A Silver Lining Part 19
"Duo, could you answer the phone?" Hilde called over the ringing vid phone, her attention drawn to the meal that she was cooking.
Stepping out of the bathroom with a towel over his loose, damp hair, Duo stepped into the hallway in a pair of jeans and loose, black t-shirt. With a smile, he sniffed the pleasant aroma of the meal being prepared in the kitchen. He refrained from making any comment over his friend's distracted attention. The American knew the stress that Hilde had gone through in seeing that her date with Brian tonight went off perfectly. It was out of courtesy that he went to the ringing phone without making some kind of comment.
When he was seated before the vid phone in the living room, Duo quickly pulled his loose damp hair back in a pony tail to look presentable in case the call was from one of their many clients. He was about to begin his usual, businesslike greeting when he pressed the 'Accept Call' button.
"Duo Maxell, here," he began just as the screen came on. "How can I help-" the remainder of his greeting fell away and his violet eyes widened at the face that appeared on the monitor. "H-Heero?" he stammered.
It had been months since Duo laid eyes on his friend. The last time he saw the ex-Wing pilot, he was unconscious following his collapse after the Mariemeia attack had ended. In meeting those cobalt eyes again, a deep surge of guilt ripped at Duo for leaving his partner behind to recover on his own. After a long silence between the two pilots, Heero finally replied simply, "Hello, Duo."
The sound of footsteps running towards the living room brought the American's eyes up just as a wide-eyed, slack-jawed Hilde reached the doorway. Over the last few months of working and sharing their apartment together, the young woman was both shocked and honored that Duo had confided his feelings for Heero to her. Sensing her friend's nervousness, she mouthed, 'Baka, say something to him.'
Swallowing hard, the long-haired teenager turned back to face the vid phone monitor and smiled nervously. "Well, this is an unexpected surprise. You look well," he commented, rubbing the back of his head. Hilde smacked her forehead and rolled her eyes at her roommate's sad attempt to start a conversation.
For the first time in his life, Duo could almost swear that he caught Heero actually fidgeting as he searched for something to say. On his other end of the call, the ex-Wing pilot had not expected something as simple as a call to be this difficult. Taking a deep breath, Heero found himself asking, "How is the savaging business coming?"
"Really well, thanks," Duo grinned with a shrug of his shoulders. "Hil and I have been able to have quite a few large clients interested in it. Work orders have been coming in regularly, so I can't complain."
Heero had to force himself not to frown too deeply in hearing that news. "I see," he replied. He lowered his head a bit, deciding best to just get to the reason for his call to have it out in the open before he changed his mind and ended the call now. "I am joining up with the Preventers and will be moving to stay on Earth in the next week. There is a nice beach house in Maryland that I was going to look at possibly buying."
Raising his head again to meet his friend's violet eyes, the ex-Wing pilot said quickly, "Duo, the reason I was calling was to see if you'd be interested in moving in with me... maybe even working together as partners again." There, quick and nearly painless. That was until Heero saw the shock in his friend's widened eyes.
From where she stayed in the doorway, Hilde was bouncing excitedly, smiling widely as she mouthed, 'Tell him 'yes'. Tell him 'yes'.' With a glance over to his roommate, Duo gave a small smile of appreciation. Now that it was clear that she would not be hurt by his leaving, the long-haired pilot met his partner's gaze.
The hesitation of any response from his friend was not a good sign to the Japanese pilot. "This was a bad idea," Heero frowned, shaking his head. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Duo." With that, he reached up to his 'phone to his the 'Disconnect' button.
"Heero, wait," Duo suddenly called just before his partner could end the call. Biting his lip, Heero looked up again to find the other teenager smiling back at him. "How soon can we go look at this house you found?"
* * * * * *
He never even heard the shots.
Suddenly finding himself lying on his back, a sheering pain in his right shoulder and another in his lower abdomen, Heero stared up at the brightly lit ceiling with wide eyes. Shots rang out amongst his team. Someone who was working on his team had shot him from behind. More shots were fired over the screaming voices all around.
Finally, when the released hostages were finally removed from harm's way, Heero could just make out the voice of another agent on his team shouting frantically into his radio, "It's Agent Wing. He's been shot!"
