A Silver Lining Part 13
"I hate this part of the job," Anna half-moaned, half-growled through gritted teeth as she reached into the pocket of Agent Talon's pants.
What little remained of the imposter was spread over the normally busy street, which was now blocked off by several police cars and yellow tape. The large chunk of torso that had been splattered open repulsively as the only limb still attached was the fallen agent's right leg.
Finding nothing in the first pocket, the redheaded Preventer moved to the left pocket. Finding a leather wallet, she quickly removed it before turning over the blood-covered remains. Closing her eyes tightly, Anna made quick work of searching the backside pockets. As her hand moved within the material, something soft and wet that was attached to the body brushed against her hand. With a groan, she grimaced, "Oh, I don't even want to know that the hell that was."
After retrieving a few papers and a small pocket watch, the Preventer quickly rose to her feet and stepped back from the gruesome sight, coughing violently as the sickening smell caught up with her. One of the officers on patrol came up to check on her process.
Gesturing over her shoulder to the remains, Anna informed the patrolman, "You can send in the cleanup crew. Thanks for your help tonight." The tall officer nodded and gave some orders over his radio as he stepped away from the bloody scene.
Two squad cars, their red and blue flashers one of the few sources of light aside from the street lamps, parted to allow a red Civic enter the site they had been sealing off. When the car came to a halt a few feet away from the red-haired Preventer, Lady Une ran out into the lightly falling rain towards her as she called out in concern, "Agent Mist."
With a weak smile, Anna greeted tiredly, "Good to see you, Commander. Sorry we had to call you so late, but given the circumstances..." she gestured with her head to the corpse over her shoulder.
The tall brunette's eyes widened when she stopped before her agent to look to the bloody remains of the body. "My God," she whispered, her face paling. "Who was it?"
"Andrew Dobson, Agent Talon," the redhead answered. A few officers from the police department moved in with a van. A team of uniformed officers filed out from the back of the vehicle with plastic bags and several power washers.
Sighing deeply, Anna suggested, "We best leave them to scrape what's left of him from the street. Trowa and I will fill you in on what happened." Finally able to feel her legs again, the young Commander nodded, leading the way into the tall building.
* * * * * *
Slightly rocking in his seat on the far side of Lady Une's office, Duo paid little attention to the briefing taking place at the commander's desk. His head was lowered and his violet gaze was locked on his hands wrapped tightly around his braid. When another hand came to rest gently over his to squeeze them in support, he looked up to the concerned cobalt eyes watching him. Quietly, Heero asked, "Are you okay?"
Blinking his violet eyes, Duo reminded himself of where he was. He had nearly forgotten that his best friend was sitting beside him for the last twenty minutes. To answer the other pilot, he nodded, biting his bottom lip. He just didn't trust his voice at that moment.
Heero's concerned frown never faded as he wrapped an arm around his partner's shoulders, pulling him close for support. Closing his eyes, Duo rested his head against his friend's shoulder and wondered what he would have done if Heero wasn't there for him. Somehow, he always seemed to show up just when he needed him the most, knowing exactly what to do.
Again, Dobson's voice continued to replay though the braided pilot's mind, the image of that satisfied smirk still chilling the braided pilot to his core. 'I'll bet that you made a pretty little bitch while you were in that cell.'
A shiver ran through Duo that he was unable to stop, feeling his whole body beginning to tremble. The arm tightening around his shoulder and the gentle voice beside him whispering reassurances continued to keep him from losing it all together.
The long days and nights of the past week had finally caught up to Trowa and Anna as their fatigue was finally too great for them to hide. Slouched in their seats, the dark circles under their eyes were more striking now against their fair skin.
As they relayed everything that they had learned and the events that took place just over an hour ago, Trowa and Anna looked as though the last of their strength was being focused on keeping their eyes opened. Finally, after learning everything there was to learn, Lady Une folded her hands before her face as she thought of her next move.
After a moment of silence, the tall Commander rose from her seat and told the young couple before her, "I'm very proud of the both of you for your efforts. Right now, I'm going to order you to go home and take the next couple of days off to rest. You've earned it, and you're going to need it."
