Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing nor Ocean's 11.
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It was mid morning when Dekim Junior took the podium to say his speech, Mariemaia smirked in disgust as she turned to look at the once majestic building of her father's casino.
The Talgeese. It was like her second home for years.
And now the man she despises the most was going to tear it down.
She stood by the audience as she saw her mother glaring at the man behind his back. She was glad that Une shared her resentment of the man.
And beside Dekim Junior was her best friend who looked at her giving a sad smile. She smiled back and began to walk away.
"I feel alone," she breathed out as she looked at the Talgeese for the last time.
"Then we have something in common," a soft voice said. Mariemaia turned around but couldn't see anyone she recognized.
"What?" she whispered.
"Being alone," came the reply.
"Who are you?" she asked, staying calm.
"Just a shadow among the crowd," he said a little louder. Smiling, she had recognized the voice.
"A shadow with gray eyes," she said. "Do you know the building being destroyed?"
"The Talgeese," the shadow said. "Owned by your father until the Dekims bought it out."
"And it will be reduced to rubble in a few moments," she sighed.
"It is only a thing," he said almost coldly. Mariemaia frowned but couldn't find him.
"It is NOT a thing," she defended.
"It is a building that can crumble into dust," he said. "But there are some things that they could not destroy."
"And that is?"
"Your memories of your father in that building," he said softly. "The happy memories you had shared with him. No one can take that away from anyone."
Mariemaia was silent for a few moments. Then his words sunk in.
"You're right," she smiled as she looked at the building, moments before it had crumbled. She then looked at the man who blew it up, not noticing her as she glared at him.
"But someone did something to halt all those memories yet to be made," she said and walked away.
"I know," the voice of the shadow said and looked at Dekim Junior. He then looked to a wild haired, Prussian eyed man who was looking at a blond, sea green eyed woman beside the magnate.
Smirking, he followed Mariemaia.
*** ***
"That was some power outage," Quatre said as they met at the secret warehouse. Dorothy smiled and shook her head.
"And you thought I made it when we were in bed," she leered making him gulp.
"Everyone here?" Duo asked as he looked around.
"Wufei's not here," Catherine said.
"He's making explosives," Heero said as he looked at the model of the Bellagio vault.
"Is there by any chance he's blow himself up?" Hilde asked softly rewarding her were the chuckles of her teammates.
"Let's get to the plan," Mill said.
"Right," Trowa said as he leaned on his chair.
"Where's Jeremy?" Une asked. As if on cue, Jeremy emerged and walked toward them. He gave her a quick nod and joined the others. "Okay, let's begin."
"Tomorrow, the day's yours. Do with it as you like," Duo said as he smiled at the group. "Call time's 5:30, make-up and costume. Mill's package will arrive at 7:05, Jeremy grabs our codes. All goes well, we're a go.
"7:30, Catherine gets locked in with the bombs. At this point, we have 30 minutes to blow the safe before she suffocates."
"No screw ups, boys," Catherine said. Duo sighed and continued.
"Cat, get into position," Catherine stood and Quatre followed. "People," Duo smiled and led the, to their mockup vault. Quatre entered pushing a cash cart to the middle of the room. When he left, the motion detectors went on line and Catherine exited the cash cart using a false top.
"Once the electricity goes, all access points to the vault and its elevator will be automatically shut down in two minutes. That's when we make our move," Duo looked at Catherine who saw standing above the cash cart.
"Okay," he snapped his fingers. "They put you in the middle of the room, ten feet from everything. You have to get from there, to the door with out touching the floor, what are you going to do?" Catherine prepared to jump.
"Ten says she shorts it," Dorothy said.
"Twenty," the rest betted. Catherine did a perfect flip and landed on one of the shelves ten feet away.
Awed, they applauded.
"Don't get your hopes up," Wufei suddenly said as he entered the warehouse, covered from head to toe in crap. Everyone stared in bewilderment as Wufei smirked and nodded.
