Disclaimers: I still don’t own GW or any of its characters.

Innocence lost, Blackness ensues
Part 9

Written by: P_M

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On my way back to the motel I noted the coming sunset, I would have to go out again very soon so I had enough time to go to the hospital and pick up some weapons. Hell time does fly whether you’re having fun or not.

At the motel I leapt off the bike and hurried to my room, I might have enough time to get a quick shower and then I would have to gather any supplies I would need tonight and book.

Stripping off my clothes I went across the room, into the bathroom, and stepped into the shower. As the warm water beat down on me I began to consider what I would nee to bring with me tonight, the listening device I had used last time I went to the hospital would still be where I had stuck it on the window. I would have to bring the rope and the headphones with me again, as well as the Magnum I wasn’t taking any chances with those damned guards in the hospital, true they were idiots but that made me even more wary of them.

With a sigh I climbed out of the shower, grabbing a towel I rubbed at my hair as I walked into the bedroom. I would definitely need to wash some of these clothes, they hadn’t started smelling yet but they might soon. I grabbed my second pair of cargo pants and put them on, along with that I put on the combat boots and the leather vest, pulling my short hair up I stuck all of the white and orange mass under the black cap. The Magnum was put back into my waistline as the boot knife went back into my boots. Walking back into the bathroom I grabbed the box of colored contacts as I went. Leaning over the sink and staring into the mirror I inserted the contacts onto my eyes. Bending my head down and blinking furiously I allowed my eyes to adjust to the contacts and then I looked up, gray eyes stared back at me, smiling I left the bathroom.

Seizing the duffle bag off the floor I opened the top and put in the laptop, the headphones, the rope, my makeshift lock picks and one of the Berettas. Giving a quick grin I threw in one of my cigarette packs too, maybe tonight I would play some mind games. With the motel room keys and the bike keys in hand I headed out the door. Starting up the bike I headed out down the road.

As I drove I allowed my mind to wander over what I would have to do tonight. L2 was home to a vast number of gun shops. Of course the owners would all have to report to the authorities if some of their weapons were stolen but I didn’t plan on stealing the weapons that would be reportable. The good thing about the L2 gun shops were their unscrupulous owners, they often sold more illegal weapons then they did legal weapons and no owner in their right mind would report to the authorities that some of their illegal weapon stock was missing. Damn I loved living on L2.

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At the hospital I parked my bike around the corner and in one of the back alleys where it would be out of sight. With the duffle bag on my shoulder I quickly ran to the one of the hospital’s wall and began my climb to one of the empty rooms, this time I had to climb up 5 stories before I found an empty room, slipping through the window I landed silently in the empty room.

Looking out into the well-lit hall I noted the entrance to the stairwell, there was no one around. I would probably have to screw around with the security cameras like I did last time. It was almost routine, much like it had been before, mess with the cameras, fool the idiot guards into leaving the stairwell long enough for me to get to the roof.

With a disgusted snort at the idiocy of the security team I tied the rope to the same generator I had last time and lowered myself to Relena’s room on the eighteenth floor. Peeking through the window I saw the exact same crowd that had been in the room last time, I wonder what they were talking about tonight. I felt happiness wash over me for a second as I looked at Relena; she looked like she was recovering extremely well.

Pulling myself away from the window, I pressed my back against the wall, reached into the duffle and pulled out the headphones, I switched them on and listened to the conversation in the room.

“Haven’t found her yet, there’s suspicion that she might not even be on the colony anymore.” Heero’s voice.

“No Heero, she’s still on the colony, I would bet my life on it.”

Heero again, “How can you be so sure Duo?”

“A few days ago I was driving and I came across this little girl walking beside the road, I offered her a ride and she refused but she told me her name was Jade Cerulean.”

“Duo what does this have to do with Hilde?” Relena’s voice questioned.

