Part 5 ====================================================================== [Relena's office] 
As a stark naked Duo Maxwell stared at a bound and gagged Relena Peacecraft with a positively malevolent grin on his face, she realized that she was -- as one uncouth clod had once bluntly, but accurately stated -- 'hip deep in shit'. 

--------------------------------------------- [OZ command center] Controlled panic was slowly creeping through the duty officers. 

"The perimeter sensors are malfunctioning!" 

"I'm not getting any readings on radar!" The lights flickered. 

"Primary power grid is down! Backup generators online!" The lights flickered again. 
"I can't contact the eastern guard posts!" "Backup generators in sectors 1, 6, 10 are down!" "We've lost contact with Mobile Suit team Fox-Tango-2!" Lady Une was not a happy woman.

 -------------------------------------------- [in Treize's suite] 

Wufei staggered out of the bathroom to find Treize leisurely reclining in a comfortable chair while Zechs appear to be dozing on the bed. Although he had gotten rid of a lot of the alcohol he'd so imprudently chugged down, he was still quite drunk -- drunk enough to feel rather reckless and careless. 

Treize took a sip of cognac and said casually, "My darling little beastling, you never did explain what was going on with Relena and Duo Maxwell." 

Wufei shrugged irritably as he weaved his way across the floor. "I don't know. The crazy female's been chasing Heero all over the place, shamelessly throwing herself at him, and basically making a total fool of herself. But this time, she shows up and starts screaming that Maxwell's some sort of demon. She claims to have had proof and a witness to all this, but then says that some monster dog ATE both of them!" The Chinese pilot whirled around and scowled belligerently at Zechs. "I hope this sort of madness doesn't run in your family!" 

Zechs turned his head, gave Treize a long speaking glance, then said mildly, "But what if she's right?" 

"Wha-What!?" sputtered Wufei in inebriated outrage. 

In a lazy voice, Trieze murmured, "You know, I've always wondered about Maxwell. There's something positively uncanny about that boy and that damned Gundam of his." 

Zechs chimed in with a murmured, "Indeed...." 

"After all, he has the eeriest way of popping up out of nowhere." 

Wufei uttered a disgusted growl. "That's a perfectly rational explanation. He has excellent electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment. Any idiot could tell you that!" 

Treize slowly swirled the cognac around in his glass. "No, there has to be much more than that. Or if it is simply a matter of ECM, whatever equipment he has is several orders of magnitude better than anything I've ever heard of." 

"Maybe he does!" Even though he was thoroughly drunk, Wufei wasn't about to go babbling classified information about his comrades' Gundams. Although, Treize did have a point.... Wufei hastily shook his head and instantly regretted it as the room tilted. 

"Electronic jamming is perfectly feasible -- any idiot could manage it -- but that doesn't explain how that Deathscythe Gundam of his can get inside heavily guarded facilities virtually undetected," Treize murmured as he suppressed a sly grin. 

As if on cue, Zech lazily murmured, "Almost like a ghost...." 

"And that scythe of his... it's just not possible to use thermal blades underwater like he does." 

Wufei shouted, "Don't tell me you're actually buying into that crazy female's fantasy!? Will you listen to yourselves? Two grown men suggesting that there's something supernatural about that joker Duo Maxwell AND his Gundam!?" 

Zechs blithely ignored the Chinese pilot's outburst. "All our test data shows that it's physically impossible to effectively operate thermal blades underwater. All the energy would go into vaporizing the water. There certainly wouldn't be enough power left over to slice a Mobile Suit in half." 

"I don't believe this!" Wufei shouted, a muscle twitching in his cheek. "There are no such things as ghosts, demons, or monsters!" 

Treize grinned playfully. "That's a fine thing to say, considering that your clan claims to be the direct descendents of dragons." 

"That's DIFFERENT! Dragons are not folktales or legends dreamed up by ignorant peasants huddled around campfires! Demons and ghosts, indeed!" Wufei folded his arms and turned his back on the whole discussion. 

"Well, if I might paraphrase a quote from a famous play, 'there are more things on heaven and earth than dreamed of in your philosophy', my little dragon." 

"RI-DIC-ulous!" Wufei said firmly. 

Zechs and Treize exchanged another significant look, then Treize got up a bit painfully and strolled over to Wufei's side. "Come, come... don't tell me that a clan as old as yours doesn't have stories about strange happenings... visitations from long dead ancestors... places that remain bone-chilling cold no matter how warm the weather is... foreboding omens...." 

