"Manifestations"
By: Isis
Chapter 3
"Miss Relena, Lieutenant Jameson will meet you at your office. He has a new officer to inform you of."
Relena nodded to the Preventers' officer beside her as she made her way into the government building. "Thank you."
He escorted her up to the third floor and into the West wing, which housed her office, staff, and the offices of the Foreign Minister as well. She checked in with her secretary as the young man excused himself. "Good morning, Dawna. What do we have today?"
Her personal assistant smiled at her warmly and nodded behind Relena, subtly rolling her bright green eyes.
Relena knew the look and braced herself. She turned to find Lieutenant Dave Jameson milling around the hallway by her office door, fidgeting with anything he could.
Jameson was a very competent man and in all fairness Relena liked him, but he just honestly could not sit still. He was approximately in his late forties, much senior to most of the officers she encountered. This meant he was an excellent choice as the commanding officer in charge of her security, both on and off world, meaning that she got to be very well acquainted with him. He had a good heart, but the man knew nothing about the Colonies or about diplomacy. She had gotten his advice of "blow them all up and see who they cry over" more than once.
Turning back to Dawna she sighed with a smile, "Hold my calls."
"I'll patch them right through," she joked, winking at her.
She walked steadily down the hallway toward her chief security advisor. He had already spotted her and waited, almost patiently, for her to come within earshot. "Good morning, Miss Relena."
"Good morning, Lt. Dave."
"I am afraid that I have some interesting news for you today."
"Now why would you be afraid of that?" she smiled.
He chuckled low and nodded. Handing her a file folder he went on, "But I am afraid that I will have to leave you in someone else's hands for your trips."
She blinked. "Really?"
He nodded, a bit sourly. "Some of the higher-ups decided that it'd be best to have your away security teams headed by someone more 'familiar with colony facilities and protocols'," he mimicked.
Relena choked back the smile and licked her lips instead. "Does that mean you will remain with the house crew only?"
He nodded, pulling his hands behind his back and wiggling his bushy red mustache absently. "It will give me some nice vacation time while you're away," he tried to smile.
Relena looked down at the folder in her hands and smiled too. "So I have a new officer for my away missions?"
"You have a new mission commander."
She blinked at him, confused.
"They have sent you a Special Agent to lead the team."
Her shoulders drooped noticeably. "Do they really think that's necessary?"
"Apparently," he grimaced. "He will be meeting with you tomorrow morning to introduce himself," the sour expression crossed his face again. "Now, Miss Relena, you would be the last person that I would talk to about age, but this new guy…" he shook his head and lowered his voice. "I don't know who's long lost nephew he is, but I sure don't understand how he got an agent's jacket that's for sure. He's got Commander Une tied up and gift-wrapped if you ask me. So if he does anything screwy, something you don't like, you let me know right away, ya hear?"
Relena looked up at the older man, a bit shocked. The Lieutenant had his quirks, but he was someone that she had come to trust and he wasn't normally the type to put down a fellow officer….
"I will be sure to bear that in mind." What else was she going to say?
He nodded to her, his expression not changing. "I'll be keeping an eye on him too." He nodded and turned away from her. "What is it about you kids these days? Something in the water I tell ya…."
She watched him mumble his way down the hall, a hard lump forming in her stomach. She looked down at the folder in her hand and pushed open her office door. Quietly closing it behind her she stood in the empty office fingering the unsuspicious yellow file folder. "These kids…. Tied up and gift wrapped…."
Feeling odd, she swallowed a deep breath and opened up the folder in front of her.
The neat little file held five or six pages of information clamped together on the right side with a group of letters and certificates in the pocket on the left. But paper-clipped neatly in the right corner was a picture. Her heart froze to lead in her chest, squashing the air out of her lungs.
She forced herself to take a breath and focused her eyes off of it. She walked, very deliberately, over to her desk and sat down, placing her briefcase neatly on the floor next to her and then reopened folder in front of her.
Relena folded her hands together and brought them up under her chin to keep them steady as she stared down. His picture showed his face and shoulders, his piercing blue eyes lost none of their intensity due to the photograph. His shoulders were already wrapped in the brown stripes of a Preventers' agent jacket.
"Special Agent, Heero Yuy," it read. "Preventer Security Division. Assignment: Security Mission Commander, Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Darlian. Commission date: February 28, AC 197."
The 28th was Monday. If he was really going to be in her office tomorrow morning that meant that he had just replaced the Lieutenant as the highest-ranking officer in her security force in less than a week. No wonder Jameson was grumpy.