“One night not too long after that I woke up and she was standing there beside my bed looking at me and crying. I have no fucking idea how she got inside the house but she was there. I also recently received reports where a girl by the name of Jade was hanging out at the Blackroom, apparently she was seen with a man named Brick, there’s rumors that he has connections with some underground gang.”

Heero’s voice cut in, “How can you be sure that these two Jades were the same person Duo?”

“Heero this girl has fucking bleached hair with orange streaks, believe me she’s pretty recognizable. I think she knows where Hilde is. After Hilde escaped someone came into the house and took a lot of Hilde’s supplies from when she was an OZ soldier, I think it was Jade, I think she and Hilde are working together or something to that extent.”

“But Duo how can you be sure? What are you going to do about it?” Relena’s voice questioning again.

“I’m going to the Blackroom tonight, once there I going to look for Jade, if I don’t see her I’m going to find that guy Brick and see if he can tell me anything.”

Oh fuck. If Duo went and started asking questions he could screw up my whole fucking cover. If he questioned Brick I might not be able to get into the Assassin meeting.

“Duo are you sure you want to do this? This Brick guy might not be a very agreeable person, for all you know he could be a murderer.” Relena’s concerned voice cut in.

“Don’t worry Relena, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m going with you Duo, you might need help with this.”

Shit not Heero too.

“No Heero, you can’t go. You have to stay here and watch Relena, the security here sucks complete shit, we need you here, you’re the only one who can make sure that Relena really is safe.”

Yes Heero listen to Duo and keep your ass at the hospital.

“…” His silence said it all, he knew Duo was right.

“Ok, I have to go now, Relena you keep getting better ok? And Heero you keep an eye on her who knows if the psycho that did that will come back or not.” Footsteps and the sounds of a door opening and closing signified Duo’s departure.

I couldn’t afford to stay any longer and listen; if Duo was planning on going to the Blackroom tonight I would have to get there first. I couldn’t allow Duo to screw up what I had built.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” With that whispered I sped up the rope and back to the roof. Running across the roof I came to the stairwell door, I didn’t have time to play games with under qualified guards, I had to get to the Blackroom and fast. I could always get a new rope.

Instead of going into the stairwell door I tied the rope to another generator and started to climb down swiftly. The rope was long but I ran out of coil at the 8th floor, I would have to climb the wall down the rest of the way. With an indrawn breath I began to scale down the remaining eight floors, I had chosen to go down the wall of the hospital that was facing an alley; I couldn’t chance being seen by anyone below.

Luckily for me the climb was pretty damned easy, eight stories was no problem, I was just glad I hadn’t had to scale down more then ten that might have been a bit of a problem. With a speed that was probably very unwise I climbed down until I reached the second floor of the hospital from there I simply jumped down and landed stealthily on my feet in the alley below.

Turning my head I looked for anyone and saw no one, satisfied I ran in the direction of my parked motorcycle. As I ran I unbuttoned the leather vest leaving only one button still in place. Checking my pockets as I ran I checked to see if I had any money on me, I did, good.

When I came to my bike I vaulted myself onto it and revved up the engine, with a screech of the tires I sped down the street and in the direction of the Blackroom. As I drove I ripped off the black cap and shoved it in my back pocket, I prayed that Brick was there tonight, everything I had built was riding on how good of a performance I could give to him.

I made it to the Blackroom in record time, skidding to a stop in the parking lot I made my way to the front door, as I went I put a pissed off expression on my face, time to see how damned good of an actor I could be. Striding through the front door I saw Cain, with narrowed eyes I went straight to him behind the bar. When he saw me his eyes widened in surprise at my expression.

“Damn, Jade you look pissed enough to kill someone.”

“Maybe Cain, maybe. Where’s Brick? I have something to settle with that asshole.”

Still looking at me in surprise Cain motioned to the far corner of the where Brick sat alone nursing a drink, “He’s right there babe.”

Nodding my thanks I made my way over to Brick, noticing my approach Brick smiled, “Well sweet cakes what brings you back here so soon? The meeting ain’t till tomorrow night you know.”

