Nanashi
Chapter 10
By Morganeth Taren'drel
AN: I'm so sorry this is so late, I have no excuse for it I only hope this long
chapter will have been worth the wait. This story is nearly done, but I am
having some trouble getting back into the writing of it, I want to finish it
before I start Mistaken Words, so there's no fear that I'll leave it forever
untouched. There will just be some time in between updates. Thank you so much
to all of you who have read and reviewed this story, it's because of you that I
can keep writing, and to everyone who has simply read the story, I hope that
you have enjoyed it so far ^_^
Midii sat in one corner of the sterile room, head down resting between her
hands. She could not recall when the last time she had moved was, but her back
was beginning to ache. She glanced up, but nothing had changed from when she
had first walked into the waiting room hours before. Heero leaned against one
wall appearing to be asleep, she was not naďve enough to believe that for one
minute. Wufei sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs filling out some
paperwork, while Duo continued to pace the length of the room.
"How long has it been?" she asked quietly, running one hand through
her hair.
"About four hours," Heero responded without opening his eyes, she
wondered silently how he knew that, but decided not to ask.
Midii came to her feet slowly, her muscles stiff from lack of use, "Duo
come with me and we'll get something to drink from the cafeteria."
He nodded silently and walked towards the door with her. They walked together
through the silent halls for some time without saying anything. Finally Midii
stopped and turned to face Duo, "Do you actually think Trowa would try to
kill me?"
Duo watched her for a moment, clearly trying to keep his face blank, "What
does it matter now?" He turned and kept walking.
She moved around to stand in front of him placing one hand against his chest,
"It matters to me, Duo would he have shot me?"
Sighing he shrugged, "Midii." he glanced at her through one eye.
"Yes he probably would have, but Midii."
"It's alright Duo, I know," they walked in silence once more Midii
trying to picture without success Trowa shooting her, or for that matter
causing her any harm. A thought came to her then and she looked at Duo,
"Has Cathy been informed yet about what has happened?" Duo paused for
a moment before shaking his head.
They reached the cafeteria,
which at this hour was almost completely empty, Duo instantly moved towards the
line of food while Midii's eyes fell upon a videophone against one wall. She
dialled the number hoping that Cathy would not even be home, unfortunately the
phone was switched on in short order. "Midii?" the auburn haired
woman's face was surprised
"Hi Cathy." Midii trailed off, wishing she had never dialled the
number, she had no idea how to break the news to her.
"How's Trowa?" Cathy seemed not to notice the hesitation in Midii's
voice, but she was unknowingly pressing the issue that Midii would rather
forget.
"Actually that's something I need to talk to you about." Midii ran
one hand through her hair. "Look I don't know how to tell you
this.but.Trowa was taken."
"What?!" Trowa's sister instantly sounded terrified. "Tell me
what happened!"
Midii nodded mutely, taking a moment to gather her thoughts, and remember how
all this had first happened. "Trowa attempted to take out a man named
Kain, he was the one who ordered the killing of the Bčovel family.um.he.he
never returned."
She forced herself to make eye contact with Catherine and found terror replaced
with horror and tears forming in her eyes. "That's not all."
"What? How could this happen?"
"Cathy, that's not all." Midii said again, "We thought Kain was
the one behind everything. But that was not the case, it was Draken, a man we
thought was a friend. He did something to Trowa.we don't know what, whatever it
was it turned him against us. He's calling himself Triton now, he shot Duo and
Quatre."
Catherine's hands flew to her mouth, "Are they all right?"
"Duo's fine, he took the bullet in the shoulder. We're at the hospital
now, last I heard Quatre was in critical condition." She sighed, near
tears herself. Midii gave a start of surprise when Duo touched her on the
shoulder. His face was sober as he handed her something to drink.
"Duo, how could this happen?" Cathy cried, she wiped at her eyes but
the tears continued to come.
"Hey.hey relax.were going to get him back I promise." Duo's voice was
low, and soothing, though it did little to relieve the anxiety that Midii felt.
