AN: This chapter has been re-posted as I somehow missed the last few lines of the chapter and without them it doesn't seem to wrap up properly.
Chapter Eleven
It was Monday morning and Duo was finishing up the cereal he had gotten himself; Wufei had already left for work. His paper work had told him he was to meet Sally at 9am and then his work day would begin. He was excited to get back to work and find out who his new partner would be. His old partner was Heero, and of course that did not go well. He was excited to get back into the field again. He finished up in the kitchen when he was done before heading out. He got into his new car and started it up. He smiled. He was happy he had purchased it.
As he drove to the Preventors Eastern Division Headquarters, PEDH for short, he reflected on what Wufei had told him. He said that all Duo needed to do was show his ID at the receptionist desk when he arrived and he would be given a temporary pass until his permanent ID card was worked out later that day. He was filled with confidence and excitement. He pulled into the parking garage beside the tall building and found a place to park on the fourth level. He made his way down to the bottom level before stepping out into the early morning sunshine. He looked up at the thirty two story building. It was sleek and it looked like it was made of nothing but glass windows. It was the same design the building he used to work in had. It was nothing new to him. He proceeded toward the entrance, throwing around ideas of what his new partner might be like.
When he stepped into the entrance he was greeted by a large atrium. On both sides there were elevators and directly in front of him was a large reception desk. Seated at the desk were three women that looked to be in their early to late twenties. They were all beautiful and had head sets for talking on the phone hands free. He stepped up to the one in the middle and waited for her to notice him. All three women were talking on the phone, so he was not surprised that it took the woman a moment to deal with him. When she was finally finished she looked up at him with a smile.
"Hello, Welcome to Preventors. What can I do for you this morning Sir?" Her smile was sweet and genuine. It warmed Duo and he smiled back.
"Hi. Today is my first day at this location and I don't have an ID card yet." He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and produced his ID before handing it to her. The woman took it and looked at it for a moment before consulting the computer in front of her. There was a moment before she handed it back.
"Okay, everything looks to be in order." She handed him a card that held the companies name on it and a magnetic strip on the back and was connected to a clip. "You will need to use this to get through to the elevators. When you get your permanent one you will be able to access certain areas of the building that this current card will not allow you into." She looked at him for a second, seeming to take note of the t-shirt and slacks he was wearing, though her kind cheerful expression did not change. "Who do you need to go see sir?"
"Oh, I need to meet with Master Sergeant Sally Po."
"Okay, take the elevators on the left and you want to go to the fifth floor. When you get out of the elevator you want to take a right and head all the way down the hall way, take a left at the fork and at the end of that hallway will be Master Sergeant Sally's office."
He looked at her for a moment, taking in the directions. They were easy enough. "Thanks!" He exclaimed before turning and heading towards the elevators to his left. On both sides of the atrium, before the elevators, were ropes, metal detectors and officers waiting for check each person coming through. It was the same as the west division. They took no chances with weapons unless specifically issued by the company. Duo made his way through the process quickly, having anticipated it. He boarded one of the elevators and hit the number five. He had been joined by only a few other people, and only had to stop one time before he was at his floor. He stepped out and followed the directions he had been given. As he walked down the halls, he found cubicles of the Field Agents to his left. Some were empty, but many were occupied. When he took a left at the fork, he noticed closed office's to his right. He made his way down the hall and soon he was standing before a simple door that would lead him to his meeting.
He peaked through the window in the door and saw a small room with a desk with a young lady he had never seen before sitting at it. She must be a secretary, he thought to himself. He stepped back and looked down at himself. Maybe he had dressed a little too casually, but he figured he would be getting a field agents uniform soon enough so something simple did not seem like a bad idea at the time. Shrugging, he knocked on the door before opening it and stepping in. The young lady looked up at him, smiling just as big as the lady at the reception desk.
"Hello." She greeted.
"Hi."
"Do you have a meeting with Ms. Sally, sir?"
