Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lean On Me ❯ The Unexpected Visitor ( Chapter 8 )

Authors Note - Hey!! Another day, another chapter…normally how it goes, right? Well, anyhoo, I do not own GW, I do own Katana, Riley, Vienna, and the other people you don't recognize (such as Raphael, Daryn, all them) Now hop to the story, and don't forget to R&R!!

Oh, and as for the family of Trowa and Riley, I am creating it all from my head, since I know nothing of Trowa's family, so bare with me here.

Disclaimer: I don't own GW…

Chapter Eight

Vienna stared at the screen in horror and shock. The names listed on the screen were the last things she expected. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Meiran placed her hand on Vienna's shoulder. "This was what I had thought, but now it's confirmed."

Duo blinked twice before saying, "This is a shocker. Especially since humans aren't the most likely of weapons."

Heero shook his head. "Weapons may be able to physically hurt someone, but a human being's inner torment, or whatever the plans are, can do far more than that."

Quatre nodded. "It cuts into the heart of someone who cares for that person."

Vienna's eyes widened. "That's why," she whispered to herself, the realization hitting her like lightening. "He knew about it. He knew."

Trowa stared at Vienna with concern. "Vienna, are you all right?"

"Oh man, what have I done," Vienna whispered to herself again, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead. "I get it now. Oh, Dr. J, why didn't you tell me?"

"Vienna?" Meiran said quietly, placing a hand on her sister-in-laws shoulder.

Vienna opened her eyes. "Now I understand."

"I think she's delirious," Duo stated.

"No," Heero said. "She's not."

Vienna stepped back from the group. She looked up at Heero, who had turned in his seat to watch her. His Prussian blue eyes met hers, and they held: he knew what she was thinking. He was the only one who understood her.

Dr. J sighed and rested his head back against the steel walls of his cell, weary, tired, and angry with himself. He had done too many things to those girls already and now, because of him, their lives would be used against their will and beliefs just because of his lousy idea. He hated himself more than anything for everything that he had done to them.

First he had ruined Heero's life by making him the perfect soldier, and now he had ruined the lives of two young girls as wellby making them into human weapons against the earth and colonies.

"J, what will you do next?" he asked himself. Silence was his answer. He started talking to himself aloud. "I don't know what got into me. Those operations I did to them have caused them such a hideous future. They won't even be able to control themselves. Someone will be doing it for them."

Just then, he heard the soft sound of someone's silent footsteps creeping to the cell door. The heels of the person's shoes were making a soft clacking sound, and were making slow process. A shadow was seen on the floor outside his barred cell door. He leaned forward on his cane, holding his breath, an idea of who was coming in mind.

The shadow grew larger until the person came into light, standing before the door. He had long hair to his waist and wore a long trench coat over a sleeveless shirt and black leather pants. He smiled. It could only be one person he knew of.

"Riley," he said, more as a statement than a question.

The person did not reply, but pulled a gun from a holster around his waist, and spun the gun on his finger, staring at the professor. Dr. J waited silently for the person to say something. Instead of saying what he thought, the person stopped spinning the gun and aimed it at Dr. J, cocked and ready to shoot.

Meiran paced the floor of the living room floor quickly, thinking hard. "So you two mean to tell me that this professor of yours knew of the plan and ideas of this new group all along, and never told you?"

Vienna nodded. "Yes. The plans and ideas were his all along, but somehow WRF got his plans and used them as his own."

Duo nodded. "Now all of Heero's ramblings are coming clearer."

Vienna went on, "I guess sometime while he had been training Riley and I he grew to like us as friends or something, and decided not to use his plan at all. But when the World Rebellion Federation appeared and he discovered their plans, he knew them as his very own, exactly."

Heero finished for her. "So he had to stop them. He used Riley and Vienna to blow up the bases that he had technically created. He used them to help destroy WRF's plans to harm them, without them knowing about it."

