Author’s notes: Here I go again, attempting to work on this story. ^_^ I hope this chapter turns out all right. It’s been a while since I’ve written much of anything.

The Hit List

Chapter 7

            Heero watched Kira Delayne’s reaction as she walked into Preventer Headquarters. She seemed impressed and he could sense the excitement building within her. Before they could implement their deception, he and Wufei had to talk to the Preventer Chief.

            “Arys?” Nari Winner, the woman at the main receptionist desk, looked shocked. Then, as Kira got closer, Nari shook her head. Nari looked at Heero. “What’s going on, Heero?”

            Heero shrugged, unwilling to reveal any information.

            “Kira, this is Nari Winner. Nari, Kira will be helping us catch the guy who tried to kill Arys. We need Une’s approval first though. Is she available?” Wufei said.

            Nari glanced at her computer monitor, tapping a few buttons. “Yes, she is. I’ll ring you all in.”

            “Thanks, Nari.” Wufei walked away, heading for Une’s office, with Heero and Kira in tow. Personally, Wufei was anxious to see Kira’s effect on Lady Une. It was said that very little could phase the Preventer Chief.

            Heero knocked on the door to Une’s office, glancing over at Kira as he did so. The woman had been quiet, very quiet, but she had also been observant. He had noticed her eyeing the security cameras near the ceiling.

            “Come in,” Une’s voice came through the door.

            Heero, Wufei, and Kira walked in and Wufei was satisfied to see Une’s expression change from indifference to shock. Une stood to her feet and came to meet them before they could reach her desk.

            “Arys?” Une asked, trying to hide her confusion. “You’re...?” She stopped suddenly, noticing the blue of Kira’s eyes. “Not Arys.”

            Kira shook her head, unable to hide her amusement. “My name is Kira Delayne. Heero and Wufei explained the situation to me. I have to admit I was a little suspicious at first, but after being here, I’m more than willing to help any way that I can. I suppose I should get used to being called ‘Arys’?” Kira smiled, and Une drew back a bit. Kira looked like Arys, but her demeanor was different, softer, kinder, less battle-ridden.

            “What were you doing before you accepted this assignment, Kira?” Une asked.

            “I was a physics major at Stover University. In fact, I was studying for a physics test when Heero and Wufei found me in the park.”

            “You do realize that this may be dangerous.”

            Sympathy filled Kira’s eyes and she smiled sadly. “Heero told me about his wife, Lady Une. I heard about it on the news. Whoever did this deserves what he gets. The bottom line is, I want to do this, Lady Une. Please let me.”

            Une sighed and glanced over at Heero and Wufei. “I hope you two know what you’re doing.”

            Wufei shrugged. “We’re doing just as you said, Chief. Thinking outside the box.”

            “We’re going to need to get Arys out of the hospital and have the records say that she was discharged,” Heero said.

            “Ah yes, we now have some loose ends to tie up, do we?” Une smiled tiredly. “I’ll arrange for that.”

            Heero was about to lead Kira out of the room when Une stopped them. “Kira?”

            “Yes, ma’am?” Kira turned around.

            “I am grateful for your help, and you will be compensated for your time.”

            Kira only nodded and smiled again before following Heero and Wufei out of the office.

            “She took that well,” Wufei commented, looking almost disappointed.

            “You know Une better than that, Wufei,” Heero said. Kira glanced over at Heero, surprised at how the smile that lit his face made him look so much younger. Absently, she wondered how old all these Preventer Agents were. They couldn’t be more than eighteen years old. Kira was a senior in college, but because of her youngish looks, she had often been mistaken for a freshman.

            “Kira Delayne?”

            Heero and Wufei stopped at the sound of Kira’s name, but Kira recognized the voice immediately. She turned to see Gavin Carver, a former colleague at Stover University.

            “Fancy meeting you here, Kira,” Gavin said, coming up to her.

            “So this is where you disappeared to, Gavin,” Kira replied, ignoring the looks Heero and Wufei gave her. “Did the Preventers recruit you or did you just feel the call?”

            “Still the same, aren’t you, Kira?” Gavin laughed, but Kira could sense the unease he felt at her remark. “I did feel the call, Kira, and I wish you had too. We could really use your brilliant mind.”

            Kira shook her head. “Now who’s being sarcastic? Look, Gavin, we’ll talk later. I have to go with these two clowns here before I can do anything else.”

