Part 5 – File opens in new window

~AC 197, March 4th, L4-A001, Winner Mansion, 9:53pm~

Dorothy frowned as she finished reading a sheet of paper covered in figures.

"Mrs. Winner, did Quatre intend to sell his shares in WEI?" she asked, picking another paper and comparing what it said with what she had already read.

Iria and Trowa were both helping her now, Trowa reading the letters because he didn't understand a thing to financial reports, and Iria and Dorothy trying to figure out if something was wrong in the business.

"I don't think so," Iria answered. "Why?"

"From what I am reading, he put about half of his shares into a trust found and was preparing to either sell or redistribute the rest."

"What? But why?"

"I got things from his lawyers in his e-mail," Duo interrupted. "I don't understand half of it, but the basic version would be 'your instructions have been received, waiting for the signal'."

"Same thing here," Trowa said, giving a letter to Iria. "It looks like he arranged to get rid of part of his shares at the beginning of this month."

Iria read the letter quickly, then looked at her watch.

"It's too late now to call them and ask, and legally they don't have to answer to my questions, but I hope that they will. I really don't understand… I mean, I know he was always complaining that being CEO was eating all of his time and that he wanted to do something more useful, but I had no idea he had taken any action in that sense. Does it say by any chance who is supposed to get those shares, Miss Catalonia?"

"No," Dorothy answered. "He kept enough to have money of his own and the rest has been secured, but there are no names mentioned. The lawyers will probably know."

"I'll call them first thing in the morning then."

She also had nine of her sisters to call back because they weren't at home when she had called, so it wouldn't take much more time. So far, she hadn't obtained anything useful from any of her sisters. None of them had seen Quatre recently.

"I found the shuttle," Heero said from behind his laptop.

He stretched and scratched his head. Duo went to look over his shoulder, peering at the screen.

"It's been tricky," Heero kept on. "I had to hack into the tracking program because someone erased the ID number of the shuttle from your database. Apparently, some people really don't want anyone looking into this."

"I really don't understand," Iria said, shaking her head.

"It's weird," Wufei confirmed. "If Winner took care of his money and his business, then it could indicate that he intended to disappear."

"He would never do that without telling us why," Trowa protested.

"Unless he was doing something dangerous and didn't want us to get hurt," Duo pointed out. "Which would be absolutely stupid, but… I don't know, Wu, something bothers me in that scenario. I don't think Cat would have just gone poof without warning anyone. If he was going to do something dangerous, he'd have made sure at least one of us got a message, even if we got it too late to help. He wouldn't want to make us worry like this."

"I agree," Dorothy said seriously. "He would have made sure that you could find him. It's not like him to go head first into something dangerous without backup, and from what I gathered, not even the Maguanacs know where he went."

"In fact, this is the only element that speaks in favor of a voluntary disappearance, Wufei," Heero said. "The fact that someone took great trouble to erase the existence of the shuttle is… disturbing."

"Can you trace them from here?" Duo asked.

"No."

"Why not? It's not the computer, is it?"

"They had a valid access number."

A deadly silence fell in the office.

"What does it mean exactly, Heero?" Trowa asked in a far too quiet voice.

"It means that whoever did this either has a legitimate access code into the Winner database, or that they had inside help, given the security there is around that computer system. It would take me hours to hack into that stuff, I'd say maybe four hours just to get inside, and if Duo helped me. By myself, I could crack the code in about twelve hours if needed, and that wouldn't give me any immediate access into the programs, just the database itself. Then I'd have to crack into the programs themselves to use them. The persons who did this had an access number. The entry concerning the shuttle was erased on February 15th. It took less than fifteen minutes to whoever it was."

"No," Iria shook her head. "No, that's not possible. I refuse to believe that someone in my family could do anything to Quatre. It can't be true!"

"Who has access to this database, Mrs. Winner?" Dorothy asked as gently as possible.

"Quatre of course, and all of us Winners. Some of my sisters' husbands have a limited access depending on what job they have in WEI. The computer technicians must request access from a family member. In fact, parts of the database are accessible to all Winner employees, but for the restricted areas, only the people I already mentioned," Iria said very low.

She looked around with a lost stare.

"But why would anyone do that? And we don't even know what happened yet! Why would anyone in my family try to cover the fact that Quatre has disappeared? And how can those financial reports fit into that picture? This is crazy!"

"Mrs. Winner?"

