Operation: Hurricane

Chapter One

Trinity had never in her life had a hangover, but she was pretty sure it would feel something like this. No usual over the counter medication did anything to help the pounding headache she had awoken with. And the nausea was so overwhelming she didn't even bother to try to roll out of bed. The sedative Sally had given her to help her sleep had done its job, she slept without further intrusion. She moaned into her pillow as she rolled over and buried her face into it. If missing one dose of the drug made her feel this bad, she only hoped that it got better over time, rather than worse.

She felt a sag in the bed beside her and she didn't bother to attempt to see who it was as she felt his fingers comb through her hair. "Something I can get you, Mom?" His voice was tired, and Trinity wondered if her son ever went back to bed last night.

She forced her head to the side, and her eyes opened just briefly to offer him a small painful smile. "No, Michael. Thank you. Shouldn't you be in school?" she asked as she reburied her head into her pillow.

"I'm not going. Someone needs to stay here and take care of you." He shook his head as she looked at him again, the attempted glare in her eyes not even nearly up to par. "Aunt Sally said the first twenty-four hours without the medication are probably going to be the worst, and I sure as Hell am not going to leave you alone in this condition. We've already discussed it, and Dad, Uncle Heero and Aunt Relena cannot afford to take the time off, so I volunteered. I've already spoken with my principle and teachers. They'll allow me the week as long as I don't fall behind, which won't be a problem, my teachers are going to e-mail me my assignments and Casey and Lucas are coming over after school so I can copy their notes."

She gave herself a chuckle as lightly as her head would allow it. Casey Lange and Lucas Kale had been Michael's best friends since grade school. The boys were so close they even called her 'Mom' and she, in turn, considered them part of the family. She had yet to really meet their parents in person, but she shared many phone calls with their mothers. They were good boys, and excellent students, so she had no doubt that Michael's schoolwork would be well taken care of.

"How did you manage that?" she asked, muffled by the pillow. "Those people are pretty strict about attendance."

"Marimeia's mom is inducting me into the Preventers for the week and my assignment is as your bodyguard." He grinned down to her as she raised a brow; another failed attempt at a glare crossed her face before she let her head fall into the pillow again. "Seriously, the Lady wrote a formal excuse for me saying this was an official Preventer matter and they accepted it. I talked to her last night after I called Aunt Kal and Aunt Iz." He shook her head as she looked back up to him, about to speak. "No arguments, I've already taken care of everything. You just rest. Tea?"

She nodded after a moment as she dropped her head back into the pillow and moaned again. She sighed as she felt his weight slide off the bed and listened to him softly pad across the carpet to the door, quietly shutting it behind him.

He's a good kid, Trin… You've done a great job raising him.

She would have smiled if Kalli's mental voice hadn't been accompanied with an even greater pain than her head was already in. And she fought hard to keep the nausea down, but the comfort in connecting with her 'sisters' again was slowly beginning to help ease it. First there was Kalli's presence, and then Izreina's followed. After nearly seven months of silence, they were on their way to becoming one again, heart, body, and mind.

There's no denying how much he loves his mother.

She didn't reply to them, but they felt her appreciation. No other words were spoken as they just offered their presences for her to hold on to, to fight with her, because the worst was yet to come.

"Do you want to explain to me why we're being involved in a simple missing persons case?" Zechs gave a side-glance down to Une as the two of them walked down the long hallway at the local police office. He couldn't say he was happy, period, about spending the day working when he felt guilty about leaving Trinity at home in her condition. He had no doubt that Michael would tend to her, he was very protective of his family. Zechs admired his son's maturity, but there were times he reminded him too much of himself at that age.

The woman gave a shrug as she looked through the file that had been presented to them when they had walked in. "I wish I knew, Saunders only said it would be worth our while to be included in the investigation… I always hated that guy..." The local police chief, Joseph Saunders, they knew well. He had been a subordinate in OZ, one she was always dealing with. She had never understood Mister Treize's patience with him. And how the hell someone put him in charge of an armed force of nearly forty officers, she didn't know. He had never done much good as an OZ officer, but his loyalties were never in question, which was why she was now giving him the benefit of the doubt.

She pushed her reading glasses further up on her nose as they kept sliding down. Why the hell did these places always seem to have an air conditioning problem? "Nothing seems out of the ordinary… Kiera Jameson, age fifteen. Mother, Georgia Jameson, deceased. Father, William Jameson. He works from home... runs some kind of online auction site." She passed the photograph of the girl over to Zechs and turned to the next page of the file. "Cute kid. Dad reported her missing when she didn't come home from school on Wednesday, and when he called the school, they told him she never arrived that morning. She's been missing a total of five days, now."

