~AC 197, March 6th, L4 – B289, Fatimah Psychiatric Clinic, 9:47pm~
Jay Maleda shifted uncomfortably, hiding behind one of the ornamental bushes scattered around the high walls that encircled the clinic. His wrist was held in a sling and was itching, but that was the least of his worries at the moment, as he was spying on the medical facility with night-vision goggles. No, at the moment, the only thing that mattered to him was that he was still alive to feel his wrist hurt and itch. Because his boss was a psycho, and he had not taken the fact that Jay had managed to get fired well.
/Jay Maleda stumbled and fell heavily on the floor, crying out as his injured wrist hit the metallic tiles.
"You incompetent moron!" The man towering over him yelled. "Your job was easy, wasn't it? All you had to do was keep an eye out and tell me when someone would come take Quatre out of the clinic! And you manage to get yourself fired just because you wanted to molest my brother-in-law!"
The dark-haired man made a disgusted sound, but then smiled evilly.
"I personally don't give a shit about what you could have done to him, but you got caught, hurt, and kicked out of that job that we got you so that you could inform us! Just tell me what I am supposed to do with you now! You are of no use to me, if you cannot tell me what is happening there!"
He pulled a gun and pointed it straight at Maleda, who whimpered and shied away, backing until he met the wall.
"Please, Boss, I can still do my job! I'll just have to be more careful and watch from the outside!"
The man grimaced when he heard the whining voice, but he nodded.
"Alright, I'll keep around a little longer, Maleda. You will watch the clinic and warn us as soon as someone comes to check him out. If nothing happens in the next two weeks, we'll send an anonymous message. Our hands are tied until he is found and certified too unstable to manage the company."
He lowered his gun, and Maleda breathed more freely. Not for long.
"I will not tolerate another mistake, Maleda. Remember it."
Maleda nodded fearfully and began to stand up, when a young woman with blond hair and light blue eyes suddenly barreled into the room and threw herself in the man's arms.
"Selim!" she chirped happily. "Why are you leaving me all alone? I am scared when I am all alone, the bad voices say mean things to me."
"Neelah, I told you to stay in the other room," the man boomed, and woman recoiled, her eyes starting to water.
"But Selim… You promised! You promised I would get to punish the naughty boy again!" she pouted.
The man rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I promised and I will keep my word. But he's not here now. Once it's all over and we are rich, you can punish the naughty boy again, just like you did before. It was fun, wasn't it, Neelah?"
She looked at him with adoration in her eyes.
"Oooh, yes, it was fun! How he was begging me not to do it, and how he cried! But he deserved it, right, Selim? He deserved it. He's been such a bad boy, such a bad son to Father. It had to be done."
"Yes, Neelah, and you should be proud to have been the one to have done it. Your whole family will thank you, and soon we will be rich beyond what we can dream of. Just the way your father would have wanted it."
"Father…" the woman said dreamily. "I will be the pride of my family. The naughty boy shamed Father and I punished him. I did, all by myself. I did!"
She repeated those words in a crazy happy tone, dancing around the room, until the man lost his patience and caught her.
"Now go back to the other room, Neelah. I'll be there soon."
"You promise?"
"I promise. And you can tell me again how much you enjoyed punishing the naughty boy."
"Oh goodie!"
And she was gone. Jay Maleda shivered during the whole exchange. He did not know his employer's family name, but he knew the woman was a Winner. And that she was far from being sane.
"Get to work!" The man barked. "And don't disappoint me this time, or I'll make sure it will be the last thing you do."/
Jay shifted again. He was starting to get cold, and he also knew his boss wouldn't like the news he would report soon. Iria Winner had come here sooner in the morning, and come out only three hours before. She had probably checked her brother out, which was good. But what was less good was that she had been escorted by Preventer agents. It appeared, after some research, that the agents were here to explore a possible case of trying to access forbidden files, but the fact remained that they had come in exactly at the same time than Iria Winner.
Jay knew that his boss's plan could still go wrong. For him to get the money, Quatre's irresponsibility would have to be assessed by a team of physicians, and then, there would probably be some legal formalities for the money to be redistributed. But it had taken longer than expected for Quatre to be found, and WEI had not shown any sign of running any less smoothly during his absence, which in itself was suspicious.
