Author's Notes:
We're hopefully going to see more action from this point on. :3
Disclaimer:
Gundam Wing isn't mine. Cheetos isn't mine.
Lunar Ember Presents
A Gundam Wing Fan Fiction
Death and Taxes
Chapter 5: Haywire
Lucrezia Noin stared at the television with a pair of tongs in one hand and a pot holder in another. The news was on and bits and pieces of Undersecretary Yusuke Ogata's condition were trickling in. Although she was updated of the situation well before the media was, the six o'clock reports confirmed most of what she knew.
The sound of jiggling keys broke her attention, and she allowed herself a silly grin as the door opened.
"Welcome home, sweetie."
Zechs walked in and replied with an amused smile of his own. "It smells good in here."
"We're having pot roast for dinner," she said as she went back to the stove. "You seemed to like it the last time I made it."
The man nodded in quiet appreciation and settled comfortably on the couch. As Noin flipped the pork and lowered the flame, the wedding ring that Une had given her for the mission caught in the light.
Playing Mr. Richard and Mrs. Cathy Lewis was almost a cake walk. The only thing that they had to do was to act like a loving couple, and with the palpable charisma they both seemed to have made it easy. Being supposedly tied down helped Zechs have a semblance of being a common man – something that he very much needed as the grace of his actions betrayed his affluent background. Already, people at work had taken to calling him "Little Lord Fauntleroy" after the famous novel, and when a colleague teased him with it during one of the dinners they attended together, she tested the waters and replied, "You've got it wrong. He's actually the Lightning Count." No one believed her.
Living with Zechs was nothing new. Their relationship had been an open secret for so long that nobody involved with the Mars terra-formation project found it unusual when one left the other's room at the wee hours of the morning. What they had was an odd but comfortable connection which made most of the people they knew wonder why they haven't gotten hitched yet, but that was just the way they were: they were soldiers before anything else, and as soldiers, the mission always came first.
Noin took off her apron and walked towards the couch. The apartment they shared was small – cramped even – but neither of them complained. It was very cozy, actually, and as she sat beside Zechs she enjoyed feel of the cushions that they never had back in Mars.
"HQ sent me a message about what happened," she began. "Looks like he'll be okay."
"He was stable when I left him," Zechs regarded her with calm blue eyes. " Though it would seem that he's the sort of man who couldn't handle threats very well."
"You threatened him?"
"No, but when I asked him about a certain non-profit organization that seemed to have been given a huge sum in spite of it not having any records with the Farmer's Union, he balked. He told me that I shouldn't tell anyone about it or else he won't live to see the morning."
"You're pretty nosey for an assistant to the Chief-of-Staff," Noin teased. "So that's when he had the attack."
"No. It happened after a video call with a man who gave no name, but I heard that he was working for a certain 'Adel'."
"And this man threatened him?"
"Not in so many words," Zechs said as the television reporter switched to another news topic. "He only said that Adel sends her regards."
Noin inched closer to him and took the clicker to change the channel. "So Ogata is nothing more than a pawn in this entire convoluted scheme."
"It seems so."
"If Ogata is collateral damage, then Secretary Nielsen is probably one waiting to happen, too." It was common knowledge that the agricultural secretary was more of a scientist than a politician, and one that was very soft-spoken at that.
"You'd be surprised, but it looks like Nielsen has been fighting against Kraz as much as he could."
"Really? I've always thought of him as someone who's easily pushed around."
"The opposite is true, and he's very perceptive, too." Zechs glanced at her. "He's the only one who believed you when you said that I was the Lightning Count."
"You're kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"No. Shit."
He chuckled at her reaction. "There's no need to worry, though. He's not talking as long as we manage to get rid of Kraz and his schemes."
"So Kraz really has a big part in this, huh."
"Yes."
"I'm not surprised, but I am certainly curious about what they're building with all that government money."
"Barton just gave me a new list of bogus non-profits which seemed to have gotten agrarian budget. He also managed to get his hands on several bank accounts but we only have aliases for the holders." Zechs placed an arm over her shoulders. "Although I trust that Barton can do his job flawlessly, I can't help but pity him for being dragged into the thick of things."
She sighed and allowed herself to be pulled closer. "Well, we'll be where he is soon enough."
