Part 4 – Data processing error

~AC 197, March 4th, L4-A001, Winner Mansion, 11:54am~

"Thank God they're here!" Iria exclaimed, letting go of the stash of papers she was holding and running to the front door of the mansion as soon as she spotted the sleek black car coming into the property.

When she arrived there, Rashid and Abdul were taking bags out of the trunk, and four young men were waiting to be led inside. Iria unconsciously held her breath. It was one thing to hear her brother talking about his comrades in arms, even if he considered them more like brothers. It was an entirely different thing to actually have the Gundam Pilots standing here in front of her house. Trying to relax, Iria came out of the house and gave them a small smile.

"Hello, I am Iria Winner. I am glad you could come here so fast!"

Trowa looked at Quatre's older sister. The woman was nervous, obviously tired and worried. Duo took charge of the introductions. Heero and Wufei nodded politely to Iria, but Trowa knew he'd get some kind of special treatment. Shifting uneasily, he waited for it to come.

"This is Trowa Barton," Duo said.

"Hi, Trowa," Iria said with a sad smile. "I am really sorry that we had to meet under such sad circumstances. Quatre was always talking about you, and he was really eager for us to meet. I am sure he didn't mean for it to happen that way."

Being reminded of Quatre's absence - that he had quite successfully tried to erase from his mind as long as they were in the shuttle - constricted Trowa's throat so that he could do nothing but nod. Apparently, Iria understood, and her own eyes started to shine with tears that she quickly fought.

"Let's all get inside," she said, turning away a bit too fast. "Rashid and Abdul will put your things in the bedrooms and you can ask them for whatever you need. I was in Quatre's office, trying to get through his papers. I was hoping to find a clue as to where he is."

"Good," Wufei said. "Let's go back there and brief everyone, then we can start organizing our search party."

"We must wait for everyone to be there," Heero said quietly.

Duo blinked.

"Uh, Heero, we're all here already, buddy."

"I called Relena during the flight. She says she's gonna drop by and help."

"Minister Darlian?" Iria asked. "Minister Darlian is coming here?"

"She won't stay long, but she'll do what she can. She's bringing some help."

Heero shot an uneasy look to Trowa.

"Who?" Duo asked.

"Dorothy."

Iria almost jumped at the abrupt change in Trowa's demeanor. His whole body stiffened, his eyes narrowed and gleamed dangerously, glaring at his friend. When he next spoke, his voice was icy-cold.

"Why?"

Heero glared right back at Trowa, refusing to bend.

"Because Dorothy has connections that we don't, and she can ask questions without being too suspicious. We cannot phone around asking for Quatre, and if Iria does it, people will start thinking something is wrong."

"Yuy is right," Wufei cut in. "I… I don't like that woman any more than you do, Barton, but she can help."

"She volunteered to help," Heero said, and glared at Duo to prevent him from adding his two cents about Dorothy not being such a bad girl after all.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Trowa demanded.

"Because if I had told you beforehand, you would never have accepted."

Trowa started when Duo put a hesitant hand on his shoulder.

"Tro, I know she hurt you both, but if she really wants to help… just do it for Cat, man."

"That's a low blow, Duo," Trowa hissed.

"We need her, Trowa," Heero insisted.

For a moment, it looked like Trowa would refuse to compromise. He looked sharply at his comrades, then shrugged.

"Whatever. I just don't want to have anything to do with her."

"You won't even have to talk to her if you don't want to," Heero said helpfully, "but this has to be teamwork if we want to get any results."

"Am I dreaming or did I just hear Heero Yuy say the word 'teamwork'?" Duo asked with wide eyes.

"Quatre taught me that," Heero said dryly, before turning and walking away.

Duly silenced, Duo frowned and started going after him, soon followed by everyone else.

"Mistress Iria, Minister Darlian has arrived."

"Thank you, Rashid!"

Iria all but fled the heavy atmosphere of Quatre's office. The pilots had settled in an uneasy silence, Trowa looking out of the window, Wufei lost in his own thoughts and Duo and Heero sitting at each other's side and exchanging glances every now and then.

