Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Gangs Of Tokyo ❯ Retribution ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: Retribution

~~~~~Captors~~~~~

The mood at the cemetery was a mix of somber and anger, as the dozens of people were standing with heads down at the rare Captor funeral, but the second in the past few months. All eyes were downcast as the body of Kazuma Kuwabara was slowly lowered into the rectangular hole six feet below the surface. The majority of the first row of mourners were the thirteen remaining Captor members, plus Kuwabara's older sister, Shizuru. Behind them were numerous groups of associates that did business with the Captors, and spread around the entire cemetery were countless numbers of hired security guards, making certain no Gundams could attempt a surprise attack at the funeral. The Captors didn't really believe the Gundams would stoop so low as to attack them as they mourned at the funeral, but hired the security just in case.

As the first shovel of dirt fell on Kuwabara's coffin, the sound of a cellular phone broke the silence. Casually pulling her phone out of her purse, Sakura Kinomoto placed the small electronic device up to her ear. She never uttered a single word as a moment after answering, Sakura hung up the phone and replaced it back in her purse. Still silent, she turned around and as the crowd parted to allow her to pass, she walked away from the gathering with Syaoran Li right on her heals. Once at the black Mercedes they had arrived in, Sakura and Syaoran each pulled off their coats, placing them on the backseat. After Syaoran climbed into the driver's seat and Sakura into the passenger, the car sped off out of the cemetery.

~~~~~Gundams~~~~~

“It feels great to be back,” commented Quatre Raberba-Winner as he stretched his arms after walking out of the terminal of the Tokyo International Airport.

“It definitely does,” agreed Relena Peacecraft, walking in synchronization with Quatre just one step to his right. “It's been a while.”

Both Gundams had been working on an arms deal and a few money laundering operations with a couple new contacts in Europe, and had been gone for almost three weeks. Relena hadn't really wanted to go on the trip, but Heero had sent her both because she was the Gundam's best negotiator and also because she was the one most affected mentally by the death of her brother, Milliardo, and the others.

They were both standing at the curb, waiting for their limo to arrive, when all of a sudden, both Relena and Quatre's heads snapped back and they both fell to the hard concrete below. Everyone in the area turned around to figure out what happened, and as soon as the crowd noticed the red spots on the chests of the two fallen people begin to increase in size, the entire area turned into a stampede as everyone began to panic. The men that were picking up Quatre and Relena at the airport all drew their weapons, but knew the possibility of finding the shooter in the craziness of the crowd was going to be next to impossible.

~~~~~Captors~~~~~

On the roof of a building about a block away from the airport, two figures dressed in all black watched the scene of mayhem unfolding before them through powerful sights on silenced SIG Sauer SSG3000 sniper rifles. Neither Sakura Kinomoto or Syaoran Li smiled, or made any other facial gesture for that matter, as they watched their enemies fall to the ground and lay there unmoving, the two expertly fired shots instantaneously killing both.

While they were at Kuwabara's funeral, the call had come in from an informant that the plane Relena and Quatre had taken had arrived. The Captors had already known the two Gundams would be arriving that day, and had previously picked a building with perfect line of sight with the exits from the airport terminal. Throughout the entire time from when they had left the cemetery up until the present, neither Sakura or Syaoran had barely said even a single word. They had silently driven to the building, silently taken the two sniper rifles out of the trunk of the Mercedes, silently climbed the stairs to the roof, and silently each took aim. The only word that had been uttered was a `go' by Syaoran, to make certain they both fired at the exact same instant. Now finished with their mission of retaliation for the sniping of Kuwabara, Syaoran and Sakura got up from their positions on their stomachs, packed up their guns, and headed back down to their car.

~~~~~Gundams~~~~~

“Fuck!” cursed Duo Maxwell exceptionally loudly as he threw his cell phone against the fireplace in the Gundam's main house living room, shattering the small device on the hard marble surface. The other seven Gundam's in the room all looked at the extremely angry Duo. “Someone just shot Relena and Quatre.”

“Where?” asked Ami Mizuno, before anyone else had a chance to talk.

“In front of the airport terminal,” answered Duo. “It appears they were sniped.”

“Captors?” questioned Trowa Barton.

“Unknown,” said Duo. “But probably. They were probably getting revenge for Kuwabara.”

“How did they find out they were coming in today?” brought up Wu-Fei. “Nobody but us and the team we sent to pick them up should know.”

“Doriane,” said Heero quietly under his breath. All the other Gundams turned to look at their leader for clarification. “It was Doriane.”

“How do you know?” asked Ami.

“He was the last of the new contacts Relena and Quatre were meeting with,” answered Heero. “He would have known exactly when they would be leaving and probably gave them up to the Captors.” Heero paused for a moment as his hands clenched into tight fists of anger. “I knew I shouldn't have trusted that smug French son of a bitch.”

“You can't blame yourself,” consoled Ami. “His operation by far had the best risk to reward ratio. There was no way we could pass up the opportunity.”

“I know an assassin team in Paris,” said Trowa. “Doriane will be taken care of in -”

Trowa stopped mid sentence when completely unexpectedly Heero stood up and walked out of the room and up the stairs toward his bedroom. The sudden move caught all the Gundams off guard, and left them speechless and staring at the stairs, wondering what their leader was doing. A couple minutes later, Heero reappeared, descended down the stairs, and walked back through the room, this time heading toward the door to the garage. “Stay here,” was the only thing Heero said as he entered the garage and jumped onto a black motorcycle. Before any of the Gundams could even ask Heero where he was going, he had started up the machine and sped down the street.

“What was that about?” questioned Minako to nobody in particular.

“Everyone get your equipment,” stated Ami as she got up, almost as suddenly as Heero had.

“What's going on Ami?” asked Minako.

“I don't know,” answered Ami. “But we're following him.”

“But he told us to wait here,” pointed out Minako. “Maybe he is just going somewhere to cool off.”

“Heero was wearing both of his six clip quick-loaders,” said Ami. “That means that wherever he is going, he plans to use a lot of bullets, and we are going to support him, whether he likes it or not. Now, as I said before, everyone get your equipment. You have three minutes.” Ami was the first to leave the room, with all the other Gundams following quickly behind her to get their particular weapons of choice.

Five minutes later Ami, Minako, and Duo were in a black BMW and exiting the front gate of the Gundams' house, followed closely by the black Cadillac SUV driven by Trowa, Makoto, Wu-Fei, and Rei. In the front car, Minako had brought up the tracking system to determine where Heero was headed. Heero had taken the fastest bike in the garage, and was already a good distance ahead of them, his intended direction easily determined. “It looks like he's heading toward the South Tokyo Industrial District,” said Minako.

“The South Tokyo Industrial District?” repeated Duo in confusion. “Why in hell is he heading -” Duo stopped mid thought when he realized what Heero was up to. “He wouldn't,” he said in disbelief.

“The Captor's drug manufacturing facility?” Minako completed Duo's thought for him. “He couldn't possibly be thinking of taking on that place alone. We already determined the security at the place is so tight it would take an army to take it down.”

