That Which Mends Part 6
Over the course of the couple of hours that Heero spent in the rec space of the Preventers' floor, he made several observations as the agents lost themselves to their tasks. Automatically falling back upon his studies, he was able to make several deductions that clued him deeper into the psyche of his caretakers.
And before long, he was just as absorbed in his observing as his hosts were focused on their computers and pages that they would occasionally get up to collect from the printer at the end of their block of desks for a closer study.
For one thing, Quatre was the only one of the bunch who had framed pictures on his desk. Those images were of family which included a large slew of sisters if their striking resemblance was any indication. Then there was what appeared to be an ornate rug that was rolled up and tucked away beneath his desk that Yuy had a straight vantage point to spot it. A look at the sprawling lands that were featured in the snapshots were the final piece of the puzzle to one aspect of the correspondent.
Winner was Arabian. The fact that the blonde was willing to store a prayer rug in the office boasted the support he had from his teammates to worship and honor his beliefs as he desired...
...an admirable quality of all of them, Heero admitted to himself. Middle Easterners had yet to shake the label of terrorists and enemies since 9/11, even now nearly a century following the tragic event. But Quatre had been welcomed into the fold of federal agents working against actual conspirators and to be who he was in spite of what most society would have accepted.
Then there was Trowa Barton. Both the tallest and the oldest of the lot, he was easily the quietest as well. Whether that was because he was reserving himself due to the presence of a stranger or he was naturally more of a listener than a talker would only be revealed in time. Regardless of the reason behind it, he was very observant and soaked up everything around him like a sponge.
Whether he was not engaged in a particular conversation or not, the corner of Agent Night's mouth would curl up or he would make another subtle shift in his posture as he typed away. A sign that he was very aware of what was going on at all times.
On more than one occasion, there would be a 'tick' in the form of a tug on his long sleeves or a slight tremor in his fingers that Barton would suddenly become aware of and stop. Most probably wouldn't notice the acts or think anything of them if they did. However, Yuy did catch them and had a very good idea as to what they meant.
Anna was every bit the social butterfly that the scholar had taken her to be. She was the first one to be called for assistance from all of her teammates for her opinion and another pair of hands when it was required to which she'd jump to her feet and rush to their aid.
Clearly the others were used to the way she would gently move or hang over them to have a better look at whatever they were going over together. At a time when she needed to be the one 'driving' at Trowa's computer, she climbed into his lap without hesitation or invitation. He simply chuckled and allowed her to proceed like he had half expected her to take matters into her own hands in such a way.
The redhead was definitely one of the chattier of the squad, only rivaled by a certain braided agent in that. But her male counterparts all seemed to hang on her every word whether she was discussing their assignments or how she couldn't get her hair to cooperate with her that morning, making her have to pull it up in a ponytail. That only verified how the other agents considered her as an equal that they highly respected. Being the only woman on the force, she would have likely fought to earn and deserve that.
It only took an hour of people-watching for Heero to determine that Wufei was without question the right choice as the pack leader. Able to juggle several jobs at once, all the while monitoring the progress of his associates, he took on all of it without pause. He had an answer to every question, a solution to every challenge in their researching.
Driven to carrying out their current projects, Chang was the one to rope everyone back to order if ever there seemed to be a drift in the conversations going around.
He did this simply by clearing his throat or a glance at whoever might have been derailing them from their plotted course. There was no raising his voice or so much as a slight made at anyone's expense... but there was definitely a great deal of holding back from what the student picked up from the way that a hand could start to curl into a fist only to be opened before it fully closed.
Finally, there was Duo Maxwell. The loud jester ready with a smile and a laugh whenever someone needed it. But as open and carefree as he was when conversing with his friends, he was guarded in that he didn't reveal much about himself... while at the same time putting it out there to Yuy that he didn't really care what anyone might think of him or his ways of doing things.
He remained ever the enigma that for some reason occupied most of Yuy's attention.
Tossing a gummy stress ball across his desk to hit Chang in the arm, Agent Scythe announced, "It's going past lunch, Fei." To the glare he received, he gestured with his braided head to the student on the couches, suggesting, "Time to call it for now so we can be hospitable guests."
Blinking his onyx eyes in surprise at Heero, Wufei quickly looked to his team and asked, "Is everyone at a place they can save their work?" Around the ring of desks, affirmatives responded. "Alright," he nodded firmly, "When we get back, we'll pool together what we have so far and assess the situation as we know it at this point. I'll message Lady Une to let her know we'll meet with her then."
A few last clicks from the keyboard sounded off the last couple of commands to preserve what data was obtained and the Preventers rose to the feet to stretch and move their legs around.