Jay's boss was nervous, and Jay would have been too if he had had the crazy woman with him all the time. The plan had been well thought-out and perfectly executed. Yes, Quatre should have been found sooner. Actually, in the original plan, the money should already have been distributed and Jay should have been far away enjoying his own money. The delay had made everyone nervous, and somehow, Jay knew that Preventers coming into the game would make his boss even more nervous, and that wasn't something he wanted to witness.
He was scared. Because after being beaten up by Quatre, he wasn't so sure that his boss had chosen the right target. Which meant he would go down too if anything went wrong, and things were beginning to look like they would go wrong, but he couldn't leave now. The only way he could leave now was to die.
Jay began to pray that someone, anyone, would help him get out of this mess.
Fifteen minutes later, two black cars and a white van parked in front of the clinic, and the Preventer agents got out, escorting Iria Winner inside while one of them, a young woman with very long blond hair, stayed behind. About ten minutes later, they went out of the clinic again, framing a stretcher on which Quatre Winner was secured, apparently heavily sedated. They were followed by a tall woman also in a Preventer uniform, Dr. Carter and one of the isolation ward nurses, both of them carrying bags.
'They're definitely here for him. That story about checking a possible breach of confidentiality is crap. Shit. Boss ain't gonna like it. Why is Preventer in on this? What the hell is going on here? What did I put myself into?'
He kept on watching through his night-vision goggles as two of the agents pushed the stretcher inside the van, and Iria Winner and the woman in uniform climbed in the back, while the guy with a bizarre haircut got behind the wheel. The Chinese and the one with the braid were getting to the first car with Carter, and the last one, the blond girl and the nurse were taking the second one.
Jay almost wet his pants when that weird kid with intense blue eyes suddenly looked up and directly at the place he was hidden in.
'He can't see me,' he reminded himself. 'I'm behind some bushes, he can't possibly see me! So why's he looking here? Oh God help me!'
The blue-eyed kid looked at the one with the braid, and both of them took out guns from waist holsters. The Chinese pushed Carter in the first car and took out his own gun, but kept it trained on the ground. The blond girl had made the nurse climb into the second car and was behind the wheel.
He didn't see them speaking, just looking at each other, and the blue-eyed kid's hand suddenly made a series of strange signals. The Chinese nodded and indicated the bushes he was in with a jerk of his chin. The boy with the braid and the blue-eyed one pointed their weapons at the bushes and began to slowly advance, the Chinese watching their back.
Jay had never run that fast in his entire life, but he ran for dear life.
'No matter what the boss says, it's not worth getting killed for that!'
Things happened pretty quickly. Carter didn't dare ask what had happened in front of the clinic. He had kind of understood that no one would answer his questions. Yuy and Maxwell had scanned the area in front of the gate, and come back with a scowl on their faces. They had driven to the spaceport at a speed that had almost made Carter throw up and had transferred Quatre from the van to the shuttle in the record time of two minutes and forty-five seconds.
Yuy and Maxwell were in the cockpit now, having been appointed pilots for the journey back. Everyone else had assembled in the main compartment. The stretcher had been securely attached to the floor, and Sally Po was busy injecting another dose of sedative into Quatre's IV line. Iria Winner was sitting in one of the big leather chairs, her eyes closed in exhaustion. Trowa Barton had moved a seat to sit down near Quatre, holding one of the pale hands in his. Chang Wufei was busy typing on a laptop. Dorothy Catalonia had helped Shannon get comfortable, and the nurse was sleeping, which was just as well. Dorothy was now standing near the door that led into the cockpit, arms crossed on her chest, a defensive expression on her face.
For a moment it seemed almost sacrilegious to break the silence, and when Carter finally raised his voice it sounded horribly loud to his own ears.
"What happened?"
Chang stopped typing and shot him a look that could be interpreted as suspicious, but he finally answered.
"We were being watched. Somebody was on surveillance duty, waiting for Winner to be checked out of the clinic."
"I didn't see anyone," Carter said, frowning and confused.
Chang snorted.
"Not really surprising. Even I didn't feel anything was wrong until Yuy told us there was someone."
"I don't like it," Iria Winner said, eyes still closed. "It means that whoever did this to Quatre was waiting for someone to come and get him. This looks more and more like… like someone in the family did this. Why would anyone want to be sure that he would be found, preferably in the kind of institution that can create doubts on his mental health and as such trigger the redistribution of his shares?"
