Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Memories ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter 16

"I don't like this plan." Heero said again. His arms were crossed and he was glaring at the others in the room with him. "It has too many unnecessary risks."

"How do you propose to proceed?" Wufei countered. "We are flying blind! We don't know what Une is up to, this is our best opportunity to find out!"

"No!" Heero gave his best death glare.

Once Relena had been stabilised, the pilots had all left her in the care of Sally and had moved to the coms room to formulate a plan. The consensus was that they needed more information as to what Une was trying to do and why. Wufei had stated that the obvious way forward was to plant Relena back in the Ministry where she would have direct access to the Une. Heero had immediately objected, his mission was to protect Relena and not use her as some kind of mole.

"Guys, perhaps we should consult with Relena about this." Quatre said calmly.

"No!" Heero growled again.

"Buddy, you know that she will want to help." Duo pointed out.

"No!" Heero unfolded his arms, his hand hovering near his belt where Duo knew he kept his gun. Duo decided to remain quiet. Trowa had no such compulsion.

"You are being foolish, Yuy" Trowa said calmly. "Time is against us."

Quatre nodded "He is right Heero. People are going to speculate about Relena not being in public soon. If Une's intention is to upset the peace process, which seems likely, she is going to announce that Relena has been kidnapped by us sooner than later. I imagine the only reason she hasn't so far is that she has been waiting for confirmation of Relena's death."

"No!" Heero again protested. "I am going to contact Dr J first before I will even consider Relena going back. J has been too knowledgeable about all this bot technology. Its time he tells us all he knows."

As Heero moved to the communications panel Sally entered the room. She looked tired, but was smiling.

"Relena is awake." She said, "She is asking for you Heero."

Heero stopped in his tracks, looked at the coms panel and then to the door through which Sally had come.

"Go" said Quatre pushing Heero lightly in the direction of the door. "I'll contact J."

Heero nodded once then hurried to see Relena, closing the door behind him.

Relena was awake and smiling a genuine welcoming smile. The catheter was out of her hand, cottonwool covered with some tape covered the small hole the needle had left. The pacing electrodes had been removed, and the machines around her were switched off.

Heero moved to her quickly, and gathered her in his arms. She hugged him back tightly, her face buried in his neck. He felt her shake a little and heard her sniff. When he pulled back he found to his surprise that she was quietly crying.

"I'm sorry" Heero said quietly, wiping the tears away with his fingers "I should have been there to stop this. I promised that I would take care of you and I let you down." He pulled her close to him again, rocking her gently back and forth.

After a few minutes, he felt her sigh and say in a muffled voice.

"This is nice…….but do I know you?"

Heero froze. He pulled away from her, his hands on her shoulders looking into her eyes intently. Relena grinned

"Just kidding!" she whispered.

Heero let out the breath he had been holding and glared at her. "That's. Not. Funny." He growled.

Relena kept smiling. "Well, lets just call it pay back for shooting at me!" she retorted.

"I didn't shoot at you, I shot at the car." Heero stopped frowning and reached out to push Relena's hair back behind her ear. "Are you alright? Really?" he kept caressing her hair and Relena reached out to stroke his messy bangs. Heero captured her hand and raised it so that she could see the engagement ring. "Did Holt try anything with you?"

Relena looked at the ring as if for the first time, and she frowned. "No, he didn't Heero. He was always very polite, very nice. But we weren't intimate." Relena pulled the ring off and Heero raised her hand to his lips kissing the finger that was now ringless. Relena sharply drew breath at the sensation and snuggled closer to him. He moved her hand away from his lips and to his check, tilting her head up with his other hand. "Thank you for rescuing me." She whispered as his lips came down on hers. Gently he kissed her, slow, light kisses. Her hand caressed his check to his jaw line then lightly down the back of his neck.

Heero's mouth left hers and gently kissed down to her neck. He took a deep breath and pulled away, Relena whimpered as the pleasurable sensations stopped. She looked up at him questioningly and saw that he wasn't looking at her, but towards the door where Quatre stood looking very embarrassed.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but Dr J is not responding to calls." Quatre said, red faced. He didn't wait for a response from Heero, but turned and fled back to the other room.

