Chapter 28: Countdown

8:11 PM. C.E.T.

Four minutes to auto-destruct sequence.

"I'm sure glad that's over with! Trowa, we still have five minutes but I think we'd all breathe a little easier if you'd defuse that--"

Quatre Raberba Winner was so busy watching the "escape" of the terrorist group after Heero's convincing speech, (plotted by your brilliant, blonde strategist if I might say so. *blush), that he didn't seem to notice the count, once again.

There were 9 terrorists on the stairs and surrounding ground floor area where they were sparring. There were 9 terrorists that got in the elevator and went down into their dungeon tomb willingly.

That meant---Oh, damn!

"Miss Relena!"

"Not a move, or she's dead. You hear me Gundam? I'm not bluffing. I really will pull this trigger and have her lovely peaceful brains scattered all over her family's decorated walls! I will! I'm warning you! I'll kill her!"

The desperate words of a desperate man. This terrorist felt the weight of his whole glass world crashing down on his crazed head---which really wasn't that far from the truth.

Even as the terrorist's maddened finger begins to pull on his gun's trigger, through the skylight, directly above, a cannonball comes catapulting through the large windowscape--a human cannonball.

The glass shards raining on the terrorist were nothing compared to the flurry of fists and legs and kicks that knocked both gun and captive from the villain's grasp.

The nuclear briefcase was ticking down at their feet, too was thrown away in the mens' violent scuffling as Heero Yuy rescues the love of his life from the grips of death once again.

But the show wasn't over yet.

8:12 PM. C.E.T.

3 minutes to auto-nuclear detonation.

"Heero! Be careful!" Relena's shrill voice warns as her savior, the man she has prayed over and over, lived for this very moment to see, grapples with the larger, brawnier man on the floor.

And winning, too.

Heero Yuy was the kind of fighter in mortal combat that you didn't want to mess with. His tactical brain and body moved as one, calculated fearsome force, despite his smaller framed size.

But the losing terrorist leader had a few friends in his corner. A spray of sharpened machete blades come knifing across the room. The trio of guards that Duo had bound and tied upstairs earlier somewhere along the line had gotten loose. (No doubt utilizing these well hidden objects after a good dose of the anxiety and fear of nuclear fall out as inspiration to break from their bonds.)

The knife throwing terrorist with the pale blonde hair was obviously an expert in this field. Perhaps he was professionally trained in a performing troupe or a circus or the like sometime in his past. Razor sharp blades sliced and cut at our heroes all around the room. Blood was spilled as Duo and Wufei, rushing to Heero's aid, falter under the spray taking them down. They had been cut down by the oncoming onslaught of steel tips.

But one of our soldiers does not falter. One soldier who was quite accustomed to having sharp knives pitched in his direction on a daily basis. And Trowa Barton was not only adept at dodging with super agility---he also knew how to throw.

Chik! Chik!

Like this was all some prestaged side show, Trowa does his triple flip, simultaneously catching 2 of the speeding projectiles in each hand, spinning, flipping straight up in the air, bouncing like he had rubber soles in his feet, straight up the flight of stairs where the knife-chucking terrorist was sending deathly blades from the vantage point of.

And in the blink of a blinding eye, before Trowa even lands on his two light as air feet, all four knives that had momentarily rested in his hands were dug deep into the wall as if by magic, at the top of the landing.

The culprit was wedged up and hanging between all four points, nailed to the wall as his feet dangled helplessly. His arms and legs were useless to him now, so well strategically placed were the four knives plastered to the terrorist's clothing, securing him to the far wall like a limp circus balloon fizzling out of air with a hole in its side.

8:13 PM C.E.T.

2 minutes to auto-nuclear detonation.

"Shoot them all! Before they get to the box!" The terrorist leader manages to yell out in between punching Heero in the gut, to the disoriented pair still in shock of their comrade's defeat at the head of the staircase.

They nod, obviously having the foresight to pick up some machine guns on the way, lifting the deadly ends of the weapons' nozzle right in Quatre Winner's face as he rushes up the stairs....