[Catch me as I fall
Say you're here and it's all over now
Speaking to the atmosphere
No one's here and I fall into myself]
--- Lyrics to 'Whisper' performed by Evanescence
A Silver Lining Part 39
"The area has been secured, Commander," a tall, young man with short black hair informed as he approached with a steaming cup of tea in each hand. All in all, thirty uniformed Preventers had been sent to the large estate and they were moving about the grounds of the large estate. The need for car headlights and flashlights was no more with the electricity restored and every light in and out of the house on.
All around, leaves of an array of fall colors continued to fall on a gentle breeze. Handing over the two cups, the handsome pilot continued, "We're in the process of removing the bodies and the usual cleanup procedures at this time."
With a firm nod, Lady Une sighed in relief, "Good work. Thank you for the update, Agent Blaze. I appreciate your assembling your team so quickly on such short notice. Please extend my gratitude to them, as it will take time for the dust to clear enough before I can do so, personally. However, I do intend on making up for that when this is all over."
A proud smile lit the agent's face as he shrugged, "All part of the fun of being a Preventer." Gesturing to one of the body bags being carried off by a pilot at either end, he informed, "I will have the staff at our morgue get the identities of the hired hands to you as soon as they are available."
The Commander replied, "Very good, soldier. When you're finished here, let the others know that I am giving all of you the day off. You've more than earned it after tonight." With that, she turned towards Preventer emergency vehicle. The back doors of the ambulance were opened and inside, Anna was being checked out by another agent.
Wrapped in a long blanked, Relena sat across from her friend with Yuuki safely in her lap. As the last couple of stitches were placed over the long, deep cut along her right knee and a wide bandage placed over the wound, Anna leaned her back against the wall. The medic closed up his equipment kits and stepped from the ambulance with a firm nod to the Commander as he walked off.
Carefully stepping up and into the large vehicle, the Commander handed a steaming cup to the two young women and smiled, "I thought that you both could use something to help stay warm. Fall certainly has arrived."
At the concerned, anticipating faces watching her, Lady Une frowned, "I haven't heard from the others yet." She brightened and smiled reassuringly, "But I am sure that all went well at the orphanage.
Relena accepted her cup with a quiet word of thanks. Anna gave a small nod of gratitude before sipping at the steaming tea. After a sip of her own drink, Relena tilted her head and asked the Commander sitting beside her, "How did you know to bring a whole team along with you?"
"Call it woman's intuition," Lady Une shrugged with a lopsided smirk. "When we got off of the phone and you told me that the two of you were alone, I just thought that I would have some agents sit back just be to on the safe side. I drove up without my headlights and when I saw all of the cars sitting by the safe house, I called the team in."
Anna took another sip from her tea and smirked, "That's why you're our leader." Gazing at her reflection in the white porcelain of the cup, she saw the long scratches that ran diagonally down her face and frowned dramatically, "Damn. And I was so hoping to run for the Miss Universe beauty pageant next month."
Both Relena and Lady Une laughed, their heads falling back. Shaking her head, the Commander chuckled deeply, "You are a piece of work." Anna raised her eyebrows with a playful grin as she finished her tea.
Her smile fading, the Vice-Foreign Minister turned to the woman beside her and stated, "I suppose that the leak that is still in the Preventers got lucky and somehow managed to find where we were hiding."
Running a hand over her brown hair, Lady Une sighed deeply, "That's something that I am still trying to figure out, is how they were able to do that. I never documented this location in any of our records. However they did get the information, it's a mystery to me. Hopefully Scott will have better luck in figuring out who the leak is."
As she gazed down to her wrapped knee, Anna frowned deeply, "I don't know that I'm convinced it was the leak that we're after that found us." Her companions turned to her with confused looks and she gestured to her leg, "The bastard that cut me knew to go for my right leg, when my left was closer with the way I was standing over him."