A flash of sad violet filled Heero's vision. With a ragged breath, he whispered, "Duo..." Slowly, the world around him fell away into blackness.
* * * * * *
Trowa cursed to himself and shouted in response to the urgent call, "Get him and the remainder of your team back to the shuttle immediately! Understood!?" After an affirmative response from the frightened soldier's voice, the tall ex-Heavyarms pilot replaced his radio on his belt.
The thin, tiny arms wrapped around his neck tightened the slightest bit, the small girl in his arms never looking up from where her face was buried in his shoulder. "It's going to be all right, little one," he reassured her quietly. "Just keep holding on tight to me, all right?" There was a slight nod from the child's head before he took off running down the hall littered with bodies in his aim to reach the shuttle.
While she was terrified of everything that was happening around her, Rachel just clung onto the tall man that pulled her from her cell. Just when she was sure that she would die some day while being in the hands of the men that killed her mother, this person came to her rescue, so it seemed. Suddenly, she remembered the words she heard being shouted between the guards not long before she was found. Her brown eyes widened with a sharp gasp. "B-bomb," she whispered.
Halting in his hurried steps, Trowa's own eyes widened. Pulling back to look into the child's eyes, he asked, "What was that?"
"The guards... they set up the ship to explode with bombs," Rachel answered, her voice soft and frightened. With a firm nod, the man holding her lifted her higher for a better grip around her waist. Hiding her face again, Rachel felt his body lurching to a full out run.
When he reached the hanger, Trowa narrowly missed a few bullets in reaching the Preventers guarding their shuttle. "Everyone board the shuttle now!" he cried over all of the noise. "This place is going to go up any second!"
At those words, the few prisoners that were still in the open screamed and ran into the shuttle's opening. Keeping the girl in his protection close, Trowa shouted orders to the remainder of the rescue team to pull back from the fight.
"They know about the bombs!" he heard one guard across the hanger shouting to the remainder of his men. "Start the detonation before they can get out of here!"
Everyone piled into the shuttle quickly, Trowa being the last, and the doors sealed closed. "Get us the hell out of here!" he shouted to the cockpit of the craft, covering the girl's ears with his free hand. Instantly, the piloting crew brought the shuttle to life, cutting a large hole in the side of the transport ship's walls.
The loud roar of the shuttle engines compiled with the explosion following after them caused Rachel to give a small cry of fear, her arms hugging the tall man's neck all the tighter. 'I will not cry,' she told herself. 'I will not cry.' A soothing hand reached up to rub her back gently.
Having taken out their opposing forces, the teams led by Wufei and Anna watched from their Taurus suits as the shuttle carrying their comrades and the released captives flew just out of reach of a massive ball of fire with mere seconds to spare. Several deafening booms rang out and the White Out craft seemed to bend in half.
A few sharp gasps could be heard over the communication links as the agents stared in shock while the massive transport ship was engulfed by the massive explosions focused within its center. In a few blinks, there was little left but floating debris.
Several agents let out a loud cheer in watching the shuttle fly past them unscathed. Both Wufei and Anna released the breaths they had been holding for what seemed like an eternity. With a smirk, the Chinese pilot announced, "All right, everyone. Let's escort them back to Quasar." Along with Anna, he took the lead in flanking the shuttle to see that it reached its destination safely.
* * * * * *
Noin and Zechs smiled warmly to Anna and Wufei as they approached them in one of the long hallways of Quasar after returning before the shuttle, all still attired in their form-fitting flight suits. Behind them, the doors leading to the hanger would open to the shuttle and its passengers. As Sally and her medical team ran to enter the hanger and assess those wounded, the four pilots waited patiently for word on their friends still in the small craft beyond the doors.
"It was an honor watching the two of you in action back there," the Anna grinned to the young couple that had joined their cause. "Their Taurus suits outnumbered us, but having you out there helped even the odds quite a bit."
Bowing her head, Noin chuckled deeply, "Thank you, Anna. You fought quite valiantly, yourself." With a shrug, she stated, "I have to admit that it felt really good to be flying a mobile suit again."
Meeting the Chinese pilot's eyes watching him, Zechs smirked, "And it is always a pleasure fighting alongside old friends. It's good to see that you haven't lost your edge, Chang." He held out his right hand, his smile growing slightly.