“Heero you stubborn jackass,” said Ami inaudibly to herself as she sped up the car to attempt to get to the facility before Heero could get himself killed.

When the drug facility came into Heero's view, he lined up his bike with the entrance to the building, and holding the heading steady, Heero sped up to maximum speed and jumped straight backwards off the still moving motorcycle, landing smoothly in a crouch as the bike continued forward. Automatic weapons fire could be heard as the security personnel all fired on the quickly approaching machine, but the gunfire was not powerful enough to knock the motorcycle off its heading, as it crashed head on into the doorway and exploded, killing the nearest pair of guards in the process.

Right after landing, Heero had withdrawn his two black and gold Desert Eagles and in a surprisingly slow and casual pace, walked toward the building. Distracted by the explosion of the motorcycle, the guards were too slow to react to Heero's presence, as Heero unloaded both of his guns into the half dozen guards at the door without even breaking stride. Offhandedly, Heero popped the empty clips from his guns, and brought each weapon down to his quick-loaders, immediately reloading both guns with fresh clips. There was no change in speed of Heero's approach as he walked straight through the fire from his burning bike, and entered the building. Inside, there were dozens of guards with guns drawn and pointed at the open doorway, but with faster than lightning reflexes, Heero raised his guns and again unloaded both entire clips in a spread of bullets. Some of the shots hit targets, but others were dodged by the guards jumping behind pillars to avoid being shot. After expending his third and forth clips of the night, Heero again reloaded his guns, but this time took off at a run while doing so. Automatic gunfire echoed throughout the area as the remaining guards all began firing wildly at anything they thought was a target. Heero meanwhile expertly ran from one piece of cover to the next, casually taking out guards with well aimed headshots as he went along. Each time one of his guns became empty, Heero simply popped out the empty magazine and quickly reloaded the weapon.

By the time Heero had emptied his fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight clips, he had effectively cleared the room of all security personnel. On the ground laid at least two dozen people, most dead, but a few still dying. Having done quite an extensive amount of reconnaissance of the facility, Heero knew there would be more guards coming from behind him soon, but ignored that fact and continued into the next section of the factory sized building. After expending another few bullets on the guards he encountered as he descended the stairs to his destination target, Heero finally arrived at the drug production floor. The facility normally pumped out large quantities of high quality cocaine and heroin, which meant there were tons of highly unstable materials in the area. Pausing at the doorway, Heero scanned the area until he spotted the area within the room that was used as the storage for the majority of the explosive products. There were dozens of people in the room, all with guns drawn, having heard the commotion he had caused upstairs, and preparing for an attack. Taking two deep breaths, Heero shot out from his hiding place at the doorway, and shooting as he ran, moved in a zigzag pattern toward his target. Heero only ended up hitting one or two of the people in the area, but his wide barrage of bullets did keep the rest of the shooters ducked behind some type of cover, allowing Heero to reach the explosive canisters without being hit.

Heero knew that the people in the area would not be stupid enough to shoot at him while he was ducked behind the explosives, so he quickly pulled out the C4 plastic explosives from his slim pack under his jacket and attached it to the canisters. Before attaching the detonators to the explosives, Heero peeked out from his hiding place, and emptied his clips at the approaching guards, effectively killing five and keeping the rest from advancing any further. After reloading his guns with his last two full clips, Heero attached the detonators to the high yield explosives. His job done, Heero took one more peek around the corner of the drums of flammable material he was hiding behind, to see even more guards make their way into the room. Heero knew he had no chance of shooting his way out of the room, so instead just sat back against the heavy containers, resigned to his fate. He closed his eyes for a moment, the face of Ami Mizuno appearing in his mind's eye. Heero knew he loved Ami in his own unorthodox way, so wasn't surprised that at his last moments he would picture the lovely blue haired girl. However, much to Heero's surprise, after a moment, Ami's face disappeared and he found himself thinking about someone else. Replacing Ami's face, the image of someone he had met only once in his life appeared before him. Her green eyes, shapely body, and intoxicating smile were impossible to forget, as Heero found himself daydreaming about the girl he met at the club just a week ago, but had as of yet not had a chance to call; Sakura.

As Heero pulled the trigger for the explosives out from his pocket, an unconscious smile actually crept along his mouth. Heero was just about to press the button and take out the entire facility, when suddenly the feeling of a palm striking him against his face woke him up. Heero's eyes shot open and he found himself staring face to face with an exceptionally angry Ami Mizuno.

“Just what the fuck do you think you are doing!?” Ami cursed at Heero. Heero was slightly taken aback, both by Ami's sudden appearance, and by her use of swear words, which she only did when she was really upset. “Trying to take on a place like this yourself. That is just absolutely stupid.” As Ami continued to berate Heero, her face slowly changed from anger to relief, as a few stray tears began to fall down her cheek.

Heero lightly brushed away Ami's tears and pulled her into a light, but caring, embrace. “Sorry Ami,” said Heero softly. “This wasn't originally supposed to be a suicide mission.”

Ami finally stopped her tears of relief, and separated herself from Heero. “The others have the back exit secure for now,” said Ami. “But I'm not sure how long we can hold the position if the other guys in the building head toward the back instead of the way you came in.”

“Okay,” stated Heero as he stood up, pulling Ami up with him in the process. Heero took one last peek around the barrels to see the guards approaching his position again. “Go. I'm right behind you.” Ami nodded her head, and as Heero turned and unloaded his last two clips of bullets, Ami made a dash for the back stairwell, which was going to be their exit route. By the time Heero was completely out of bullets, eight more guards were dead, and Heero replaced his guns in his holsters and ran for the stairs, following the route Ami was taking.

As Ami ran through the twists and turns of the corridors, she calmly shot the few straggling guards that happened to appear in her path. With pinpoint accuracy, Ami never had to break stride as those she ran into didn't ever even have a chance to react before they were dead on the ground. In one corridor, however, Ami somehow missed a single guy, who popped out from a side room behind her, taking aim at the girl from behind, without Ami ever knowing. However, luckily for the Gundam, Heero was not too far behind her and when he spotted the enemy taking aim at his fellow gang member, Heero increased his pace just a fraction, and without breaking stride, smoothly broke the guy's neck from behind, and took his gun at the same instant. Heero only waited around for about a half a second, admiring his handiwork, before turning and running after Ami again.

When Ami and Heero exited through the back entrance, they were greeted by Trowa, Duo, Minako, and Makoto. Trowa had a pair of MP5K compact machine guns, each pointed in a different direction, obviously on the lookout for more enemies from any direction from which they might approach. Much like Trowa, Makoto was scanning the area for more enemies, her FN P90 submachine gun's sights lined up with her quickly moving eye. Duo had a military grade M16 assault rifle with a grenade launcher attached to the frame, resting on his shoulder as he admired the scene of the quick massacre after the Gundam's arrived and had taken out the entire unsuspecting rear entrance squadron, with Minako standing next to him, her pair of Glock handguns already reholstered.