Catherine watched them both, her question still unanswered. "Look Cathy,
none of us really know how this happened, it would appear that Draken has been
planning this for sometime. We don't even know what his goals are.it's all
happening too fast."
With a deep breath Catherine managed to banish the tears from her eyes,
"All right, I'm on the next shuttle."
"No don't!" Midii and Duo both looked at one another, as the same two
words left each of their mouths. "That not a good idea," Duo
finished.
"Why not? He's my brother." Cathy's eyes flashed with an anger that
Midii had only seen one time before, the night Trowa had told his sister he was
leaving again.
"That may be true, but he does not remember, what if he were to hurt you,
hum? What then? He'd never forgive himself, we want Trowa back as much as you
but we have to do this the safest way," Duo leaned against the wall as he
spoke bringing his face closer to the screen.
Catherine dropped her head, seeing the logic of his thoughts, "But I can't
just sit here waiting either."
"I know that," Duo gently replied, "Take a trip to Quatre's
house in the Cinq Kingdom. Iria and Tamara are both there and so is Erik."
Cathy nodded her silent consent, "Don't worry we'll keep you
informed."
Without another word Cathy shut her end of the system down, leaving theirs
blank. Midii took a sip of her drink, as she turned to lean back against the
wall. "She was furious when Trowa told her he was leaving, I think it was
just this scenario that she was afraid of."
"Situations like these
seem impossible to avoid when you're a Gundam pilot." Shrugging, Duo began
to walk back towards the door; he stopped half way when he noticed Midii was
not following. "Come on, we may get word at any time." She nodded
silently, pushing herself off the wall, and walking after him.
Midii slipped her arm through Duo's and leaned her head against his shoulder,
"Does Hilde know where you are?"
He smiled, "Yah, if I don't tell her, she has my phone number. She becomes
just as worried as Cathy, but she also understands that if I and the others
don't do something now, who knows what will happen." He looked down at
her, his face serious, "We can't afford to go through another war, not
with all the work Relena has done to bring this peace into being."
They walked the rest of the way to the waiting room in silence, the realisation
that the peace could be lost, was now all too real. With each step that Midii
took she could feel dread building in her, she did not want to walk into the
room and find out that Quatre had died. But she continued walking, mostly
because Duo had her arm through his. Duo placed his hand on the door and held
it opened for Midii, all heads turned as they walked in.
"Any word?" Duo inquired, Heero shook his head from where he still
stood leaning against the wall. Duo flopped down in a chair, one leg swung over
the arm, head falling back to rest on the white tile.
A deafening silence fell upon the room, surrounding each and everyone present,
much the same as it had been for hours since they had first arrived. Midii
walked the length of the room, eyes scanning the floor, which her feet passed
across. Her thoughts grew progressively darker, as the minutes ticked by on the
wall clock. But she could not place her finger upon what it was that drew her
attention away from the other people in the room.
She knew the longer they were here at the hospital the more time was lost in
their search for Trowa, however she also wanted to be here for Quatre. Midii
knew exactly how Catherine was feeling, she could not stand sitting- well
pacing-in this silent waiting room. She wanted to be doing something, anything
besides pacing.
All heads swung up as one of the double doors was pushed open, and a very
exhausted Sally walked through. Wufei stood and walked over to her, offering an
arm for her to lean upon, which she gratefully accepted. "He lost a great
deal of blood." Sally began.
"But he'll be all right?" Duo cut in, unable to contain himself.
Sally's eyes became distressed, and she seemed to lean all the more on Wufei's
arm, "He's in a coma, now it's only a waiting game. I won't lie to you, he
may never wake." Tears were clear in Sally's eyes as she looked from face
to face.
"Can I see him?" All eyes turned to Midii, she had not realised the
words had made it past simple thoughts. "Can I see him..?" she asked
again.
Sally nodded, "Sure he's right this way," she was about to turn
towards the door, when Wufei's hand gently gripped her arm.
"You can hardly stand," he said softly, "come on." Wufei began
to lead her towards the doors, and Heero turned to follow.
Duo turned back to Midii, "I'll stay, and bring you back."
