Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing and do not claim to.
Author's Note: Umm… Enjoy! The 1xR stuff will come back in later, don't you worry.
Internal Warfare
Chapter 4: The Investigation
By the time Relena, Milliardo and Lucrezia arrived at Preventers' headquarters all the Gundam Pilots, with the exception of Heero, had been gathered along with Lady Une. When the three entered the private meeting room, all talk ceased.
Relena looked expectantly at each Gundam Pilot, "Did anyone find out anything?" she asked almost desperately. The color around her eyes was a soft shade of pink telling the story of the tears she had shed for Emmalynn Starlen over the phone.
"No connection between Starlen and Richards, and absolutely no sign of Heero and his team." Wufie said with a frustrated sigh.
"There were no signs of forced entry at any of the homes of the missing, however," Trowa paused, bringing attention to the next part, "while looking through the house of Heero's associate, Thomas Kent, I found signs of a struggle. This leads me to believe that Heero and his team were abducted."
The knot in Relena's stomach twisted in a way that was so painful she thought she would pass out. Apparently, the look on her face did not hide this, for Quatre gently, but quickly, took her hand and led her to a seat in which he promptly pushed her down. Everyone stared at her for a moment with expressions of sorrow and understanding. All that Relena could think about was Heero. What possible danger is he in, what chance that he could be dead or dying, or infected with Marburg by some Satan worshiping asshole who they had no clues of which would aid them in finding. She lowered her eyes and a few stray tears streaked down her face. She closed her eyes tightly. Come on Relena, snap out of it, you need to be strong. Lives depend on you. Heero's life depends on you. Pick your self up and be a diplomat and keep your cool. Relena harshly wiped her tears away with a deep breath and opened her eyes. Looking up she made her chin parallel to the floor and stood on firm unwavering legs.
"Well, what are you all standing around here for, you have to find the connection between Richards and Starlen and you have to find Heero. I have a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and I'll try and find out anything I can from him." Swiftly she turned around and left the room. The occupants of the room took no delay in following her instructions.
Quatre paused for a moment and looked out the window at the sky. "Wherever you are Heero, I hope your having more luck than we are."
********
"Thomas!" Heero nearly yelled. Kent knew that when Heero referred to him by his first name it meant business. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at him. "What investigation?" Heero asked calmly, once again controlling his voice.
Kent cleared his throat, "Montgomery is also a scientist as you may or may not already know…"
He was then cut off by Decon, "Yes, I worked with him during the Morocco emergence of Marburg."
"Yes! Exactly." Kent said.
"Exactly what?" Hews asked.
"President Richards and a few other select members of the ESUN hierarchy were organizing an investigation into his handling of the emergence there." Kent went on.
"Oh!" Heero replied, very knowingly. The other two looked at him as though they didn't get it, so he elaborated. "I'm sure you know, Decon, that Montgomery signed an order that signed the death warrants of thousands of Moroccan citizens, whether they were sick or not is unknown. No one to this day knows the truth and Richards must have been checking it out."
"He was." Said Kent, "He organized the investigation along with five others, "General Powl down at the Institute, and ESUN Big Whigs, Kale Starlen, Susan Drypher, Lyle Arc, and oh damn, what was that last name?"
Heero's heart caught in his throat for a moment, but his calm persona held, "Was it, Relena Peacecraft?"
"No, Miss Peacecraft was kept out of it because she was never involved in the emergence in the first place, but it was umm…. Damn what was that man's name?"
Everyone stared expectantly at Kent for a few moments, then his shoulders rose in an expression of giving up. Heero glared at him for a moment, then stood. "The first thing we have to do is get out of this room."
"But how?" Kent asked, "I assure you that the door is quite solid and…"
He faded off as Heero walked to the back wall, than ran toward the door and soared through the air, right foot first, kicking the door firmly in the center. The door broke on its hinges and slammed against the wall opposite it. Heero landed skillfully and turned to the others, "Coming?"
*******
General Powl entered the office of Doctor McCormick with a new bandage wrapped around his wrist. Dr. McCormick looked at it quizzically, "My niece's pet bit me just a minute ago, do you think you can give me a tetanus shot?"
"Sure." The doctor walked over to one of the shelves lined against the white walls and retrieved a vile of yellow colored liquid and a hypodermic syringe. Slowly he drew some of the yellow liquid into the clear glass tube of the syringe, letting it drip off the end when he was done, he cleared the tube of any air bubbles. He took Powl's arm and rubbed the crook of his elbow with antiseptic and slowly pushed the needle in. He drew forth the needle from Powl's arms and rubbed the spot with antiseptic a second time while disposing of the syringe in a sharps bin.
