Oh, I'm a mess right now, inside out
Searching for a sweet surrender but this is not the end
I can't work it out, how?
Going through the motions, going through us
-Lyrics to 'I'm A Mess' performed by Ed Sheeran
That Which Mends Part 8
"Trowa... are you alright, babe?"
At the endearment, Barton found the strength to raise his head to stare down the barrels of the guns across the way that were aimed at the bulk of a man that had him pinned back against his chest with a knife pressed against his throat.
It had been weeks since he'd laid eyes on Agent Wolf and Agent Fire. Now, head-to-toe in skintight black gear with their glaring eyes fixated on the assailant behind him, he could have cried at how close and yet so far away they were.
But hearing the redhead's encouraging voice was enough to break through the dizziness and fatigue that the undercover officer was fighting. And for the first time in a long time since he had seen his friends, Trowa smiled.
"I... I've been better.. But you're a damned sight for sore eyes, boo," he snickered windily, the sharp edge of the blade against his throat digging deeper to the point of nearly biting into his skin.
Chang and Downs smirked at his sentiment and nickname for the weapons expert since it meant that he was still with them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Barton's right hand was shaking again at that slight flash back into the past. Tugging on the cuff of his long sleeve out of habit to cover the twitch, he pulled his nerves back together and focused back on the meeting that was underway.
"Gundanium," Anna opened to Lady Une as she sat on the armrest of the couch that Trowa and Quatre shared in the rec area of the Preventers' floor. Holding up the chip in her hand, she went on, "It's a new metal and chemical combination that our assholes somehow got their hands on and this card is just a small sample of it. Take away the plastic cover and data strips..."
The redhead demonstrated by literally cracking the exterior shell of the disk to reveal the fine, rectangular sheet of silver metal beneath and displayed it for all eyes around. "Klein somehow managed to get a hold of this metal when he discovered the people he was working with had developed it not long before he reached out to us."
Lady Une blinked her growing, brown eyes. "Clever," she breathed. Tilting her head, she frowned, "But... what is it and what exactly does it do?"
Biting her lip, Anna's smile washed from her face. "I... don't... know." The words came out sourly. "I never so much as heard of this metal before today, so I have no idea how it operates other than it must act as a crucial part to a new sort of weapon that I also don't know about..." Her face turning as though she tasted something bitter, she admitted, "and it's pissing me off." Her co-workers snickered sympathetically.
Trowa came to the weapons expert's rescue by squeezing her shoulder as he rose to his feet, smiling, "But the good news is that we have it with us now and we have one of the best in the world to figure it out." He received a warm, gracious grin from Agent Fire for his faith in her.
Slowly bringing his focus back to the Commander, Barton stated, "Whatever it is, or does, was enough to tell Klein that he was dealing with fellow anti-government organizers who were after a lot more than protests and public speeches. Being the brilliant coder that he was, it's very likely he was entrusted with the coding and decoding of classified information when he stumbled upon something he was not supposed to see. That, or he was part of completing whatever the metal was intended for and he developed a conscience."
Arms folded arcos his chest as he leaned against the nearby wall, Wufei nodded, "At some point Klein then obtained a sample of that Gundanium to act as the evidence we needed to take his warning seriously. The men behind whatever this weapon is found out he was backing out so they had him killed to keep him quiet."
Winner added, "Updated reports from the Austin County police included details that proved Thomas' belongings had been searched through. His laptop is missing, shelves and drawers were open and several of his items had been tossed throughout the room, so the killer was most likely looking for anything that could jeopardize their plan. Whether or not they know he had Gundanium on him can't be determined, but they were worried enough to do all they could to cover their tracks."
"Did the police find anything in their search?" Middie inquired.
Shaking his head, Quatre replied, "No." As the young woman opened her mouth to talk, he added, "I've already advised them that they're to keep the room blocked off until we can go through it." The corner of his lips curled up in a smirk as he said, "we're just waiting for your order to head out."
The Commander laughed, "Of course you are. Always ahead of the game. That's why I love working with this team."
Her agents smiled and only then did she note in their postures that they had been poised to shoot out of the room at any second.
Not about to hold them back any longer, Lady Une waved at them, "Well, what the hell are you still sitting around for? Get out of here!"
Unfolding his arms that were propped behind his braided head, Duo unfolded his legs and sprang to his feet with a cheered, "Shotgun!" Several steps in front of the others, he charged for the coat rack and he removed his red wind breaker from it.
