Chapter Six: A Brother Lost
Trowa and Wufei sat at the table in the commons area of the training barracks. They had returned early from Imono. There hadn't been anything particularly suspicious about the company's activities and nothing either Preventer found pointed to the attack on Way 415 or the murders of earth officials.
"They should be back by now." Wufei muttered, restlessly.
"Duo likes to take his time." Trowa said with a small smile. "and who knows how Heero and Shailyn are getting on." Just then, Sally entered the room, followed by Quatre.
"Sorry it took so long for me to get here. We've been really busy lately." He said greeting both Trowa and Wufei.
"He has some interesting information for us, too." Sally said, taking a seat across from Trowa. Quatre also sat down and pulled a pile of papers out of the folder he'd been carrying.
"Do you recognize him?" Quatre asked as he handed Wufei the picture of the young man who was suspected of having stole the gundanium shipment a few days prior.
"He led the attack on the Way station." Wufei looked at Quatre for an explanation, Trowa reached out and took the picture from Wufei and examined the young man curiously.
"This picture was taken by the security cameras at the Winner Shipping Department just last week. Dorothy found him snooping around the crates of shipments, he said his name was Makura Hitorimono, an employee of Phoenix Enterprises." Trowa and Wufei exchanged startled looks when they heard the name. "The only reason I found this though, was that just a few days ago a shipment was stolen from the same area that he had been looking at. I had Dorothy look into the matter before I left and she found something fairly suspicious. Mr. Hitorimono is on the employees list for Phoenix, but he has never had a paycheck deposit from the company entered into his account. That would suggest that his being employed there is only a cover up for some other job he has. I think a good conclusion would be that, that other job is working for the Hanran."
"Duo and Hilde are looking into Phoenix Enterprises right now." Trowa said handing back the picture. "Shailyn and Heero are investigating Galileo Space Exploration's, both companies have bought more gundanium than should be necessary for their business in the last three years."
"They still haven't gotten back yet?" Sally asked, a little worried.
"No-" Trowa started, but was interrupted as Duo and Hilde entered the room, carrying four pizzas and a huge bag of bread sticks.
"Duo got hungry on the way back." Hilde said by way of explanation.
"What did you find out about Phoenix?" Trowa asked, taking the bag away from Hilde and setting it on the table. "The information Quatre brought is enough to say they're involved, but it doesn't say more than that."
"What'd you bring?" Duo asked, looking around the pizza boxes and over Quatre's shoulder curiously. Quickly Quatre told the arrivals everything he'd just told Wufei and Trowa. Sally brought napkins and plates back to the table and Hilde found the rest of the sodas jammed in the back of the small frig. When everything was ready they sat down to finish the pizza that Duo hadn't already eaten in the car. During the meal, Duo passed around the information he'd hacked off the Phoenix main computer.
"All I could get to in such a short period of time was that Phoenix is getting a ton of money from an anonymous donor in return for putting a load of people on their employees list even though they're not actually working for Phoenix. I was rudely interrupted by the janitor though, so I didn't find out who was donating the money."
There was a silence as they all mused over the news. Quatre had put the picture of Makura on the table and Duo was staring intently at it. "You know," he muttered around a mouthful of pizza. "This guy looks kinda familiar, but I can't put my finger on it." They passed the picture around one more time.
"Shailyn." Wufei said suddenly when he got the picture. "They have the same nose, they same color hair, the same face shape."
"No way!" Duo cried grabbing the photo back. "Shailyn's a helleva lot prettier than that."
"I think Wufei's right." Quatre said. "They do look alike, but maybe it's just a coincident."
"A pretty damn odd coincident: a guy who definitely looks related to Shailyn shows up at her Way Station, when there are hundreds he could've chosen from and she's the only one left alive." Duo growled.
"You don't think Shailyn helped them!" Quatre cried, shocked.
"Evidence would say so." Sally pointed out.
"I do not believe she did." Wufei broke in quietly. They all turned to him in surprise. It was not characteristic of him to side with the accused, especially when the cards were stacked so high against her. "She has not given me any cause for suspicion yet, I will not distrust her until I have proof."
"I agree." Trowa put in. "Shailyn wants revenge for her friends' deaths, that's why she's here."
"But that might just be an excuse to get inside a feed information to the bad guys." Hilde put in.
"Let's all calm down." Sally said holding a hand out to keep Duo from saying something. "We can show Shailyn the picture when they get back and we can see what kind of reaction she has."