"I called you here in regards to Doctor Charles J." McCormick said after a moment. Powl's eyes widened in shock.
"What about Dr. J?" Powl asked his voice wavering slightly.
"He has gone missing." McCormick said carefully, "I have reason to believe he has something to do with this new emergence of Marburg amongst ESUN delegates. As you know, all telephone lines to and from this institute are tapped, well, I found several telephone calls placed from Dr. J's office to the office of Vice President Montgomery."
*********
Relena was led into the large office of Vice President of ESUN Charles Montgomery. Montgomery stood, his brown eyes fixed on the young women. He did not smile, but extended his hand to her.
"Miss Peacecraft," he began, "Have the Preventers come up with any leads."
"No, not yet." She replied as Montgomery's assistant entered with a pot of coffee and two cups. He was a large man and leaned over Relena to pour coffee for her. She was nervous about his presence but remain quiet.
"I'm afraid, Miss Peacecraft, that when the other ESUN delegates hear of Starlen's death and the disappearance of Dr. Heero Yuy and his team" Relena's heart beat ten times faster at the mention of Heero's disappearance, she played nervously with the cup in her hand. "there will be a panic. And I also have the misfortune of being the one to inform you that ESUN representative Angus Lucre, has died just a few hours ago."
Relena's eyes widened. Not Angus too. Angus was a chubby short old man who was jolly and cheerful when times were good and confident that times would get better when they weren't. "Well," Relena said regaining her diplomatic stance, "I will talk to the delegates myself, they seem to calm when I reassure them of my own confidence that we will find the perpetrator behind all of this."
Montgomery resisted the urge to smile, "I'm afraid Miss Peacecraft that you will not be at tomorrow's meeting to reassure the other delegates."
"What do you mean?" Relena asked. Montgomery's assistant approached from behind her and hit her in the head with a hard metal object. Relena's world faded to black as she fell unconscious.
"Now," Montgomery addressed his assistant, "go and knock out her limo driver and ditch the car, no slip ups this time."
((A/N: I know, don't you just love me when I do things like this. This abduction of Relena thing is new to me too, so we'll see how it turns out ne! Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed so far, and I would like to say again that I LOVE reviews. For those of you (probably one) who is also reading "Meant to Be" you may or may not have read that reviews make me write faster. Well, they do… Good or bad, review.))
Author's Note: Umm… Enjoy! The 1xR stuff will come back in later, don't you worry.
Internal Warfare
Chapter 4: The Investigation
By the time Relena, Milliardo and Lucrezia arrived at Preventers' headquarters all the Gundam Pilots, with the exception of Heero, had been gathered along with Lady Une. When the three entered the private meeting room, all talk ceased.
Relena looked expectantly at each Gundam Pilot, "Did anyone find out anything?" she asked almost desperately. The color around her eyes was a soft shade of pink telling the story of the tears she had shed for Emmalynn Starlen over the phone.
"No connection between Starlen and Richards, and absolutely no sign of Heero and his team." Wufie said with a frustrated sigh.
"There were no signs of forced entry at any of the homes of the missing, however," Trowa paused, bringing attention to the next part, "while looking through the house of Heero's associate, Thomas Kent, I found signs of a struggle. This leads me to believe that Heero and his team were abducted."
The knot in Relena's stomach twisted in a way that was so painful she thought she would pass out. Apparently, the look on her face did not hide this, for Quatre gently, but quickly, took her hand and led her to a seat in which he promptly pushed her down. Everyone stared at her for a moment with expressions of sorrow and understanding. All that Relena could think about was Heero. What possible danger is he in, what chance that he could be dead or dying, or infected with Marburg by some Satan worshiping asshole who they had no clues of which would aid them in finding. She lowered her eyes and a few stray tears streaked down her face. She closed her eyes tightly. Come on Relena, snap out of it, you need to be strong. Lives depend on you. Heero's life depends on you. Pick your self up and be a diplomat and keep your cool. Relena harshly wiped her tears away with a deep breath and opened her eyes. Looking up she made her chin parallel to the floor and stood on firm unwavering legs.
"Well, what are you all standing around here for, you have to find the connection between Richards and Starlen and you have to find Heero. I have a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and I'll try and find out anything I can from him." Swiftly she turned around and left the room. The occupants of the room took no delay in following her instructions.
Quatre paused for a moment and looked out the window at the sky. "Wherever you are Heero, I hope your having more luck than we are."
********
"Thomas!" Heero nearly yelled. Kent knew that when Heero referred to him by his first name it meant business. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at him. "What investigation?" Heero asked calmly, once again controlling his voice.
