Chapter 15- Lure
--Disclaimer-- The name Gundam is owned by the Bandai Corp. I have no rights to them.
A black pair of pants slid over a pair of legs, and a man buttoned the side down. A black spandex shirt went over the man head and was secured by the pants. On a table nearby, a black head cover with a veil that dangled off the side of the table. The man's hand reached over and grabbed it. He slowly slid the mask over his face, and finally his hands passed his chin. There they stopped and let go. The mask slid on the rest of the way. On his bed were his black Gothic style trench coat and his holster, with desert eagles in them, hooked onto his belt. He grabbed his belt and strapped it around his waist. The last thing to go on was the trench coat.
Silent Wind began to walk toward his door when he glanced at the room's mirror. The chilling stare examined his attire with deadly precision. His right hand reached up to his veil and moved it a millimeter to the left. The hand returned back to his side, and he walked through the door.
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Toki slept soundly in his bed. His bedspread laid sloppily over him, and he snored quietly but definitely. His head laid on one of the two pillows on the bed, and some of his gray hair stranded across his face.
A light shined into the room and across the bed. Toki was unaffected. A person's shadow cast across the room while it drowned out the light.
"Technician Toki Watari." A female voice spoke. "Get up immediately."
The gray-haired eighteen year old rolled over and clamped a pillow down over his head. He muffled a few words through the pillow to the effect of, I just got in bed two hours ago. Leave me alone.
"I won't repeat myself."
Toki continued to lay there as he tried to ignore her.
"You leave me no choice then."
The female walked over to Toki's bed and yanked the bedspread off the bed. He was flung off the bed and crashed into the ground.
The technician groaned as his rubbed his head. "Was that necessary?" He looked up at Lumin's face.
"Very."
"This better be good then."
"It isn't. Alex is missing from the base."
"Oh ok. Thought it was something... what?"
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Silent Wind walked down a hallway which had seen better days. Its boards showed signs of heavy rot, and the door and their frames were barely held up. The ceiling hung lower than it should and there several broken boards that poked through. Even though the boards around him groaned, the assassin wasn't fazed and kept his pace down the hall, he moved his head once in awhile to avoid a broken board or two. At the end of the hallway, Silent Wind slowly opened a door, and within the room laid metal working on the floor, walls, and ceiling to shield the room from the decayed building around it. However, there were no windows in the room. So the light was dimly lit at best.
The man slowly walked into the room and was careful to not make a noise, even with the door being shut behind him. In a corner, there was a metal cage with a lock on one of its sides. Inside, Alex lay slumped against a wall and unconscious. His clothes had black dust from the factory floor, and some smudged on his face. The man walked over to the cage and crouched. He gazed at the unconscious Preventor and made sure he still breathed. After a little bit, Silent Wind saw a three-year-old's face with baby blue eyes and was cheery as can be. He shook his head after he realized he had daydreamed, and started to walk away from the cage.
At the door he paused for a moment, and looked back at the cage. Then, he opened and walked through the door.
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"How did this happen?" Colonel Une's words petrified Lumin as the Preventor team sat across a table from her. The Colonel herself stood up and stared down at them. "I want an answer. Now!"
"Well. We didn't know that Alex would walk out on us like that." Toki bravely spoke. "If we had, we wouldn't have left the base in the first place."
"Thank you, Watari. One thing concerns me though. Why were you off of base in the first place!" Une stared at the technician and he turned pale.
A pause went over the remainder of the group as Kaori and Misao thought of what to say so that they could still have their job. But, neither had to say anything. Lumin recovered from Une's earlier words and stood up to face Colonel Une.
"I thought it necessary that my team get some errands done together, and to get their minds off of the training they have been through."
"Errands?"
"Yes, Colonel. But, I didn't think..."
Une's face had anger all over it, and her voice was deep and strong. "Not thinking is correct. Do you have any idea how much trouble I've gone through to keep that boy off the books, and now he's missing. Most likely AWOL."
"We'll find him. Even if its the last thing I do on this team, he'll be back in Preventor hands."
