Title: What I Need
Part: Ten
Pairings: 4+Cathrine
Warnings: Violence in a later chapter, mild cursing in this chapter.

Lady Une turned, pressing her hip against the hard wood of the desk and folding her arms just beneath her breasts. Her expression was a serious study in the well lit office, a mask of focused calm that had once earned her the reputation in OZ of a difficult woman to serve under. While her temperament had softened some, her determination had not. When she set her mind to resolving something, there was little that she could not accomplish. It was why she led the Preventers, and the others followed her command.

Bringing one hand under her chin, she fingered it absently, before turning to pierce Chang Wufei with her unwavering gaze.

"You're certain this information is accurate?"

Without inflection, his expression remaining blank, he answered, "According to witnesses, at approximately 2:10 pm, a small group of terrorists entered Quatre Winner's top floor office through the windows. They immediately killed the bodyguards stationed outside the door and then promptly boarded up the windows. The surveillance Sally Po contacted on L4 confirmed this."

Lady Une pointed a long finger at him. "Just the boarded up windows. Not the dead guards?"

"Correct."

She nodded, her face reflecting the grimness of the situation. "Then, not only do they have the Winner Corporate President, but also Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian."

No comment was made. None was needed. She was merely voicing what they already knew, a fact which belied the helplessness she must have felt more than she wished for it too.

Sally roused herself, drawing their attention. "With your permission, Lady Une, I'd like to form a team. We would work on infiltrating the building and safely returning Quatre and Relena."

She looked almost as if she were going to consider it, before she shook her head. "At this point, we don't know what their demands are. We aren't even certain that Quatre and Relena are still alive."

"If you wait to take action, that might be the outcome," a low, flat voice informed them.

Sally and Wufei swiveled in their chairs, while Lady Une slowly lifted her eyes. Resting in the doorway, head partially bent, wearing a tattered pair of jeans and an old tank top, Heero Yuy stood. [1] Irritation flickered briefly in Lady Une's eyes before she tucked it away. Wufei remained unmoved, while Sally was smiling brightly, her welcome obvious. Heero was exactly one of the people she was pushing to add to her as of yet unformed team.

"It isn't polite to enter closed offices without knocking," Lady Une voiced, the first to break the silence. Her tone was firm, but it lacked the venom it once had.

Heero raised his head, pinned her with the intense gaze he always wore, as if he was carrying his entire life in his eyes, and offered no apology, saying instead, "Relena is in L4. You're on Earth. You don't have time to consider all the implications, or even what they want. You need to find Trowa and Duo, and we need to go in."

"Are you telling me how to do my job, Heero Yuy?" Lady Une queried, her tone cool.

He grunted. "The terrorists have over two hours on you. I'm telling you what needs to be done. If I don't get my help here, I'll go in alone."

Sally struggled to keep her lips still. Heero might have grown physically, gaining height and muscle mass, but his methods and personality were relatively the same. With perhaps, the exception of him asking for help and agreeing to bring in the other pilots. He had always been more of a lone wolf, but intelligent enough to recognize when he couldn't do it all on his own. That he had come here suggesting this scenario told her he kept a closer watch over Relena than anyone else knew. After all, they themselves had just received this information less than an hour ago.

Lady Une narrowed her eyes. "That would be beyond foolish."

"I concur with Sally Po and Yuy. We have little time to waste talking here. A great deal could have happened during the delay of information."

Lady Une looked to Wufei. He was known for being rational and his time spent with the Preventers had both matured, and mellowed his personality slightly. But, like Sally, he was also one who preferred actively forcing a situation, rather than simply watching it unfold. It was difficult to know at this stage, whether their attempt would succeed or fail, and whether it was worth it to risk the lives of her people attempting it. That was not to say she didn't value Quatre and Relena's lives, but rather that she preferred to have some knowledge of the situation. She disliked the thought of going in blind intensely.

"Which is precisely why it might be in our best interests to wait."

"With all due respect, we aren't here to serve our interests," Sally interjected.

"I won't needlessly risk the lives of my people," Lady Une bit back sharply.

Rising, Wufei favored Sally with a brief glance, before turning to assess Heero. While he had not always been in accordance with Heero's methods, nor his ideas, in this case it made perfect sense to him. Lady Une obviously did not wish to send them into a situation she knew very little about. It did not, however, always work out so smoothly. As a matter of fact, it rarely did. It hadn't when they were Gundam pilots. He saw no reason for that to change now.