He closed the door behind him. "Yes I do, at nine o'clock. My name is Duo Maxwell." He smiled at her.
"Oh yes, she has been waiting for you. Go on ahead sir."
Duo looked at the clock on the wall. It was only eight forty five. He was fifteen minutes early, but Sally had been waiting for him. He was a little confused, but proceeded through the door that the secretary had indicated.
The office was far too large for one person, but Sally dominated the space. She sat in the back left corner of the office, at a angle so that whomever sat behind it could enjoy the view from the massive wall of windows. Opposite of the desk, in the corner to Duo's right, was a small table with two chairs. In front of the desk were two more chairs. Sally looked up at him as he entered. She smiled and he smiled back. It had been almost three years since he had last seen her.
"Good morning, Duo. Please, take a seat." She gestured towards the two hairs in front of her desk. He stepped forward and took one of the chairs. It was comfortable and made of soft leather. "Well, let me first start off by welcoming you to the Eastern Division of Preventors Headquarters. We are happy to have you."
"It's a pleasure to be here," Duo smiled.
"Well, how about we get started right away. When you're information was transferred here, you were given a promotion. It was a decision made by both myself and Sergeant Major Noin. You're new title is Staff Sergeant."
Duo blinked, totally blown away. He had been promoted, and had skipped 2 promotions all together. Why had they promoted him though? It didn't make sense. He would have to ask when Sally was done with her speech.
"Of course, with the promotion comes new job duties. You will no longer be a field agent. You will have an office of your own and will have two teams of field agents reporting to you. Your new duties will entail handing missions from me to your teams, filing and reporting your teams reports, as well as connecting your teams with necessary contacts and other required services. You have been given two teams to start off with, and from there you will work your way up to more and a possible promotion to Sergeant First Class."
Duo's mind was reeling. All this information was too much for him. He wasn't going to be a field agent anymore, and he would have to do more work then he had ever imagined? It was the same amount of work as before, just a different format. It was all paper work, and that was something he did not want to do. He loved working in the field, his place was not behind a desk. He realized she had said he could get promoted up another level. Wufei was a Sergeant First Class. He wondered if he worked with teams of field agents or if he did something more exciting.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused," Duo confessed. "Why am I no longer a field agent?"
"That's simple Duo. We have enough field agents here, and there is a need for the position that you have been currently given. You were given this promotion because you are highly qualified, and to keep you as a field agent would be wasting your talent Duo. I hope you are in agreeance with this promotion Duo, and I hope you plan to keep it. The pay is almost a fifty percent increase."
Duo looked at her, still in shock. This is not what he had planned at all. He thought he would walk in there and find out who his partner was and who he would be reporting to. Instead, he was the one that would be getting reported to. The idea was weird. To him it was not about the money though. He had enjoyed his job before, outside of the issues he had with Heero. He sighed.
"Okay, I'll give it a try."
Sally's smile grew big. She was clearly happy he was taking the position. He was not sure he felt the same though. It was a big responsibility, not that his previous job hadn't been. He just was not sure if he was up for the challenges that he was about to face. With that, the meeting was over and she was ushering him out of the office and telling the secretary to show him to him to his new office. He was lead by the young lady to a room a few offices down from Sally's. The young lady left him as he opened the door and stepped in.
He looked around. It was not nearly as big as Sally's, but it was a decent size. It had an oak desk with a cushioned chair behind it and two less comfortable looking chairs in front of it. A modern computer sat off to the side on the desk to make room for filling out paper work and such. There was also a small lamp on the desk. There was a filing cabinet to the right of the door and a plant on the left. Duo wondered if it was real or just for show. The windows behind the desk filled the entire wall just like in Sally's office. It was not a bad office, Duo had to be honest with himself, and he knew that he he had a lot of work ahead of him but he was sure he could manage it.
