Avalan: I have hog-tied the authoress because of her incompetency, and have decided that the only way to have her not make a complete and utter ass of herself is to have myself, the loyal muse, take over. *pats Soul on the head* This is for your own good.
*growls from behind the apple shoved in her mouth*
We'll get though this together.
Ommaf o korofu!
I love you too.
Vic: Your wait is over! The actual chapter has been posted… and thanks for telling us.
Devylzangyl: Sorry… here it is! Arigatou!
Scarlettrose: You, that;s right, Quatre's not a feckless as he seems! I would have included something to do with a fencing foil, but I couldn't quite think of why he would have one in his study _'
ShadowEyedCat: Continuing!
Reha: Yup!
Disclaimer: The plot for this came from my own perverse head, but the characters that I use are most definitely not mine. *sigh*
"Quatre?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, father."
Mr. Winner smiled wearily at his son from behind his dark brown moustache and placed his silver fork next to his plate. "What's wrong, son?"
"Nothing, father. Just got a lot on my mind."
He didn't want to burden his father with any more potential assassination attempts. Quatre hadn't told him what had happened in the bar, and wouldn't tell him about what he and his friends had decided. "So, anything interesting happening lately?"
"Treize has invited me out to dinner with him and a few associates, we're going to see the new opera opening in town."
Quatre's gut clenched with worry and suspicion, but outwardly, he smiled and nodded, propping his chin delicately up in his right hand, which still loosely held his fork. His outwardly calm expression was marred slightly by his left hand tightly gripping his knife, the whites of his knuckles showing.
Quatre's father looked at him piercingly.
"Now you be careful while I'm gone, alright?"
Quatre nodded and smiled reassuringly, but wondered if it was himself, or his father that would need protecting that night.
*~*~*~*
"It's okay, Heero, I'll just be a sec. The secretary will hardly even know I was there, apart from the fluttering of her heart once I work my magic on her." Duo insisted, ending his sentence with a fluttering of his long, thin fingers.
Heero rolled his eyes slightly, and Wufei made an ungraceful sound, unconvinced.
"I have to agree with Yuy on this one. If Treize or even Quatre finds out what we're doing, then our asses will be on pikes before you can say 'please officer, it wasn't me!'"
Duo winked one large violet eye, and grinned.
"Trust me."
Wufei groaned. He had heard that before.
"Why do I have the feeling I should be doing exactly the opposite?" Heero muttered darkly.
Duo waved slightly, and pushed into the front of the air-conditioned skyscraper as the sun slowly started going down behind it.
He walked confidently past the receptionist, with a slight smile on his face.
He was trying to seem like a worker that was just going in to pack up for the night, and he thought that he succeeded fairly well, and managed to get into the elevator with too much trouble. When the door closed in front of him, he relaxed slightly, and pressed the 32nd floor button.
*~*~*~*
After a few seconds, Heero walked casually around the back, with Wufei trailing behind him at a respectful distance.
The security office was located at the back of the building on the bottom level, with a back door out into the garden surrounding the Winner Enterprises main building.
The two walked past the door for the sake of the security camera watching over the door, and when they were out of it's view, Wufei pulled out his Polaroid camera, and held it up next to the security camera, at about the same height and quickly snapped a picture. While Wufei held it under his denim jacket to develop, Heero slipped his bag off his shoulder, and opened it, pulling out his laptop and opening it, sitting cross-legged, waiting for the system to boot up.
Wufei glanced at the picture, flashed is quickly at Heero, who nodded curtly, and pulled yet another contraption out of his bag, this time a questionable device that appeared to have been made out of straightened paper-clips that had been soldered together.
Wufei took the device as Heero logged him, and slipped the photo into it, then stood in his tiptoes to click the device onto the side of the lens of the camera.
Wufei felt butterflies flying around in his stomach, but hopefully, the picture of the typical street scene that was in front of the camera would make it believe that nothing was happening outside the door.
Wufei gestured to Heero, who shuffled closer to the door, and attached a black cord to the side of the pin-box that would open the door with the correct code, then to the back of his lap top. The Japanese boy's fingers flew across the keyboard sitting precariously in his lap, and he frowned determinedly at the screen.
After a moment, he gave the thumbs up to Wufei, to opened the door slightly when the little light on the key-pad went green.
A rush of cool air made the hairs on his arms stand up as Wufei slipped into the dark corridor, and he went over to the little air-conditioning panel and opened it, pulling out a few wires, then changing the dial to 'hot' when he closed it again. He slunk back out the door, and closed it again. After giving Heero a thumbs up, he leant his head on the wall next to he door, and tried to force his heart from beating so quickly.
Now they had to wait.
*~*~*~*
Duo plastered a vacant smile on his face as the elevator doors opened with a perky little 'ding', and walked over to the large desk that the personal secretary of Treize Kushrenada was sitting at.
"Hello, could I please speak with Treize Kushrenada?"
The receptionist looked up and smiled slightly regretfully. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kushrenada is unavailable at this point in time. What did you want him for?"
"Oh, well, my friend Quatre said that I should come round and see him some time because Treize is supposed to be very nice, especially to friends of Quatre Winner, by the way, did I tell you that I know Quatre? He transferred to my school a little while ago, and we share some classes." Duo took a deep breath before he continued, not giving the secretary time to think. "What do you think of Quatre? I mean, he's supposed to be really friendly with all the office workers, and they're all supposed to think he's the best thing since sliced bread, so what do you think?"
The young blonde lage blinked slightly, then relaxed, leaning against her desk, her head propped up on one finely manicured hand.