From a political standpoint, Relena and Quatre were exceedingly important. What Lady Une had yet to voice, was that their involvement in the latest attempt to secure ties between the Earth and the Colonies was probably the exact reason for this terrorist attack. The timing was too coincidental to the signing for it to be otherwise. Which, he knew, did mean they could already be dead. It wasn't something he cared to dwell on, but it was something that needed to be addressed.

From a personal standpoint, they were friends. Friends did not allow friends to die. Regardless of whether or not his emotional attachment was clouding his judgment, Wufei could see no other alternative. They would find those capable, and willing to risk their lives, and form a plan of action. Duo and Trowa had once possessed the necessary skills. Wufei doubted that had left them, not even the annoyingly exuberate American. Some things never left you. And he knew, that with their own personal ties to Quatre and Relena, getting them to help would not be difficult.

"We have no other choices left to us," he stated with finality, chin slightly raised as he stared directly at his superior.

"None that you find suitable..." she corrected, resisting the urge to sigh.

Heero had expected resistance. The only reason he had bothered coming here first was because he knew that realistically, going in alone would jeopardize the already precarious position Relena and Quatre were in. He needed help. Moreover, he needed help from people with skills he had witnessed himself. These were the only people he trusted. While he knew that Quatre was more than intelligent enough to work his way through a situation such as this, the Arabian had more than himself to consider. And this time, there would be no Gundams.

The success of this mission depended on the help he received here, but he had planned for either outcome. There would be no one else if Lady Une refused him. Whatever resources they had here, he could find himself, but not with as much speed. The more people working on this, the quicker it would go. Because as they stood here now, their window of opportunity was diminishing with every passing second. A few more, and he would wait no longer for an answer.

Lady Une turned her back to them, and moved slowly to the window overlooking the city. Terrorism. It never ended. There was always going to be someone that hated the decisions made on their behalf and took it upon themselves to do something about it. But she could console herself in knowing that the Preventers had been created for that eventuality. Ending the war was always only half the battle. It was the keeping the peace after that was sometimes the most difficult.

She knew, whether she wanted to face it or not, that regardless of what she decided now, her people would die sooner or later. They all did. She couldn't protect them anymore than she could protect Colonel Treize. Perhaps he had always understood that better than she did. It was why he could smile, even when sending his soldiers off to war. Because he believed in himself, in them, and trusted them enough to let them make their own choices in battle. It wasn't a war this time, but the parallels were too similar to ignore.

As she swung back around to face them, the resignation mixed with resolve was evident in the set of her body and the press of her lips. Heero would have his plan, with the help of her Preventers. If anyone could bring Relena and Quatre back to them all alive, it would be them. She trusted them enough to send them on the mission and believe that they would come back.

She opened her mouth to speak, and her eyes caught the photograph on the edge of her desk. Mariemaia. The petite red-head, smiling brightly, her expression filled with a levity that should have always been there, and that Lady Une wished Treize could have seen. But his photograph sat facing his daughter's, so that what he had missed in life, he could have with him in death. And she hoped as well, the comfort of knowing his daughter was being raised by someone who would love her enough for the both of them.

So she would do what he might have done.

"We need to find our way in. Sally, I want the blueprints of the building pulled."

"That isn't necessary. It's already been done," Heero interjected. Whether he was relieved or pleased about her acquiescence, she couldn't tell.

"Oh?" Raising an eyebrow carefully, Lady Une added, "You do know it's illegal for you to be hacking into any auditor without express permission?"

Heero made a vague noise in the back of his throat.

Lady Une folded her arms. "I trust you have a suitable plan then?"

"Yes. I have Duo and Trowa's locations as well. I will take Wufei and first approach Trowa since he is here on Earth. We'll travel to L4 and set base up there."

Sally rose. "Do you have the necessary supplies?"

"Not yet."

"Then I'm going too."

"By the way," Lady Une interjected with a dry, half-smile, "it might ease your mind to know I approve of all of this."

* * * *

Cathrine saw them coming first.