Heero quickly scanned the rooftops, and just as he expected, he spotted the forms of Wu-Fei and Rei on a nearby rooftop, both with sniper rifles at the ready. Just at that moment, Heero also heard a bit of chatter from Ami's radio, as Wu-Fei reported that a guard car was heading in their direction. Ami responded by telling Wu-Fei to take out the car before it got to their position, and mere moments later a deafening boom could be heard as Wu-Fei's Steyr large caliber sniper rifle fired a single giant bullet straight through the engine block of the car, effectively immobilizing the vehicle. Immediately following Wu-Fei's crippling shot, Rei switched her H&K semi-automatic sniper rifle to burst mode, and unloaded a spray of a dozen bullets from her 20 capacity magazine, into the hood of the car, killing or injuring every occupant.

“Let's get out of here,” stated Ami to the gang members on the street and through the radio to Rei and Wu-Fei. Everybody nodded, and Wu-Fei and Rei packed up their rifles and started back down to street level. The Gundams, including Heero since his motorcycle was now destroyed, all piled into the two cars they had driven to the factory.

As they were driving away, Heero finally pressed the trigger for the explosives he had set. The explosion from the C4 mixed with the flammable materials of the drug factory, caused for a loud roar to be heard. Heero had not brought nearly enough explosives to destroy the entire building, but he was certain the blast would have destroyed the entire drug production line, and probably would cause enough damage that the fire department and police would show up, effectively making the building useless to the Captors. After tossing the trigger out the window, Heero gently placed his hand on top of Ami's, who had her right hand resting on the shifter, and as Ami glanced at him, Heero once again apologized, this time with his eyes, for making the beautiful girl worry.

~~~~~Captors~~~~~

The day following the assassination of Quatre and Relena and the attack on the Captor's drug factory, Sakura was putting on the little bit of makeup she usually wore, when her phone started to ring. Picking it up, Sakura looked at the front LCD screen to determine who was calling her, and was surprised to find that it said number unknown. Her phone, just like all the other phones the Captors used, was usually very good at decrypting what number was calling, regardless of any Caller ID blocks the caller may have had. She didn't worry about it for too long, instead she just flipped open the phone and placed the small device up to her ear. “Hello?”

“So did I prove myself worthy?” came the response from a voice Sakura hadn't heard in over a week, but would never forget anytime soon.

“Not sure yet,” answered Sakura in a jokingly smug tone of voice. “Anything you planning on doing to help out your case?”

“My plan was to take you out tonight to remove any last doubts,” answered Heero in his usual confident tone of voice. “Pick you up at eight?”

Sakura was a little surprised that Heero had simply asked what time, without bothering to ask if she was even available that night, but what she worried about a little more was finding a way to not let Heero know she was in a gang, which meant meeting him somewhere other than at the Captor's house. “I've got a thing to do tonight,” said Sakura so Heero wouldn't think she was just sitting at home on a Saturday night with no plans. “But I should be done by eight, so I'll meet you at Tokyo Station at eight-thirty.” Sakura figured her little lie worked to show she wasn't sitting at home waiting for his call, and also made certain Heero wouldn't find out she was actually a Captor.

“See you then,” responded Heero

“Bye,” said Sakura as she hung up her phone with a big smile on her face. She hadn't been expecting the day to be very good, considering one of her gang's most lucrative operations had been totally destroyed the night before, but knowing she had a date with Heero made her a lot more excited than even she would have expected. Humming softly to herself, Sakura finished up the touchups to her makeup with much more energy than she had previously displayed.

Just after finishing her makeup, a knock came at Sakura's door and Syaoran walked in. It wasn't hard for Syaoran to spot the look of elation on Sakura's face. “What are you so excited about?”

Sakura turned to look at her visitor, and only smiled a little brighter. “Nothing in particular,” answered Sakura. “What's up?”

“Kurama just called and said one of his contacts might have a facility already set up that we can use to replace the one we lost last night,” answered Syaoran as he took a seat in one of the chairs in Sakura's room.

“That was fast,” commented Sakura as she dropped her robe to the floor and began searching through her closet for some clothes to wear that day. Sakura didn't care that Syaoran was still in her room, watching her getting dressed. They each had seen one another nude numerous times before, so neither really had anything to hide from the other. “How trustworthy is the source?”

“Pretty good,” answered Syaoran. “Same guy that got us the info on that Gundam weapons storehouse we destroyed a few weeks back.”

“That was a fun explosion to watch,” laughed Sakura, remembering the sight of the building exploding in a huge fireball interspersed with smaller flashes from the exploding ammunition stored in the structure. Syaoran joined in on the fun, also laughing at the remembrance of the sight. “So do you know where this supposed new site is located?”

“Don't know the exact location,” said Syaoran. “But according to Kurama, it is outside the city itself and is supposedly relatively isolated, so it sounds as though we can add even more security than we had at the old facility, which will be a plus.”

“So when are we meeting with the guy to take a look at this place?” Sakura asked after finally deciding on a lacy red bra and snapping it into place.

“The meeting's tonight,” answered Syaoran. “But I've already got something I have to do tonight, so I need you to go along to the meeting.”

“Can't do it,” stated Sakura, which surprised Syaoran a bit since he had been sure she had said the night before she had no plans for that night.

“Can't do it?” repeated Syaoran. “Why not?”

“Got a date,” Sakura answered matter-of-factly.

“I thought you said you were free tonight,” said Syaoran.

“I was,” replied Sakura. “But I'm not anymore.”

“And who's this date with?” questioned Syaoran.

“You don't know him. So why can't you go tonight?” Sakura asked to change the subject.

“Same reason as you,” said Syaoran.

“Really?” said Sakura as she stopped flipping through the clothes hanging in her closet and turned to face Syaoran, still clad in only her bra and panties. “So you finally got a chance to call up that girl you met at the club?” Syaoran's surprise at Sakura's knowledge of who his date was with was easy to see, and Sakura just laughed in response. “I know you've been wanting to call her for a while now.”

“Guess things have just been busy this past week,” shrugged Syaoran as he got up from his chair. “I better tell Eriol and Tomoyo to go with Kurama and Rika.”

“Get either Chiharu and Yamazaki or Yusuke and Keiko to go with them too,” added Sakura before Syaoran was out the door. The Captors leader turned to look at his second in command, waiting for clarification as to why she thought the extra personnel should attend. “Just in case,” said Sakura. “We've underestimated the Gundams too many times already. Ideally I would rather have Hiei go with them, since he is the best at sniffing out traps, but I have a feeling Meilin would probably kill us herself if we sent Hiei off on a mission before she got a chance to have her fun with him.”

Syaoran had to laugh at Sakura's point, also knowing full well that Meilin would definitely not be pleased if she didn't get her alone time with Hiei. “I'll tell Yusuke and Keiko to go with them.” As Syaoran opened the door to leave, he turned his head back around to face Sakura again. “By the way, thanks for the show.” Syaoran's joke was met with Sakura sticking her tongue out at her friend and throwing a pillow at his retreating back, instead hitting the door as Syaoran closed it behind him.