Iria jumped when Dorothy put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"You are worried and exhausted," the blond girl said. "Now is not a good time to discuss this. We all need some food and some rest. I think it would be best to wait until tomorrow morning until we try to do anything."

"Yes… you're right," Iria admitted. "Just… Where is the shuttle?"

"On a resource satellite a bit outside of the cluster. The computer is looking for the exact location and will scan the database and pull out everything you have that corresponds with its name. I'll leave it running tonight," Heero said.

"Come on, Mrs. Winner," Dorothy insisted. "I need to inform Miss Relena. Why don't you show me some quiet place where I can make my call? There is nothing else we can do before morning."

"Sure," Iria said weakly.

She clearly couldn't believe what was happening, but Dorothy had apparently taken the duty of keeping her mind otherwise occupied upon herself.

"Agent Chang, maybe you should contact Lady Une," she said with a sarcastic smile as she followed Iria outside.

"I know what I have to do," Wufei snapped irritably, but the door had already slammed behind Dorothy.

"If there's one thing that doesn't change, she still likes being in charge," the Chinese growled. "What is it with that damn woman that she always needs to command everyone around her?"

"Habit," Duo said nonchalantly. "You don't get rid of it that easily, I've been told."

He began chewing on his lower lip, a sure sign that something was wrong. The three others just watched him, waiting for him to voice his worries.

"Guys… Do you really think… that someone's in Cat's family did this?"

Heero got up and gathered Duo in his arms. Both Wufei and Trowa wondered when Heero had started to show his affection in public, but then, they were more family than public, strictly speaking. And that was probably what worried Duo. Of all of them, Quatre was the only one who still had any living blood relatives that he knew of. To Duo, who had lost all of his families and could just now start living again with the one he had built himself with the other pilots, it felt incomprehensible that someone would want to hurt their siblings voluntarily.

"I mean… why would any of them do that? When we all finally got together on Peacemillion, Cat told me about Iria, how he had met her… and how she'd said that all of his sisters were proud of him … Why would one of them do anything to him now?"

"It's a lead, Maxwell, nothing more at that stage," Wufei said slowly. "And… Winner controls about half of the global wealth of the Earth and the Colonies with his companies. People have killed for far less."

Trowa's face blanched when he heard the last sentence, but in the dim light of the office, no one noticed. Wufei got up, went to his computer, and activated the secure line he had set up. According to the time difference between the L4 colony cluster and Earth, there was a good chance that Une would still be in her office, waiting for a report.

"Une speaking."

"Agent Chang reporting," Wufei said as his fellow pilots placed themselves within filming range of the vidphone.

"Any news?"

"We haven't found him yet, but Agent Yuy traced the shuttle. We're waiting until tomorrow morning to find out more about that. Also, some weird things showed up in the financial reports. It looks like Winner was trying to leave his position as WEI's CEO to someone else."

Une's head snapped up from the notes she was taking, a light of understanding in her eyes.

"So that's why…"

She frowned.

"I'm sorry, but are you sure about that?"

"Iria Winner and Miss Catalonia checked themselves, since they're the only ones to understand that kind of things."

"I see. I just spent the afternoon reviewing my own files to see if I could find anything that would help. Winner booked an appointment with me. He was supposed to meet me two days from now. He didn't mention the exact reason for the meeting just that, I quote, 'he would have cleared matters and would be ready to involve himself further in maintaining the peace'."

"He wanted to become a full time agent," Duo whispered, eyes wide. "That's why he was getting rid of his shares. He wanted to leave WEI to join Preventer permanently."

"I suppose so. Winner was, up until now, a NOC operative like Yuy, Barton and yourself, Maxwell. Your covers are very effective because they are real. I think he wanted to move into the field for good. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't mention this to any of you."

"He did," Trowa said in his usual quiet tones.

Everyone, including Lady Une, looked at him.

"He mentioned it several times since the beginning of the year," Trowa explained, "but I didn't know he was that serious about it. And he complained a lot about his workload at WEI. If I remember correctly, he wasn't called in a lot, be it last year or since the Barton Incursion. Just when no one else was available or you couldn't do the operations without him."

"That's correct," Lady Une acquiesced. "I knew he couldn't leave at a moment's notice like the rest of you, and we all know that without WEI, half of the world population would be jobless. He was more needed there."

"He obviously didn't agree with that," Duo said. "And you know, I know he's the only boy and all, but do any of you know why he was the heir of everything and not, I don't know, Iria, since she's the oldest? Or why the company wasn't divided equally between them?"