Midii nodded mutely, and turned to the double doors Sally had come from, she
walked through into the ICU, and found it to be abuzz with activity, so very
different from the room she had just left. "Excuse me miss, you can't come
in here," Midii turned not fully hearing the nurse's words.
Duo stepped between them, and motioned for Midii to continue walking,
"Just let it go, trust me, you really don't want to stir things up right
now." Duo leaned in close, his face more serious than Midii had ever seen
it, "Especially with me."
The nurse said nothing to this, she simply stood there, eyes wide. Midii turned
without a second thought and walked towards the room she figured Quatre would
be in. The majority of the walls were made of glass and the room was in clear
sight of the nurses' station, unlike many of the others, which were more
secluded. She walked hesitantly towards the glass windows, and looked within,
Midii's breath caught.
Quatre lay unmoving on the bed, his usually pale skin was whiter than the sheet
upon which he lay. Tubes and wires ran everywhere, and she felt as though he
were buried by them. A oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, Midii watched
and he barely seemed to breathe -How could Trowa do this?- Placing one hand on
the cold glass she stood there for an instant longer before walking in.
Midii found her way through the sea of monitors to Quatre's side, for a time
she simply stood there, but she found the longer she watched him the more
unsure she was that he was even breathing. Despite the fact that the monitors
said he was still alive, he did not look alive. She reached out, laying one
hand over his heart, and waited, she felt it then, so faint was it that she
missed it at first, but she could now feel his heart beating steadily against
her palm. Midii exhaled the breath she was not aware she had been holding, and
looked down at the blond haired pilot.
"You have to make it back to us." Midii whispered, she hardly knew
the man laying before her, but he had instantly welcomed her, it was because of
that, and not just that he was Trowa closet friend, that she wanted him to pull
through. She sighed and took her hand away from his chest, his skin feeling
cold against her own.
"Midii." Duo gently called her name from the door, she looked up, and
with one last glance at Quatre's white face, she turned to leave. "He's
going to make it," Duo whispered confidently, taking her arm gently, as he
led the way back to his car. Midii could not help glancing back over her
shoulder one last time, hoping he was right.
***
"Report," Draken barked looking up from the paperwork on his desk,
Argile had entered the room moments before, and had sat himself down in one of
the chairs.
"Triton tells me that the Winner brat is dead," Argile locked his
fingers together and placed them behind his head.
"Well this is a piece of good news," he responded giving the man
before him his full attention. Draken studied Argile's and found something
within his eyes that the other man had not mentioned, "There is more to
this?"
"When he was sent to kill Duo, something stop him from completing the
mission, but he would not say what." Argile leaned forward, eyes intense,
"It's happened again this time, there's a portion of the mission that he
cannot recall, luckily it was after he had shot Quatre. My guess is he saw
either Heero Yuy, or the girl."
Draken thought about that for a moment before nodding, "That would make
sense. Is he back in virtual reality?"
"Yes, he's no longer a threat, to our goals. And now that the pilots know
we have been using his knowledge to cover our tracks, they shouldn't have too
much trouble finding him." Argile jumped to his feet, heading towards the
door.
"I certainly don't want it to be too easy," Draken cautioned, as
Argile left the room. -Everything is falling into place- he turned his chair
around to gaze out the clean windows, the Gundam pilots would soon arrive, and
he would have exactly what he had wanted from the start. With Quatre out of the
way, Draken would have a steady flow of money, to complete his studies of the
pilots and finally to train soldiers, with a new, combined knowledge.
He would have an army that could not be matched, soldiers trained in every
conceivable situation, and with a deep knowledge of the inside workings of the
Preventers. They would be able to blend into society without notice, just as
the Gundam pilots had done so many years ago. He would be able to accomplish
both his goals. First, to see what made the pilots so good, and hard to kill.
And second, to build an army that the world could not stand against.
***
Triton lay on his bed, on top of the sheets one arm propping up his head. His
right arm burned each time it was jostled, but he pushed the pain from his
mind, having no time for it. He was attempting to scour his memories to see
what had happened on his last two missions, but each time he was stopped and
could no longer remember, it was as though a portion of his memory had been
erased. He fought to remember, but no matter how he tried, the period eluded
him.