Heero, Wufei, and Sally, all wearing dark khakis and Preventers jackets. A tight knot formed in the pit of her stomach. They were going to ask for Trowa's help again, ask him to risk his life for the sake of someone else's. It wasn't enough that he had almost been killed while on vacation. Now he had to voluntarily do it. It never ended. The war never ended. There was always something, and every time, he went. He would never say no, because it wasn't in him. No matter what anyone else thought, she knew that Trowa cared. One time, it was going to get him killed.

Her fingers tightened around the edges of Trowa's mask, so that she could feel it biting into her skin. She wished she could tell them to turn around and leave, that he wouldn't be coming with them today. Whoever it was that had gotten themselves in trouble, they had to find someone else to get them out of it. Because she hated the waiting, the not knowing. It could be hours, days, weeks, or never. She couldn't face the never. She had mourned his loss once before, she wouldn't do it again.

Half-turning, she saw him, standing next to the Lions. He was wearing his costume, because they were only hours away from a performance. That wouldn't matter to him, however. He would go and nothing Judd could do or say would keep him here. It was even more difficult for her to accept that nothing she said to him could make a difference either. It hurt. That was the risk that always came with caring.

What she felt must have been reflected in her face as they approached, because Sally looked understanding, almost apologetic. But Heero and Wufei remained unmoving. They were here to do a job, and she didn't think they could comprehend at all how she felt every time they took Trowa away.

Anger rose. She blocked their path to Trowa, blotting out their view of him with herself. "What do you want?"

"We need to talk to Trowa," Heero replied dismissively.

"You want him to risk getting himself killed, don't you?" She demanded bluntly.

"Cathrine," Sally tried, but Cathrine cut her off with a slash of her hand, her eyes narrowed and flashing.

"Why does he have to keep leaving? Hasn't he sacrificed enough for the benefit of someone else?" She snapped lowly, hoping the conversation wouldn't reach Trowa and alert him to their arrival.

"That was Trowa's decision, Cathrine," Wufei spoke up. "Just like this will be."

"Bullshit! You know he won't say no," she added, jerking away when Sally tried to place her hand on Cathrine's arm.

Her eyes burned with unshed tears, and she grit her teeth, hating that weakness, and resenting their presence.

"We have no other choice," Heero informed her tonelessly.

"That's not true," she snarled, "you-"

A gentle hand fell on her shoulder. "Cathy."

Hope withered, and fell, shattering around her ankles.

Trowa stared at them, his eyes asking what he had yet to say.

"It's Relena and Quatre," Sally supplied grimly.

Quatre? Cathrine felt as if someone had just doused her in ice water, stealing her anger and replacing it with a fear so palpable, it held her in an unbreakable grip.

"Quatre?" She heard herself ask in a near-whisper.

Wufei's dark eyes focused on her. "He and Relena are being held in his office on L4. We don't know what their status is at this point."

Sally shot him a look that told him his tact was non-existent, and touched Cathrine's arm. The girl was far more pale than was healthy. If she didn't give her a hold on reality, shock was going to follow. That was something that was life-threatening. Wufei, of course, being as efficient as he was, had failed to take that into effect.

She stared blindly at them all, trying to understand Wufei's words. He meant they could be dead. Relena and Quatre. It was almost funny in a way, how ridiculous and childish their argument now seemed. He could be dead, and as much as she had tried to deny it these last two weeks, she cared. She cared whether he lived and died. And the thought of it, of losing Trowa, of losing Quatre, left her with a pain that was almost crushing.

"I shouldn't have been so stupid," she murmured, and turned, looking up at Trowa helplessly.

His face was impassive, but his eyes were soft. He reached out to touch her face.

"Don't."

"Trowa... I can't. Not if you and... he... I-"

"Don't." And his tone was firm this time.

Looking past her, he nodded to them. "I'll go."

Cathrine looked back to them, noted the puzzlement on Sally's face, and then turned her eyes back to Trowa. Without thinking, she said, "I'm going."

"Don't be foolish," Wufei replied immediately. "You would get in the way."

She ignored him, let her eyes plead with Trowa.

"You can't, Cathy."

She shoved away from him. "I told you, I wouldn't wait!"

"I'm sorry," Sally interrupted, her tone conveying that. "But he's right."

She spun on them. "I don't care where you put me, but I'm going. Put me up in a hotel... I won't wait."

"You'll be waiting there too, Cathy. Just let us go. If we wait now, there might not be a later."

He was right. She knew it. And she hated it.