"Yes, soon."
"That's too bad," she smiled. "I'm sort of enjoying being married to you."
Zechs answered her with a kiss on her forehead.
Duo sat in his station, studying several of the codes which they have managed to crack. A huge chunk of the thumb drive was still locked, but now that his team had more or less gotten into the rhythm of whoever it was that forked Gunnar's program, the last few layers that kept the voluminous data from them wouldn't be much of a problem.
He pushed back his chair and stood up to stretch. Opening a new bag of Cheetos, he made his rounds, chatting with several of his subordinates before ending up at Kevin's.
"You look like you're in dire need of snacks."
The younger Preventer agent glanced at him and shook his head wordlessly. Duo slightly furrowed his brows and pulled a chair beside him.
"Dude, you never say no to Cheetos. What's wrong?"
Kevin immediately stopped typing and turned to face him. He seemed pale and nervous, and he visibly swallowed before he spoke.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, him – " He titled his head towards Gunnar who was seated beside Yuri. "He creeps me out as much as this thumb drive does."
Duo tried his best not to gape in disbelief. Gunnar personally struck him as a loser - a smart loser, perhaps, but a loser nonetheless. He couldn't understand the issues Heero and now Kevin had about him.
Pushing his own uneasiness aside, he gave the younger man one of his signature smiles.
"Look, we're almost done. And once we are, I'm gonna give that weirdo the boot. Just hang on for a little more. Can you do that, man?"
Kevin didn't seem convinced, but before he could say anything, Yuri's voice rose above the din of the room.
"Hey, guys! We broke through another one! Just one more and we got this baby!"
Duo grinned and pulled out his mobile phone. "See? Now, time to get ready for the party."
"Chang!"
Wufei glanced at Sally who sat in the shade of a tent. The two were at the rooftop of one of the skeletal buildings of the Preventer's open field training facility, and the blistering heat made him hiss in annoyance.
"Maxwell wants us."
"Tell him we're busy," he answered as he knelt to continue setting up. "What does he need from us anyway?"
"He said it's about the thumb drive."
Wufei settled the rifle on the bipod and positioned himself prone. He had wanted to test the Bor himself just so he knew he knew first-hand what it would take to botch a hit the way Relena's would-be assassins did. The afternoon sun beat down on his back while the cement beneath him was scorching, and the fact that Duo seemed to need baby-sitting made his mood even worse.
"Tell him that he doesn't need us there and we'll just attend the meeting tomorrow."
Assuming that Sally was sending the message, he focused on the shot board that stood yards below on ground level. The air cracked as he pulled the trigger, and though he tried his best to miss, he still managed to hit the target in its abdomen.
Were they really that bad? He thought as he looked though the sight and controlled his breathing for another shot. Any cheap assassin could have gotten this hit at this distance.
"Chang!"
Sally's voice rang through his earmuffs and Wufei inwardly cussed. "What?"
"Duo said that Heero told him to tell you that Gunnar is left-handed."
He stalled. Although the statement seemed purely random, something in his mind gave a resounding "click". Pushing himself to a crouch, he looked at Sally who seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
"I've never tried shooting a Bor rifle left-handedly," she intoned.
Wordlessly, Wufei lay belly-down before the sniper rifle, but this time he let his left hand do the work. The weapon suddenly felt awkward, and for someone like him who had been trained his entire life to be ambidextrous, it came as a surprise.
Wufei took the shot and missed. He fired several more, and every time he pulled the trigger, cold resolve settled in his stomach.
Sally jogged towards the edge of the roof deck and looked into a pair of binoculars.
"Almost the same pattern as one of our shooter's, although of course you did much better," She turned to him. "It's the charging handle. The Bor only has a right side charging handle, meaning a left-handed shooter would need to move his head away for it to cycle, which would make it difficult for him to look through the sight." Sally rested her hands on her hips and sighed. "Damn it, I always took that for granted since I'm right-handed. I should've known better."
Wufei quickly dismantled the set-up and stood. "It's not your fault, so stop thinking about it now. We have to get to CID."
"You think it's Gunnar."
"He's the closest we've got," he muttered, striding before Sally. "And if Heero's misgivings and our discovery are right, we're all in big trouble."
