AN: Sorry for the long delay. Hope this is OK.

Kindred

Part Five

He was floating in pillowy softness. Brilliant chords of music echoed through his mind as he remembered his hands twisting in brilliant gold, soft strawberry lips covering his own. He had found her. His Midii, and now finally they could retreat from the world and build a life just for them. A world full of ordinary decisions and trivial problems. However, a little worm of doubt started to wriggle its way into his perfect little world. The chords of music began to fade and the light that cocooned him disappeared and became tangled sheets. He reached out a hand to grab onto his long sought solace and immediately realized two things were wrong. First, his body felt clumsy and thick. Second and more importantly there was no one in bed next to him.

Everything came back to him then as that worm of doubt exploded into reality. "She knew. She must have." he whispered. A sluggish hand raised to his eyes as he tried to force himself into alertness. "She drugged me. Why?" Willing his eyes to focus he saw his laptop open and on and knew absolutely where she had gone and why she had drugged him. He had been stupid not to expect it. They were so alike after all. She had touched his soul and knew what was there. She knew how he felt about his never-ending work. Pushing himself out of bed he stumbled over to the desk to retrieve the data Midii had no doubt deleted, covering her trail. "Not again. This isn't what I want for you."

Midii gave her surroundings a bitter smile as she pushed a golden lock behind her ear, "Well I wanted to come back to Earth." The spaceport was packed with frantic travelers and she cut through them cooly trying to focus on the mission and drown out the guilt of leaving Trowa behind. Despite the guilt she felt her heart start to beat with a little more determination as she round the corner and walked down an aisle filled with storage lockers.

She knew exactly where she was going and as she pressed her thumb into the identification pad she wondered idly how many of these lockers she had scattered around the world. A rush of air hit her face as the locker that had been closed for at least a year opened up to reveal her treasures.

Again she smiled as she gathered together the fake passport and id cards. The blank entry card that could open any door anywhere that had cost a small fortune, money, and other various equipment. Unfortunately her specialty was gathering information and this seemed more of a destruction job. The only weapon there was a single gun. She frowned as she held it in her hand feeling its deadly weight. "I wasn't supposed to need you anymore." She whispered to the gun. She shook off the feeling of foreboding that had suddenly hit her and closed the locker.

As she made her way out of the space port she hailed a cab and wrapped her coat tightly around her. It was chilly here in London, but she would only be here briefly. Next stop Tokyo.

She reassured herself as she headed for the next shuttle, "Snap out of it Midii, no one is better at this than you…expect maybe one. And this time it's different. No one is making you do this and you're not getting anything out of it except piece of mind. This is for him, to protect him."

How could he describe his feelings as he distractedly watched the stars fly past him on his way to Earth. Betrayal? Hurt? Pride? Touched that she was going to these lengths for him? Guilt? Love? All of them, but above all of these feelings was an overwhelming sea of worry that can only come when one truly loves someone with every ounce of one's being.

It didn't matter that he knew why she was doing this. The hurt he was feeling was absolute because now he knew he must choose. If they both survived this, the danger still wouldn't end. There would always be just one more mission. One he would feel obligated to go to, and one that she would always try to release him from by sacrificing herself. Whatever happened, this would be it. This would be the end. He couldn't let her continue with his fate.

Midii fell backwards onto her bed. It had been a long day of travelling and then work. Nothing had been destroyed, and no one was dead…yet. It would happen tomorrow. Rufus Mugbe. His base was in Kyushu where his scientists were researching mobile suit manufacturing. Research that had been banned by a United Earth treaty not long after the last attack on Christmas Eve. Especially since it involved combining Gundanium with an element only recently discovered. Tsuyoinuim. Not much was known about it yet except that it was strong. It was a metal with an amazing capacity for punishment but in today's world, it shouldn't really be needed for mobile suit manufacturing. Mugbe's own eccentricities were about to do him in. His love for big toys had almost bankrupted him, which was why tomorrow he would be meeting with a group of investors who would finance the rest of his work providing they would have access to his new product once the research was complete. That meeting is where Midii would be tomorrow. The investors identities must be noted, Mugbe's base destroyed and Mugbe himself really should be eliminated. But likely he would just be detained, unless he put up too much trouble.

Midii held up her pale delicate hands and looked at them. She closed her eyes and tried to remember how last night they had held the strongest and most gentle man she had ever met or ever would. How amazing it had been to slide her hands down his chest, over his back, push back his thick hair and look closely at his deep green eyes. She had looked there and trusted him absolutely. There was no deceit there only a pureness that she could only dream about…and pain. Someone so gentle forced to kill. He needed her to protect him, from his own need to try and protect others.

Midii smiled as she fell into an exhausted doze. It was good to be needed. It was just what she needed.

****

Trowa woke with a jolt as the shuttle touched down. He felt ill. His dreams had not been pleasant…dreams of war, years past but always involving him. Always catching him in some kind of killing wind that never failed to rip him away from Midii.

He ripped his seat harness off and gathered his things, immediately heading for the exit. There was no time to waste. The Mugbe investor meeting was to be today, but where would she go first? The meeting or the base? The meeting would be held an hour away from the base and likely someone else would taking care of that end though Trowa hadn't taken the time to check on who. His expertise was espionage, and so was hers. That decided it, Trowa headed for the meeting.

****

Midii sat in Mugbe's office, illuminated only by the glow from his computer. She was giggling at just how easy this was all going. Why had she felt the slight bit nervous about this? These people didn't know what they were doing. They were business men and scientists, they knew nothing about real power or secrets or how to hide them. All of Mugbe's contacts were laying right here in front of her. She wouldn’t need to ensure the simultaneous destruction of Mugbe's base while she attended the meeting. There wouldn't be a meeting, it was no longer necessary.

She heard movement in the outer office and turned off the computer screen. "Mr. Mugbe…" she whispered. "Right on time."

****

Trowa passed for half a second to look up at the towering building in front of him before sprinting up the stairs to enter the lobby. Before he could reach the elevator though he noticed the congregation of Preventers standing around in plain sight. Trowa skidded to a halt and looked around for whoever was in charge of this operation. He spotted gold hair and heard Quatre's businesslike tone speaking to someone. "Quatre, what are you doing? Why is everyone standing around like this?" Quatre brightened at the sight of his friend and smiled briefly before answering Trowa's question. "We found Mugbe's office deserted. The files on his investors were all delivered to the local Preventer branch office as well as instructions on where to find Mugbe himself. We're kind of stumped. Did you have anything to do with this Trowa?" Trowa looked around, nonplused, "Maybe indirectly. Did anyone see anything?" Quatre grinned again, "Nope, but I'm looking into it." "Where's Heero?" "He's taking care of the base. We should be getting word on that soon. We were planning to blow it once the meeting started. Probably in about 45 minutes, though since the meeting isn't taking place I won't be surprised if Heero ups the detonation time." Trowa's eyes took on a bit of a desperate gleam as he grabbed onto Quatre, "Radio silence?" Quatre grabbed Trowa's arm in concern, "Of course, what is it Trowa?" "I need to borrow a shuttle." Trowa took off at a run, this time out of the building with Quatre's cries echoing after him.

****

Midii adjusted the heavy pack she was wearing as she leaned into the security booth, working her charm. "I'm so sorry to bother you sir, but I'm lost…do you think you could help me?" The goofy grin on the guards' faces were just what she wanted to see.

****

Trowa was flying through the air again but he needed more time, more time. "Heero, wait please."

Next time: Will Trowa get there in time? Will Midii realize something's up?