Help I'm steppin' into the twilight zone
The place is a madhouse
Feels like being cloned
My beacon's been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go
Now that I've gone too far
-Lyrics to 'Twilight Zone' performed by Golden Earring
That Which Mends Part 10
"I'm extremely impressed that you found yourself an internship at this level, Heero," Odin complimented as he finished signing the last paperwork approving the terms of the job that had been opened specifically for one of his scholars.
Placing the documents in a folder, the administrative mentor chuckled, "Though I can't really say I'm surprised, given your drive and talents. I'll deliver these to the admission office so that you get the credit bolster to your academic roster."
Seated on the other side of Lowe's desk, Yuy nodded firmly, "Thank you. It was an impossible position turn down." His cryptic comment came with a lopsided smirk for his own inside joke. He had given his word, putting himself into a situation that he couldn't get out of when he made that bet with Lady Une.
At least he was getting some perks out of it. A couple of semesters of his sitting at a desk and he'd build up enough credits to sail through his Masters acquirement.
Odin snickered, "Well, I'd say so. Any psychologists worth their salt would give their right arms for a governmental funded role in their craft as a means of giving back to those who look after us. Of course, I understand your not being able to tell me all of the details of your situation, but from the letter Commander Une included with the packet of your acceptance, it sounds like your services are most needed in her division."
Recalling his meeting with Middie, seeing and hearing the heartbreak she had for her agents and the burdens they shouldered, Heero swallowed roughly. His mentor was right in that this was an opportunity to help others, as he always wanted.
"It should be an interesting experience," he grinned. "I've been able to move in pretty smoothly and everyone's been accommodating in welcoming me. As for my classes, I'm already prepared for my lessons following our return from spring break in a couple of weeks."
His head shaking, his adviser snorted, "Of course you are. I've never known another student who actually enjoyed their courses enough to read and work out their assignments ahead like you do. I would ask how you feel about your mid-terms coming up, but I'm pretty sure you're ready for those too."
Yuy shrugged, "My papers are already done and handed in. The couple of tests that I'll have shouldn't be challenges since I could teach those classes myself if I had to. I'm expecting to hit the Deans List again for this semester."
Laughing, Lowe replied, "That's my boy." It was his endearing way of praising his best prospect. He checked the clock, announcing, "Well, that's all I wished to catch up on and you're almost due to be at your new job for the rest of the day. Good luck, Heero. If you need anything, you know how to reach me."
"Thank you, Odin," Yuy returned with a polite bow of his head before he rose to his feet and stepped out of his mentor's office.
The intern headed out in his plain, red T-shirt and knee length shorts to fit into the business casual atmosphere of the Preventers floor. After having made his way to the federal building enough times in almost a week now, he could have driven himself there this sunny early afternoon while blindfolded.
Greeting Catherine on his way past the receptionist desk with his backpack slung over his right shoulder, Heero received her friendly 'hello' and smile. Passing the agents coming and going through the main entrance, he entered a crowded elevator and kept to himself as eyes lingered on him.
Though he had been to the office regularly now, Yuy knew that his presence was still a mystery to the men and women of the other divisions.
No doubt they were all wondering why he was hanging around, but no one dared come out and introduce themselves to feel comfortable enough to pump him for information... especially since it must have been known throughout the building that he always got off on the Preventers floor. No one of the other divisions seemed to care much of what happened with that bunch.
Walking out when he reached his destination, Heero could hear laughter and shouts from the rec area. Rounding the elevator column, he spotted Duo and Wufei engaged in a round of darts while Trowa skateboarded over the ramps and curved course that looped the whole length of the floor.
His head shaking in amusement as he walked through the maze of an amusement park for his office, Yuy waved to his would-be clients when they acknowledged him with 'Heys' and 'Hellos' in his passing them.
Anna's closed off office was the closest to his at only a few feet away and at the moment it was the only one that was closed off when suddenly, a loud bang resonated from it to shake the floor below him.
"Goddamn it! Why!? Why!? Why!?" the redhead's muffled voice yelled out in sheer frustration.
Wufei had been about to throw his next dart when the blast sounded. Freezing like everyone else around, he spun to face his lover's room when her door slid open to her storming out with fists clenched at either side of her.
Her face and hair were covered with black soot with the exception of perfect circles around her eyes from the protective goggles she had been wearing. What skin was visible was as red as her curly locks as she glared dangerously as part of an expression of rage that could kill.
Gulping as he watched her thunder for the bathrooms, Chang called in concern, "Are you alright, Anna?"
Without looking back at him or the rest of her worried teammates, Downs grumbled, "Yea. It's just my pride that's taking a bit of a beating."