'They look so lost,' Iria thought as she made her way to the entrance hall. 'Cat always used to tell me they were a formidable team, and I'm ready to believe that. They don't even have to talk to understand each other, and somehow, they're always observing and aware of their surroundings, but… there's something missing here. Cat is missing here. One piece is missing, and the picture is incomplete. They can't function like a real team if he's not there, and yet they will have to if they want to find him again. He's always the thing that cements them together. He's always been good at rallying people and winning loyalty with a glance and a smile. And they've been through so much together. I'm sure it's like losing a family member for them, even more than it is for us since half of us Winners have never even met Cat face to face.'

As she came into the entrance hall, two young women rose from their seats and came forward. Iria recognized Minister Darlian from her numerous TV appearances. She was wearing a white business suit graced with embroidery and just enough Sanc style in it to mark its origin. Behind her, dressed in a formal yet expensive black dress stood another young woman with very long, light blond hair and curious gray eyes.

"Welcome, Minister Darlian," Iria said, shaking hands with Relena. "I am sorry if this disrupted your schedule or anything…"

"It's Relena," the other woman interrupted gently, "and my schedule will get over it. Quatre is a friend, and I'll do anything in my power to make sure we find him again safe and sound. I was horrified to learn he had disappeared, and I am very glad Heero called. Of course, I am sorry we had to meet for the first time because of such tragic events, but I do hope that once this is over we will have other occasions."

In that moment, Iria knew without a doubt how this seventeen-year-old girl had gotten her position. With such charisma, Relena could make you agree to wear a pink bunny suit to work, and be content with it, even be persuaded that it was your idea in the first place to wear the thing.

"Thank you so much, Minis… Relena. I am so glad Quatre has such good friends."

"I unfortunately won't be able to stay long before my duty calls, Mrs. Winner, but I've brought someone who can help."

The second young woman stepped forward.

"This is my assistant, Miss Dorothy Catalonia," Relena said. "With your permission, she will stay here and use her connections and resources to help you with your research. She also has my private contact numbers for you to keep me updated on the situation."

Turning to Dorothy, the blue eyes suddenly became very serious and commanding.

"I do expect regular updates, and I want to be warned if anything major occurs, is that clear, Dorothy? I don't care about the time, I want to be kept informed."

"Certainly, Miss Relena. I'll make sure of that," Dorothy replied.

"Aren't you the girl Quatre is always writing to?" Iria suddenly said, remembering she had heard the name before. "I think he talks about you quite a lot here."

"I am flattered that you would remember, Mrs. Winner," Dorothy said, inclining her head. "Yes, that would be me. I volunteered to help as soon as I heard something was wrong."

"That's very nice of you considering you have absolutely no obligation towards us, Miss Catalonia."

"I have some towards Quatre, Mrs. Winner," Dorothy said, smiling. "Although I'll be the first to say that our first meeting was less than encouraging in terms of friendship."

"Really?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, Mrs. Winner, the first time I met your brother face to face, I ran him through with a sword."

Iria almost gasped. She remembered the two strange scars that she had seen countless times. Quatre never mentioned them, and Iria had dismissed them as just another war injury, until that rather innocent-looking young woman had claimed to be the cause of it.

'No, not innocent,' Iria corrected herself when she saw the mischievous twinkle in the gray-blue eyes. 'Used to having your way and shocking people around, aren't you, little minx? It's too bad I outsmart you by twenty years, missy. Two can play that game.'

She smiled gracefully to her guest.

"How awesome. That's a strange first meeting. You must absolutely tell me more about it when we have more time. Quatre never mentioned that. That must have been quite a heated reunion."

Dorothy's smile faltered a bit when she didn't get the reaction she expected. Relena was looking at her friend with mild amusement, apparently used to Dorothy's behavior. To Dorothy's credit, she didn't gape or anything of the kind. Iria had to acknowledge that she was in control of herself and her reactions, and also that she was smart enough to concede when she was beaten. A wise move that probably made her a ferocious adversary, and yet, Iria understood what Quatre could have found in that girl that would have made him befriend her.

