The first thing he really became conscious of was the throbbing ache in his skull. A groan escaped his lips quite involuntarily as the return of awareness brought an increase in pain. His entire body seemed to ache, his limbs trembling with something his mind couldn't quite define � a strange weakness that even now was ebbing slowly.
Heero raised his head slowly, blinking as light stabbed at his eyes. He didn't recognise this place, but of significantly more concern was the tape on his wrists, binding his arms in front of him.
Captured.
Immediately every system in his body went into overdrive, responding to the perceived threat. His thoughts cleared as the rush of adrenaline hit his bloodstream, burning off the last of what he now realised to be drugs, most probably sedatives.
Wherever he was, he was alone; he could sense that much. Gingerly, Heero tugged at the bonds on his wrists, finding the tape too strong to tear, but that wouldn't be a problem if he could get his hands to his mouth. He managed to push himself into a sitting position, surveying the small room he found himself in through slitted eyes.
Well, it's more comfortable than an OZ cell. The room was quite bare � cement walls over steel girder structure; that meant colony and the slight but noticeable decrease in apparent gravity confirmed it. Two single bunks, foam mattress pads on metal platforms, and made up with what looked to be military blankets. A single opening in one wall, leading to a tiled room that was presumably a bathroom, though he couldn't see any facilities from his current angle.
Heero carefully suppressed the anger at whoever had put him in this predicament, bringing his bound hands to his mouth and picking at the end of the tape with his teeth. It took a while, but eventually he managed to peel back the edge of the strip, unwrapping himself with a ripping noise that seemed far too loud to his ears. Dropping the tape with a wince for the taste of the adhesive, Heero flexed his hands, trying to speed the return of circulation.
With a frown, he hauled himself up to sit on one of the beds. The drugs he had been given � when had that happened? He remembered walking home from the restaurant; the chill of the night air and the way his own footsteps had masked the sound of pursuit until it was too late. There had been three men, he remembered � two coming at him from either side with scarves in their hands, the powerful reek of chloroform cutting sharply through the smoky city air. And as he dodged and fought back, another behind him, diverting his attention, and the powerful crack of a baseball bat across his temple.
Curious, Heero reached up and ran his fingers across his forehead, drawing back with a hiss as fingertips scraped across tender flesh. His hair felt stiff; he must have bled a little. The knot on his skull throbbed in time with his heartbeat, the pounding ache making him wish for an aspirin.
After the crack across the skull, his memory was made up of blurred impressions � waking in darkness and chains, the sharp bite of a hypodermic, the taste of tape in his mouth as he struggled against restraints, the flash of something red as a man's voice droned smugly in the background. Heero wondered what time it was � for that matter, it probably wasn't Friday any more, either. It was a twelve-hour flight to L1, the nearest of the Colonies, and the amount of time that might have passed while he was unconscious was uncertain.
Duo would be worried. It hit Heero like a punch to the gut; he had said he'd call over the weekend about work. Duo � would he know that something was wrong? Or would he just assume Heero was busy? At least there was someone to miss him; surely Lady Une would spare no effort to recover one of her best agents. So there would be people looking for him. That was a relief.
But would they know where to look? For that matter, why was he being held? Was it possible that someone could have discovered his true identity? All the Gundam Pilots had had their records wiped, he had seen to it himself. As far as the rest of the world was concerned he was Heero Yuy, orphan from L1 come to work for Preventers after the wars. The five mysterious young men who had piloted weapons of mass destruction had simply faded back into the pages of history after the Mariemaia Uprising.
Could someone have discovered some piece of data he had overlooked, and put the rest of it together from that? If so, what would happen to Duo � to the others? Obviously Heero's identity as a Preventer hadn't been enough to protect him from whoever these people were.
But if the object of his kidnapping had been revenge for his part in the war, why was he still alive? Heero frowned. To go to the trouble of abducting him spoke of grander motivations.
The Ibsen investigation came immediately to mind, making him wonder: had they gotten too close to something? Heero mentally reviewed the data they had uncovered, but could come up with nothing that would justify such a risky move. Either way, though, Duo would seem to be at risk, and that was entirely unacceptable. Obviously his primary objective would have to be escape.
Before he could even begin to formulate a plan, however, there was a noise outside the room and a blank metal panel in one wall swung outward with a creak of hinges. Light spilled into the cell, and Heero winced, forced to cover his eyes briefly. Two heavyset men stood in the doorway, holding the limp bundle of a young girl between them. Heero gasped as the light glinting off bright red hair set off a chain reaction in his memory.