Vienna shook her head. "I can't believe all along he never told us. And now, I realize why he never wanted us to tell you guys who we really were, especially my brother and Trowa. If they knew, and whatever plans were going to be used on Riley and I did happen, then they would have been hurt deeper than if they hadn't have know." Vienna looked at Trowa. "I'm sorry, Trowa. I knew I shouldn't have told you," she apologized apologized.

Meiran sat down next to Vienna. "He would have found out anyway, even if you hadn't told him. I told Heero and Duo without thinking, so word would have gotten around."

Duo smiled at Vienna. "See? It wasn't all your fault."

Quatre rolled his eyes. "How encouraging Duo."

Vienna smiled. "Thanks for trying Duo, but I still feel bad about everything." She sighed. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later."

She walked away from them and into the hallway. In the hall, she felt the tears rise to her eyes, so she hurriedly left the apartment for the streets of the large colony.

Katana glared out her office window angrily, wishing she could smash it open with her bare hands to let off steam. Instead, she was forced to sit in her office, calm and reserved. If she had her way, she would tear that base to pieces just so Dr. J could die in the darkness of space, even if it meant taking her own life.

"One of these days, old man, you will regret for ever messing with me," she said to her reflection in the window. "You may have out run me this time, but next time you won't be so lucky. Those girls of yours are as good as dead."

Dr. J stared at the barrel of the gun pointed at him. He followed the barrel up to the hand, and then up to the gun's owner. In the faint light that came into his cell he could not see the person `s face clearly, but his emerald green eyes shone like jewels.

Dr. J smiled. "Riley. I am surprised you came for me."

The person sneered. "Who said I came to rescue you, you little traitor."

Dr. J sighed, his smile disappearing. "I deserved that."

"Yeah, you did."

Dr. J looked into the eyes of who he believed to be Riley. "You remember, don't you?" he asked quietly, surprising Riley.

"Remember what?" she asked, her voice slightly quivering, but she was doing a good job of hiding it.

"The operation," Dr. J replied, "but you already knew what I meant."

Riley lowered the gun slightly, her hand shaking slightly. "Why do you think that? I don't even know what operation you're talking about."

"Stop acting innocent, Riley. You remember the operation, unlike Vienna. She had it done when she was seven; you were nine. I knew there was a chance you would remember. The older the person is, the more likely that person will remember. Nine years of age was the boarder line, so you either did or didn't."

"Why would I mention it?" she spat out. "All it does is bring back bad memories of pain. I knew what you were planning on doing to Vienna and I. I knew about it this whole time. That's why I fought with everything I had against the WRF, just to save Vienna and myself from the pain we would go through for them and you." She steadied the gun, aiming at his head. "I can shoot you at any second you know. I have been wanting to do this for years, but I never thought I would ever really be able to do it."

Dr. J nodded. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Riley's voice cracked. "I don't know."

Just then, they heard someone walking in their direction down the stairs. She looked sharply back the way she had come and frowned.

"Go, Riley. It's either kill me, or be captured and have everything you planned so carefully go to waste."

Riley grunted and looked for a way out, other than the staircase and elevator.

The voices were getting closer….

She searched still, but saw nothing.

They were at the corner…

She looked higher up and smiled.

Two men walked around the corner, only to be met with an empty hallway.

The streets were barely filled with morning joggers and early risers as Vienna walked down the sidewalk, past the bank to the park. She walked across the grass to a bench near the children's playground. She sat down and leaned back. She folded her arms and stared out across the park. She had so many things on her mind that she could not sort them all out. Normally, she had Riley to pour herself out to.

She closed her eyes and imagined Riley sitting beside her, smiling and laughing. She could hear Riley's laughter in the air, as if her friend was back and sitting right there. Vienna's eyes opened and she looked to the empty bench next to her. Riley was not there. She sniffed, blinking back tears. She never cried before Riley had died, but now she was crying often, but only when she was alone to herself, where no one could see her cry. And then and there, she was alone, and the tears came. She buried her head in her hands, the tears running down her cheeks to her arms, only to hide in her long-sleeved black shirt.