"Well, he's always been very nice, ever since he was just a lad…"
Duo glanced quickly up at the security camera angled at the corner of the room, before turning his attention back to the happily chattering girl. This had better be worth it.
*~*~*~*
Heero checked his watch, then his fingers started their flurried dance once more, as he flitted through the system, uncovered the proper code, and fed it into the key-pad.
The security guards had been given enough time to bake.
Wufei, his hand poised over the knob, turned it once again when the little light flashed green. As he slunk back into the corridor, he turned into an alcove that held the one thing that would hep this mission. His attention was focused solely on the water-cooler in the slight dip in the corridor, and the small tool in his pocket. Removing it from his loose white pants, he crouched behind the jug mounted on a dispenser, and poked a hole rather carefully near the bottom of the tank, trying to make the water seep out more than spray out.
Satisfied with his work as a small puddle started forming around the bottom of the dispenser which would hopefully run along the side of the wall to the door, Wufei slunk past the open door which led into the observation room, and waited, blending into the darkness.
Outside, Heero, satisfied by the small amount of water starting to collect on the doorstop, moved up to behind the camera, and removed the picture and it's mount. He picked up his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and made a show of walking past the door, double-taking, then stopping.
He rapped smartly on the door, then waited.
*~*~*~*
The waiting was almost killing him. If Heero didn't get on with it soon, Wufei swore that he would just run into that bloody room, and knock both of the guards out.
The water tank was almost empty, and the water was starting to leak down this side of the corridor. Testily wiping is forehead, Wufei added 'stiflingly hot' to his list of things wrong with this situation.
Suddenly, a tap on the door cut through the silence that had been previously relieved by only the horrifyingly-loud sound of his own breathing, and the muttering of a cheesy-soap opera from in the control room.
One of the guards swore loudly, stomped out into the hallway, swore even more colourfully than before as he noticed the wetness soaking the beige carpet, and, muttering darkly, made his way over to the door.
He paused, his hand over the knob, and yelled for his partner.
"Deal with it yourself!" the other called back.
"Look, do you want tap-water until midnight, or do you want to help me stop this fucking leak?!"
A chair scraped back, and the other portly guard went over to the water-dispenser, as the other answered the door.
"Yeah?"
"Did you realise that something is leaking?"
Wufei recognised Heero's usual cool tones as he darted into the command-centre, and sat down in front of the huge screen divided up into sections, each one showing a different office. There were quite a few.
Wufei glanced up and quickly found the one with Duo and the secretary chatting on it, and then memorised the number of it, then set the recorder to record over what was happening in that room with the day-time television that was playing in one of the corner screens.
His job done, Wufei disappeared back out and into his gloomy corner again, waiting for the two incompetent guards to finished plugging the hole and mop up the mess on the floor so he could escape.
*~*~*~*
Duo started winding up the conversation as the little red light on the camera blinked off, then on again. That was his signal.
"Say, have you heard of a Marshal Curtis?"
"No, should I have?"
"Well, he's my older brother, and he's supposed to be working in this building. You see, it's his birthday today, and I want to surprise him at work. Do you happen to know what floor he's on?" Duo added a sugary smile to the occasion, and watched with satisfaction as the secretary practically melted. Right now, she would have given Duo a lung if he asked for one.
"I don't know, but I can check the files," She stood up, moved around the desk, then over into a little room in the corner. "I won't be a sec, you just wait here, honey!"
Duo smirked, then made his way around the desk. That was one of the first things that Quatre vowed to change when he became president. His father was a stickler for the old-ways, even if that involved still keeping his employees files in a cabinet, instead of on computer. And they would use that to their advantage.
He quickly tapped into Treize's daily planner, but doubted he'd find anything useful on that. Not even a psychopath like Treize would have on his schedule between a pedicure and board meeting 'kill the winner brat'. He delved deeper, bringing up his personal expenditure.
Everything was innocent but one thing. He had hired a J.M Myer for a large sum of money. And that named sounded familiar. He had read it in the paper.
Duo's eyes widened in sudden comprehension. J.M Myer was a wanted man. More specifically, wanted for auto-mobile arson.
He pulled his mobile out of his pocket with one hand as the other brought up Trieze's day plan. From 6.00-10.30 there was a 'Opera with Mr. Winner.'
Oh shit.
Duo hit speed dial, and preyed that Quatre would pick up.
"Quatre! Where's your father?!" He whispered frantically as he checked his watch. 6.15.
"Dad? He's already left to go to the opera."
"Call him! Get him out of that car!"
When the blonde secretary came out of the room, she was confused. There was an apology about to slip off her tongue to the sweet little guy that had been nice enough to chat to her, but he wasn't there anymore.
She shook her head, smiling wryly. Kids these days were so hasty.
*~*~*~*
"Father?" Quatre said as the phone that he had dialled picked up. A slight weight seemd to lift off his shoulders slightly. Duo had sounded so stressed when he picked up the phone.
"Yes, Quatre?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yes son, I'm fine. Why the concern all of a sudden?"
"Well, it's nothing really, just…"
Quatre's voice trailed off as the reassuring sound of a car motor cut off, and gave way to static. The dial tone started again, and Quatre stared stupidly at the phone as something inside his chest wrenched violently.
"Fa… Father?!"
Oooh…. *munches on popcorn* I had fun writing that.
Avalan: We can tell.
*absently pushes Avalan's head into bucket of popcorn*
Avalan: Argh! My eyes! It burns!
*ahem* Please remember to review if you're going to read, and be nice!
Avalan: *muffled by bucket* Unlike you… *runs off to find bathroom*
In the words of Schuichi, 'Cheeeesu!' ^__^