Sitting astride a nearby stool I gave Brick one hell of a death glare, “Brick what happened?”

Brick looked a bit surprised at my words, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Plastering a sweet smile on my face, I got off of the barstool and sat on Brick’s lap, “Brick, one hell of a problem has arisen within the last few hours,” Shuddering inside from revulsion I ran my finger down Brick’s chest in a teasing matter, “Something very, very bad has happened,” my finger was joined by the rest of my hand as I reached his waist, coyly I ran my hand around the waistband, “So Brick know any rats, because a few have been scurrying about lately,” before he knew what was happening my hand had reached behind his pants and grabbed a gun hidden in the waistband. I pressed the gun barrel tightly just at the point where his ribcage ended, the smile melted off my face as a new expression came forth, one of absolute fury.

In an angry whisper I told my story, “The friggin’ Preventers are looking for me! Someone tipped them off about me being here last night! I heard rumors that one of them is one his way over here right now! Who the hell ratted on me?!” I pressed the gun harder against him.

As I spoke Brick’s eyes narrowed in rage, “Someone ratted? Nobody who knows what’s good for them would rat!” His eyes traveled down to the gun, “Now get that thing off me.”

“How the hell do I know that it wasn’t you who ratted on me? For all I know you’re some Preventer in disguise! And you say that no one would? Well guess what Brick? They did! Whoever ratted told them that I was here talking with you last night and apparently they know about your little connections too!”

“If you’re so fucking worried girly than just kill the Preventer who comes around asking!” His hands moved up and gripped my shoulders, “I told ya to get that thing off me.”

Kill Duo? Over my dead body.

In response to his hands grabbing my shoulder I jerked one shoulder out of his hand, quickly I jerked the boot knife out of my boot and pressed it against his groin, “Yeah that’s real smart Brick! Kill a Preventer! There others will more than likely know where’s he’s going and do you think that everyone in this bar will keep quiet if they see you kill him or leave with him? I doubt it! I’d have every Preventer on L2 hunting me down!” I glared Brick in the eyes, “Now get your hands off me, and I’ll move the weapons.”

“Listen up bitch! I didn’t rat on you! Now get that gun off me before we make a big ass scene that every Preventer on L2 is sure to hear about.”

“Don’t threaten me Brick! If you aren’t the one that ratted then I can guarantee you that the Preventers will come looking for you too! They’ll be asking around about you and what you do, how long do you think it will be before they find out about the Assassins? I am not interesting in going to jail Brick and I don’t think you are either.” Faking a resigned sigh I hopped off Brick’s lap, put the gun down on the table, and stuck the boot knife back into my boot, “Can you understand why I’m doing this now? Brick I’ve got too much of a past, if those Preventers get me I’ll end up spending the rest of my life in jail.” With a little sob I buried my head in Brick’s chest and allowed my shoulders to shake as if I was crying.
Nodding his head dumbly in understanding Brick accepted my apparently panicked actions, gripping my shoulders once again he pulled me away from him and looked at my wet eyes, “Yeah sure babe, I can understand that. But what the hell are we going to do about the Preventer?”

“Short of killing him? All we can really do is deny everything that they heard. Everyone knows that L2 is full of people who make up stories to make money and stir up trouble. All we have to do is make it seem as seem as if that’s what happened, some little rat who wanted to make trouble with us.”

“I guess.” Brick looked like he was about to actually pout. Was he that put out about no being able to kill a Preventer? Talk about idiocy, this man was a friggin’ meathead, he was so easy to fool.

Suddenly a silence stretched throughout the entire bar, glancing up I searched for the source of the silence, Duo had arrived. I had to get out ASAP.

Putting a panicky note in my voice I put myself behind Brick’s massive body still sitting in the stool, “Shit, Brick that’s him, I have to get the hell out of here before he spots me.” Reaching into my back pocket I pulled out the cap and shoved it on my head making sure all of my hair was out of sight.

Brick looked up at Duo, “Him? That dude with the braid? What the hell is he trying to be a friggin’ girl?”