"That's right, we're in deep shit," he said as he removed his shirt and dropped with a flop on the floor. Most of the grifters covered their noses from the stench he made.
"That idiotic demo crew didn't back up the main line and blew it right to hell!" Wufei said.
"What happened?" Heero asked.
"They did what I should have done but the did it accidentally," Wufei growled. "They blew the power grid one by one like dominoes. Now they know their weakness and their fixing it."
"Then unless we do this job in Reno, we're in Barney," Jeremy said making the entire crew look at him in question. "Barney? Barney Rubble? Trouble!" everyone nodded in understanding.
"What now?" Duo asked Heero.
"We could..." he started but Duo shook his head.
"By tomorrow?" Duo smirked.
"Why not use a pinch?" Jeremy suggested to Wufei who looked deep in thought.
"That might work," he smiled at the lad.
"What's a pinch?" Heero asked.
"A pinch is a device that creates a cardiac arrest to any broad band electrical system," Wufei smiled. "In other words a pinch is a bomb, but with out a bomb."
"I don't follow," Mill said.
"A nuclear bomb sends out an electromagnetic pulse after it detonates that shuts down any power source in its blast radius," Jeremy said as he looked at his teammates. "It really doesn't matter because the weapon destroys everything you might need power for anyway."
"Much like your glare," Duo joked to Heero, who once again felt the full force of being ground zero.
"Go on," Heero said.
"But a pinch could generate that same EM pulse without the fuss of mass destruction and death," Wufei said.
"So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century," Jeremy finished.
"How long?" Duo asked.
"About thirty seconds," he said.
"You know a lot about it," Une said amused.
"I went to college," Jeremy shrugged.
"Can a pinch shut down an entire city like..." Heero started.
"Las Vegas?" Wufei asked. "It might. But there's only one place in the world who has a pinch large enough to do it."
"Where?" Duo asked. Wufei looked at Jeremy, who simply sighed.
*** * California Institute for Advanced Science
"This is insane," Jeremy said as they entered the east entrance. Heero looked at him from across the van and frowned.
"We need this for the job," he said.
"That's not the insane part," Jeremy glared. "It's riding about four hours with these guys," he said as he jerked his thumb at their motley crew picked for their pick-up. Wufei glared at him while Catherine ignored them. Quatre and Dorothy were in front, but Dorothy always sneaks a feel for his lover.
"Get used to it," Heero said as they neared the back entrance. "You're working with them." Jeremy sighed as the van stopped. Heero opened the door and jumped out.
"Wufei, Catherine, with me," Heero said as the two exited the van. Jeremy frowned in question. "Stay," Heero commanded and closed the door. Sighing, Jeremy sat on the floor and leaned on the side.
"How long do you think they'd be out?" Dorothy asked seductively.
"A few minutes," Quatre said. Dorothy smiled and leaned over. Jeremy looked shocked and exited the vehicle, trying to follow the others.
A few minutes later, Heero, Wufei and Catherine rolled the pinch out. It was the size of a small coffin and could easily fit into the van.
"Let's go," Heero said as they loaded the device. Quatre shifted the van into gear and sped away.
However, Heero felt that something was wrong.
"Where's Jeremy?" he asked. Quatre braked hard and they opened the side door to look for signs of their missing comrade.
"There he is," Catherine pointed. Jeremy was climbing the stairs while a couple of guards were fast behind his heels.
"That idiotic weakling," Wufei spat.
"Should we go after him?" Quatre asked.
"And get caught?" Wufei smirked.
Suddenly, one of the second floor window broke and Jeremy emerged.
"Back it up," Heero said and closed the door. As the van backed up, Jeremy was running on the rood of the first floor, avoiding the guards. The van was already by the gate when Jeremy jumped onto its roof.
"Le him in," Heero ordered ad the opened the back doors. But Jeremy rolled over the hood of the van and entered the side door.
