," Noin replied. "One more stop, and then it's clear sailing to the Northern States."
Zechs chuckled. "Then's let roll, Skipper."
Noin smiled and, in a surprise move, wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked him on the lips before climbing into the plane. Zechs paused, her kiss still lingering. Now he was officially confused about their relationship, but that was Noin's part-time job: keep him on his toes.
He climbed into the plane, the pilot's side, and strapped himself in. Noin had already started the engine, the quiet hum of the jets enough to lull a person into a nap. Zechs checked behind him, sure that no one was in the small passenger compartment of the plane, and taxied to runway three.
As placed his hand on the engine lever, Noin put her hand on top of his, and she smiled warmly at him. Zechs returned it, and realized that he was worrying too much...there was no hiding the feelings between them anymore.
"Are you two about done, or should I go get a motel room?"
Noin pulled her hand away, turned around in her seat. Her eyes widened in shock, and Zechs followed her gaze to the young man standing in the cockpit, a Beretta in his hands, a bloody tie hanging loosely from his neck, and a blood-stained dress shirt that used to be pink.
"Heero Yuy?" he asked in bewilderment.
"Just fly. I'll explain on the way." He holstered the weapon and took the spare seat behind Noin, strapped himself in.
"I'm afraid to ask how you got on the plane," Zechs said as he eased the throttle forward.
"The mechanic has tunnel vision" was all Heero said.
"It's good to see you," Noin offered.
"Same to you," Heero replied, but it wasn't like him, Zechs thought. It sounded...nice. The plane accelerated down the runway, and finally pulled into that blue yonder, soaring into the cloudless sky and toward it's home through his expert hands.
"Does this have something to do with Sylvia Novinta?" Noin asked. Zechs and her had watched the news report on a television in the snack bar.
"It does. You probably know that I am--was--her bodyguard." Noin made agreeing noises. "What you don't know is that she was murdered." He paused. "By the way, Zechs, you look well for a man who died in a terrible terraforming accident."
Was Heero making a joke? Zechs smiled to himself; Heero was actually sounding human for a change. "Don't believe everything you hear," he said.
"Someone is after you and your sister," Heero said, the pleasantness escaping from his voice. "I am not sure of all the details, but I need to speak to Relena."
"We're heading to Minneapolis now," Noin said. "...but you probably already knew that."
"I did." There was a cocking sound, and Zechs looked back to see Heero checking the action of his Beretta. "Unfortunately, there's someone out there who knows more about me then I do. He killed Sylvia." The chamber slid closed. "He missed his chance killing you, Zechs...and now he's after Relena."
"I didn't see anyone suspicious in the airport," Noin said. "Who could possibly be after Zechs?"
"Got me," Heero lied. "I told Sylvia that I would protect her, and I failed. I'm not going to fail again."
The last was said with such gravity that silence fell in the small plane like an anvil, and no one dared say anything until they reached Minneapolis.
"Marquise was lost in the airport."
"Why?"
"His lover got in the way."
"Understood. Continue with plan."
"Peacecraft is next?"
"Affirmative. There is a new target after her, however."
"Name him and he's dead."
"Heero Yuy."
"Understood. Continuing with Operation Falling Star."
