Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Angels, Broken Hearts ❯ CH 4 ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Ryo and Sana were in a deep discussion about Li/Mira, when Ryo's phone rang suddenly.
She looked at the number. "Sana I'll be right back," she excused herself and answered her phone. "Hey hon-"
"Hey? You haven't called me and all you say is 'hey'? You didn't tell me you were leaving, or where you were going," Duo's angry voice cut into her ear.
"I-I didn't have service..." she stuttered.
"Do you have any idea how long it took to look through those papers?"
"I'm sorry..." she replied quietly.
"Did you even think of anyone beside yourself?"
Tears welled up on Ryo's eyes. "Lou... Lou wants to talk to you." She shoved the phone in Lou's hand and ran outside.
As Lou lifted the phone to her ear she heard Duo apologize. "Duo Maxwell, what did you say to that girl?"
Ryo sat beside the house, tears running down her face. Moments later, Lou joined her. "Ryo, honey, he's not angry with you."
"He sure sounded angry," she sniffled.
Heero read the article about the bombing. The aerial photo was devastating. "Please let Ryo be wrong..." he thought.
Lou hugged Ryo lightly, "He is worried, that is all."
"Lou, that was his angry voice." The tears worked their way down Ryo's sad windblown face.
"Sweetheart, sometimes when someone is worried they are angry because they are not there to immediately help or fix the situation. Duo is very worried because he loves you and the baby." The motherly instinct was natural to Lou, comforting the terse tears away.
Ryo nodded and Lou handed her the phone back, "Why don't you call your husband back and help him get a little unworried before they show up, alright? I am going to call Quatre and see if he has heard anything."
Walking away as her little sister dialed the phone Lou pulled out her own cell phone, hitting memory two.
The connection rang six times before an answering service picked up.
Hello, you have reached the phone of Quatre Raberba Winner, president of Winner Corps. I am terribly sorry I cannot take your call at the present time, but if you leave your name, number, and a short message I will get back to you as soon as possibly. Thank you, and Allah bless.
The beep rang and Lou sighed, "You do know your message is boring and would make people want to cry still, right? But anyhow, I am in Brazil with Ryo, I am sure Duo has already called you honey. We have found some people that knew Li as Mira, and they said her hair was darker and she was tanner. Hair was longer to, the young girl said shoulder length. I don't know. Duo and Heero will be here soon, so don't worry about me. Check on the shop and make sure Rashid is doing alright. And take care of yourself honey, I love you."
After hanging up her disappointing call Lou looked over at a now smiling Ryo and could only pray maybe they would find resolution soon.
Ryo stared at her phone wondering if she should call Duo back. He sounded really angry with her. "Maybe Lou was right though..." The inner battle continued and would have probably lasted another hour if her phone didn't ring.
"H-hello?" she stuttered answering it.
"Ryo, what are you doing in Brazil?" Heero asked, skipping the hello.
"Looking for Li," she said, all nervous feelings gone.
"What makes you think she's in Brazil?"
"Her house blew up."
Heero paused. "You don't know that was her house. The article-"
"It was her house and she escaped. The villagers confirmed it."
If Ryo could have seen him, he'd have a faint smile. "So you're really going through with this goose chase?"
"Yup."
"I'm glad you've found a way to try and make yourself better."
"I'm not doing this just for me, Heero. I'm doing this for all of us. You know I'm not the only one who feels empty without her."
He cleared his throat. "Cody would be there with you if she could."
Ryo laughed, "Heero, stop. I've watched you. I know you miss her. I expect you to talk to her when I find her and try and fix things between you two. Of course that will be AFTER I get her."
Heero almost chuckled, but was cut off at a pull on his arm. "Ryo, I need to go."
Ryo was stopped from answering as Lou jumped up with a placating smile, "Hey Bubba, how are you? It is nice to see you here."
"Where is she?"
Ryo flinched when she heard Duo's voice. "I-I'm here." she said quietly.
He strode over to her and she closed her eyes ready for a scolding. She was surprised when she felt his arms wrap around her and hold her close.
"Don't you ever leave me again," he whispered.
"I'm sor-"
"Shh, I know. I know. I've just been so scared. I'm sorry I yelled at you, hon." He took a step back and looked at her and then placed his hand on her stomach. "How's our little boy?"
"He's doing fine and kicking the crap out of Mommy." She smiled.
"Just beat him up when he's twenty. Tell him it's payback." Duo grinned then leaned down and kissed her. "I love you."

