Hey everybody!! I’m here and I’m gonna try to write another chapter to this ….hmm.. I apology for the last chapter and all it’s mistakes.. Sheesh.. I didn’t realize there were so many!

You know the disclaimers!! Not mine not ever….

No major warnings in this chapter… maybe some language.. And maybe a little violence…. Have to see where it leads me…. And thanks to all my reviewers!!

Doctor Kiba, duoluv12, kelly, Tori_kit! Thanks so much for the reviews!!!!

Come what may

Chapter 9

I didn’t realize how tired I was as we snuck out of the hospital. But I knew we couldn’t linger. Scott wasn’t sable and if I was right he could be getting those mobile suits right now. I had no doubt that Une had them under lock and key but she didn’t understand Scott’s determination. I didn’t understand it but I wasn’t going to underestimate it either. I feared to think what he would do if he got the mobile suits. There would be so much death and destruction, it would be just like another war. I couldn’t , wouldn’t allow it. After all he was my friend, and we were all living happy lives, well, as happy as we could. Ok so I thought we had been….. Why did people have to do this? What was the thing with the power lust? I would never understand it, nor did I want to.

Duo wanted me to talk to Une but I wasn’t sure about it. Would she believe me, or just blow me off like any other foolish person who didn’t know what was going on? I did know what was going on, all too well. I just didn’t know why. I had to get into Scott’s head for that and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that. Scott had always been an odd bird. He did things to please himself and that made him selfish but this was beyond me. I would like to think something else drove him over the edge and I was hoping it hadn’t been my rejection of him so long ago. I watched Duo’s back as we hurried out of the hospital into the street. He didn’t know about this and I wasn’t going to tell him about that night. I thought I had handled it well but now I wasn’t so sure. I may have been the one who pushed Scott over the edge. I blinked as we stepped into the street. It was bright and it hurt my eyes. I felt Duo grasp my hand and we hurried along toward a car I had not seen before. He opened the passenger door and I got in. I thoughts flew back to that night so long ago. Scott and I were in the salvage yard, alone. I was tinkering on something , and I could hear Scott banging away on something. I wasn’t paying attention until the banging stopped and some one put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Scott standing behind me, an odd look on his face. He tried to kiss me but I moved away from him, trying to get some distance between us. He had looked hurt and then spat out, with venom in his voice. “It’s Maxwell, isn’t it?” I just frowned at him unsure what to say or if I even understood what he was talking about. He backed away and disappeared out the door. I realized now after the fact when the little accidents started to happen. He was unstable clear back then. Little accidents like a piece of gundamium falling down,, almost hitting Duo. No one knew where it came from. Or the other time when one of the compressors blew up. Duo had been close to it but just close enough to get knocked to the floor and a slight concussion. Then the time he came in with a cut on his cheek from broken glass, he never did tell me about what happened that time. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in other things maybe this could have been prevented. After what I saw in his warehouse I knew he was obsessing on me and that was scary as hell. I blinked and then thought of something that had happened before I emailed him. Something that I blew off as a prank, but now I knew it really had been something. How had he known I was on earth? Another question I had to ponder on. I jumped when I heard the car door slam and Duo say, “Hey, babe, what ya thinking on so hard?”

I turned at looked at him, “Duo, do you remember when the accidents started to happen at the shop?”
He nodded. “Yeah, How could I forget. Most of them were to me.”

I nodded and said. “Yeah. I remember , too. It started right after I rejected Scott’s advances. Tell me how you got cut by the glass. ”

“MM.” Was his reply as if he was thinking about that time .

He didn’t answer me on my question. I figured I would drop it for now but I think he and Scott were fighting. I didn’t see Scott much after that.

“Duo, let’s go back to the warehouse. Do you remember where it was?”
“Yeah, the street address where we found you.”

I nodded. “That’s close enough. I’ll remember from there.” Well, at least I hoped I would. It had been dark, I had been hurt but I was pretty sure I could remember the land marks. Well, I hoped so . I knew it would be different in the daylight so I steeled my self for what ever was going to come.