Duo was the first to move for the psych major with that disarming smile of his. "Sorry you're stuck back here until we get this sorted out," he said sincerely. "You know, you're more than welcome to our stuff, too." Holding an arm out to the ramps, games and basketball half-court, he shrugged, "They're great stress relievers."
Standing up, Heero smirked, "Thanks, but I wasn't nearly as bored as you might think." He shook his head at the arena, "And about this... I'm surprised that all of you can have this in a federal building while you're dealing with bringing down terrorists."
"Yea, well, that's one of the cool things about Lady Une," Maxwell grinned as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We take on some of the harder core cases that no one else will. We work hard, so we get to play hard." His grin slipping away, he sighed heavily, "Honestly, it's one of the reasons none of us have jumped off the roof after some of the shit we've seen and dealt with."
Both the comment and Maxwell's dramatic shift in demeanor as he spoke it struck Yuy. The braided agent suddenly appeared beaten down... tired and strained from memories flooding back to him.
There was such a fast dip in the violet eyes that had otherwise been locked on him that Heero almost missed where they had fallen. But a glance in the general direction left no doubt to what one of those darker days might have included.
On the floor by Wufei's station was the ever so slight imprints in the hardwood floor that had gone completely unnoticed up until right then. Those imprints were the exact distance apart and shape to have belonged to a desk like the others around...
...So there were originally six Preventers.
Already focused back on the scholar as he casually draped an arm around his shoulders, Agent Scythe's smile was back. "Come on. Let's get something to eat. I'm famished," he urged. Leading the way towards where his teammates were huddled and conversing quietly amongst themselves, he boasted, "And I'd be willing to bet anything that cafeteria food is a hell of a lot better than anything served at Villanova."
* * * * * *
Maxwell had been right. The food options and the cooking quality was practically fine dining.
Filling his plate with a little bit of everything, Yuy kept close to the Preventers and joined them at the table that they shared away from any of the other partakers spread throughout the cafeteria that was nearly at full capacity.
"Does everyone here work for the government, then?" he asked after a scan of the faces around, several of which were looking at him in the same interest.
Across from him, Wufei nodded, "We're all members of the nation's Midwest Division of the Department of Justice. Most of everyone around here are FBI and ATF. They're not all in their uniform, so it's hard to tell, but there's a clear line down the middle of the room where one half's classification's tables end and the other begins since they tend to get into turf wars over which branch handles what. Even though everyone's on the same side, who gets the credit is always in contention." [1]
What he left out was the fact that there were empty tables flanking the one around theirs. "And then there's you," Heero stated.
Snickering at his right side, Trowa smirked, "Picked up on that, did you?" He peered from the corner of his emerald eye at the student that had turned his head towards him and explained, "Along with being the youngest agents of any sort in the building, the Preventers organization is also the newest branch of security. We're basically to the Department of Justice what the secret service are to the military in that we take on the assignments our peers can only wish they could solve."
"But without the recognition for whatever it is you do," Yuy frowned. "I've never once heard of the Preventers before this weekend."
Sitting opposite of Barton, Quatre took in the scholar as he replied, "None of us got into this to be acknowledged. He shrugged, "I think if you're getting into national security to protect others only to have your praises sung you're doing it for the wrong reason. Doing our job and removing some of the worst criminals against mankind is all the reward we need."
At Heero's left, Duo grinned, "Amen to that." His teammates all nodded their heads to back the sentiment as well.
For a moment, the psych major sat in silence to mull over the young agents around him. Perhaps the circumstances of how he had come to know them had been less than pleasant... but he couldn't help feeling somehow privileged in being one of the few to know of them and their selfless cause to defend people who would never know their names, faces or efforts.
His violet eyes narrowing at the movement coming deliberately towards their table, Maxwell growled under his breath, "Heads up, guys. Assholes closing in at three o'clock." Without even raising their gazes, his friends groaned and muttered curses.
Setting his attention onto the five people that were coming for them, Heero frowned. At the head was a tall man with blonde hair that fell to the back of his knees. Close at his side was a young woman with short, platinum black hair that fell in long whips of bangs that swept across the top of her face. Finally, there were three men who were chuckling and whispering in a tight band.
The clear leader of the lot kicked his foot up to prop it on the bench between Yuy and Barton. Arms folding across his chest, he bent down to smile at the new face. "What's this? A new recruit?" he asked.
"He's practically a baby like the rest of you," the woman with him smirked. To the scholar, she warned, "If you have any self respect, kid, this is the last division you'd want to join."