Before she disappeared from sight, Maxwell encouraged, "Shake it off, Annie. You'll figure it out." Waving over her shoulder in recognition of his sentiment, the redhead opened the women's rest room door and sealed herself away.
Trowa rolled up alongside his fellow Preventers, frowning, "Whatever that Gundanium is, it's managed to stump Anna for longer than I thought it would."
"She's taking it hard, too," Wufei sighed, finally tearing his gaze from the bathroom door to take in his friends. "I wish that there was something I could say to keep her from beating herself up, but... no amount of support from us will help her until she figures this out." Agents Scythe and Night nodded in agreement, their faces solemn.
Chewing on the inside of his cheek in thought, Heero scanned the rest of the floor. "Where's Agent Rock?" he inquired. His voice drew the surprised attention of the trio that until then had forgotten he was a few feet behind them.
The quickest to recover, Duo informed, "Quat and Lady Une are meeting with Thomas Klein's parents at their home. We had more than enough evidence in his little black box to prove his involvement with anti-government conspirators and several shady organizations that we know he'll likely never be recovered."
Barton shrugged, adding, "It's only right that his loved ones know we're treating his case as a murder rather than keep their hopes up that he's only missing. The local police jurisdiction would have taken weeks before they were able to give them that much closure since they were in the dark to a lot of the details."
No sooner had he said the words did the chime at the arrival of an elevator fill the air. Together, Winner and Une rounded the 'wall' to make their way onto the floor as the only agents in uniform for their meeting.
Quiet words were exchanged between them before the Commander entered her office and the public relations representative lowered his briefcase by his desk.
Frowning, Trowa met his partner half way when he walked towards the group. "Hey," he greeted quietly. Smiling sadly, the weary Arabian walked into him and his opening arms for a tight embrace.
To Yuy's wonder, there was a tinge of jealousy creeping up in him at the sight of the open affection that the couple so easily displayed. How or why it was suddenly something that bothered him, this seeing two people so clearly in love with one another, was beyond his reasoning... but it was there all the same and he turned away from them to retreat to his office.
"Heero," Quatre called. "Mind if I come in to talk with you?"
Stunned, the scholar froze in mid-step when he had just entered his room. Peering back, Winner had every eye in the rec area blinking at him widely as he stared hopefully back at their counselor.
Mentally urging himself into action to respond, Yuy stammered when he nodded, "S-sure." He waved with his free hand the way and offered, "Come in."
Once inside his office, Heero removed his backpack and sat it down on his desk while readying himself for his first official session. Removing a thick notepad and pen, he heard the door slide closed behind Quatre and moved to the chair stationed beside a long couch of soft, brown leather that Lady Une had ordered specifically for him to conduct his practice.
That sofa had been a part of the office for the last couple of days and was only now being used for the first time when Winner sat down on it.
Perching himself in his seat across facing the agent with his pen and paper ready, the counselor smirked, "To be honest, I'm glad you're my first patient. This is new to me and I get the feeling you'll go easy one me."
Agent Rock snickered, "Yea, you have nothing to worry about there. This is a first for me, too. I just needed to get some stuff off my chest after meeting the Klines."
"Okay," Yuy nodded, lowering his 'tolls' onto his lap. Holding out a hand to the Preventer, he said, "The floor's all yours."
Taking a deep breath, Quatre sighed, "I don't use the word 'hate' very often, but there are times when I hate being the go-to for moral support and a shoulder to cry on."
Never would the student have expected that to come from him and he couldn't help but blink widely when his patient explained, "It's impossible to tell anyone to their face that someone they love won't be coming home without transference of the their grief. Their wailing, shouting, pleading..." His voice drifted off and he shook his head as he stared off to the side at nothing and whispered, "It all stays with me."
Heero thought over his response and nodded with a sympathetic, "I can only imagine how rough giving that kind of news would be. And taking on part of that kind of anguish just makes you human."
"That's why the selfish side of me says that maybe I need to change who I am so I don't come across as this nice guy that everyone turns to," Winner replied.
Pointing at his own chest, he all but yelled, "I didn't ask for this! But it's who I've been all my life starting with my sisters. Even they would always come to me for advice, to break up an argument between them or to help them cry out whenever they were upset."
Now that his floodgates had opened, the Preventer was unable to hold back what he'd been holding in for a very long time. Sitting forward in the couch, his arms weaved through the air as his voice rose with every word while he thought aloud, "Maybe I need to do something terrible so I'm seen as a jerk like... I don't know... kick a box filled with puppies or something!"
Completely taken aback, Heero heard himself exclaim, "Quatre!"
A heavy silence immediately followed as the equally shocked agent sat shock still with enlarged eyes. Then, after a long pause, the two broke into laughter.