The door at the other end of the room opened and Argile walked in, face
emotionless, he came to stand at the end of Triton's bed. "Have you
remembered yet?" he asked in a monotone.
Running one hand through his hair in frustration, Triton came to his feet and
began to pace the length of his room. -I walked into the kitchen, the terrorist
was there sleeping. I aimed my gun and fired, the terrorist woke and fell back,
the bullet taking him in the shoulder. Something caught his attention.what was
it?.it was.it was.- "Damnit!!!" Triton lunged out with his left hand,
slamming it through the wall; his frustration reaching a peak so high he could
not keep it repressed.
He pulled his fist from the broken wall, and turned to face Argile, eyes on
fire. Shock was clear on the older man's face, as he took in the damaged wall,
and the scrapes on Triton's knuckles. "I'll take that as a no," he
stated calmly, one eyebrow raised, Triton simply shook his head, walking away
from the other man. Hand clenched into a fist, he now gave himself over to the
pain that he felt, using it to relieve his absolute frustration.
Triton removed his right hand from his pocket and clenched it into a fist,
causing the muscles in his arm to burn furiously. Slowly his anger subsided,
and he was able to draw in a calming breath. He brought his face back to
neutrality, and turned to face the other man, "What is it now?"
"There's a group trying to break into our data base, we need you to re-
route them," Argile gave him one last look before heading back the way he
had come. Triton followed silently after, wiping the blood from his hand on the
edge of his shirt. "Make sure you leave no trace that you're the one
behind it," The older man cautioned.
"This is nothing new," Triton shrugged, watching the people who
walked by, they gave him and Argile a wide berth, their eyes never coming to
rest upon either. He followed in silence flexing and relaxing his right arm,
causing the gunshot wound to burn, he used the pain to fuel his determination.
He would see this mission through to the end, the terrorists would be
destroyed.
***
Midii was shaken from her sleep as Duo's hand clamped about her small shoulder.
Looking up she was met by his glowing smile, eyes bright with excitement.
Slowly sitting up Midii rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and tried to orient
herself, she had felt the company of the others shortly after they had returned
to the house. She found that once alone sleep had called her name, and she
could no longer keep her eyes opened.
"What time is it?" she asked in a sleepy voice, running one hand
through her hair.
"Four in the morning," Duo responded hardly able to contain himself,
as he drew her to her feet. "We found Trowa!"
"You what?!" Midii was fully awake now, staring the former pilot
directly in the eyes. "Where is he?!"
"He's being held on the third sector of this colony, in a base controlled by
Draken, we're leaving now!" Duo headed towards the door, not wasting any
time, Midii grabbed her gun and left the still darkened room.
Throwing her hair over one shoulder, Midii rushed down the silent halls, Duo
moving from a fast walk to a dead run, when he saw she was following.
"What do we know?" she asked when she had caught up to his racing
form.
"They're using virtual reality to control him, I'm not so sure you want to
see what they had him do." He glanced over his shoulder, eyes haunted.
"Tell me!" Midii's voice was harder than ice.
Duo sighed and slowed to a stop, "They broke him, first by killing you,
then by having him kill Trowa Barton, he truly believes he is Triton Bloom. We
believe they even completed the whole scenario by giving him memories of his
life with Draken."
"How are we ever going to bring him back from this?" Midii was
breathless, unable to understand fully what Trowa had been through. "How
is this even possible? Why would Draken do this?"
"The only question I can answer is the one about the virtual reality, I
understand that it can be used to train soldiers in a fraction of the time, it
would usually take. If you lose touch with what is real they can make you
believe whatever they want. We're assuming they made the switch when Trowa was
unconscious." Duo turned and continued to run down the halls, hands
clenched into iron hard fists.
Midii came to a sudden stop in the living room, which Duo had led her to; both
Wufei and Heero were shouldering backpacks, with at least two guns visible to
her. -How long have they known?- Without a word Heero handed her a shoulder
holster complete with two more guns, clips, and silencers. She slipped the
holster on pulling her hair out from under the tight leather.