"Go!" he said. The van sped away while Catherine was closing the door.
"You idiotic bastard!" Wufei cursed. The van turned sharply causing the door to slam onto Catherine's hand. Screaming in pain, Jeremy cam over and looked at in.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She should have been angry with him but his concern ebbed it away.
"I'm fine," she winced. "I won't be using it for a while, but I'm fine."
"I told you to stay," Heero frowned at him.
"I know," Jeremy said. "I'm sorry."
"If you lose focus in this game for one second, someone will get hurt," Heero glared at him but noticed a file folder sticking out of his jacket. He ignored this and looked away.
For once curiosity got the best of him.
"What did you get?" Heero asked. Jeremy looked at him, deciding if he should answer.
"Something to help Mariemaia," he said making Heero growl.
"You jeopardized this mission because of her?" he raised his voice.
"The mission was not in jeopardy," Jeremy said coolly. "And it will not interfere. This is my other job. The job you had assigned to me."
"Any traces?" Heero asked. Jeremy just shook his head. "Then I do not want to know."
"The computer system in Treize's car was tampered with," Jeremy said but Heero seemed to be uninterested. "Normally his system will prevent his car from stalling. It suddenly did when he waited for the train to cross."
"Why did the institute have that file?" Quatre asked.
"The University of Nevada didn't have the resources at that time to test their theories so they asked the help of the Institute and these are the findings," he said. "It was withheld for some reason."
"Just make sure it does not interfere with out present job," Heero said, his tone suggested finality. Jeremy sighed and leaned on the side of the van.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. Heero gave him a small smile that he did not see.
.
End of 7
.
A/n: Before anything! Talgeese is NOT a real casino.
To Shadowfax: What did I add that you liked in the last chapter? I sometimes get confused with my messages. I really don't like Relena, much. But her character flared somewhat in Endless Waltz. I liked her there. But don't dislike me because I said that.
Anyway. Please review. I think I get more reviews on weekends.
.
It was mid morning when Dekim Junior took the podium to say his speech, Mariemaia smirked in disgust as she turned to look at the once majestic building of her father's casino.
The Talgeese. It was like her second home for years.
And now the man she despises the most was going to tear it down.
She stood by the audience as she saw her mother glaring at the man behind his back. She was glad that Une shared her resentment of the man.
And beside Dekim Junior was her best friend who looked at her giving a sad smile. She smiled back and began to walk away.
"I feel alone," she breathed out as she looked at the Talgeese for the last time.
"Then we have something in common," a soft voice said. Mariemaia turned around but couldn't see anyone she recognized.
"What?" she whispered.
"Being alone," came the reply.
"Who are you?" she asked, staying calm.
"Just a shadow among the crowd," he said a little louder. Smiling, she had recognized the voice.
"A shadow with gray eyes," she said. "Do you know the building being destroyed?"
"The Talgeese," the shadow said. "Owned by your father until the Dekims bought it out."
"And it will be reduced to rubble in a few moments," she sighed.
"It is only a thing," he said almost coldly. Mariemaia frowned but couldn't find him.
"It is NOT a thing," she defended.
"It is a building that can crumble into dust," he said. "But there are some things that they could not destroy."
"And that is?"
"Your memories of your father in that building," he said softly. "The happy memories you had shared with him. No one can take that away from anyone."
Mariemaia was silent for a few moments. Then his words sunk in.
"You're right," she smiled as she looked at the building, moments before it had crumbled. She then looked at the man who blew it up, not noticing her as she glared at him.
"But someone did something to halt all those memories yet to be made," she said and walked away.
"I know," the voice of the shadow said and looked at Dekim Junior. He then looked to a wild haired, Prussian eyed man who was looking at a blond, sea green eyed woman beside the magnate.
Smirking, he followed Mariemaia.
*** ***
"That was some power outage," Quatre said as they met at the secret warehouse. Dorothy smiled and shook her head.
