Hey-o, and welcome to my Lil' World of Weirdness!!
I state for the record that I don't own Gundam Wing, or the wonderful characters that will be gracing this story. . . I do however lay claim to Ensign Saratone *again*, and I use him here purely as a replacement for your average Nameless OZ Minion. Other Characters I lay claim to are Faye Bloom, the wizened old man, Chang Xiao Fao Lan, and the Angels.
Let's just say . . . when my writer's block breaks, it's like a dam breaking . . . [shakes head slowly and winces]
Parings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xM, 6x9, 13xUne. OdinxHelen
Okay, that's the legal stuff out the way!!
Please ENJOY AND PLEASE R&R!!! THANK YOU!!
Also, thanks to my beloved Bluegoo for her ever wonderful betareading, I thank her for the many hours that she has put in with me on this one, be it correcting my terrible grammar and spelling, or listening to me mumbling large chunks of it down the phone to her . . . You're great, Blue!! Even if you are Commander and Chief of the Apostrophe Gestapo. . . [ducks and runs off, screaming over shoulder] GO READ AND REVIEW HER STORIES!! Also, thanks goes out T'laren for spotting some typos . . . this is not the fault of Blue, but me not running the last, last, last, LAST version past her first. Thank you!!
//Thinking//
"Speaking"
*Stress/Emphasis*
Writing/Dream sequence
~*~
For The Grace Of Knights And Angels
By Doctor Megalomania
Arch One: Bonds Made And Renewed
Part One: Strange Happenings
"We are not the Goddamn Ghostbusters!!"
He winced as he heard his good friend yell. The other officers walking down the corridor winced as well, as his friend's voice carried down it. Duo didn't sound at all happy; maybe it was a bad time.
"I don't care!!" Duo blasted at the no doubt hapless officer who had provoked Shinigami's fury. "GET OUT!!"
He shook his head as the less experienced . . . yet older than Shinigami, and himself . . . officers started to hurry about. He offered a comforting smile to the middle-aged secretary as she trembled outside their shared set of offices. "What happened?"
Mrs Maratha righted her glasses, and peered at him. "There are reports coming in from all over the world about . . ." She gulped and held the cross at her throat, "About ghostly apparitions and---"
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" Shinigami exploded again, "NO, HEERO, I BLOODY WELL WON'T CALM DOWN!!"
She crossed herself without knowing it, "And well . . . Commander Maxwell hasn't---"
The door slammed open, and the hapless recipient, one of the Investigative Branch's top men, was shoved out of the door. "Commander Maxwell!!" Blurted the General, "I could have your badge for this. This is official Preventer's business and you are required to—"
"You can have my Badge, my jacket, and my bloody underpants . . ." Duo snarled as he stood in the doorway, "I've got too much bloody paper work, too many interviews, and FAR too much ---" He glanced at his friend, switching instantly from Shinigami, to dear brother in arms, "Hey Q, gimme a moment, will ya? Still up for lunch, good, I'm starved!!" Quatre had barely enough time to nodded, before Shinigami stepped back in, and glowered at the man. "*AS* I was saying . . ." He waved a folder at the General, "THIS is Investigative, NOT ACTIVE!!"
The Winner heir turned as another one of his friends stepped out of their shared office. Wufei rolled his eyes, and grabbed the folder, "Maxwell."
"No, I said I'm not going to calm down . . . I'm not having them lump their shit on top of mine . . . I've got quite enough shit to roll about in, thank you very much!!"
Wufei's nose crinkled slightly at the thought, as he turned to the General. The former pilot calmly handed back the folder, "When you have something more concrete for us to follow up on . . . please, contact us again . . . until then . . ." The general virtually melted under the combined glares of Shinigami, and Justice's Avenger. Quatre blinked and looked into the doorway, as Trowa cast him a tip of the head in greeting before melting back into the office. Quatre took the invitation and stepped into the shared room. He smiled slightly as the smell of Wufei's beloved Chinese tea, and Duo's coffee hit his nose. Hanging his overcoat on the old style hat stand, Quatre turned and looked at the two quieter Preventers, "Bad time?"