"Pardon me if I was being bratty, Mrs. Winner," Dorothy said, lowering her head in apology. "A habit I can't seem to outgrow, but Quatre always tells me it is a part of my charming personality."

"I am quite inclined to believe it, Miss Catalonia," Iria answered sweetly. "And I think I know what brought you closer. Why, with all the idiots my brother is forced to put up with every day, it's no wonder he was happy to find a sharp mind like yours to spar with."

Relena cleared her throat, bringing attention back to herself.

"I am sorry, Mrs. Winner, but maybe we should proceed. I am afraid I can only stay for a few hours."

"Of course, Relena. We are all in Quatre's office. Let's go there, and I'll let the pilots brief us all about the situation, then we can decide what to do."

"Just one thing…"

Relena turned to Dorothy, and once again, her eyes were very serious.

"Dorothy, Trowa Barton is here. I know you two do not get along. As such, and notwithstanding the fact that you volunteered to help, I'd like you to be as unobtrusive as possible and to not provoke him in any way. You will have to work in harmony with the pilots to make it work. Please make sure that this hostility remains in check, and do not make anything that could make it worse."

"Yes, Miss Relena. I shall make sure of it. Be reassured, I will stay clear of Mr. Barton if he so wishes. I just want to help."

"I know, Dorothy. Let's go, shall we?"

"That's it," Heero said, finishing his explanation.

He didn't really know why he had ended up with the job of assessing the situation, but he knew he didn't like it. And he knew why. When they were a team during the war, it was Quatre's job. Most people assumed that the Wing pilot had been the leader of their little group, but nothing was further from the truth. Heero had always been a soldier, not a commander. If it had not been for Quatre's sheer determination, neither he nor Wufei would have agreed to work with the other pilots. It was Quatre who could analyze a situation in a matter of seconds and formulate at least three plans that would adequately resolve it. Not him.

"So, if I sum up, Quatre left on February 9th, for an unknown destination, and never reappeared," Relena said pensively.

"Not exactly an unknown destination," Wufei corrected. "We know he was supposed to visit one of his sisters."

"Yes, but which one?" Relena asked.

Expectant gazes turned to Iria.

"I don't know," the older woman said. "I have tried to find a trace, a note, anything, but I was still in hospital when he left, and he was sure he would be gone for three days only. And there's also the fact that I only actually know half of my sisters personally. We've never actually lived together. We were never forbidden to see each other, but the war made communications difficult, and we are of varied ages. We never were all in the same room at once. I know that Quatre intended to organize some kind of family reunion, but he was quite happy with just visiting for the moment."

"That's great," Duo said dejectedly. "So what now?"

"I don't know all of them, but I have all of their contact numbers. I will start calling them and ask if they invited Quatre over lately, and when."

"Good idea," Wufei said. "Yuy, why don't you try to track that shuttle through the Winner database?"

"You can connect your computer here and I'll give you the passwords," Iria said helpfully.

"I'll start looking through the papers," Trowa said quietly.

"I'll help with that," Dorothy cut in.

There was a short, tense silence, but Trowa did not protest, simply ignoring Dorothy.

"If I can have access to his computer, I'll go through his e-mails," Duo offered.

"I don't have the passwords for this," Iria said, pointing at the state-of-the-art computer on Quatre's desk.

"No worries, I'll hack into if I have to," Duo said lightly, dismissing the concern.

"I will set up a secure line with the Preventers and once it is done, you can file a missing person report," Wufei said to Iria. "Lady Une and Sally Po will make sure that it is kept off the official case database and assign us to it."

"Could you get credentials for Dorothy ?" Relena asked. "She may need them."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Wufei answered, "and it would probably be best anyway. What else?"

"Are all of the papers here?" Trowa asked.