"Sorry," the counselor snickered when he caught his breath. "I know I haven't known you long, but that mental image of you doing that was just... wrong."
Winner snorted, "Yea, I know. I actually feel dirty for even saying it." Dry washing his face, he groaned and laid back against the couch with his head propped on an armrest.
Arms dropping across his chest, he frowned, "This is far from my first meeting with the family of victims like this one, and it'll be even further from the last. All the while, I've had to tell someone that their husband, wife, brother, sister, aunt, uncle died. But it's always the hardest when it's a child they've lost."
The agent sighed deeply, shaking his head, "It's not right. It's not the order of how life should go. And all I can do is promise them that we'll get the people responsible to make them pay for what they've done... satisfying as it is when that happens, it still won't bring their son or daughter back."
Given an opening to give his patient a moment to remember what was important, Yuy prompted a resolution by asking, "So why bother, then? Why stick to a job where you're going to have to deal with announcements like this if they're so difficult to take?"
Aquamarine eyes grew slightly as Quatre pondered for a breath before he answered, "For the satisfaction of knowing that there won't be more meetings like it for another family when we have the killers. That outweighs what I'm dealing with right now."
Heero grinned, "So how do you feel now? Still want to find a box of puppies?"
Laughing, Winner met his gaze and said, "No. I'm actually... better now for getting that out. Nothing against Trowa or the others, but they've all been in my shoes several times over and I know they get affected by it, too. I just needed to vent, I guess... remind myself why I'm still here." Pushing himself up, he smiled sincerely, "Thank you."
"Glad I could help," Yuy returned with the same genuinely. "That was actually pretty easy," he snickered. Jotting down a few notes on his pad, he reassured, "And of course everything shared here stays between us, so if you ever need to talk again, don't hesitate."
Climbing to his feet, Agent Rock smirked, "Will do." Just as he was about to walk for the door, he stopped himself short and faced the scholar. "You know, Anna and I may have been the only ones to agree to your sitting in as a councilor for us, but the others are too stubborn to admit that they need this too. They'll come around."
Slowly standing up, Heero responded, "For their sakes, I hope that they do."
Quatre bowed his head in gratitude and headed out of the office, his steps a bit lighter than they had been when he entered thanks to relieving some of the weight on his shoulders.
At the closing of the door after his patient, Yuy smiled to himself as he read over his notes. Rounding his desk, he removed a manila folder and wrote the Preventer's name on it, securing his documents inside. Securing his report inside his otherwise empty filing cabinet, he locked it away with a sense of fulfillment.
It may not have been a long or trying session, but it was still his first as a psychiatrist in what he had been aiming to be a prominent career.
On the other side of his wall, Heero could hear the motor of what he could only guess to belong to a saw of some sort howling in its effort to slice at something solid. That grinding was almost immediately silenced by a crunch of metal so loud that he jumped.
"Seriously?!" Anna shrieked through the wall along with the thud of whatever tool she had just spent in her continued effort to dissect the Gundanium in her possession.
A short huff of a laugh getting away from him, Yuy shook his head in amusement and went about his business.
In the week that he'd spent in the Preventers' headquarters, he made two key conclusions- the first being that it was better to not ask and leave well enough alone...
...the second was that he would rarely know a dull moment.
* * * * * *
A few hours later, Wufei walked into Anna's lair to check on her at the end of the day. Pausing as soon as he passed thorough the doorway, he blinked in surprise at the sight that awaited him.
In the middle of the lab was a metal table that had started out much longer than it currently was, its cut off edges sitting in heaps where they fell.
The surface of what remained was charred, discolored, gritted from wear and riddled with holes from acid burns. Off in the furthest corner lay a pile of tools and hand-held machinery including a personal igniter that had been discarded after they had either broken or brought no outcome in their uses.
All the while, the small piece of Gundanium was as shiny and unscathed as it had been when it came to be discovered.
Her hair still darkened by patches of soot and fraying at the edges in its high ponytail, Anna paced around the shortened chunk of table that had survived her experiments. Fixing her challenger with a heated glare, she growled, "You don't burn. You can't be cut through. Acid just rolls off of you. Not even a contained amount of explosives dents you...
She propped her hands on either side of the Gundanium, hissing down at it, "What the hell were you made to do?"
Clearing his throat, Chang grinned, "Maybe if you asked a little more nicely, it'd tell you."
His lover's head shot to the side to catch his gaze and she deflated with a deep sigh, her whole body sagging and her fatigue showing on her face. It was a rare thing for Downs to appear so defeated and it broke Wufei's heart.