I had to restrain myself from knocking Brick on the back of his thick head, damn it all I liked Duo’s hair, “I don’t know, I have to go now!”

Waving his hand at me Brick kept his eyes trained on Duo, “Yeah, yeah, sure I get it. I won’t tell the little freak nothin’. There’s a door that way takes you to the alley behind the bar. By the way,” Brick winked at me with a lecherous look on his face, “See you tomorrow night.”

Knowing that the problem was for now fixed I hauled in the direction of the back door and out of the Blackroom. Running around the bar I got onto my motorcycle and left the bar, I still had other stuff I needed to do.

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I drove to a gun shop that was halfway across the colony from the motel I was staying at, the place was called Gremlin’s I had remembered it from some talk a few years back while I was at OZ. When I worked around the moon base recruiting I had heard more then one anarchists I rested whispering to each other how you could always buy some of the best stuff from Gremlin’s. The shop sold some of the most dangerous, not to mention illegal, weapons in the colony. 

Parking the bike behind Gremlin’s I stepped off and headed around the shop, looking for a way in, reaching back into my pack I pulled out the lock picks. Making my way farther around the building I found a door leading from the alley into the shop. Skillfully I picked the doors lock and ghosted through the short hallway until I came into the back of the shop.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I found myself to be in the gun shop’s backroom, surrounded by. Glancing around I scanned the room for security cameras or systems of any type, I wasn’t surprised when I found none, more often then not the gun shop owners thought some dinky little metal gate at the front of the shop would put anyone who would want to rob the shop.

I swear they really need to make a law that stops idiots from breeding.

I knew weapons and ammo the illegal from legal weapons and I began to pick out the illegal ones that would meet my needs. The illegal weapons wouldn’t be in the front room, they would be somewhere in the backroom that I was now in or I would find another room nearby that would have them. Walking through the backroom I noticed a door besides the one that led to the front room, a grin spread across my face, this was the door I was looking for.

Even though there wasn’t any type of security I had to be quiet, there was always a chance that the owner lived upstairs or someone else who might have heard me pawing around. Silently I glided across the floor to the room, possibly the door to the illegal weapons did hold an alarm of some type, hopefully the owner of the shop wasn’t so stupid that he didn’t put some sort of alarm to protect his most dangerous weapons.

Touching the knob of the door I felt around the outside of it checking for wires, next I felt around the door itself touching around the outside of the door, checking along the sides and the top where door met wall. Still I found no trace of wires, reaching into my pack I pulled out the lock picks I had made and put them to the door lock.  With a simple twist the lock sprung open, twisting the knob gently I pulled open the door only a little bit enough to fit my hand through. Once my hand was inside I checked the other knob for wires of any type, finding none I opened the door the rest of the way.

Still no alarms what dumbasses.

Waking into the small room I looked around, I gave a big smile. I had been right, there was a shitload of illegal weapons stored in this room; I felt like a kid in a candy store. Going down the first isle I observed the weapons stored there waiting to see one that would catch my eye.

The first that caught my eye was a Cromium .545; that type of gun was beyond illegal; it held 35 rounds in its chamber. But what made the gun illegal was the fact that the rounds weren’t like regular ammo, when shot from the gun they didn’t spread out instead they maintained their shape, each bullet had a tiny timer within it, five seconds after the round impacted it would explode. The explosion was large enough to blow a body in half, very convenient for someone who wanted to conserve ammo and use one round per person. Grabbing the Cromium .545 I shoved it into my bag, then grabbing three large boxes of the exploding rounds I put them into my pack too.

Making my way down the next isle, I found a Broton Assault pistol, picking it up I held it in my hand and tested its weight. Brotons held 20 bullets in their magazines but each bullet was a special type of hollow tip bullet, combined with that and the gun’s immense firing power the bullet would spread into a circular wad of metal that was around ten to twelve inches in diameter, in other words it made one hell of a big hole in whatever it hit. With the amount of damage that this gun could cause it to was made illegal but damn it was handy. Grabbing the Broton and several packages of the special hollow tip bullets I put them both into my pack along with the Cromium.