"Not really. Duo is just overreacting." Heero muttered from behind his laptop. The battered old machine looked as if it had seen better times, but still was more advanced than anything else in the building. Quatre smiled. Their office was fairly large, and yet still felt like it was cramped. Mostly because it had become a kind of home away from home for each of them.
In the three years, the room had influences from all of them . . . Duo insisted on old, pre-colony items he had retrieved and fixed up from the scrape yard, such as the old style hat stand, and the blinds that covered the huge windows that lined one wall of their office. Three main desks, also provided by Duo's part time job, and hobby, as a scrap yard scavenger, were in a 'c' shape facing the door. The smallest, facing the door, was Wufei's. While it was almost impossibly neat, Wufei kept small trinkets. His tea, in a simple Chinese pot and cup, sat on a small raised part of the desk, while his new aged computer interface was integrated into the top. They had drawn the line at using old style computers, and . . . Quatre took a glance at his favourite item . . . the old style typewriter that sat reverently on the shelves. The shelves held pictures, awards and medals; the wall had a huge notice board with mission reports, news clippings and little notes to each other. They had their nicknames for each other and he smiled as he read a large note from Duo, reading: 'To all G-boys, Lunch on Mister Moo-lah at some fancy joint, Tuesday after. So keep decks clear, OK? Baka'
"You're still buying us lunch right?"
Quatre turned as Wufei and Duo paced back into the room, he smiled, "Of course . . . I am Mister Moo-lay . . ."
"Moo-LAH! Q, it's Moo-LAH!" Duo grinned, "Anyway . . . I'm starved, let's go!!"
"Hn. Lunch doesn't start until—"
"Heero!!" Duo groaned and flopped into his chair, it too salvaged. The former Deathscythe pilot glared at his partner over their shared desk, "And I wrote on the board that we were having lunch when Q got here!"
"Heh." Wufei snorted, pulling his jacket on, "You call that writing?"
Trowa snickered, as Duo shot a glare at Wufei, who shrugged.
Quatre chuckled, as the Commander and Chief of Winner Enterprises Incorporated, he couldn't devote much time to being here everyday, but still held onto the job of being a Preventer . . . besides . . . he felt a chuckle build as he watched Duo grab the back of Heero's seat, and wheel the former Wing pilot out the door, stopping only to grab their jackets.
Quatre bit his lip, as Wufei turned to Trowa and betted the bill of the drinks on how far Duo would get before Heero punched him and came back for his laptop.
He stretched.
It felt good to be free once more. He glanced around the Spartan quarters of His shrine and sighed, something would have to be done, if they were going to live here. Smiling, his lifted his hand and began to chant.
"More ice please."
Duo smiled sunnily up at the waitress, as Heero continued to type incessantly. As she walked away a puzzled frown on her face, he turned a bruised evil eye on the blue-eyed boy, "You didn't need to hit me that hard."
"Yes I did." Heero paused, and looked up. "If I had just slapped you playfully, you wouldn't have stopped."
Duo sighed and held the damp cloth to his eye, staring at Wufei, "Isn't there something about hitting a fellow officer?"
"There's something about hitting a *superior* officer . . ." The Chinese pilot turned a page of his newspaper, and sat back in his chair. Duo glared at him as he read the article. "Well?"
"Well what?" Wufei smirked, as Duo raised his free hand and moaned. The black haired former pilot chuckled and turned the page again, "Hmm . . . Winner . . . your stocks are doing well again."
Trowa tipped his head as he cradled his water, "Which ones?"
"Well . . . that one . . ." Duo leant over Wufei's shoulder and pointed at the page, "And that one . . . and that one . . .ooo . . . but they aren't doing as good as that one . . ."
Wufei's shoulders shook as he chuckled, and Quatre laughed out loud. "Okay, okay . . . I get the point, I'm footing the bill already!"
