"Imposter, the sequel to Hands"

This fic picks up right where the other one left off, even continueing the conversation.

On with the show.

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"Funny, I always thought that you were optimist enough for everybody. Who else would be able to support a doctrine like total pacifism in the midst of a war?"

This caused Relena to laugh.

"There's optimism, and then there's naivete, and don't confuse the one with the other," she said.

"I wouldn't say that you were naive," he said. "I think you believed better of mankind that perhaps many deserved, but..."

"I see by your tone that you include yourself in their number. You shouldn't you know," Relena stepped closer to get a better look at him, but he hid himself further in the shadows.

"Why not?" he prompted. "I have taken many lives."

"Yes. And by those very actions worked to save many others. There /is/ such a thing as the greater good Heero. I believe in you. I beleive you're a good person, and I-" she broke off. "Well, that's not really important. I assume you came here for a reason, so tell me..."

"I did come here for a reason," he verified. "There is some unrest amongst the population of L1, I want you to come with me and reassure them of your intentions. They are feeling excluded because you have not visited them yet."

"Oh, I did not realize that I had overlooked the colony L1. I shall certainly leave to visit them at my earliest possible opportunity."

"I don't think "earliest possible" is going to be good enough for them. The natives are getting restless, and they want you there NOW," Heero explained patiently.

Relena absently wondered if there might possibly be a double meaning to his words, but brushed that thought aside as mere hopeful fancy.

She paused to think. If she juggled her schedule very carefully she could cancel or postpone most of her appointments and delegate the rest to other trusted advisors. She might even be able to leave tonight. She could do all of her paperwork on the shuttle ride up to L1, grab a quick nap before she had to attend whatever conferences or social gatherings they would surely have planned to include her. Relena nodded decisively. She would do it.

She rose from her desk and began gathering up those files and missives she would have to review while on the shuttle. The Treaty of Helsencard, the Andres-Zimmerman Agreement, the status Report from the Committee for Air and Water Polutants, the seven day program for the upcoming World Environmental Meeting, the Petition for Soverienty from the nation of Nissleson, there were also three bills and six addendums that were up for passing in th Unified Council and Relena wanted to take a closer look at them before she weighed in her vote, and those were just the major matters. There was an entire stack of papers that Relena needed to see to as well. She grabbed the files and dossiers for those matters added them to the others in her breifcase.

Relena did a lot of traveling, in fact she was away from home attending meetings and conferences more often than she actually got to sleep in her own bed. She knew how to pack, quickly and lightly, in a hurry. Heero watched her as she finished packing her breifcase for her trip then made her way smartly over to her bedroom to pach clothing.

"How long will I be expected to stay?" she asked efficiently.

Heero thought quickly.

"It shouldn't be more than a week, two at the very most. And don't worry about cancelling your appointments, the matters have already been taken care of."

Relena nodded to herself. That was a typical amount of time for a State Visit. Noin or Heero must have handled the rest of her appointments. She pulled the medium-small cari-sak out from the cedar chest at the foot of her bed. Relena truthfully did not care for suitcases, they were too difficult and bulky for easy transportation. A simple cari-sak could be quickly and effortlessly packed and unpacked, stowed more efficiently, and slung over one's shoulder without getting in the way as much. Relena preffered carry-on's, it wasn't that she didn't trust the shuttleline to manage her luggage properly...she just didn't like waiting. This way was much more efficient.

"Good, I have to be back in time for the Annual World Environmental Meeting being held in Moscow this year," she replied as she quickly took out the neccessary under-clothings, stockings, belts, business suits of pants, shirts, undervests, cravats, and skirts that could be mixed and matched into different ensembles. Next came her nightclothing, hairbrush, hairclips, small jewelry accessories in their own separate travel box, and then she walked into her private bathroom and came out with a small bag of toiletries and packed them away quikly and efficiently with practiced motions. Finally she plucked the three picture frames from off her desk and added them into the cari sak.

After this was done Relena cocked her head to one side and did a quick mental review, her fingers ticked off the items quickly. She nodded, satisfied that she had everything she needed for a quick trip to the colonies.

