Blitz sat. It had been her activity for the previous hour and a half. And, it was certainly *not* making her happy.
The trip to Mars had been uneventful, save their run-in with a less than friendly department store worker. That fact didn’t help to alleviate the unhappiness that Blitz was engulfed in. Ara was never wrong. Why couldn’t she find anything? This was the best damn hacker in the whole fuckin’ universe for Christ’s sake.
Heero entered the room that she was sitting in and took a chair near the couch that she was sitting on. "You look tense."
Blitz broke her stare into oblivion and shot him a look. "Why do you say that?" She asked in a monotone voice.
"You’ve been sitting there since we passed the moon."
"So." She responded, in a manner that told Heero that she was trying to think of an excuse and not succeeding. "I’m watching TV"
"Hn."
"Maybe you should see how Thea’s doing."
A miniscule smirk crossed Heero’s face before disappearing into the rigid planes once more. He rose from the chair and walked casually to the door. As he passed through the doorframe he said, "You know, you might enjoy it more if you turned it on."
Blitz flushed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
More than four hours later, The Emerald Queen landed in a hanger on the outskirts of County Cork, Ireland. (A.N: It may take longer to get from the moon to earth, but for the sake off the story, let’s just say it does.) The bounty hunter’s home was in front of the massive structure that held the ship. As they came to a halt, Thea noticed the sleek blackness of another ship’s hull. After a more careful look, she called for Blitz.
"What?" Blitz asked preoccupied with the thought of finally being home.
"Do you recognize that ship?"
"No. Why?"
"Gee I don’t know! It’s only sitting in our hanger! And I know I wasn’t notified about any visitors. Were you?"
"No." Blitz answered, now occupied with the examination of the intruding ship.
Seeing that Blitz was no help, she consulted the computer. "Computer, run an infer-red scan on that ship. See if you can find out who it belongs to and how long it’s been here."
"The scanner is unable to detect a ship." The mechanical voice responded.
Thea arched an eyebrow. "That could be bad."
"We’ll just have to be careful going in." Duo said from the back of the bridge in his usual carefree manner.
"Careful is an understatement." Heero responded to the American pilot’s remark. He pulled a gun from the shoulder holster he had on. (AN: Yes, Heero is wearing a shoulder holster. *gasp*) taking it off safety mode, he cocked the hammer and held it firmly, motioning to the others to do the same and follow him.
The four piled out of the ship and move stealthily toward the house. They entered to hear voices emanating from the living room. Thea moved slowly with her back against the wall and her gun poised in front of her. She risked a quick glance into the room to find Hanna and Kincaid sitting on the couch. Letting out the breath she had been holding, she sighed and put her gun back in her shoulder holster. Blitz looked at her quizzically. Before she had time to question, Thea entered the room.
"Hey Thea!" Hanna called from her seat. Kincaid also acknowledged her presence with a nod in her direction. Bonnie yipped in greeting from Hanna’s lap.
"Jeez you guys! Scare the hell outta us why don’t ya!" Thea chided.
"I thought you’d be able to get a scan on the ship." Kincaid said nonchalantly.
"You have to take the cloak off for us to get a scan!" Duo called, entering the room with Blitz and Heero.
"What’s up?" Blitz asked noticing that Ara was nowhere to be found. "And where’s Ara?"
"Ara’s out in the shooting gallery working, er… more like shooting off , excess energy." Hanna timidly said, obviously still a little shaken by Ara’s current mood.
"Why are you all here all of a sudden?" Heero demanded, wary of the two on the couch.
"Dunno." Hanna shrugged.
"What do you mean, you don’t know?"
"I mean, I DON’T know. She wouldn’t tell us. She told us to get all the equipment on the ship and then she set the house on fire. It was all I could do to get her to tell me where we were going."
"Wow. She must be pissed." Blitz said, smirking slightly.
"You can say that again." Kincaid answered.
"The sooner we get her to calm down the better." Thea reasoned. "There’s only so much ammo and if we run out, well…" She shuttered.
Blitz and Duo were already headed for the shooting gallery.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
*Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Click*
Ara tossed the empty clip aside and put in another one. The anger was still at a low boil just below the surface as the company of old friends came into the building. She aimed the gun at the target but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from pulling the trigger.
"Sexually frustrated?" Blitz asked removing her hand.
Ara glared. Thea, Hanna and Duo managed to suppress their laughter at the thought of the semiautomatic that Ara still had a white-knuckle hold on.
"Dare I ask what has put you in such a pissy mood?"
"A talk with my cousin. And Zechs."
Needless to say, the statement threw Blitz for a curve.
"And what, may I ask, is this cousin’s name?"
"Noelani."
"Would you care to explain?"
"Think, for a second, who you’re talking to. Do you really think that if I was working for you, I wouldn’t have found anything of use?"