"Most of them, yes," Iria said. "He worked from here, as you probably know. He only went into the office when there was a big meeting. I sent some of the Maguanacs to retrieve the rest of the papers from there and bring them here, so that we won't have to go ourselves. I only went through his personal schedule, and I didn't find anything. Apparently, the invitation was an impromptu one, and he didn't write it down."

"I just wondered," Duo said, "how come no one at WEI realized he was missing."

Iria smiled sadly.

"The first thing Quatre did last year when he came back was to make sure that the company could function without him in case he would have to leave for an undetermined amount of time. All he needs to do is give a warning to the staff when he leaves, and then take them off duty when he comes back. He probably gave them the warning before he left, and since he hasn't come back yet, everything is just running the way he planned it to."

"Too bad Cat's so good at planning for all eventualities," Duo groaned, "because for once it's working against us. Well, let's get to work!"

There was a sudden beep from Relena's watch. She looked at it and frowned.

"I am afraid I have to leave sooner than I expected," she said, getting up. " I am sorry about this."

"Please don't be," Iria said with a reassuring smile. "Be certain that I appreciate the fact that you took the time to stop here."

"It's nothing. Well, I shall leave Dorothy with you, then. And if you ever happen to need anything that it is in my power to give, Dorothy and Heero know how to contact me."

After a round of goodbyes and encouragement, Relena left for her next meeting, and everybody else began organizing the search in Quatre's crowded office.

They worked for about an hour before Duo's stomach reminded quite loudly to the whole room that it was well past feeding time. So far, Iria had called ten of her sisters. Since she was trying not to alarm anyone, most of those calls had turned into chatty discussions about their various families, and as a result taking more time than expected. But all of the pilots agreed with Iria : if her sisters happened to learn that Quatre had disappeared, rumors would spread like wild fire. Iria had pretended that she wanted to organize Quatre's visit schedule, and that she needed to tick off of her list all the people he'd already spent time with, so that he didn't end up forgetting someone before the family reunion.

Wufei had been very busy securing his connection, and then filling out the forms that Iria would need to sign. Duo had happily hacked into Quatre's computer and was currently trying to find a way around the voice ID program that gave access to all the important files. Heero was navigating into the Winner database, trying to find any trace of the shuttle.

In the middle of the room, Trowa and Dorothy had been very busy looking over tons of papers while pretending to ignore each other's presence. It looked like Quatre had requested all the latest financial reports to be sent to him. Both Trowa and Dorothy had dismissed the thousands of figure-covered sheets as irrelevant, but sorting them out from the rest was a long and exhausting task. Everyone welcomed the break and the sandwiches.

Dorothy shot a sideways look to Trowa Barton. She knew that he didn't like her, and god knew he had every right not to, but they couldn't keep on ignoring each other. Sooner or later, there was going to be a problem with that, which neither of them could afford to face at the moment.

The blond girl took a deep breath. She could do that. She had never been afraid of the pilots. Fascinated, yes, to an extent they couldn't even imagine, but not scared. And she still wasn't. The situation was just too damn uncomfortable for anyone, including her. And she owed it to Quatre to make sure everyone did their best to find him. She had absolutely no doubt that Trowa would do his very best to find him, but what was needed of him was to accept that she wanted to do it too, and that they had to do it together.

Seeing that Heero and Duo were both engaged in a conversation over the Winner database and that Iria was signing the forms with Wufei's help, she quietly slipped out of the room to follow Trowa.

She found him outside, looking at the gardens and apparently oblivious to her presence, but she knew better. Trowa was not the best infiltrator of the five for nothing.

"What do you want?" the soft voice asked, carefully neutral.

"Just a few minutes of your time, Mr. Barton," Dorothy answered. "I just want you to hear me out. After that, if you don't ever want to speak to me again, rest assured that I will vanish from your sight."

Trowa turned around and crossed his arms on his chest, waiting.

"I know you don't like me, Mr. Barton," Dorothy kept on. "We've never been friends, and we have reasons not to be. But there are a few things that we need to straighten out before they get in the way of our cooperation."

Dorothy turned to face the garden, her features hardening.