"Fine with me since that means you won't be driving," Chang snorted on his heels as he grabbed his orange coat. "At least we'll get there in one piece." The rest of their crew chuckled as they gathered up their own belongings and followed close behind for the elevator.
Middie shook her head in amusement, a fond grin on her face as she watched the lot disappear around the lift columns. "Good luck with the search," she urged quietly. From the corner of her eye, she found that the small fragment of Gundanium had been stored carefully away at Anna's station.
Whatever the metal was intended to do, it had been worth killing someone over. All that she could hope now was that they stayed on top of their enemies to stop whatever they had up their sleeves.
* * * * * *
Night settled over Great Lakes Villanova University, bringing a calm back to the campus at the departure of the last foot police officers on site.
Despite the regular passing of squad cars that would make timed rounds throughout the night to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, Heero doubted that many of his classmates would be sleeping well that evening, worrying about someone out and about potentially targeting college students. And he didn't need any friends amongst his fellow students to confirm that.
Of only a slightly better peace of mind over the Klein disappearance since he was aware of more than most, Yuy still struggled with his running thoughts as he lay atop his bed to stare up at the ceiling. More than anything, he thought over the Preventers and the little tidbits into their make ups that he had picked up on in the time that he got to observe them.
The psychologist in him was running rampant with analogies behind each agent. In many ways, their personalities and personal challenges should have deemed them impossible to work together. However, they seemed to have found a way around their differences to not only become a cohesive and effective team to defy the odds working against them.
Perhaps for the first time in his life, Heero actually wished that he might have had friends of his own that he could count on and get along with like that... but then he pushed that thought aside. There was no time or opportunity for friends until he graduated and moved into the promising career that his father had wanted for him.
So, if he wasn't going to be able to sleep, the scholar decided it was time to put the skills he had acquired over the years to use.
Yuy slid out of his bed and moved for his desk. Opening his laptop, he opened a new document and began typing out his analysis.
* * * * * *
Meanwhile...
With plastic around their shoes and gloves on their hands, the Preventers were deep in their search of Thomas Klein's dorm room after clearing their access with the Austin officers that had remained on the scene for their arrival .. officers who had given them endless grief to confirm that they were, in fact, federal agents.
Duo began to go through the pillowcases, sheets, bedding and metal framework.
A few feet away, Quatre sorted through the dresser and personals inside.
Over by the adjacent wall, Trowa tore into the victim's closet and everything it held inside.
Using a ladder, Wufei shifted ceiling tiles to look for any potential hiding places that their person of interest may have utilized.
By the window at the last section of the space, Anna squatted down beside the wide blood stain that had set into the wooden floor and eyed up its distance to the red splattered on the opposite wall that was otherwise white and covered with band posters. Removing her digital tablet, she began to take pictures.
The police Lieutenant that had granted them passage leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms across his brawny chest. Behind him, a uniformed man and woman from his squad peered over his shoulders to take in the thorough hunt as he chided, "This is a little extreme, don't you think? I don't see the point in the FBI getting involved-"
Immediately, the team paused in what they were doing to shoot fiery glares at him from their sections in the room as they snapped at the same time, "We're not the FBI!"
His grey eyes blinking, the commanding officer laughed, "Oh, yea. You're the Pretenders. My apologies." Making no attempt at holding back their snickers, his staff at his back fired off stern stares of their own at the crew made up of people half their ages.
Rolling his eyes, Wufei only barely managed to hold his temper as he climbed back to the top rung of his ladder to investigate a new quarter of the ceiling and ignored the teasing that he and his teammates had become accustomed to over the years. "You're sure that your staff checked every nook and cranny in this place?" he asked while moving the tile over his head.
The Lieutenant's chest puffed up and his face reddened at that. "We went through with a fine-toothed comb. There's noting left to find," he huffed. "If you're suggesting that me and my squad can't handle searching for evidence at a crime scene-"
Quatre craned his head around from the dresser he was going through to cut him off by commenting, "Actually, the odds would be against you having found everything. College students have the most creative minds for hiding what they don't want to be found."
He shrugged, smirking, "And well, no offense, but most detectives lack that kind of imagination."
Already in the process of cutting into the bed mattress, Duo choked back a sharp laugh much the same as his associates were swallowing down their amusement over the Arab's masterful slight. The three officers narrowed their wide eyes as the struggled to contain their ire.
