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Scenes 21 thru 25	By : shini0angel Category: Gundam Wing/AC > General Views: 370 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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A Clown�s Goodbye

Trowa
looked around the circus. It was his home
and he enjoyed his being there with Catherine and the animals. He loved Catherine, he really did. She had done so much for him and she took
good care of him even though they were not really brother and sister.

He stepped
into the lion�s cage; they had been restless that night so much so they had
woken him. He sat next to the largest
male at his side calmly stroking his mane.
The big cat seemed to lean into the touch and the other cats began to
finally settle down. Trowa looked at the
night sky on the Colony of L3-XP1. The
artificial sun would be rising in a few hours; there was no point in returning
to his tiny trailer when he could just sleep with the cats.

�Trowa,�
Catherine�s voice woke him from where he had been leaning against the big cat�s
back. �Get out of there! They could have mauled you.�

�They
won�t,� Trowa said calmly, coming into wakefulness in no time.

Catherine was
not happy with him, he could tell. Trowa
carefully extracted himself from the group of cats and left their enclosure. He knew that he had needlessly worried her
again and he felt bad for doing so.
Hopefully she would not stay upset for long.

He thought
back to Sylvia�s vid-call from last week.
He was not quiet sure what to do about it but she was right, she needed
him to be on Earth and while they were not close he respected her and wanted to
help. Trowa decided to call Quatre after
breakfast, Quatre would have a better idea of what to do.

�I just
worry Trowa,� Catherine said by way of apology as they headed back to her
trailer. �I don�t mean to snap at you
but it scared me to see you in there asleep when any one of those cats might
turn on you.�

�They won�t
though Catherine,� Trowa said. �They
don�t mind me.�

Catherine
gave him a funny look but said nothing for which he was glad. It was not that he did not like speaking with
her but she had never been able to understand his willingness to go into the
dangerous animals� cages and feel totally at ease with them. Even their trainers were not as confident as
he was and he stayed in with them longer than everyone else.

They
entered into Catherine�s trailer and she pulled two plates she had been keeping
warm out of the oven. Trowa�s had more
food on it naturally since Catherine was always saying that he was too
thin. Trowa cleared his plate, even
eating the toast with butter on it even though he preferred his dry or with a
tiny bit of strawberry jam. He took both
the plates and washed them in the sink for Catherine, leaving them in the rack
to air dry.

�I�m going
to call Quatre,� Trowa said and he left the trailer to head to his own nearby.

His trailer
was small, big enough for two people to sleep in and big enough to keep his
computer and a few firearms and clothing.
It was always locked when he was not in it to keep people out. He especially did not want Catherine poking
around in there and finding his weapons, she would accuse him of not being able
to let go of his past. That was not
true, he had let go of his past even though it was a part of who he was it did
not control him.

He pulled
out his state of the art vid-phone, a gift from Quatre and dialed the blond
Arabian�s office number. He was sure
that Quatre would be in the office and his guess turned out to be correct.

�Hello
Quatre Winner here,� Quatre�s face finally popped up on screen wearing a polite
business smile which quickly turned into a happy grin. �Trowa!
How are you?�

�I�m well,�
Trowa said with a slight smile. �And you
Quatre?�

�I�m good,�
Quatre said happily. �A lot of work just
like always but I�m used to that.�

Trowa
merely nodded. Quatre always had a lot
of work; he was the head of WEI.

�I�m
thinking of relocating to Earth for a while,� Trowa told the blond. �But I�m still not sure if I should.�

�What aren�t
you sure about?� Quatre asked with a gentle frown.

�Catherine
and our mutual friend,� Trowa said.

�Well in
the case of our mutual friend I�m sure you could just send him a key and leave
plenty of ration bars and water in your trailer,� Quatre suggested. �As for Catherine, you�ll have to make up
your own mind there. Have you told her
what you�re thinking about?�

�No,� Trowa
shook his head.

�You should
tell her Trowa,� Quatre said softly.
�It�s the right thing to do.�

Trowa
nodded. �I will once I make up my mind.�

�If you
need a place to stay you�re more than welcome to stay with me,� Quatre offered
eagerly. �I haven�t seen any of you for
so long.�

�That would
be nice,� Trowa commented.

There was a
long stretch of silence. It was not in
any way uncomfortable just companionable.