"The plan is almost identical to the one used with Kain, except you will
be with Sally, and only her. Is that a problem?" Wufei asked, glancing
over to the other woman.
Midii shook her head, "Do you expect a lot of resistance?" she
shrugged into the coat Duo handed her, she had been the last to be awakened,
everyone else was ready.
"Everything we've seen says he's been preparing for this for years,"
Heero responded moving towards the door, without looking back. The others moved
to follow, and Midii found her mind reeling, with the sudden events that had
been thrown at her. Midii walked slowly after them, running one hand through
her hair as she did.
Duo turned once he realised she was not walking beside him, "You awake
enough?"
She smiled, "I will be," she locked eyes with the former pilot as
they followed after the others. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"
"We found out a few hours
ago, and still had a lot to prepare. I wanted to wake you as soon as we found
out, but Sally suggested we let you sleep, since we know you haven't had much
of it." He held the door opened for her, as they walked out into the cold
December air.
Midii climbed silently into the nondescript black van, and slid over to the
window. She leaned her face against the cold glass, letting the icy chill fully
wake her. The van rolled into motion and she glanced around her at the men who
had lost a brother and had not rested till they found him once more. Her
crystal blue eyes focused on Duo who was holding up a knife and gun as if
trying to decide between the two.
He looked over when he felt Midii watching, "Draken will pay for what he
has done," Duo promised darkly.
She placed her hand on the dull side of the knife and lowered it to his lap,
"Stick with the gun."
Part of her wanted to be the one to face Draken; he had been jerking them
around since the beginning for his own purposes. However she wanted to see
Trowa more, she trusted Duo to take care of Draken properly. Midii drew one of
her guns out of the shoulder holster Heero had given her, checking the clip
inside she attached one of the silencers to the barrel. She cocked the gun and
lay it in her lap, eyes travelling once more beyond the glass to the glowing
streetlights that passed by.
Midii glanced down at her watch, to find out what time it was, but realised she
had not put it on, when Duo had come to wake her. She continued to watch the
scenery pass, not knowing how much time went by. Midii looked up as the van
rolled to a slow stop, and out her window she could see the tall building that
Trowa was being held in. She could feel the first wave of adrenaline wash over
her as she flexed her hands in anticipation.
"Ready?" Duo asked, eyes bright with his own excitement. Midii nodded
following him from the vehicle onto the deep shadows. She leaned against the
wall and watched as Heero removed a laptop from his bag, and began working
feverishly. Seconds later the computer was gone and Heero was leading them
forward.
They entered the building through the main doors, Heero having disabled the
security system. Midii slipped through the glass doors without a sound, eyes
scanning the surrounding foyer, she could not see a sign of anyone. She and the
others spread out into the room covering every door and corner, guns in hand,
waiting for any resistance.
Midii glanced down the hall and found it to be clear, she half turned and gave
Heero the signal, but found him raising his gun, taking aim at an unknowing
soldier moving towards them. With one shot the man dropped without a sound,
blood pooling underneath him. They were about to move forward when from almost
every direction men came running bearing assault rifles. The soldiers began
firing almost instantly.
"How'd they know where we were?" Sally called firing down the hall;
the men had planted themselves behind corners and small alcoves.
"Who the hell cares, we need to get to Trowa!" Midii cried, trying to
take out a few of their numbers.
"We can't hope to make any progress with this amount of resistance,"
Wufei responded, reloading his guns.
***
Heero's mind raced as he tried to decide how the soldiers had found them so
quickly. There had not been any cameras monitoring the foyer, he had made sure
of that. No security systems could possibly have been tripped; he had disabled
all of them. So what could possibly be left? As he fired his gun with deadly
accuracy Heero's Prussian eyes looked over to where the first soldier lay.
"Cover me," Heero said, already moving forward. He dove into a
forward shoulder roll and came up beside the dead man. Taking hold of him Heero
pulled him into the cover of an alcove. The man's uniform was nondescript and
Heero could not see any radio that the man could have been talking into.
Without knowing what to expect Heero tore open the man's shirt, and found the
answer to his questions.