Getting in close to the hole in the wall where the bullet had been cut out before anyone was aware Klein had gone missing, Anna took a few images and proceeded to slowly turn back to the opened window.
"It would be a lot easier if our shooter had left a slug behind," she murmured to herself while pacing back to the point of the round's entrance. "But their line of sight is better than nothing." Switching on her flash, she took snaps of the trees surrounding the view in the darkening world outside.
A couple of clicks in, the redhead frowned deeply and lowered her pad.
Turning on her heels, she rushed from the room as the police officers stepped aside in her wake. Without a word, Downs vanished from sight as her friends went on with their own scavenging. Moments later, the flash from her pad could be spotted beyond the window.
Under her breath, the brunette policewoman grumbled, "What a waste of time and effort for nothing. Nice to see how our tax dollars are being spent." Her counterparts and boss nodded in growing irritation.
Kicking away the down feathers from the mattress that he had torn apart, Maxwell hummed to himself as he scanned the floor that once had a bed covering it. Almost immediately, something jumped out at him in the form of a floor board with groves that were flowing in the opposite direction of the rest of the panel flanking it.
To anyone else, the difference was so subtle that it would have easily been overlooked. However, to the trained eye of a Preventer, is stood out like a sore thumb.
"Got something," the braided agent announced, dropping to his feet and removing his utility pocket knife. His teammates and the police in the doorway looked on as he removed the blade with a flick of his wrist and pried at the sides of the board. After only a couple of cuts, the loose panel popped up and he reached inside.
Their eyes growing anew, the Lieutenant and his officers stared in disbelief at the thin, black box that Duo lifted into the air with a triumphant smirk. A smug grin spreading across his face, he announced to the shocked detectives, "Hope you all took notes 'cause you just got schooled."
Sliding down the ladder at the same time Barton wrapped up in the closet and Winner closed the last drawer, Chang declared, "That's what we're after. Let's wrap it up, gang."
Down's head appeared in the open window as she called, "All set out here." Holding up a plastic bag with a shining chunk of metal in it, she smiled, "This little gem showed up with my camera flash. Looks like our friend didn't clean up after themselves like they thought."
Again, the police standing by froze in mortified shock while their younger guests began to file from the room and walked by them. Patting the Lieutenant's shoulder in passing, Trowa told him, "Thanks for the hospitality. We'll see ourselves out."
"Oh, and this case is in our hands now," Quatre added to the stunned officer with a wink. "I'll personally make sure that your supervisor has our Commander's official mandate on your desk first thing in the morning."
There were few things that burned any local cop than having a case taken from them by an outranking division. And to add insult to injury for the brooding cops, it was being handled by younglings. But as furious as they were over that, there was not a single thing they could do to stop it.
All that they could do was rein in their anger over being humbled by their slip-ups.
Beyond the dormitory, the young agents shared a good laugh amongst themselves on their way back to the car.
"You know, it would be nice if one of these times we didn't have to deal with static from cops or any other law enforcer we happen to cross hairs with," Scythe sighed as he slipped into the passenger seat while Wufei took to the wheel.
Sitting down in the middle of the backseat, Rock huffed, "That would require their getting over their pride just long enough to remember that we're on the same side and to quit being pricks." His friends broke into fitful rounds of laughter at his rare use of such a colorful word.
Anna patted his right arm, giggling, "You know it's bad when Quatre breaks out terms like that." The public relations rep smiled sheepishly with a shrug, but rightfully made no apologies to the tune of even more snickers from the bunch.
Ever the one to return order amongst the ranks, Agent Wolf's lips curled in a half-smile as he said, "Okay, everyone. Let's just get back to the office so we can secure the evidence we have and call it a night."
No arguments were raised as he pulled out of the parking lot and took to the main road.
* * * * * *
With a few keystrokes, Heero completed his analysis and leaned back in his desk chair.
Clicking on his mouse, he skimmed over the paragraphs designated to each Preventer and his initial observations of them. For his first psychologist evaluations, he was satisfied with his in-depth explanations behind his conclusions. If only it was something that he could share with Odin for his take on the report.
There was no mistaking that the band of agents would keep a team of psychologists busy. Simply the fact that they were all so young and working some of the most difficult cases was enough to raise eyebrows. Top that with the mix of personalities and behaviors that they compiled and most professionals would have loved to take them on as a study.
