Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfect Assassin ❯ Too Many Questions ( Chapter 18 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sweet_Destiny 
Everyone's off on their investigation and they bring up more questions than answers.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.20.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 212 | Status: Completed
Everyone's off on their investigation and they bring up more questions than answers.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.20.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 212 | Status: Completed
PERFECT ASSASSIN
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters in any way.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: TOO MANY QUESTIONS
Larson Quentin leaned against the alabaster balcony, smoking his tenth cigarette of the day. It was a miracle he was still able to breath through his smoke infested lungs. Thinking back on the past days’ events, he couldn’t believe they actually succeeded.
(Flashback)
"… We've injected you with a poison and it will slowly kill you. If you do not have the antidote in your body by the time it strikes your brain cells, you will die the most excruciating and painful deaths that mankind has ever known." Quentin threatened although he knew that there was nothing physically wrong with her, aside from the remaining effects of the vaccination. Despite the doctors' claims, he was still unsure of those effects. He may not be very much off the mark in the end.
"I'm not afraid to die." She said defiantly.
(End Flashback)
Inhaling another generous amount of nicotine, he had to chuckle at her courage back then. It was unfortunate that Relena truly thought that she was poisoned. She wasn’t! The lie was created so that she would be obedient to their commands and, apparently, it worked much better than they realized. When his boss, Vincent McCallister, walked into her cell, Relena’s expression was simply priceless; she looked surprised, shocked, even appalled when she noticed that he took his orders from McCallister. She looked a lot worse than any other time he had seen her before. Quentin wondered what plagued her thoughts now. Further, he wondered if she really was ill and if she was, should they intervene? Probably not. Her illness would not have been influenced from them. Relena would have to battle her own demons. Noticing the cherry was about to reach the cigarette butt, he flicked the remainder of his smoke away and returned to McCallister’s estate.
~*~*~
Relena felt submerged in water and the harder she waved her arms to the surface, the deeper she sank. She wanted to give in to the darkness but a muffled voice from above called to her and kept her from falling. However, the words were too muddled for her to decipher its meaning. The arms from the unknown individual reached far down for her hand, pulled and encouraged her to break to the surface.
When she took in her first breath of air, Relena discovered that someone was kissing her. It was such a tender kiss that she couldn’t believe it brought her back to reality. With great exertion, she slowly opened her eyes and was briefly blinded by the overhead lights. Then she saw him.
“Hi.” She attempted a weak smile but failed miserably.
When she tried to sit up, he gently pushed her shoulder blades back down. “Heero?”
“Lie down.” She complied when he turned serious. “Listen to me very carefully, Relena.” He waited a beat for her to agree and continued. “I need to know why you killed them.”
Heero noticed that she was closing in within herself again. Relena turned her face away from him and stared at the wall. Her reaction to his question was enough for him to realize that she was certainly hiding something from them. He leaned closer in, forced her to turn to him and then stared into her eyes. There was hardly any room to breathe between their faces.
Whispering as if it were a secret, Heero said, “If don’t tell me what’s going on, we can’t help you. Do you understand what will happen?”
She reached for his hand that held her head in place and placed both their hands to her heart. There were hundreds of thoughts racing through her head. Should she tell him? “It’s complicated.” Relena began as she felt tears starting to form beneath her tired eyelids.
“Try me.”
Relena sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck so suddenly that he was taken aback and lost his balance for a second. “I’m scared.” She admitted as she clung tighter to his warmth.
He placed his arms safely around her waist, encouraging her to tell him everything. “No one’s here but us.” He coaxed. “Someone sent you to kill those men.” Heero stated more than questioned her. She nodded slowly against his neck.
“Why?” It seemed that Relena was going to refuse him the information again when tears began falling onto his shirt. “Relena, why?” He asked louder this time.
“I was blackmailed. If I were not to deliver, they threatened to kill everyone in the city.” Heero remained silent. “I had no choice.” She sobbed silently. It felt somewhat better letting it out of her chest but it still hurt to remember that she took two lives.
“There are choices, Relena. Why didn’t you come to us?”
No explanation could form on her lips. Because she was held captive and weren’t given many options? Because her life was held in the hands of those anonymous men who had much more power than they all realized? When Heero resigned, she didn’t know whom to turn to. How could she count on him when he didn’t have the desire to protect and defend her?
Suddenly, the same thought crossed his mind and he wanted to beat himself to death for not realizing that he was the one who pushed her away. He couldn’t understand why he treated her so bitterly before. Heero realized that he fell short on his promise to protect her, to keep her safe. All this time, he thought that the greater distance he placed between them would keep them both from being hurt. He cursed silently under his breath before whispering. “I’m sorry.”
They remained silent for what seemed like hours when Heero resumed his line of questioning, “This is going to be the most important question I ask. Who ordered you to do this?”
