Chapter 9
AN: Top of the mornin' to y'all! Well, anybody who's actually read this far…I know, I know, it's boring, but plot building always is, wot wot? Anyhow, as always, reviews are wonderful and much much muches appreciated. Ideas, flames, whatever, just so long as I'm on the receiving end of the mail…I'm so lonely! sniff readers back away nervously Teehee…hiccup…sob…Heehee…hiccup
Heero: Crap. Here she goes again. What did you do, Duo?
Duo: hides machete and bazooka behind back (a trick learned from Heero) Nothing…assumes innocent look
Quatre: rolls eyes Okay, everybody, standard procedure: smile, nod, and back away slowly. All ready? Slowly, slowly…
Luv yas!!
Dragonfire707
8 NOVEMBER 293 - SATURDAY06:23 AM
"Back's clear. Position two open, do you copy?"
Heero glanced up and sideways at Brian, who was fumbling with his communication device. The redhead first struggled to undo the knot holding the device to the small pack on his side, then to twist the knob to the 'receive' setting.
"Left," Heero muttered, repressing a grin and making sure all his equipment was well hidden underneath his mechanic's uniform. "Turn it left."
Brian scrabbled with the thing a few more seconds, while the man on the opposite end repeated his message twice, and then Heero finally grabbed the com out of his hands and did it himself.
"Roger, two open. Frontal side moving into position."
A relieved sigh on the end. "Good, Jacks, we thought we'd lost you. Three's in position, we've got the roof covered." There was a pause, and a muffled "uh-oh" was heard.
"What's wrong?" Heero asked. He was speaking to a man nicknamed Spitfire, who was in squadron two and whom Heero had met at the briefing.
"Laser's having some technical difficulties…"
"Security?" Heero asked, glancing at Brian. The redhead was adjusting his uniform, and re-Velcroing the nametag to the patch on his chest.
"Uh, yeah."
"Put him on."
Brian glanced up. "What, you're a security buff too?" he hissed.
Heero ignored him, and instead waited for the "Laser here." Once it came, he said, "What's the problem?"
"Uh…more wires than I expected."
"Model?"
"It's an Archway 600."
"Version?"
"Umm…seven-three."
"There are six wires then, not the usual four."
Now Laser seemed astounded. "Wha - yeah, yeah, that's right. Pairings, instead of - "
"Clip the second blue from the right, attach the decoy module, then connect the third red and first blue."
"Who the heck - "
"Got it?"
The man responded in the affirmative, and as the last directions were made from squadron to squadron, Heero put the com device away and made sure his ID badge was secure.
Brian was staring at him, open-mouthed. "What?" Heero asked, shouldering his bag.
"You're a freaking one-man army, that's what," Brian returned, picking up his own bag of 'tools' and starting off to the rendezvous point where they would meet the loading truck. "Now would you please tell me what we do once we drive the truck up to the warehouse doors?"
"Squadron two is going to give us the security bypass we need. Got your badge?"
"Yessiree bob."
"That's our clearance. The UVP code at the bottom is what they'll check."
"Was a loading scheduled for today?"
"No, but we've got the papers."
"And squadron three?"
"Security alarms; they're monitoring all video and audio."
Brian sighed. "Seems simple."
"The best plans always are," Heero returned. They had reached the truck; climbing inside, Heero shut the driver-side door and revved the engine.
"Wouldn't you rather have just stormed the place?"
"And alert the authorities?"
"Point taken."
The truck came around the corner to the loading entrance, where four guard looked up. Keeping his face expressionless as he exited the truck, Heero grabbed his clipboard, turned the baseball cap on his head at an angle over his face, and approached the men with Brian trailing behind.
Of the four men, two were in the second squadron. Spitfire, Laser and the rest of their half of squadron two were in the middle of disabling certain security checkpoints, while these two men had been posted to ensure that squadron one - the delivery boys - would get inside the plant. One of the men was nicknamed Tank; a fitting name, since the man was six foot five and nearly three hundred pounds of solid muscle. But the other man gazed at Heero with cold, hollow brown eyes from underneath a dark mat of blond hair: Midas, who had first attacked Heero with knives outside headquarters. Over the past forty-eight hours, Heero had come to the realization that, for whatever reason, this Midas fellow hated everyone else in the gang, and especially Heero. Apparently Heero was the only person who had ever managed to dodge the man's knives.