Turning her back on them all, feeling foolish and angry at the same time, she said, "Go."

"Cathrine-"

"Go, Trowa! Just go."

With a faint sigh, barely heard by her, let alone anyone else, he did as she asked. But she only let him get so far before she couldn't bear it. If he died, and she didn't tell him what he meant, then she would live with that for the rest of her life.

She hit him hard from behind, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her face to his back. "I love you, Trowa Barton. Come back. And bring Relena and Quatre with you."

He touched her hands. "I will, Cathy."

* * * *

Duo grunted, hefting another piece of wreckage and staring at in with obvious dissatisfaction. Cursing, he tossed it behind him and drug the sleeve of his shirt across his damp forehead. If he didn't find what he was looking for soon, he was going to have to either get pissed, or give up. Neither of which appealed to him at the moment. Though he was actually well on his way to achieving the first. Especially considering he was knee deep in all this junk, and had been for the last hour. He was thirsty, and he was starting to get hungry.

"Duo?"

Squinting against the glare from the surrounding metals, he looked for the source of the voice. If Hilde wasn't telling him she had lunch ready, then he wasn't overly interested in hearing what she had to say. She had already lectured him plenty on misplacing things, and frankly, he didn't care to hear it again. Sometimes, he thought she was worse than hanging out with an irate Wufei. Well, almost. Okay, so that was pushing it. The truth was, he liked being with Hilde, and knew that if it weren't for her more 'organized' organizational skills, he wouldn't be able to find hardly anything.

"Yo, Hilde, over here!" He called back, shoving his braid over his shoulder.

She appeared in his left field of vision, a slim form in a pair of faded overalls and an equally faded cap. She looked like a pixie. Granted, a pixie that could match him curse for curse, but a pixie nonetheless. A pixie followed by four people he hadn't, and wasn't entirely certain, he wanted to see.

There was only one reason Heero Yuy donned a Preventers uniform, and it wasn't because he was out of a job.

"Relena." He stated, not expecting an answer.

"And Quatre," came the same low, nearly monotone reply.

Shit. Quatre too.

"Well, sign me up! I'm ready to go get my ass kicked. I mean, I wasn't doing much of anything here anyway. Just wading in junk."

He caught Hilde's eye. She didn't look happy. He had to pacify her. Jerking his legs out of the piles of scrap metal, and various parts, he bounded over to her and slid his arm around her waist. His expression uncharacteristically serious, he bent down and whispered something in her ear that no one else could hear. She nodded, reached up to loop her hand around his braid, and planted a hard kiss on his lips.

Frowning, Hilde stared at the face she had grown used to seeing every morning. There was no telling Duo anything. He would go, because he had too soft of a heart. She would let him, because she loved him too much to deny him, or them his help. He was good, they needed him, and that was enough. She would worry, but that was natural. He would have worried had she been in his place, but he would have let her go. Because hanging on like that wasn't living.

But she wouldn't lie and say she liked it.

"Go. Just don't get yourself killed. I don't want to look for another lover," she added, with a small grin.

Duo snorted. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. You can't kill Death."

She rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself."

"I try," he replied airily.

"Obviously not hard enough."

He leaned down, kissed her nose. "Don't look so grumpy. I love you."

She blinked. Trust Duo to throw that in there so that it stole the breath right from you.

"Get out of here, you jerk," she told him, shoving him.

He effected a hurt expression. "Don't you love me?"

"You know I do. Now go."

"Yes, ma'am," and he grabbed another kiss, earning a smack.

Wufei and Heero were looking unimpressed as Duo swaggered back over to them. Sally was amused. Trowa seemed unconcerned.

"Three years, Heero, Wufei. Look where I am. Look where you two are," he added pointedly, jerking his eyes to Sally and then back to Wufei.

"Shut up, Maxwell," Wufei bit out.

He grinned. "Happiness, gentleman, isn't something you're given twice in one lifetime. Just remember that."

"Shut up, Duo," Heero ordered.

"Hello, Duo," Sally welcomed him, on a half-laugh as he waved to Hilde and fell in between them. Trowa nodded in silent greeting.

"So, when do I get my kickass jacket?"

* * * *

"I admire your resolve. Ordinarily, it would serve you well. In this case, it's endangering your lives."