Despite their own wishes to stick around and see if they could help in the continuation of the search for the leaks, both Trowa and Anna nodded and voiced their gratitude. In their current condition, there would be little that either of them would be able to accomplish effectively. In the end, they knew that their Commander was right.
"I'm going to call Zechs and Noin in to pick up on what you've recovered from Dobson's remains," the tall woman stated. "In the meantime, I will see that Wufei and Sally investigate his residence for anything else that may tip us on who these other traitors are.
"We have an advantage in the timing, in that we have all night to work on this search now. The street has been cleaned and I have halted any reporting of this incident over the news mediums. Before the end of this coming day, we will have the identities of those who had been assisting Agent Talon in leaking our communications."
Trowa nodded and requested, "Could you please keep us informed on the progress? If we can't be here, it would be appreciated to be kept up on the investigation." His emerald eyes narrowed as he growled, "This matter is more than personal now." Beside him, Anna's own eyes were thinned as she nodded her agreement to his sentiments.
With a smirk, Lady Une reassured them, "I would not have dreamed of leaving you out of this." Her smile faded as she took on a stern look, a look that the ex-Gundam pilots referred to as her 'mothering look.' "Now, go home and get some sleep. I don't want to see you in this office again for at least the next two days," she ordered in a gentle, but firm manner.
* * * * * *
After giving Trowa and Anna a ride home following their meeting with Lady Une, Heero and Duo walked up the porch steps to their own house. As they walked, their arms brushed up against each other on account of how close they stayed together, their shadows under the porch lights merging into one entity. It was just after nine o'clock and the light drizzle had finally stopped.
When they unlocked the door and stepped inside, Yuuki ran up to them with an excited bark. The puppy's tail was wagging excitedly as her owners greeted her with gentle pats. The sight of the collie brought a small smile to the braided pilot's as Heero sighed in relief of the sight. Carefully, Duo scooped up the giddy ball of fur in one arm.
Quatre and Relena stepped out of the living room to greet their friends with concerned and eager expressions. Once everyone was seated back in the living room, Heero opted to be the informer as Duo played with their puppy in one of the further corners of the room. When Heero had finished recalling the events of that evening, leaving out the comment Dobson had shot at Duo, their guests sitting before him were wide-eyed and pale.
"My God," was all Relena could manage to whisper as she sat back, covering her mouth. She reached with a gentle hand to rub her slightly swollen stomach as her lover took a firm hold of the free hand beside him.
Quatre looked just as stricken by the assessment and the realization that he and the other ex-Gundam pilots were all being targeted. All this time, it was just assumed that Duo had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. That theory had been dashed in the light of this new realization. They were all being hunted, and there was nothing coincidental in Duo's ending up in the hands of the White Out Organization.
There had been a long silence in the room before the blonde Arab finally asked quietly, "What does Lady Une have planned for the next move in finding the other traitors?"
Glancing to his watch, Heero answered, "By now, she must have contacted Noin, Zechs, Wufei and Sally. They're going to continue on with the investigation in searching through Dobson's residence and belongings. She expects to have the people who were helping him by the end of the next day."
The Japanese pilot's cobalt eyes turned to his best friend, relieved in seeing that Duo was finding comfort in just sitting on the floor with Yuuki curled in his lap. Turning back to their guests, he offered, "You're both still more than welcome to stay here for the night in one of the guest rooms, if you like."
At sensing a great deal of tension from his braided friend, Quatre smiled kindly as he shook his head, "Thank you, Heero, but we don't have a long drive back home. There are some matters we will have to take care of from there before arriving at headquarters in the morning."
Relena was as understanding, knowing that there was a reason for her lover's wish to leave their friends alone. She accepted the Arab's hand offered to her to assist her rising to her feet. Walking over to the braided pilot in the corner as he rose at seeing that his friends were leaving, the young woman pecked his cheek as she wrapped her arms around him. "We'll see you tomorrow, Duo," she whispered before pulling back. Forcing a smile, the American nodded.
When their farewells had been exchanged, Relena hooked her arm through Quatre's as they walked back to their car. "What's wrong with Duo?" she asked quietly, her concern etched on her face. "He seemed so... distant tonight." The worry on her face grew deeper as she commented, "And I know that you were picking something up from him. You wouldn't have been in such a rush to leave if you hadn't."