"Go Heero" Relena said quietly. "This is neither the time nor the place for us."

Heero stood and looked down at Relena. "Once this mess is sorted I will make the time and find the place."

"Is that a promise or a threat Mr Yuy?" Relena asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Both." Heero answered.

Lady Une stood at the podium, and calmly surveyed the audience of reporters. She cleared her throat, signalling that she was about to begin her speech. The reporters stopped their softly murmured discussions and fell silent, microphones held forward, cameras filming and still cameras poised.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press. Thank you for attending. On Monday evening, Miss Relena Darlian, Foreign Minister for ESUN, was kidnapped. The abduction took place outside her office and was a highly skilled and organised operation. Whilst we believe that it is in the public's best interest to be advised of such occurrences, as we had not received a ransom demand for Miss Relena it was decided that details of her abduction would remain confidential. The best hope for Miss Relena's safe return, it was believed, would be discretion. We hoped that we would receive a demand and be able to negotiate the ministers return." Une paused for effect, before forcing a tremor into her voice and continuing. "I regret to inform you that today at twelve noon I received advice from the kidnappers that they have no intention of releasing Miss Darlian and that they intend to execute her for what they describe as the `crime of being a dictator'. Whilst we will continue to do everything in our power to retrieve Miss Darlian, the indications are that the execution has already taken place."

Stunned silence met Une/s statement, then a multitude of flashes lit up her face as photos were taken. Lady Une held up a hand to shield her eyes. "Please Ladies and Gentlemen" she protested, as voices were raised, many people asking questions at once "One at a time" Une pointed at a reporter who had his hand up in the air.

"Who were the kidnappers?" he asked

"As I said earlier, the abduction was very well planned and carried out with military precision. The people who did this deed knew the Ministers likely schedule and took advantage of the knowledge. They also had the expertise to break through the very best Preventor security. The indications are that the people responsible were the ex Gundum pilots, the people who Miss Darlian was on the point of exposing and charging with war crimes against ESUN. These men have been missing since Relena was abducted."

"Are there plans for retaliation?" another person called out.

"We must all remain calm." Une said seriously "Now is not the time for revenge. We know that the pilots were originally funded by the colonies, but that does not mean that they are still funded by them. We must assume that they acted under their own volition. Certainly we will discover whether they had backing from the colonies. I would like to assure everyone that whoever is found to have funded or backed this vicious attack will feel the full force of ESUN's outrage."

"Who will take over post of Foreign Minister?"

"That is a decision that the President will have to make." Une smiled. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to hand the podium over to someone who would like to make a statement about Miss Darlian's death. Mr Millardo Peacecraft."

Millardo entered the room, his long blond hair bright with the flash photography. He looked emotional, his eyes red, his mouth grim. He nodded his thanks to Lady Une, who stood next to him, holding his arm supportively.

"I had not seen much of my sister over the last few years." Millardo swallowed deeply, his eyes blinking hard in an effort to hold back his tears. "I had left Earth for the colonies after the war. We kept in touch via vid phones, but it is never the same as being physically with someone. I returned to Earth as soon as I heard that Relena had been kidnapped. I wanted to plead with the kidnappers to return my little sister, that she was a good person who had achieved much and had so much more to achieve. I never got the chance to plead. They killed my sister. They didn't want money. They wanted her life. They wanted to stop her good works. They sneered at the peace that she held so sacred." Millardo wiped his eyes, his voice breaking. "Well, I am here now to tell them that I am going to continue with my sister's works. I will not allow them to win with my sister's death. I will see them tried as war criminals as my sister so rightly wished. I will see the people who supported them tried as criminals. They will not go unpunished. The colonies that supported this wicked and despicable act will know what justice feels like.

"It is also my intention to re-establish the Sanq Kingdom in memory of my dear sister. She had implored me on a number of occasions to return to Earth and take over the rule of our ancestral kingdom. To honour her, I intend to do just that. The Sanq Kingdom will shine bright again in remembrance of Relena."