"And you thought I made it when we were in bed," she leered making him gulp.
"Everyone here?" Duo asked as he looked around.
"Wufei's not here," Catherine said.
"He's making explosives," Heero said as he looked at the model of the Bellagio vault.
"Is there by any chance he's blow himself up?" Hilde asked softly rewarding her were the chuckles of her teammates.
"Let's get to the plan," Mill said.
"Right," Trowa said as he leaned on his chair.
"Where's Jeremy?" Une asked. As if on cue, Jeremy emerged and walked toward them. He gave her a quick nod and joined the others. "Okay, let's begin."
"Tomorrow, the day's yours. Do with it as you like," Duo said as he smiled at the group. "Call time's 5:30, make-up and costume. Mill's package will arrive at 7:05, Jeremy grabs our codes. All goes well, we're a go.
"7:30, Catherine gets locked in with the bombs. At this point, we have 30 minutes to blow the safe before she suffocates."
"No screw ups, boys," Catherine said. Duo sighed and continued.
"Cat, get into position," Catherine stood and Quatre followed. "People," Duo smiled and led the, to their mockup vault. Quatre entered pushing a cash cart to the middle of the room. When he left, the motion detectors went on line and Catherine exited the cash cart using a false top.
"Once the electricity goes, all access points to the vault and its elevator will be automatically shut down in two minutes. That's when we make our move," Duo looked at Catherine who saw standing above the cash cart.
"Okay," he snapped his fingers. "They put you in the middle of the room, ten feet from everything. You have to get from there, to the door with out touching the floor, what are you going to do?" Catherine prepared to jump.
"Ten says she shorts it," Dorothy said.
"Twenty," the rest betted. Catherine did a perfect flip and landed on one of the shelves ten feet away.
Awed, they applauded.
"Don't get your hopes up," Wufei suddenly said as he entered the warehouse, covered from head to toe in crap. Everyone stared in bewilderment as Wufei smirked and nodded.
"That's right, we're in deep shit," he said as he removed his shirt and dropped with a flop on the floor. Most of the grifters covered their noses from the stench he made.
"That idiotic demo crew didn't back up the main line and blew it right to hell!" Wufei said.
"What happened?" Heero asked.
"They did what I should have done but the did it accidentally," Wufei growled. "They blew the power grid one by one like dominoes. Now they know their weakness and their fixing it."
"Then unless we do this job in Reno, we're in Barney," Jeremy said making the entire crew look at him in question. "Barney? Barney Rubble? Trouble!" everyone nodded in understanding.
"What now?" Duo asked Heero.
"We could..." he started but Duo shook his head.
"By tomorrow?" Duo smirked.
"Why not use a pinch?" Jeremy suggested to Wufei who looked deep in thought.
"That might work," he smiled at the lad.
"What's a pinch?" Heero asked.
"A pinch is a device that creates a cardiac arrest to any broad band electrical system," Wufei smiled. "In other words a pinch is a bomb, but with out a bomb."
"I don't follow," Mill said.
"A nuclear bomb sends out an electromagnetic pulse after it detonates that shuts down any power source in its blast radius," Jeremy said as he looked at his teammates. "It really doesn't matter because the weapon destroys everything you might need power for anyway."
"Much like your glare," Duo joked to Heero, who once again felt the full force of being ground zero.
"Go on," Heero said.
"But a pinch could generate that same EM pulse without the fuss of mass destruction and death," Wufei said.
"So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century," Jeremy finished.
"How long?" Duo asked.
"About thirty seconds," he said.
"You know a lot about it," Une said amused.
"I went to college," Jeremy shrugged.
"Can a pinch shut down an entire city like..." Heero started.
"Las Vegas?" Wufei asked. "It might. But there's only one place in the world who has a pinch large enough to do it."
"Where?" Duo asked. Wufei looked at Jeremy, who simply sighed.