Li and Quatre had sat across from each other in an uncomfortable silence since the phone call from Duo. The tension in the air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
Quatre sipped from yet another cup of coffee, trying to calm his worry. Lou and the others would be fine, Duo and Heero would find her and Ryo and they'd be safe. He couldn't help but let the worry eat at him, though. After all, from Li's explanation they knew there were people out there who wanted them dead. What if they attacked Ryo and Lou before help arrived? And neither Ryo nor Lou even knew they were in any danger. he only hoped that they had taken time to put two and two together and wonder, if the bombed house was Li's, then who had attacked her?
Li was obviously agitated as well. Her cup of coffee sat untouched in front of her, having gone cold a while back. She stared out the window beside her with an unreadable expression on her face, but from years of knowing her Quatre knew she was just as worried as he was, if even more. She hadn't moved for over an hour, and the stiffness was a sure sign of her impatience.
As if hearing his thoughts, she broke his reverie by glancing at him, and letting an unspoken thought pass between them. It had been a while since Duo called. He should have reached them by now.
At that instant a ring issued from his laptop, echoing in the compartment and causing Quatre to jump at the sudden break in the silence. Li didn't jump but came as close to surprised as she ever would, and the apprehension hung in the air between them.
"Answer it." Her voice seemed forced.
Quatre grabbed the laptop and took a second to situate it before hurriedly answering the call. "Hello?"
It was Heero this time, and Quatre noticed the background behind him seemed unfamiliar. "We found them."
Those words released the tension in the two, and Quatre breathed a sigh of relief.
Lou appeared in the background, hugging Heero lightly as sounds of Ryo and Duo murmuring could be heard in the background.
"Hey babe, I left you a message on your cell phone, you know I hate these."
Quatre nodded slowly, his voice unfound.
Lou tilted her head and it looked as if she and Heero shared a single thought, as their next words came out together.
"Winner, what are you hiding?"
"What's eating you honey?"
Quatre didn't answer at first. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Li's glare turned full force upon him, and she slowly shook her head. Do not tell them. But what was he supposed to say? His thought process had frozen and he couldn't seem to think of a good explanation to cover his hesitation.
Li rolled her eyes. Quatre was never good under pressure. She pulled out a pen and quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and held it up for him to read. He did, in a way that wouldn't betray his actions to those watching on the vid-phone.
"Quatre? You had better answer us. Now." Heero's voice was demanding.
Quatre calmed but allowed himself to seem a bit put off, and slowly said, "Okay, before I tell you, just let me say I didn't intend anything by keeping this from you guys."
Heero's eyes narrowed, "Spit it out, Winner."
"A couple days ago I was attacked. I was on a business trip but fortunately I had a few guards with me. The man that attacked me was an assassin."
Lou was wide-eyed. "You were ATTACKED? And you didn't tell me?"
"Did you catch him?" Heero asked calmly.
Quatre nodded, "We apprehended him before he managed to badly harm anyone, but he killed himself before we could get anything concrete from him about his employers."
"So you couldn't learn anything."
"We were unable to ID the body, so we have no idea who the man was or who employed him. The only thing we were able to find out was that whoever it was not only wants me dead, he wants to take out all of the Gundam Pilots. All of us." Quatre said this last bit with finality.
"And would you care to explain to me why you didn't inform us immediately?" Heero asked with an edge to his voice.
"I was going to tell you, but then you called about Ryo and Lou and I didn't want to add anything more to your worries. I planned on saying something after everything calmed down."
"Well now you have."
"What do you plan to do?" Quatre asked.
"First off we're going to get Ryo to a safe location. Now that we have this information I don't think it would be wise to let her stay in their house. I'll speak to Lady Une about a safe house." Heero didn't bother to confer with anyone on these decisions. "What about you?"
"I'm heading back to the Arabian base. I figure it'll be safer there, and then I'll think of what to do next. I'll call you when I arrive and we can decide then."
"Okay. I'll contact Wufei and Cody to tell them the news."
"I'll call Trowa. He'd want to get as far away from Catherine as he could if he knew his presence put her in danger."
Heero nodded, "Okay then. Bye, Quatre."
"Bye."
Lou tried to stop Heero from hanging up "Hey wait a - " But she was too late. The vid-phone blinked out.
Quatre glanced up at Li. She was regarding him with cool eyes. "You almost messed up there."