"I am going to be brutally honest with you, Mr. Barton. I don't regret stabbing Quatre back then, and I never will. We were soldiers, on opposite sides of a battle. Maybe I provoked our fight for wrong reasons, but the fact remains that he knew he could get hurt or killed, and he wasn't afraid of it. He was compassionate enough not to really hurt me, and believe me there was a time he had me at his mercy during that fight. I was not, and if it happened all over again, I know I would do exactly the same thing. So you see, I am not going to beg for your forgiveness over that, because that is a thing I don't feel guilty of."

Something had lit up in Trowa's eyes, something dangerous and yet, he did not move. Still as a statue, he waited for the girl to get to the point.

"Whether you believe it or not, Mr. Barton, Quatre is my friend. He taught me a great deal in the last year. I had imprisoned myself in a shell of self-hatred and pride, glorifying battle because that was the only thing that made me thrive. I didn't want to be loved, Mr. Barton. I only wanted to be feared and respected. Then Quatre came along."

She laughed, a little crystalline laugh.

"I hated him for a while after Libra, you know? Because he loved me in spite of myself. I did my best to push him away and yet he was always here, just like Relena, by the way. It's incredible how overwhelming those two can be when they're allies on a project. But I digress. What I want to say is, Quatre is my friend. He found my heart and gave it back to me when I was sure I had killed it for good. I still hate him for that, for the record, but I wouldn't give it back for a fortune."

Dorothy turned back to Trowa, who was still unmoving, his face unreadable.

"I want to help, Mr. Barton. I cannot stand aside and watch as the friend who gave me my life back is in danger. What I want to know is if we will be able to put our differences aside long enough to help him."

She stopped talking. There was a long moment of silence, so long that Dorothy almost jumped when he finally spoke.

"It's Trowa."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just call me Trowa. Every time you call me Mr. Barton, I have a sudden urge to look behind me to see who you're talking to."

Dorothy relaxed slightly.

"So…" Trowa kept on. "You're not gonna beg for forgiveness."

"No. First because my pride would never allow it, I frankly admit that. Then… I did some wrongs, both to you and Quatre. I know that you, in particular, paid the price of my foolishness. That I am sorry for. But I am not going to beg. You have a right to be angry with me, and if I was in your place, I would probably feel the same way you do. But…"

She sighed and looked away.

"I think that when you are ready to forgive me, you just will. I am ready to wait for as long as it will take, Trowa. But whatever happens, I won't let past grievances come between us and prevent us from helping Quatre. He will never mean as much to me as he means to you, and I know it. But could we pledge to be unwilling allies, for as long as it takes to make sure he is fine? And after that, if it suits you, we can go back to quietly hating each other."

Again, there was a long silence, and Dorothy had the feeling those green eyes were judging her, as the sharp mind dissected every word she had said to find traces of deception in them. But Dorothy meant everything she had said. She truly liked Quatre, because he was the one person she could have formidable fights with, because he challenged her in every possible way. And Trowa needed Quatre for totally different reasons that she was well aware of. But they needed to work together now, or neither of them would get him back.

Dorothy fought the urge to fidget uneasily as the silence stretched. Trowa sure knew how to unbalance people just by staring blankly at them, and she let out a small sigh of relief when the young man looked away.

"I don't hate you, Dorothy," he finally said.

He turned back to her, face still composed, but less harsh than before.

"But I am not sure I am ready to be your friend either."

"That's not what I am asking for…"

"I know."

Another silence, shorter this time.

"Heero is right. We have to work as a team. I can't let the fact that I don't like you overcome the fact that we need you. And… I owe it to Quatre to let you do your best for him. He deserves it. And you have been honest with me."

"I am glad you see things that way, Trowa. So, can we declare a truce, then?"

Trowa nodded.

"Good. I am happy that we could settle this before it got out of hand."

Trowa did not answer, and Dorothy shrugged before making her way back inside. She was just reaching the French door when once again, Trowa said something very softly, and she wasn't sure she had really heard it.

"Maybe we are too much alike, Dorothy."