Mariemaia! Once he had recognised her, though, Heero deliberately ignored her presence, returning his cold gaze to the guards. They were dressed in simple blue uniform coveralls, but the amount of weaponry they were carrying was formidable. Each wore an M72 assault rifle strapped to his back, and their belts carried sidearms and knives. Not only that, they looked dangerous � as though they knew how to use them. These guards weren't just for show.
They dumped Mariemaia's limp form inside the door of the cell, and separated for a moment, allowing another guard, this one a woman, to move forward from behind them and set a tray down beside the slumped child. Then they were gone and the clash of the bolts sliding home was echoing through the room.
Heero was across the floor and shaking the girl's shoulder almost before the sound had died away. "Mariemaia? Can you hear me?" Her face was tearstained, but from the way her eyelids were already fluttering, she'd only been in a faint. That was hardly surprising, given the situation. Heero sat back on his heels, slapping the side of her face gently. "Mariemaia? Wake up, please."
The girl's whole body tensed as she fought her way back consciousness, eyes flying open and fixing on Heero's face. Almost immediately he had an armful of shaking twelve-year-old, a red head pressed to his shoulder. Sighing, he patted her back somewhat ineffectually.
"It's OK." Or it will be. If they have her too, they can't know about my past, which is a benefit. But it means I can't force my way out, either; I can't risk getting her hurt.
Mariemaia sniffled, pulling back to look up at him with big eyes. Her face was slender and pixielike, but she was developing a greater resemblance to her father as she grew. Heero had always found it rather uncanny, and he knew it disturbed Wu Fei sometimes to be around the girl. "You're all right!" She hugged him again. "I thought they'd killed you, they hit you and gave you shots after they recorded the tape�"
Heero frowned; he had only a very sketchy memory of that incident. "What tape?"
"To Une and Miss Relena�" The girl seemed to pull herself together with a start, and suddenly Heero was reminded of the manipulative child who'd dreamed of ruling the world. "A ransom demand, except they didn't want money."
"What did they ask for?" Heero cursed himself for allowing his voice to sharpen; the child had visibly flinched. He hoped their captors hadn't caused her any harm� "Can you tell me exactly what they said? The drugs they gave me have impaired my memory."
Mariemaia gave a shaky nod. "Okay. There was a man � he stayed off camera and spoke into a microphone. He said� he used their titles. Une's and Relena's, he called them Princess and Lady Von Kinzig." Heero nodded encouragingly, and she continued. "He said� he wanted Une to withdraw Preventers from L1, C Sector. And Relena to veto something in Parliament � I think it had to do with inheritance laws and land allocations. And he said they both had to resign at the end of the political term, or they'd� they'd kill us." She swallowed heavily, and Heero patted her shoulder clumsily.
"What time frame did he give them?"
"Um, he said that they had twenty-four hours to give their word to comply with the demands, and then a week to set things in motion."
Heero heaved a sigh. "Don't worry, Duo and Une and Dorothy will find us before then. And if not, we can probably find a way to get out of here at some point. How long ago did they tape us?"
"About five or six hours, I think. They took you away again after they shut off the camera, and we docked about an hour ago. I don't know which Colony this is, though."
"Hm." Heero kept his thoughts to himself, instead investigating the covered tray that had been left inside the door. Under the flexible plastic lid were two bowls of what smelt like beef stew, still hot, and two bread rolls. He noted that the only cutlery they had been given was a pair of plastic spoons. He took a quick taste from both bowls, though he thought it unlikely that their captors would try to poison or drug them further.
"Is that our dinner?" Mariemaia asked; her voice sounded shaky again.
"Yes." Heero glanced around the room a moment. "Here, go and sit on the bed and I'll bring the tray over. It's more comfortable than the floor." Maybe if he could just keep her busy doing things, she would be able to get more accustomed to this� Heero frowned. Captivity certainly wasn't something that anyone should get used to, let alone a twelve-year-old girl.
"Okay." Mariemaia picked herself up off the floor and went to sit on the nearer of the two cots, making a face. "It's not all that much more comfortable, Agent Yuy."
"You can call me Heero." He picked the tray up carefully and brought it over to the bed, sitting down cross-legged on the end and setting it between them. "Here, eat something, it's safe and we need to stay as healthy as possible."
"Okay, Heero." She smiled at him uncertainly. "You can call me Marie, if you want; Une and T�a Dorothy do."
"Marie." Heero nodded, picking up a spoon and eating a mouthful of stew. It wasn't the best he'd ever tasted, but he'd had far worse, and it was filling. The bread wasn't stale either, he discovered upon tearing a piece off.