A small grin tugging at his lips, Wufei exchanged a firm handshake with a firm nod. "It's almost a shame we can't partake in skirmishes like this more often." The group of pilots chuckled deeply amongst themselves. Their peaceful moment was broken when the hanger doors swished open and the sound of anxious voices filled the air.
Over the commotions, Sally's voice shouted orders, "Get him into the OR stat! He's the worst off of all of them! I'll need three of you with me during the operation while the rest of you look after the others! Let's go!" With that, she led the rolling stretcher quickly from the hanger. Lying on that stretcher was Heero, unconscious and bleeding badly from his arm. At the sight of their friend, the four pilots standing by gasped, froze, gaped and watched with wide, fear-filled eyes as he was rushed past them.
Slowly, those rescued from the hands of the White Out Organization began filing out of the hanger with the aid of their Preventer escorts. Anna scanned over through the crowd pouring into the hallway worriedly.
When Trowa finally appeared amidst the near hundred people filing into the hall, the redhead breathed a deep sigh of relief and ran towards him. The tall pilot gave his lover a tired, but relieved smile of his own when she reached him. His hold around the girl in his arms tightened in a reassuring squeeze when the child at last lifted her face to peer around the sea of faces nervously.
When Anna was close enough she and Trowa quickly assessed each other before embracing tightly. When she pulled back, the redhead smiled warmly to the girl in her partner's arms. "Well hello there, darling," she greeted kindly.
Rachel blinked her wide brown eyes before timidly smiling back. Bending at her knees to be more eye-level with the child, Anna said quietly, "Trowa, here, has a friend who was hurt pretty badly, kiddo. What do you say you come with me and I'll see that you get cleaned up and checked out while he waits for word on his friend?"
Rachel looked up at the man holding her. So his name was Trowa. The pretty lady with red hair seemed really nice and Trowa must trust her. She could see that while he was hiding it, he did have a look of concern in his green eyes. She didn't want the nice man to be sad.
Looking back to the pretty lady, Rachel nodded her head. The lady straightened with a glowing smile and all but cheered, "Great." She opened her arms, to which the little girl reached out to wrap her own arms around the lady's neck. Two long, slender arms wrapped securely around her small frame and held her close. Biting her lip, Rachel tried to imaging that it was her mother hugging her closely as she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the lady's shoulder.
In seeing the care that she took in making sure that both he and the child were taken care of, Trowa gave his lover a grateful smile and mouthed, 'Thank you.' He leaned in and kissed Anna's lips soundly. When they pulled back, the redheaded Preventer winked to him before turning and walking off with the child, melding in with the crowd of people moving to be examined by the medical team in the designated rooms further down the hall. Trowa released a deep sigh, his shoulders sagging and the worry in his eyes no longer masked as he approached the remainder of his friends.
Two agents from Heero's team ran up, to the group when the crowd cleared at last. Recognizing the young Hispanic and African American approaching, Trowa frowned deeply, "Omar. Antonio. What happened back there?"
Catching his breath, the bald agent named Omar straightened and answered, "Agent Wing had us make our way down the wing to release the prisoners as planned, sir. He stayed behind to cover us from enemy fire when Agent Bow-" his brown eyes narrowed and he corrected with a deep growl, "-Jessica Adams shot him twice from behind."
Wufei, Noin, Zechs and Trowa listened on in horror, their eyes wide in hearing that there was yet another leak in their Preventer unit. Swallowing hard, Antonio ran a hand through his short, dark hair and continued, "We killed her just before she could shoot Agent Wing a third time." He shuddered, "She just had this satisfied smirk on her face the whole time, even as we fired at her. She didn't even fight back."
Rubbing his chin, Zechs commented, "Because the real targets are the Gundam pilots. She had no reason to kill either of you, as far as she was concerned. Even if she fought back, she knew that she would have been killed at any rate."
Beside him, Noin added quietly, "She was satisfied in dying thinking that she had just killed Heero Yuy." Turning to her partner, she suggested, "We better contact Lady Une to make whatever arrangements need to be made to have Jessica's house searched."
With a nod, Zechs added, "We better search her quarters in case she left anything behind that could be useful." Together, the young couple quickly walked off.