Heero regarded him coolly. If the guy wanted to hate him, he couldn't care less.
"Morning, gentlemen," Brian greeted all four men with his broad, toothy grin. "Looks like a beautiful day today, don't it?"
The two regular checkpoint men and Tank nodded amiably, while Midas remained stoic and silent. Heero was reminded uncomfortably of his old self.
One of the regulars said hesitantly, a little apologetic, "I'm not aware of a delivery scheduled for today…"
"That's why we're here," Tank said smoothly. "The boss just handed out the copies of this transaction. Here - " He handed the man a folder of documents. "They're delivering and then taking a little to the plant in Sector 3."
"But usually we're alerted to changes…" the man said, but he and his partner were already scanning the documents. The speaker was nodding, but the other man was looking at Heero with a hint of suspicion in his eyes, and Heero felt a vague uneasiness stir in the back of his head. "They're cleared, though," the other guard said suddenly, "with the stamp, signature, and everything." He glanced up at Brian and Heero. "Badges, please?"
Heero calmly found his, while Brian fumbled a little in his many pockets before pulling out the badge. The guard held up a UVP scanner and deftly ran the laser light over the badges. With two beeps and individual smiles from the guards, they were in.
As one of the guards switched open the door to the warehouse, Heero felt a swelling of what could border on excitement - more the exhilaration of participating in an undercover, risky mission. He got back into the truck with Brian, and they drove into the warehouse.
As the metal crates of sernoplutonium and austenarium came into view, Heero couldn't help but give a derisive snort. Tavera and Roberts had assured him that they were only in it for the austenarium, but the inventory list they were required to ship out of the building comprised mostly of the serno. Heero wasn't an idiot, and he knew that the two leaders weren't either. They were testing the waters, testing him, to see how much he caught on, how quickly he learned, how skilled he truly was.
Heero couldn't help but grin humorlessly. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.
He and Brian packed the serno onto the truck. As he worked, Heero's thoughts were racing; the 'organization' obviously had some serious interest in the sernoplutonium. He was desperately trying to recall his and Trowa's conversation about the uses of the alloy when he heard rushed footsteps behind them.
He turned to see Tank and Midas hurrying towards them, along with the rest of squadron two. Tank got to them first; he hissed, "We've got a problem."
Perfectly calm, Heero raised an eyebrow, hefted another crate of alloy onto the truck, and said, "And that would be?"
"We overlooked - or had no way of finding - another entry clearance check," answered Spitfire, looking slightly worried. "My boys and I disabled all video and audio, so you're working in absolute security blackness at the minute, but we found a hidden feed that is programmed to restore the system every hour or so."
"So destroy it," Heero said simply.
"We can't."
He glanced up.
"It's entirely untraceable. In five seconds the guards are going to come running in here wanting to see something they've termed a backup card - something with another UVP code, I think."
"I don't have anything else," Brian said.
"Of course we don't." Heero glanced back at Spitfire. "Get your men out of the warehouse, and pull squadron three back too. We'll take care of this."
"They'll be armed," said a thug from the second squadron. "Heavily."
Heero raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything.
The members of squadron two - excluding Midas - glanced uneasily at each other, and then Spitfire said, "All right, let's get out of here. Slipshot, get squadron three over radio and tell them to get back. Come on, guys."
He turned to head out of the warehouse, his squadron following - but Midas remained, glaring at Heero. Spitfire turned back.
"Midas - hey, Midas! What are you doing?"
"I think you're being stupid," Midas replied in an icy tone. "We're leaving the entire mission in the hands of two idiots who haven't been with us for a week yet. I thought a mercenary's number one rule was never to trust."
A few of the men looked hesitant now. Heero rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Don't be stupid. We're getting the same paycheck, aren't we?"
Midas raised a dark brown eyebrow. "I don't know. Are we working for the same employer?"