Marie looked uncertainly at the food, then sighed and picked up her spoon. Now that Heero thought about it, the clothes she was wearing seemed entirely inappropriate to their environment. His own neat jeans and button-down shirt weren't what he would have chosen, but were better than nothing. Marie, though, seemed to be wearing a party dress � it was a pale green colour and ruffled at the bodice and hem, with puffy sleeves. She had tucked her knees to one side, but he could see that her shoes were just as inappropriate; patent leather with shiny star-shaped buckles.
Heero thought about bringing up the subject of her capture, but decided to leave it until later; she seemed calmer now.
"This isn't so bad, I suppose." Marie swallowed another bite of stew and sighed, looking around. "Is there anything to drink?"
"There should be water in the bathroom." Heero set his spoon down and pushed himself to his feet. "I'll go and look."
"Okay." She returned her attention to the food, carefully breaking off a piece of bread and using it to mop up the juices. Heero headed through the open archway into the bathroom, looking around. The room was small and functional, with a toilet and washbasin set back in one corner, and a curtained shower stall against the far wall, with a slotted floor to allow water to drain. Heero had no doubt that the amount of water available would be severely limited. There was a shelf built into the tiled wall over the sink, and on it he found a small stack of paper cups as well as a pair of toothbrushes and a tube of economy toothpaste. They must have prepared for this well.
His mouth set in a firm line, Heero filled two cups with water from the tap that was marked as drinking water, and carried them back to Mariemaia.
"Thank you, Heero." She smiled nervously at him, setting her empty bowl aside and taking a cup from him. Heero just nodded, sipping at the water and trying to formulate some kind of plan.
"Heero? When did they get you?" Marie toyed with her spoon nervously, small slender fingers twining around the thin white plastic. Heero frowned at her in confusion, and she elaborated. "I mean, you were already in the shuttle when they brought me there; I think they gave you drugs or something."
"Oh." Heero frowned in thought. "I was captured on Friday evening, as I walked home from a restaurant. They overpowered me and knocked me out."
"Mm." Marie nodded. "It's Monday now, I think. Katrin � I�" She swallowed, casting her eyes down. "Katrin was taking me home from Emilia's party last night. There was a man with a truck, and Katrin put a cloth over my mouth � I don't remember anything else except waking up as they were taking me onto the shuttle."
"Katrin?" Heero mentally updated his body clock; he hadn't realised he had spent so long under their captors' drugs. Part of him was worried about what kind of interrogations they might have tried to conduct, what information they might have been able to extract from his unconscious mind. Although J had trained him to be resistant to all known interrogation drugs six years ago, there were bound to have been advances made since then, new formulations that might be able to affect him. He made a mental note to have Sally run thorough blood spectra as soon as he got back to HQ.
"My bodyguard." Marie's eyes hardened and her small fists clenched. "She betrayed me."
Shit. He only blinked at the news, the old training already coming back. The impassivity would serve him well in dealing with their captors, but he would have to be careful not to let it affect his treatment of the girl. This is not good. "How long had she been working for you?"
"Ever since I came to live with Une and T�a Dorothy." The girl blinked at him, her eyes bloodshot; Heero remembered the circumstances of their first meeting. He had sworn never to kill again, but was that in conscience a vow he could keep in this situation?
"Marie, can you try and remember approximately how many different people you've seen since you were captured?"
"Um." The girl bit her lip in thought. "There was Katrin and the man with the truck, and when I woke up two other men were carrying me into the shuttle. I saw� a lot of other men in the main cabin. Maybe, ten or twelve?"
"Okay." Heero nodded encouragingly, trying to smile. "Have you seen any of those people again since they brought us here?"
She shook her head immediately. "No, they're all different people now. They're wearing different clothes too � the men in the shuttle were all dressed normally, but here they wear those blue uniforms."
"Right." Heero decided thinking aloud, at least to a point, would help soothe the child and give her some more confidence in their situation. There was also the separate consideration that if anything happened to him she would have at least some information to give to Une and the others. Fuck. If it's Monday, Duo will be having fits. "That means these people are very organised. Which makes them dangerous, and not just to us."