But something didn't sit right in all of this. Actually, it was all right. All of the paperwork was signed and dated; background and security checks were all complete and signed by someone named James Su-squiggle, there was a letter of recommendation signed by Commander Une herself. Health and fitness reports were filled in with specific numbers, training sessions were given valid reasons for wavers, most of which read: "exemplified proficiency." It was just too… real.
Heero had actually gone through all of the proper channels and chain of command. His personal history was neatly laid out in front of her, and even though she knew it wasn't accurate it was signed off on by the best of the Preventers' background checks. Heero was, for all practical purposes, an official and credited Preventer Special Agent.
It just didn't make sense.
She knew very well that her personal security still wasn't strong enough that it would keep Heero at bay if he really needed to see her for some reason. And, with all honesty, if he needed to be able to slip into her security force for some time Commander Une would sign off on it for him with no questions asked and none of this required. Why all the work? Why submit himself to the tests and checks and history reports? Why….
Unless, he intended to stay.
The jolt of the idea defibrillated her heart back to life as it raced inside her chest. Relena slowly closed the file and moved it to the corner of her desk. Standing up, she walked to the small restroom in the corner of her office and closed the door behind her. Being the only room in the office complex that wasn't as wired as her house, she took advantage of the camera-less space.
She balled her hand into a fist and placed it over her heart. Leaning her head back against the door she closed her eyes, and whispered his name.
It had to be the only explanation…. Her breathing slowed and she felt the rock gradually untwist out of her stomach.
Well, it was probably her fault. What else did she expect when she asked him to stay…? Quite honestly, she hadn't cared at the time. Smiling to herself she realized that she probably shouldn't care now.
Slowly Relena opened her eyes again. There was an odd touch of pride that came to her when she realized that he had actually accepted an invitation she offered. Letting herself giggle at the thought she smoothed down her jacket in the mirror and happily held onto that feeling as she left the restroom and moved back to her desk. She would deal with Heero Yuy tomorrow… and the next day… and probably the one after that too.
The ESUN government building had originally begun life as a large brick hospital. It was a three-sided square, which housed a magnificent courtyard in the center and parking area around the back. The front, or middle area, housed mostly meeting rooms and facilities for press conferences as well as offices for more minor officials. In the center was a clock tower that looked eleven stories down to the highway that ran by out front.
The two wings extended out behind, allowing for more security measures, and housed the offices of the higher political figures. The East wing was primarily used by the President and his join staff members. The West wing housed Foreign Policy offices, which had been expanded significantly since all territories on Earth and in the Colonies were considered to be "foreign" now that they were unified.
And on the West wing's third floor were the offices of the Foreign Minister and his associates, not the least of which was Miss Relena Darlian.
And directly across the street was a newly constructed building dedicated to the Preventers' headquarters. The glass structure glared the morning sun out at the passersby. Two large footbridges arched over the highway between the buildings, allowing for easy access. The clear, although bulletproof, tunnels were nearly empty by ten in the morning. A scattering of uniformed Preventers moved about and a few aids were carrying files back and forth in the chilly March air.
There were still patches of snow on the ground when Heero stepped out of the connecting bridge and stood in front of the ESUN government building. He moved quickly inside, his breath coming out in a fog. The front doors were merely ceremonial; the lower rooms facing the highway were usually empty and did not hold any sensitive material in case of an outside terrorist attack. However, they were not unprotected.
Two officers stood inside the doors and between him and the security gate, fashioned out of shatterproof and bomb-resistant resin. A half-inch thicker than would be necessary, he noted heading up the small stair steps. He had already been scanned for weapons, explosives, and toxic chemical agents via hidden ultraviolet lights outside, and he had been monitored on surveillance cameras since the moment he stepped out of Preventers headquarters.
Not bad at all.
He unclipped his security badge and handed it to the acting officer who scanned it, giving Heero a once over that he was sure was not purely security motivated. The contents of the folder he was carrying were scanned and he was questioned about his purpose there.
With the knowledge that he was now head of security for Relena's away missions the two opened up a bit, telling him that they would probably see quite a bit of each other. Heero nodded to them and went on his way, not finding it necessary to note the directions they gave him. He had pulled the blueprints of the building as soon as he had gotten an office across the street.
A fuzzy feeling formed in the pit of his stomach as he entered the elevator. Realizing that he was still allowing one girl to have too large of a hold on his emotions he squashed the feeling back down as he stepped off on the third floor.
