praecognoscere
By: Madisonne
Part: 2 / ?
Disclaimer & Warnings: See prologue
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Intern Aiken Jordan checked the temperature of the lab and recorded the change on the database of one of the many computers in the lab. That was one of the more boring jobs he had assumed after commencing his work for the Preventers little over three weeks ago as part of his internship. While he was not quite sure why the doctors working in the lab had picked a psychology major to work as a lab techie, he suspected that his presence was more to suit the requirements of the world government than to ascertain the stability of the 'scere units.
Nine 'scere units were arranged on cots in a circle in the middle of the Praecognoscere Lab. Each, according to his or her particular experience, sensed the future through their dreams and brain-wave sensors interpreted their visions. Each of the 'scere units were given a name that related to their particular area of prescience. There was War, Famine, Murder, Pain, Adultery, Disaster, and Assassination. Each of the units was no younger than fifteen, but no older than twenty-five.
The War 'scere had already foreseen and led to the prevention of twenty-five international tragedies in the year he had been prophesying.
Today he was slated to exercise the 'scere units and had already completed his work with three of them when his attention turned to War.
He carefully unhooked the sensors from War's forehead and slung the 'scere unit's arm over his shoulder. Aiken pulled the 'scere out of the cot and carefully guided him to the edge of the room. Holding onto the 'scere's hands, he walked backwards, leading War. The once-daily exercise served as stimulation so as to not allow their muscles to atrophy dangerously.
All of the sudden, the 'scere tensed and gasped, clutching at the intern's arms. "Help... Help... Murder... Help!" War's eyes rolled into the back of his head and the 'scere slumped halfway to the floor, Aiken's support the only thing keeping him from hitting the ground.
"What the hell happened?!!" A doctor ran over and reconnected a cord into the 'scere's catheter. "War's sedative disconnected. Be more careful, intern." Scolding Aiken, the doctor took the now limp 'scere back to his cot.
As for Aiken Jordan, he remained quite rattled. The unadulterated look of terror, pain, and betrayal in the 'scere's eyes frightened him terribly. 'It must be nothing... All the units submitted voluntarily to this study... It's nothing."
* * * * * * *
Zechs Merquise mulled over his tea while watching the four surviving gundam pilots enter the dining hall for breakfast. 'Poor guys... They just haven't been the same since Wufei was killed in that drug bust...'
Heero had taken the death particularly hard and spent his days in a veritable daze, even a year after the incident.
With his mind on the pilots, he did not notice Lady Une until she plopped down at his table.
"I need your help." She said quickly, throwing a worried glance over her shoulder at the rest of the agents.
"I already scanned those pictures for any trace of forgery and left them on your desk..."
She shook her head, waving her hand at him in dismissal. "No, it's not about that."
He gave her a confused look. "What, then?" Her paranoia was disquieting and he found himself looking over his shoulder nervously as well.
She lowered her voice, aware of their surroundings. "It's quiet around here. Too quiet. Things have been going too smoothly."
Zechs nodded; the place had been uncharacteristically calm lately. 'Any fighter worth his salt would be nervous at times like these.'
"And I keep losing both funds and agents to that damn praeco-whatever unit. Nobody knows anything about it. And it might as well not exist given the amount of available classified information on it." She shook her head. "Something's not right, and whatever it is, it's big."
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
She lowered her voice even more, leaning over to speak in his ear. "I want you to keep your eyes and ears open. This is your top priority." Leaning back, she gave him a sad smile. "Find out for me just how deep this rabbit-hole goes."
"Mission accepted." He replied with a grim smile.
She nodded and left him to his thoughts.
* * * * * * *
Ever since the Preventers had switched to in-base housing out of safety concerns for the agents, the gundam pilots had eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner together.
Other agents, possibly jealous of the pilot's favoured status, sneered at their quiet camaraderie and supposed the agents thought themselves too good for the others.
The truth was that Duo would probably resent any insinuation that he was ever quiet and that the ex-pilots sat together because they felt unwelcome with other agents.
That day was no exception; even after the disappearance of Wufei a year ago, the four's bond was still strong. Their table still had a fifth chair pulled up to it, a painful reminder of the past.
Quatre, Trowa, and Heero were all participating in their favourite breakfast activity - eating their respective breakfasts. Duo was, on the other hand, participating in his favourite breakfast activity, beaming the others in the head with cheerio's while trying to look innocent. They all knew it was he, however. One, because no one else was in launch range, and two, well, simply because it was Duo.
"Hey, look who's getting some company." Duo commented after hitting Heero squarely on the nose with a cheerio. "Une's visiting Zechs. Isn't that sweet? It must be 'Be Nice to Your Blonde' day." He snickered with amusement.
"Maybe she's just there to chat, Duo." Quatre argued gently.
"Like shit. One, Zechs always eats alone - everyone knows that. Two, Une does not chat. Everything she does is purposeful and boring." His eyes lit up as he saw her lean in to speak in the blonde's ear. "Oo! She's hitting on him!"
"Pervert." Heero grumbled under his breath.
Quatre turned purple from choking. "I assure you, Lady Une wants to do nothing of the sort to Zechs."
"You say tomato..." Was all Duo responded, letting the rest of the agents seated at the sturdy table in the heart of the Preventer Base eat in peace.
* * * * * * *
"Shit - another weapons lead? Tracking down illegal weapons trade is supposed to be Zechs' job." Duo groaned, holding up the faxed mission assignment. He made a face at the blonde to whose cubicle was located three partitions down.
"Shhh - Duo, he'll hear you!" Quatre warned. At the same time, he was considering putting an electric fence around his cubicle. At any given time of the day, Duo would invariably invade his privacy and stand there going on and on about the injustices of the Preventer system. 'Maybe Wufei rubbed off on him...'
"So what? I don't give a damn. All he does is stare at the computer screen all day while we have to pick up his slack!" He childishly stuck his tongue out at the blonde.
"Okay, you're right..." He would say almost anything to get the brunette out of his office so that he could go back to work. "It's not fair. But there's nothing we can do about it. He's probably stuck on a really important case and Lady Une's trying to help him out by having us fill in a bit." Quatre reasoned. He sighed in relief as Duo shrugged and stomped out of his cubicle, letting him get back to work.
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Notes: A special 'thank you' to my reviewers. You really made my day! *Glows*