<One more thing, just in case,> she reminded herself. She had a single weapon that she kept hidden on her person at all times. Not a gun or a knife, those were too violent and unpacifistic. Her chosen weapon looked harmless enough but if pressed, Relena could weild it with dangerous, even deadly accuracy.

Hidden in a sheath up one of her sleeves was a retractable fighting pike. In it's extended form it was half a head taller than she was, now thanks to the wonders of modern technology she could carry around a full sized metal staff shrunk to a tube about four inches long and two inches in diameter. If one looked carefully when it was extended one could see the lines on the pike where the tube sectioned off, but anyone on the recieving end of the staff would never doubt its solidity. Relena had undertaken perfecting its use, citing that if she were ever in a tight spot, she would need to be able to hold off her attacker or attackers until qualified help could arrive. Noin had backed her up all the way in her request to learn self-defense techniques with a sense of relief, she was glad of Relena's growing sense of practicality. Relena might be a pacifict, but not to the point of stupidity. Besides, she reasoned, it wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get you.

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go," she announced, slinging her cari-sak smoothly onto one shoulder and picking up her breifcase with the other.She neglected to mention the pike she had stowed away safely in her jacket sleeve, not because she distrusted Heero, but because she was unsure as to how he would react.

Heero stood from the chair he had been occupying since Relena had kicked him out of "her chair" and motioned that she follow him.

He led her down the hall of the Palace headquarters and outside into the cooling night air. Dusk had happened a little while ago, but the heat of the day still lingered over the asphalt of the runway. The palace had been renovated to serve as the home of the Alliance Headquarters about a year ago and it now saw a lot of traffic to and from outer space.

Heero led her to one of the shuttles idling on the runway. Suddenly Relena was hit by a sudden wave of unease. Something wasn't right here. Her instincts were screaming at her. The shuttle wasn't hers. As Deputy Foreign Minister, Relena had her own shuttle set aside and always kept in top condition, ready to convy her to any of the emergency summits and meetings that popped up unexpectedly at times. This shuttle was unmarked by any signature airline.

<I don't like this.> Her stomach clenched into a knot and her shoulders tightened. Something was really wrong.

"Heero, where is my shuttle? It's usually waiting for me here."

"Oh, um, it had a leak in one of the engines. The boys took it back to get it repaired," said Heero. "They said we could use this one."

Relena got that funny prickling feeling down her spine again. Her eyes narrowed impeceptably. A few things didn't add up. One, she had just recieved a status report this morning from the garage and they'd said everything was in fine working order. For another thing...Heero did not say "um." Relena didn't care how long he'd been in hiding, stammering was not in his vocabulary and her gut told her he was prevaricating. Being one of the few trult honest politicians, Relena could spot a lie like her mother could spot a smudge of dirt.

<Don't be silly,> she told herself. <This is Heero. Heero would never harm you.>

The sudden memory of the times he'd pointed his gun at her immediately popped up in her mind.

<But he's never once shot you,> she thought to calm her tense muscles and nerves. <Relax. After all, you wanted to see him again didn't you?>

"Heero?" she asked. "Where have you been the last few years?"

"Oh...uh, you know. Around." his voice was light and nonchalant.

Heero was never nonchalant, or light.

<Maybe he's changed over the last two years,> she thought trying to reason with herself.

~Not that much!~ her inner self argued.

<I have to go with my instincts on this one, trust in Heero or no trust in Heero, there's something rotten in Denmark!>

Relena suddenly lagged behind, pretending to fiddle with a run in her hose. Heero stopped to ask

"What is it?"

<Was that a note of impatience I heard in his voice?> Suddenly she pin pointed what was bothering her. Heero's voice was filled with emotion and expression. His speech mannerisms were completely different, he even moved differently. The Heero she knew moved silently, like a stalking predator, the Heero beside her made all sorts of noise. Relena was suddenly aware of everything around her, she was following Heero outside to a shuttle, alone. She now was not entirely sure if anyone knew she was leaving. Uh-oh. This was bad. She had to stall.

"I just remembered something I've fogot. Here, you take my bags, and I'll just go back and get it," loaded him down with her cari-sak and breifcase, filling his hands to give her a split second warning in case he went for his weapon.

"Don't worry about it, whatever it is...I'll get you another one when we get to the colony," Said "Heero". "We have to leave quickly."