Zechs took the photograph, looking it over. It was a school ID picture; he recognized the school's mascot painted on the wall behind the girl. Kushrenada Academy, named after OZ's distinguished leader. It was a pretty prestigious high school; no student with less than a 4.0 grade average was admitted, but its roster included almost three hundred students. "Michael goes to this school…" His gaze shifted to the girl in front. "They're sticklers for attendance; didn't they call the father when she didn't show up?" He raised a brow as he gave her another glance.

"No… and that's only one of my concerns. I had to write a formal letter excusing Michael for the week, and I sat on the phone with his principle for an hour this morning to confirm that it was me writing it. The bastard gave me the third degree about the whole bit…" She shook her head as Zechs handed the photo back to her and she closed the file. She removed her reading glasses, tucking them into her jacket pocket. "Something's not right about the place… And they don't seem at all concerned for Miss Jameson's disappearance, there's not even a statement in here from school administration or her teachers."

"If they knew about the girl's disappearance, I can see why they'd need verification from you regarding Michael's absence… But it's still odd that they wouldn't be even a little concerned about hers…" He nodded, running a hand through his hair that had been cut just below his ears after losing a bet to Trinity. He gave Une another glance as they reached the chief's office door. "So, why am I with you for this?"

She looked up at him as she knocked on the glass window pane on the door. "Because you needed to get out of the office, Zechs. I know you're concerned about Trinity, we all are. But you came to work, not mope around the office, so I'm putting you to work. Plus, I'm not going to deal with Saunders by myself. I spent enough time cleaning up his messes back in OZ. I don't know what kind of idiot gave him a gun and decided he'd make a good cop…" She added her last thought in a whisper upon hearing footsteps on the other side of the door.

The door opened and she was met with a forced smile in greeting; it gave Une the impression that he might have heard her little remark, but wasn't too concerned with it as he offered his hand, which she shook only briefly. "Chief Saunders," she greeted with a fake smile of her own, that certainly wasn't lost on the shorter man. "It's been a long time, a pleasure to see you again." She nodded towards Zechs as he released her hand. "General Milliardo Peacecraft."

"Zechs Merquis…" Saunders offered his hand and gave Zech's a firm shake before stepping aside, admitting them into the office. "It's difficult for any old OZ soldier to forget the infamous Lightning Count… Please, have a seat. Mister… Jameson… will be here shortly. Please hold off your questions until he arrives. I'm actually pleased you brought Zechs along, Lady Une. Because you were both asked for, by name…"

Zechs and Une exchanged a glance with each other as they both caught the police chief's hesitation on the man's name. And they both elected to remain standing and they moved to one side of the office as he closed the door.

"So, William Jameson asked for Preventer involvement?"Une raised a brow as she opened up the file folder again to have another look at it, to see if there was something she had missed.

"No… I'm sorry… I guess I didn't make myself clear on the phone. He wasn't asking for the Preventers. He was asking for you, specifically." He stepped aside as his office door opened without as much as a knock.

Zechs and Une exchanged another glance as she asked, "Why?"

"Because I need someone I can trust," said the newcomer as he stepped in the door, meeting Une's wide eyes as she dropped the folder, taking in a short gasp of breath.

Zechs' eyes narrowed at the man as he closed the door behind him. A single word he managed to force out through his clenched jaw. "Treize…"

"So the seizures are getting worse?"Noin's voice was full of concern as her image on the computer screen furrowed her brows.

Izreina nodded as she leaned back in Quatre's office chair. "She's elected to discontinue the inhibitor injections so that she might get a clearer picture on what's going on. She's certain it's a mental call for help, but Kal and I haven't heard it. It seems to be directed only to Trinity." She twiddled a lock of her long, unbraided hair around one finger. "Sally's convinced the seizures were an effect of the drugs trying to fight the intrusion, but I'm worried that they may be connected to the person sending the message… And I'm frightened to think of what will happen when Trinity has a full connection…"

"You think it might be an assassination attempt? Like what Barton tried to do when he had Trinity shut off your and Kal's devices? What do Zechs and Heero think about it?"

"I don't think either of them is thinking clearly at all. Heero has his hands full at the moment, with Relena getting ready for the conference next week. And Zechs…" She shook her head. "I don't think he's had any sleep since they started… If it weren't for Michael, that household would be falling apart… And no, I don't think it might be an assassination attempt, I trust Trinity's instinct on it. The dream that accompanies the seizures is too vivid. I know you all can't fully understand these connections, Noin, even after all the research that you and Sally have done. Just trust us."

"We always have, Iz. Now tell me what I can do to help. I know that's why you called."

