Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Memories ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter Twelve

Relena was once again sitting in the back of the car flagged by two of the most dangerous men in ESUNs history. It was now dusk and the car, though battered, was speeding towards a rendezvous with the another of the Gundam pilots.

It had taken all three men to push the car back up onto the road, Relena had promised not to run again but Heero obviously had not trusted her. To her indignation she had had her wrists and ankles bound, had been sat under a tree and threatened with worse if she as much as moved an inch. Once the car had been returned to the road, Duo had turned the engine over easily and confirmed that the damage was to the side panels of the vehicle and that the engine had escaped harm. That left the punctured tyre, which had quickly been changed. Relena had been picked up and unceremoniously dumped in the back seat before her bonds had been removed.

"Well, that was lucky, eh Lena." Grinned Duo as she rubbed her wrists "Wouldn't have wanted to walk the rest of the way. Oh, and I think you forgot these Cinderella." Duo handed her two shoes over to Relena.

Relena glared at him as she put the shoes on. "I should have thrown the keys away." She said hoping to provoke him, but he laughed at her. Didn't the man ever get grumpy? In the meantime Trowa was calling another person on a communicator. Relena heard him talking quietly and strained to listen, ignoring Duo's endless chatter.

"She has proven a little more difficult than we anticipated." Trowa was saying "But we will still make the destination within the set time. I suggest that we get her to Sally as soon as is feasible."

Relena racked the name over in her mind, Sally…..Sally. It seemed familiar, but she could not put a face to the name. Her attention was bought back to her immediate surroundings by something cold and stinging being applied to her face. She flinched and saw Heero holding iodine covered cotton wool.

"Hold still, I want to clean this cut." He said and touched her wound again. "Hnn, its gaping a little. Might get a small scar from this, but I think your hair will cover it." Relena scowled at him and watched as he produced some steri-strips from a first aid kit and applied them over her cut "That should hold it together." He nodded in satisfaction "Anything else hurt? No?" Relena ignored him. "Let's move it then Duo." Heero ordered.

Trowa got in beside Duo, who started the car, put it in first and took off slowly up the road. Relena moved as far away from Heero as she could, leaning on the door. She speculated on whether she could open it and jump out of the car, but Heero seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Don't try it, Relena." He said, "The smash mangled the door so badly that it can't be opened." He smirked at her expression.

That had been several hours ago. Relena had been struggling to keep her eyes open. She needed her tablets, it was early yet and she should still be wide-awake and working on some paper or document. Instead she was kidnapped, travelling to goodness knows where with dangerous men and she was desperate for sleep. Perhaps some stress reaction she thought watching trees go past the window. Her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, she was being hypnotised by the motion of the car and objects flashing past her field of vision.

Heero was watching her quietly as her head nodded once, twice, then jerked upwards eyes blinking, trying to stay alert. Again her head drooped towards her chest, eyes closed, her breathing becoming regular. When he was satisfied that she was deeply asleep, he pulled off his jacket, rolled it up and placed it gently over her shoulder and moved her head so it was pillowed by the garment. He looked at her head wound, it had looked worse than it was as most head wounds did. He had cleaned the blood off her face, but her own suit jacket had a significant red stain where the blood had dripped.

Turning his attention from Relena to the others in front, he crouched forward so he could talk quietly and not disturb Relena.

"Took a while." Trowa nodded towards her.

"She might be out for a while." Heero agreed "If she has been on stimulants for a while she probably needs the sleep."

"Your pacifist princess has been turned into quite a little fighter!" Duo smiled.

"She has always been a fighter." Heero gave a rare smile back. "No sign of pursuit yet?"

"None." Trowa confirmed "Wufei said that there had been no announcement of her abduction on world news. Quatre must have pulled off his transmission to Lady Une."

"Yeah, certainly has been useful feeding Une information about our incarceration on L1." Duo said, "I would like to see her face when she realises that she has been fed a pack of lies."

"Hnn" Heero had to agree with this "How soon till rendezvous?"

"Only another 15 minutes or so." Duo advised "Don't worry Heero, once we meet up with Wufei, and fly to Sally, Lena will be back to normal. Another day tops and you will be the one running from her again, not the other way around."

Heero glared at Duo, then settled back as near to Relena as he dared to sit.

Lady Une looked at Quatre's open honest face displayed on her communications unit.

"Well?" she asked.

"I have been successful in detaining Heero, Duo and Trowa. They are being held by my security on the basement level of my mansion." Quatre advised.

"They are secure, are they." Une mused. "They do have a lot of past form for escaping, are you absolutely sure that will not occur this time."

"I have convinced my security that those three were responsible for the explosion." Quatre replied, "My security is renown for its loyalty to me and for their efficiency at performing their work. The pilots will not escape."

"Excellent." Lady Une nodded. "Proceed with derailing L1s agreements with other colonies."

Quatre nodded and Lady Une switched the screen off.

"Well?" she questioned.

Basil Holt stood up from the chair he had been sitting in.

"He seemed to be following orders, didn't he." Basil smiled. "Shame that we know for a fact that Heero, Duo and Trowa are all on the earth as we speak."

"Yes, they are all predictable aren't they?" Lady Une laughed. "They are right on schedule, they have, they believe, rescued Relena and are on there way to deactivate the nanobot in her brain and bring her back to reality. You will, of course, advise me as soon as this is done."

Basil looked at the palm-sized computer in his hand. "Of course, Lady Une. All the data will be relayed to me from the bot, same as Quatre's bot did. These experiments would not be worth my time unless I was able to collect the data."

"Yes, your experiments…" Lady Une narrowed her eyes at him "That's really all you are interested in, isn't it."

"Well, Lady Une, I am a scientist, an inventor." Basil nodded, "I'm not interested in manipulating the nations back into war as you and your partner are. My nanobots are all that are important to me. Although I must admit that to cause Yuy pain is a bonus. After all the pain he has caused me, the idea of a little revenge is sweet. I am, after all, only human."

"Well, war is what we will have soon enough" Une came to her feet "And it will all start soon. Just as soon as those stupid pilots turn off the nanobot in Relena's brain. When the people find out about how the colonies Gundum pilots have killed their beloved Queen they will all scream for revenge. Such a beautiful war will begin…and then he will come and take control, just as my dear Trieze planned."

"Yes…." Basil regarded her for a little while then turned to leave the room. "Don't forget to give me the list of world leaders you want to be implanted with the generation two nanobot once the current experiment is concluded."

Lady Une, caught up in her own dreamy red world of blood, didn't hear him leave.