Her frown deepening, the red-haired pilot shook her head as she commented, "Either that was sheer luck, his going for where I was already injured, or someone told them where to hit." At that notion, both Relena and Lady Une turned to each other with wide eyes in consideration of the possibility.
The sound of a car rolling up the dirt road had the three young women sitting up with wide eyes. Quickly, they descended from the back of the ambulance. Anna took Yuuki in her arms as she and Lady Une assisted Relena to the ground. Two agents waved the car into the scene and through the parked vehicles around the house with friendly smiles that proved they knew the people inside.
When the black car stopped just before a few feet from the ambulance, the car doors flew open. The first to run to the three young women gathered, Quatre cried in relief, "Relena!" Throwing his arms around her, he breathed, "Thank Allah you're all right." The pregnant young woman clung to him tightly as tears ran down her face, the events of that evening catching up with her.
Zechs and Noin soon joined the reunion, wrapping their own arms around Relena as they shared a group embrace. Smiling at the touching scene, Anna and Lady Une stepped back to allow the family a bit of privacy.
As she looked back to the car, Anna frowned deeply at the sight of Sally leading a clearly distraught Duo out into the open. At the sight of her master, Yuuki barked and wiggled anxiously in the redhead's arms. With a small smile, the young woman stepped carefully on her recovering leg as she reached the braided pilots.
Seeming to come from his daze at the sound of the puppy's whimpering, Duo blinked his wide violet eyes and took the collie into his arms as she licked his face excitedly. With a sniffle, he kissed the dog's head and held her to his chest.
"That pup deserves a badge of her own with how she performed tonight," Anna chuckled deeply. The lack of response from the braided young man made her smile fade.
After their happy reunion, Relena and her family pulled from their tight hold as they all, too, looked to the American pilot in concern. At the unspoken questions in the faces of the unsuspecting young women, Zechs sighed deeply and ran a hand through his bangs. Lowering his head, he informed quietly, "Angie is an agent for the White Out Organization. She was the one who led them to our hideout."
Eyes wide with shock and their jaws dropping, the three stunned faces paled. Raising his head again, Zechs gestured to the braided pilot still cradling his pup and staring out at nothing in particular. "She got away with Heero in her captivity."
Relena's hand came up to cover her mouth, Lady Une turned away muttering a sharp curse and Anna's blue eyes slowly closed as she bit her bottom lip in frustration. Still reeling from her own shock, the blonde politician frowned deeply in concern as she looked to Duo as he stiffly lowered Yuuki.
With small tears filling her eyes, Relena walked over and wrapped her braided friend in a tight embrace. Unable to hold back his hopes that he was walking through some nightmare, Duo all but crumbled at the gesture. Returning the tight hug, he sobbed into her shoulder, his whole body shaking.
Gently kissing the top of his head, the pregnant young woman whispered, "Shh. he's going to be all right. We'll get him back." As she continued with the quiet reassurances, she rubbed circled along his back as the others watched on with sad and concerned faces.
Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Anna's face was slowly becoming as red as her hair as she turned away. "How the hell did this get so fucked up?" she whispered, running a hand through her bangs. Looking to the others with narrowed eyes, she shook her head and hissed quietly, "I'm going to kill that bitch."
Noin smirked darkly, "Get in line." Her smile fading, she sighed deeply, "She had every damned one of us fooled into thinking that she was nothing more than someone in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Like Anna, Lady Une's shock had faded into rage over the situation. With narrowed eyes, she growled deeply, "It was my decision to have her stay here, with all of you, under the assumption that it was the safest place for her to stay. Had I not done that, she would never have released the location to the organization."
Quatre broke in, before allowing her to continue on that trail of thoughts and insisted, "If you hadn't insisted on her staying at the estate, anyone of us would have for you, Lady Une. Like Noin said, we were all tricked in this."
With a firm nod, Sally added, "All we can do now is focus on what we're going to do now. Wufei and Trowa should be arriving with Rachel at any moment. With that, we'll have something to go on that will hopefully lead us to where Heero is."