~~~~~Gundams~~~~~

Sitting out front of the bustling Tokyo Station, Heero Yuy casually checked his watch. `Late,' Heero though to himself, seeing the minute hand resting on the forty. Normally, Heero would not put up with someone making him wait, however, he couldn't get himself to leave. Instead, Heero simply leaned back in the bench he was occupying and prepared himself to be patient for a little longer.

Unknown to Heero, just around the corner, his date had already arrived. Sakura had actually arrived a few minutes early, but after spotting Heero had purposely stayed out of sight. Not that she didn't want to begin her date, but Sakura always arrived fashionably late. She found that studying how people reacted when waiting for someone else to be a good way to determine personality traits. For example, in Heero's case, Sakura could tell by the way he moved that he did not like to be kept waiting. But judging by the fact that he was still there made it clear that he was serious about seeing Sakura that night, and based on the fact that he was still calm and composed and not fidgety, he was just as confident as she remembered. She almost wanted to wait and see just how long he would wait for her before leaving, but by the time her watch turned to 8:45, she had gotten impatient herself and casually walked around the corner.

Heero took notice of Sakura's casual approach the second she had come into his view. He purposely didn't show that he had even noticed her presence, not wanting to look as though he was overly anxious. Instead he waited until she was so close that it would be impossible to fake not seeing her, and then casually rose from his seat.

She hadn't intended to, in fact she had meant to purposely not, but as soon as Sakura was close enough, she found herself drawn to Heero and seductively wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long and passionate kiss. Sakura had originally planned to not give Heero a welcoming kiss, to make certain she kept the upper hand throughout the date, but for a reason she couldn't explain, she just couldn't help herself. When Heero and Sakura finally parted lips, the two finally verbally greeted each other. “Hi,” said Sakura first.

“Hi yourself,” responded Heero. “That was some greeting.”

“You should be flattered,” joked Sakura. “I don't do that with just anybody.”

“I'm not complaining,” Heero answered with a smirk. “You look great, by the way.”

Sakura smiled, took a step back, and did a twirl to show off her outfit to Heero. Sakura was wearing a sparkling form fitting gold dress. It was low cut with straps that crossed behind her exposed back, and stopped the slightest bit above her mid-thigh. Overall, the dress showed a great deal of Sakura's flawless smooth skin and was a great accent to her bright green eyes and short auburn hair. “So what's the plan for tonight?” Sakura asked.

“First dinner, then dancing,” replied Heero. “Shall we?” Heero, who was still a bit mesmerized by how amazing Sakura looked, held out an arm, which Sakura promptly took, and led the striking girl to his car.

~~~~~Captors~~~~~

“How much farther is this place?” asked Kurama as he looked out the windows, but still couldn't see anything but the scenery and the two cars following them.

“Not much farther,” replied the Takaeda Katsumoto, who was driving the vehicle. Kurama had met Takaeda almost a month earlier when Takaeda had sought him out to sell him some information. At first, Kurama had been very skeptical of the informant, since usually it was himself who was searching for the informants, not the other way around. However, after the first two tips Takaeda had given Kurama had panned out, he began to trust him a little more. The first tip Takaeda had sold Kurama was the name of a Gundam informant who worked within the Customs Department and was a key in the Gundams' sizeable smuggling operation. The second was a tip that one of the Captors' informants was actually playing both sides, and was getting ready to turn traitor and give all the information he knew to the Police. The Captors had quickly dealt with the traitor, leaving him floating somewhere in the middle of the Pacific after being thrown, while still alive though with two broken legs, out of a plane. The latest piece of information Takaeda had provided was the location of a secret storehouse of Gundams' weapons, which the Captors had destroyed. The three tips gave Kurama a good deal of confidence in the abilities of this informant, and was therefore fairly confident about this latest bit of information on a building they could use to restore their drug operation.

As Takaeda and Kurama turned a corner and followed the side of a small hillside, their destination finally came into view. Set right at the base of a hill and surrounded on three sides by walls of earth, the facility was very well hidden. From the outside, it appeared to be at least as big, if not bigger, than the previous factory type building the Captors had controlled. “What is a building of this size doing way out here?” Kurama wondered aloud.

“I think it was going to be used for some type of mining operation in these hillsides here that just never got off the ground,” answered Takaeda. “But I am not totally certain.”

Takaeda drove right up to the doorway to the left of the two large loading docks and parked his sedan. Moments later, Eriol's car and Yusuke's car pulled up alongside the vehicle and Eriol, Tomoyo, Rika, Yusuke, and Keiko, all joined Kurama and Takaeda at the entrance.

“This place looks like it has promise,” commented Eriol as he scanned the building and the area surrounding it. “Yusuke. You and Keiko take a look around the outside of the building. Check for possible future security posts and make certain there doesn't seem to be any damage to the structure.”

“Sure thing,” answered Keiko. Keiko and Yusuke separated and each went opposite directions to check around the exterior of the building.

“Let's take a look at the interior,” Eriol said next.

Takaeda nodded his head before unlocking and then opening the door and stepping aside to hold the door open for the Captors. All four of the remaining Captors entered the pitch black building, with Takaeda following behind and quickly shutting the door. All the Captors were about to turn around to find out why Takaeda had closed the door before turning on any lights, when all of a sudden a dozen high powered floodlights turned on, lighting up the entire area. As soon as it was bright, all four Captors immediately drew their guns, for when they were able to see the area, they found that along the floor and on the upper catwalks, stood at least three dozen armed men, all pointing their various weapons at the gang members.

“Drop your guns,” came a calm and collected voice from somewhere in the shadows.

Not a single Captor dropped even one weapon. All the Captors were carrying a pair of handguns that day, and presently had each gun pointed in a different direction. “Identify yourselves!” ordered Eriol toward both the voice in the darkness and all the armed men around the room. Slowly and methodically, a single figure walked out from the shadows. “Yang,” muttered Eriol under his breath when he saw was had previously been addressing him.

“As I said before,” continued Yang. “Drop your weapons.” Again, not a single of the Captor's guns were dropped. “You are hopelessly outnumbered, you have no position, and your chances of survival are less than nothing. Now, drop your weapons.”

All the Captors knew that Yang was right. They were outnumbered at least nine to one, and did not have even an elevated position advantage. “Drop them,” muttered Eriol in an uncharacteristically angry voice.

Slowly and resentfully, all four Captors slowly bent down and placed their weapons at their feet. “You traitorous son of a bitch,” swore Kurama to Takaeda as he was placing his guns on the cold steel floor.

Takaeda just smirked at the Captor. “You idiots are just too trusting,” responded Takaeda as he began to laugh at Kurama and the others' predicament.

Clenching his fists as he stood back up, Kurama angrily shot out his right hand in a lightning fast motion, and clocked Takaeda right across the jaw, sending the traitor sprawling onto the ground.

The sound of guns cocking could be heard as many of the guns in the room turned to point directly at Kurama after the quick and brazen move. “Now, now, Kurama,” chided Yang with a laugh. “Don't go doing anything stupid now.” Kurama just continued to stare at Takaeda, ignoring Yang, as he got up off the floor.

“Not bad,” Takaeda said as he wiped some blood from his lip. “But let me show you how it is done.”

Takaeda was just about to punch Kurama with all his strength, when suddenly Yang stopped him. “Takaeda!” Takaeda stopped mid-swing at his boss's order, and turned to look at the tall and muscular form of Yang. “Are there any more of them outside?”

Takaeda brought his fist back down to his side, his scowl of anger at Kurama lifting back to a confident smirk. “Yusuke Urameshi and Keiko Yukimora are scanning the exterior.”

Yang turned to the man standing next to him. “Zao. Take a team and check the perimeter. Find the two remaining Captors. Try to bring them alive, but if you have to kill them, I have no qualms.”

Zao was Yang and Yin's right hand man. He took care of specialty missions like assassinations and covert reconnaissance, and was one of the most ruthless members of the Yangs. He was just about the same height as Yang, and a touch more muscular. He had a cleanly shaven head and deathly cold eyes, and was wielding a monstrous fully automatic chain gun. Zao never spoke, but was a merciless killer and a skilled strategist on the field of battle. Motioning to a group of a half dozen men, Zao took his squad and exited the building in search of his prey.

Unknown to either the Yangs or the captured Captors, Yusuke had found a broken shutter right at the same moment that the trap within the building had been sprung. The second he had caught sight of the numerous guys with guns pointed at his friends, he had called Keiko, who was searching on the other side of the building, and apprised her of the situation. “Keiko, it's Yusuke. Something's going down inside and it looks like the others are in trouble. Make your way to the rear of the building. I have a feeling some guns are going to be looking for us shortly so find a spot and keep watch. Also, call Syaoran and the others. I'm going to try to get a better handle on what's going on here and then I'll meet you in back.”

“Be careful Yusuke,” came the response from Keiko, who drew a gun and quickly made her way around to the back of the building.

“You too,” answered Yusuke as he put away his phone. He couldn't help but smirk when he saw Kurama take a swing at Takaeda. Yusuke could only assume Takaeda betrayed them, but he couldn't be certain since he couldn't hear anything and whoever seemed to be the mastermind was out of view. What he did notice was when a small squad of men with guns headed toward the front entrance, a group he assumed was meant to hunt down Keiko and himself. Yusuke took this situation as a sign that it was time for him to leave his spy post and meet up with Keiko at the rear of the building and wait for the ambush party to arrive.