"Noin," she paused a moment, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. "Jacob has been sensing Trinity's distress. He's been having nightmares about something happening to her, and he feels a pain in his chest. The nightmares started the same night as her seizures and he said they only happen when he knows she's in trouble. I haven't said anything to Trinity about it, and I haven't told Sally about it because she's going to want me to bring him in for God knows what kind of testing. I don't want him to go through the same kind of scrutiny that we did when those damned devices were implanted. I know Quatre has some natural talent in empathy, but he hasn't sensed anything, not even what this has done to Jacob. Neither have I. Neither has Kalli. Whatever is affecting Trinity is affecting Jacob, by extension."

"Could there be a lingering connection with Trinity from when Jacob was born?"

Izreina raised a questioning brow more toward herself, than to Noin. She thought back to the birth, and almost death, of her son. Sally had kept an almost constant watch on the baby's development, Izreina was pretty sure she had more prenatal exams than was necessary. But neither of them had any idea of what kind of stress the, at the time, recent emotional rollercoaster the Storm had experienced would put on the infant. Izreina's pregnancy had been pretty average right through the last trimester, except for a much more personal emotional connection to the child due to the implant. But Sally had still given her strict orders to keep her from as much strain, emotional and physical, as possible. But still, with the already elevated hormone levels of a pregnant woman, mixed with the emotional unbalance of the Storm and the connection between them, Izreina had blood pressure problems. They hadn't been anything to worry about; it was a common occurrence for pregnant women to have high blood pressure. But the connection to the emotional roller coasters of her family during a rather out of control party that shouldn't have been… Things got out of hand, and the connection unwittingly was extended to her unborn child, overwhelming his undeveloped mind.

Had it not been Trinity, having taken full control over the child's mind in order to force control over its vital signs, her son would not have survived. It was an enormous risk, because if she hadn't succeeded, she would have died with the infant. A more permanent link could have, indeed, been established, because of the trauma of the incident. Much like the link Trinity shared with Izreina and Kalli for so many years. The only question, still, is why it was affecting Jacob and not Izreina or Kalli. "I hadn't thought about that… apparently you understand more than I thought, Noin…"

"Sally limited her research to the Psi Project, specifically. I did outside research regarding thoughts and theories on extra sensory perception in general. I wanted to get an understanding on why someone would attempt such an experiment in the first place. I'm still finding more and newer information, even after all these years." She paused a moment as she turned to another computer. "It's… unnerving to think of some of the damage that those devices are making you girls capable of…" She gave Izreina a small but pained smile as she worked at the keyboard. "Makes me glad you're on our side…" There were several more moments of only the clickity-clack of her fingers flying over the keys. "So Sally's willing to suddenly stop the inhibitor injections completely? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Sally voiced her opinion, she didn't think it was a good idea, but it was Trin's decision. She's very certain it's a cry for help, and she's certain whoever it is doesn't have time for her to wean herself off the drugs. She's… already having typical withdrawal symptoms, even after missing just one dose. And Kal and I have been able to reach her, mentally, but she hasn't been able to respond, yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to connect to her dream tonight, find out exactly what the hell is going on…"

Noin stopped her typing to look at her friend, pausing a moment before speaking. "Just be careful, Iz. If the seizures are connected to the person trying to contact her, they might affect you and Kal, too… and Jacob if he's connected to Trinity…"

"Trowa and Quatre are napping now so they can stay up and keep vigil over us tonight. I don't know what to do about Jacob…" Izreina ran her fingers through her hair, separating it into three equal parts and began braiding it.

"You need to tell Trinity about it…"Noin smiled with a small chuckle as Izreina finished the braid, wrapping a holder around the tail."And I'd wish you'd cut that hair… You look way too much like Duo as it is… You DO want us to be able to tell you two apart, right?"

Izreina gave a small, yet worried smile. "What's to tell? I've got the boobs, he's got the… well… I'm not going to sit here and talk about my brother's 'stuff'… That's Hilde's job… I tell you, she's a great girl, but I've learned way more about my brother's love life than I ever wanted to know… And Relena's just as bad when you get her started… Apparently, Heero's pretty… talented…"

Noin smiled again, nodding. "Relena's not exactly innocent, herself… You try living in the same house with them… There's a reason Zechs had that room sound proofed, and it wasn't to keep people from recording the more… undesirable activities of the Vice-Foreign Minister…"

Izreina couldn't fight the laughter building up inside of her, her worry subsiding for the moment. "Oh, I've heard…" She shook her head, smiling. "Thanks for the laugh, Noin."

"Anytime… now talk to Trin before tonight. I've no doubt she knows how to protect Jacob from any danger."