Millardo's voice broke and Lady Une supported him, moving him away from the podium.

"That is all, thank you people of the press." She said and led Millardo out of the room.

"We now return you to your scheduled program" the television announcer's voice came over the air. The television screen went black as it was switched off with a remote control.

"Oh, shit." Duo said.

"Une got tired of waiting for Relena to die." Quatre replied, closing his eyes.

"Next will be our names". Trowa said grimly.

They will name us and name the colonies we are affiliated to." Wufei rubbed the back of his neck.

"Then revenge attacks will happen, and war will follow." Heero folded his arms "Was that Une's intention all the time, to return us to a state of war?"

"Millardo did not sound like himself." All five pilots looked up to see Relena standing straight and determined. "He would not give up so easily if I was kidnapped and I certainly never invited him back to re-establish the Sanq Kingdom." She frowned "And where was Noin? She always goes wherever Millardo goes. I didn't see her at the press conference."

"Uh oh" Duo shook his head "No offence Lena, but I'm not looking forward to extracting another Peacecraft from Une's clutches."

"No, you won't have to." Relena replied. "We have all worked too hard on establishing peace for one woman to destroy it. Forget bringing Millardo here, we will go to Millardo. And to Une. I am going to find out what she is doing. How soon can you get me to earth?"

Heero was on his feet as soon as he heard her voice and by her side. Relena smiled reassuringly at him.

"Heero, I want to do this." She said "I cant hide away and watch everything we have achieved over the last six years disappear. I will go back and I will confront Une. What can she do if I confront her in public?"

"Apart from kill you?" Duo piped up.

"Would she?" Relena asked "If I make an unannounced appearance at a televised press conference, how could she?"

"Miss Relena, we don't know how many people have been infected with the nanobots." Quatre pointed out. "You could walk in there and find everyone against you."

"I just don't know why she is doing this." Relena frowned "If I knew her motivation, then maybe we could anticipate what her next move would be."

Sally rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "It could be that there is no motivation. You are all aware of her differing personalities during the war. It could be that the shock of Mariemaia's death has caused her to relapse. She should have been stable though, she was on medication."

There was silence as everyone considered this.

"Une gave you no clue during your time alone." Trowa finally asked.

"No." Relena shook her head "Everything seemed to be normal. I honestly had no idea that anyone was acting differently. The only policy that I remember to be different was the War Criminal Bill." She suddenly looked up "But there is one thing - Dr J. He was at Preventor HQ on at least one occasion to see Basil."

"Are you sure?" Heero asked frowning.

"Absolutely sure." Relena replied "It was he that gave me the spray that I used on you and Trowa when you rescued me. He had been visiting Basil, I don't know why, but on his way out he gave me the spray and said that it was a new development of his and I should keep it on me for protection. Basil had just given me a gun so I said no, but he insisted. He said that it wouldn't permanently harm anyone so it was much more suited to me as a defensive weapon than a gun."

Heero blinked. He turned to his laptop and began typing furiously. Without looking up or stopping typing he began to issue orders.

"Trowa and Quatre, you will go to L1 and pick up Dr J. Find out exactly what he knows. He did not tell us that he had recently had contact with Basil and Relena. He has too much knowledge about nano technology. That makes him untrustworthy. He needs to be detained."

"Understood." Trowa confirmed. Heero kept typing.

"The rest of us will return to Earth. Duo, you need to rig up a sensor to detect radio frequency emissions from the nanobots. Cannibalise this station for parts. It needs to be small and powerful. We might not be able to get too close to Millardo to see what sort of bot he has been infected with."

"Sure thing." Duo nodded and went to work.

"Sally, pack up your medical equipment and load it on the shuttle." Heero continued "Wufei, prep the shuttle for return to earth." Both Preventors left the room.

Relena walked up behind Heero and placed her hands on his shoulders, gently massaging his muscles.

"Don't worry." Heero kept typing, but tried to sound as confident and reassuring as he could. "We won't surrender this peace."