At the mention of her lover and the little girl, Anna looked up with relief in her eyes in hearing that at the very least, they were all right. With a glance back to Duo as he continued to hold onto Relena, her relief faded to guilt in seeing how difficult of a time he was facing without his partner.
When Duo seemed to have a bit more control, he pulled back from Relena's arms and wiped at his face. "Thanks," he managed after taking a deep, shaky breath. Yuuki remained at his side, looking up at him with her tail wagging excitedly at having him back.
"No thanks needed," the politician replied quietly with a sad smile as she wiped at her own eyes. "What are friends for, anyway, right?" she asked with a wink. Reaching up, she cupped his face and locked their gazes as she said firmly, "But I mean it, we'll get Heero back."
Zechs stepped into the scene and stated, "Yes, we will." Resting a hand at the back of the braided pilot's neck as his wet violet eyes turned to him, the tall young man said quietly, "As I promised, I'll personally do everything within my power to see to that. And I do not give my word to just anyone, nor do I give it lightly."
Swallowing hard past the lump in his throat, Duo nodded his appreciation, knowing better than to trust his voice at that moment. Zech pulled him into a tight, one-arm hug before quickly releasing him. "Thank you for seeing that we got here to check on Relena and Anna," he muttered, clearing his throat. "I know that was a difficult decision for you."
His violet eyes widening at the rare sign of affection from the tall, blonde pilot, Duo nodded again. With that, Zechs returned the tight nod, looking up along with the others at the sound of another car coming into the opening.
When the black car pulled beside the one that Zechs's team brought in, Trowa quickly opened the passenger door with Rachel in his arms. At the sight of them, Anna smiled and sighed deeply in relief. Finding her amongst the crowd of their gathered friends, the tall pilot's green eyes widened as he cried, "Anna!"
After a quick glance from Duo to her boyfriend as he approached quickly, the redhead gestured for him to follow. With a firm nod of understanding, Trowa followed her around the ambulance where they could reunite without making their friend's state all the more difficult.
The moment that they were away from prying eyes, Anna hugged her partner fiercely as he rained kissed along her cut face. "My God, I was so worried about you," Trowa breathed. He pulled her in for a fiery kiss and when they finally came up for air, their flushed faces blushed when they turned to the giggling girl in his free arm.
Quickly taking the child into her arms with a tight hug, Anna looked up to the other pilot and sighed deeply, "I've been worried sick about the two of you, as well." She kissed the Rachel's head and cheek as she held her back to appraise her.
Instead of panicking at the dried blood splattered on her small nightgown, or asking questions that would only bring up the child's horrendous experience, the redhead smirked, "Looks like you're going to be stuck with us for a while, little one. And we're going to have to find you some new, clean clothes."
Her feet kicking back and forth in the air, Rachel smiled brightly, "I didn't hesitate, Anna, just like you told me. Trowa and Wufei tried to get me away from the bad men, but I had to help them."
Chuckling deeply, Trowa kissed the little girl's head and told his lover, "That's right. Rachel was a very brave girl, tonight. Wufei is going to have her made into an honorary Preventer when all of this is over."
"That's my girl," Anna grinned in pride as she ran a gentle hand over the child's brown hair. "Wufei is very hard to impress sometimes, so you did a great job if he's going to give you that honor."
Rachel bit her lip and gently ran a small hand over the long cuts along the pretty lady's face and frowned, "Do these hurt?"
With a snort, Anna shook her head, "Nah. I've had worse than this. And they'll go away before long." She winked, "The guy who did this to me won't be hurting anyone else again." Rachel's smile returned and she threw her arms tightly around the young woman's neck again.
Looking up, the red-haired agent found Trowa's face still bore his own concern and she mouthed, "I'm okay." That reassurance seemed to be enough for her lover and he gave a small, lop-sided smirk of relief.