~*~*~
It was late when Heero and Shailyn finally made it back to the barracks. They entered the commons quietly, all the lights were off and they thought everyone must have gone to sleep. They were wrong, the instant the door closed behind them, the light switch clicked and the lights turned on. Both Shailyn and Heero had their guns out and aimed at Duo's chest before they realized it was him. He grinned at them merrily and went to sit on the couch with all the others who had been sitting quietly.
"Welcome back." Sally said, motioning them forward.
"I hope the reason you two are so late isn't because you were smooching in the car." Duo said teasingly. Heero sent him a withering glare and Shailyn gave him a disgusted look.
"Galileo is running an illegal mining operation on Mars." Heero said coldly sitting down. "They have a slave labor force working for them."
"It's mostly made up of orphans. They're basically doing the same thing Romefellar did with us." Shailyn's voice was full of barely contained anger and hatred.
"If what you say is true we need to contact Preventer HQ." Sally said. "Giving Relena Darlian a ring couldn't hurt, either." She added.
"What happened?" Quatre exclaimed kneeling in front of Shailyn and turning her arm over and exposing the long, deep scratch, the scab had broken and blood was welling up again.
"It's nothing." Shailyn said, pulling her hand back.
"You really should get that cleaned." Quatre said, eyeing her with concern.
Hilde got up and came back a few seconds later with a med kit. She handed it to Quatre who, despite Shailyn's protests, began cleaning to cut. While he was doing that, Heero told everyone everything they had found out.
"As far as we could tell in the short period of time we spent there, they aren't directly connected to the attack on the Way Station." Heero concluded. "But I wouldn't rule them out just yet." He added, looking at each of them.
Sally nodded and then glanced at Wufei who held the picture. "Shailyn," He said holding out the picture. "We want to ask you if you recognize this person." Quatre had just finished with her and she held out the now bandaged arm to take the photo.
She stared without recognition for a few seconds and then she dropped it as if struck. Hurriedly she picked it up and examined it again. Heero looked from her to the others curiously. They were all staring at her intently. She had paled visibly and her eyes seemed glued to the photo. "He...he's dead." She finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No, he's not." Quatre said, looking at her with worry. "That picture was taken by a security camera at my company just a couple of days ago."
"Who is he?" Hilde demanded.
Shailyn looked up, her eyes were burning with an emotion that no one could place. "He was my brother, but he died when the Preventers raided the Romefellar base. I looked for him!" She said fiercely. "He would have found me if he was still alive."
"Maybe he didn't care." Heero said. His voice hit her like ice water.
"Don't you ever say something like that again." Shailyn hissed. "You didn't know him and you don't know me." Her voice had begun to rise. "You wouldn't even know what it's like to lose family, you never had any." With that she stood up, dropping the picture to the floor and walked out of the room, her legs straining to keep from running.
~*~*~
Wufei found her in the training room. She had changed into loose, gray pants and a white tank top, her hair was pulled up in a long ponytail that trailed all the way down her back. She was beating the crap out of a red punching bag, her arm muscles strained with each punch but she kept at it, not even noticing that Wufei had entered the room.
He moved around in front of her so she had to look at him. She stopped moving and dropped her glove-padded hands to her sides. "What do you want?" She asked, wiping sweat from her forehead with her wrist. When she raised her hand, Wufei could she that the cut had broken open again because the bandages were stained heavily with blood.
"I am here to listen." He said calmly.
"Listen to what? I've got nothing to say." She made as if to start punching the bag again, but Wufei held out his hand.
"I, too, lost my family in the war. The colony I grew up on was completely destroyed and I watched it all happen."
Shailyn dropped her arm and stared at him. "What do you want me to say?"
"First, tell me why you are upset."
"My brother just came back from the dead, wouldn't that make you a tad bit upset too." She snapped sarcastically.
"That's not the whole reason why you're upset." He answered. Siting down cross legged on the mat in front of her, he motioned for her to sit as well.
Sighing, Shailyn sat down across from him. "I just hated what Heero said, about my brother not caring. Romefellar taught us not to care, but we always seemed to shrug off those lessons. None of the other kids had any family, we always felt special because of that and....well, we didn't take advantage of the fact. He was always there when I needed him....except when the Preventers came." She paused. "You know I don't really want to talk about this." She stood up again.
"We need to know if we can still trust you, Shailyn." Wufei said, not looking at her.
She stopped and stared at him. "I want to kill the men who killed my friends, that hasn't changed even though my brother is working for the same people."
Wufei was silent for a while before he finally said, "Your brother was the leader of the men who attacked Way 415."
Shailyn sat down hard. "How could he?"