Duo stepped further in and noticed a piece of paper on the desk. He walked behind the desk and sat down before taking a look at the paper. On it there was an agenda, though there were no times. At the top of the paper there was a list of computer programs he had to get set up on this computer and how to go about doing so. After that, there was a list of four Field Agents that he had to meet with that day at some point in time. Below this was a list of Sergeant First Class and Staff Sergeants that could assist him if he needed any help. Duo took a deep breath and sighed.
He decided it would be best to start at the top, so he booted the computer up and set to work. It was almost lunch time when he finished doing his computer work. He stomach was growling at him and he regretted eating only cereal for breakfast. Cereal never filled him up for long enough. He stoop up and stretched before wondering what he should do about lunch. He figured now that he had gotten a promotion he did not have a set time for lunch, but he also knew that he could not take an hour long lunch. He then realized he had no idea where the cafeteria was in the building. He wondered if he could find someone help him. He proceeded out of his office. Just as he was stepping out of his office, he ran into something short and papers went everywhere
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Duo exclaimed and scrambled to pick up papers.
"Oh! It's okay. This happens a lot," a quiet voice sighed. When all the papers were gathered up, Duo stood and handed them over.
The young woman was short, Duo guessed about five foot and one inch. She had long curly hair that cascaded down her back. Piercing brown eyes looked up at him. She looked Hispanic, but he was not exactly sure on that. She was dressed in the Preventors blue and white Field Agent uniform. Despite the catastrophe she had a small smile on her face.
"Thank you."
"Not a problem. It was my fault anyway."
"Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you around." The woman shifted the papers in her arms to get a better grip on them.
Duo scratched his head, fighting a smile. "Yeah, I transferred from the Western Division."
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you..." She trailed off, not sure how to address him.
"Duo. Um," Duo faltered, "Staff Sergent Maxwell that is."
"Oh!" She gave a quick salute, before grabbing onto the papers she was trying to keep from falling once again. "Specialist Menton, Sir"
"Do you have a first name Specialist Menton?" Duo fought back another smile. The young woman was charming.
"Oh, yes. It's Samantha. It's a pleasure to meet you sir. I must get going though."
"Wait!" Samantha had just started walking away but his sudden outburst caused her to turn and look at him questioningly. "I was wondering if you could tell me where the cafeteria is? It's my first day here and I have no idea where anything is."
A sweet smile graced her lips. "I can show you where it is, Sir. Do you mind if I drop these papers off at my desk, Sir?"
Duo cringed. He did not like being called Sir by someone. He had never had a position high enough for anyone to really care. It would definitely take some getting used to. "Of course, I'll just wait here." It did not take long for the young woman to leave him and return back free of the stack of papers.
"Okay, do you have an access card?"
"Uh, yeah. It's a temporary one though."
"That's okay. Those work for one day, but after that you have to use a permanent one. Has anyone told you how to get a permanent card, Sir?" They began to walk towards the elevators.
"No. The receptionist downstairs mentioned it, but I haven't been given any information on that."
They stepped into the elevator. "Okay, well after we something to eat I can take you to the tech department. They can get you hooked up with a permanent access card." She pushed the number sixteen button. "So, because there are so many people working here they have designated two floors to the cafeteria. Level sixteen and seventeen. They request that the people working on the first 15 floors go to the calfeteria on level sixteen. They have it designed so that between eleven and one o'clock certain floors are set go to lunch. Since we are on floor five we take lunch with floors four and six at twelve o'clock. It's a very efficient and effective system."
Duo nodded, mulling the information over. They rode the elevator up to the sixteenth floor in silence. When they stepped out, they made their way down a hallway that lead to the cafeteria. On the left side of the large room there was a line of workers that lead to the kitchen area where they were gathering their lunch. The rest of the room was filled with tables and chairs and it was larger then any dinning area Duo had ever seen. The Western Division was smaller and therefore did not have to accommodate so many people. The room could have been better, but Duo knew that in reality there were actually 4 cafeterias; 2 for each side of the building. He could hardly believe that half of a floor was dedicated to a cafeteria. Samantha lead Duo to the line and they waited. Once they had gotten their food they made their way back out to the dinning area and found an empty table to eat at.