There were sudden footsteps from a hallway outside the main warehouse shed, where they were all standing. Heero closed the truck's door with a bang and hissed, "Stop being an idiot and get out of here before they catch all of you with us."
"Why?" Midas retorted frostily. "So you can alert the authorities on us? Release the names of our leaders - and ourselves - to the presses and police? Earn a fortune from your employer? I don't think so, Jackson Hunter. I think you'll realize that you're dealing with a very smart organization here."
Angrily, Heero growled, "Get out before they catch you!"
He was too late. Eight guards came jogging through a doorway near the group, and upon seeing six more men than planned, drew their weapons right away.
"Alert the security system," one yelled into his radio, "we have intruders!"
"Order is to exterminate," added another guard, and right away eight machine guns were raised to shoulder level.
Everyone near Heero was frozen - except him, of course. Moving like lightning, he barreled into the men next to him, bringing them down as shots erupted over their heads. Each one was knocked down, and Heero yelled, "Behind the truck!" They scampered on their hands and knees behind the vehicle under a hail of bullets. Heero heard the last man in line let out a cry of anguish and twisted around just in time to see a puddle of blood form beneath the man's knee. Quickly, Heero lifted the man into the truck and opened the side door. "Get in, get in!" he hissed to the remaining men; a few of them immediately followed orders - others had to be assisted. Brian ended up receiving a hefty kick in the backside when he began to hold up the line.
Meanwhile, the guards had begun sprinting to the truck, and Heero had opened the passenger side door and grabbed the two pistols hidden beneath the seat. Ensuring that they were loaded, he slipped a hidden knife from his boot, put it between his teeth, and straightened.
Immediately the advancing guards caught sight of him and stopped, drawing their weapons. Six guards didn't even make it to shoulder level as Heero's pistols exploded in bursts of rapid fire. The remaining two turned tail and sprinted as he was shooting down the first six; without breaking rhythm, Heero grabbed the knife from his teeth and launched it with all his power. It took a guard in the shoulder; he went down like a rock. The remaining man had nearly made it to the door when Heero's bullet blasted into his right ankle; twisting in agony, the final guard fell to the ground.
The smattering of footsteps resounded throughout the warehouse again; more guards were on their way. Heero reloaded the pistols in record time as he leaned back to check on the other men.
Most of them were standing secure in the back of the truck. Midas was standing outside, glaring. Heero ignored him and stepped around to the back, saying quickly, "Where are your arms?"
Spitfire exchanged an uneasy glance with the rest of his squadron. "Back at our post," he admitted to Heero.
Groaning inwardly, he said, "We're going to have to retreat, then, and fast." He held up a pistol. "Who's the best shot?"
Glances were exchanged, as the footsteps increased in volume and number. When no one replied, Heero tossed a gun to Brian and said, "Shoot whoever follows us."
With that, he closed the truck door halfway, and then headed to the driver's seat.
"Hold on just a second," came a voice, and Heero in frustration turned to meet Midas's cold brown gaze.
"What?" he said sharply, consciously aware of the approaching guards. His mind was quickly ticking down the seconds until they were confronted again.
"You could be leading us into a trap - "
"Oh, come on," cried Laser, from the back of the truck. "We gotta get out of here!"
Midas angrily pointed a finger at Heero, stubbornly refusing to move. "He is taking us straight into the enemy's - "
The footsteps were too close, the situation too drastic, and Heero too annoyed with this self-righteous little pest. In two short steps he had crossed the ground between them, and, with a well-aimed blow to the base of the neck, Midas hit the ground.
Heero dragged the man into the passenger side door, jumped into the driver's seat, started the engine, and slammed the gas pedal as hard as he could.
The little delivery truck shot forward at exactly the same moment the guards came sprinting out of the doorway - fifteen in number, this time, all armed to the teeth. Red lights began flashing and an alarm blared. Amid the gunfire behind him, the screeching of the wheels, and the droning whine of the siren, Heero heard something in his ear: the radio.
"Squadron one, squadron one, come in, come in!"
