Chapter Five

They gathered in an old abandoned warehouse, nearly one hundred of them in all, young and old, dark and light, rookies and long time veterens. Despite their differences, they were all united to a single cause, one that was vividly stated by the identical, blood red uniforms they all wore.

A tall, well muscled soldier with short black hair appeared on the walkway above, and immedietly the congregation fell silent.

"We have failed!" he boomed in a loud, thundering voice. "It has been three weeks since our attempt to kill the Peacecraft blasphamer, and now that she lies helpless in the hospital, we are unable to even get close!"

Discontented muttering could be heard around the room.

"On top of that," continued the speaker, "Our former brother in arms, Zeches Marquies has been corrupted by the guile of the Peacecrafts and has forgotten the glory days of the White Fang! He now hunts the city for us, aided by the four Gundam pilots, picking us off one by one. Already, our ranks have fallen, and still they continue their vengeful search! They will not rest until all of the Red Fang are captured or dead!

The muttering was rapidly growing into an angry roar. The speaker held up a large, gloved hand, and silence fell once again.

"However," he continued. "The Red Fang will not be so easily defeated. During the past weeks, we have lost our objective. We've played cat and mouse with Zeches and his infernal pilots, and lost sight of our true goal. Well, I say it's time to stop running and hiding and finish what we've started! It's time to destroy the Peacecraft blasphomer once and for all!"

There was a thunderous roar of agreement from the assembley. Soldiers were shouting and waving their guns in the air. Soon, the chaotic roar of hate became one insessent chant of "Kill the Peacecraft! Kill the Peacecraft! Kill the Peacecraft!"

The leader held up his hand once again. "Zeches was always a cunning SOB," he smiled, his beady black eyes narrowed with hatred. "He has posted gaurds around the hospital and outside the blasphomer's room, so we cannot get close to her. However, there is another way. Directly underneath the hospital is a forgotten subway system, just a few feet below the surface. We can easily pack enough explosives in that tunnel to level the building above." His smile grew wider, more feral, as he snapped his fingers together. "Boom. Game over. No more Peacecraft; no more ridiculous notions of pacifisim. We win."

"Sir!" Hesitantly, one of the younger soldiers raised his hand. The Red Fang leader raised an eyebrow at him.

"General Steele, sir, destroying the entire building...won't that be seen as a serious act of terrorism? I mean....killing innocents and all....we'll have every nation on earth after our heads."

Without changing expression, the black haired man raised his gun and shot the young soldier in the chest.

"Of course it will!" he raged into the silence that followed. "Idiot! That's what we're trying to do! Our lives don't matter, just as long as we can show the world how usless the idea of pacifisim is! If we have to destroy countless lives to snuff out the Peacecraft's than so be it! Just as long as she's out of the way! Nothing else matters! This is our cause, one we all should be willing to die for! Anybody have any objections with that, please make them known now!"

Not surprisingly, no one moved or said a word.

"Good. Now, here's the plan. First, we..." Abruptly, the general's voice trailed off. Across the room, where the railing circled around to the opposite wall, a dark shadow was quietly sneaking towards a second story window. Squinting his beady eyes, Steele could see that this figure was definately not one of his own troops. Instead of the elegant red uniform, the shadow was dressed in shorts and a tank top. That could only mean...

"Well well well, so we have a busy little bee listening in on us," he muttered to himself.

"No need to get the troops riled up; that'll only scare him off. I'll take care of this little problem myself."

"If you'll all excuse me for a moment." He smiled at them disarmingly. "I just remembered something I have to take care of. Wait here and don't move." And with that, he began taking long strides to the window the shadow had slipped through.

Heero jumped out of the second story window and landed on the soft dirt with a grunt.

He was seething. After hearing what this madman planned to do, he'd seen enough. Picking himself up, he began sprinting towards the old, rusted barbed wire fence that surrounded the building.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to look back at the second story window. There was the madman himself, staring right at him down the barrel of a gun. Heero's mind had only a fraction of a second to register this before a shot rang out and a searing pain shot up his leg! He fell to the dirt and rolled as the black haired man leaped out of the window, landing in a feral crouch and immedietly jumping to his feet to pursue his victem.

Heero pulled himself upright, gritting his teeth against the throbbing pain. He was positive that the general had shot him in the leg on purpose, instead of killing him, and that only meant one thing: capture. Limping heavilly, he began running for the fence again, when another shot rang out, sending up a cloud of dust inches from his foot. Heero froze, turning slowly as the red uniformed general walked up to him, the gun pointed straight at his heart, asmug grin on his chiseled face. Silently, Heero clasped his hands behind his head as the general stopped a few paces away, watching him with sharp, cunning black eyes.