"They wanted someone to find him," Dorothy said through gritted teeth. "Whoever they are, they are organized. I am only surprised that they didn't have an inside informant."
"They may have had one that we don't know of," Sally said quietly, checking Quatre's vitals. "He's alright," she added. "He should sleep without a problem until we're back. I'll keep him monitored as a precaution."
Dorothy suddenly walked to Wufei and began to unfasten her badge, holding it out to the young man.
"I will be going back to Miss Relena as soon as we land," she said. "She needs to be informed, and I want to do it face to face, and not on a connection that can be hacked into. I do not think I will need this anymore, but thank you for having taken the trouble to get this for me."
Wufei looked stupefied for a moment, then a microscopic smile appeared on his face.
"Keep it," he said. "This inquiry is not finished, Agent Catalonia. Colonel Une has not relieved you of your duties. In fact, she has a special mission for you," he added, pointing at his laptop.
Dorothy raised an eyebrow. Wufei just kept on talking.
"As of now, you are in charge of the PR aspects of the inquiry. You will deal with the media if anything happens to get in the press. You are allowed to accomplish your mission from your usual post as Miss Darlian's assistant since a prolonged absence would be noticed. But you must stay in contact with me, Agent Catalonia. I will send you instructions, and I await regular reports."
"What does this mean exactly?" Dorothy asked, a feral grin appearing on her face.
"It means you can annoy the reporters and tell them to go to hell once they start asking questions about where Quatre is", Sally said nonchalantly. "Before telling them our version of the story and dismissing any kind of rumors about a mental ward. All in that charming manner of yours, you know how to do it perfectly well."
Wufei blinked several times in Sally's general direction before regaining composure.
"What she said. You will also stay in contact with Dr. Hewley. She will refer to you if any questions happen to be directed at her facility, and you will be in charge of her press releases. I am afraid you are stuck with us for quite some time, Agent Catalonia."
"The pleasure's mine," Dorothy answered with a full smirk on her lips. "Chewing out reporters is my favorite sport, and Miss Relena holds her own at that game too. I am glad to be able to still be of assistance. I will not fail you."
"I know," Wufei said shortly.
Dorothy nodded to him, and with a last look to Quatre she disappeared into the cockpit.
Trowa spoke for the first time. His hands were still holding one of Quatre's, his thumbs slowly caressing some crisscrossing red scars on the wrist, and his eyes didn't leave the pale face.
"What is going to happen now?"
Iria opened her eyes and looked at Sally. The Preventer doctor sighed.
"I think it may be best to explain now, Iria," she said in a resigned tone.
Iria sighed deeply too and straightened in her chair. Trowa was looking at her expectantly, still not letting go of Quatre's hand, and even Wufei had stopped typing.
"Alright," she said. "I will do my best and try to explain simply. As I told you, I have no idea what happened to Quatre, but given his symptoms, I know what state he is in now."
She paused, trying to find the best words.
"You know that New Types are human beings that use more of their brain capacities than the average human being, right?"
Both Trowa and Wufei nodded. Carter was listening with rapt attention, committing every word to memory.
"Quatre is a full New Type. If his power is not under control, he can use up to more than ninety percent of his brain capacity just to feel other people's emotions. That's where shields come into play. An empath has to shield, because feeling alien emotions all of the time will drive him insane. But his shields must not be too strong. The power must be able to express itself, because trying to block it can be as damaging as not blocking it at all. Please stop me if you don't understand, but that's just the way it is. Quatre's brain is… formatted to feel emotions that come from other people, which means denying this is like amputating a part of him. His shields are strong enough that he can block most people out, but he is always connected to some people. Probably you four, most of the time. He can, if necessary, block everyone out for a short period of time. And a very stressful or emotional situation can lower his resistance and his shields."
Another pause, as she waited for the two young men to assimilate the information she was dumping on them. She just hoped they would understand enough to repeat this to Heero and Duo, because she didn't want to have to do it again.
"We don't know what happened, but it looks like his shields were shattered, which means he was unable to control his power and it took over. But… well, most empaths have some kind of defense mechanisms designed by the brain itself. Right now, most of Quatre's brain capacity is used to feel other people, and analyze those feelings, leaving no place for his own emotions or memories to get through. That part of him, what makes his personality, is safely locked away in a part of his brain he doesn't have access to right now, because it is too busy with the power."