"It is," Trowa said. "They all have an equal share, except for Quatre who has the biggest one, which makes him a de facto CEO. I don't think even he knew why his father's will was written that way. He always used to say that any of his sisters would rule the business as well as he did, and that they had more experience."

There was a short silence, before Une started speaking again.

"I sent Sally Po to join you."

No one asked why, even if the dark implications of that statement were hanging in the air. Quatre had not contacted anyone in three weeks, and everything they had found proved that he had not planned his own disappearance. Which could only mean that he was physically unable to contact anyone, either because he was detained or too hurt to do it. None of the boys even considered that he could be dead, because the look on Trowa's face clearly said that he would believe that when he would see a body and not before.

Sally was the only doctor they trusted. She had been on their side at the end of the war, and for most of them, the only doctor to have examined them apart from their trainers. She knew that their metabolism had been tampered with, what kind of drugs actually had an effect on them and what kind should absolutely not be used, a fact that a lot of OZ interrogators had learnt at the cost of great pains. Also, she was a Preventer, which meant she was the only one to have access to their medical records.

Wufei only answered with a neutral "Good", before they ended the communication and went to their respective bedrooms to at least pretend to sleep.

~AC 197, March 5th, L4 – B289, Fatimah Psychiatric Clinic, 10:23am~

Dr Hewley gave a last look to the diagrams and charts that Dr Carter had made since his patient had arrived. The young doctor had left Quatre Winner's file at his boss's office so that she could familiarize herself with part of the information. And Dr Hewley was still wondering why this patient was alive at all. Dr Carter had recorded up to ninety-three percent of brain activity in a conscious state, the highest score she had ever heard of. And that score never lowered below fifty percent, even when the patient was asleep. If only she could know more about how he had been trained… she quickly banished those thoughts from her mind. Quatre Winner needed her help right now, and then it would be up to his family to decide whether they wanted to support her program or not.

She made her way to the isolation unit. One of the nurses, Shannon, if she remembered well, was talking to Dr Carter near the door, holding a chart and smiling brightly. As soon as he saw Dr Hewley, Dr Carter dismissed the nurse and went to her.

"Quatre has fallen asleep, Dr Hewley," he said, a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry, but I feel it's better not to wake him up. He's gotten far less sleep than any normal human being needs since he arrived there. If it's not an inconvenience, maybe we could just share our views on his file, and Shannon will warn us if he wakes up. If he doesn't, you can always look at him through the mirror and we'll schedule another visit, but…"

"I understand perfectly, Dr Carter," Elisabeth said with a smile. "You are really dedicated to this patient. I admire that in someone as young as you."

"Whatever happened to him, he did not deserve it," Carter said indignantly. "I want to help him. Come, doctor, my office is this way."

Shannon made her usual round to isolation suite number seven, but she didn't come in. Quatre was curled up on the sofa in the living area, right where he had unexpectedly fallen asleep sooner this morning, and she didn't want to disturb him. That's why she didn't notice the rapid movements of the eyes behind the closed eyelids, nor the rising pulse, nor the cold sweat that began to cover Quatre's skin.

He was dreaming again. He did not really know how he knew he was dreaming, it just… it felt more like his mind, his memories, his feelings when he was asleep. Until they would appear and talk to him.

He knew all of them, he knew they were important, or had been important in his life. But to find their names again would have been too much of an effort for a mind overwhelmed with hundreds of alien emotions, it would have caused too much pain. But not to remember was almost worse.

There was a man with a moustache. He always looked furious, and every time he talked to him, he would say mean things.

/you disobeyed me, quatre. you didn't think about your family. you are a bad son, a shame to your name./

Quatre didn't know if the man had actually told him those things, or if he was imagining it all, but it felt so true it hurt.

A woman with white blond hair just like his, and his eyes. He was sure he had never met her. She never spoke, she just looked at him sadly. This sadness was almost unbearable for Quatre, because he was sure that somehow he was the cause of it.

Young men, four of them. One with black hair and eyes, who looked at him with contempt.

/weak people shouldn't fight! those who are right must be strong! are you strong? are you right?/

This one scared Quatre a bit, and yet all he felt when that young man spoke to him was an immense self-hatred coming from the familiar stranger, a self-loathing so deep it was a mystery that young man could stand it when it suffocated Quatre, even in his dreams.