*** * California Institute for Advanced Science
"This is insane," Jeremy said as they entered the east entrance. Heero looked at him from across the van and frowned.
"We need this for the job," he said.
"That's not the insane part," Jeremy glared. "It's riding about four hours with these guys," he said as he jerked his thumb at their motley crew picked for their pick-up. Wufei glared at him while Catherine ignored them. Quatre and Dorothy were in front, but Dorothy always sneaks a feel for his lover.
"Get used to it," Heero said as they neared the back entrance. "You're working with them." Jeremy sighed as the van stopped. Heero opened the door and jumped out.
"Wufei, Catherine, with me," Heero said as the two exited the van. Jeremy frowned in question. "Stay," Heero commanded and closed the door. Sighing, Jeremy sat on the floor and leaned on the side.
"How long do you think they'd be out?" Dorothy asked seductively.
"A few minutes," Quatre said. Dorothy smiled and leaned over. Jeremy looked shocked and exited the vehicle, trying to follow the others.
A few minutes later, Heero, Wufei and Catherine rolled the pinch out. It was the size of a small coffin and could easily fit into the van.
"Let's go," Heero said as they loaded the device. Quatre shifted the van into gear and sped away.
However, Heero felt that something was wrong.
"Where's Jeremy?" he asked. Quatre braked hard and they opened the side door to look for signs of their missing comrade.
"There he is," Catherine pointed. Jeremy was climbing the stairs while a couple of guards were fast behind his heels.
"That idiotic weakling," Wufei spat.
"Should we go after him?" Quatre asked.
"And get caught?" Wufei smirked.
Suddenly, one of the second floor window broke and Jeremy emerged.
"Back it up," Heero said and closed the door. As the van backed up, Jeremy was running on the rood of the first floor, avoiding the guards. The van was already by the gate when Jeremy jumped onto its roof.
"Le him in," Heero ordered ad the opened the back doors. But Jeremy rolled over the hood of the van and entered the side door.
"Go!" he said. The van sped away while Catherine was closing the door.
"You idiotic bastard!" Wufei cursed. The van turned sharply causing the door to slam onto Catherine's hand. Screaming in pain, Jeremy cam over and looked at in.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She should have been angry with him but his concern ebbed it away.
"I'm fine," she winced. "I won't be using it for a while, but I'm fine."
"I told you to stay," Heero frowned at him.
"I know," Jeremy said. "I'm sorry."
"If you lose focus in this game for one second, someone will get hurt," Heero glared at him but noticed a file folder sticking out of his jacket. He ignored this and looked away.
For once curiosity got the best of him.
"What did you get?" Heero asked. Jeremy looked at him, deciding if he should answer.
"Something to help Mariemaia," he said making Heero growl.
"You jeopardized this mission because of her?" he raised his voice.
"The mission was not in jeopardy," Jeremy said coolly. "And it will not interfere. This is my other job. The job you had assigned to me."
"Any traces?" Heero asked. Jeremy just shook his head. "Then I do not want to know."
"The computer system in Treize's car was tampered with," Jeremy said but Heero seemed to be uninterested. "Normally his system will prevent his car from stalling. It suddenly did when he waited for the train to cross."
"Why did the institute have that file?" Quatre asked.
"The University of Nevada didn't have the resources at that time to test their theories so they asked the help of the Institute and these are the findings," he said. "It was withheld for some reason."
"Just make sure it does not interfere with out present job," Heero said, his tone suggested finality. Jeremy sighed and leaned on the side of the van.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. Heero gave him a small smile that he did not see.
.
End of 7
.
A/n: Before anything! Talgeese is NOT a real casino.
To Shadowfax: What did I add that you liked in the last chapter? I sometimes get confused with my messages. I really don't like Relena, much. But her character flared somewhat in Endless Waltz. I liked her there. But don't dislike me because I said that.
Anyway. Please review. I think I get more reviews on weekends.