"Well." The deep, booming voice abruptly shattered the tense silence. Heero didn't flinch, and the general smiled at him in amusement. "What do we have here? A little boy, poking his nose where it doesn't belong. What are you doing here, kid? Just curious, maybe? Wanted to see if there was anything you could steal?"

Heero was silent, staring straight ahead, his face and eyes expressionless.

The general raised an eyebrow. "No," mused softly, almost to himself. "No, you're no ordinary street brat; I've seen that look on some of my veterens. Who are you, kid? A spy, sent by colonal Zeches? A Gundam pilot, maybe?" He suddenly stepped forward and stuck the muzzle of the gun right in Heero's face, directly between the eyes. "Maybe I should kill you now, boy. Huh? Give me a reason I shouldn't."

Heero didn't flinch. "Because," he stated in his low, deadpan voice. "I have something that you want."

"Is that so?" The general stepped a few paces back and regarded him with amusement.

"And what might that be, little gundam pilot?" Heero smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Carefully, he dropped his hands from behind his head. The general could see something loosely cupped in one fist.

"What is that, boy?" He gestured with the gun, and Heero opened his fist halfway, revealing what looked like a small white tube, with a bright red button at the top. The general frowned, confused, then his eyes widened as he realized what it was.

Heero grinned, grasping the detonater tightly in his fist, his thumb poised over the trigger. "You're all going to die," he said calmly, and firmly pressed the button.

A huge explosion rocked the warehouse behind them! Both Heero and the general were thrown off their feet by the force of the blast. The general hit the dirt hard and lay there a moment, dazed and gasping, while explosions continued to shake the ground. When he finally gained his sences and rolled to his feet, the warehouse was nothing more than a pile of burning rubble. His eyes clouded over in rage and he frantically searched the area for the youth who was responsible, envisioning several ways to make him die slowly, hearing his tortured screams in the back of his mind. But the dark haired, blue eyed killer had vanished without a trace, leaving only one man's ruined ideals in his wake. The general clenched his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. They would meet again someday, he promised himself. They would meet face to face, and when they did, there would be no end to the boy's agony. He would make him feel every death of his hundred or so soldiers; he would make him suffer their pain a thousand times over. The boy would scream for his death, but it would not come soon enough, until every single life had been avenged, as well as their lost hopes and dreams. The boy would pay for what he had destroyed; the general made a promise of it.

Noin was sitting beside the hospital bed, quietly reading the paper to the still unresponsive Releena, when Zeches came storming in, followed closely by Duo and Quatre. Noin blinked up at this rude intrusion and was about to say something, but Duo, more experienced in this field, beat her to it.

"Oi, Miss Noin, didja hear the news?"

"Hear what news?" Noin frowned, completely baffled, but Zeches strode around the bed and flipped on the television in the corner.

Noin's eyes widened as she took in the scene. A completely demolished warehouse, a mysterious explosion, no survivors of the terrorist group known as the Red Fang: she caught only important sentences as the reporter babbled on. Only one thing the reporter said held her attention: the Red Fang, through an accident or an ingenious setup, had been completely wiped out.

She gazed up at Zeches in amazement. "How did you guys manage...?"

"It wasn't us," Quatre broke in, looking as confused as she felt. "Wufei and Sally had nothing to do with it, either."

"Looks like our Perfect Soldier is still out there and on the job!" Duo said, grinning from ear to ear. "Ha! Way to go, Heero! I knew you'd get those bastards in the end."

Zeches glared at Duo and stormed out of the room. The others could hear him muttering all the way down the hall.

"Oi, what's with him, anyway?" Duo asked no one in particular. "He's been acting like he's got a stick shoved up his ass ever since we heard the news."

Noin smiled faintly. "I think he's a little upset because HE wanted to be the one to bring the Red Fang to justice," she stated. "He's been living on revenge these past few weeks, and to have it snatched from his grasp..." she gestured helplessly and shrugged.

"He'll get over it. The important thing is that they're gone."

"Man, ya got that right," Duo groaned, stretching his limbs with an exaggerated yawn.

"I didn't know Zeches could be such a slave driver."

Noin chuckled and shook her head. "Duo, would you like to tell Releena the good news? I want to go see if Zeches is all right."

