The Doctor
"Hey Sally! What's going on?"
The pilots reached the main building running and met Sally at the doors.
"The main computer down at the labs detected a virus dispersion…"
"How?" asked Trowa.
"I don't know, but we all have to go through the sanitary checkup, come in here"
Scared faces looked up at them when they entered. All the technicians, scientists, and other personnel already gathered there were waiting for new instructions. They seemed like convicts in wait of the death sentence. The sentence, however, never came. For some minutes, which seemed like endless hours to everyone, the place was filled with silence. The atmosphere was so thick someone could've sliced right through it with a knife. Ten more minutes and they heard yelling from downstairs.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!" the magnified voice belonged unmistakably to Lady Une. "YOU'RE SCIENTISTS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER!"
The five pilots plus Sally stared at each other bewildered and decided to go down. As they were approaching the stairs a new outburst made them think better of it.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE! HE CAN'T BE GONE, HE'S A LEADING DOCTOR!"
Unable to run back up the stairs in time, they saw Lady Une come stomping up a nasty shade of red crawling up her neck. They had never seen her this angry. Back at reception she took hold of the microphone.
"To all personnel gathered here, there is no need to worry at the moment. Unfortunately the main computer at the labs suffered a minor malfunction and set off a false alarm. However, we advice you not to leave the headquarters until further notice and to come down to the labs straight away if you so much as feel a light headache" said Lady Une.
The building slowly began to empty and only the pilots and Sally were left behind.
"So… what did we miss?" ventured Duo slowly, afraid of a new wave of fury.
Lady Une stared at them noticing for the first time they were there. After careful consideration she pursed her lips and gestured them to take a seat. After a deep breath she decided to speak.
"Apparently an hour ago, Dr. Sixto, one of the leading doctors of the virus project, sort of disappeared. He was in charge of some data in the main computer and since he left, the data got messed up and caused pandemonium downstairs at the labs. A false alarm went off thanks to that and now the computer is having problems identifying the real virus"
One of the pilots swore under his breath, the rest simply gaped at her, eyes full of concern. Sally shook her head from side to side, still unwilling to believe it.
"And that's only the beginning" continued Lady Une.
"What? You mean there's more?" blurted Duo out.
"Well, since the main computer is malfunctioning, the information we get from the rest of the computers down at the labs won't be one hundred percent accurate. When the government gets a hold of this information, they'll force us to go into quarantine"
"WHAT? And delay all our work only because of a stupid false alarm?" exclaimed Duo.
"Calm down Maxwell. I know it's annoying to have this happen right now, but it's for the best. We need to be sure this thing isn't spread any further"
The pilots nodded in consent.
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"Damn it!" Duo hit the wall with his fist.
"Hurting yourself won't do us any good Maxwell" pointed out Wufei in a bored way. He was reading the newspaper. The headline spoke about their problems.
"I don't understand why do we have to stay here in the first place" continued Duo ignoring Wufei's comment.
"Well, I really think it's for the best" put in Quatre from the table where he was playing chess with Trowa. Or rather watching how Trowa mercilessly slaughtered his entire pieces; the blonde wasn't really paying attention to the game.
"Hmph!" was all Duo could answer this time.
It was now three days after the events that had prevented them from leaving. A day after them, Lady Une bitterly informed that Dr. Sixto had been found dead, apparently victim of the disease as well.
"Proof that doctors can get sick as well" had said Duo sarcastically. The comment hadn't been well taken by anyone.
Two days after, Lady Une came back with more bad news. The assholes at the government did take hold of the information and the ingrate bastards are now making a big fuss about the whole fuckin' thing, literally quoting her. The headquarters were indeed ordered to enter quarantine until they could prove everything had been fixed.
"And they're making me bring Zechs and Noin back in! Hell, they weren't even here when it happened, I don't see the point of interrupting their work!"
Zechs and Noin were currently down on Earth. They had gotten there even before travel between the colonies and Earth had been banned.
Three days later, present time, Lady Une still swore a lot and was best left alone in her office to take care of a heavy load of paperwork. Sadistically taken as extra vacations, the pilots had no choice but to stay doing nothing most of the day. Only Quatre seemed to have been able to find something useful to do, looking around in old newspapers for anything interesting.
"No Maxwell, shoving that up Heero's ass isn't considered useful" said Wufei in his usual bored tone when Duo had suggested that if reading old, moldy newspapers, was helpful, then he sure as hell had even better ways of being useful.
After a quick supper, Quatre gave up on the last newspaper he'd been reading and sat down to play chess with Trowa, which once again brings us back to present time.
Duo noisily yawned and groaned while he stretched. The only one out of picture was Heero, as usual. He was sitting at a corner, deep in thought.
"Was in your mind babe?" Duo turned to him.
Heero sighed silently and either ignored or didn't hear Duo. He had his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed, clear signs of intent thinking.
"I said, what's in your mind Hee-chan?" Duo purred into Heero's ear.
Reacting to the use of his most hated nickname he turned to meet Duo's face only inches apart from his. Duo tried to give Heero a kiss, but the silent Preventer wouldn't return it.
"Something just doesn't fit into all of this" finally spoke Heero.
"What do you mean?" asked Trowa not taking his eyes away from the game.
"I mean that something in this whole thing isn't right. Dr. Sixto's death, to be more precise"
"Lady Une said he had apparently died victim of the disease" put in Quatre, remembering Lady Une's report form only a couple of days ago.
"She said apparently" answered Heero back.
"Are you saying he died of something else?"
"Not really, I mean, he was found with the usual signs of disease caused death, but I still can't see how could he have died of it"
"Well, it is a virus, you know, anyone can get infected, even the scientists down at the labs"
"I know, it's just a hunch I've got. Hasn't let me sleep well these past days"
"Well what do you know, I'm Heero's hunch!" said Duo with an evil glint on his eyes. Everyone sweat-dropped at this comment.
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A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chapter, YAY!!! I really do hope you liked it. By the way, priscel, I do know there's something about father Maxwell and sister Helen, but I never really got hold of the story, so I decided not to write anything about them. Maybe you could write to me and tell me how it goes (authoress get all puppy eyed). Anyways, I hope none of you guys forgets to review!!!