Kraz left earlier with Ana for a conference, leaving him with an empty office. Although several members of his staff came and went every so often, they found nothing unusual about Tarquin browsing through the representative's library. One girl even left him a slice of cake to wish him good luck on his research, proudly explaining that Kraz' collection of law books were still more informative than what was available online.
Trowa had smiled in thanks, and proceeded to open the next book in his stack.
He had collected all the books related to Greece that he could find, with topics ranging from democracy to travel. The book from which Kraz had torn out a page to write "It's almost over" may give him more clues about what he and his associates were planning. It wasn't easy since he didn't have the torn page in hand, but if there's anything he had plenty of, it was patience.
Trowa dusted off a small paperback edition that read "Greek Mythology" on the cover. He smiled slightly as he remembered how his sister loved such stories, when his finger suddenly felt the rough, uneven rip of a missing page.
He found himself reading the story of Helen of Troy and Paris. When a few pages down he found another page missing, he quickly realized that the story was abruptly cut short just as Athena guided Epeuis to build the Trojan Horse.
"The Trojan…"
Trowa's eyes slowly grew in alarm as everything fell into place. Kraz' note, Gunnar's forked program… Feeling the weight marks left by the representative's heavy script, he knew now what "It's almost done" had meant.
He ran out of the office and on to the street, pulling out a mobile phone that secured him a line to the L2 Preventer HQ.
"This is No-Name with pass code Alfa-Zulu- Siena-Three-Eight-Three-One-Eight-Six requesting for a mass-wide system lock-down. We may have a security breach."
Relena blinked at the glass of club soda that Duo handed her. The CID head had ecstatically invited her, Heero, Lady Une, and Wufei to CID so that they could all see what the thumb drive contained as they finally opened it. She had almost excused herself from going since she had a lot to do, but Duo had insisted, and she was not one to deny him when he started using his puppy dog eyes on her.
The dim room flashed with soft, blue light as Duo projected several of his team's monitors on a massive monitor. Numbers and letters in weird succession assaulted her, and she had no idea what they all meant.
"Wufei isn't here yet, and honestly, I don't even know why I need to be here," she whispered from the corner of her mouth. She did ask for updates, but she preferred them sent to her office.
Heero stood silent and unmoving beside her, the lights on his eyes dancing as he reviewed the screen. When she thought he wouldn't answer, he muttered, "Stay close to me."
His tone surprised her. It was soft, firm, and put the hairs on the back of her neck on end. The slight edge in his voice told her that they suddenly weren't safe, and she found herself scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary.
Une seemed to sense the same as she stood up and folded her hands over her chest.
"Let's get this over with."
"As you wish," Duo said with flourish as he typed into his keyboard. "Gaining access… now."
There was a moment of silence as Duo sat back to admire his handiwork. The cursor in one of the projections blinked rhythmically, then stopped.
All of a sudden, the huge screen turned blue and a single window appeared.
No permission to access server.
Duo shot up from his seat. "What?" He pressed several keys to no avail, and suddenly, manic laughter filled the room.
"Stupid jackass!" Gunner shouted, and the feverish glee in his face filled Relena with dread. Duo's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in anger.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Breaking into the program activated the Trojan that had been embedded in your system the first time you plugged the thumb drive in. We've locked you out of your own servers, which, by the way, we now have full control over." Gunnar seemed to enjoy the horror that dawned upon Duo's face. "Because of your stupidity, we now have access to – oh – the Department of Defense, which is connected to all of ESUN's units including the Department of Treasury – "
"GET HIM!" Une barked and the room exploded in mad frenzy.
"Duo, can you still break in?"
"Believe me, Heero, I'm trying!"
"You are FOOLS! There's nothing you can do!" Gunnar screeched as he dodged his captors. He ran to the door that automatically opened to reveal Wufei who knocked him out cold with a roundhouse kick.
"That bastard is one of your shooters, Ms. Foreign Minister."
"What?!"
"Relena," the Director shouted as she ran to the main console to sound the alarm. "I'll call for systems shutdown. You access MINOTAUR!"