"Goooood . . . as long as we understand each other, Q!" Duo sat back in his chair, "Heero, put away the laptop . . . this is supposed to be a reunion of old war buddies!!"
"It is . . ." Heero began the shut down sequence, he patted the laptop and remarked in perfect Heero-deadpan, "This is my old war buddy."
Duo's eyes narrowed, as he folded his arms, "If that was meant to be a joke that's just cruel . . ." He tossed his head, braid flicking Heero's arm spitefully, "But if you're being sarcastic that's worse!"
The waitress returned to the table, and smiled, "Sorry for the wait, your . . ." She placed a glass down in front of Duo, "Ice sir." She beamed, "Is there anything else I can get you?"
"Yeah . . ." Duo motioned over to Quatre, "My friend there would like to pay the bill!"
"Freeloader." Quatre made a face at Duo as the waitress turned away.
Duo smirked and raised his thumb to his nose.
"Mmm . . ." Trowa hummed quietly, "The wind's nice . . . I'm glad it's such a nice day."
Quatre smiled, "Yeah . . ." He looked up at the blue sky above. "It's so quiet . . . I would have thought the park--"
"It's a school day . . ." Wufei murmured, his eyes shut as he lay back. The man pulled his arms behind his head, and sighed sleepily, "Everyone's at work or at school . . ."
"'Cept us . . ." Trowa smiled slightly. "It's nice."
"Nice . . . Trowa's word for today!" Duo muttered from within his sleep, the braided boy rolled over, expertly not trapping his braid under himself, "Yay! Go, Trowa . . . say that word!"
Quatre chuckled quietly, as Trowa leant over and bapped Duo on the head with the newspaper. Leaning back against the soft green grass, Quatre felt sleep try and claim him too. He stared at the sky drowsily, even after three years he wasn't quite used to it. This complete sense of peace. It was very . . . he stifled a quiet laugh . . . nice. The world had small troubles, but no wars. The Preventers were busy, but not absolutely needed; they were more like a worldwide police service. The Mariemaia Wars had ended, and at first the five had gone their separate ways . . . Wufei joining the Preventers first, Duo headed off to L2 to work the junk yards for a while, Trowa losing himself in his job at the circus, Quatre and his adopted family of the Maganac Corps rebuilding homes and buildings and Heero became Relena's personal bodyguard for a while.
They spent between a year and six months doing these separate jobs, before Wufei, Sally Po, Lady Une and Noin started to convince them to work for the Preventers. As peace began to work it's way into the mentality of everyone, Relena and Heero parted company, and he joined the Preventers as a full time officer, meanwhile, Trowa took on the job as his main vocation, and kept the circus as hobby and part time job, travelling with them at weeks for a time.
Quatre glanced over at his friend, as the boy leant back and continued to read the newspaper. Quatre missed Trowa during those weeks, it seemed like the group were missing something.
Duo and Quatre had similar obligations, Duo worked with Hilde sometimes, and Quatre took on the Preventers job as part time occupancy. He smiled, not that he needed the money . . .
"So . . . what was that all about this morning?"
Heero cracked an eye open to look at Quatre, "What do you mean?"
"This morning, when Duo overreacted . . ." The blonde haired boy snickered as Duo raised the finger at him.
"That." Wufei rolled over, and lay on his stomach, he rolled his neck and thought for a moment, before opening his dark eyes, "There are some reports of ghosts and zombies appearing on the colonies."
Quatre stared at him for a moment, and glanced at Heero and Trowa to check if he was joking. When both boys were stony faced, he looked at Duo, "Seriously?"
Duo had his back to him, but Quatre could see his nod. Duo's voice floated up, disinterest, and clear scepticism ingrained deeply, "Apparently soldiers from the Wars, and the Mariemaia Wars are popping up . . . it started a few weeks ago . . . but now there's a huge deluge of reports, and Investigative want it bump it up to major concern in the department . . ."