She had been sitting there crying for only two minutes, when she felt someone's presence with her. She held back the fresh tears that had been forming, and looked up. She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Heero sitting beside her on the bench, staring out across the park like she had done earlier. He did not look at her or anything of that sort to acknowledge her. She sighed and looked away, trying to hide the tears that were overflowing. Why is he here? I never asked him to come, and he isn't the type to try to comfort someone. So then, why on earth is he here with me? She took in a quiet breath and let her mind wander for a moment, before coming back to reality. "How do you do it?" she asked.

She glanced over at him as he turned his head to look at her. "Do what?" he asked.

"Hide your feelings and everything; how do you keep it all inside?"

Heero shrugged. "It isn't something I'm proud of." He shifted so he was leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "It's good to show your emotions. If you keep everything inside you tend to not trust people much, and they don't trust you."

Vienna nodded. "Is that why you don't trust people, and depend on yourself only?"

"Yeah."

"Well, at least you know mostly everyone back at your apartment. I mean, they are good friends of yours, so they know a lot about you, and you can tell them things you wouldn't tell others. I don't know them hardly that well, so I have no one to tell my thoughts to. Riley was the only one I told, but now that she's gone, I have no one but myself to talk to."

"What about Meiran?"

"Meiran is my sister-in-law, and the last time I probably saw her was when I was three or four, so I hardly know her either." She cleared her throat. "Why am I telling you this anyway? You have your own life to worry about, so why am I bothering you with mine?" She stood, rubbed her arms from the sudden chill, and made to walk away.

Heero grabbed her wrist, holding her back. She paused and turned back to face him. He did not let go of her wrist even when she had stopped, but instead said, "You can talk to me any time."

Vienna's eyebrows shot up. A smile formed as she thought, so the perfect soldier does have a heart after all.

Riley crawled on her hands and knees through the vents of the base, collecting dust onto her hands and knees. She frowned at her grimy appearance, but moved on. She turned a corner and found herself crawling over the main hall. She continued on until she found herself over the hangar where all the space ships and vehicles of the base were kept. She smiled and sat back to lift the vent off the floor of the vent. She slipped her fingers under the vent and lifted slowly. It made a slight clanging sound but nothing noticeable. After waiting a minute to make certain no one had heard, she poked her head down into the space and looked about. Only a few people were inside, but she could take them out easily.

She reached down to the side of her thigh were she had a pouch strapped, and pulled the flap back to reveal an array of knives and daggers. She chose a small dagger and let the flap-cover drop back over the pouch. She fingered the tiny blade, a smirk growing over her face. She searched for the man who seemed to be in charge. She spotted him: he was obviously the captain of some sort. She took aim and threw it. The dagger shot across the room and hit the captain squarely in the heart. The captain coughed up blood and dropped to the floor. Riley backed away from the vent opening and put the covering half way over. She watched as a mechanic and three soldiers ran over, calling and shouting. They gathered around their captain nervously, looking around for the attacker.

Riley removed another dagger from her pouch and threw it at the mechanic, after removing the covering again. It hit him in the back and he fell forward. Two of the soldiers grew frightened and one of them jumped up and cried, "I'm getting outta here." He took his last breath as another dagger hit him in the back. The remaining two soldiers were pulling out their guns and searching for the attacker: for her.

"Get behind me and keep an eye out," one of them said to the other, taking charge. They stood back-to-back, ready and waiting.

Riley waited patiently for the right moment, her third dagger ready and waiting. She sat there for five minutes, when one of the soldiers lost concentration.

"Come on man, it's obvious whoever it was is gone," the one with bright red hair said. "You know Commander Katana will get mad if she finds out-" He stopped mid-sentence, Riley's dagger sticking out from his chest.

The remaining soldier spun around, pointing his gun around wildly. "Come out with your hands up," he called. "There is no point in hiding when you can face me like a man and fight."

Riley chuckled. "Fight like a man, huh? Well, what if I'm not a man?" she asked herself. She turned the last dagger around on her forefinger. "If I can't fight like a man, then I'll fight like a girl!" She threw the dagger. He turned sharply, causing the dagger to hit him in the arm. He gasped out in pain and gritted his teeth. Riley cursed under her breath. There was only one way out of this now.