"Stop it!" Wufei hissed, hunching his shoulders defensively. 

Zechs murmured, "Treize, I DO believe the lad protests too much...." 

Treize continued in that soft, coaxing voice of his. "There's no shame in admitting it. Most ancient families, like mine and Milliard's, have their own share of strange tales." 

"That's right. In my family's home castle, the servants said that a mysterious lady dressed in blue could be seen roaming the grounds, searching for the grave of her still-born child," Zech said cheerfully. 

"I'm not listening to this...." Wufei said in almost a sing-song voice, as he stared with forced nonchalance at the ceiling. 

"And I know that particular legend's true," Zechs added smugly. 

"Oh?" Treize murmured with a raised eyebrow. 

"And how's that?" 

"Because I saw her myself one night when I was a child. I chased her for some distance. Then she walked out onto a pond and vanished. Poof!" said the OZ pilot with a snap of his fingers. 

Treize circled around Wufei and murmured, "Actually, I've heard something similar about this estate...." 

"I-don't-want-to-hear-it...." 

"You've noticed it, too," Zechs said. Behind Wufei's back, he gave Treize a wicked wink. "Things moving around with no explanation...?" 

"The unexpected power and equipment failures? That's right." Treize was fascinated that Wufei, who had previously been looking rather flushed from the alcohol, was now starting to look extremely pale and twitchy. 

"Treize, if this is some game of yours...." 

"It's no game. I can pull the maintenance and report logs for you. They're littered with strange little occurrences." 

Actually, it was all perfectly true. There HAD been some odd things going on ever since the estate had been taken over by OZ... but only a few more than normal. Maybe the estate WAS haunted, but that didn't bother Treize too much. His childhood home had been packed with various ghosts and other things that went bump in the night. He could tell some truly hair-raising tales.... "My dear dragon, you're looking a trifle pale. Is something wrong?" 

Behind Wufei's back, Treize could see Zechs' hand silently moving toward the bedside table... and the light controls for the room. 

"What do you mean pale?" Wufei blurted out, now looking positively jittery. Normally, if sober, he would have been able to dismiss the whole matter with a contemptuous sneer. However, with his brain still befuddled with all the alcohol still floating around in his body, Wufei Chang's common sense had taken a flying leap out the window. 

"Are you sure? Perhaps you should go back to the...." Treize's words abruptly stopped short. 

"What? What!? WHAT!?!?" shouted the obviously rattled Chinese pilot. The OZ general's eyes widened slightly and he slowly pointed behind Wufei. The boy went very still. 

Just as he started to turn, the bedroom was suddenly plunged into pitch black darkness.

"IIIIYYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!" 

-------------------------------------------- [OZ command center] 

"Backup generators in sectors 2, 5, 7, 15 to 20 are now down!" 

"There's reports of unexplained power surges in the computer systems. The techs are trying to maintain the integrity of the mainframes but they don't know how long they can do it!" 

"Lady Une, our sensors are dead! All I'm getting through radar and the video cameras is static." Then everything whited out when a tremendous bolt of lightning danced before their eyes.

 -------------------------------------------- [Relena's office] 

Duo Maxwell, wearing nothing more than his long, unbraided hair and that nasty little grin, calmly walked past the both terrified and outraged Relena. He perched on the arm of the loveseat, then with an oddly soft expression on his face, he leaned over to gently touch Quatre's cheek He got no response. 

 

Apparently satisfied, he reached over and yanked the sodden wad of pantyhose out of Relena's mouth. As she took a deep breath, he said with a smirk, "You can scream all you want. No one's going to hear you." 

 

Relena gave it her best shot, but unlike other times, Duo didn't even twitch a muscle. Finally, with her throat starting to ache, Relena gave up for the moment. "Did you kill him?" she said in a quavering voice, tossing her head in Quatre's direction. 

 

Maxwell looked insulted. "Why would I do something like that? Oh no. I just used a little trick from a cousin of mine," he said with a careless shrug of his bare shoulders. 

 

"Cousin? You have relatives?" Relena looked horrified. 

 

"Yeah, I got relatives. Didn't you know? I'm Shinigami and Sleep's the first cousin of Death." 

 

Relena simply looked baffled, then sputtered, "Have you no shame!?" 

 

Duo lifted his arms over his head and stretched sensuously. With a husky laugh, he said, "Oh, you mean this? Come on, Relena. Get with the program! Here you are calling me an evil, soul-sucking demon and you expect me to feel ashamed about not wearing clothes?" 