Further down my eyes lit upon a small crate, quietly pulling the crate out I lifted the top and looked inside. The crate was full of MNs, mini nukes. These little nuclear bombs were the small circular pieces of metal; each had a diameter of about two to three inches and had a width of an inch. The MNs were completely high-tech, and completely illegal, two of these tiny things could take down a pretty large spaceship if they were turned up to their highest potential. Each came equipped with a tiny switch that controlled its blasting power, at the lowest setting it could take out a truck, at the highest half of a skyscraper could be blown away. The little buggers could really come in handy, they were easy to hide, and they made it through metal detectors without a hitch, very convenient for those who didn’t want to be noticed by anyone.

For a moment a contemplated about how many of the MNs I wanted to bring with me, I couldn’t use them at their full potential, I was guaranteed to be killed in the blast, however if I used them at their lowest potential they might work, but I was still worried about bringing the whole building down before I managed to get out. Shrugging I grabbed five of the MNs and put them into my bag, with a small smile I grabbed five more and stuck them into the bag too.

Slinging the pack back over my shoulder I continued my search of the room. An H&K .577 claimed my attention next, this type of gun wasn’t illegal, and however it was still considered experimental and shouldn’t have been released anyone yet, these L2 gun shop owners had some really good connections obviously. Taking the H&K in my hand I evaluated it with my eyes, though it was experimental it apparently had one hell of punch in its shots. That gun joined the others in my pack along with some ammo for it too.

I had basically everything I would need but there was one more gun I wanted to get and this one was legal. I could truthfully say that I have one hell of a soft spot for Magnums, the .44 had never let me down and there was one other Magnum I wanted; the .357 Combat Magnum. Noiselessly I left the small room, closing and locking the door behind me. Gliding through the backroom I looked around at his store of legal weapons, trying to find the Magnum.

On a small shelf in a corner of the room I spotted the .357 along with several boxes of ammo for it. Picking the gun up I turned it over and studied it with a sort of reverence, Magnums were truly beautiful guns and they, especially the .44, would always be my guns of choice. Gently I placed the .357 Combat Magnum and four boxes of hollow tips for it into my bag; I was done.

Walking to the back door I silently let myself out locking and closing the door as I went. I had, had a pretty good run, I got everything I could want and I only had to go to one gun shop, pretty damned good.

Getting on my motorcycle I drove to the motel, I needed to drop all of my new toys off, then maybe I would head back to the Blackroom and see if Brick had done what I wanted him to or not. At the motel I jumped off the bike, ran to my room and unlocked the door. Placing the pack onto the bed I left the room and got back on my motorcycle, I just hoped that Duo had left the Blackroom by now, I had actually spent a good hour or two in the gun shop that should have given him plenty of time to leave.

Back at the Blackroom I checked the parking lot to see if Duo’s car was there, to my relief I didn’t spot it. Walking into the Blackroom once more I put left my face blank and was ready to run if need be. Just because Duo’s car wasn’t here didn’t mean he wasn’t here either, I needed to be careful. I didn’t see Cain behind the bar so I ordered a straight whiskey from another one of the bartenders. I sipped it slowly and looked around the bar, Brick was where I had left him, and did this man spend all night and every night here? He really must not have much of a life.

With my whiskey in hand I went over to Brick, sitting on a stool across from him I raised an eyebrow in inquiry, “So what happened?”

Straightening himself in his chair Brick looked me over, “According to that Preventer you might know that whereabouts of the woman who tried to kill the Vice Foreign Minister.”

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

I gave a sadistic laugh at that, “Hell I wish I knew her then I could congratulate her on putting the Minister into a coma, then I could slap her upside the head for not killing her instantly.”

Brick stared at me, “Well what I think he wasn’t saying was that you could possibly be that woman.”