Brian gave a cry in the back and, twisting in the seat, Heero looked behind to see a guard coming into close range, a knife in his hand. Letting go of the steering wheel for a split second, he fired once and the man slumped limply to the floor.
Turning back, he gripped the steering wheel again and said quickly into the radio, "This is squadron one, making a getaway, we have alarms going off, could somebody please tell me what happened to security up th - "
The men in the back yelled again. Heero twisted, took aim, fired, twisted back around and continued driving.
A man was yelling in his ear. "Squadron three has retreated, we were attacked with numbers too large for us. I repeat, squadron three has retreated, do you copy?"
Heero swore under his breath. "Yeah, I copy," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. With another pistol shot and an extra push on the gas, the delivery truck shot out of the warehouse and onto the street outside. Moments later, he was puttering smoothly through the crowded streets of downtown L1 Sector 2.
13:22 PM
"To tell you the honest truth, Jacks, I'm impressed. And I am not impressed easily, especially with new recruits."
Heero barely glanced up. Tavera was flattering him, but that was to be expected. Though he enjoyed Tavera a million times better than the stern, blunt, baleful Roberts, he neither liked nor trusted the man. The sickly sweet flattery wasn't even coming close to penetrating Heero's skin, much less his heart.
He took another bite of steak. After returning to headquarters after the mission, they had had a lengthy debriefing session, in which Heero spoke little and enjoyed the fact that Midas was absent, due to being completely unconscious on a bed in the medical room. Following the debriefing, Tavera cornered Heero and asked him for a private meeting in Roberts' office. As if he could've declined the request.
So he was sitting across from the commanding duo, eating a slice of steak with mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. Bribery. They wanted him to do something for him.
Not that he would've turned it down, of course. Missioning is hungry work.
"Again, I apologize for Midas's behavior," repeated Tavera for the umpteenth time. "He is usually the very epitome of a trained professional. I don't understand what made him act so terribly during the mission."
Heero made no response; an indifferent shrug sufficed.
"Perhaps there was provocation."
That was Roberts. Heero looked up sharply.
"Perhaps," drawled the dark-haired, cold man, "Jackson here could have provoked Midas into acting this way; dropping subtle hints, the like. In private, which would explain why the other men didn't hear." Roberts leaned back, his harsh voice sending an icy hand of suspicion and odd familiarity down Heero's spine. "With his skills - " the word was saturated with sarcasm - " - he could've easily turned Midas against him, and all to look good."
Heero drew back slightly, glaring at the man. "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" Roberts sharply replied, leaning forward. "Isn't that what you love, Jackson? Attention? It's the same with every freelance mercenary. Do whatever you want to get attention and merit from those supposedly inferior to you and your all-mighty - "
"All right, all right," Tavera cut in sharply, black eyes shooting warnings at both Heero and Roberts. "Enough. Roberts, you know better than that - "
"You don't know him, Tavera. You don't know if he would go after something like that for - " The volume of that terrible harsh voice has risen threefold.
"And you do?" Tavera said flatly.
Roberts' mouth closed with an almost audible snap. Heero opened his mouth to ask any of the millions of questions burning the tip of his tongue, but then -
BANG.
"He hit me! He HIT me! In the middle of a mission, a man who isn't even a squadron leader hits me! He's a raving lunatic, I tell you - "
Midas had come bellowing into the room, looking disheveled and actually very comical in a hospital nightgown, his head wrapped in a thin bandage.
" - attacked, but everything was under control! Of all the nerve, this man - brand new! - knocks me out in the middle of a mission! I say we - "
Midas suddenly realized that the three other occupants of the room were staring at him, Tavera and Heero with amused expressions, Roberts with his emotionless glare.
"I - uh - " he stammered, looking infinitely uncomfortable.
Heero would've laughed if he hadn't been masquerading in a criminal gang.
Tavera said, perfectly calm, "Actually, I do believe that Jacks here took the perfect course of action in the given situation. When a squadron member begins to forget his mission and duty, all measures must be taken to ensure that he does not threaten the mission's success. I highly approve of this man's actions and do hope that he will continue to make the right choices in the future."