�I think I
should go and talk with Catherine,� Trowa finally spoke. �I�ll be leaving tonight. Is it all right if I come there straight
away?�

�Of course
Trowa,� Quatre said enthusiastically.
�I�ll warn the Maguanacs ahead of time to expect you.�

�Goodbye
Quatre,� Trowa gave a slight smile.

�Goodbye
Trowa,� Quatre said with a smile.

Trowa
disconnected the call. He dialed another
number, one he had memorized but had never called before.

�Who the
hell is it?� A sleepy voice answered.

�Shinigami,�
Trowa said with only a hint of amusement.

�Tro, that
you?� Shinigami�s face came into view, violet eyes blinking the sleep from
them. �Hey man what�s up?�

�I�m
heading to Earth for a while,� Trowa informed him. �I just thought you should know. I�ll mail Troy
a key to my trailer for you. I�m leaving
it stocked with ration bars and water if you ever need a place to hide
out. Catherine will also keep you safe.�

�Are you
sure she doesn�t hate me?� Shinigami asked with a smile.

�Positive
she doesn�t,� Trowa said.

Shinigami
nodded and cut the call. Trowa turned
off his vid-phone and left his trailer and went back to Catherine�s. Quatre was right; they did need to have a
talk about his plans. He did not want to
worry her.

Trowa
approached Catherine�s trailer with a bit of trepidation. He was worried about her reaction of his
choice to move to Earth for a while. He
still could not define how long he would be gone and he knew that she would not
take that well at all. Trowa mentally
berated himself for being afraid of her reaction; he would go regardless of
what she thought best, he needed to do this.

Trowa
knocked on the door and silently stood waiting for her to open it and invite
him in. The blue door swung open and
Catherine looked expectantly at Trowa before moving back up the two stairs to
give Trowa room to come inside. He shut
the tiny door behind him.

�You�re
leaving again aren�t you?� Catherine asked looking sad.

�I need to,�
Trowa stated softly.

�Why?�
Catherine demanded. �Why can�t you ever
just stay in one place Trowa?�

He had no
answer to that. He did not know why
himself.

Catherine
shook her head, auburn curls getting into her face. She angrily brushed them away again.

�So, how
long will you be gone this time?� Catherine asked her anger seeping quickly
away but Trowa knew it would come bounding back soon enough.

�I don�t
know Cathy,� Trowa answered.

�How can
you not know?� Catherine looked at him, her eyes flashing with anger.

�I just
don�t,� Trowa said. �There are things I
need to do but I don�t know how long it will take Cathy. I need to help Dorothy and some other
friends. I can�t stay here any longer
Catherine.�

Catherine
sighed and nodded. She understood even
though she did not want to Trowa to go.

�Will you
at least call me to let you know you�re all right and doing well?� Catherine
asked hopefully.

�Of
course,� Trowa agreed. �But there is
something you can do for me Cathy, something that you can�t tell anyone
about. Can you do that? Not tell the Preventers or anyone else?�

�I can
Trowa,� Catherine stated with conviction.

Trowa
believed her. Catherine was nothing if
not loyal, far more than he deserved from a sister. He loved her for it.

�If you see
Duo Maxwell around here hide him,� Trowa said slowly and quietly. �I�ve sent him a key to my trailer. If he ever shows up for any reason to use it
let him. Can you do that?�

He never
added any words that made her feel like she would be doing this for him. He did not want her to feel forced to do it
out of her love and protectiveness for him.
That would make him feel even worse and he felt bad enough over leaving
her for an extended period of time.
Trowa could not help but worry for her and he knew that she would be
doing the same for him.

�I�ll do
it,� Catherine promised. �But can you
tell me why?�

�It�s
really complicated Cathy,� Trowa shook his head. �I don�t want you involved any more than you
need to be. It�s too dangerous and the
less you know the safer you�ll be.�

Catherine
nodded. She could accept that. At least this time her brother was giving her
something to do, letting her in on an important task. It was something he had never done before and
even though she knew next to nothing she still knew more than she had the other
two times Trowa had left.

�When do
you leave?� Catherine asked as Trowa turned for the door.

�Tonight,�
Trowa told her turning back around.
�I�ll be staying with Quatre for a while.�

Catherine
nodded. She gave him a tight hug,
holding him close. Trowa put his arms
lightly around her. He could smell the
shampoo she used as her auburn curls tickled under his nose. She smelled like flowers, always like
flowers. He liked that about her, it was
comforting.