Wufei remained silent. Finally he spoke. "You can tell us in the morning whether you still want to stay with this mission or if you want to be reassigned to another Way Station." He got up slowly, leaving her sitting there staring at the wall with a bewildered expression on her face.
~*~*~
Everyone had finally gone to sleep when Shailyn crept out into the commons area. As quietly as possible she opened the refrigerator door and stuffed the left over pizza and a couple bottles of water into the small pack she was carrying. She wore loose, light blue jeans and a large gray sweatshirt over a fitted black tank-top. In the pack along with the food, she had an outfit of black clothes, the perfect kind for sneaking around where you're not supposed to be. Silently, she left the barracks.
She had turned to close the barrack's door gently, when she heard a voice from behind her, "Going somewhere?" She stiffened.
Turning slowly, she met Heero's cold, cobalt gaze. Wufei stood next to him, his dark eyes cast downward. "Yes, I am." Was all she said and tried to brush past Heero, but he grabbed her upper arm.
"Where?" His tone gave more meaning to that one word than it had on its own. 'Tell me where and if it's the wrong answer, I will kill you'.
Shailyn breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, trying to think of a way to tell without getting herself killed. "I have to find the truth out about my brother."
"How do we know you aren't just going back to report that you've been found out and you can't spy on us anymore." Wufei asked and Heero tightened his grip on her arm.
"You think I've been spying on you?" She cried, indignant.
"Keep your voice down or you'll wake everyone up." Heero hissed. "And yes, we aren't the best of the best because we're trusting. Give me a reason to believe you're on our side and I'll help you. But if I'm not convinced, I kill you here and now." His gun was in his free hand so suddenly Shailyn hadn't even seen it drawn.
"There isn't anything I can say to make you trust me," She started, wincing as his grip tightened even more. "But you're welcome to come with me and find out for yourself, I wont turn help away."
He relaxed his hand, only a little though. "How do you know where their base is?"
"I don't, but after looking over what Duo and Hilde brought back, I'm sure I can at least find out where my brother is if I can get into the Phoenix mainframe."
Heero nodded slowly, letting go of her arm and picking up a pack that had been leaning against the wall, he put it over his shoulder and motioned for her to lead the way. Wufei picked up his own pack and waited. Blinking in surprise, Shailyn shook her head and started down the street at a brisk walk, painfully aware of the two new shadows at her back, always just two steps behind.
Trowa and Wufei sat at the table in the commons area of the training barracks. They had returned early from Imono. There hadn't been anything particularly suspicious about the company's activities and nothing either Preventer found pointed to the attack on Way 415 or the murders of earth officials.
"They should be back by now." Wufei muttered, restlessly.
"Duo likes to take his time." Trowa said with a small smile. "and who knows how Heero and Shailyn are getting on." Just then, Sally entered the room, followed by Quatre.
"Sorry it took so long for me to get here. We've been really busy lately." He said greeting both Trowa and Wufei.
"He has some interesting information for us, too." Sally said, taking a seat across from Trowa. Quatre also sat down and pulled a pile of papers out of the folder he'd been carrying.
"Do you recognize him?" Quatre asked as he handed Wufei the picture of the young man who was suspected of having stole the gundanium shipment a few days prior.
"He led the attack on the Way station." Wufei looked at Quatre for an explanation, Trowa reached out and took the picture from Wufei and examined the young man curiously.
"This picture was taken by the security cameras at the Winner Shipping Department just last week. Dorothy found him snooping around the crates of shipments, he said his name was Makura Hitorimono, an employee of Phoenix Enterprises." Trowa and Wufei exchanged startled looks when they heard the name. "The only reason I found this though, was that just a few days ago a shipment was stolen from the same area that he had been looking at. I had Dorothy look into the matter before I left and she found something fairly suspicious. Mr. Hitorimono is on the employees list for Phoenix, but he has never had a paycheck deposit from the company entered into his account. That would suggest that his being employed there is only a cover up for some other job he has. I think a good conclusion would be that, that other job is working for the Hanran."
"Duo and Hilde are looking into Phoenix Enterprises right now." Trowa said handing back the picture. "Shailyn and Heero are investigating Galileo Space Exploration's, both companies have bought more gundanium than should be necessary for their business in the last three years."
"They still haven't gotten back yet?" Sally asked, a little worried.
"No-" Trowa started, but was interrupted as Duo and Hilde entered the room, carrying four pizzas and a huge bag of bread sticks.
"Duo got hungry on the way back." Hilde said by way of explanation.
"What did you find out about Phoenix?" Trowa asked, taking the bag away from Hilde and setting it on the table. "The information Quatre brought is enough to say they're involved, but it doesn't say more than that."