"You know he had a discipline problem, and yet you left him alone. If you don't find him, you'll find yourself in a lot more trouble then him. Is that understand?"
"Yes, Colonel." She silently gulped.
"Well, now we have to..." Une was cut off when her personal aide walked in. "You know that I gave strict orders to not be disturbed unless.."
The Preventor aide stood straight and stared at the Colonel. "I have something important to show you from security."
"What is it?"
"Surveillance cameras showed Preventor Snow didn't leave alone."
Une stared grimly at the aide, and then at Lumin. "Who did he leave with?"
"A person dressed like a Preventor aide."
The Colonel let go of her anger toward Lumin, and walked around the table. "Show me." Une's aide walked out the door and the Colonel followed.
The team just sat still not sure if they should leave or not. Toki's face had returned to normal by this time, and looked over at Lumin.
"Someone dressed as a Preventor aide?"
"Ya I know. I just can't believe that Snow was stupid enough to fall for that."
"Agreed." The group quietly said in unison.
A voice called from the other side of the door. "Lumin. Come."
"Right." Hilde stood up and proceeded after Colonel Une.
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Silent Wind stood upon a dark rooftop in the lower downtown area and observed people in the slums that tried to get by. His veil waved in the wind as though he and the city mourned what was lost long ago. Detroit hadn't been the building place it used to be. Businesses moved out of the area after the people there were too expensive to work with. Flint nearby suffered the same fate years before, but Detroit still had people that lived there whereas Flint was nothing but a ghost town. Most people in Detroit lack the will to live, but still somehow live on. The glimmering great lakes are the only things that still live without worry and inspire some, but too few to help.
The assassin shook his head in disappointment, and then walked away.
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The screen in the base's security room displayed a freeze frame of a hallway with Alex and the fake aide as they walked down it. Alex's face was clear as day, but the aide's face was obscured by his hat and the man didn't looked directly at the camera. The only thing of the man that stood out was his chin and part of his nose.
Lumin and Une stared at the screen as they tried to figure out who the man was. Each examined the face thoroughly, but neither recognized him.
Une looked over at the security guard on duty. "Are there any better pictures that we can look at?"
"That is the best one we could get. The rest of them are less discernible."
"That's just ... great." Une looked back at the screen. Didn't look at a single camera, even the hidden ones. This guy is very good... and scary.
Lumin's thoughts were on Alex and his stupidity. Though she didn't recognize the man with him, a thought bothered her. I've seen that chin before, but where? She continued to think back in her past, but she couldn't remember who's chin that was.
As both Une and Lumin continued to look at the screen, Une's aide walked into the room with a note in hand. "Colonel Une, one of the security teams found this near the base."
The Colonel turned around and her hair swayed to her right side. The aide handed her the note. As she read over the note, Une appeared to be calmer and calmer on the outside, but hid her anger. "So this man wants to mess with us? We'll make him regret it." She stormed out of the room with the aide shortly behind her.
Lumin looked toward the door. I wonder what could have been on that note that pissed her off like that.
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If you wish to see Snow again, I demand 20 million dollars to be delivered to the old MGM Casino by the Gundam pilot Heero Yuy by the end of the this week. If either of these conditions are not met, I will kill the Preventor on the spot. Don't think I won't either.
-Silent Wind
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Heero sat his cockpit as he typed away on his keyboard. He surveyed one report then skipped to another one with the touch of the keyboard. The gundam pilot had been at this for the past couple of hours, then an incoming comm link made him look to his right side.
"Hmph."
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The sun was out and the old city could be seen clear as day. On one of the rooftops Silent Wind looked down on the old site of CoAmerica Park where the Detroit Tigers used to play. It was nothing but a shadow of its former self. Rumble lay everywhere, and seats were torn out of their foundation. It was a pitiful sight. In his mind this was another example of man's progress and disrespect for its past.
He shook his head then looked toward the sky. Something was in the air, and it sounded like a mobile suit. So he has arrived. Hmmm.... Tonight should prove interesting. May the best... trained man win.