Yuy frowned at the thought that perhaps Lady Une was not fully aware of the powder keg that could potentially ignite, jeopardizing the standing of her division... and every investigation that they were set upon.
Why he was bothering with any of this remained beyond Heero's reasoning. But for some reason, he felt as though he owed the Commander and her crew for taking the time to hear him out and their sincere efforts to look after him.
Tuesday was the scholar's lightest day of classes. Back-to-back morning sessions were all he had, so he could spend the rest of his day at the federal building to meet with Middie to lay out his findings and sit with Duo to go through the car images he was building up...
...then Yuy would done with the Preventers and their mission.
Using the email address on Lady Une's business card, he typed her a short message of his estimated time of arrival to the office the following morning and closed his laptop with a wide yawn.
Mentally and physically exhausted from the day's events, Heero shed his clothes down to his boxers and turned out the lights in his room. Secured under his light comforter, his head hit the pillows and he said farewell to the world of the living.
* * * * * *
One thing that Wufei knew about Anna, if she promised anything she was sure to make good on it.
Following an inspired round of lovemaking, the Chinese agent stared at his lover as she lay on her stomach with her eyes closed beside him. Her torso fell into a more relaxed rise and fall now they had both caught their breath and her hair was sticking against her sweat-dampened bare skin at spots along her back... spare for one section.
Dim as the room was with only the moonlight making it possible to see, that nasty scar was plain as day.
Running in a diagonal from its start at the redhead's left shoulder blade and down to her right hip, its jagged edges and raised bump where the bullet that struck her cut the deepest served as a permanent reminder of that terrible night when everything changed not only for them as a couple, but for everyone of the Preventers.
As he always would, Chang reached over and tenderly ran his fingertips along the scar from tip-to-tip before he leaned in to press a line of kisses along it.
Sighing in content, Anna smiled and cracked her blue eyes open to peer over her shoulder. "Blank you," she murmured sincerely.
"Blank you, too," Wufei returned in kind as he slid back up to her side so that their naked bodies could curl up in a tangle of limbs. As his partner's head rested against his shoulder, he unconsciously continued to run his fingers over her scar.
A couple of inches deeper... only centimeters to the left and his team would have lost two of its own that evening. How many times since then had he run those moments through his mind in search of something, anything that could have been different to prevent what happened?
In the end, all of his bending and twisting what little options there were brought him to the same conclusion every time. There was absolutely nothing that could have been done differently that would have altered the final outcome of that recovery mission.
Opening her eyes again, Anna peered up at her lover and urged softly, "You did everything right." She pushed herself up just enough for her nipple and navel piercings to catch the light. Propping the side of her head up, she frowned sadly, "Everyone on and off the team who was involved in the investigation knows that... except for you."
Wufei chewed on the inside of his cheek in thought as he shifted his gaze away from her. "I can't help it. I was the one leading that takedown," he sighed. Shaking his head, he muttered, "And I know that you're right... but..."
Her eyes beginning to sting, Downs cleared her throat and ran her hands through his loose, raven dark hair. "More than anything in this world, I hope that one day you'll finally let yourself off the hook for that night," she whispered. Bending down, she kissed her partner's cheek and curled herself around him again.
Fighting back the tears that wanted to come on, Chang bit his lip and held her close. "No more bad thoughts tonight, okay?" the redhead asked softly.
"Okay," Wolf promised with a small smirk. "No more bad thoughts tonight." Forcing back his dark memories, he concentrated on their just being together until his eyes couldn't stay open any longer and they both drifted off to sleep.
* * * * * *
Duo let out a long breath as he fell into his bed.
It was early for him to call it a night, but it had been a hectic day and he was going to have to wrap up his assignment before Heero returned to the office. Folding his arms behind his braided head, he stared up at the tiles overhead as his mind wandered.
Why he couldn't seem to shake the unruly-haired scholar from his thoughts Maxwell couldn't explain... aside from one fact that Heero Yuy was easy on the eyes.
And there was that exciting round between the sheets that they'd shared.
Feeling his groin reacting to his vivid replay, Maxwell groaned. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep without taking care of business now.
Quickly flipping onto his side, he opened his nightstand to remove a bottle of lube that he always made sure to have available and removed all of his clothes.
When he climaxed with Heero's voice crying out in rapture in his head, Agent Scythe sighed deeply and used what little energy he had left to clean himself and pull the covers up past his waist.
In the oblivion, a pair of cobalt eyes greeted him.
TBC...
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