 

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, as if she was trying to think of some scathing retort. Finally, she sputtered, "You... you... you sick, perverted, lecherous FIEND!" 

 

Duo loosely gathered his long, chestnut hair in one hand and grinned. "Is that the best you can do?" 

 

She glared at him. "Excuse me! *I* am a well-bred lady!" 

 

"Aw, hell... I'm sure THAT'S really put me in my place!" Duo retorted with a snigger. 

 

She lifted her chin and with an air of martyrdom that would have put Joan of Arc to shame, Relena said defiantly, "Do your worst to my body, you monster! But you won't break me!" 

 

Duo stared at her for a long moment, then toppled of the loveseat arm onto the floor, laughing hysterically. "You... you... you think that I would... that I'd...." It took several minutes for him to catch his breath, but Duo finally managed to stop laughing long enough to point at her and choke out, "Listen! You couldn't PAY me enough to put my so-called slimy paws on you! Christ! Where do you get your dialogue? From Z-grade movies?" 

 

Relena wasn't sure whether she should feel offended or relieved. 

 

"Nope! No way, no how...." 

 

"I GOT the POINT!" she shouted at him. After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she said with a regal sniff, "Well, if you're not going to do THAT, then I suppose you're going to torture me before taking my life." 

 

Grinning wickedly, Duo said brightly, "Why, it almost sounds like you actually WANT me to do it! I'm shocked! I never realized that you were into that sort of thing, Miss 'I-am-the-perfect-lady' Peacecraft!" 

 

For a second, judging from the alarming shade of Relena's face, it seemed as if she was about to expire from apoplexy. "YOU... YOU... YOU...!!!" she sputtered in fury. 

 

"Yeah yeah. I know, 'you pervert, you beast, you diabolical monster, yadda-yadda-yadda...." he drawled, looking rather bored. "Ohhh!!!!" 

 

-------------------------------------------- 

Elsewhere on Treize's estate, Heero and Trowa were inconspicuously making their way toward the computer center. With all the commotion caused by the electrical outrages and people rushing about, they blended easily into the chaos. 

 

Heero said, "I'll deal with the mainframe. Check the maintenance area and see if you can find some clothes for Duo." Trowa gave the Wing pilot a critical stare, then nodded once. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Relena's office] 

"That's NOT what I meant!" Relena snarled. "But if anything happens to me, you're going be hunted down like the beast you are, even if it means chasing you to the edges of space!" She smiled cunningly. "Yes, why don't you kill me? If it takes my death to snap Heero out of your spell, I'll be glad to die!" 

 

"Oh please! Don't tell me we're back to THAT topic again!" Duo muttered, rolling his violet eyes. 

 

"Well, if you're going to do anything, you'd better hurry. People are going to be looking for me soon...." 

 

With a malicious grin, he said, "No, they won't. Believe me, everyone's way too busy to worry about someone like YOU. And even if they did, no one's going to be able to get into this office unless I want them to." 

 

"My secretary will be back any moment now. When she finds out that she can't get inside, she's going to...." 

 

Duo gave Relena an eerie smile as he walked over to one of the filing cabinets near the secretary's desk, opened a drawer, and reached inside. "No... I don't think so." 

 

When he turned around, Relena's eyes bulged as he took two steps and calmly placed the decapitated head of her secretary on the coffee table in front of her. Although the dead woman's eyes were open, her expression seemed strangely peaceful. However, Relena was in no condition to appreciate that fact. 

 

After her horrified screams finally died down again, she babbled, "Why....!?" 

 

Duo stopped smiling. In an icy voice, he snapped, "Because she was a spy who was feeding information to an extremist faction within OZ. This woman has been steadily leaking all that information that you've so carelessly and blatantly gathered on Heero's movements and activities to her superiors." 

 

"A... a spy?" 

 

He stalked toward the sofa and leaned over her, pinning Relena's shoulders down. "Do you have ANY idea how many times you've nearly managed to get Heero killed in the last three weeks!? Five of our last seven missions were blown to hell because of your carelessness and stupidity!" He gave her a hard shake. "Haven't you ever heard of the word 'discretion'? How about 'secrecy'!? If it wasn't bad enough to have you and your merry little entourage trailing after us all the time, I bet it never even occurred to you to bother hiding all that information you found, did it? No, you just left this detailed data on a known terrorist scattered all over your desk for absolutely ANYONE to see!" 

 

"I... I didn't mean to...," she stammered. 