Kent cleared his throat, "Montgomery is also a scientist as you may or may not already know…"
He was then cut off by Decon, "Yes, I worked with him during the Morocco emergence of Marburg."
"Yes! Exactly." Kent said.
"Exactly what?" Hews asked.
"President Richards and a few other select members of the ESUN hierarchy were organizing an investigation into his handling of the emergence there." Kent went on.
"Oh!" Heero replied, very knowingly. The other two looked at him as though they didn't get it, so he elaborated. "I'm sure you know, Decon, that Montgomery signed an order that signed the death warrants of thousands of Moroccan citizens, whether they were sick or not is unknown. No one to this day knows the truth and Richards must have been checking it out."
"He was." Said Kent, "He organized the investigation along with five others, "General Powl down at the Institute, and ESUN Big Whigs, Kale Starlen, Susan Drypher, Lyle Arc, and oh damn, what was that last name?"
Heero's heart caught in his throat for a moment, but his calm persona held, "Was it, Relena Peacecraft?"
"No, Miss Peacecraft was kept out of it because she was never involved in the emergence in the first place, but it was umm…. Damn what was that man's name?"
Everyone stared expectantly at Kent for a few moments, then his shoulders rose in an expression of giving up. Heero glared at him for a moment, then stood. "The first thing we have to do is get out of this room."
"But how?" Kent asked, "I assure you that the door is quite solid and…"
He faded off as Heero walked to the back wall, than ran toward the door and soared through the air, right foot first, kicking the door firmly in the center. The door broke on its hinges and slammed against the wall opposite it. Heero landed skillfully and turned to the others, "Coming?"
*******
General Powl entered the office of Doctor McCormick with a new bandage wrapped around his wrist. Dr. McCormick looked at it quizzically, "My niece's pet bit me just a minute ago, do you think you can give me a tetanus shot?"
"Sure." The doctor walked over to one of the shelves lined against the white walls and retrieved a vile of yellow colored liquid and a hypodermic syringe. Slowly he drew some of the yellow liquid into the clear glass tube of the syringe, letting it drip off the end when he was done, he cleared the tube of any air bubbles. He took Powl's arm and rubbed the crook of his elbow with antiseptic and slowly pushed the needle in. He drew forth the needle from Powl's arms and rubbed the spot with antiseptic a second time while disposing of the syringe in a sharps bin.
"I called you here in regards to Doctor Charles J." McCormick said after a moment. Powl's eyes widened in shock.
"What about Dr. J?" Powl asked his voice wavering slightly.
"He has gone missing." McCormick said carefully, "I have reason to believe he has something to do with this new emergence of Marburg amongst ESUN delegates. As you know, all telephone lines to and from this institute are tapped, well, I found several telephone calls placed from Dr. J's office to the office of Vice President Montgomery."
*********
Relena was led into the large office of Vice President of ESUN Charles Montgomery. Montgomery stood, his brown eyes fixed on the young women. He did not smile, but extended his hand to her.
"Miss Peacecraft," he began, "Have the Preventers come up with any leads."
"No, not yet." She replied as Montgomery's assistant entered with a pot of coffee and two cups. He was a large man and leaned over Relena to pour coffee for her. She was nervous about his presence but remain quiet.
"I'm afraid, Miss Peacecraft, that when the other ESUN delegates hear of Starlen's death and the disappearance of Dr. Heero Yuy and his team" Relena's heart beat ten times faster at the mention of Heero's disappearance, she played nervously with the cup in her hand. "there will be a panic. And I also have the misfortune of being the one to inform you that ESUN representative Angus Lucre, has died just a few hours ago."
Relena's eyes widened. Not Angus too. Angus was a chubby short old man who was jolly and cheerful when times were good and confident that times would get better when they weren't. "Well," Relena said regaining her diplomatic stance, "I will talk to the delegates myself, they seem to calm when I reassure them of my own confidence that we will find the perpetrator behind all of this."
Montgomery resisted the urge to smile, "I'm afraid Miss Peacecraft that you will not be at tomorrow's meeting to reassure the other delegates."
"What do you mean?" Relena asked. Montgomery's assistant approached from behind her and hit her in the head with a hard metal object. Relena's world faded to black as she fell unconscious.
"Now," Montgomery addressed his assistant, "go and knock out her limo driver and ditch the car, no slip ups this time."
((A/N: I know, don't you just love me when I do things like this. This abduction of Relena thing is new to me too, so we'll see how it turns out ne! Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed so far, and I would like to say again that I LOVE reviews. For those of you (probably one) who is also reading "Meant to Be" you may or may not have read that reviews make me write faster. Well, they do… Good or bad, review.))