“Hey, Duo, where’s my gun?” I asked patting my pockets. Silence was my answer. I

looked over at him. ”you’ve got to be kidding! I can’t go in there unarmed!”

He grinned and reached into his pocket and pulled something small out. I caught it as he tossed it at me. It was my gun. The one I had been missing for a long time. I checked it over looking to see if it was loaded. “Thanks Duo.” I looked at him and then asked. “Where did you find this gun? I haven’t seen it in a long time.”
He grinned. “I had it.” He replied.

I frowned. “Why?” I could see a blush creeping up his neck and to his cheeks.

“Oh.” Came my lame reply as I could feel a blush creeping up my face. The tension was thick and I heard Duo clear his throat.

“I took it cuz it was yours, Hilde. I wanted something that was yours.” He paused for a moment then continued. ”You touched it, used it . Hell you even had it under your pillow for a time. It was something tangible of yours. ”

I felt my face turn red not really wanting to know how he knew that. I looked down at the gun I held in my hand. It wasn’t a fancy gun to some peoples standards. Just a normal looking gun, steel gray in color and a wooden grip. It a .38 caliber with a snubbed nose. It would make a big hole with the right kind of ammo.

“I just wanted something that was yours. I mean after all Heero took something of Relena’s.”

“Oh, really? What may that have been?”

“I.. I ’m not at liberty to tell.”

I started to giggle. Most guys would have taken a picture of the woman they loved. Not m y guy. He took a gun. How messed up is that? He looked at me as I giggled. I could see a hurt look cross his face. I reached across the seat and grasped his hand. I looked at him and grinned. “ I’m not laughing at you, just your choice of remembrances. Well, we both know we aren’t a normal couple, don’t we.” I released my seat belt and scooted over close to him. I pecked him on the cheek and slid back across. He stopped me from going all the way back, pulling me close to him.

“There’s a middle one, put it on .”

“Ok.” I looked up at him, “Are ya hungry or do you just want to get this over with?”
“Over with, then we’ll eat. I‘ll take you somewhere nice. Not Mickey D‘s.”
I nodded and I obliged him, enjoying the closeness. But we had to figure out a plan before we walked into the building. If he was still there how were we going to confront him and if he wasn’t how were we going to find him. Well this wasn’t well tough out at all. I rolled my eyes and thought about how we did everything on the spur of the moment. Dumb, just dumb. And what was worse it usually worked for us.

“Uh, Duo?”
He looked down at me, with a wondering look.

“Do you have a plan?”

The surprised look on his face told me everything , “Uh, no, I thought you did.”

“Hmm, then I guess we play this by ear, huh.” I said as I looked up at him. Ok, we were crazy. Taking this on with no help, no one knew where we were. I suppose Heero and his broken leg could have surmised what was going on. He looks really quiet but I know his brain works just like a computer. It’s figuring plots and sub plots all the time. I wonder if I could talk him into being a mystery writer after all of this was over. I think he would have the knack for it. But convincing him of that well, I’m not so sure that’s something I want to undertake. I don’t really want a gun in my face. Maybe I’ll talk Relena in telling him. Trowa was pretty smart , as well as Quatre. I wondered if they figured it out , too. I kinda hoped they did. Wu Fei was pretty wrapped up as a Preventer and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t like to break the rules. What would Une think if he did. I really didn’t expect any help from any of them. I had left them all emails telling them what I knew before I was kidnapped by Scott and they had to know what I was thinking. I didn’t email Duo cuz well he and I were close and I told him most everything. Ok, almost everything…….