Tension had become such a normal part of him these past few hours, that Quatre was almost unaware of acquiring more. In all the time they spoke, this was the first the terrorist had mentioned the threat to their lives. It could mean he was getting impatient. Or it could mean he was simply looking to make them feel uneasy, to pull what little ground they had left out from under them. It was difficult to tell.

Perspiration slid down his neck, between his shoulder blades, and settled at the small of his back. He had no way of protecting either of them. This was the first he had felt this helpless in as long as he could remember. If Relena hadn't been here, it might have been different. But it wasn't, and she was not a fighter. She hadn't lived through a war, or understood what it was to take lives because you had no choice. He didn't want to force her to learn that now.

"This agreement would benefit the colonies as much as it would Earth. Both have so much to offer one another. What you're saying is that you don't believe that to be true?" Relena asked quietly, ignoring the reference to death.

In all this time, through all the attempts on her life, would this finally be the one that killed her? She understood that what she did put her as much at risk as her father had been. Proof of that had happened more than once in the years since she took this position. She refused to be intimidated by that, however. She couldn't allow others to dictate how her life would be, and she knew that she was meant for this. She needed to help promote and keep the peace the Gundam pilots had fought so hard for. Even at the risk of her own life.

Casting Quatre a barely discernable glance, she wondered if he was as tense as she was. Outwardly, he looked so calm. Perhaps she did as well. At least, she was doing her best, summoning up ever ounce of diplomatic experience she had to keep her tone neutral, her expression blank, and her words level. This wasn't a man that was holding them on a whim. He had planned this carefully, and his ability to debate with them rivaled that of any experienced politician she had ever met. It was taking every bit of her skill to deflect him.

And how long would that last?

It had to last. Otherwise, Quatre would die. She would die. And everything they worked for would as well.

Stiffening her spine, she pulled herself as upright as possible. No matter what happened, she would not defer to him.

"The colonies were built to be independent from Earth. Once freed from the Earth, they should have remained thus. What you are promoting, is dependance. Dependance leads to the stronger power achieving more control. Once that happens, the same cycle of oppression will happen again."

"We fought against that. We won't allow it to happen again. Many of us are working hard to achieve equality," she countered.

"Do you have a crystal ball, Vice Foreign Minister? Can you guarantee these promises to me?"

"Nothing is completely certain," she answered softly.

He pointed one long, tapered finger at her. "Exactly. And that is why the colonies must break away from the Earth and have nothing to do with them. If stopping this agreement is one step in that direction, then it was necessary. Surely, Mr. Winner can agree. After all, he along with his fellow Gundam Pilots targeted one military facility at a time. It took nearly a year, but it succeeded. We are patient enough to wait for what we wish to achieve."

Frustration gnawed at her. She wished she could make him understand. His points had merit, but only if you didn't believe in humanity, if you what you wanted from life was absolutism. That wasn't the way it worked, however. She had learned that sometimes taking life one day at a time was all you could do. You resolved what you could, changed what you could, and had to let the rest go.

They were talking in circles. Quatre admired Relena's skills, but it was obvious the terrorist would not change his view. In his mind, his ideals were just, and he would use whatever means necessary to carry them out. That was not unlike they had been. It made him somewhat uncomfortable to be confronted with just how thin the moral line everyone walked really was. But then, he understood that life was not black and white. No one view was the same. And you did what you had to when the time came.

The terrorist smiled. "Treize Kushrenada. Pilot 05 entered his personal residence with the express purpose of killing him. Not unlike I am doing now. So then, tell me, Mr. Winner, how am I wrong?"

"I can only tell you what Relena has told you. We're doing this for the benefit of the colonies and the Earth. Pooling our resources will help us all. It's just another step in unification. As Relena's terraforming project is, as joint restoration project was. If we want to have any hope of survival, we have to work together. I can understand where your fear comes from, but isolation carries within itself problems. We're all people. Whether you're a colonist like me, or an Earth born person like Relena. Look past the labels and see us for who we are."

"Very good, Mr. Winner. But it doesn't change my mind. And I am fast running out of patience."

Quatre felt weariness tug at him. There had to be a turning point. There had to be something. He just couldn't find it.

And even now, time slipped perilously through their fingers.

[1] I lied. Well, not intentionally. When I first set out to write this, I hadn't planned on going this far, or dragging the Preventers in. This'll teach me not to post my story on any web-sites until I have the whole thing finished! ^_^;