"Well, now that you mention it…"
"That’s because I wasn’t working for you." Ara continued to glare at Blitz. However, she didn’t fail to notice Heero drawing his gun. He was faced with a barrel in seconds. "I wouldn’t," she threatened, "if I were you." Heero slid the gun back into it’s place.
"That still doesn’t explain why you’re suddenly at my house in a trigger happy mood." Blitz said from behind her.
"When you showed me that picture of Zechs," Ara started, swallowing hard. "I realized where he had been the past year." (AN: I’m about to trash Zechs’ rep.( Cover your ears.)
"I’m confused." Blitz said, blinking.
v"How do you know Zechs?" Duo asked, thoroughly confused.
Ara aimed the gun and fired off the clip into what would have been (had the target been a real person) strait between the eyes. She lowered the gun without taking her eyes off the target and exhaled deeply. No one behind her dared to speak.. "I was on a hit mission." She started slowly. "I don’t really remember what, or who, I was looking for, and when I walked into that bar, it didn’t matter anymore."
(((((((((((((((((((((((Flashback))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Ara stepped gracefully into Tooly’s Bar to have a much needed drink. The day had been hell on her physically, and for the previous hour, all she could think about was a cigarette and a well deserved glass of brandy.
She was a regular there and her favorite stool was always reserved for her, just as it was now. Gratefully, she plopped down and pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pouch that was attached to her belt. The bartender, Mark, nodded in recognition, and came over to talk.
"The usual?" He asked, cleaning a shot glass.
"The usual." She agreed with a slight nod.
Ara looked at the pack of cigarettes in her hand and sighed. {I really should quit. It’s a nasty habit.} She smirked to her self as she pulled one from the pack and returned it to her pouch. {Tomorrow.} She put the cigarette between her lips as her drink was set in front of her, and reached into the pouch for her lighter. Much to her dismay, it was missing.{Great,} she rolled her eyes, {just what I need.}
vSuddenly, there was a lit flame offered to her. Glancing at the owner, slightly confused, she lit her cigarette and pulled back, enjoying the first drag. Coming out of her joygasm, she looked at the man who had offered her the momentary use of his lighter. She stopped, her breath caught in her throat.
Ara Malloy, for the first time in her life , had been struck dumb by a pretty face.
The blonde Adonis that sat next to her smiled and offered his hand. "Zechs Merquise." His sultry deep voice sent a pleasurable tingle down her spine. It was quite an effort responding.
"Ara Malloy." She took his hand and shook it, suddenly very glad that she was sitting down. Her knees had taken on the consistency of Jell-O and had she been upright, she would have made an embarrassing (though humorous) scene. {Ara,} her mind told her, {just take another drag off you cigarette, a mouthful of your drink, and talk to him.} Doing as the voices in her head advised, she smirked.{Who knows, maybe you’ll get laid.}
The new formed couple ended up in deep conversation for several hours. Time flew by unrealized and sooner than Ara would have liked, Mark announced closing time. Zechs, being the gentleman that he was, offered to walk her back to her apartment. She invited him up for coffee in the hopes of continuing their conversation. He gratefully accepted.
Ara did indeed get laid that night.
(((((((((((((((((((((End Flashback.))))))))))))))))))))))))
"It all happened so fast." Ara said, still not facing her companions. "Six months later we were engaged." She risked a glance in their direction. All stood confused and doing little or nothing to hide it. "I know. Me. Engaged. Of all people. You’d think I’d have better sense than that." At a loss, Ara laughed lightly. "Anyway. One day, I woke up and he was gone. No note, no good-byes, and no trace of him anywhere. I cried. Actually cried. There was still a part of me that hoped he would be back. I guess there still is." She blinked rapidly, hoping to stop the tears that welled in her eyes from falling.
"Ara," Blitz said lightly, placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "I’m sorry."
"Yeah." Ara answered, her voice barely above a whisper. When she recovered she turned toward the rest. "Twelve months later, Noelani called. I didn’t think that she and Zechs were an item, though part of me should have. That’s what I discovered when she called me."
"Ara." Thea said. "Come with us. Help us. It’ll do you good to get off this rock." She attempted to lighten the mood and, winning a small smile from Ara, succeeding.
"Yeah."
"So." Blitz said, letting go of her friend’s shoulder. "What should we do about ‘em?"
"We’re gonna have to get more people involved in this. They have way to many troops for us to handle on our own."
"I’ll call Sally. Maybe she still has ties to the Preventers." Thea suggested.
"Good. Tell her to be quiet about it. I’m sure Noelani has people in the Preventers working for her." Ara returned her gun to her hip holster. The rest of the group visibly relaxed. "C’mon. The sooner we get help, the sooner this mess will be over." Everyone agreed
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