Another one, with a long braid and strange eyes. This one didn't talk, and made Quatre uneasy because he was sure, he did not know how, that this one should have talked a lot. His eyes told so much. But sometimes, they would just turn very cold, and look at him without any pity, and in those moments, even if it was a dream, Quatre would pray that this young man would show mercy and kill him to end his torment, and he knew that if he asked, the young man would do it. But every time he tried, the strange eyes misted, and the boy gave a sad smile and disappeared.

The third one, with a shock of messy brown hair and steely blue eyes. He was very scary too, because Quatre could feel him like a whirlwind locked behind metal walls, waiting to explode. He was so cold, and his gaze looked right through Quatre. There was only one thing he said when he spoke at all.

/i'm going to kill you, quatre./

And the last one… this one really hurt. He had green eyes, and his hair fell on his face hiding half of it. Sometimes, he wore a strange mask. Sometimes, just normal clothes. He didn't talk either, and Quatre didn't know why it was so painful, that this one didn't talk. He would just look at Quatre with those impossibly green eyes, sending out a wave of despair, confusion, sorrow and… love. But the love was buried under the rest, and it hurt almost more than these others feelings that Quatre had grown accustomed to since… he didn't remember since when. He knew he hadn't spent all of his life here, but he couldn't remember what he had done before. Or more exactly, he saw things, but he couldn't believe it was him in those pictures, killing so many people… so much blood on his hands.

When the green-eyed boy appeared again this time, looking sadly at him, Quatre couldn't help but reach out to him. The sadness he saw there echoed his own… or was it really his own sadness? He didn't know anymore, he was feeling so much that he was slowly losing the taste, the particular feeling of his own emotions, but somehow, those of the four boys were strong, they didn't waver, they always had the same color and taste. Which explained the fact that Quatre liked them a lot more than the others, even if they scared him. Because they were the only stable thing in his mind. If only he remembered who they were.

Quatre reached out blindly to the green-eyed boy, his dream-lips forming the words that echoed in his mind.

/help me… please/

Quatre began to shiver violently, fighting the scream that he wanted to let out.

A soft buzz interrupted Dr Carter, and the young man pressed the com unit on his desk.

"Yes?"

"He's awake, Dr Carter," Shannon's voice said. "If you could just wait about ten minutes to go down, I think he had another bad dream, so I sent him to the bathroom to clean up and change."

"We'll be there. Thank you, Shannon."

Carter turned again to Dr Hewley.

"Do we have any leads to contact his family?"

"Ruby is working on it. I cleared her of her other duties until she's found someone to call. And once we're done down there, you will come with me and we'll try to scan medical databases together and see if we find a match."

"Good."

Ten minutes later exactly, Dr Hewley was examining the strange patient through the mirror. His very light hair was still damp from his shower, and he was sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead, and not paying any attention to Shannon, who was apparently trying to explain that someone was coming to visit him. Then, almost abruptly, Quatre turned his head to the mirror and looked straight in Dr Hewley's eyes. Of course, she knew he couldn't see her through it, but she jumped nonetheless. At the best of time, limited empathic abilities were disturbing, but this young man had probably felt her coming for a long time.

"I know I don't have to tell you this," Carter said, "but try to shield yourself as much as possible. You won't be able to shield everything, but stay calm and collected. Every strong surge of emotions will be felt, and it hurts him quite a lot most of the time."

"I understand," the director agreed. "Is it okay if I examine him myself?"

"Go ahead. Just talk to him. Make sure to explain what you are doing, or he could react badly."

Dr Carter slid a magnetic card in a pad and the door opened with a hiss. Elisabeth immediately saw him plaster a smile on his face.

"Hello, Quatre. I hope you slept alright. It's nice to see you manage to get some sleep, even if it's in the day. Shannon told me you had a bad dream. You know where I am if you wanna talk, right?"

The green-blue eyes were lost in the general direction of Carter, but not really seeing. Elisabeth shivered. She could almost see the brain working, analyzing, dissecting every fragment of feeling the patient received. Then, the empty eyes turned to her, and became more focused and defiant. Quatre curled up on the sofa, looking ready to bolt, even if the door had closed behind them.

"Quatre," Carter continued, "This is Elisabeth. She is our new director, and I think she can probably help you get better. She's also trying to contact your family so we can get you home, if it's possible. Elisabeth, please meet Quatre."