~~~~~Gundams & Captors~~~~~

“Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?” asked Syaoran Li.

“A couple times now,” answered Ami Mizuno with a bright smile. “But a girl can never hear that too often.” Ami was wearing a form fit, body hugging, low cut, sparkling sky blue strapless dress that stopped around mid-thigh. Her smooth legs and slender shoulders were bare, resulting in an extraordinarily sexy look when combined with the way her short blue hair fell lightly across her face. “So what's the plan for the rest of the night?”

“Truthfully,” answered Syaoran. “I don't quite know yet.” Syaoran's answer took Ami a bit by surprise. Since they were currently waiting for their waiter to bring them their food at one of the nicest and most popular French style restaurants in all of Japan, Ami figured Syaoran must have planned the date at least three or four days in advance. Syaoran saw the look of surprise on Ami's attractive face and explained himself. “I have actually been extremely busy this past week, so haven't had an opportunity to figure out all the details yet. In theory, I should have waited a couple more days to ask you out, in order to do some more preparation, but I just didn't feel like waiting any longer. This place was all I had the chance to get at the last minute.”

Ami's look of surprise shifted to a sexy smile. “Stop trying to act all modest,” said Ami. “I know how much pull it takes to get a last minute reservation here.” Syaoran shrugged slightly at Ami's calling of his ploy. “Guess your are just full of surprises.”

At that moment, the waiter finally arrived with their dessert and the bill. Syaoran had just placed a credit card on the table to pay when his phone rang. Excusing himself for a moment, Syaoran answered his phone. “Hello?”

“Syaoran,” came Yukina's voice from the other end. “Kurama and the others are in trouble. I just got a call from Keiko, and it sounds like Takaeda is a traitor. He sold us out to someone, and everyone but Keiko and Yusuke got caught in the trap inside the facility they were inspecting. Everyone seems okay for now, but Yusuke says there are at least a couple dozen men at the site.”

“Dammit,” sword Syaoran very softly. “Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible.” Syaoran hung up his phone and placed it in his pocket. “I'm sorry Ami,” apologized Syaoran as he picked up his credit card and replaced it with a small stack of bills since he didn't have time to wait for the restaurant to process his card. “An emergency came up and I have to leave. I'll call you soon.”

Before she even had a chance to respond, Ami found herself sitting alone at the table with her own cake in front of her and Syaoran's uneaten dessert across the table, staring at Syaoran's retreating back as he quickly maneuvered his way through the restaurant toward the front entrance. To say Ami was surprised would have been a gross understatement, since the two had been having a nice night up to that point, and couldn't quite imagine what type of emergency could pull Syaoran away so fast. Without touching her dessert, Ami casually stood up and walked out of the restaurant. Once outside she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Heero's number to ask him to pick her up, not knowing he had a date himself that night.

~~~~~Gundams & Captors~~~~~

In a restaurant only a few blocks away from where Syaoran and Ami had been eating, Heero and Sakura were just being seated by the hostess. Since at the time Heero didn't know where he would be picking Sakura up, he had made reservations at a nice restaurant that happened to be quite far from Tokyo Station. This, combined with the fact that Sakura had shown up late, had resulted in the couple not reaching their destination until relatively late, and therefore they were just being seated. The pair had not been seated for two minutes when suddenly both of their cell phones rang at the same instant. Giving each other an odd look at the coincidence, they both answered.

“Hello?” answered Heero.

“It's Ami,” heard Heero through the receiver.

“Something the matter?” Heero asked. To almost anyone else, Ami's voice would have sounded exactly normal, but Heero knew her much to well, and could hear just the very slightest bit of change from her normal tone.

“Are you busy at the moment?”

“I'm out on a date right now actually. Can you hold on for a second Ami?” asked Heero when he saw Sakura hang up her phone and motion that she needed to talk to him.

“I'm sorry Heero,” said Sakura. “An emergency just came up and I have to go.”

“Should I drive you back to somewhere?” asked Heero, not wanting to pry into Sakura's business, even though he found himself a little dejected that she had to leave so early.

“That's alright,” answered Sakura. “My ride should be here any second.” Sakura stood up and quickly maneuvered around the table and gave Heero a kiss. “Call me tomorrow.”

Heero just nodded as Sakura turned around and made her way out of the restaurant almost at a run. “You still there Ami?” said Heero back into his phone after Sakura had left.

“Sorry to disturb your date,” said Ami into the phone. “I'll just call one of the others to pick me up.”

“No,” interrupted Heero before Ami could hang up. “My date just left for some emergency. I can pick you up.”

“Your date left because of an emergency?” asked Ami in surprise.

“Yeah, just a few seconds ago,” answered Heero. “Why?”

“My date just left in the middle of dinner because of an emergency,” said Ami.

“Strange coincidence,” Heero pointed out. “Maybe they know each other and had to leave because of the same thing?”

“Possible,” said Ami.

“Well, either way, it doesn't make much difference anymore,” commented Heero. “So where do you need to be picked up?”

“I'm at La Tour D'Argent,” answered Ami.

“That's pretty close by,” said Heero as he finally stood up from the table, leaving some money for the trouble of seating them, even though they didn't eat anything. “I'll be there in a couple minutes.”

“Thanks, Heero,” said Ami before both she and Heero hung up their phones and Ami took a seat on one of the benches in front of the restaurant to wait for her ride.