Shaking his head, the Arab pilot frowned, "I don't know. But I haven't sensed such a sense of loss and tension in him since the last time we saw him." A shuddered ran through Quatre at the memory of that fateful meeting when Duo had spoken up to all of them for their lack of effort in searching for him.
While the braided Preventer had every right to be upset with them, it still hurt. Had he have been able to turn back time, the blonde pilot would never have written his friend off as dead. Looking back over his shoulder to the house, Quatre commented, "I just hope that Heero is able to get him through his anguish again."
Back inside the house, Yuuki went back to her large pillow to lie down and fall asleep, having grown accustomed to the sleeping arrangements over the last few days. Upstairs, Heero and Duo were changing out of their uniforms in silence on opposite sides of the room. As he pulled a white tank top over his head, the Japanese pilot peered over his shoulder to find his friend was already changed and sitting on the edge of their bed.
Walking over to his partner, Heero knelt down before him to gaze up with worried eyes as he said quietly, "Talk to me, Duo. You haven't said a word all night." Duo bit his lip and turned his head aside, unable to meet the eyes watching him with so much concern.
Gently, Heero rested a hand on his friend's leg, only to pull it back as if it were burned when Duo flinched at the touch. Cursing himself quietly for making such a move, the ex-Wing pilot whispered sincerely, "I'm sorry."
Heero moved slowly, as not to startle the skittish pilot, to sit beside him on the bed. Sighing deeply, he pulled Duo close to him as he enfolded him in his arms. Unable to restrain himself any longer, the braided pilot all but collapsed against his best friend, burying his face into the Japanese Preventer's chest as he threw his arms around him. For a while, Duo just trembled and sobbed against his partner.
It killed Heero every time he saw Duo in this state. As much as this was a part of his friend's dealing with his pain, it just wasn't the Duo that he knew. Just when it seemed as though the braided pilot was beginning to come to terms with his nightmarish experience, all of the work they had accomplished over the last few months was beginning to fall apart at the seems again.
Once the teenager in his arms relaxed, a thought came to Heero and gently pulled the both of them up to their feet. Duo just kept his eyes locked on the deep cobalt watching him as his friend wiped the tears from his face, asking, "Better." Swallowing hard, the braided pilot nodded still unable to trust his voice. Gently, the ex-Wing pilot tugged on his hand and ordered gently, "Follow me."
Their hands staying joined, Heero led them downstairs and through the long hallway. Just behind him, Duo remained quiet as he blinked is violet eyes in uncertainty. Opening the door to their private gym, the Japanese teenager turned the light on and stepped inside, still tugging his best friend behind him.
As they passed the different pieces of workout equipment that they had accumulated before Duo's disappearance, Heero took up a roll of white bandage tape. Finally, he brought them to a stop before the large, red punching bag that was strung up in the far corner. After unraveling some of the tape, the unruly-haired pilot began to wrap it around his confused partner's knuckles without a word between them.
When both hands were properly protected, Heero took hold of the braided teenager's shoulders and locked their gazed as he stated, "This investigation is only going to become more challenging for you. If you fall apart every time one of those bastards has something to say, then you're not ready to be a part of this investigation and I will not allow you to be involved."
The Japanese pilot's cobalt eyes narrowed and his hands squeezed Duo's shoulders as he continued, "From now on, tell yourself that every time you let yourself crumble, you're letting the people who hurt you win. They wanted to break you, crush your spirit until there was nothing left. You've been a victim of these fuckers long enough."
The wide eyes watching him slowly narrowed in their own determination as the words began to break through the barrier of distress and grief that had plagued Duo for the last two years. After all of the torture, all of the measures taken to destroy him, the braided pilot finally took a look at the person he had become, had allowed himself to become after the fact.
Duo had become exactly what the organizers of the White Out Organization wanted him to become... a broken, feeble shell of the person he once had been. Suddenly, the driving force within him, the same force he referred to as Shinigami, came alive again and screamed for vengeance.