"Hello, Quatre", Elisabeth said, stepping forward and taking deep breaths to calm her nervousness. The empath would probably feel it and become just as stressed as she was, and it wouldn't be good.

"Quatre, I will need to examine you a bit, if that doesn't bother you. Just listen to your heart, watch your eyes, that kind of stuff, if it's okay with you."

"You can come closer, doctor," Shannon said with a smile. "As long as you talk and explain everything you do, there won't be a problem."

"Right. Quatre, I'm going to listen to your heart first," she said, taking her stethoscope. "I'm sorry, it may be a bit cold, I'll try to warm it up," she added with a little smile, rubbing the metal before applying it on his chest.

Quatre jumped slightly, but didn't jerk away. His eyes were almost curious now, asking hundreds of questions. In fact, he even looked up to Shannon, as if wanting her to confirm it was okay for someone to do this. The nurse smiled kindly.

"It's okay, Quatre," she cooed. "Don't worry, Dr Hewley is here to help you, she won't hurt you."

Quatre frowned, as if he couldn't grasp the concept of someone not hurting him, and then he began staring in the void again. Elisabeth worked on listening to his pulse, while at the same time trying not to let out her nervousness. Quatre looked calm, but he wasn't. His pulse was high and a bit erratic, and his breathing just a bit too rapid, sure indications that he was not comfortable. Probably the mix of what he had felt during the nightmare added to the stress of meeting a stranger. Elisabeth hurried up. She wanted to get out of here.

"Okay, Quatre, that was good," she said straightening up. "Now, if I can just have a look at your eyes. I am just going to use this little light. It may be uncomfortable, but it won't hurt."

Quatre didn't make a move until Dr Hewley lit the lamp. She hadn't paid attention to the fact that it was already directed at his face. Before she knew it, Quatre's right hand had flown and struck her wrist, making her drop the lamp that broke on the floor. She took two steps back, holding her abused hand, eyes wide with shock. Carter led her to the door, and she didn't resist.

"Shannon, please calm him down," he said just before going out.

Quatre was rocking back and forth, eyes wide and darting around, as if making sure the flashing light was gone.

"I'm sorry," Dr Hewley stammered. "I…"

"It's okay, doctor," Carter said kindly. "I told you he could have unexpected reactions. Most of the time, those unexpected reactions tell us more than the rest. Having lights flashed in his eyes is probably linked to some traumatic experience, and you couldn't know."

"Still, I… I feel ashamed to say it, but I really wanted to get out of here the soonest possible. He must have felt it."

"Probably, but he was just as nervous as you to begin with. He is wary of strangers. It took him two weeks to get used to Shannon, Moira and myself. And every now and then, he surprises us. Not always like this, though. Yesterday, he caught Shannon as she was about to fall and hurt herself. Shannon told me he caught her just in time, and she could have killed herself if he hadn't."

Dr Carter's pride was evident in his voice.

"He needs help," Dr Hewley admitted. "And I don't think our facility can give him the kind of help he needs. I know that some rooms can be built to help isolate an empath, but this facility doesn't have one and it would take ages just to have the consent to build one. He can't stay here much longer. His brain won't take it."

"I thought so," Carter said. "We have to find his family, the people who trained him."

"They're probably the only ones who can help him now," Dr Hewley admitted dejectedly. "I'll ask Ruby to intensify her search. Now, come, let's scan those databases. Maybe we'll find something useful."

Five minutes later found them both sitting in front of Elisabeth's computer. They decided to start with the Preventer database, because it had collected all of the remnants of OZ and Romefeller database that hadn't been destroyed. Elisabeth entered her access code and did a search by name. She was very surprised to find an immediate match.

File GP #04: Quatre Raberba Winner.

"How come his name shows up there? Does he have any ties with the Preventer organization?" she asked.

"If I remember well, WEI founded the organization and still donates money for its functioning. That's all I know about."

Dr Hewley shrugged and clicked on the link.

And all hell broke loose. Her computer screen suddenly went black with a red 'access denied' flashing in the middle. A nice female voice came out of the speakers of the computer.

"You have tried to access classified information. Your computer's ID number has been recorded. Your location has been recorded. Trying to access unauthorized files is a federal crime. You are now under investigation by Preventer."

Both Carter and Elisabeth looked at the screen with wide eyes as the message was repeated again and again. This didn't make any sense. Eventually, Elisabeth said the only thing that matched the situation.

"Ooops?"