Grabbing the item in question Heero looked up coming to his feet. He needed to
make it back to the others; they would make it no further this day. Shielding
himself with a hail of bullets Heero pulled back to where the others waited, he
was met with more than one questioning glance. He simply shook his head.
"We have to pull back!" Heero called moving towards the door, he
sensed more than saw the others follow.
Once they reached the van, Midii stood before him, "How the hell did they
know?!" Rage shone clear in her eyes at having been forced back.
Heero could fully understand how she was feeling, but he also understood when
they could no longer move forward for fear of loss of life. He tossed the small
item he carried in his hand to Midii and climbed into the van.
Midii turned it over in her hands as she followed, "What is it?" she
questioned, some of her anger appearing to fade.
"It's a tracking device, they were monitoring the soldier's heart beat, as
soon as he died, they knew where we were." Heero answered running one hand
through his hair, as he even now began to consider their options.
"They what?" Midii watched him her voice sounding slightly hopeless
"How the hell can we hope to get past that?"
Duo turned the key in the ignition and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, as
they raced away from Draken's base. He glanced over at Heero as he manoeuvred
the van around other traffic at breakneck speeds, "Did anyone else notice
anything strange about the way those soldiers fought?"
Heero looked away his mind still half on the problem of how they were to get
through now. Duo question penetrated his thoughts and he answered without
really thinking. "The tactics were almost identical to Trowa's. You really
shouldn't have been surprised, we knew they put him in virtual reality, the
logical next step for Draken would be to put Trowa's training to use."
"Well sure that's the logical next step, if everyone thought like
you." Duo said sarcastically.
"What do you think their goal through all this is?" Midii asked still
fingering the tracing device.
Heero shrugged without comment, Draken worked like no other man he had ever
been pitted against. He had made no demands, had not attempted to start a war,
which he had had more than enough time to do considering it took a full month
for him and the other pilots to find Trowa. No, Draken had tried none of those
things, he had simply sent Trowa to kill Duo, and Quatre. But why not himself
and Wufei? They were easily the more dangerous of the four remaining pilots.
"Sally, give me your cell phone," Heero said, reaching one hand back
behind his head, once the item in question was in his grasp he began dialling.
"What have you got planned?" she asked leaning forward in her seat to
better see his face.
Heero did not answer, his mind still working over all he knew about Draken, the
fact of the matter was, as of right now there was nothing he could do about
Draken's cut in all this. All he should be focused on now was getting Trowa
back, they could discover everything else later. Heero brought the phone to his
ear and waited for it to be answered. "Get me to Lady Une."
"Sir I don't know where you are, but on Earth there is such a time as
night," the young servant said, her voice sounding sleepy.
"This is Heero Yuy, now give the phone to Une," his voice had never
raised, but no one could miss the dangerous tone lying just beneath the
surface.
"Sir?! I had no idea it was you, just one moment please."
Heero glanced around the van and seeing all the questioning looks, he turned
away not really seeing anything, as he waited for Une to answer the phone.
"Yuy, this had better be good."
"I need Alex on the next flight," Heero said in his usual monotone.
Alex was a relatively young soldier, whom Heero had trained to hack his way
through almost any system.
"Why? What's going on?"
"I thought you were tired, I won't bother you with the details now,"
Heero said, a barely perceivable curve to his lips as he spoke to the older
woman.
"Yuy." Une said a dangerous tone overlying her words.
"Just get him on the next flight to colony L7," Heero turned the
phone off before Une could say or ask any more.
"What was all that about?" Duo asked as he pulled the van up the long
drive to the house. He parked the vehicle and turned to face the former pilot
of Wing Zero.
"There's no way we can make it through the base without meeting up with
someone. We also can't kill anyone because that will alert the men monitoring
the soldiers to our exact location." Heero climbed from the van and walked
towards the front door, the others following close behind.
"So what does Alex have to do with anything?" Sally asked taking her
phone back when Heero offered it.