 

"You didn't mean to. HA!" Duo shoved her backwards and stalked away in disgust. 

 

"I just... wanted to find Heero...." Relena said in a near-whimper. "How can you possibly know... I needed to see him... talk to him... I had to keep trying to get him to UNDERSTAND... to make him admit how he felt about me!" 

 

Duo stood with his back turned for several minutes, then chuckled quietly. He turned around to face her and said with an odd little smirk, "Now that I think about it, it's rather funny...." 

 

"There's nothing funny about this!" she shouted. 

 

"Oh yes, there is. I just realized that you and I are sort of in the same boat. Ensnared and seduced by a pair of beautiful dark blue eyes...." 

 

"It's... it's not like that!" He gave her a highly skeptical stare. 

 

"Oh really? Then why were you trying to steal a kiss from Heero while he was unconscious, huh?" 

 

"It's much more than just... tawdry SEX...," she snapped as she glared at the nude Duo. "But what on earth could an evil, heartless creature like you know about love!? About two kindred spirits being drawn together by destiny! But I do! I knew there was something special about him the very first time I saw him!" 

 

Duo shook his head ruefully. "Heero really has no idea what he does to people." 

 

Relena added in a near-whine, "And I saw him first!" 

 

Maxwell's violet eyes narrowed dangerously. "What the hell does THAT have to do with Heero's feelings? It's not a matter of 'first come, first served'!" 

 

"I saw him first!" she repeated stubbornly. 

 

He shook his head irritably, sending his long chestnut hair flying. "But if that's the only way you can understand the situation, then I have to tell you that you lose... by about ten years!" "

 

"Wha-what!?" Duo stared almost blindly over Relena's head. 

 

"He was barely six years old... a little, skinny kid with that same wild mop of dark hair and those burning blue eyes.... He was holding a detonator in his hand and carrying a pistol that almost seemed bigger than he was," he murmured wistfully. "I was surprised that he could see me. But what really got me was that he instantly knew who I was, but he wasn't afraid. That's so unusual, especially for someone so young." Duo looked down at her. "Have you ever seen him smile, Relena? I don't mean that maniacal grin of his. I mean, REALLY smile...?" 

 

"I... I...," she mumbled as she racked her brain. 

 

"Believe me, if you had, you'd remember it. I've seen Heero smile, Relena. And after all this time, I still think it's the most beautiful thing in the world." 

 

-------------------------------------------- 

In a deserted security monitoring station on Treize's estate, amid row upon row of video monitors, a slim male figure sat in the darkness. Holding an headphone to his ear, he stared fixedly at the screen in front of him... the only monitor in the entire room which was not totally obscured by static. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Relena's office] 

As thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, Duo murmured pensively, "I can't help wondering whether I should have taken him that day. It would have spared him so much pain...." 

 

Relena knew that she was missing something important, but couldn't quite figure out what it was. "Taken him? What do you mean? What the hell ARE you!?" she shouted in frustration. 

 

He smiled coldly at her. "Exactly what I've been saying all along. I run, I hide, but I don't lie.... "I am Shinigami... Death." And in the next flash of lightning, the shadow of a slim, bat-winged figure danced against the wall. 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Treize's suite] 

"I think you overdid it," Zechs noted sourly as he hung over the edge of the bed and peered underneath it. 

 

Looking worried and rather guilty, Treize crouched on the floor and was also peering under the bed. "Well, how could I know he'd overreact like that!? You said it yourself! He's a Gundam pilot and a trained terrorist! Who'd think he'd be terrified of a few ghost stories. Honestly! Come out, Wufei!" 

 

Under the bed, a shaky voice uttered a faint and defiant, "NO!" 

 

Treize scowled and in an exasperated voice, he said, "We promise we won't let any of the boogie monsters get you. Zechs, turn on the lights...." 

 

The platinum-haired pilot grabbed Treize and whispered into his ear, "But I didn't turn OFF the lights!" 

 

"What!?" a startled Treize whispered back. 

 

"Shhh! I was about to, but the lights went off by themselves. And I've already tried turning them back on, but they're not working. The power's out... I think." 

 

Treize hauled himself to his feet, stalked over to his desk, and hit the intercom. Using audio only, he snapped, "Lady Une! What the devil's going on?" 

 

In a barely understandable voice, she replied, "....sorry, sir... system failures... electrical disturbances... erratic security... doors jammed...." 

 

"Sabotage?" 

 

"No sign...." The rest of her words were lost in a crackle of static and white noise. 