"You don't have to worry about paying for your food, because everyone who has a card gets their meal free. They say that the idea behind it is that a fed employee works better." Samantha laughed and continued to eat.
Duo took a bite of his turkey sandwich and observed his surroundings. It was not this nice at the Western Division of Preventors, then again the Eastern Division had more funding since it was the Head Quarters for all Preventors. Duo shrugged and finished his lunch. Samantha seemed to have finished as well.
"Would you like to take you to the tech department so that you can get a permanent access card, sir?" She asked as they took care of their trays.
"That would be great, thank you." He smiled and she smiled back.
"It's not a problem, Sir." She lead him back to the elevator where she hit the number two button. Duo logged that into his memory, as well as the cafeteria time and location. The ride down was silent. Duo was unsure what to say to the woman. The silence felt awkward to him, but soon enough they had arrived at the second floor and were exiting the elevator. "It can get pretty confusing on this floor to be honest," the young woman laughed.
Duo looked out on the floor to see a maze of computer servers. He wondered where all the computer techs were if the floor was nothing but servers. He looked at her, a skeptical look on his face. She laughed.
"The servers are all in the center of this floor, so you have to walk the outer edges to find the techs." They took a right out of the elevator and made their way to the offices along the outer wall. Duo shivered due to the air conditioning that was pumping into the room. He knew that this floor had to be kept cold for the servers, and he was glad he did not work on the second floor. Samantha knocked on one of the doors and waited for a response. Soon after, the door opened to reveal a young man of about five foot eleven and looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was thin but muscular with rectangular glasses and had dark brown hair with eyes that matched. His hair was done in a mow hawk style but it was not spiked. He was dressed in black pants, a white polo shirt and black converse shoes. Duo blinked a few times. The man was handsome.
"Staff Sergeant Maxwell, this is Private First Class Lockwood. He is one of the best techs that the Preventors has." She was smiling big. Duo had a feeling that she liked the Private.
The private extended his hand and Duo shook it. "Pleasure to meet you, Sir. What can I help you with?"
"It seems I am in need of a permanent access card." Duo smiled.
"I can help you with that, Sir. Do you have your temporary card on you?"
"Oh, yeah." Duo dug into his pocket and produced the card. He handed it over to the man. The man took it and walked back into his office. Duo followed. The office was much smaller then his own. It had a desk with a computer on it and a chair. There was a lot of other equipment on the desk that Duo was not familiar with, but he figured it had something to do with making new access cards. The man sat down at his desk before swiping the card on a machine and going to work on his computer. A few short moments later he opened a drawer of his desk and produced a card that was very different from the one Duo originally had. The card was white like the first one, but the company logo was in the center with the words "Preventors East Division" circling it. Below it were the words "Staff Sergeant Special Access". The young man swiped the card on the same machine as before and went to work on his computer once again. It only took a minute before he stood and passed the card to Duo.
"I have integrated all of your information onto the card. As you know, much of this information is confidential so remember to keep this card safe. If you need to know any special areas you can access you will have to ask Master Sergeant Po. I unfortunately do not have access to that kind of information."
"Thanks!" Duo exclaimed, a cheery smile on this face.
"Not a problem, Sir. If there is anything you need you may come to me." He turned to Samantha and nodded to her. "Specialist Menton, have a pleasant day."
Duo smiled. He was sure there was something going on there, but it was not his place to say anything. Instead he turned and made his way back to the elevators. The young woman followed him quickly. He was ready to get back to work. He still had to meet with his field agents. He tried to remember their names, but could not. He shrugged it off and headed up to the fifth was starting to get excited about his job, even though he wouldn't be working out in the field. He had a good feeling that things in his life were heading down the right track for once.
End Chapter