She dropped through the vent opening and landed gracefully and quietly to the floor below. She charged at the soldier's back. At the last second, the soldier turned and punched her in the stomach. She had the wind knocked out of her and she stumbled backwards a few steps. The soldier yanked the dagger from his arm and dropped it the floor. He came at her, punching her in the chin. She groaned, backing away from him as quick as she could. She looked up at the soldier and her eyes widened.

"WuFei!" she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes again to see the soldier staring at her. He frowned, but then he saw who she was.

"Riley," he whispered. He stared at her. "Riley! What are you doing alive?" he thundered.

Riley smiled weakly, her breathing still ragged. "I'm not really sure. I thought I was dead, too, until I awoke in a pile of rubble with a splitting headache and scrapes and bruises all over." She winced as a sharp pain in her stomach ruptured. "Dang, you punch hard," she said to him. "I didn't think you were that strong."

"Hmph," WuFei grumbled. "Well, I can't kill you now, no matter how much I want to."

Riley scowled. "Gee, thanks, WuFei. I feel so loved." She straightened, her breathing still a bit uneven. "So, what are you doing here? Fighting for our enemy now are we?"

WuFei shrugged, glancing down at his bleeding arm. Riley followed his gaze and exclaimed, "If I had known it were you-"

"Yeah, I know, you wouldn't have attacked me," WuFei finished. He wiped some of the blood off his arm.

"Here," Riley walked forward, tearing off a piece of her shirt at the bottom. "Let me bandage it for you."

WuFei glared at her. "I don't need your help."

Riley smiled and shook her head. "Oh really? Then why are you wincing every few seconds and tightening your arm muscles?"

WuFei opened his mouth to say something, but didn't.

Riley took this as her chance. She took hold of his arm and started to wrap the strip of her shirt tightly around his upper arm. Once she finished, she stepped back and looked to the entrance to the hangar. She needed to get out of there before anyone came in. She walked past WuFei, who was watching her, and bent down to take the bloody daggers from the backs and chests of the victims dead on the floor. She ignored WuFei, going about retrieving her things. She wiped the blood off all of the daggers onto the back of the captain and slipped them back into her pouch.

"You aren't that bad."

"Hm?" Riley turned to WuFei. "What did you say?"

"I said you aren't that bad," WuFei repeated.

Riley smiled. "Thanks, but are you referring to my aim or my ability in bandaging?"

WuFei folded his arms. "Both, I guess."

"That's quite a compliment coming from you." She laughed at his expression. She turned away from him and wandered to the ships. "Which of these is the fastest and most important?" she asked him.

WuFei walked to her side and pointed to the one in the middle. "That's the Rebellion 080. It's the fastest, and it's the ship that Katana Rosco owns."

Riley smirked. "Perfect." She had figured out that Katana was working with the WRF when she had been rummaging through their files a few hours earlier. "Come on Wu-man. We gotta get out of here," she said, jogging to the Rebellion 080.

"It's WuFei! Not Wu-man!" He sighed and looked around before following, grumbling to himself, "Why am I doing this? I never let a girl lead me around before." He walked up the lowered plank Riley was walking up and told himself mentally, there's something about her that makes me trust her. What is it?

In the cockpit, WuFei found Riley at the pilots seat, starting the ship up. He leaned over the seat and said in her ear, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Piloting this thing, what does it look like?" She pushed up a few more switches. "You may want to buckle up unless you want to be throw to the back of this ship."

WuFei sat down in the co-pilots seat. "How do you think we are getting out of here without some people noticing?"

"I never said I was hoping to get out of here unnoticed. That's impossible." The ship was ready and Riley started to move it around so it faced the exit just as a group of soldiers ran in, shooting. WuFei gripped the arms of the chair as she ship spun sharply around.

Riley shoved the joystick forward and the ship drove onto the take-off strip. She paused and then pushed forward another joystick and the ship shot off down the strip and took off at the end. The vast blackness of space greeted her and WuFei after the threat of death back at the WRF base.

