Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Always There For You ❯ 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing...do ya have to rub it in?

Always There For You Chapter 6:

Year A.C. 214, Fall:

Heero was sitting in the office of his house, busily typing a report for The Preventors. He stopped typing when he heard the doorbell ring. He typed another sentence before standing up to answer the door. Heero heard the doorbell ring a few more times while he walked down the hallway. Whoever was at the door was extremely persistent.

Heero pulled open the door with a polite greeting on his face. His expression fell when he saw who was there. Heero stood there and for the first time in years he found himself at a loss for words.

"What are you doing here?" Heero asked when he could finally form the question.

*****

Rain was walking home from the local coffee shop, mocha in hand. She looked around in confusion. Somehow she'd ended up going the wrong way. She glanced around herself, recognizing the street she was on as a territory of the Bloods, a major gang that had been around in LA for centuries. She wanted to hit herself because she was wearing so much blue. She could easily be mistaken for a Cryp, the Bloods biggest rivals.

Rain heard something behind her but didn't show that she'd noticed. She was still cocky as ever, thinking she could defend herself no matter what came at her. But what came at her, she wasn't expecting...

Before she could react, four very gruff looking guys surrounded Rain. They were all wearing red rags. The guy in front of Rain grinned cockily at her.

"Hey little girl. What are you doing here in this part of town?" He said with a smirk. Rain shrugged.

"Just passing through." She said casually. She remained well aware of what all of the four guys were doing and where they were. The guy shared a look with the guy behind Rain.

"I don't think that's gonna work out...because you're dressed in Cryp...and we don't like that around here..." The guy said while stepping towards Rain. Rain got into fighting stance. She smirked. The guy took that as a challenge and the four guys rushed at Rain.

Within the span of about two minutes, Rain had all four guys on the ground. They were all wincing painfully. Rain had her foot on the chest of the guy who'd spoken to her and was glaring at him.

"Don't ever call me little girl." Rain said through clenched teeth. The guy looked behind her and began laughing. Rain glared at him.

"What the hell's so funny?" She asked, putting more weight on the foot on his chest. He didn't answer, just coughed and laughed some more. Rain glanced over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye to see what he might have been looking at. What she saw was about twenty more gang members glaring at her.

"Oh. Shit..." Rain said. She grew angry with the guy beneath her foot who was still laughing. She kicked him in the temple, rendering him unconscious. She looked around at all the gang members surrounding her and wondered how she'd ended up in that predicament.

Rain let out her breath slowly and began plotting. She didn't plan on fighting all these guys, just escaping. She spotted an opening to her left but didn't let the gang members see that she'd noticed. She might have to fight a couple of guys if she didn't move quickly. Rain made sure the gang members were all in the same place and wondered just how long she had to move.

A car horn honked. Rain and the gang members all turned to look. They spotted a black jeep at the opening Rain had spotted.

"Rain!" A voice shouted from the vehicle. Rain thought for a split second. She had no clue who was in the jeep. Rain figured she'd have better odds against whatever passengers there might be in the jeep than the situation she was currently in.

Before any of the gang members could react, Rain sprinted for the jeep. She could hear the gang members hot on her heels as she dove through the open backseat window of the jeep. The car zoomed off, flinging Rain against the seat. She could hear gunshots and remained curled up in the seat.

A few minutes later the jeep stopped in a parking garage. The driver of the jeep spoke up, "It's ok. We're not being followed." Rain sat up slowly and turned to look at the person driving the jeep. She recognized the voice and wondered where she'd heard it before.

From where she was sitting, Rain could only see the back of the driver's head. Even that was enough to figure out who it was. Rain scrambled up into the front seat and threw her arms around her rescuer's neck.

"Derek! I can't believe it's you!" Rain shouted. "You came back! Why...?" Derek smiled at her.

"I came back because of you. Rain, I'm sorry I didn't tell you...I-I didn't want to hurt you. But in the end, it just made things worse." Derek said, hanging his head sadly. He turned away from her. Rain shook her head.

"No, don't be sad. I-I understand why you did what you did." Rain said with a watery smile. Derek turned back to face her. Rain hugged him even tighter.

"I missed you so much!" She said. Derek wrapped his arms around her.

"I missed you too." Derek replied monotonously. Derek sighed. "Rain, there's another reason why I'm here." Rain let go of him and looked up with a questioning eyebrow.

"There's something you need to know. But I'll tell you when I get you home." Derek said. Rain, sensing the importance of his words, nodded in understanding. She slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt. Without
another word, Derek pulled the jeep out of the parking garage and headed for Rain's house.

*****

Heero shook his head in disbelief at the people in front of him. They looked the same as they had ten years ago. He couldn't believe it-Duo and Hilde were there, on his doorstep.

"Heero, we need to talk." Duo began. Heero scoffed.

"Oh, now you can talk. But you couldn't talk to me for the past 10 years. Not even when our kids were going to the same damn school..." Heero said coldly. Duo sighed tiredly.