At the flash of realization in his partner's eyes, Heero told him, "You better prove to me that you're ready for this case. I am not going to sit back and watch you break down every time one of these assholes tries to get under your skin. Now are you going to just allow yourself be their victim any longer?"
His eyes still narrowed, Duo growled darkly, "No." It was the first word he had said that night, and yet that one word communicated volumes to what was going through the braided pilot's mind.
Slowly, a satisfied smirk tugged at the right side of Heero's mouth as he replied, "Good. Now prove it." With that, he moved behind the punching bag to hold it in place. "This is just practice of what's to come," the ex-Wing pilot announced.
Taking a deep breath, Heero prepared himself in his role needed to help his friend heal. Lowering his voice intently to sound similar to Dobson, Heero smirked, "I'll bet that you made a pretty little bitch while you were in that cell."
Duo let out a loud cry of rage as he sent his right fist flying into the bag. His left fist followed quickly after. Replacing his anguish and distress with seething anger and the need for revenge, the braided pilot lost himself in the new sensations. The antagonizing comments that Heero continued to throw at him served their purpose in keeping him focused on those emotions.
Only when he felt the last of his recovering strength beginning to fade did Duo finally deliver the last blow, recoiling back a step from the force of it with a loud grunt of effort. Covered in sweat and panting heavily, he came down from the rush of emotions and the release of that rage. Heero came from around the punching bag quickly to pull his partner into a tight embrace, whispering, "Good job, Duo."
Still panting, the American closed his eyes as he held onto the other pilot tightly. As he continued to catch his breath, he grinned, "That was... fun." The chest against him rumbled with the deep chuckle that came from the ex-Wing pilot. When he caught his breath at last, he pulled back to smile warmly at his best friend. Instead of tears of pain, his eyes shimmed with small tears of elation as he whispered, "Thank you, Heero."
Returning the smile, Heero brushed back Duo's long, damp bangs and replied just as quietly, "You're welcome."
When they looked over to the clock, they were both surprised to find that they had been in the gym for over an hour. "You're getting stronger," the Japanese pilot acknowledged with a proud smirk. "Two months ago, you wouldn't have lasted a work out like that for more than fifteen minutes."
Even Duo couldn't help but grinning in pride, himself. He hadn't lasted nearly as long as he would have been able to when he was well, but this was certainly a start. He just leapt over a tall hurdle blocking his road to recovery.
While there were going to be more of those hurdles ahead, at least now Duo could look at them as challenges that he could overcome, and not something impossible for him to beat. It had been a landmark night.
One of the joys of reaching such an emotional accomplishment was the great fatigue that followed, Duo came to learn as he yawned widely. Having to heavily lean against the other pilot for support, he rested his head on Heero's shoulder with his eyes closed. "Tired," he mumbled before he had the need to yawn again.
Chuckling deeply, Heero scooped the braided Preventer into his arms as he replied, "Alright. Let's get you to bed."
By the time he reached the stairs on the way to their room, the ex-Wing pilot smiled himself at the sound of the even breathing from the teenager in his arms as a sign that he had already fallen asleep. Gently, he placed a kiss on Duo's forehead. Sighing quietly, he silently wondered how the others were doing in their search for the other leaks.
* * * * * *
Not even bothering with sliding a card into the door to open it, Wufei had resorted to simply kicking the door to Andrew Dobson's house in. Once they were in, Sally instantly went to two of the large file cabinets she found in the basement. Using a small laser cutter, she broke into the cabinets and went through the reports and files located there. Wufei went to the fallen agent's computer, hacking into some of the secured files there.
More than an hour into their search, Sally ran upstairs, carrying a couple folders with her. "Look at this," she told her fiancé as she walked over to the computer station in the study. Pausing in his typing, Wufei's dark eyes scanned over the papers the braided woman lied on the desk before him.
"There is nothing mentioned of White Out in any of his files," Sally began. Pointing to several lines that she highlighted, she stated, "But in some of his person records, Dobson mentioned Brian Hefner, Sara Rivers and Mark Conner more than a hundred times in his records."
Wufei took a deep breath and covered his face with his hands. "They're all agents that had been trained by us, personally, when they became Preventers." Lowering his hand, he looked up to the young woman and suggested, "Call Zechs and Noin at the office. See if those names are in any memos that were pulled from Dobson's pockets."