"Why?" asked Relena sharply.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but there is a group of freelance assassins who have taken a hit out on your life offered by one of your political rivals. Now we have to get you away to safety before they get to you."

That didn't track either. If her Heero wasn't supposed to tell her something, it was going to the grave with him!

<This isn't Heero! I KNOW it's not! This is someone else that's been made to look like him, and actor or something!>

<Oh that's just silly!> Her rational side scoffed at the preposturous scheme. <It's too ludicrous an idea to work. That tactic would arouse immediate suspicion->

<Wait a minute. Maybe that's precisely why it would work. No one would beleive a group of assassins would try such a preposurous idea and by the time I caught on it would already be too late.>

<"It's so crazy it just might work?" I think we have something here!> her rational mind accorded with a shiver of fear. <Think up a way to stall him quick! Gotta think, gotta think!Go for the bubblehead tactic, they always fall for that one!> (the little internal argument took only a few seconds, but her mind and her instincts were now in full accord, there was something bad about the entire situation.)

"Oh my!" she said feighning dismay. "Well who would ever want to kill me?" Relena widened her eyes in fear (some of it very real, albeit for a different cause entirely). She grabbed his arm. "Oh, you won't let them kill me will you Heero?"

"Of course not princess! I'll take care of everything," he assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders.

<That's proof enough for me! Heero does not hug, and he does not say princess unless it's my actual title. I don't know who this is but it's not Heero!>

"Oh, I'm so glad that I'm safe with you," she thought, trying hard not to let any irony creep into her voice.

"Perfectly safe, now let's just get you on the shuttle and we can be on our way."

"Oh, I don't think so," she said, with a little giggle.

"And why is that?" he gritted, Relena could see him clenching his jaw in impatience. This guy wasn't a very good actor.

"Well, I haven't seen you in such a very long time... I want to take you out to dinner first so we can catch up," she said, her voice dripping with syrupy sweetness.

"There are plenty of resturaunts on the colony, now let's just go!" With that he roughly took her elbow in a painful grip and shoved her towards the shuttle.

Suddenly out of the shadows three other men advanced towards her position. Two were of medium height and build, the third a big, brawny bear of a man.

"I thought I told you guys to wait until I had her aboard the shuttle," said the now-certainly-fake-Heero.

"Well dammit, hurry up. That Noin chick has been sniffing around here and we need the little brat where she-"

<Run for it! Now!>

In a burst of movement Relena shoved the not-Heero towards his comrades and dashed for the nearest cover she could find, trying to keep a few objects between her and her assailants.

Unfortuneately on a run way mostly all there is is open space.

<Crap, I'm gonna have to fight them by hand!> she thought, her mind and heart racing. An odd steady calm washed over her. She knew they were going to try to box her in.

"Always keep your eyes on the enemy," the voice of her pike fighting instructor rang strangely in her mind. "Don't give away your advantages. Anything can be a weapon. And always remember, divide and conquer."

It was a clear night and the moon was three quarters full. Still, her enemies had the advantage of having the shuttle at their backs. She took quick stock of her surroundings. No cover, the building was at least twenty yards away from her, no nearby objects except for sand and gravel. She made a note of that anyways to use as a desperation blinding tactic. Her enemies had an unknown amount of weaponry, and there could be more of them on the shuttle.

"Come on princess," coaxed the Not-Heero. "Your carriage awaits."

<dammit to the bloody bowels of hell! There's no place for me to run or hide, I'm completely out in the open. What a wreched way for an ameture to fight!>

"Oh, I've changed my mind. I really have to be going back now. It was lovely chat-"

The bear lunged for her.

In a move so smooth and fluid Relena wasn't even aware she had made it, the fighting pike was out of its hostler,in her hand and fully extended.

"Where the hell'd she get the sta-"

CRACK!

Relena wasted no time in hitting the target nearest her upside his head with one end of the staff, bringing it arround for a return swing to his knees which bent involuntarily throwing him off gaurd.

A split second later she was rolling out of the way of the charging bear-man and lashing out with her pike from a crouched position. The movement tripped him up and sent him sprawling into the dirt.