"Heero there's a reason for that and it will all make sense once Hilde and I get the chance to explain a few things." Duo replied. Heero sighed and stepped aside so they could enter the house.

"Better have a damn good reason then..." Heero said.

Once they were seated in the living room, Heero spoke.

"So what do we need to talk about besides your reason for cutting off all contact from everyone for the past ten years?" Heero asked.

"It all has to do with the same thing..." Duo began.

"And that is?" Heero asked. Duo and Hilde looked at each other for a moment.

"Heero, there's something you need to know...about Relena..." Hilde said slowly. Heero raised an eyebrow.

"What do I need to know?"

"Heero. Relena's...alive..."

"You're lying." Heero said when he'd recovered from the initial shock. His mouth said that Hilde and Duo were lying, but his mind believed them. Duo and Hilde both shook their heads sadly.

"Heero, I wish I were." Duo said with a sigh. Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and Rain called from the doorway.

"We're back." Rain called as she and Derek walked to the living room. Rain stopped in the doorway. She took one look at Heero and knew instantly that something was wrong. She glanced from Heero to Hilde, then to Duo, and finally she looked at Derek beside her. Derek shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"You've already told him?" Derek asked, even though he knew they had.

"Yes, but we haven't given him the details yet." Hilde replied. Derek nodded.

"What's going on? All Derek said was that you were gonna meet us here and there's something you're supposed to tell me...?" Rain said. The three Maxwells all shared a look with Heero. He nodded also. Rain looked confused. Heero sighed.

"Rain, they're here because of you're mother..." Heero began. Rain's expression was suddenly filled with grief.

"What about Mummy?" Rain asked. She looked far away.

"Mummy's alive..." Heero said slowly. Rain's jaw dropped slightly. She fell back against the wall and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor.

"Wha-what...? How is that possible? Th-the doctors, I heard them say..." Rain trailed off, not being able to say the words.

"I'm not sure. That's why Duo and Hilde are here. They're going to explain..." Heero said, looking away to glance and them. Duo took a breath before he began.

"Ok, now everything will make sense when I answer the thing you're probably wondering about the most right now. And that is *how* Relena is alive..." Duo said. Rain and Heero both nodded. "Well, do you remember the truck driver from the accident?" Heero nodded gravely. "Well then you'll remember how we always assumed he was the one who called the ambulance..." Duo trailed off.

"What are you getting at?" Heero asked.

"The truck driver never called for medical assistance directly. He just radioed for help..." Hilde said. "And you know that *anyone* could have heard him..." Heero and Rain's eyes both grew wide.

"Oh my god...you mean..." Heero began.

"They weren't really from the hospital?" Rain finished.

"*Someone* knew that Relena was there. And that someone set up the whole thing..." Duo replied. Rain and Heero looked like everything had dawned on them.

"So the ambulance attendants, their sadness for 'Not being able to save the Vice-Foreign Minister' it was all an act?" Rain asked. Duo nodded.

"It was an elaborate scheme to kidnap your mom." Derek said.

"That mask, that they put on her face to supposedly assist her breathing. It was a tranquilizer." Hilde said.

"How do you know all this?" Heero asked.

"Heero, that's why we went back to L2 and cut off all contact. We were told to leave immediately to investigate the whole thing." Duo said. Heero and Rain still looked confused.

"Did you ever find it strange that it was a closed-casket funeral? No one ever saw the body after the ambulance took off. And no one ever saw the truck driver again." Hilde said.

"Well that raised some suspicion with the Preventors. Relena is such an important figure, so why couldn't someone have set up the whole thing?" Hilde continued. Heero and Rain both nodded in agreement.

"So, we gave them the license plate number of the ambulance and the truck, got it checked out. Turns out all suspicions were right, the truck belonged to a guy named Trey Shelly..." Duo paused after saying the name and watched as Heero tensed. "He's the leader of a new organization trying to disturb the peace between Earth and the colonies...The whole thing was a set up to get rid of the Vice-Foreign Minister...there was a rumor that he was holding up on L2. So off we went. We couldn't find any traces of the guy or the people that work for him. We came back to Earth every year to report back to headquarters and everything, which is how Derek ended up at Rain's school. But, we met with the Preventors in secret, so no one would know we were there..." Duo stopped and Hilde continued.

"We didn't come across a lead until recently. We found the truck driver outside a bar on L2. We brought him in for questioning and he finally gave us the whole story..." Hilde said. Heero clenched his hands into fists.

"He's out to get me...Relena was just a way of getting to me." Heero said in a low voice. Hilde and Duo turned away, showing that they already knew this. Rain looked even more confused.

"Shelly is somewhat of an old acquaintance... He tried to convince me to join him and his group of rebels the year after the Eve Wars. He knew I was a former Gundam Pilot and thought I might be a good ally for him. I told him I wasn't interested in disrupting the new alliance between Earth and the Colonies. He followed me around for weeks trying to get me to join up with him. The last time I saw him he said he would find a way of 'Getting back at me' for not joining up with him... That truck was meant to kill me..." Heero said in dangerously quiet voice. His face fell.