"Ghosts and zombies?"
Duo rolled over and propped himself up, "Ghosts and zombies . . ."
"Right." Quatre held up his hands, "And none of this has been reported to the newspapers because . . .?"
"It's bullshit and they know it!" Duo sighed, and turned to lie down again. He held his hand up into the air and gestured grandly with it, "Besides they've got more important things to report on . . . like how Money Bags, Quatre R. Winner, is going to buy his Old War Time Buddy, Duo Maxwell a brand spanking new car . . ."
"Enter."
Noin glanced at Zechs before pushing the door open. She glanced over to a small seating area in the Preventers' Commander and Chief's huge office. Mariemaia beamed happily from her wheelchair and resumed her painting; the little seven-year-old commandant of the wars had turned into a beautiful, calm ten-year-old artist . . . very much her father's daughter when it came to attitude. It was like talking to Treize all over again, Zechs had mentioned once. Noin carried on to Une's desk as he paced over to see what the little red headed girl was painting.
"What have you found?" Une smiled as she looked up, folding her reading glasses in her hands. She motioned with a tip of her head, "Please sit down . . ."
Noin swallowed, "It's not . . ." She closed her eyes, and gathered herself once more. "It's not just hysteria."
"It's not." Une posed the question in a statement, silently prompting Noin to continue.
"No . . . it's not just happening on the colonies either . . ."
Une looked up as Zechs joined them, he looked grave as he opened a folder and pulled out a picture. "These pictures were taken on the new moon base, by some scientists investigating some strange readings . . . what they found . . ."
Une took the picture and stared at it.
Mariemaia looked up at the silence, she was used to grave conversations but this . . . she glanced over at her adopted mother. Une's face was devoid of all emotion as she questioned Noin and Zechs further. "When was this taken?"
"Three days ago."
"Where are they now?"
"We've put them in a secure holding, and they are on a shuttle heading to the nearest spaceport right now."
Lady Une nodded, letting the picture slid to her desk. "Greet them, then take them to the medical department, have Sally Po look at them . . . Dismissed."
Noin and Zechs got up, and nodded, leaving quickly.
Mariemaia let her curiosity get the better of her, and wheeled herself over to the main desk. She glanced at Lady Une, who was turned to the window, contemplating.
The little girl stared at the picture . . .
Une turned back to her intercom and slapped it on, "Get the Gundams back! I don't care where they are, call them back here now!"
. . . Five old men, in ratty lab coats stared back.
----------------------------
And Now It's Time to LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: [pops up and waves] Konnichiwa!! I'm back with a new story!! Wheee!!
Heero: [glares] What is this all about?
DrM: didn't you hear Wufei? It's about ghosts and zombies, and stuff. [shakes Heero] demo, ne? the important thing is I'm attempting to stay with cannon!!
All: [horrified gasp]
DrM: [grins manically] I know . . . and everyone who reviewed, thank you!! And Clow'd9 and Caroltrue, hell yeah . . . you're right, it's gonna be a long, long, long, long story . . . I hope you guys are gonna be there at the end!! In fact I hope everyone's gonna be there at the end!! Stick with me please!!!
Heero: [sighs and pulls at unbreakable handcuffs] so, who's going to be your co-hosts for the stupid bits at the end?
DrM: [smiles and looks at all the characters she's nicked and handcuffed with DrM™ Unbreakable Handcuffs.] who knows . . . all I know, is that I'm relying heavily on Episode Zero too, so it might help that you've read that, 'cause I hate describing what non-cannon-in-the-anime people look like . . . I'll try, but it won't be much . . .
Heero: [tugs again at handcuffs, then looks around for duo] are you done yet?
DrM: [hums] hmmmmmmm . . . yeah. [waves and walks off leaving Heero chained to desk, calls back] So, I hope to see you next chapter, please review!! I'm gonna go get popcorn, and hot chocolate, you guys want anything?
[Heero starts to hit head against desk in hopes of knocking self-unconscious]
!!