"Sure, I'll do the honors." Duo grinned at her, knowing that the Italian woman was the only person alive that could talk some sence into Zeches when he got into one of his "moods." The Lightning Count was normally the most reasonable person alive, except when it came to the welfare of his only family.

"Should I come with you?" Quatre asked, his blue eyes pure innocence as he glanced at her.

"No, thank you Quatre. I think I'd better do this on my own."

"All right." The blond pilot nodded, seeming a little distracted. "I'd better find Trowa, anyway," he mused as Noin left the room. "Will you be all right by yourself, Duo?"

"Sure, Q-man! Go and tell Trowa the good news." Duo grinned at both the pilot and the lieutenant as they walked out the door, leaving him alone with Releena.

"So, Jousan," he sighed to the still, silent form on the bed. "Good news. We finally got the bastards who did this to you. Or, rather, HEERO got them. I knew he would, even though your bloody minded big brother is mad cause HE didn't get to do the dirty work. Boy, that guy can hold a grudge. He should be happy that the bastards are gone. I know I am."

Duo rattled on, continuing to talk to the silent girl for most of the evening. He told her his feelings about the past war, his gundam, the other pilots, Hilde and himself...not seeming to care that it was a one sided conversation. Finally, as twillight gave was to night, the open window growing dark, the braided pilot stood and stretched, smacking his dry lips.

"Oi, Jousan, I'm gonna get a soda or something," he told her. "Be right back. Don't go anywhere." Chuckling at his own joke, he switched off the lamp beside her bed and slipped away down the hall.

Releena lay silently in her darkened room, only the light of the full moon shining in through the window. Abruptly, a shadow fell across her bed, and a lean sillohette appeared in the windowframe. Dark colbalt eyes scanned the room thoroughly as the figure crouched motionless on the sill, the wind rufflling it's shaggy brown hair. Then, satisfied that no one was here, it slipped into the room without a sound, creeping noiselessly to the side of the girl's bed.

"Releena." The word was a whisper, a breath of sound in the still room. Heero gazed at the motionless form on the bed and felt his heart tighten painfully in his chest. He brushed his fingers across her pale cheek and cupped her face gently in his palm.

"Come back to me, Releena."

Silence was his answer, and Heero closed his tortured eyes. He grasped one limp, slender hand and held it tightly to his cheek, rubbing his face over her smooth skin. Reverently, he brushed a light kiss to her palm and laid it gently beside it's owner. His hand lingered over her face for a moment, stroking her cheek, brushing strands of hair from her eyes. He could see the faint rise and fall of her chest; he had felt the soft pulse of life in her hand, but the Releena lying here was a hollow shell of her old self; a mere shadow of the girl who had once been so full of life.

"Releena, I can't...." Heero had to pause a moment as his throat suddenly closed up on him. "I can't stand to see you like this. Say something, Releena. Call my name."

The silence in the room was absolute, and almost more than the young pilot could bear.

Clutching the bed rail with both hands, he hung his head and drew in a ragged breath, fighting the despair that threatened to overwhelm him.

"I'll wait for you," he promised, his voice barely rising above a whisper. Taking her hand again, he cupped it in both of his own, his breath warming her cold fingers. "For however long it takes; even if it takes a lifetime, I....." He closed his eyes at the thought of a lifetime without this girl; this bright ray of light that, somehow, had gotten past all his high walls and inpenetrable defenses to the lost soul underneath. He needed this girl; he was finally able to admit that, to himself and to the Perfect Soldier who had held him back for so long. If Releena ever came back to him, he would tell her. No more hiding from the truth or being afraid of what it meant.

"Releena, when you wake up, I'll be there. I promise."

A noise in the hall caused his eyes to snap up toward the door. A few seconds later, Duo entered the room again, noisily slurping a large soft drink. He flicked on the lamp and shivered, wondering why he'd left the window open. Closing it firmly, he sat down by Releena's bed and sighed.

"I'm gonna have to go soon, Jousan," he said distractedly, gazing around the empty room and having the strangest feeling that someone else had been here besides him.

"Visiting hours are almost over. But we'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

"Hhnn....."

Duo choked on the soda he was drinking, snorting it up his nose and spraying Releena's covers with fizzy liquid. Sneezing twice, he rubbed his stinging nose and gaped at the form on the bed, his blue-violet eyes wide with shock.

"'Leena? Did...did you just say something?"

Releena's eyelids fluttered, and Duo's heart did the same. He was about to rush out to find Zeches and the other pilots, when Releena let out a deep sigh, parted her lips, and breathed a single word.

"....Hee.....ro......."