“He…”
Just then the door opened and Vincent McCallister gazed speculatively at the scene before him. They both turned to face the newcomer into the room. Relena immediately turned mute and avoided McCallister’s gaze. Heero noticed that she suddenly tensed up from the unexpected intrusion. He could feel her trembling beneath him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but I’m here to visit Relena.” McCallister began as he walked further into the room.
“Who are you and what business do you have with her?” Heero asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Vincent McCallister, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and newly appointed Vice Foreign Minister, at your service. Now if I may please have a few moments with Relena, I need to speak with her on some pressing matters.”
“So you’re the one.” Heero exclaimed as he released Relena’s slender waist. She only held on tighter to him. It was obvious that she didn’t want him to leave. He recalled the news from the past few days signaling the new individual to fill the role of Vice Foreign Minister. No one from Preventers really cared much for the news and neither did he.
“Whatever you have to say, I stay.” Heero countered stoically.
“I’m afraid our discussion is confidential. It won’t take more than three minutes, I promise.” He then smiled.
Looking down at Relena, Heero decided to back down. He knew this man could stir real trouble if he so desired. McCallister had the power to summon great authority and allies to match his supremacy, all of which belonged to Relena not too long ago. However, she never abused her power so it wasn’t a pressing issue before.
“Three minutes is all I’m giving you, McCallister. I’ll be outside.” Heero turned to leave but Relena grabbed for his arm and pulled him back.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be far.” Heero explained in an even tone, ever the Perfect Soldier.
She held on even tighter and pleaded softly so that her enemy couldn’t hear, “Please don’t leave me alone with him.”
“Nothing will happen to you. It’ll be alright.” Heero confirmed, then reluctantly walked away from her grasp. He closed the door behind him and counted down the seconds until he would be within her reach again.
She must have looked awful to McCallister, with the dried tears that have branded her cheeks and heartrending pale expression. Relena hated him so much that there wasn’t enough hatred in the world to express her contempt for the man. After all the years of working and dining together, how could she trust him so blindly? The unfortunately former Vice Foreign Minister felt so foolish. She never knew so much hatred could be directed at one individual.
~*~*~
Quatre managed to convince Une and the other former Gundam pilots that it would be crucial for him to stay behind and offer assistance. He accompanied Sally Po to her laboratory and proved to be more useful than she thought. With swift ease and precision, he was able to measure the appropriate solutions and chemicals for her to conduct the tests. Finally compiling all the data together, she read through the report again for the tenth time.
“This is strange.” She muttered.
Quatre noticed her pressing gaze and asked, “What is it?”
Pointing to the third page she said, “Well, according to these results, there’s nothing chronically wrong with Relena. She’s fine, well, aside from the lack of calcium in her diet and the immense stress she’s under. I warned her about getting enough rest but I don’t think she has been following the Doctor’s orders.”
“That is odd. Then what can explain her pale complexion and her deathly appearance?”
“She may have contracted a virus that can be easily dispelled with antibiotics but I believe Relena feels that her condition is far worse than it really is.” Sally explained, still eying the papers.
The former Gundam pilot drew out a long breath. “Are you suggesting that she’s faking it?”
“We know Relena would never let others fret over her well-being, so I doubt she would feign her sickness.” Sally replied confidently. “In other words, she believes that she’s chronically ill and her body is responding in kind. It’s all in the psyche.”
Quatre was astounded from what he was hearing. “That’s incredible. I remember hearing something about this. When someone is so traumatized from an event, they become blind when, in fact, there is nothing biologically wrong with their eyes. Is it like a safety mechanism that the body enacts to protect the individual from the trauma?”
“That’s exactly the case! I believe that’s what Relena’s experiencing but obviously in greater proportions. Her mind is working against her and she doesn’t even know it.” Sally finally placed the report back to its folder and leaned against her worktable.
“What do you think caused Relena to feel the way that she does?” Quatre asked.
Sally replied. “Very good question. It could be anything. More importantly, how we can get Relena out of her internal battle?”
Several floors down were the rooms where the technical equipment was stored. Duo flicked the knob on the machine to rewind and fast-forward the tape. He and Trowa have been over the tapes over a dozen times, watching agonizingly through the hours of footage on Relena’s surveillance. There wasn’t much activity during the first few days.
Alexander popped into the screen and the image showed him chatting briefly with Relena. The moment he left, the television monitor was engulfed in snow and static noise; they were unable to see anything. Nothing was revealed for another ten minutes before the image was restored.
“What the hell was that?” Duo asked. Trowa stayed silent, still eyeing the display.
The next clip was of Relena sitting on the bed, unmoving and blank as the tape continued rolling.
Duo turned to Trowa. “So, what do you think?”
“The security feed was tampered with.” Trowa replied simply.
“You sure it’s not just a glitch?” Duo wondered as he removed the videotape from the machine.