He nodded "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it was my fault for asking you to lie to them. I shouldn't have asked you to do that." She replied nonchalantly, not letting any emotions enter her gaze.
"No, I know what you are trying to do, I just got caught and I couldn't seem to think of a way out."
She smiled, "You're just an honest person, Quatre, no need to apologize for it. I'm sorry I put you in that position." She took a sip of her cold coffee. "Now that they know it wouldn't be good for me to stay here. When we arrive at the base I'll stay long enough to receive medical attention, but then I'm out. And I'm only doing that because I know it would stress you too much if I left in this shape."
"But Li -"
"Don't worry, I'll keep in touch. I've been thinking and now I need to follow a few leads, that's all." She gave him a measured look, "Plus there's the added bonus that with me out there running around I'll be acting as a sort of decoy for the bad guys to follow. Without me the next vulnerable person is Ryo. And you know how I feel about that."

Lou snapped her head to look at Heero, "He was lying." She shook her head, "He was lying and you didn't let me talk to him. His left eye was twitching, so someone was there feeding him lines under pressure or he is in trouble. Possibly both, and I know you know this."
Heero nodded with an amused look on his face.
"Why didn't you let me talk to him. If he was telling the truth he would have called me, we all know Quat freaks out about things. But this is just -" She threw a backwards glance at Duo and Ryo. "What do we do now Mr. In-Charge?"
Ryo glanced at Lou and Heero. "Guys? What's going on? Has Quatre heard from Li? Where are we going next?" She was completely ready to go to the next lead on Li.
"You, young lady, are going home," Duo said before anyone else could answer. "You have caused enough trouble and you are definitely not supposed to overexert yourself. And yes, this does count."
Ryo shut her mouth and crossed her arms pouting. "But I'm fine, the baby's fine, you're fine, everyone is fine. The only person who I don't know is fine is Li. I'm not resting until I know she's fine."
"Hell, thanks to Heero we don't even know if Quatre was okay." Lou bit the sarcasm hard. "And we all know if I call back Quat won't pick up because he probably has the fear of God in him right now with how we all acted." She shook her head and willed the worried and frustrated tears to stay at bay.
"What now? We lock Ryo and I up while you and Heero gather Wufei and Trowa, put Cody in restraints, and go save the world, hm?"
Ryo's gaze snapped to Lou. "What do you mean lock you and I up? What's going on? Heero, what aren't you telling?"
Lou's emerald eyes seared deathly pale. "Supposedly something is up with Quatre, and he was 'attacked' by terrorists earlier this week, but wasn't hurt nor did he call anyone. And the terrorist committed suicide before any useful information could be found. So now we know the people after Li are also after us, and according to the normal ways of this group I will be stuck with you and Cody while the men round the troops and take off to save Li and stop these evil ...evil jerks." Her eyes hardened in defiance and daring Heero to say otherwise.
Duo's jaw dropped. "Q was attacked."
"He was lying Duo. Either someone has him, or he has someone." Lou's eyes were still on stoic Heero, snapping answers before the tall man could.
Duo looked from his sister to his best friend. Finally he squeezed Ryo lightly. "Heero, man, I can't join on this one. Not with the baby so close. I'll stay with Ryo and Cody. Let Lou go with the guys. She needs to make sure Quatre is safe."
"Damn right I do." Her foot stomped lightly, "I am sick of this. We gave this up over four years ago. Why is it back now? Can you explain that Yuy?"
Yuy sighed. "If I knew, this would be a lot easier. Obviously we made an enemy we shouldn't have and they want revenge."
Lou sighed deeply and turned to Ryo.
"Quatre may know where Li is. He may have something we don't, so Heero and I have to go now. Can I trust you to go home and make sure Cody is alright so I can bring your sister back to you?"
Ryo bit her lip and looked to the ground, then slowly nodded. "But, Lou, call me as soon as you know something. The very second."
"You know I would, good or bad." She held out her pinky, "You have to do this for me whole-heartedly. No more newspapers or magazines looking. No waiting by the phone and computer endlessly. It is simply like another mission when we were in the war sweetheart, you worry about you number one, the baby number two, and the rest of us after that. Period. Don't shake unless you mean it."
She looked at Lou's extended finger then back at Duo.
"You've got to do what you've got to do, Ryo. No one else can make you keep a promise," he squeezed her hand.
Ryo slowly lifted her free hand and shook pinkies with Lou. "I promise."