~~~~~Captors~~~~~

“What's the situation?” Syaoran asked into his cell phone once Sakura was in the car and they were on their way to the factory.

“Meilin and Hiei are already on their way,” responded Chiharu from the other end of the phone connection. “They went ahead to do some scouting of the area. Takahashi, Yukina, and myself are just leaving the house.”

“You got mine and Sakura's guns with you?”

“We took your main guns, your backups, and both your sniper rifles, just in case. We also grabbed all the heavier assault weapons the others didn't want to take to their meeting.”

“Good,” Syaoran stated. “Any contact from the others?”

“Yusuke said he and Keiko were setting up position to wait for the squad that will be hunting them,” answered Chiharu. “No contact since then.”

“Keep me apprized if you make contact,” said Syaoran. “We'll meet you at the site.”

“Sure thing, Syaoran,” Chiharu responded before clicking the line dead.

“Damn Gundams have no sense of timing,” cursed Syaoran as he weaved through traffic, driving almost twice the speed limit.

“You think it is the Gundams?” asked Sakura.

“Who else could it be?”

“Not sure,” Sakura said slowly. “But I just have a feeling that it isn't the Gundams.” Syaoran turned to look at Sakura, very curious of her reasoning behind making such a statement. “It just doesn't sound like something the Gundams would do. The Gundams are easily smart and resourceful enough to set up a trap like this, but this strategy just seems to be too indirect for them. They usually come at us head-on, not through some type of subterfuge. Not to mention that they never seem to be in the habit of taking prisoners. If it was really them, most likely they would have just shot everyone.”

“They could be holding them prisoner to get all the rest of us there so they can try to wipe us all out at once,” pointed out Syaoran.

“I guess that is possible,” conceded Sakura. “But Yusuke said he didn't recognize anyone, and as good as the Gundams are, I don't think they would rely on only a couple dozen others to take out all of us, especially if we know what to expect. So far, the Gundams have very rarely ever been overconfident when dealing with us.”

Syaoran took a few moments to piece together all of Sakura's reasoning. “You might be right,” he finally agreed. “The more I think about it, the more it seems you are correct and this doesn't feel like a Gundam operation.”

“But who would try something this big?” wondered Sakura aloud. For the remainder of the drive, Syaoran and Sakura both sat in silence, trying to discern anything they may have missed, in an attempt to get a better grasp on who might be trying to set them up.

Meanwhile, back in the factory, Eriol, Kurama, Tomoyo, and Rika, were all standing in the center of the large room with their hands on their heads, and dozens of guns pointing at their position. “What is it you hope to gain from this, Yang?” Eriol spat out angrily.

Yang, who had been relaxing in a lounge chair he had brought, turned his head to look at Eriol, the smirk of confidence and amusement still on his face. “I'm glad you asked. First, I want the rest of your companions to arrive. I'm sure they will figure out eventually where to find you when you don't report in to your leader. Then, after I kill all of you, I am going to attack the Gundams. They will have dropped their guard since their nemesis, you, have been all killed, and therefore will be easy targets. After that, I will have full control of this entire city.”

“You really think it will be that easy?” asked Kurama with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Absolutely,” retorted Yang. “Both you and the Gundams think you are so smart, but you know what? You have nothing on me. I know your new leaders are Syaoran Li and Sakura Kinomoto, Touya Kinomoto's younger sister. And I also know the two new leaders of the Gundams. And you know what? The whole reason you two are killing each other off, is because of me.”

Eriol, Kurama, Rika, and Tomoyo all had looks of astonishment on their faces. All four were surprised beyond words that someone like Yang knew so much about them. “What do you mean the reason we are fighting the Gundams is because of you?”

“That whole meeting between Touya Kinomoto and Milliardo Peacecraft. It was all my doing. I sent both of you the invitations, set the place, and personally pressed the button to blow it up.” Seeing the eyes of all four Captors he was holding hostage go wide, Yang took a moment before continuing. “Of course, I meant to kill Touya and the others in the explosion along with the Gundams, but the extra Gundam showed up and took care of that little miscalculation for me. You see, I have played with all of you like little puppets.”

“You son of a bitch!” swore Eriol as he jumped at Yang, ready to punch his head off before one of Yang's men stepped in the way and pressed the muzzle of his AK-47 rifle against his chest.

Yang broke out in a fit of laughter at Eriol's outburst. “Pathetic.”

Realizing he was in no position to do anything, Eriol calmed down and casually took a step backward toward the rest of his gang. He was about to ask Yang a few more questions in hopes of figuring out how he had gotten so much information about his gang, when suddenly the sound of automatic gunfire from outside hit the ears of all those in the building.

“Sounds like Zao found your friends,” laughed Yang. The sound of Zao's giant chain gun was very distinctive and was clearly the source of the majority of the noise.

“Should we head out for backup?” asked one of Yang's men.

“Nah,” responded Yang. “I'm sure Zao can take care of them.”

At that exact moment, a loud crash was heard, and suddenly the forms of Yusuke Urameshi and Keiko Yukimora came flying through one of the facility's lower level windows. Both Captors did a somersault to break their falls before quickly popping to their feet, coming up shooting as they did. In a matter of moments, Keiko and Yusuke had killed four of the men guarding their fellow Captors.

Using the distraction of Keiko and Yusuke to their advantage, all the captured Captors turned to face the Yang closest to them, expertly taking hold of a weapon from their enemies, and joined in with Yusuke and Keiko in the gunfight.

Eriol had swiftly spun around, grabbing the pistol that had been placed at the back of his head. Before the pistol's wielder could fire, Eriol had flipped the guy onto his back, taking his weapon out of his hands in the process. He fired two shots center-mass into the Yang before taking off at a run to find some cover, conservatively, so as to not waste his limited bullets, firing the weapon as he went.

Tomoyo and Rika, who had been standing right next to each other with one man behind each of them, both spun simultaneously, though in opposite directions, and connected with powerful spinning roundhouse kicks to the heads of both their captors, knocking their heads together and effectively knocking out both of them. The two girls picked up the dropped weapons of the men they had disabled and took off in opposite directions.