Clearing his throat as he glared up at the pair, Wufei held a hand to them and said, "Heero, allow me the displeasure of having to introduce Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin of the FBI." Pointing over his shoulder to the trio behind him, he added, "The Three Stooges here are Trent Dawson, Alex Portzen and Mueller Lawton."
Alex paid no mind to the less than flattering reference to his group and moved from the middle of the bunch to sit beside Downs as she reached for her mug to blow on the steaming tea. "Hi, Anna," he purred. "Looking ravishing as always."
Without so much as a peek from the corner of her eye, the redhead ordered in a deadpan, "Go away."
His knuckles turning white as his hands balled into tight fists, Chang fought every muscle in his tense body from reacting the way he desperately wanted in response to the disrespectful hit on his lover in his presence. Heero swallowed roughly at the uncomfortable scene and quickly deducted that this was a common occurrence the likes of which Wufei had relented to letting Anna handle on her own.
"Still no talking you into signing on with the big leagues?" Portzen asked, a hand running through his short, wavy blonde hair at the top of his head. "We could use someone with your expertise to make a real difference."
An eyebrow raising, Downs glanced over to him at last to huff, "And by 'make a real difference' you mean to botch up an investigation like that last case of the serial killer you were all so insistent was a man? The same case that we Preventers were sent in to clean up and solve?"
There was an instant shockwave of a jolt that wracked the FBI agents, their postures automatically becoming defensive and their glares boring down on the bomb expert for opening up a wound at their division's expense that was still very fresh. Meanwhile, her own team bit their lips and tongues to hold back their laughter as their lips curled up.
Yuy felt as though he were a spectator at tennis match, his head turning from one side to the other for the next response.
Batting her long eyelashes at the blonde's reddening face, Anna cooed, "As always, thanks but no thanks, Alex. If you want me to go on embarrassing you and your brutes in front of our new friend, keep it up."
Mueller and Trent were on their counterpart to haul him to his feet before he opened his mouth for any kind of retort and fixed him with narrowed eyes.
Zechs kept up a good front, but let onto his frustration of the slight that had been made by hissing to his crew, "Let's go. It's almost nap time for these kids." Lowering his leg and arms, he led the pack away to lick their wounds.
"That's my girl," Duo smiled proudly at his friend. "Way to hit 'em where it hurts, Annie." Wufei turned his head to offer her a small smirk and a wink while Trowa and Quatre found relief in finally being able to laugh outright.
Glaring at the retreating backs of their adversaries, Downs snorted, "They're all just a bunch of pompous jerks that need to be knocked down a few pegs." She looked to their company and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry you were in the middle of that, Heero."
Yuy grinned, "Don't worry. I actually find it interesting that some things like cliques and bullies don't change even beyond school."
His caretakers snickered in amusement and they fell into a companionable silence to enjoy their meal.
* * * * * *
Lady Une stepped onto the seventh floor within the hour to find her agents working at their stations and Heero at the nearby couches once again. "Okay, people. Fall into the rec area," she commanded.
Nearly arranging their paperwork into folders, her team handed them over and whispered a couple of things to Wufei before taking their places at the sofas.
Heero did his best to read Anna and Duo as they flanked him. Trowa and Quatre were equally blank in their expressions in the adjacent couch, making it impossible for the scholar to deduct whether or not there was any cause for alarm for his safety.
Standing before her agents while Chang joined her, Middie faced him and opened, "Alright. What have we got?"
The team leader kept the folders in his possession at his side as he drew a deep breath and announced, "We have every reason to believe that Thomas Klein was our leak and that his disappearance is not a coincidence." A deep frown marring his face, he peered over at the psych major in sympathy.
Yuy's mouth fell open just as his stomach bottomed out at the chilling confirmation of his fears. Instantly, Maxwell rested a hand on his shoulder to squeeze and Anna rubbed his back to sooth him as best they could. Glancing at them, it was the first time that the Preventers around him lowered their masks to reveal their own distress over the situation.
Skillfully, they had managed to conceal their emotions to shelter him from what they had clearly already known to be the truth for the last handful of hours until there was no denying that something was very wrong. It had been as much a kind act on their parts as it was also something they must have trained themselves to do when working on their cases for the sake of those they were defending.
"I see," Lady Une sighed like she had half expected the answer. "How did you come to the conclusion?"
Nodding to Agent Night, Chang replied, "Barton found a prominent background in technology as well as a research history into acts anarchy from Kline's personal downloads into digital readers amongst other things. At Great Lakes Villanova, he was at advanced level in his classes especially revolving around his major in computer engineering. It would have made him both dangerous and susceptible to falling into the ranks of the wrong people, which is the working theory to we have of what happened."
