Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfect Assassin ❯ Unusual Circumstances ( Chapter 14 )

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

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters in any way.


CHAPTER FOURTEEN: UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Relena maintained her focus. She heard a soft click behind her and understood it was the safety being unlocked from Heero’s weapon. There wasn’t much time left.

She would not be deterred from her mission despite the current circumstances. She wouldn’t let her people down. Millions of lives could very well depend on her actions on this night. ‘Why did he have to be here?’

“Relena, am I talking to deaf ears? I said drop it!” Heero ordered, still very much in control of himself.

Every which way, she heard a cacophony of voices. They came in crashing waves: Larson Quentin, the man who assigned her targets for her; then, the cries of the dead. And now, she had the unyielding voice of the Perfect Soldier in the present, demanding for her to surrender. The voices grew louder in her head, one after the other, surrounding her thoughts so strongly that they began caving in, leaving it more difficult for her to breathe. She was trapped both physically and emotionally.

“Please, stop.” She whispered to no one in particular, pleading for the voices to desist.

“Stop? I will, once you’re no longer a threat to anyone in this room, including yourself.” Heero replied, although he wasn’t too sure that her statement was directed to him.

“Relena, honey, you’ve been extremely stressed with all those projects and now with the tragic deaths of Mr. Smith and Mr. Sackheim and…” Pavilion cajoled but was interrupted.

“Stress.” Relena interjected, “You don’t even know the half of it.”

“Relena, I will shoot you.” Heero warned as he prepared himself to fire.

The voices came creeping back again. They became so invigorating that she used her unarmed left hand to support the intense migraine.


“RELENA! DROP THE WEAPON!”


At that instant, she turned around to face Heero and aimed her weapon at the former Gundam pilot. “Shut up!” She yelled but the voices still wouldn’t cease their incessant chanting.
The air in the room turned much more stagnant and bitter. Relena and Heero were faced squarely at one another, prepped with their weapon of choice. Even Pavilion was surprised at the sudden turn of events. Two young individuals were now faced at the opposite end of each gun barrel, Heero leveling his weapon to her heart and Relena aiming directly for Heero’s chest.

“Well, that was certainly unexpected.” Heero commented. “So, what now? Shall we shoot each other and end it all?”

She gasped at the bluntness of his words. “No…” Relena whispered. ‘This is wrong, all wrong.’ She thought. ‘How did the situation turn out to be like this?’

The soldier noticed that her attention was diverted elsewhere for the moment. He took the opportunity to make firm eye contact with the senior executive at the opposite end of the room, tilting his head somewhat to the phone and instructing him to call security. Pavilion understood his message loud and clear. He nodded once and gently reached for the phone without Relena ever knowing.

There was no chance that Heero ever considered the possibility of shooting her. Further, there was absolutely no chance of Relena ever letting go of her gun if he still had his firmly in grip. He contemplated the situation for a few more seconds and decided to risk it.

“Relena, I don’t want this to end in a bloodbath.” He said.

She admitted wholeheartedly. “There has been enough bloodshed already in this amoral world.”

He added, speaking to her as though she were a five year old. “I’m going to lower my weapon now and I’ll let you decide how this situation will play out.” Very slowly he lowered the pistol and dropped it on the plush carpeting. The gun didn’t even make a sound when it landed. Still, Relena didn’t move. Her weapon remained fixed on Heero’s chest.

“Are you really going to shoot me, Relena?” He stood back to his upright position with his gun was well out of his reach.

She didn’t respond. Due to her sudden loss of words, he slowly advanced towards her, taking steps so small that it seemed as if he wasn’t moving at all. “C’mon, Relena, hand me the gun.”


“Stay where you are, Heero. I don’t want you to come any closer.” She said threateningly.

“Do what you must but I’m not leaving you.”

“Just go away.”

“No dice.”


With every word he spoke, he was one step closer to reaching her. Soon, he was only five steps away. Relena started shaking and her gun arm trembled with indecision. “Please, Heero.” She whispered as her final sign of inner struggle.

Footfalls from the halls were heard as the armed security men ran to the office. She knew this was it. She failed. She failed everyone who trusted her in maintaining the peace, in keeping them safe.

In that split second, she lowered the weapon, closed her eyes, and waited. Heero closed the remaining distance between them and grabbed her gun. He fixed his eyes on her, trying to see her true intentions but couldn’t read anything through her closed eyelids. The men finally arrived to the doorway and were reluctant to enter for they were unsure of what transpired.

“Miss Vice Foreign Minister? Someone summoned security?” The head chief inquired.

“Take Miss. Darlian to the sublevel basement, C-1036 and make sure she doesn’t leave.” Heero instructed, never turning his focus away from Relena.

Looking puzzled, the chief asked, “C-103… why that’s where we have our temporary holding cells. Why on earth would we bring her there for?”

Heero was growing impatient and Pavilion could see it through his intense gaze. Pavilion decided to speak up, reducing the unwanted tension in the room. “Please, do what the gentlemen says. He’s a Preventer Agent.”

Before the security members reached her, she could only think of one thing: the citizens. What was to become of them? How much longer did they have until the madman decides to end their existence?

“I’ve failed.” She whispered so softly that only Heero was able to hear.

“Had you not failed, Relena, we would have to clean up yet, another mess that you made in this building.” Heero replied softly.

From his comment, Relena opened her eyes as quickly as she closed them and stared straight ahead. She wasn’t even thinking about the failed mission but he took her statement to a different context. ‘Another mess that I made?’ She pondered on the thought and really considered the idea that perhaps Heero already put the pieces together on the murder case. Did he know the truth? If he did, then it really didn’t matter how he interpreted her words.

Two men in uniform showed her the way out, which was ridiculous since she knew where everything was located in her building. Regardless of her knowledge, she followed quietly, never making eye contact with anyone, especially Heero.

Pavilion and Heero were the only ones left in the dimly lighted room. A strange silence fell upon the two gentlemen, not quite sure what was supposed to happen next.

“I guess I should be on my way home. My wife must be worried sick about me.” Pavilion announced. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions for me about this uh… incident.”

“Yes, sir. It has been a long night. Return to your family. I can find you tomorrow and we will settle things then.” Heero suggested and then finished off by bidding farewell. “Good night.”

“Please go easy on her. I’m not sure what that was all about myself, but everyone knows she has been under a lot of pressure lately.” The old put in before Heero disappeared entirely from view. Heero simply nodded once and walked over to the elevators.


~*~*~

Quatre sped off on the next space shuttle ready to land on Earth. From the moment Relena left the estate, he had the most unnerving feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was about to happen and it wasn’t looking good. It was fortunate for him that his schedule was pretty lax in the next few weeks. Therefore, granting himself a quick holiday to earth was warranted.

When the shuttle landed safely on the landing runway strip, his cell phone rang and he answered after two rings.

“Quatre speaking.”

“Hey Quatre, you’ll never guess what happened tonight.” It was Duo.

“Whoa… slow down. What’s wrong?”

“There was an attempted murder that took place at Preventers HQ. Luckily, Lucas Pavilion left the incident unscathed. That’s not the worst of it, though.” Duo continued.

“What do you mean ‘the worst of it’? That doesn’t sound half bad to me if Mr. Pavilion was unharmed…”

“NO, Quatre. You’re not listening to me.” Duo nearly yelled.

“Well, maybe if you explained to me what’s exactly going on…”

“They caught the assassin. He was there in the room and Heero just-so-happened to be on the same floor. Only, it wasn’t a he.”

“The assassin’s a woman?” Quatre asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah. It’s Relena. You gotta come down here quick. It’s looking bad.”



TBC…