"Good work, the two of you," Trowa said at last to the two agents from Heero's team. "We're a couple of days from reaching the Earth's orbit, so see that you both keep your eyes open for anything suspicious amongst the other agents while you're out here."
A flash of nervousness glinted in Omar's eyes and he asked, "Agent Dragon. Agent Shroud... How long have there been traitors amongst us? Why were we not all informed of them sooner?"
Wufei reassured him in a calm voice, "We thought that we had found them all. Hopefully, we will find more information from what we can gather from Jessica's quarters and home. Until we have all that we can find, I am sure that you can both understand the gravity in seeing that this news stays confidential. Just keep an eye open and try to relax during our stay here. You both did well back there."
The two agents both nodded with grim expressions. "Thank you, sir. We'll be sure to alert you if we find anything out of the norm," Antonio stated. "You will keep all of us posted on Agent Wing's condition, then?"
Both Trowa and Wufei gave small smiles at the request. Heero was respected and looked up to by all of the Preventers, as were all of the ex-Gudam pilots. The obvious concern on the young men's faces was almost endearing. With a nod, Trowa replied, "Of course." Satisfied with that, Omar and Antonio walked off.
The moment that they were alone, Wufei took a deep breath in a dark hiss, spinning quickly with narrowed eyes and landing a forceful punch into the wall behind him. "Goddamn it!" he shouted. Trowa never flinched at the sudden change in his friend, his eyes gazing off at nothing in particular. "How the hell will we be able to accomplish anything if we have to keep looking over our shoulders to make sure one of our own isn't preparing to stab us from behind!?"
Releasing a deep breath slowly, Trowa shook his head, "I don't know, Wufei." Looking up to the ceiling with his back leaning against the wall, he frowned deeply, "I just don't know."
* * * * * *
Nearly an hour later...
With a deep sigh, Sally removed her surgical mask. "Three inches lower than where the bullet entered..." she said quietly, shaking her head. "Someone certainly was looking out for him." Gently, she ran a hand through the unconscious pilot's bangs.
Sally's findings revealed that while Heero's colon had been nicked, the repair work was fairly routine. The bullet wound to the shoulder left several broken bones that needed to be set. What had Sally worried the most was the blood that he had lost in route back to Quasar. After several blood transfusions during the surgery, however, Heero was now stabilized and set on making a full recovery with rest and care.
Turning to her three aids, the braided woman smiled warmly, "Good work, all of you. Let's move him into one of the patient rooms. With a nod from her staff, her aids moved from the room to change out of their reddened medical scrubs.
Once she was alone, Sally went to the pile of clothing that has been cut from the injured pilot's body. Recovering the silver chain and cross pendant that she has carefully removed from the teenager before the surgery, she returned to the bed to test a theory. Even if Heero was going to recover, she knew that he would need something to give him a reason to fight.
Carefully opening Heero's right hand, the braided Preventer placed the chain and pendant in his palm. With a sad smile, she watched the once slack fingers close tightly around the piece of silver. Somehow, she had had a feeling that the pendant meant something to the ex-Wing pilot.
Enfolding the balled fist with both her hands, Sally leaned closely to the peaceful face and whispered, "Duo needs you, Heero. I know that you'll get through this for him." She pulled away when the three aids returned to move the stretcher. Sighing deeply when Heero was taken out of the operating room, the young woman moved out into the hallway.
The moment that she entered the waiting room, Sally was quickly greeted by an anxious looking Trowa and Wufei, who all but jumped from their seats at her appearance. Smiling tiredly, the braided woman raised her hands to the two approaching pilots and reassured them, "Heero is going to be fine." The two pilots sighed deeply, their shoulders sagging with relief.
Shaking her head, Sally frowned, "I have to admit that he was extremely lucky. The bullet to his abdomen was millimeters from causing damage that would have killed him instantly. We came very close to losing him."
Finding the rest of the room empty, Sally gave a puzzled look. "Anna is looking after the prisoners that had been pulled from the transport ship. Noin and Zechs are in the middle of a conference call with Lady Une. They're going to be inspecting Jessica Adams's quarters," Wufei explained before his fiancée could ask where the others were.