"What does it mean exactly?" Wufei asked. "I mean, he didn't look like he remembered us when we came in, and yet…"
"This is going to be pretty confusing for a while," Iria admitted. "When we get at the house, we must isolate him in his room. It's specially made. I'll explain that later if you don't mind. All you need to know is that in this room, Quatre cannot feel anyone apart from himself as long as he is alone."
"We can't leave him alone," Trowa protested.
"We won't," Iria said. "What I mean is that being in that room, and in contact with very few people, will force the power to go down. Because there won't be enough feelings around for it to process, it is going to lower. As it lowers, memories and emotions that belong to him will slowly come back, but he is probably going to be disoriented for quite some time until all the memories are back. That's where we need you with him."
Wufei frowned, and Iria smiled.
"You know that when you feel something, your brain sends chemical signals to your body. It's the same for an empath, except that the signals sent to the body do not always come from the empath's own emotions, they can come from someone else. That's why this power is dangerous. Quatre has been subjected to alien feelings for three weeks, without any kind of shields. Being in isolation probably helped to dampen it a bit, but his body has reacted to thousands of signals that were coming from people who are unstable or mentally ill. I think this is what made the most damage. He's too thin, and dehydrated."
"How can we help?" Trowa asked very quietly, his voice strained.
Carter could have sworn the young man was doing his best not to cry, and he was not far from the truth.
"His mind and body are both exhausted. Sally can help his body recover, but the process to heal his mind is going to be slower. First he needs enough isolation for the memories to come back. They will not all come back in order, and you have to be ready to help him organize his memories. Then… the body has its own memory. He may not remember your faces, or your names right now, but his body will remember your touch. He will need contact, and you must keep your own feelings in check and project as much affection and calmness as you can every time you're in contact with him. I know this is not going to be easy, but I know you can do that for him."
"How long will it be?" Wufei asked.
"I don't know," Iria admitted. "A few weeks, a few months... Memories should come back pretty quickly, and as soon as he is fit, I will help him rebuild his shields. But… this is going to be painful, for him, but also for us. We have to be here for him."
Trowa didn't answer, he just squeezed the small hand in his. Quatre wiggled a bit on his stretcher and sighed in his sleep, his own fingers curling around the warm hand that held him. Iria leant back in her chair, watching her little brother's lover thoughtfully.
'He's beating himself because he wasn't there. They all are, for that matter, but Trowa… he must feel like he betrayed Quatre, in a way, and God knows I can't blame him for that. I will need to have a serious talk with him once we're back. I must say I want to know why he left, even if I kind of have an idea. They are so young to be confronted with that much trouble, but… he loves Quatre, that much is obvious. He would do anything to protect him, and he feels like he failed. Yes, I definitely need to have a conversation with Trowa. Because he is the first one Quatre will turn to when he gets his memories back, and they will have a lot of things to talk about. And I am not going to watch them break their own hearts. Oh no, I'm not.'
And with that last thought, she turned to sleep.
"Hey, Dot, how's it hangin' back there?" Duo asked Dorothy as the door of the cockpit shut in a hiss behind her.
"As well as can be expected," Dorothy answered before pressing a button.
Iria's voice suddenly filled the little cockpit, since Dorothy had activated the various microphones that allowed the pilots to listen to the conversations carried out in the cabin. Heero shot her a questioning look but she just shook her head, gesturing for him to stay silent. Both boys turned back to the task at hand, namely piloting the shuttle, but they didn't miss one word of Iria's explanation. Once it was over, Dorothy just pushed the button again, silencing the speakers and sighed, from relief and from exhaustion.
"Tro really doesn't sound okay," Duo muttered. "But if Iria says he's gonna be alright…"
"It is just going to take some time, from what I gathered," Dorothy said, slumping gracelessly into the empty chair next to Duo and running an impatient hand through her long hair.
"Are you okay, Dotty?" Duo asked with concern.
In spite of herself, Dorothy couldn't help but smile when she heard the affectionate nickname. Duo had taken the habit of renaming all of them with what he termed were correct, adapted names.
Heero had been fortunate enough to retain his own name, but maybe it was only because it wasn't really his to begin with, and Duo always reverted to tender pet names when he was more or less alone with his lover, and Heero had never objected. Dorothy couldn't help thinking that anyone else calling Heero 'babe' would have been dead in a second, but it was amazing how much Duo could get away with.