The receptionist in the outside office was typing quickly at her station, her long brown hair falling over both shoulders. Finishing the sentence in her head she glanced up at him as he came around the corner. Smiling she stopped and scooted away from her keyboard towards the security pass consol, next to the walkway between her L-shaped desk and the wall.
"Good morning," she said, standing up. "You must be Agent Yuy," she extended her hand.
Heero shook her hand and attempted a polite smirk. "Dawna Williams."
She nodded, chuckling a little. "With security screenings, who needs introductions these days, huh?"
He nodded.
"Oh well. Security pass please."
He unclipped his tag again and handed it over. "Please enter code 8796 as well."
She looked up from the card swipe a bit confused, and then back down at it. The machine must have obviously read "Enter Code" because she didn't ask for an explanation. Typing it in she handing him the badge back and waited for it to come up with an acceptable reading.
"Well I've never seen that before," she mumbled to it.
Heero smirked to himself slightly.
"Um…" she started. "It's ticking."
"Security override protocol will initiate in 10 seconds. It will affect Miss Darlian's office only and will only disengage camera and sound."
Dawna looked up at him worriedly, "Is that really necessary?"
He nodded, holding up the folder in his hand. "This meeting will be reflective on all of the security personnel assigned to the Vice Minister. Won't do me any good if they're listening," he explained.
The assistant opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Looking down at the consol she read, "Area secured, authorized entrance." She looked up, her green eyes puzzled. "Well, alright. Go right ahead, Agent Yuy."
"Hn," he mumbled and walked off, leaving her a bit dumbfounded.
All right, so Heero had done a little bit of tweaking to his security access file. If anyone minded… well he'd make it more subtle next time.
He turned the corner down the wood paneled hallway to her office and squashed down that same fuzzy feeling.
Relena read over her presentation on the effects of positive colonial marketing for Representative… somebody, from Colony L2-199 8368 42 95 71 XQHI… BOR ING.
Well, so what if the presentation had been done last week and it was sent out Tuesday? Relena was killing time and she knew it. Glancing down, her little computer clock read 9:57am. She held back a sigh, feeling nervous and anxious and… just plain weird.
A little bubble popped up in the corner of her screen and blinked at her for attention. "Security Override Protocol will initiate in 10 seconds." The little bubble ticked down and Relena blinked at it. Clicking on it, it opened a single sentence explanation: "Preventer Agent Confidentiality Override will temporarily terminate broadcast of sight and sound surveillance equipment in the designated area."
Relena started, shocked into staring at the screen. Really? Alright!
Her intercom beeped and it took her a moment to remember to push the switch on. "Yes?"
"Miss Relena, Agent Yuy is on his way. And he has… overridden the security system…. For confidentiality… I think."
Relena almost laughed out loud at her poor aid's confusion. "That's all right Dawna, thank you."
Maybe if she sounded like she knew what was going on it would make her feel better.
There was a soft knock on her door and she smiled to herself. "Come in," she called. She remained seated as Heero entered and closed the door behind him. She watched him turn and look at her. Leaning forward she prompted her elbow on her desk and placed her chin on her hand. Smiling at him, she cocked one eyebrow and waited.
Heero's eyes softened to an almost-smile and he nodded. "Vice Minister."
"Agent Yuy." He stepped forward and placed a folder on her desk. "Please have seat," she said still smiling. He sat down across from her. "I noticed that you did something to my security measures."
He blinked at her, "Do you mind?"
"Mind?" she started. "How could I mind?" She lowered her voice and leaned over the desk farther. "Can you accidentally make it stick this way?"
Heero smirked slightly and shook his head no.
Relena relaxed, quietly noting the peaceful atmosphere between them. She hadn't felt this way in a very long time. "It's good to see you again, Heero," she said softly. He let the smirk slip away and looked her in the eye. "Do I get to keep you very long?" she asked, amused at her own choice of words.
"Hn," he nodded to her. "If you don't mind."
She grinned at him, "How could I mind?"
"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." – George Moore
AN: Yes, yes, I know, I did the Heerosecurity guy thing. Well, what else is he going to do, lurk around watering the plants? But two promises I will make here and now: 1) No psycho-ultra-ridged-security-nutjob-Heero. It's so not in his character as I see him, 2) No run-away-I-actually-hate-my-life-Relena either, also just not in her nature. So bear with me and we'll see what happens!
Proofed by: Lisa. Thank you.