"Sorry," Anna muttered, her head lowering. "It's just... so damned frustrating to not be able to-" Her words came to an abrupt halt when she felt her partner pull her into a tight hug. Closing her enlarged blue eyes, she smiled sadly and leaned against him as her arms clung onto the other agent. "Thanks," she mumbled with half of her face pressed against his shoulder, "I needed that."
Kissing the top of her head, Chang pulled back but kept his hands on her arms as he urged, "Put it behind you. It's five o'clock so you have some time to unwind and clear your head these next couple of days."
He rested their foreheads together, consoling, "You'll figure this out. It's just taking a little more time since it's something that no one has ever heard of."
When that did not seem to appease the redhead's trepidation, he said, "The others suggested hanging out at our usual spot before we head home for the weekend. After everything we've gone through these last few days, we could all use the break."
Finally brightening at that, Downs nodded, "That does sound good." Eyeing her smudged tank top and jeans, she winced. "Good thing I thought ahead enough to bring in a change of clothes and a couple of towels this morning. I'm going to have to hit the showers downstairs and get ready."
As she raised her head again, Agent Fire quickly leaned in to catch her boyfriend off guard by kissing him soundly. With her smile returning to her eyes when they only broke for air, she winked at his stunned expression and declared, "I'll meet up with you boys in thirty minutes."
That said, Anna hurried to take up the Gundanium to lock it in her desk beside the carnage of equipment that the metal had left in its wake. Removing her go bag from the closet, she hummed cheerfully as she left her lab.
Only when the door closed behind her did Wufei fully recover from their passionate exchange. A lopsided grin tugging his mouth, he chuckled and showed himself out.
In the next room, Heero continued to page through screen shots that had been compiled for him.
Duo wasn't kidding... there was an incredible amount of black vehicles that had passed the toll booths in the days leading up to the weekend that Thomas Klein was killed. On the corner of his desk, there were three more tall stacks standing by.
Peeking his braided through the doorway as it opened to him, Agent Scythe announced, "Closing time, 'Ro. Any luck with those photos?"
"No," Yuy sighed as he set aside the pile he had been going through and rubbed his eyes. "I can still vividly remember what the car looked like, so I'll know it when I see it."
Maxwell grunted softly with a slight nod. Shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet, he almost appeared anxious for a breath until he came out and said, "Well, uh, I also stopped by to tell you that we're all heading out to Charlie's for dinner, drinks and good company. You're more than welcome to join us if you want."
Closing his book and tucking it away, the scholar snorted, "You and drinks are a hazardous mix for me." He rose and slung his backpack over his shoulder, stating, "I appreciate the invitation, but I should head back to my dorm for the night."
Maxwell leaned against his doorpost and folded his arms across his chest. "Aw, come on," he pressed in that come-hither way that only he could pull off, the subtle purr in his voice electrifying the counselor.
Holding his hands up, he promised, "I promise I won't lay a finger on you. And I think you could stand to have a little fun after the hell you went through this week. You really need to loosen up and enjoy life a little."
Any other day, any other set of circumstances leading to that moment... anyone else asking him to join in and Heero would have put his foot down and stuck to his guns. But there was just something about Agent Scythe that made his guard collapse at his feet.
It wasn't like he would be attending another party. This was just going to be a social outing... one of the very few that he had ever been asked to partake in.
Oh, Yuy wasn't about to ask what the harm might me after the last time he had made that mistake. However, he couldn't deny his need for a bit of an escape from his predictable existence.
"Alright," he complied at last. Lifting a finger, he declared, "But this really is nothing more than dinner and a couple drinks."
Duo reeled in surprise at his acceptance of the invitation. "Cool! You got it!" he cheered, his face practically radiating with the smile that spread across it and his hands held up again. "No funny business. Just friends hanging out and nothing more."
Friends.
That was such a foreign concept to the psych major. Though he wasn't exactly sure that he had known the bunch long enough or well enough to consider them as such, it was nevertheless a nice notion to think that he might actually have people that he could call his friends.
Heero kept a nonchalant expression on his face when he shrugged, "Then let's go." In the back of his mind, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had made a deal with the devil the way Maxwell lit up. But he really didn't care right then. Walking past the braided agent, the scholar told him, "I know the way so I'll meet you there."
"Or you could drop your car off at your place and we head out together. You're not going to trust me to get you back safely?" his one transgression tempted with a mischievous smirk.
Laughing, Yuy didn't hesitate in replying, "Not a chance, Duo. What I don't trust is your definition of the word 'safe' as opposed to mine." He could hear the agent chuckling behind him as he headed for the elevators with an amused grin tugging his lips.
Everything might have changed for Heero ever since he first laid eyes on the the alluring creature that was Duo Maxwell.
But now, he was just starting to realize that maybe he could get used to the way things were now.
TBC...
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