"I intend to have him on a computer, as we kill off the soldiers, his job
will be to create replacements for the men who die." Heero took a seat in
the living room, pulling his laptop out of his backpack and placing it on the
table at his feet. Switching it on, his fingers flew across the keys, as he
accessed Draken's mainframe. Heero passed through all the security systems as
though they were nothing, he could now recognise the small trip wires 'Triton'
had put into place, and he passed those over too.
He found his way into the system that monitored all the soldiers, and
discovered, once Alex had acquainted himself with the system he would have no
trouble integrating new soldiers. Heero dug deeper making sure there were no
other safe guards that they had missed. He found nothing more, but was still
surprised that they had missed the first safe guard.
"When do you expect him to arrive?" Wufei asked coming to stand
behind him glancing down at the information on the screen.
"Sometime late tomorrow, that is if Une gets him on the next flight."
Heero never took his eyes off the screen, as the information continued to skim
by.
"There are ways to make sure she does." Wufei left the rest hanging
as he moved to take a seat across from Heero pulling his own computer out.
Heero glanced up, a very small smile touching his otherwise emotionless face,
even as his hands hacked their way into the shuttle ports scheduling lists. The
databases had little to no security, and the people had at one time asked the
Preventers to build them a safe system so a teenager with some computer
abilities could not simply disrupt the day to day travel. However the new
security system was not designed to keep Gundam pilots out, hell it was easier
than sneaking into Draken's base.
"There it is," commented Wufei just as Heero's eyes fell upon the
man's name, his shuttle left in one hour. "Well I really don't think
there's that much more that we can do tonight."
"No," Heero agreed, coming to his feet after turning off his
computer, "We'll make another strike tomorrow night." He glanced
about the room and found that the others had left, most likely retiring to
their rooms to try and get some sleep. Heero rubbed the back of his neck and
walked towards the door, heading towards his own room. Sleep for him would not
be hard to find, for Midii however, he was not so sure.
***
Midii felt numb, there was no other way to explain it, she did not feel as
though she were about to weep, she did not feel anything. Her mind could not
begin to grasp how close they had come to getting Trowa back. She sat in a
chair in her darkened room still fingering the small tracking device Heero had
given to her. Duo had led her back to her room shortly after they had returned,
telling her she should try to get some sleep. However she knew that was not
possible at least not until exhaustion overtook her.
She came to her feet walking towards the window, her eyes gazing up to where
she knew Trowa was being held, he was in virtual reality, and he was not even
aware of it. She had not till now considered how that could possibly affect
someone's mind, thinking they were in reality only to find out they were not.
How were they ever going to convince him that this was reality? If they ever
got that far, Midii corrected silently, not sure even now how they were going
to over come the security systems that Draken had in place.
Shaking her head, Midii wanted to leave right then and there, on her own and
try to free Trowa but she knew she would not make it that far. She was a
mercenary but even she would have trouble overcoming Draken. She spun around
when someone shattered the silence by knocking on her door, "Come
in," she called softly. The door opened and she gave a start of surprise,
Midii had been expecting Duo or perhaps Sally, but not Heero.
He walked into the room silently, and though his features had softened
slightly, she still felt intimidated by his presence. He carried in his hand a
glass of water. Midii studied his face trying to find something within his
features but she found nothing, his face was as unreadable as ever. He came to
a stop before her and handed her the glass, "Drink this, you really need
to sleep." His voice was without emotion, but she thought she caught the
very faintest hint of concern, though it might have only been her imagination.
She took the glass into her hand not knowing what to say to the former
assassin, and pilot. He nodded mutely and turned to leave, "Thanks."
she called after him just as he had reached the door.
Heero half turned an unreadable look passed across his otherwise hard features,
"I'd react the same as you, if Relena were taken." Midii did not know
what to say to that, she had a feeling that for some reason he was telling her
something he would not tell anyone else.
"Thanks," she said again, Heero just nodded and left the room,
closing the door quietly behind him. Midii moved over to her bed and slipped
off her shoes and looked at the drink, in her hands. Shrugging her shoulders
Midii drank the clear liquid down, and with surprising quickness she felt it
take effect. -What did Heero put in this?- she wondered just before falling
asleep.