“Unlikely. Whatever happened to Relena occurred within that timeframe.” Trowa admitted. “Trying to fill in the blanks will be the challenge.”
TBC…
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters in any way.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: TOO MANY QUESTIONS
Larson Quentin leaned against the alabaster balcony, smoking his tenth cigarette of the day. It was a miracle he was still able to breath through his smoke infested lungs. Thinking back on the past days’ events, he couldn’t believe they actually succeeded.
(Flashback)
"… We've injected you with a poison and it will slowly kill you. If you do not have the antidote in your body by the time it strikes your brain cells, you will die the most excruciating and painful deaths that mankind has ever known." Quentin threatened although he knew that there was nothing physically wrong with her, aside from the remaining effects of the vaccination. Despite the doctors' claims, he was still unsure of those effects. He may not be very much off the mark in the end.
"I'm not afraid to die." She said defiantly.
(End Flashback)
Inhaling another generous amount of nicotine, he had to chuckle at her courage back then. It was unfortunate that Relena truly thought that she was poisoned. She wasn’t! The lie was created so that she would be obedient to their commands and, apparently, it worked much better than they realized. When his boss, Vincent McCallister, walked into her cell, Relena’s expression was simply priceless; she looked surprised, shocked, even appalled when she noticed that he took his orders from McCallister. She looked a lot worse than any other time he had seen her before. Quentin wondered what plagued her thoughts now. Further, he wondered if she really was ill and if she was, should they intervene? Probably not. Her illness would not have been influenced from them. Relena would have to battle her own demons. Noticing the cherry was about to reach the cigarette butt, he flicked the remainder of his smoke away and returned to McCallister’s estate.
~*~*~
Relena felt submerged in water and the harder she waved her arms to the surface, the deeper she sank. She wanted to give in to the darkness but a muffled voice from above called to her and kept her from falling. However, the words were too muddled for her to decipher its meaning. The arms from the unknown individual reached far down for her hand, pulled and encouraged her to break to the surface.
When she took in her first breath of air, Relena discovered that someone was kissing her. It was such a tender kiss that she couldn’t believe it brought her back to reality. With great exertion, she slowly opened her eyes and was briefly blinded by the overhead lights. Then she saw him.
“Hi.” She attempted a weak smile but failed miserably.
When she tried to sit up, he gently pushed her shoulder blades back down. “Heero?”
“Lie down.” She complied when he turned serious. “Listen to me very carefully, Relena.” He waited a beat for her to agree and continued. “I need to know why you killed them.”
Heero noticed that she was closing in within herself again. Relena turned her face away from him and stared at the wall. Her reaction to his question was enough for him to realize that she was certainly hiding something from them. He leaned closer in, forced her to turn to him and then stared into her eyes. There was hardly any room to breathe between their faces.
Whispering as if it were a secret, Heero said, “If don’t tell me what’s going on, we can’t help you. Do you understand what will happen?”
She reached for his hand that held her head in place and placed both their hands to her heart. There were hundreds of thoughts racing through her head. Should she tell him? “It’s complicated.” Relena began as she felt tears starting to form beneath her tired eyelids.
“Try me.”
Relena sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck so suddenly that he was taken aback and lost his balance for a second. “I’m scared.” She admitted as she clung tighter to his warmth.
He placed his arms safely around her waist, encouraging her to tell him everything. “No one’s here but us.” He coaxed. “Someone sent you to kill those men.” Heero stated more than questioned her. She nodded slowly against his neck.
“Why?” It seemed that Relena was going to refuse him the information again when tears began falling onto his shirt. “Relena, why?” He asked louder this time.
“I was blackmailed. If I were not to deliver, they threatened to kill everyone in the city.” Heero remained silent. “I had no choice.” She sobbed silently. It felt somewhat better letting it out of her chest but it still hurt to remember that she took two lives.
“There are choices, Relena. Why didn’t you come to us?”
No explanation could form on her lips. Because she was held captive and weren’t given many options? Because her life was held in the hands of those anonymous men who had much more power than they all realized? When Heero resigned, she didn’t know whom to turn to. How could she count on him when he didn’t have the desire to protect and defend her?
Suddenly, the same thought crossed his mind and he wanted to beat himself to death for not realizing that he was the one who pushed her away. He couldn’t understand why he treated her so bitterly before. Heero realized that he fell short on his promise to protect her, to keep her safe. All this time, he thought that the greater distance he placed between them would keep them both from being hurt. He cursed silently under his breath before whispering. “I’m sorry.”
They remained silent for what seemed like hours when Heero resumed his line of questioning, “This is going to be the most important question I ask. Who ordered you to do this?”