Trowa went
back to his own trailer. He packed a
duffle bag full of clothes. He did not
take much. Trowa knew Quatre well enough
to know that the blond Arabian would insist on loading him down with part of a
new wardrobe and whatever else he needed.
He did not depend on the generosity nor did he need it but Quatre liked
to do little things like that for his friends and Trowa would not deprive him
of the need to feel needed. Everyone
required that sometimes.

Trowa
caught a cab to the shuttle port. He
paid for his ticket in cash and waited around for an hour before boarding the
shuttle that would take him to Earth. He
was looking forward to seeing Quatre and he planned to call Sylvia once he was
settled.

He leaned
back in his seat, preparing for the long shuttle ride. There was a stop over briefly in South
Africa before continuing on to New Capitol
in what had formally been part of France
and Italy. He felt safe sleeping on the shuttle. He was traveling under his circus identity of
Triton Bloom and there were no pictures of the Gundam Pilots that had been
released to the press.

Several
long hours later he was shaken awake by a smiling stewardess.

�Excuse me
Mr. Bloom,� The stewardess said politely.
�We�re about to enter the atmosphere and land in South
Africa for our stop over. Please fasten your ��

Before she
could complete the standard phrase the shuttle suddenly received a violent
jolt. Trowa stood like a shot and looked
around the shuttle. He noticed that two
of the other stewardesses up in the front were looking worriedly at the
cockpit. Trowa frowned to himself. He had felt the pilot veer off course
slightly and have to correct himself numerous times while he had been
dozing. He could tell that whoever the
pilot was they were not at all experienced.

�Mr. Bloom
please remain in your seat,� The stewardess looked agitated.

Trowa shook
her soft hand off his arm and strode towards the cockpit. The stewardess followed demanding he go back
to his seat and put on his belt. The
shuttle gave another hard jerk and Trowa anchored an arm around the stewardess,
planting his feet firmly. He hardly
moved and then the shuttle stabilized itself.

�He�s going
to kill us all,� Trowa said dispassionately.
�His alignment for re-entry is too far off. He�ll burn us during re-entry.�

Several of
the passengers began to panic. Trowa
resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
There was still time to correct the problem, if he could get himself
into the cockpit and behind the pilot�s chair.

�Keep them
calm,� Trowa instructed her.

The girl
nodded, happy to have something to do.
The other two stewardesses looked at him as he approached the cockpit
door. He stared at the security panel
that controlled the lock and wished for Shinigami to be there with his tools
but Trowa had learned a few things from him.

He pried
the cover off and stared hard at the multitude of wires behind it. Carefully he unplugged one of the blue wires
and stripped it with his teeth stilling briefly as the shuttle gave yet another
violent lurch. He then took one of the
yellow wires and repeated the process and then took a red one stripping it as
well. He crossed them together and heard
the lock click to open the door. He
pulled the cockpit door open and stared at the captain and co-pilot who were
tied up and unconscious.

Trowa
silently moved into the cockpit. He
finally saw two armed men seated in the chairs, hard looks of concentration on
their faces.

�The boss
will be happy to see us,� The one in the captains chair said.

�If we get
there alive,� The second retorted.

�We will,�
The first said. �I took some classes
remember?�

�Classes
aren�t enough you moron,� Trowa stated calmly.

The two
turned in surprise. Trowa punched out
the one flying the shuttle first. The
second paled when he saw how easily his companion went down. Before he could try and deflect the same blow
it landed on the side of his face. Trowa
removed them both from their seats.

�Could the
two of you please come here for a moment?� Trowa asked sticking his head
outside the cockpit.

The two
confused stewardesses stood and came timidly over. They both paled in shock when they saw the
pilot and co-pilot were unconscious as were the two other men.

�I want you
to find some zip-ties and bind up these two men and then one of you needs to
look after the pilot and co-pilot,� Trowa instructed calmly.

�But who�s
going to land the shuttle?� One worriedly asked. �Re-entry has already begun.�

�I will,�
Trowa said the words softly as he turned back and placed himself in the pilot�s
chair.

He stared
at the readings of altitude and their angle and rate of descent. He adjusted the angle and slowed their rate
slightly. He held the yoke tightly in
his hands. He knew that even with his
corrections it was going to be a bumpy re-entry. The idiot who had been piloting the shuttle
had screwed it up too badly for him to correct for a perfect landing now.