"What'd you bring?" Duo asked, looking around the pizza boxes and over Quatre's shoulder curiously. Quickly Quatre told the arrivals everything he'd just told Wufei and Trowa. Sally brought napkins and plates back to the table and Hilde found the rest of the sodas jammed in the back of the small frig. When everything was ready they sat down to finish the pizza that Duo hadn't already eaten in the car. During the meal, Duo passed around the information he'd hacked off the Phoenix main computer.
"All I could get to in such a short period of time was that Phoenix is getting a ton of money from an anonymous donor in return for putting a load of people on their employees list even though they're not actually working for Phoenix. I was rudely interrupted by the janitor though, so I didn't find out who was donating the money."
There was a silence as they all mused over the news. Quatre had put the picture of Makura on the table and Duo was staring intently at it. "You know," he muttered around a mouthful of pizza. "This guy looks kinda familiar, but I can't put my finger on it." They passed the picture around one more time.
"Shailyn." Wufei said suddenly when he got the picture. "They have the same nose, they same color hair, the same face shape."
"No way!" Duo cried grabbing the photo back. "Shailyn's a helleva lot prettier than that."
"I think Wufei's right." Quatre said. "They do look alike, but maybe it's just a coincident."
"A pretty damn odd coincident: a guy who definitely looks related to Shailyn shows up at her Way Station, when there are hundreds he could've chosen from and she's the only one left alive." Duo growled.
"You don't think Shailyn helped them!" Quatre cried, shocked.
"Evidence would say so." Sally pointed out.
"I do not believe she did." Wufei broke in quietly. They all turned to him in surprise. It was not characteristic of him to side with the accused, especially when the cards were stacked so high against her. "She has not given me any cause for suspicion yet, I will not distrust her until I have proof."
"I agree." Trowa put in. "Shailyn wants revenge for her friends' deaths, that's why she's here."
"But that might just be an excuse to get inside a feed information to the bad guys." Hilde put in.
"Let's all calm down." Sally said holding a hand out to keep Duo from saying something. "We can show Shailyn the picture when they get back and we can see what kind of reaction she has."
~*~*~
It was late when Heero and Shailyn finally made it back to the barracks. They entered the commons quietly, all the lights were off and they thought everyone must have gone to sleep. They were wrong, the instant the door closed behind them, the light switch clicked and the lights turned on. Both Shailyn and Heero had their guns out and aimed at Duo's chest before they realized it was him. He grinned at them merrily and went to sit on the couch with all the others who had been sitting quietly.
"Welcome back." Sally said, motioning them forward.
"I hope the reason you two are so late isn't because you were smooching in the car." Duo said teasingly. Heero sent him a withering glare and Shailyn gave him a disgusted look.
"Galileo is running an illegal mining operation on Mars." Heero said coldly sitting down. "They have a slave labor force working for them."
"It's mostly made up of orphans. They're basically doing the same thing Romefellar did with us." Shailyn's voice was full of barely contained anger and hatred.
"If what you say is true we need to contact Preventer HQ." Sally said. "Giving Relena Darlian a ring couldn't hurt, either." She added.
"What happened?" Quatre exclaimed kneeling in front of Shailyn and turning her arm over and exposing the long, deep scratch, the scab had broken and blood was welling up again.
"It's nothing." Shailyn said, pulling her hand back.
"You really should get that cleaned." Quatre said, eyeing her with concern.
Hilde got up and came back a few seconds later with a med kit. She handed it to Quatre who, despite Shailyn's protests, began cleaning to cut. While he was doing that, Heero told everyone everything they had found out.
"As far as we could tell in the short period of time we spent there, they aren't directly connected to the attack on the Way Station." Heero concluded. "But I wouldn't rule them out just yet." He added, looking at each of them.
Sally nodded and then glanced at Wufei who held the picture. "Shailyn," He said holding out the picture. "We want to ask you if you recognize this person." Quatre had just finished with her and she held out the now bandaged arm to take the photo.
She stared without recognition for a few seconds and then she dropped it as if struck. Hurriedly she picked it up and examined it again. Heero looked from her to the others curiously. They were all staring at her intently. She had paled visibly and her eyes seemed glued to the photo. "He...he's dead." She finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No, he's not." Quatre said, looking at her with worry. "That picture was taken by a security camera at my company just a couple of days ago."
"Who is he?" Hilde demanded.
Shailyn looked up, her eyes were burning with an emotion that no one could place. "He was my brother, but he died when the Preventers raided the Romefellar base. I looked for him!" She said fiercely. "He would have found me if he was still alive."