When Rachel loosened her hold, Trowa suggested, "We should check on the others. Wufei and I managed to find something else that may help up in finding Angie and Heero." Anna's eyes filled with curiosity as she followed her partner closely.
As he reunited with his friends and his own lover, Wufei looked up as Trowa and Anna reappeared. The two agents exchanged firm nods and the discussion amongst the others died down when the Chinese pilot went back to the car. "What's going on?" Relena asked quietly as she stepped closer to the Latin pilot.
Trowa answered quietly, "We have our last leak." Everyone around him stiffened with wide eyes at the announcement.
Opening the back door, Wufei reached in and roughly pulled the young man that was lying within out of the car and onto his feet. Hesitantly looking up, the gagged captive's wide grey eyes took in the shocked faces watching him. Sweat beaded anew on his already damn face as he was scrutinized.
Lady Une growled deeply, "Tim." With a firm hold of the back of his detainee's collar, Wufei led him to the pilots gathered, all but dragging him along.
Duo's initial shock faded while his friends reacted in their own ways. What replaced that shock was a seething hatred and rage. Driven by that anger, the braided pilot lunged forward with a sharp cry, ripping Tim from Wufei's clutches before anyone knew what was taking place.
Slamming the fallen agent's back against the side of the car, the braided pilot tore cloth gag from his mouth. "Where's Angie!" he screamed in the frightened man's face. "Where did she take Heero, you son of a bitch!"
His mouth opening and closing but unable to find his voice, Tim's wide eyes gazed into the burning violet eyes that bore down on him. Struggling to breath after having the wind knocked from him, the prisoner whispered, "D-Don't know.... I swear."
With another cry, Duo picked Tim up to ram him into the side of the car again, yelling, "You lying sack of shit!" The shouts and cried of his friends finally registered past the thumping of his heart in his ears when Wufei grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away before he could rip the traitor apart.
Shaking the American when he turned him so they could face each other, the Chinese pilot cried, "Duo! Get a hold of yourself!" As the American panted and glared heatedly at him for disrupting him, Wufei sighed deeply, "Not like this. You'll have your shot at him, but right now, we need him in one piece so we can get what we need."
Forcing a deep, calming breath, Duo's rigid shoulders relaxed, but the threatening gaze remained. "Fine," he replied in a deep growl. "But if I don't think we're getting the answers we need fast enough, he's mine."
A tight smile tugged at Wufei's lips and he nodded firmly, "Fair enough."
Tim straightened himself on wobbly legs and glared at the two agents. "I don't know anything about Angie or what the organization wants with Heero," he spat. "You know as much as I do where that's concerned. So, I'd like to see how the hell you'll be able to get anything out of me to help you."
At that, Trowa stepped into the scene and nodded, "Oh, you may not know anything, but that doesn't mean that you're not going to get us the answers."
His grey eyes widening, Tim looked from one pilot to the other and asked quietly, "W-what do you mean? What are you going to do to me?"
Both Trowa and Wufei shared a glace and a satisfied smirk. Looking back to the worried prisoner, the Chinese pilot answered simply, "You're going to be our bait."
* * * * * *
An hour later...
Bending at the knees, Sally leaned over so that their eyes met and smiled, "I promise this won't hurt at all, Rachel. We're just trying to get something that those bad men were after." The little girl was sitting at the edge of the medical table in her office, biting her lip anxiously.
Gently wrapping an arm around the child's shoulders, Trowa hugged her against his side and grinned, "You can trust Sally, Rachel. She's one of our best friends." As promised, he sat right next to her and held her hand so that she wouldn't be as scared. Anna watched in the near corner with a comforting smile.
After removing a few tools from her cabinet, Sally showed the long, thin hand-held scanner and explained, "I'm going to run this over the arm, by where you said it itches, to find what might be causing it." The girl examined the device, tilting her head to get a good look at it before easing at how harmless it looked.