His head shaking, he went on, "Something about whatever or whoever he was involved with to tip us via email from a bouncing router address that he would have been more than capable in creating. That shifting address made it impossible to track the source for the time being. If we could get out hands on his personal computers and digital tablets, we'd be able to determine for certain that he's our guy."
Keeping herself from physically reacting short of a few nods now and them as the Chinese agent spoke, Middie inquired, "And what do we know of the investigation into Klein's disappearance?"
"Quatre and I were able to find a few documented witness accounts who knew of his last whereabouts and anything suspicious around the time he vanished," Wufei responded. "There were no sightings of a black car or anything out of the ordinary. However, there were several students who backed each other in saying that they saw him going or coming back from a morning jog through the more hidden roads in the area east of Drexel Hill."
At that, Heero felt his blood running from his face. The direction Kline was running from his dorm room would have put him on direct course to where black vehicle had been parked. He'd been followed.
That was why the car was pulling away so slowly... their paths had unknowingly crossed within minutes of the time Yuy had hidden himself. Whoever was behind those tinted windows had spotted their target and were closing in.
Chang tapped the folders in his hand, saying, "What became of our contact is unknown since the residence was nearly empty for the majority of the day with the commuters still on their way back from their weekends home. Then there's the other factor of Klein's room being on the ground floor facing the woods surrounding the facility's back yard. It gave whoever was after him the perfect opportunity to strike unnoticed."
He cleared his throat when he looked to Heero's pale face before he focused back on his Commander and informed, "Judging by the amount of blood found at the scene that was confirmed to be Klein's and the pattern of the splatters in the crime photos, Anna deducted a single shot to the chest with a silencer was used to take him out quickly and quietly before he was disposed of."
There was an audible gulp from the student. 'Disposed of,' his mind repeated.
Agent Wolf concluded, "Right now, Maxwell is still going through tollbooth surveillance videos to get screen captures of every black car coming and going from the area within a forty-eight hour times pan of the estimated time of the incident. With any luck, Heero might be able to recognize the vehicle and we'll have its plates. In the meantime, Barton and Downs have moved onto transcribing the chip. Winner and I are keeping close tabs on the local police involved in the Klein investigation."
"Good," Une replied her head nodding once again in approval of how the Preventers were proceeding. Raising her brown eyes, she told her team, "Nice work, all of you."
His nerves on the verge of collapsing, Heero cut in, asking, "So as far as my safety is concerned, is there any way that whoever attacked Klein might know about me?"
Middie looked to Wufei for his assessment, to which he gazed at the student and answered, "In light of how quickly and effectively he was killed, he wouldn't have had the time to speak to his killer. In addition, the party that had been designated as the transfer location was too crowded with students and outsiders alike for him to know that Duo was there to accept the chip nor who he was spending any time with."
Gesturing to Trowa and Anna, he continued, "Agent Night and Agent Fire both verified that the package had no tracking device linked to it, so its whereabouts were never followed after it left his possession. Therefore, we're more than confident in saying that there is no threat to you."
The breath that Yuy had been holding left his lungs in a long burst as his shoulders sagged heavily in relief. It all made sense and even he had to come to the same conclusion that he had nothing to worry about. He had never seen Thomas Klein on campus aside from that night, didn't even know his name until it was in the papers following his disappearance.
Even in the worst case scenario, if the tech scholar had been forced to talk, he never would have been able to identify Heero or guess that he had at all gotten thrown into the middle of the handoff.
He was officially clear of any danger and could wipe the slate clean of any involvement with the Preventers.
The psych major scanned the grinning faces watching him and smiled sincerely, "Thank you. I... really appreciate your going out of your way to hear me out and look into this for my sake." The group nodded and snickered as Duo nudged him while Anna lowered her hand from his back.
Winking a violet eye, Agent Scythe chuckled, "Told 'ya we'd take care of you."
"Even though you have nothing to worry about, my offer for your being able to come and go as you please still stands," Lady Une smirked. "There's no telling how long we would have been in the dark about Klein if you hadn't brought his disappearance to our attention. As far as I'm concerned, that makes you a part of the team in our mission."
Her arms folding behind her back, she added, "And I would like to extend any assurance of your safety to your family if any of this has caused them grief. Just inform me who to contact and I'll reach out to them personally."
Blinking his cobalt eyes, Yuy shuddered as those words set in. "There's no one to contact, ma'am," he all but whispered to the floor.
All around him, shocked faces turned to stare at him while the hands that had been calming him fell away. Shrugging, the scholar peered up at the Commander and murmured, "It's just me."
TBC...
[1] Here is a link to the layout of the United States Department of Justice and all its divisions.
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