 

Treize quickly made his way to the door to his suite and tried to open it. It didn't budge. 

 

"Try the manual release," said Zechs. That didn't work either. 

 

The OZ general stared disgruntledly at the obstinate door and the barred windows of his suite for several moments, then he went to light some candles. In a resigned voice, he said, "Well, it looks like we're stuck here for the duration." He raided his liquor cabinet and headed back to the bedroom. The flickering light from the candelabra barely managed to pierce the heavy gloom. "Very romantic atmosphere, wouldn't you say? But I don't think that either of us is up to any more strenuous physical activity today. So, why don't we try something a little more relaxing?" Treize added as he started a fire in the fireplace. 

 

"We can't just leave Wufei cowering and whimpering under the bed!" Zechs objected as he pulled up the bedskirt to take another peek at the Gundam pilot. They both heard a low, buzzing snore, broken by the occasional muffled honking noise. "On second thought, I guess we can," Zechs muttered. 

 

"It's said that when one has lemons, make lemonade," Treize said airily. Gesturing expansively at the darkened room, the merrily burning fire, and the raging thunderstorm outside the barred windows, he said cheerfully, "Well, Milliard... do you know any good ghost stories?" 

 

-------------------------------------------- [Relena's office] 

Relena's eyes simply could not go any wider. "So...." Her breath caught in her throat. 

 

"So what am I going to do with you? To you?" 

 

She nodded slowly. 

 

"Nothing." 

 

Relena blinked, then stammered, "But what about the...." 

 

"The pictures?" Duo smiled faintly, reached back inside the file cabinet drawer, and pulled out a folder. "You mean these?" he murmured, holding up a photo. 

 

She flinched. "Yes...." 

 

Taking a look at the picture, he said casually, "Do you know that long ago, people believed that you could sometimes capture psychic impressions in photographs? They ran around taking pictures of haunted houses, looking for ghosts and that sort of thing. They were partially right -- the most unexpected truths can turn up in pictures. What they didn't know is that you have to be sensitive to those types of auras yourself in order to clearly see the psychic images in the photos -- otherwise, all a person will see are some weird blurs." 

 

"You're trying to tell me...." 

 

"That if you showed these photos to most people, at best they'd probably see some very blurry pictures of me stabbing someone in an alleyway with a very mundane knife. And that's it. Somewhat incriminating, I admit, but hardly shocking considering my job as a Gundam pilot." 

 

"But... but... I can clearly...!" 

 

"It's kinda like being able to see a special wavelength of light. You can see it, but others can't. I have to confess that it was a real surprise to me to find out that YOU, of all people, could perceive the image of my true aura. You never struck me as being the most sensitive or perceptive of people. Now Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei all have more than a little psychic ability of their own, but not the right type. However, if Heero could see the real me once before, he could probably do it again." 

 

"And you're afraid that he would recognize you for what you really ARE!" 

 

"Yes." 

 

"And the skeleton... the robes... the scythe...!" 

 

Duo smiled enigmatically. "Everyone has their own particular vision of Death. You see a terrifying black-robed skeleton. I imagine Heero would see something... rather different." 

 

"So you did all this to discredit me!?" Relena screamed. 

 

"Discredit you?" Duo said with a snort. "You managed to do that yourself without the slightest help from me! I really didn't have to do a thing except trim off some loose ends. As for these pictures... well, it was really just a weird stroke of luck that this photographer managed to catch my real self on film. It occasionally happens." he said with a shrug. 

 

Relena cringed as the photographs in Duo's hand ignited in a flash of green flame and vanished. There wasn't even a trace of ash left behind. 

 

"And with both the photos and the negatives gone, you're left with a big fat zero. You can play Cassandra all you want -- it'll be your word against mine. And I think we both know who's going to win that contest." She cowered back as Duo sat down beside her on the sofa. "You know, I was all set to kill you for all the trouble and danger you've put Heero through, especially with that moronic kidnapping attempt...." 

 

Relena's terrified gaze drifted back to the decapitated head of her secretary sitting on her coffee table. 

 

"But I've changed my mind. I've decided to let you live, even though that's not necessarily a mercy." 

 

"Wh-Why?" 

 

"Why am I sparing your life?" Duo gave her an oddly sad smile. "I'd never thought that I'd have occasion to be grateful to you, Relena... but I am. Because of what you did to Heero today... even though he was drugged out of his mind, I still got to hear Heero say that he loved me. And for that, I can forgive nearly anything." 

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