Her confusion only growing, Sally opened her mouth to inquire more of the searching when Trowa stated, "During the surgery, we had been informed that Jessica was the one who has shot Heero in the heat of the mission."
A cold chill ran up Sally's spine at the news and her eyes widened. "My God... not another one," she breathed. At the grim faces that met her gaze, she sighed deeply and washed her face with her hands. "This nightmare just keeps getting worse," she said quietly.
Gently placing a hand on his lover's back, Wufei soothed quietly, "All we can do is take things one step at a time, the way we have been, Sally. We can't afford to fall apart now." Gently lifting her head with a finger under her chin, the Chinese pilot smiled warmly, "You did a great job back there in taking care of Heero." Sally gave him a grateful smile that also showed her sheer mental and physical exhaustion over the day's events.
"He's right, Sally," Trowa grinned kindly. "The two of you should go and get some rest. I'm going to give Duo a call so that he knows Heero is all right. I'm sure that he's probably waiting for some word on what is going on out here."
With a nod from the pair, the tall pilot watched his friends walk off. "One step at a time," Trowa sighed deeply to himself, repeating Wufei's words in trying to ease his own growing fears.
* * * * * *
Opening the door to the room that once belonged to Jessica Adams, Noin and Zechs entered the quarters with their eyes narrowed. Their eyes widened at the markings left behind, etchings carved in the walls to read, 'SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS' in bold letters across the room. Even with the lights in the room turned off, the message could be clearly read just by the dim light coming from the stars outside. "My God," Noin breathed.
Zechs stood in the center of the private quarters as the door closed behind them. Taking a deep breath, he read aloud, "Sic semper tyrannis..." His eyes narrowing, he translated aloud, "Thus always to tyrants."
"Jessica was studying history as her major in college," Noin commented grimly, examining the text books lined sitting on the large desk in the far corner. "I'm sure that she found it fitting to quote John Wilkes Booth's cry in his flight after shooting President Abraham Lincoln. She must have believed that she would be successful in killing Heero during their mission."
Running a hand through his bangs, Zechs growled deeply, "She came pretty damn close. All we can hope now is that Yuy pulls out of this." He gazed around the living quarters, both he and his partner frozen in their places, taking in all of the surroundings. Aside from the angry carvings on the wall, it was not exactly the picture of living standards for a murderer. It all seemed very... normal.
After peering around the surroundings, Zechs's eyes narrowed in thought. After a moment, His eyes widened in realization and he asked, "Weren't Brian Hefner and Jessica Adams OZ pilots during the war?"
Noin blinked in trying to understand where her lover was going. She nodded, "I believe so. To join the Preventers, a person's affiliation during the war was never a reason to keep them from joining the force. There are several agents who fought for White Fang as well."
"Yes, but to change a person's ideals is a far cry from simply changing the name of an affiliation," Zechs thought aloud. Pointing to the etchings in the wall, he commented, "Jessica considered Heero and the Gundam pilots as tyrants. While I am not sure on the background of Sara Rivers and Mark Conner, I am willing to bet that they had fought against those boys during the war as well. This is a payback for them."
With realization filling her own eyes, Noin added, "And they came into connection with someone in enough power to see that they helped them carry out their revenge." She shook her head in frustration, "But that still is not necessarily going to lead us to 'him', whoever 'he' is."
Suddenly, the light in the furthest, darkest corner of the room turned on, causing a near blinding contrast to the nearly pitch blackness that once covered the room. Both Noin and Zechs turned sharply with their pistols aimed at the young man sitting slouched in the corner.
A very tired agent, still in his flight suit following the mission, rose to his feet slowly. His deep blue eyes had a haunted look about them as they peered through long, white bangs. His skin was ghostly pale and his arms hung slack at his sides. "I believe that I have some information for you," he said in a deep, sullen voice.
Neither Zechs nor Noin trained their guns away from where they were aimed perfectly at the young man's forehead. "What information would that be?" the tall blonde asked darkly, his eyes thinned into slits.
As the first sign of any fear, the young agent licked his bottom lip before taking a deep breath and answered, "I had been approached by Jessica to join the White Out Organization's cause. I was to be the fifth and last leak within the Preventers."
TBC...
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