Kurama had had a pair of guys keeping watch on him, so since he couldn't only attack one at a time, he made a move to attack both simultaneously. Jumping extremely high in the air, Kurama twisted his body 90 degrees and fired out both legs in opposite directions, catching both men in the middle of the face. His move actually had a secondary result, in that when he jumped so suddenly he had startled both men into firing their weapons. Since they had both been on opposite sides of Kurama, when he jumped out of the path of the weapons being fired, the result was both Yangs actually shooting beneath Kurama and killing each other instead. Kurama didn't have the opportunity to grab a weapon, as more gunfire came flying his direction, forcing Kurama to run zigzag patterns to avoid being shot.

Behind a set of metal crates that were sitting in the corner of the room, Eriol met up with Yusuke and Keiko. Keiko tossed Eriol one of the H&K USP pistols he was carrying, since the gun Eriol had stolen was long empty. “What's going on?” asked Keiko right before popping her head out from behind the crates and taking a couple shots at group of Yangs who were getting too close.

“Yang set us up,” answered Eriol. “Takaeda was working for him.”

“We got that,” said Yusuke. “We ran into Zao out back. He drove us toward the building.”

“We called Syaoran and the others,” added Keiko. “We didn't have a chance to tell them of all the details, but they are on the way.”

“All you Captors out there!” interrupted Yang in a loud voice. “Come out from your little hiding places and drop all your weapons!”

Eriol, Yusuke, and Keiko all poked their heads out from behind the crates and scanned the area until they could see where Yang was yelling from. Once they had caught sight of the Yang leader, they had easily figured out why he was ordering them to show themselves. Yang was walking toward the middle of the room holding against his body in a tight stranglehold with one of his muscular forearms, the struggling form of Rika Sasaki. With his other hand, Yang had the muzzle of a Glock pistol placed right against the temple of the squirming Captor.

“If you don't all come out, your little friend here will soon be missing a head,” Yang chided.

“Fuck,” swore Eriol quietly under his breath as he, Yusuke, and Keiko ducked back behind the crates they were using for cover.

“What's the plan?” Yusuke asked Eriol.

“Do we really have any choice?” added Keiko.

“No. We don't,” answered Eriol. With a sigh, Eriol stood up and walked out from around the crates, followed closely by Keiko and Yusuke. “Very well,” conceded Eriol unhappily as he dropped both the empty gun he had stolen from one of the Yangs and the still loaded gun Keiko had given him.

“And tell the rest of your little friends to do the same,” snickered Yang.

“Drop them,” muttered Eriol loudly enough for the rest of his gang to hear. From behind him, Yusuke and Keiko dropped their guns to the floor, and on the other side of the room, Tomoyo and Kurama stepped out from behind their cover and dropped their guns to the floor as well. After the Captors were all unarmed, the Yangs herded them into a group in the center of the room, keeping them from making any more trouble by keeping every available gun in the room trained on their position. “Alright Yang,” spat out Eriol. “You win.”

“You're right, I do win,” laughed Yang as he dropped Rika to her feet and roughly pushed her toward the other Captors, causing her to loose her balance. Suddenly a loud bang echoed throughout the large room and Rika's eyes went wide as he body crumpled forward, just barely caught by Eriol and Kurama before she hit the ground. Yang's gun was out in front of his body with smoke still rising from the barrel. “And you loose.”

A large blood stain was quickly increasing on the back of Rika's top, and as Eriol and Kurama gently rolled her over to rest on her back, resting against Eriol's body, the Captors could all see a similar blood stain growing on the front of her top as well. Yang had shot Rika straight through the back, with fragments from bone and bullet puncturing both lungs, resulting in very harsh gasps coming from Rika as she tried to inhale. Tomoyo, Keiko, and Yusuke immediately joined Eriol and Kurama kneeling on the floor as they worked as hard as they could to find some way to stop the bleeding and try to save their friend. Rika was clearly trying to speak, but without any air, she had no way of forming words, however, it was clear in her eyes what she wanted to say. Rika's expression was obviously attempting to convey that there was nothing they would be able to do to save her. Reluctantly, but knowing there was nothing they could do, Eriol and the other Captors gently lowered Rika to the cold floor, and said their goodbye's as Rika's breathing slowed until it stopped completely and her eyes closed and heart finally ceased beating.

Eriol turned his head to look up at Yang, who had an amused grin on his face. “You will pay for that,” Eriol growled to his enemy.

Yang laughed loudly at Eriol's claim. “And who's going to make me?”

“We will,” came an answer from apparently out of nowhere.

All the Yangs in the room began scanning the room for the source of the voice. But instead of finding a person, they were all greeted with a shower of bullets. In an instant, almost half the Yangs that had been holding Eriol and the others hostage were wiped out, as Yukina, Meilin, Chiharu, and Yamazaki all let loose. Since every captured Captor was currently kneeling on the ground, all the shooters had to do was aim high and fire.

By the time Yamazaki's M4 Carbine Rifle, Yukina's Steyr AUG, Chiharu's HK53, and Meilin's pair of H&K MP5K Compact Submachine Guns were empty, half the Yangs were dead or disabled, and the other half were running for cover. The four Captors all ducked behind a pillar or set of crates to reload, as return fire from the remaining Yangs came their way. Eriol, Kurama, Tomoyo, Yusuke, and Keiko had all rolled out of the line of fire, and were carefully making their way from cover to cover, heading toward Yamazaki, Meilin, Chiharu, and Yukina, knowing they would have some spare weapons from them to use.

“Where's Syaoran, Sakura, and Hiei?” Eriol asked when he reached Yamazaki's position and loaded his FN P90 Submachine Gun he took from the bag of guns Yamazaki, Chiharu, and Yukina had brought with them.

“Probably still moving into position,” answered Yamazaki. “We kind of jumped the gun a little.”

“What happened?” asked Meilin, right before peeking out from behind the crate and firing off a burst of shots and killing a Yang who had strayed too far from cover.

“Yang,” answered Eriol. “He set us up.”

“Uh oh,” interrupted Yukina. Eriol, Meilin, and all the others peeked out around their cover to see dozens of Yangs entering the spacious room through a number of the doors leading to other areas of the building.

“This can't be good,” added Chiharu.

“Don't worry,” responded Meilin. “I'm guessing in five… four… three…”

As if on cue, three sets of windows crashed open and the forms of Hiei, Syaoran, and Sakura came flying into the room, guns blazing. All three were armed with different pairs of handguns, and even while diving, their aim was perfect. Within seconds, the three sharpshooters had emptied their magazines and were ducked behind cover, but not before they had each disabled or killed at least six Yangs, a minimum of two bullets in each body, and not a single shot missing a target.

“Damn,” said Meilin with a slight laugh. “So close.”

“What do you say we give them a little help?” asked Yusuke rhetorically.

As the situation stood at the moment, the Captors were still greatly outnumbered, however they had a substantial position advantage, being situated along the outer edges of the room, surrounding the large group of Yangs.

“Kurama, Yusuke,” said Eriol to two of those ducked behind the crates with him. “Make your way to one of the doors, and head downstairs. Do a sweep of the halls to make sure there are no more Yangs hanging around to ambush us.”

“Sure thing, Eriol” Kurama responded.