Trowa
stayed calm keeping a tight hold.

�It�s going
to be bumpy,� He called back to the stewardesses. �Secure your captain and co-pilot and make
sure all the passengers are in their seats with their belts on.�

The two
nodded. They moved the captain and
co-pilot into the deadhead seats, fastening the belts around them before
leaving to check on the passengers.
Trowa held the yoke as steady as he could. He did not have much margin for error. A few minutes later and the ordeal was
over. He looked at his hands, they were
not even clammy.

He plotted
the correct course for South Africa.

�Excuse
me,� Trowa called out again and one of the stewardesses appeared. �What shuttle port are we supposed to land
at?�

�Johannesburg,�
The stewardess answered.

�Thank
you,� Trowa nodded before adjusting a few things on the controls.

He piloted
the shuttle and landed it at Johannesburg
after telling the control tower what had taken place they had given him the
clearance for an emergency landing.
Trowa grabbed his bag from the overhead compartment above his seat. Several of the passengers cheered when they
were sure the shuttle had stopped moving.

�Thank you
so much Mr. Bloom,� A stewardess said.

�I don�t
want thanks,� Trowa said. �I just want
to get out of here and on my way to my destination.�

The
stewardess looked a little shocked but she nodded, �There�s an emergency ladder
this way.�

She took
him to a food preparation area and opened the hatch for him tossing down the
ladder. Trowa nodded gratefully and
disappeared down it quickly. He got away
before the emergency crews were all over it.

Trowa
entered the shuttle port and caught his connecting flight to New Capitol. There were no problems on this flight but he
wondered about the two men who had attempted to hijack the shuttle. He caught a cab to Quatre�s arriving late
that same night. Rashid opened the door
and brought him inside.

�How are
you Master Trowa?� Rashid asked. �We
discovered the attempted shuttle hijacking and worried for you but you made it
here in one piece.�

�Trowa,�
Quatre yelled when he spotted the taller boy.

The blond
Arabian walked up quickly and clasped his arm in a friendly gesture.

�You did a
great thing with that shuttle earlier today you know,� Quatre smiled. �But I understand your reluctance to avoid
publicity. If I could I would probably
avoid it as well. Come, I�d like you to
meet some of my sisters.�

Trowa
followed after Quatre into a large office room.
A large table with chairs stood on one side of the room. The other side held state of the art
communications and electronic equipment as well as a rather large desk with
plenty of filing cabinets and along with three other smaller desks. The room itself would have held a little more
than fifty people.

�Trowa this
is Naadira she heads WEI here on Earth for me,� Quatre began
introductions. �She�s also the oldest of
us. This is my sister Sumiya; she is
vice-chairperson of WEI on Earth. Next
to her is Jaffa the third eldest
and family matriarch. And this is
Lilah.�

Trowa
studied Naadira. She had black hair and
tan skin but bright green eyes. Sumiya
had black hair, white skin and blue eyes.
Jaffa had brown hair, skin
and eyes. Lilah looked quite a bit like
Quatre only her hair was light brown but their eyes were almost exactly the
same.

�I�m Trowa
Barton,� Trowa introduced himself.

Trowa
looked over at Quatre who merely smiled and nodded.

�We fought
in the wars together,� Trowa finished.

Naadira and
Jaffa both gave him gentle smiles
while the other two sisters nodded in understanding.

�Now we�re
all here to discuss Dorothy Catalonia,� Quatre said briskly taking a seat and
Trowa seated himself beside the blond.
�Naddira, Sumiya can WEI be used in any way to benefit her?�

�We could
hire a WEI lawyer to work with her own attorney,� Sumiya suggested.

�We could
use the media as well,� Naadira added.
�A WEI spokesperson could give interviews on WEI�s stance on this
issue. And if you wanted Quatre we could
refuse to do business with anyone who support�s Dodd�s cause to try Dorothy
Catalonia.�

�That would
certainly send a strong message,� Quatre said.
�I think we should use that at a later date however. We�ll use the media and see if Nils is
receptive to receiving help from a WEI lawyer.�

The two
sisters nodded.