I couldn’t afford to lose the game now, raising both eyebrows in apparent shock I gave another bark of cruel laughter, “Babe I was that woman I would have made damned sure that I had killed the Vice Foreign Minister, unlike that woman I don’t make mistakes I wouldn’t have left her alive.”

Reaching out Brick grabbed my chin and pulled me closer to him, for several silent minutes he stared into my gray eyes as if judging my words, hell maybe he was a little smarter than I gave him credit for, maybe.

Finally he let go of my chin and sat back still staring at me, “So you think someone went to the Preventers and tried to pass you off as someone who knew that Hilde lady?”

Shrugging I gave a grin, “It’s pretty damned possible, I do have some enemies Brick, I’m not exactly little Miss Nice Girl of the year, I’ve made my fair share of enemies over the years and that’s simply because unlike some women I don’t take shit from anyone and I have no tolerance for bullshit. There are a few people who would like to see me put away, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them saw me here and went to the Preventers spilling some half-assed story about me.” Pulling the .44 from out of the waistband of my pants I studied it as if I was in deep thought. “Guess I’m supposed to be learning a lesson from all of this.”

Crossing his arms over his chest Brick looked at the Magnum in my hands, “And what might that be sweetheart?”

With a click the magazine slid out of the gun and I ran my fingers over some of the bullets inside of it, “Not to be merciful, next time I make someone not like me I don’t let them live long enough to actually qualify as an enemy,” Sliding the magazine back in with a decisive click I looked up at Brick, “Obviously I’ve been to lenient in the past.” The gun went back into the waistband of my pants and I put down the rest of my whiskey in one gulp.

Brick smirked at me, “Well babe your days of that are over. You’re running with the Assassins now, and we take care of our own, none of your enemies will stay around long enough to cause you any trouble.”

Scratch that small doubt I had earlier about his level of intelligence, this man was stupider than a fucking rock. Nodding my head sharply I asked one more question, “So what did you tell the Preventer about me?”

“Told him that I had no idea what he was talking about and that he had better think twice before he comes into this part of town again and asking questions like that, it simply ain’t healthy for a man to do that these days. Told him that there were some pretty nasty characters who wouldn’t put up with questions like that.” Brick shoved his massive shoulders and grinned at me.

Standing up I stared at Brick for a few moments, “Thanks man, and like I said yesterday maybe after tomorrow’s meeting you’ll get lucky,” Giving him a wink I turned and left the Blackroom.

Getting on the motorcycle I drove to the motel once more, I had a big day coming up tomorrow I would need to get enough sleep and make any final preparations tomorrow before it was time for the meeting.

Walking through the motel room I picked up the bag and fished out the pack of cigarettes I had thrown in earlier; removing one of the cigarettes I stuck it in my mouth and lit it. Walking back to the door I opened it, inhaling some of the smoke I stared out in to the night. Flicking off some of the ashes I wondered about tomorrow night. Was I scared? In some small corner of my mind I had managed to shove the fear without even considering it.

I was afraid that I would die tomorrow night, I was afraid that I would die before I managed to kill all of them, Relena would still be in danger then and I wouldn’t be able to help. Yet in some perverse way I wanted to die. With mute resignation I finally dwelled upon the topic that I had managed to completely ignore sine this whole thing started. Ever since I had been put in jail, ever since the beatings had started, and the rape, something had been coming over me, something I had tried not to think about.

Before the memories of my training had retuned to me I had always maintained some sort of innocence, some sort of light that always helped me to see the good in all situations something that had made me stay optimistic no matter what but no longer. Where the innocence and optimism had once been there was now blackness, and bleakness had taken over. My optimism was gone instead of seeing the good in every situation I managed to see the dark side of everything. I used to be so trusting, but no more, I wasn’t even sure if I would ever trust Duo again, if I ever could trust him again. A type of loner, survival instinct had taken over, and yet at the same time I wanted to die. What the hell was happening to me? Was I going insane?

Tbc…