Midas was completely speechless. He staggered back through the doorway. He stood there for a moment, until he managed to work his mouth again. He raised a shaking finger at Heero, glaring balefully..
Heero raised one eyebrow coolly.
Tavera slammed the door shut in Midas's face, and Heero had to fight the urge to laugh aloud.
15:57 PM
The office was dark, Jacks having left long ago. Two men were there together, illuminated only by a single lamp in the corner. Roberts was standing against a wall, while Tavera lounged in the armchair. Their voices were quiet, hushed, secretive.
"The men said that every one of his bullets was perfectly aimed."
"But…?" Roberts prompted shortly.
"Never to kill. Only to wound. He killed only one guard the entire time, Roberts."
The man muttered quietly, "And you doubted my reason for accusing him of provoking Midas. I do not trust him - "
"Oh, be honest, man," Tavera said, in his true voice; not the sweet, flattery-coated tones he used with the men, but the callous, severe bark that Roberts knew so well. "We don't trust a single one of these boys out here killing and stealing for us." He paused, glancing at the door. "But I do like this one. He has…spunk."
Roberts made no move, but the malevolent glare said more than enough.
"I know, I know," Tavera said, sighing, "you were against this from the start." He glanced up at his partner in crime. "For reasons you refuse to tell me."
Again, Roberts did not reply.
17:49 PM
"…and you should have seen his face, Re, it was absolutely hilarious. I had to fight to keep from laughing sitting right there with two heartless criminals."
Relena, sitting with her chin in her hands, enjoying just watching Heero on the vidcam screen, smiled. "I'm glad everything went well on the first day, Heero."
He grinned, settling back in the chair. The vidcam screen was a private one he had walked six blocks to use, determined to keep the chances of Tavera discovering who he really was to a bare minimum - preferably at nil.
"What do you think they're going to use it for?" Relena asked.
"The alloy?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not sure…yet. Tavera insists they're after the austenarium, but I'm not stupid."
Relena snorted.
"It's all about the serno. I just can't figure out…I mean, it's very powerful, probably the alloy coming closest to gundamanium. But as far as I know they have no warehouse of their own…I need to figure out where they're storing all of this stuff. One of the men in the mission today said that they've been stealing metals like this for the past ten months."
"Uh-oh," Relena said, her forehead creased with worry. "That can't be good."
"No," Heero agreed, running a hand wearily through his hair. "No, it can't."
They sat in worried silence for a moment, both with their own thoughts, until Relena said quietly, "How are Tavera and Roberts?"
Heero grimaced. "Well, they lead a crime gang. Enough said. But…Tavera's all right, I think - for a criminal. At least he's not Roberts."
"What's wrong?" Relena asked, noticing the instant change in Heero's voice.
"He is so - so…I don't know, Re. Something about him…" Heero shook his head. "I cannot stand the man. Every gesture he makes, word he says…something is so - so off about him."
With every word, Heero's voice was growing more and more agitated.
"I can't decide if he belongs in a criminal gang or in someplace completely different - I can't decide if the absolute cruelty I see in him is all a façade or truth…and heck, if that's thing's a mask he is the best actor I have ever met in my entire life."
"Do you think it's a façade?"
"Absolutely not," Heero replied instantly. "But…but then that leaves the question as to why he's so bitter and cynical and intolerable and - " he stopped, noticing the look Relena was giving him. "Sorry," he muttered. "I don't like the guy."
"Apparently," she said wryly.
Heero sighed, deciding a change of subject was in order. "So how've you been, Re? You feeling okay?"
She smiled. "Yeah, so far. A lot better than I did with Amy."
He returned the smile. "I remember."
"Shut up."
Another grin. "I'm glad you're feeling fine so far. How's work?"
A sigh. "Bearable, at least - due solely to one Brad Wilshaw. I swear, Heero, that man is our savior. I don't think I'd be able to hold up without him here to help out." She paused, then added, "He's really becoming like the grandpa Amy never had."
Heero couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face at his wife's obvious love for the elderly man. "I'm glad he's there to help you, Re."
"So am I, Heero. So am I."