Katana rummaged through her papers, searching for the information on Riley and Vienna she had ordered delivered earlier that day, but had not looked at yet. She found the papers under her file folders and set aside the papers on Riley to read the ones of her archrival, Vienna. She flipped to the first page and began reading. It was Vienna's recent profile, uploaded at the first day of the year. She sighed and flipped to the next page; she knew everything on the profile all ready.

The next page was of her family. Katana smiled and read to see what they said of this. She read aloud: "Vienna Chang's family has never been identified, other than the fact that she had a mother and father, along with an older brother. Mother nor father have been found, but there have been leads to the whereabouts of her older brother." Katana scowled in disgust, and flipped to the next page. "I know all that too," she grumbled. "Whoever wrote this up on Vienna sucks at doing his job. He's missing a lot of details."

The third page was of her living situations, friends, and occupations. None of this was new to Katana either. The next few pages proved to be nothing new, but old news. Sighing, she dropped the information on Vienna into her trash bin and picked up the one on Riley. She did not know much of anything on Riley, so this would be more fruitful on information, and perhaps on Vienna - she hoped. The profile did nothing for Katana, so she moved on to the family page. Attached to the page was a newspaper clipping of a few years ago. She set the clipping on the desk and got to reading the actual paper on Riley.

"Riley Barton's family has been recorded as circus performers in a traveling circus. Her father was Trenton Barton, her mother Marianne Barton, and she then had an older brother and sister. Her brother is Trowa Barton, still a circus performer, along with their sister, Cathrine Barton (Bloom). Riley had been reported dead in a fire that occurred against the circus when she was at the age of six, but her body had never been found. Her parents died in the fire, with only her older siblings escaping. And now, it turns out Riley herself has survived and been undercover for some reason or other."

Katana raised her eyebrows, and nodded. "I knew most of that, but I still learned something more."

"Commander Rosco! Important news!"

Katana tossed the papers onto her desk in anger. "What is it, officer? You know I hate it when I am disturbed!"

The officer saluted and reported, "A ship has been stolen from the hangar, Commander."

Katana stared at him, her mouth twisting. "And which ship would that be?"

The officer coughed. "The Rebellion 080, Commander. Your ship, to be exact."

Katana glared at him. "Who stole my ship?! Answer immediately or I will demand you be shot."

"Their identities have not been recovered, but a soldier was one of them, Commander. With the soldier was a girl, not much older than twenty, if that." When Katana's glare got fiercer, he added hastily, "The recording of it is on the caption screen, Commander."

Katana spun around and punched in something on a keyboard, and on a screen across the room, the video of the escape was shown. Katana walked forward to it and watched carefully. As soon as she saw the soldier and girl, her eyes turned a bright red. She yelled out in fury, grabbed the officer by the scruff of the neck and with a great strength, tossed him across the room. He hit the bookshelf along the wall and was knocked senseless. She growled and glared at the screen, muttering angrily, "Riley Barton and WuFei Chang."

"Dang that was fun!" Riley exclaimed to her partner sitting beside her in the cockpit.

WuFei looked at her in annoyance. "That was fun?"

Riley shrugged. "Yeah, sure. We just outsmarted the WRF. Aren't you the littlest bit excited?"

WuFei shook his head. "Not really. You just blew my cover, so now I can't go back."

Riley frowned at him. "You want to go back? So you are my enemy."

"No!" he said, his voice tense. "I was there undercover. You know, pretending to be with them so I could figure out their plans and tell them to Heero."

Riley folded her arms. "Hm. Well, there was no point in you staying there anyways. I already know their plans."

WuFei blinked in surprise. "You do?"

Riley scowled at the control panel. "Ya. You won't believe it if I told you though."

WuFei raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

Riley sighed. "Fine." She quickly filled him in on everything that she knew, including all the information about the WRF's weapons. She also added in that Dr. J was alive.

WuFei stared at her wide-eyed. "What the heck! That old creep is living, too?"

Riley nodded. "Yup. He is being kept prisoner at the base we just left. I talked to him for a short while, but then we heard some people coming. I escaped through a vent, and ended up at the hangar. You know the rest from there."