We were getting closer to the building , or at least I thought we were. It seemed rather quiet and empty for as large as an operation that Scott had. He had a name for this organization . It was something like Colonists for a Earth Free government. C. E. F. G. Maybe he could have been a little more creative .. You know like white fang.. Yeah, I know it was already used once .. Or maybe black fang or well, something like that. But leave it to him to have something so ordinary or something that would be forgotten long after it failed and was gone from history. I was hoping he and this would be organization would be . If I had any thing to do with it, it would. I really hoped I would be the one that took him down but it really didn‘t matter. If it wasn’t me , it would be someone else.

Duo pulled the car to a stop near the alley that I had ran from after I had escaped. It seemed strange that we remembered it was dark and rainy, I had been hurt and wasn’t too clear in the directions, but this was it. We both got out of the car and proceeded with caution into the semi-darkened alley way. It seemed darker in the day light, but maybe it was just me. Sometimes when you anticipate something things seem different than what they are. I know the alley wasn’t that dark but I think fear made me think so. Yes, I was frightened. I didn’t know what we would find…. But we had to do it. No matter what. I remembered the dumpster on the right but there were no garbage bags laying around. It was all clean and neat. I should have knew right then and there something was out of whack. I stepped a few more steps and there was the exit door I had flew out of the night before. It wasn’t closed tight. I looked at Duo as my fingers grasped the door and swung it open, we both ducked back out of the way incase there was a peppering of bullets. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing but the glow of an emergency exit sign and silence.

We Slipped in and let it close softly behind us. I heard the soft click of the latch behind me. The only sounds we heard were the soft purr of a machine and our own footsteps. It was too quiet. There should be some kind of people noise, but there was none.

“Damn it, Duo ! He’s gone!!” I whispered, in frustration. “How could he move an operation that big that quickly?”
Duo shrugged as we continued to move through the building. We past the little closet I have been held in and the door that opened into his office. I reached out and jiggled the handle, not expecting it to be open. It opened with a soft squeak. I looked up at Duo and we stepped into the room. I fumbled around for the light switch. When it flicked on the room was empty. Devoid of any piece of furniture, of anything that would have even made It an office. I frowned. Did I imagine all of it. My hand reached down to my side and felt the bandage. No, the bullet had been real. I felt Duo’s hand on my shoulder. “Come on , babe, there will be something here…. A scrap of paper something. No one is that clean that something won’t get left behind.” He paused. “We just have to keep looking.”
“I know .” I sighed. “We really need more proof then what we have. A bullet wound in the side and suspicions aren’t enough. And that’s all we have.”

Duo nodded as we left the room.

“Just like Heero and me, we knew we were being chased and we had our suspicions it was Scott but we had no proof. That’s why I asked you, Hilde. I had no where else to go. I knew you had a slight idea to how Scott’s mind worked, since you knew him better than me. He never wanted to be my friend, I was a rival.”
“Yeah, and Scott’s a moron. He’s brilliant but still a moron.” I paused before I continued to speak. “Remember that name Heero gave me to research? It’s nothing , nada! it has no meaning or rhyme or reason. It’s a major dead end. If I could link it to Scott we would probably blow this whole thing wide open!!”

Duo said nothing as he moved along beside me. I glanced over at him and knew he was thinking.. The look on his face told me he was contemplating something. I opened my mouth, then closed it not wanting to disturb his thought.

As we moved down the hallway we finally made it to the hall I didn’t venture down. I looked both ways and it was dark either way. I shrugged as I looked back to Duo. “ I have no clue from here on in.”

“When you were in here, where did it seem most of the sounds came from? Which direction. I closed my eyes and thought about it. Where did the sounds come from? Which direction? “well,” I said, thoughtfully, “ it seemed like it came from both directions. Almost like surround sound.”

Duo nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. All these halls lead to the same place.. Like a lunch room or auditorium. “
I do remember hearing a lot of voices and it sounded like silverware.” A sudden thought popped into my head.. ”not silverware but tools…. They sere building something weren’t they?”

Duo nodded and smirked. ”Yeah, and I’d venture to guess a mobile suit would be the answer.”

I grinned. ”Well, let’s see if they left a screw or something behind!”

To be continued!!