Sally then held up what looked like a needle. When Rachel's brown eyes widened in fear, the braided woman soothed, "This is going to be like a magnet. There might be a sharp pinch when it takes out the chip, but it won't be bad, I promise."
"That chip is going to save a lot of people from having to go through what you went through," Anna told the worried girl. "You're going to help put all of the bad men away that hurt you and everyone that they captured."
With a deep breath of that, Rachel thought of her mother. A resolve filled her eyes and she straightened. Meeting Sally's eyes with a firm and determined nod, she announced, "Okay. I'm ready."
Gently rubbing the top of the child's head, Sally whispered, "Good girl." With one hand running the scanner over the child's right arm, she had the magnet ready in the other. As the red laser was run up along the upper arm, the scanner beeped loudly at finding something that should not have been there.
Narrowing her eyes as she got in close to inspect the area highlighted by the red light, Sally spotted the dark square embedded just above the small elbow. "There you are," she smirked. She kept the scanner in place while bringing up the sharp magnet. Biting her lip, she carefully held the point of the magnet over the foreign object.
When the chip reached the surface of the skin, Rachel squeezed Trowa's hand tightly at the small pinch. The quick discomfort was forgotten as the child as she watched the piece of metal come out of her arm. When the chip locked onto the end of the magnet, Sally held it out to show the wide-eyed girl and smiled, "There's the nasty little thing that was making your arm itch."
"Cool," Rachel laughed. Looking down to her arm, she grinned, "That was it?"
Sally chuckled deeply, "That's it. You did great." After covering the small cut that remained with a band-aid, she quickly went to her sink to carefully clean off the disk. Once it was cleaned, she handed the chip to Trowa.
With a deep sigh, the tall pilot gazed down into his hand and commented, "With everything that we went through to get this thing, I hope that it was worth it.
* * * * * *
The following afternoon...
Pacing anxiously, Isis looked to the clock on the wall. Finally, a car rolled into the driveway of the secluded resort. She threw her door open to run outside and smiled brightly at the sight of Angie leading her handcuffed prisoner before her. Stepping out onto the front porch, the orange-haired young woman folded her arms and chuckled deeply, "Well, well, well. If it isn't infamous Heero Yuy."
The Japanese pilot's cobalt eyes narrowed heatedly but he would not give her the satisfaction by giving more of a response than that as he walked past. The last to step back inside, Isis pulled the door closed behind her and took a small scalpel from the top of her desk.
Stalking towards the ex-Wing pilot, the orange-haired agent smirked, "Sorry to be so forward without a more formal introduction, but time is of the essence and I have a terribly important appointment to keep." Without further warning, she walked behind her captive and cut a thin line at the base of his neck.
Despite the sharp pain, Heero remained still, his eyes glaring at Angie. The traitor only glared back, her arms crossed as she leaned her back against the door. Isis maneuvered the hidden disk until she was able to pull it from the cut that she made. Her green eyes wide and alive as they looked down to the chip, she breathed, "Hello, beautiful. Welcome back home."
"I still think that we should just kill him now that we have what we want," Angie commented, her thinned eyes never looking away from the piercing gaze watching her.
Shaking her head, Isis replied, "All in due time. It's only right that he gets to see the peace that he and his friends worked so hard for fall apart before he meets his demise." Shoving Heero towards her accomplice, she ordered, "Lock him up where we won't be a nuisance for now. I'll have him moved to a more suitable holding cell after my meeting."
With a grunt, the dark-haired pilot gripped Heero's arm tightly and walked off down the hall with him. "Oh, and Angie," Isis called after them. When the younger woman turned back to meet her gaze, she stated, "Don't get too comfortable when you're finished. I already have another assignment for you."
Blinking her dark eyes in surprise, Angie tilted her head and inquired, "And what assignment would that be?"
Isis smirked darkly, "I just need you to take care of a loose end that could cause us trouble. I believe he's an old acquaintance of yours." At that, Heero turned his head a bit to the side, his own interest peaked. "Tim Gillen."
TBC...
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