Sally quickly removed her cell phone as the raven-haired pilot hacked into the National bank records, following Trowa and Anna's instructions that they had passed along to him on their way to the house. Now that he had specific names to go off of, his search would only take minutes compared to the days his friends had he research without a lead.
After stepping into the hallway, the young woman dialed her friend's own cell phone number. "This is Noin," the voice on the other end of the cell phone greeted.
Sally replied, "Noin, of the personal records in Dobson's computer at headquarters and in the items he had been carrying, I need you to look for three specific names." Once her comrade announced she had pen and paper ready, the braided Preventer recited, "Brian Hefner, Sara Rivers and Mark Conner. Code names Agent Blade, Agent Storm and Agent Wolf."
There was a long silence on the other line as Noin and Zechs cross-referenced the names. Finally, Zechs's voice came over the receiver as he stated, "We have matches with all three names here. They were written on different documents as not to draw any connection."
Wufei's voice suddenly called, "Sally!"
Running back into the study, the braided woman kept her right ear to the cell phone as her fiancé reported, "The three accounts of those agents all made deposits of one hundred thousand dollars each, with no way to trace where the funds came from." He turned in his seat with a determined expression as he stated, "Those deposits were made within two weeks following Duo's disappearance."
Smiling in relief, Sally announced, "We've got them."
* * * * * *
Whistling a merry tune, Mark Conner made his way toward his office at the start of another day. He woke up in an exceptionally good mood this morning. Now that he had leave from any field work for the next couple of weeks, he could look forward to staying in his office and having the night to himself... and whatever lovely, female accompaniment he so chose. He certainly was at the top of his game.
As he ran a hand through his wavy, blonde hair, the young man chuckled deeply at the thought of what conversations he would have the pleasure of eavesdropping on this afternoon. When it came time for lunch, Conner made plans on calling his good friend Andrew Dobson to join him. It was going to be a good day.
Once he approached the door, the blonde agent entered his access code into the panel and stepped inside. He froze the moment he took one step inside. Sitting at his desk, his arms folded behind his head, was none other than Zechs. With his feet resting atop Mark's desk and a sinister smirk on his face, he greeted, "Good to see you, Conner."
His brown eyes wide, Agent Wolf only hesitated for a millisecond before turning on his heels and running out into the hall. "He's on the run," Zechs announced into his radio as he sprang to his feet to chase after Mark. "He turned down the south wing."
"I'm on it," Noin's voice replied. From where she was stationed, she could see the young man running right in her direction. Stepping out from behind the corner where she was hiding, she propped an arm on the wall and her freehand on her hip. "Something wrong, Mark?" she asked with a playful smirk.
The Mark's brown eyes widened as he tried desperately from stopping himself running into her. When he turned, he ran right into Zechs' fist, falling backwards onto the floor from the sheer harshness of the collision.
Amazed that he hadn't lost consciousness from the blow, the stunned traitor blinked his shocked eyes up to the couple standing over him, their pistols aimed for his head as they glared heatedly down on him. "Don't. Move," Zechs ordered in a deep growl.
* * * * * *
Mark was thrown into one of the holding cells located in the lowest level of the Preventer headquarters. As the thick, metal door was slammed closed behind him, the tall blonde's look of rage quickly turned into shock when his gaze fell on the two grim-faced agents sitting at the long table in the center of the room...Sara Rivers and Brian Hefner.
Suddenly, what started off as such a great day had taken a drastic turn.
* * * * * *
At the ringing of his cell phone, Heero removed one hand from the steering wheel to answer it. Putting the phone to his ear, he greeted, "This is Yuy." From his place in the passenger seat, Duo watched his friend in anticipation.
"Okay," Heero spoke after a long pause, his voice not giving anything away to what was being said on the other end of the line. "We'll see you in about ten minutes then." With that, he disconnected the call and placed the phone back in his uniform's jacket pocket.
Taking a deep breath, the ex-Wing pilot turned to face his friend's curious, violet eyes. A smile slowly tugged at Heero's lips as he announced, "They have them."
TBC...
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