Mariemaia had paled, obviously putting the amount of organisation she had witnessed together with the demands the unknown man had made of Une and Relena. "But what do they want? Grandfather wanted to rule the Earth Sphere, so he kidnapped Miss Relena�"
Damn, Heero hadn't thought of that association. "By the sound of it, their plans are different. They appear to be holding us for ransom rather than to force us to acquiesce to their plans. But their level of organisation will work in our favour too," he went on, trying to encourage her. "It means they may be predictable or even complacent � they will have a routine. What we need to do is try to understand as much of that routine as possible�"
He was cut of by a loud but muffled banging noise from outside the door, followed by the jangling of keys and the creak of the iron panel swinging open. It opened outward, which meant its only weak point was the strength of the locks, but by the looks of it they had installed steel bars to ensure that he would be unable to force it open.
Three unfamiliar blue-suited guards entered the room, two taking up position at the sides of the door while the other, a large burly man with lank hair swinging about his jawline, motioned Heero and Mariemaia off the bed with the barrel of his rifle. Obviously they were taking no chances with the prisoners.
It's not worth forcing a confrontation now. Silently, Heero slid off the bed, taking Marie by the arm and retreating to the far corner of the room. Shouldering the rifle with a satisfied nod, the guard picked up the empty tray from the bed and left the room without looking back. The two guarding the door didn't follow, however, and Heero gave the pair of them a wary look.
"You two." A new face appeared at the door, younger and prettier; by the way Marie started and then refused to look at the woman, Heero deduced that this must be the aforementioned Katrin. She had two pairs of handcuffs swinging from one finger.
"Mr Bryting wants to see you." She jerked her head at the guards, then beckoned to Heero. "Come on, I'll need to cuff you but if you behave yourself, Mr Preventer, you won't be harmed."
Heero narrowed his eyes, glancing between the three of them, then shrugged, walking carefully over to the door and holding out his wrists for the restraints. If we obey them now we can learn more about the layout of this place and their levels of manpower.
"Behind your back." With a sigh, Heero turned around and let the woman cuff him. Surreptitiously testing the chain as he nodded reassuringly to Mariemaia, he was pleased to discover that the cuffs were only ordinary strengthened steel, the same as his own standard Preventer-issue pair. He could break the chains easily, but for the moment he would go along with whatever they demanded of him.
Katrin cuffed Marie quickly, smirking at the look of hatred and fury on the girl's face, then jerked her head at the pair of them, heading out of the door. Heero and Marie fell in behind her and the guards brought up the rear, guns at the ready and eyes wary.
They were led down a brightly-lit corridor to an unguarded doorway. Katrin tapped a code into the lockpad; Heero caught the last three digits, six-nine-five, and wrote himself another mental note to confirm the rest of the sequence the next time they were brought this way. The door slid open onto another hallway, more often used from the look of things. A pair of blue-uniformed women respectfully stepped aside to allow their group to pass, eyes cold and assessing on Heero though they dismissed Marie almost immediately.
Katrin stopped before another door and slid it open, knocking softly on the frame. "Sir? I've brought them."
Heero caught a glimpse of a man in a suit sitting behind a plain metal desk before he was shoved rather roughly into the room by one of the guards. He turned and glared, but the two men had taken up stations on either side of the door and now Katrin had hold of his shoulder, leading him to a bench seat on the near side of the desk.
"Very good." Heero and Mariemaia were pushed down onto the seat, and the suited man stared at them through thick spectacles that perched vulture-like on a long nose. Heero was reminded unpleasantly of J, although this man � Mr Bryting? � was only in his middle years, his hair still dark and thick. "Miss Williams, if you would wait over there." He waved a hand to indicate a group of chairs on the other side of the room, and Katrin departed with a brief salute.
"Well." The man propped his chin on his hands and examined Heero and Marie carefully. "Agent Yuy, Mademoiselle Khushrenada, good afternoon." Heero narrowed his eyes, trying to decide whether to risk saying anything. The man quirked a grin at him. "I am Drew Bryting, and I will be your� liaison for the duration of your stay with us."
Heero raised a brow. "The accommodations leave something to be desired."
Bryting threw back his head with a laugh. "Very nice, Agent Yuy. Now, as to our business with you." He squared his shoulders, the relaxed attitude falling away and revealing for a moment a glint of shrewdness beneath. "We regret the necessity of holding you here, and I assure you we will do everything in our power to make you as comfortable as possible. Unfortunately, at this point your safety rests in the hands of others. Provided that Peacecraft and Une comply with our demands, no harm will come to you."
"Hn." Heero shifted, clasping his hands together in the manacles to ease the pressure on his shoulder muscles. "What is it that you want?"
Bryting smiled, leaning back in his chair and tipping his glasses down to stare at Heero over the top of them. "That's very simple, Agent Yuy. We want to be free. We want back the freedom we had before the ESUN began muddling everything around and upsetting the proper order of things. And I think you'll find that if our demands are not met you won't like the consequences." He waved a hand briefly in dismissal. "Anyway, is there anything I can do for you? Anything to make your stay with us more comfortable?"