"And instead they got Relena..." Duo and Hilde nodded, showing they knew all of as well this. Rain looked down at the ground. She'd never heard any of this before.

"You say she didn't die, but was she hurt?" Rain asked.

"No, actually she wasn't hurt at all. The truck passed over her. She'd just fainted." Hilde answered. Rain and Heero both let out relieved sighs. No one said anything for a long time after that. Rain and Heero seemed to still be letting things sink in.

"So now what?" Derek finally asked, breaking the silence.

"We have to find Relena..."

*****

It was the following evening. Heero, Rain, Derek, Duo, and Hilde were all in the living room at the Maxwells' house on L2. Heero had made arrangements for them to get to L2 right away, no questions asked. He and Rain had packed a few things and were out the door, ready to leave in about five minutes. They'd gotten to L2 late that evening and had decided to wait until the next morning before they began planning.

Trey Shelly had Relena in his large estate at the South end of the L2 colony. The basic idea of the plan was to get in the house and get Relena out. Rain and Derek would go to the front door and ask about getting recruited for Shelly's group. The recruits were always brought in at Shelly's house and tested but none of the other colony citizens knew that anything odd went on in that house. Rain and Derek would use their fighting skills and techniques to get in and gain Shelly's trust. Then the following day they would find a way to get a message to Heero, Hilde, and Duo that they were in. Heero was a bit reluctant on letting Rain try to get recruited but she managed to convince him. So the only thing left to do was wait until midnight when people would start showing up at Shelly's house.

*****

Six hours later, Derek and Rain were standing in front of the front door to Shelly's estate. They looked each other over to make sure they looked the part of two people trying out for Shelly's "team". Derek was wearing a tight gray t-shirt with black athletic pants and sneakers. His hair had temporary dye and was currently black. Rain was clad in a midnight blue running top, black form-fitting athletic pants, and sneakers. She had her shoulder length hair dyed dark brown and pulled back into a high ponytail. Her outfit showed off how sleek and agile she really was. Derek found his eyes lingering on her for a few seconds longer than he'd planned. He caught himself and turned away quickly, pretending to see if the coast was clear.

Rain had caught this little action, but didn't say anything. She smiled in spite of herself. Derek turned back to Rain when he was sure he wasn't blushing or looking suspicious.

Rain and Derek exchanged nods that they looked all right. Rain rang the doorbell. The door opened a few seconds later and a young man a few years older than Derek stepped out.

Rain had the sudden urge to spit on the guy when she realized who it was. It was the older brother of Scott Aldrico. Scott had been among the group of guys who always used to bully her. His older brother, Nick, had always threatened Rain for how she had nearly broken Scott's arm. She remembered someone telling her he had moved the previous summer, but no one knew why.

Derek recognized him as well, but neither of them showed it. Both of them silently prayed that Nick wouldn't recognize either of them. Nick didn't appear to recognize them. However, he eyed them carefully as part of a precaution that they might be trying to stop Shelly's plans.

"What's the password?" Nick said, still eyeing them. Rain answered.

"It's a perfect night for soldiers to arise and battles to begin." Rain recited the password Duo and Hilde had gained from their interrogation of the truck driver. Nick nodded and stepped aside to let them enter.

"Please come in." Nick said with mock courtesy. He shut the door behind them and locked it.

"Names?" Nick asked.

"Frank Sorvina."

"Teresa Carson." Nick nodded.

"I'm Aldrico, Shelly's assistant." Nick pointed down the hall to the right. "Go down that hallway through the double doors on the left. The others are already in the gym, waiting for Shelly arrive. The testing will begin when Shelly gets there." Derek and Rain gave a nod and started down the hallway.

When Rain and Derek stepped into the gymnasium they felt somewhat taken aback. To the far-left side of the gym were various weight machines and free weights. On the right side of the gym was a padded sparring mat, laid out as protection from the hard wooden floor of the gym. Three benches were set in a semi circle around the sparring mat and a few people were lounging on those. Several people were practice sparring on the right side of the gym.
Two groups were on the mat, and several others were around the perimeter of the mat. A few people were off to the left using weights or stretching. Rain and Derek walked over towards where the sparring mat was and watched the people sparring. They both wondered exactly what kind of tests this Shelly guy was going to have.

Derek and Rain both looked towards the doors when everyone grew silent and ceased activity. When Rain saw who had entered her stomach dropped. She subconsciously took a step back. Derek glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He wondered what was wrong. He glanced about; making sure no body had noticed her peculiar actions. He as relieved to see that no one had noticed.

"No not him...Not him..." Rain whispered.

To be continued...

-End of Chapter 6-

Who is the person who entered the gym? Why is Rain so upset at this person's presence? Find out in the next chapter! Don't forget to review!
-AlyRain
Aly_Rain_ZZ@yahoo.com