            Gavin suddenly seemed to notice Heero and Wufei glaring at him. “Oh, I see you went straight to the top. Sorry, Agents Yuy and Chang. Nothing wrong with saying hello to an old friend, is there?” With that, Gavin turned away and headed for the front doors.

            Heero took Kira’s arm. “You didn’t say you knew anyone here personally.”

            Kira jerked her arm away. “I didn’t, and I don’t. I didn’t know Gavin would be here.”

            “Old boyfriend?” Wufei asked, giving her a snide smile.

            Kira returned the smile. “You could say that, Wufei. You could say that.” She could hear the tension in her own voice and wished desperately that she had never run into Gavin.

            “So we’re clowns, huh?” Heero said. “Guess you and Arys are more alike than we thought.” He walked away as Wufei motioned for Kira to follow.

            “Don’t mind him. That’s the way he usually acts.”

            “Reminds me of someone else I know,” Kira muttered as she followed Heero to her new life.

            Arys stared down at the list on her desk, chewing on a pencil. She really would have been better off using the computer to do her calculations, but there was just something about the paper and pencil that jumpstarted her brain. Even if the paper and pencil were only figments of her virtual world. She had decided to finish decoding the entire list before sending a message to Heero and Wufei. She had finished with the first four names, and now, the last one was left. Her Gundam would give her suggestions as she thought, helping her decode the confusing sequences of numbers, letters, and symbols.

            “T... no, not a T, an R...” Arys whispered to herself. She had taken easily to talking out loud in the apartment, even though she was the only one there. She suspected that if she didn’t, she would slip into insanity. She scratched her pencil across the paper, and the key locked into place in her mind. Each name had used a permutation of the key used to decode the one before, and that in itself had been a time-consuming task to figure out. But now, with this first letter, the rest of the name revealed itself to her.

            “R...E... L....” Arys paused as she wrote out the rest of the name, shocked at what she was seeing. “It can’t be.” But she knew she saw Relena Darlian’s name before her eyes, and that should have been the most obvious one. All the names on the list were pacifists or disarmament supporters, and Relena was one of them and in fact, their leader.

            Arys leaned back in her chair, pencil back in her mouth. “Well, Heero, looks like you’ll have to protect the Queen of Sanc once again.” She smirked. “Poor guy...”

            Heero unlocked the door to his apartment, staggering inside. He and Wufei had gotten Kira settled in to a room at Preventer Headquarters. Wufei had gone to the hospital to pick up Mei after telling Heero in an adamant voice to go get some sleep. Heero did not think he could sleep though. Being around Kira had confused his senses so much that he wasn’t sure exactly what his emotions were. Arys had been his anchor and with her gone, he had to fight the feelings that tended to overwhelm him. Feelings he had not experienced since during the failed advent of Operation Meteor. Heero sat down in front of his computer, knowing he should sleep, but unwilling to. Maybe Arys had written him, but that was impossible... she was in a coma. He should go see her at the hospital, but they were moving her to a secure room in Preventer Headquarters where Sally could watch over her. Arys’ discharge from the hospital in good condition would be announced on the news the next day.

            Heero tapped the keyboard, bringing up his inbox, and was surprised to see an e-mail from an unknown source there. Arys had installed, after tweaking it a bit, an anti-virus program just a few weeks ago, so Heero opened up the e-mail without worrying about it crashing the hard drive.

            Dear Heero,

            His eyes immediately traveled down to the end of the e-mail and he saw Arys’ name there.

            Heero rubbed at his eyes, unable to believe that his Arys had somehow managed to send him an e-mail from within the workings of her Gundam. He read the e-mail the whole way through, smiling as he read her usual endearments at the beginning, and then frowning as he reached the end.

            I have finished decoding the list, Heero. There is one name on the list that is familiar to you... very familiar. Pick up the list tomorrow at my Gundam. 0800 hours. I’ll be waiting.

                                Yours forever,

                                      Arys

             Heero closed down the computer. He glanced at his watch. It was 2200 right now. Heero had time to catch a normal night’s rest before meeting Arys. He wondered what she would think of the plan he and Wufei had come up with. He had missed her today, more than he had realized until now.

            “Come back, Arys, please. Wufei isn’t doing a good job of filling in for you.” Heero grinned as he thought of how Arys would laugh at that remark.