"Maybe he didn't care." Heero said. His voice hit her like ice water.
"Don't you ever say something like that again." Shailyn hissed. "You didn't know him and you don't know me." Her voice had begun to rise. "You wouldn't even know what it's like to lose family, you never had any." With that she stood up, dropping the picture to the floor and walked out of the room, her legs straining to keep from running.
~*~*~
Wufei found her in the training room. She had changed into loose, gray pants and a white tank top, her hair was pulled up in a long ponytail that trailed all the way down her back. She was beating the crap out of a red punching bag, her arm muscles strained with each punch but she kept at it, not even noticing that Wufei had entered the room.
He moved around in front of her so she had to look at him. She stopped moving and dropped her glove-padded hands to her sides. "What do you want?" She asked, wiping sweat from her forehead with her wrist. When she raised her hand, Wufei could she that the cut had broken open again because the bandages were stained heavily with blood.
"I am here to listen." He said calmly.
"Listen to what? I've got nothing to say." She made as if to start punching the bag again, but Wufei held out his hand.
"I, too, lost my family in the war. The colony I grew up on was completely destroyed and I watched it all happen."
Shailyn dropped her arm and stared at him. "What do you want me to say?"
"First, tell me why you are upset."
"My brother just came back from the dead, wouldn't that make you a tad bit upset too." She snapped sarcastically.
"That's not the whole reason why you're upset." He answered. Siting down cross legged on the mat in front of her, he motioned for her to sit as well.
Sighing, Shailyn sat down across from him. "I just hated what Heero said, about my brother not caring. Romefellar taught us not to care, but we always seemed to shrug off those lessons. None of the other kids had any family, we always felt special because of that and....well, we didn't take advantage of the fact. He was always there when I needed him....except when the Preventers came." She paused. "You know I don't really want to talk about this." She stood up again.
"We need to know if we can still trust you, Shailyn." Wufei said, not looking at her.
She stopped and stared at him. "I want to kill the men who killed my friends, that hasn't changed even though my brother is working for the same people."
Wufei was silent for a while before he finally said, "Your brother was the leader of the men who attacked Way 415."
Shailyn sat down hard. "How could he?"
Wufei remained silent. Finally he spoke. "You can tell us in the morning whether you still want to stay with this mission or if you want to be reassigned to another Way Station." He got up slowly, leaving her sitting there staring at the wall with a bewildered expression on her face.
~*~*~
Everyone had finally gone to sleep when Shailyn crept out into the commons area. As quietly as possible she opened the refrigerator door and stuffed the left over pizza and a couple bottles of water into the small pack she was carrying. She wore loose, light blue jeans and a large gray sweatshirt over a fitted black tank-top. In the pack along with the food, she had an outfit of black clothes, the perfect kind for sneaking around where you're not supposed to be. Silently, she left the barracks.
She had turned to close the barrack's door gently, when she heard a voice from behind her, "Going somewhere?" She stiffened.
Turning slowly, she met Heero's cold, cobalt gaze. Wufei stood next to him, his dark eyes cast downward. "Yes, I am." Was all she said and tried to brush past Heero, but he grabbed her upper arm.
"Where?" His tone gave more meaning to that one word than it had on its own. 'Tell me where and if it's the wrong answer, I will kill you'.
Shailyn breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, trying to think of a way to tell without getting herself killed. "I have to find the truth out about my brother."
"How do we know you aren't just going back to report that you've been found out and you can't spy on us anymore." Wufei asked and Heero tightened his grip on her arm.
"You think I've been spying on you?" She cried, indignant.
"Keep your voice down or you'll wake everyone up." Heero hissed. "And yes, we aren't the best of the best because we're trusting. Give me a reason to believe you're on our side and I'll help you. But if I'm not convinced, I kill you here and now." His gun was in his free hand so suddenly Shailyn hadn't even seen it drawn.
"There isn't anything I can say to make you trust me," She started, wincing as his grip tightened even more. "But you're welcome to come with me and find out for yourself, I wont turn help away."
He relaxed his hand, only a little though. "How do you know where their base is?"
"I don't, but after looking over what Duo and Hilde brought back, I'm sure I can at least find out where my brother is if I can get into the Phoenix mainframe."
Heero nodded slowly, letting go of her arm and picking up a pack that had been leaning against the wall, he put it over his shoulder and motioned for her to lead the way. Wufei picked up his own pack and waited. Blinking in surprise, Shailyn shook her head and started down the street at a brisk walk, painfully aware of the two new shadows at her back, always just two steps behind.