Trowa and Wufei had seen their name shortened to the first syllable, and usually expanded again with some amusing or affectionate nick. Dorothy would never forget the look on Wufei's face when Duo had called him 'Wu-bear' in the middle of Headquarters.
As far as she remembered, Duo had always called Quatre 'Cat'. But what was just a friendly shortening of his name in Duo's mouth had become a tender way of expressing affection from Trowa. Dorothy remembered very well the way Quatre's eyes would lighten up every time Trowa called him that. She herself didn't do it, and neither did Heero nor Wufei, but Dorothy knew that some of his sisters had been calling him that before he left to fight, and that he had been comforted, in some way, to get his old nickname back when he met Duo. Duo had no idea of how strong a sense of familiarity and security he had given to Quatre just by calling him that, especially at a time when he believed his whole family wanted nothing more than to break ties with him.
Relena was either 'Gorgeous' or plain simply 'Rel'. And she had become 'Dot', or 'Dotty'. No one had ever called her that before. No one, not even her parents, had ever addressed her in any other way but her full name, and no one had ever tried before to catch her attention in a room full of people by yelling 'Hey Lovely, where've you been lately?'. Dorothy wasn't sure Duo knew how much she loved that he called her that, but she had suspicions he did.
She sighed before answering.
"I am alright," she said.
"Why didn't you stay back there?"
"I thought Trowa would be more comfortable speaking if I wasn't in the room," she said stiffly.
She still felt uncomfortable under the green gaze, and in spite of the uneasy truce they had reached, she knew she made him uncomfortable too. They didn't know how to act in front of each other, the only thing tying them together being the one person they had in common and who had saved their lives without even really knowing that he was doing so.
"He doesn't hate you, Dot," Duo said quietly.
"Even if he did, I don't care," she snapped.
"Of course you care," he countered, voice still steady. "Don't throw that bullshit at me. Honest, between Tro, Heero and you, it's a wonder Rel, Cat and I managed to do something! What's with the tough act? Can't you just pretend that you are angry, scared and need help and support?"
"I know I need support, Duo," Dorothy said wearily. "But neither you nor any of the others will give it to me, and I know it is not because you don't want to. Quatre just needs you more right now. I can live with that. And…"
"You've got Rel if anything's just too much on your shoulders," he finished for her. "Y'know, she told me you were a real piece of work the first time she saw you in her school, but you girls are good for each other. Not in that way", he added when he saw Dorothy blush. "Oh well, even in that way if you want to, none of my business, after all!"
"I'll have you know, Mr. Maxwell, that I do not mix my professional life with my personal one," Dorothy said haughtily.
"Your loss," Duo shot back with a grin. "But honestly, Dot… if you ever need to talk, or just work some steam off, you know where to find us, right?"
"Thank you, Duo," Dorothy answered, really touched by the offer.
"Anytime."
He glanced at her.
"It's hard to have friends, isn't it?" he inquired.
"Yes," she said in a laugh. "I'm not used to it."
"You're not the only one."
"I heard that," Heero growled.
"You were supposed to," Duo said, sticking his tongue out to him. "Hey, Dot, why don't you just go to sleep? You can stay here if you want, just don't snore."
"Do I look like the snoring kind of person?" Dorothy asked in mock-indignation.
"No, but neither does Heero."
"You snore too," Heero said evenly, eyes not leaving his controls.
"I do not. I purr. Very different."
"Oh. My mistake. Cats must be snoring, then."
Dorothy's gaze went from Heero's wry little smile to Duo's gaping mouth. She snorted. It was not every day that one got to see Duo Maxwell beaten at one of his little games, but Heero was very good at it. She winked at Duo and arranged herself on her seat as well as she could, exhaustion winning over her.
"Preventers?"
Jay grimaced. Yup, the boss was pissed-off alright.
"Yeah. Officially they're investigating some case of computer breach, but they got right in with Mrs. Winner and escorted her out and all."
"Where did they go?"
Jay gulped.
"I couldn't follow them, boss. Somehow they realized they were being watched, I had to bugger off before they could catch me."
There was a long silence on the line.
"You had better make sure this is the last mistake you make, Maleda, or I will make sure of it. I think Neelah would like playing with you."
Jay felt cold sweat covering all of his body.