“He…”
Just then the door opened and Vincent McCallister gazed speculatively at the scene before him. They both turned to face the newcomer into the room. Relena immediately turned mute and avoided McCallister’s gaze. Heero noticed that she suddenly tensed up from the unexpected intrusion. He could feel her trembling beneath him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but I’m here to visit Relena.” McCallister began as he walked further into the room.
“Who are you and what business do you have with her?” Heero asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Vincent McCallister, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and newly appointed Vice Foreign Minister, at your service. Now if I may please have a few moments with Relena, I need to speak with her on some pressing matters.”
“So you’re the one.” Heero exclaimed as he released Relena’s slender waist. She only held on tighter to him. It was obvious that she didn’t want him to leave. He recalled the news from the past few days signaling the new individual to fill the role of Vice Foreign Minister. No one from Preventers really cared much for the news and neither did he.
“Whatever you have to say, I stay.” Heero countered stoically.
“I’m afraid our discussion is confidential. It won’t take more than three minutes, I promise.” He then smiled.
Looking down at Relena, Heero decided to back down. He knew this man could stir real trouble if he so desired. McCallister had the power to summon great authority and allies to match his supremacy, all of which belonged to Relena not too long ago. However, she never abused her power so it wasn’t a pressing issue before.
“Three minutes is all I’m giving you, McCallister. I’ll be outside.” Heero turned to leave but Relena grabbed for his arm and pulled him back.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be far.” Heero explained in an even tone, ever the Perfect Soldier.
She held on even tighter and pleaded softly so that her enemy couldn’t hear, “Please don’t leave me alone with him.”
“Nothing will happen to you. It’ll be alright.” Heero confirmed, then reluctantly walked away from her grasp. He closed the door behind him and counted down the seconds until he would be within her reach again.
She must have looked awful to McCallister, with the dried tears that have branded her cheeks and heartrending pale expression. Relena hated him so much that there wasn’t enough hatred in the world to express her contempt for the man. After all the years of working and dining together, how could she trust him so blindly? The unfortunately former Vice Foreign Minister felt so foolish. She never knew so much hatred could be directed at one individual.
~*~*~
Quatre managed to convince Une and the other former Gundam pilots that it would be crucial for him to stay behind and offer assistance. He accompanied Sally Po to her laboratory and proved to be more useful than she thought. With swift ease and precision, he was able to measure the appropriate solutions and chemicals for her to conduct the tests. Finally compiling all the data together, she read through the report again for the tenth time.
“This is strange.” She muttered.
Quatre noticed her pressing gaze and asked, “What is it?”
Pointing to the third page she said, “Well, according to these results, there’s nothing chronically wrong with Relena. She’s fine, well, aside from the lack of calcium in her diet and the immense stress she’s under. I warned her about getting enough rest but I don’t think she has been following the Doctor’s orders.”
“That is odd. Then what can explain her pale complexion and her deathly appearance?”
“She may have contracted a virus that can be easily dispelled with antibiotics but I believe Relena feels that her condition is far worse than it really is.” Sally explained, still eying the papers.
The former Gundam pilot drew out a long breath. “Are you suggesting that she’s faking it?”
“We know Relena would never let others fret over her well-being, so I doubt she would feign her sickness.” Sally replied confidently. “In other words, she believes that she’s chronically ill and her body is responding in kind. It’s all in the psyche.”
Quatre was astounded from what he was hearing. “That’s incredible. I remember hearing something about this. When someone is so traumatized from an event, they become blind when, in fact, there is nothing biologically wrong with their eyes. Is it like a safety mechanism that the body enacts to protect the individual from the trauma?”
“That’s exactly the case! I believe that’s what Relena’s experiencing but obviously in greater proportions. Her mind is working against her and she doesn’t even know it.” Sally finally placed the report back to its folder and leaned against her worktable.
“What do you think caused Relena to feel the way that she does?” Quatre asked.
Sally replied. “Very good question. It could be anything. More importantly, how we can get Relena out of her internal battle?”
Several floors down were the rooms where the technical equipment was stored. Duo flicked the knob on the machine to rewind and fast-forward the tape. He and Trowa have been over the tapes over a dozen times, watching agonizingly through the hours of footage on Relena’s surveillance. There wasn’t much activity during the first few days.
Alexander popped into the screen and the image showed him chatting briefly with Relena. The moment he left, the television monitor was engulfed in snow and static noise; they were unable to see anything. Nothing was revealed for another ten minutes before the image was restored.
“What the hell was that?” Duo asked. Trowa stayed silent, still eyeing the display.
The next clip was of Relena sitting on the bed, unmoving and blank as the tape continued rolling.
Duo turned to Trowa. “So, what do you think?”
“The security feed was tampered with.” Trowa replied simply.
“You sure it’s not just a glitch?” Duo wondered as he removed the videotape from the machine.
“Unlikely. Whatever happened to Relena occurred within that timeframe.” Trowa admitted. “Trying to fill in the blanks will be the challenge.”
TBC…