“Consider it done,” added Yusuke.

“The three of you,” continued Eriol as he motioned toward Chiharu, Yamazaki, and Yukina. “Head around left to flank the Yangs so we have guns on all four sides, and Meilin, you go with them, and then continue over to Hiei's position, since if I saw correctly he has no backup at the moment. Tomoyo, Keiko, and myself will keep them pinned down while you move.”

“Will do,” answered Meilin for all of them.

“On the count of three, get ready to move,” Eriol said as he, Tomoyo, and Keiko, armed their weapons. “Three… two… one… go now.” At Eriol's signal, he, Tomoyo, and Keiko all stood up and fired round after round from their weapons, killing a few, and sending all the rest hiding behind some cover. As soon as they had the opportunity, Chiharu, Yamazaki, Yukina, and Meilin sprinted left, their guns raised to fire at anyone who happened to stick their heads out, while Yusuke and Kurama ran right, toward the closest door heading down to the lower levels.

By the time the Yangs had figured out what happened, they found themselves surrounded on all four sides. The fire coming from all directions made it impossible for the Yangs to stay behind effective cover, and found their numbers quickly diminishing. They were held down from three sides by automatic fire, and were being picked off one by one with well aimed shots from the fourth.

For Syaoran and Sakura, shooting the Yangs was almost like target practice. The continuous spray of bullets from the rifles and submachine guns the majority of the other Captor members were carrying kept their attention focused away from Syaoran and Sakura's position, leaving them with open targets to simply aim and fire at.

It wasn't long before the four sided attack had finally pushed the Yangs into a tight group in the center of the room. Sakura was about to jump out from behind her cover and rush in and finish the job, when Syaoran pulled her back and motioned toward the other side of the room. Sakura glanced over, and quickly caught sight of why Syaoran had held her back. From his position on the other side of the room, Yamazaki had a clear line of fire with the group of Yangs, and was loading up his M203 Grenade Launcher that was attached to his M4 Rifle. In a flash, Yamazaki fired the high explosive grenade right into the heart of the Yangs, the explosion sending Yangs flying everywhere and effectively wiping out all those remaining.

Once the battlefield was clear, all the Captors cautiously walked out from behind their cover, guns still at the ready just in case. “Anyone see Yang?” asked Eriol as he scanned the dozens of dead and dying on the floor of the building.

“Or Takaeda?” added Tomoyo.

“Or even Zao?” Keiko asked.

“No sign of them,” answered Yamazaki. “Maybe Kurama and Yusuke ran into them downstairs.”

“Nope,” came the answer from behind them as Yusuke walked up to join the others.

“They must have had some other way out,” Yukina commented.

Sakura looked around the group of her fellow gang members. “Where's Rika and Kurama?” With the exception of Syaoran and Hiei, who both scanned the area in search of the two missing members, all the others lowered their heads, their eyes falling downcast. “What?” asked Sakura in confusion.

Sakura slowly followed Eriol's gaze toward the center of the room, where amidst a whole group of Yang bodies, Kurama was rising from the ground with the limp form of Rika Sasaki in his strong arms.

“Oh no,” inhaled Sakura as she turned to bury her face in the chest of Syaoran, who wrapped a consoling arm around the girl, but still had an obvious look of sorrow mixed with anger in his eyes.

“Who?” growled Syaoran angrily.

“Yang,” answered Eriol. “Shot her in cold blood. One shot, right through the heart. Died almost instantly.”

“What happened here?” questioned Sakura as she bent down to silently say goodbye to her friend. “The information I have is very limited.”

“Basically,” answered Eriol. “Yang set us up.”

“Yeah, I got that part already,” Sakura answered.

“No,” Eriol responded. “He set up more than just tonight. He set up that meeting with the Gundams two months ago. He's the one responsible for killing the Gundam leaders and tricking that other Gundam into killing Touya and the others.”

“I don't believe it,” interrupted Syaoran. “There is no way the Yangs could have pulled that off.”

“Believe it,” said Eriol. “Yang sent us that invitation, not the Gundams. He said he personally pushed the detonator that destroyed the building and killed the Gundams.”

“But why?” asked Sakura.

“He has a notion that if he can get us to fight hard enough with the Gundams, then we'll either kill each other off, or at least leave us both vulnerable enough so that the Yangs can take over.”

“Who knew Yang was so ambitious,” commented Meilin offhandedly.

“It's a little more than just ambition,” responded Eriol. “He clearly has a large number of people at his disposal, and it sounds as though he has a much better information network than we thought.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sakura.

“Well, he knew that you and Syaoran were our new leaders,” Eriol said. “And he said he knew the new leaders of the Gundams as well.”

“He say who they were?” Syaoran asked.

“No,” responded Eriol. “We never got that far into the conversation.”

“Right now,” interrupted Sakura. “I don't even care who the Gundam leaders are. Yang is going to pay for this. No matter what the cost.”

“I want revenge as much as you do, Sakura,” responded Eriol. “But we have to be a little more logical than just going straight after Yang.”

“Actually,” countered Syaoran. “I think Sakura has a point.”

Everyone, Sakura included, looked questioningly at Syaoran after his unexpected comment. “I do?” asked Sakura, who despite still wanting to go right after Yang and ignore the Gundams for the time being, knew her thoughts were completely based on emotion, not logic.

“If what you say is true, then we really don't even have any reason for fighting the Gundams at all,” explained Syaoran. “Obviously I'm not willing to forgive and forget or anything, but it sounds like the Yangs are the ones responsible for this entire war.”

“But it was still a Gundam who killed Touya, Yukito, Botan, and Naoko,” pointed out Keiko.

“True,” conceded Syaoran. “But put yourself in his position. If four of us were killed at a meeting with another gang, and all of a sudden, four members from that gang showed up on the scene, what would you do?”

“That's a good point,” Keiko responded. “I guess all the evidence would point to them being the enemy.”

“So you are saying we should call a meeting with the Gundams and set up some type of cease fire?” asked Meilin for clarification.

“Well, not exactly,” answered Syaoran. “I don't think asking the Gundams to come to a meeting would be the smartest idea, considering what happened the last time we were supposed to have a meeting with them.”

“True,” agreed Eriol. “They would probably shoot first, and not even bother with questions.”

“So what should we do?” came the question from Tomoyo.

“For now, we do nothing,” said Syaoran. “If we don't attack the Gundams, hopefully they will be content for at least a little while to leave us alone as well. That should give us a bit of time to devise a way of stopping this war between us.”

“And what about Yang?” asked Sakura.

“We need much more information before we making a move against him. It is clear we grossly underestimated his competence, so it would not be wise to attack blindly.” Syaoran paused for a moment to fully collect his thoughts. “I want all of you to get every informant you have at your disposal. See what they know, but only trust those you have 100% confidence in. I don't want to be misled like we were today. After we have gathered some intel, we will attack, and attack hard.”

“But whatever happens,” added Sakura in an exceptionally more menacing tone of voice than what was usually used by the girl. “Yang is mine. I want to see his face as I put a bullet between his eyes.”