�I think
perhaps we should hold a formal party at the mansion just outside New Capitol,�
Jaffa said. �We can weed out the socialites who are in
favor of seeing this whole thing dropped and perhaps see if we can use them in
any way.�

�I�ve
checked with a few businesses and old WEI contacts,� Lilah added. �Bergen
supports us but my inquiries haven�t gotten anything else very solid yet.�

�Thank you
Lilah,� Quatre said with a smile. �I
appreciate it.�

Lilah gave
her brother a gentle smile. Trowa liked
all of Quatre�s sisters whenever he met one of them and these four were no
exception.

�Quatre,�
Trowa said quietly. �There�s someone I
need to call to check in and tell them I arrived safely.�

�Of
course,� Quatre said. �Well I guess
we�re done here for the evening. We�ll
get together and discuss things a little more over breakfast.�

The four
sisters nodded and left smiling shyly at Trowa.
Jaffa came up and gave him a
gentle clasp on the arm and said again that she was pleased to have met one of
Quatre�s friends. Quatre stood by the
doorway and hugged and kissed each of his sisters on the cheek. After they left he shut the door and turned
the lock behind them.

�Are you
calling our mutual friend?� Quatre asked turning back to Trowa.

�Yes,�
Trowa nodded. �There was something strange
about that attempted shuttle hijacking.�

Quatre
looked thoughtful, �The room is sound proofed and that phone on my desk is safe
to use. Do you mind if I stay or would
you prefer to be alone when you call our friend?�

�No you can
stay Quatre,� Trowa said heading over to the desk. �Let�s give our friend a call.�

Quatre
walked over and pulled another chair around the other side of his desk and took
a seat. Trowa dialed the number from
memory and they both waited patiently while the call connected. After a few seconds the phone was answered by
Shinigami and he was looking very much awake and agitated.

�Hey guys,�
Shinigami said forcing a grin on his face.
�What�s up?�

�I have
news for you,� Trowa said evenly. �I was
taking a shuttle to Earth yesterday. We
were to land in South Africa. As both of you know I use the name Triton
Bloom for my public persona so I dosed on the shuttle ride. I noticed almost right from the beginning
that the pilot didn�t seem too experienced which seemed strange since re-entry
can be a tricky thing. During the
beginning of re-entry the shuttle began lurching and I knew that we were coming
in at the wrong angle and most likely wouldn�t survive it so I broke into the
cockpit. Inside were two hijackers, they
had drugged the captain and co-pilot.
They were discussing how pleased their boss would be that they had
hijacked the shuttle and people on board successfully.�

�I don�t
know anything about that,� Shinigami frowned.
�I heard about the attempted hijacking of course but I had no idea it
was you who foiled it Tro. You slipped
away. Good for you.�

�Is someone
trying to start something?� Quatre asked.
�I can tell you know something Shinigami.�

�I was
going to report it to you soon Quatre, in the regular report,� Shinigami looked
irritated but not at either of them.
�There�s something strange going on with Colony A-00132. I can�t get any information on the mysterious
benefactor. We�ve even tried getting
people on the construction crew. They
won�t hire anyone from L2. And the two
people we managed to get on from my Earth operations were killed in �accidents�
shortly after reaching the Colony.�

�Keep your
eye on it Shinigami,� Quatre ordered.
�I�ll do the same from my end and we can collaborate anything we find
out.�

Shinigami
merely nodded. Trowa did not like the
sound of this one bit. He thought it was
highly suspicious.

�I can go
and join the construction,� Trowa offered.
�Infiltration is what I�m best at.�

�No Tro,�
Shinigami shook his head. �I�ve got a
few suspicions about this guy. And if
I�m right I don�t want any of you up on that Colony.�

�What are
you talking about?� Quatre frowned, blue eyes clouded with worry.

�Just some
thoughts Q-man,� Shinigami brushed the question off. �Nothing solid yet and I hope I�m wrong but I
don�t want to take any chances, especially not with one of us. I have a contact with the Preventers. I�ll see if I can get information from
them. If not I�ll ask you to talk with
Une and see if we can make it official.�

Quatre
nodded. Even Trowa could see the sense
in that. They spoke a little more before
disconnecting. Trowa made his way to his
room and Quatre did as well.

The L3
Pilot lay awake for several hours in his bed staring into the dark and thinking
about all the many things that could go wrong with the peace. Wufei was right; they had a mission to stand
up as heroes. He would be damned if he
would let the people forget what the Pilots had done for them this early on
after Dekim Barton.
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Scenes 21 thru 25