Her hands felt cold as she stumbled to a computer beside Heero and Duo. The ESUN's system was an interconnection of servers, much like a miniature Internet, which gave all departments access to each other's data depending on what kind of permission was granted. Although the entire system had many security measures in place, it still had to have a fail-safe, one final line of defense that would guard it against a breach. MINOTAUR could be accessed from any console and acted as both an impenetrable firewall and the system's purger which sought and destroyed anything that tried to pass through. Only the highest government heads could access it, as it could also destroy confidential information that it deemed corrupted.
"Duo," she said, willing herself to calm down. "Contact the Head of Treasury. It seems that Gunnar wanted to get into their department and we need to shut them down."
"Fuck this! I didn't – "
"There's no time for that now. Heero, contact the President. Lady Une, we'll need your key, too."
Heero silently nodded and put on a headset. She did the same and quickly typed in an override code. The blue screen switched to black and the cursor blinked back to life. Adjusting the mic, she intoned:
"Papa-Zero-Seven-Delta-Foxtrot-Five-Two-One-One-Whiskey-Bravo-Seven. Mit navn er Relena Darlian. Adgang MINOTAUR."
Waveforms moved on the monitor as the system recognized Relena's voice, and with a flash, MINOTAUR came on. A list of sectors appeared, each representing an ESUN division and sub-division, and she tagged the Department of Treasury and the Department of Defense.
"If we lock the DOD we shut down Preventers and contain the corruption. But that can also ruin ESUN's defense systems and – "
"Focus, Relena. The damage will be worse if we don't do this quickly." Heero gave her sidelong glance and she forced herself to take his advice. When he saw her slightly calm down, he nodded. "I have the President."
"Give me his code."
"Tango-Tango-Zero-Four-Seven-One-Five-Zulu-Three-Six-Zero-Bravo."
She typed it in, followed by Une's code which the latter called out from the other side of the room.
"Duo – "
"The bastard from Treasury's not answering!"
Une rushed towards him as she scribbled a number on a piece of paper.
"He's on vacation. Try calling this."
"We're losing more sectors, Maxwell."
"Shut up and just help me out, Yuy!" Duo dialed the number and grasped the headset. "Sir, this is Duo Maxwell of the Preventers CID. We need your – We've got no time for explanations, goddamn it! Just give us your fucking MINOTAUR access code!" A pause. "Charlie. Sierra – "
Relena typed as he dictated, and for the first time, she felt unnerved by obvious anger in his voice. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pressed the enter key, and MINOTAUR kicked into gear, running through sectors with lightning-fast speed.
As quickly as it started, it stopped. The loading bars on the screen suddenly disappeared, and one line blinked:
System purge and lock-down complete.
All was quiet except for Gunnar who was painfully stirring awake. Letting out the breath she didn't know she held, she whispered, "We stopped it."
Groans of relief echoed inside the huge room, but before anyone could relax, Une stood in front of them. "We need to survey how much has been damaged," she said. "Duo, do a systems scan."
The man nodded tiredly and slumped into his seat.
"You heard the Director," he said to his team without humor or relish. "Let's get on it now and no one goes home until it's done."
"And what do I do with this traitor?" Wufei asked as he pulled Gunnar up by his cuffed wrists.
"Take him to a solitary cell," Une replied in disgust. "I'll deal with him later."
Relena almost jumped when her mobile phone rang in her pocket. When she recognized the caller as an official from the Department of Treasury, she quickly answered it.
"Mrs. Lee, everything's under control. We – "
She woman cut her off and she listened, the news dousing her like a bucket of ice.
"We'll take care of it, Ma'am," she heard herself say as she ended the call. She didn't know how she kept her voice from shaking. She didn't even know how she was even holding herself up. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry in frustration, but at the same time she knew that she had no right to do so.
"Relena."
She didn't even notice Heero holding her by her shoulders until he shook her.
"What's wrong?"
Relena stared at him, both anger and disbelief drowning her in a pool of numbness.
"That was from Treasury. Whatever Gunnar put in our system crawled to theirs and broke through their defenses," she whispered. "ESUN just lost 23 billion."
To be continued...
End Notes:
Woohoo! That was pretty hard to write. Acknowledging loadoutroom-dot-com for their review on the Bor rifle which I used as resource. :)
Next chapter: desperate damage control.