Relena sensed the two other attackers, who had been hanging back until now, trying to come at her from either side. She jabbed the butt end of her fighting pike into the right-hand man's stomach, then twisted upward as he doubled over catching him in the chin and snapping his head back. He went spawling and Relena was afraid she might have snapped his neck. Well at least he was out of the picture.

There was no time to worry about it though, for the second attacker was almost on her. Relena rammed one end of the pike into the gravel and launced herself into a pole-vault kick that sent her flying foot-first straight at the man (offense being the best defense). Her aim was a tad low and instead of hitting him in the head, her foot slammed right into his neck, full force.

<Oh, shit, please don't let him be->

The bear-man was up and at 'em again. This time he was working in concert with the not-Heero.

<Just you wait you imposter, I'll be comming for you!>

She took the bear-man on first, kicking up some loose gravel into his face because there was no way that she could take him at full strength, fighting pike or no fighting pike. As he desperately tried to wipe the grit from his eyes Relena slammed one end of the pike into his nose and used the other end to knock his legs from under him. Once he was down, she slammed the butt end into his rib cage, hearing the sound of cracking bones. Relena was just anxious to get the fight over with, so she savagely knocked him upside the head with the other end of her pike. Twice. He dropped like a stone.

To her reckoning that left only one player, the not-Heero.

"You fight surprisingly well for a pacifist." the man had obviously given up on his disguise and was concentrating on getting whatever it was he was really after. "I see that ideals are not the only thing that makes the woman," the not-Heero mocked.

Relena took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she possibly could. It would be a wise idea to let everyone in the vicinity know that there was a group of people out here who were trying to kidnap or possibly murder her.

"I suggest you keep it down princess, we wouldn't want anyone to come along and disrupt our little engagement."

There was now absolutely no mistaking the man to be Heero Yuy and Relena wondered how she could have fallen for the imposter's act. Even if he was the spitting image of her beloved, she should have sensed what lay under the surface, she should have known right away.

"That was pretty much the idea. My friends will show no mercy towards you if you so much as bruise me. And that's always assuming that /I/ don't get to you first."

"Brave words little princess. You'll be putting your life on them."

Relena and the not-Heero were both circling one another warily, looking for an opening, looking for the tiniest chink in the others defenses.

"If you intend to harm me I will have no choice but to defend myself," Relena informed him, her voice quavering. It was a supreme act of will to keep herself from trembling.

"Oh, I don't intend to harm you," he told her, mocking the tremors of fear that betrayed themselves in her voice. "I'm only here to kill you and remove your head as proof of a job well done."

"Oh gee, well that makes me feel worlds better," said Relena sarcasticly. Her response to overwhealming threats wasn't fear or bravado, it was sarcasm.

"Shut-up and die," he said.

The not-Heero pulled out a rather mean-looking sawed off shot-gun. Relena well knew that those were quite illegal, the ammo it used had been banned in over three hundred countries that she knew of. One bullet at point-blank range would be enough to rip a hole in her chest the size of a pizza. Two shots would blow her in half. Any more than that and there might not be enough left of her body to identify.

<Oh, shit.>

"Just like a man,"she said arrogantly, covering up the fear in her voice. "Can't get the job done without resorting to guns and other machines. How will you get your bounty if my head's been blown to pavement grease huh? Typical guy, never thinking ahead." she tsked. "And why were you going to all this trouble to kidnap me if all you wanted was to kill me?"

<Keep him talking. That's good. Someone's bound to have heard you scream. If not, you're on your own. Figures. If ya want something done right ya gotta do it yourself.>

"We just didn't want any distractions," the assassin answered logically. "And don't think you can count on help arriving for you anytime soon. I've arranged for a few surprises to keep your friends occuppied while I conclude my business here."

Ielena knew that if she didn't act soon she'd be dead anyways.

<I'm only gonna get one shot at this.>

Sally had told her to never try to knock the gun out of an assailants hand, it would most probably only open up fire and kill or wound her. Well, she didn't exactly have a cornucopeia of other options right at the moment.

Quick as a cobra striking, Relena struck for the wrist of the hand holding the gun, hoping to hit one of the nerves there. Luck was with her that night, either that or the universe decided that she could really use some of that good karma she had stored up right then, for the shot gun suddenly dropped from nerveless fingers. Relena knocked it across the run way with her pike and thankfully it didn't go off.