Heero purposefully relaxed his posture. "Some more appropriate clothing would be appreciated, and possibly some books or games to occupy the time if you refuse to release us." If he presented a picture of compliance with their wishes, they would be more likely to underestimate him when it counted.
Bryting nodded. "That I can do. Miss Khushrenada?" Mariemaia hadn't said much, Heero realised; either she was afraid or she was following his advice and trying to absorb as much information about the place as possible.
"That's fine," the girl murmured in a meek little voice, and Heero had to again remind himself that he shouldn't be surprised by her intelligence given her paternity.
"Very well." Bryting nodded to Katrin and the guards, who marched over and lifted Heero and Mariemaia to their feet. With a respectful nod to her superior, the woman led them out of the office and back down the halls to their cell, slamming the door behind them with a clang that somehow sounded very final. Heero heaved a sigh, wandering over to sit on the bed, putting his back to the wall and drawing up his feet. Without a word, Marie came to sit beside him.
"Thank you for thinking about clothes," she said eventually, not looking at him.
"That's all right. That dress is hardly suitable for a situation like this, and certainly not if we need to escape."
"Will we?" She looked up at him with a disturbing amount of trust in her eyes.
"Hopefully." Heero rolled his shoulders, wishing for an aspirin to cure the pounding in his head. "Relena and Une will do what they have to in order to achieve our safe return, but it would be best if we were to manage our own retrieval."
"How soon will that be?" She fidgeted a little, playing with the lacy hem of her skirt.
"You said they gave Une and Relena a week? Then we should probably aim to leave some time on Friday," Heero murmured, casting a wary eye around the room. He had already determined that there were no obvious recorders planted, but it never hurt to be extra careful. "That will give us time to find out as much as possible about these people and their purpose."
"Yeah." Marie nodded. "That way we can help Une deal with them."
"Exactly." Heero looked up as the door creaked open again, the same pair of guards keeping a wary eye out as two women entered carrying bundles of clothing. He gave them a nod as they glanced fearfully at him before scuttling out of the room; obviously these were servants rather than soldiers.
"We also need to find out as much as possible about the layout of this place," he continued once the guard had bolted the door behind them, walking over to pick up the piles of fabric. "Here, Marie, please help me with this." Obediently she took some of the clothing from him, unfolding the garments and holding them up.
"I think these are meant to be for you," she observed wryly, passing him a pair of plain brown coveralls.
"Probably," Heero agreed, wrinkling his nose somewhat at the cheap synthetic fabric. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd been the one captured; Duo would have had a fit if forced to wear such garments. A thought crossed his mind, and he frowned. Why are they holding me anyway? He passed Marie a smaller set of coveralls in a plain blue. I can understand abducting Marie to try and force Une's hand, but I'm only a friend to Relena; certainly not the obvious choice. It was a puzzle; he set it aside to think over later.
"Um." Marie shot an embarrassed glance at him, clutching a handful of clothing to her chest. "Heero � the bathroom doesn't have a door�"
The Japanese Agent frowned at her, then blinked, feeling a slight heat enter his cheeks. "I'll turn my back," he assured her hastily, shuffling around on the bed to face the wall.
"Thank you." Marie slid to her feet, heading off to change. Heero glanced down at his own clothing, then looked to the neat pile of folded brown coveralls he had been given, and made a face. He could survive in what he was wearing for a while longer, he decided.
There was the sound of the toilet flushing, and Marie returned to the main room, more decorously dressed in the powder-blue one-piece with her somewhat bedraggled party frock in her arms. "Well, it's an improvement," she muttered, plucking rather distastefully at the new clothing. Heero hid a smirk.
"We ought to pool our intelligence," he stated calmly, setting his spare garments aside and making room for the girl on the bunk. "What can you tell me about this installation, based on what you've seen so far?"
"Um." Marie's brow creased in thought. "I don't remember being brought here, but they took me off the shuttle and straight down a corridor from the docking bay."
That fit with what Heero had already observed. "There are no windows that I've seen, and cables are ducted to the corridor ceilings � I'd say we're underground. Or under Colony ground-level," he amended as she frowned at him. "Within the infrastructure of the colony itself." Either that or this one hell of a large building, he added to himself, wishing he'd seen even a single computer terminal in one of the rooms they'd passed earlier. "With luck, they'll move us around some more and we'll be able to get a feel for the rest of the place." Privately, though, he didn't hold out much hope.