WuFei nodded. "We need to find the others and fill them in on everything. I also think you should explain what you have been doing for this past month."

Riley glanced at him. "Would it be okay if I told you along with the others, wherever they are?"

"That's fine."

Riley smiled. "Good. Um, do you happen to know where they are? Like, where they all are staying?"

"Heero and Duo normally stay at their apartment on the L1 colony, Quatre works at his mansion, and Trowa and his circus travel everywhere, so we can't keep up with them most of the time."

Riley sighed. "I guess I will just have to search for Vienna then. I'm guessing she went off on her own."

WuFei grunted. "The clumsy friend of yours, right?"

Riley snorted. "That's her, but she isn't that clumsy, like you make her sound."

"She gives Chinese people a bad name," he stated in disgust.

Anger welled up inside Riley suddenly. She glared at WuFei and said defiantly, "That is a horrible thing to say about your own sister!"

WuFei stared at her in shock. "What did you say?" he asked.

Riley slapped herself mentally. "Nothing, nothing. I'm just talking nonsense."

WuFei shook his head. "No, you said sister. You said she was my sister. What is that suppose to mean? I don't have a family."

Riley sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again. He knows, she told herself. I blew the secret! Dr. J is going to kill me! Man oh man…I guess I may as well tell him fully, since he knows, but it hasn't registered. She glanced at his face, and then back to the control panel. "You're right. I did say she was your sister, and she is. She was hidden from you, so you never knew about her. The only people in your family who did was your mother, and Meiran."

WuFei's eyes widened. "Meiran knew about her!"

Riley nodded. "Yeah, she did."

Suddenly, something beeped, causing both of them to jump. WuFei saw the `incoming call' light blinking, and he pushed down on the button. A separate screen popped up, and on the screen was Katana, glaring at them angrily.

Riley evened the glare. "What do you want Katana?"

Katana looked as if she was about to blow any second. "Barton, you know very well what I am mad about!"

Riley's senses went on full alert. Katana had called her Barton; how had she known? "How do you…?" Riley trailed off as it became obvious. Of course she had known. She was working for the World Rebellion Federation, and they had all the information they needed on she and Vienna. It was too obvious. She could just hope WuFei had not noticed.

"I just wanted you to know that I am not sending some of my soldiers after you. There would be no point," Katana said.

Riley raised an eyebrow. "And why wouldn't there be? You do want your ship back, I'm guessing."

"Yes, of course I do, but why should I go after it when there is already a bomb planted in case of an emergency."

WuFei frowned. "A bomb?"

Katana smiled evenly at him. "Yes, WuFei, a bomb. We have three on every space ship we own, just in case of one of them being stolen. They aren't set while in the base, but if it comes to our attention a ship has been stolen, we can set off the bomb from at the base, even if the ship is across the universe." She laughed. "And now, the three bombs on my ship are already set, and counting down."

WuFei and Riley looked at one another, and back to Katana on the screen. Riley frowned. "Katana, there's one problem: your boss wants me alive!"

Katana shrugged. "I know, but he already thinks your dead, so it really doesn't matter." She looked down at her watch and smiled. "Oh, look at the time. You only have a few more seconds to live, and counting down. Later you two! I'll be sure to give your friends your good-byes." Katana chuckled as she took another look at her watch. "20. 19. 18."

Riley leapt up, as did WuFei, and they ran to the back to search for space suits, but Katana's counting down rang in their ears as they searched.

"16. 15. 14."

WuFei threw things all over the place as he searched. Riley joined in on the search, searching frantically.

"13. 12."

WuFei shouted triumphantly, pulling two suits from a hidden closet. Riley, across the room, looked up from her searching.

"10. 9. 8."

"Come on, Riley!" WuFei shouted at her, already halfway in his space suit. Riley ran to him and took the space suit he held out to her.

"6. 5. 4."

Riley yanked the suit on quickly, fumbling with an annoying wrist cuff.

"3. 2."

Riley zipped up the suit and pulled on the helmet over her head.

"1."