<Don't even think you've won yet girl. This guy can still kill you dead,> she cautioned herself. Who knew what kind of weapons he had hidden on himself that he hadn't used yet...

Not-Heero's eyes narrowed to slits, and he lunged at her. Relena knew a desperation move when she saw one, and this guy had no more offensive weapons on him. They were probably all still in the shuttle.

He grabbed the end of her pike as she moved to slam him with it, then expertly twisted until he was behind Relena with the ends of the pike in his grasp and the middle choking her around her neck in a hold. He used his position to force-march her towards the shuttle, Relena struggling all the way. He knew better than to let her feet touch the ground for more than a second, she wouldn't get the proper leverage to throw him that way.

"Let her go," came a cold imperturbalble voice from behind them. It was Heero, the real one. She'd recognize that chill tone anywhere, after all she'd had it directed at her more than a few times.

"Not a chance," came the reply from above her head. "This pretty little head's worth a lot of money."

The sound of a safty being clicked off and a barrel being loaded was heard. Heero had his trusty hand gun out.

<Fat lot of good it'll do him,> she thought. <Any shot he makes will go directly through my kidnapper and into me.> But maybe that wouldn't bother him.

That was exactly what the not-Heero told Heero next.

"You can't shoot me, you'll kill her too. Then where would the world be without it's precious little princess?" All the while the two men were holding their little dialouge, not-Heero was pushing/hauling Relena closer to the stairs of the shuttle.

<Wait a minute! The first step is higher than the ground, and not-Heero is pushing me before him. I can still execute a throw if I can get a firm base on that first step!> she thought frantically. <Please Murphy, hold off just a little bit longer!>

"Let her go!" the voice of Noin resounded from behind her. Relena could hear the sound of a lot of footsteps running onto the scene and the sound of a lot of guns being loaded. She used the momentary falter caused by this distraction plant her feet firmly on the first step, retract her fighting pike into its original state, then once it was out of his grasp, she extended it again and started in with the whooping of his ass.

Her foot slammed into his chin snapping his head back his body following suit and crashing down the speps. As he fell Relena heaved the right-hand end of her pike to land a blow to the side of his hard head. Relena hopped over the side of the stairwell and landed lightly on her feet, pike held in ready mode. Apparently not-Heero had a good instinct for survival (despite the fact that he had taken a hit-job on Relena) and he recovered in a split second and leapt after her, keeping her body between himself and her rescuers at all times. Her back was to Noin and the others, she ws facing the not-Heero, the resemblence really was uncanny.

Relena could hear WuFei in the back ground yelling

"Idiot woman! Get out of the way!"

Relena's smart-ass mouth got the better of her as she shot back

"I'd love to pookie. I truly would, but unfortunately I'm a little busy right now."

"Don't worry, you won't be busy for long. I'll end it for you quick and painless," promised her would-be assassin.

"Promises, promises," said Relena mockingly. Then her voice turned serious. "Your back's against the wall, you have no where to go. If you kill me, they'll kill you. If you try to run, they'll still most probably kill you. The best you can hope for is a lenient judge. So let's all do the nice, kind, pacifisty thing and discard our weapons."

"I ain't goin' to jail, wench. I'm not a pacifist and I don't discard weapons. Besides, those damn speeches of yours always got on my nerves."

"I'm sorry to hear that, truly, my heart bleeds buttermilk for you. Are we going to stand around here all night or are we going to end this?"

"Die bitch!" he reached for hr troat.

"You first ass-hole!" she dropped to the ground and lashed out with her fighting pike, apparently going for another strike to the knees. When not-Heero moved to block it Relena shifted her grip and went for the real manuver.

Mentally wincing at the pain she knew she was about to inflict, Relena pulled the pike upward from in between his knees and straight at the sensitinve area housing his genitals. She didn't stop there. Catching him at the groin she used her pike as a lever and her arms as the fulcrum and counter weight respectively, she catapualted him over her shoulder. With a grunt and a final heave the Not-Heero went flying into the dust at Heero's feet, and didn't move. At all.

Heero, for his part, got to point his handgun directly at the assassins head, but before he could pull the trigger Relena yelled