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"That Which Mends"Written By: SkyLark Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them. Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4 Warnings: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes, AU Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm
and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html Summary: Heero is a straight A student studying Psychology and finds his world turned upside down when he attends a Frat party.
"That Which Mends" [Safety net, don't hold me now -Lyrics to 'Skin' performed by Zola Jesus] Chapter 34
Agents Wolf, Night and Rock stood shocked still with their eyes wide and jaws open as they stared at the psych major after his startling proclamation.
Holding up the thin file in his hand, Wufei urged, "I need to know that you're absolutely sure about this."
"I'd stake my life on it," Heero replied, his tone flat and deadly serious. His heart was still hammering in his chest. This was a huge leap of faith that he was asking his friends to make in trusting his call...
...only now, he saw those friends as the federal agents that, until that moment, he sometimes forgot they also happened to be. All but forgotten was how not long ago they were playing a round of kicking each other's shins over ice cream and laughing over crazy antics. What remained now was the stark opposite- a glimpse at the calculating, determined upholders of security and the law that they were.
Nodding firmly, Chang read the name on the top of the folder aloud, "Gary Sweeney." He handed the folder over to Winner as he ordered, "Stop looking for anyone else and get everything you can on this guy. We need a good reason to go after him. If you can, work out a warrant so we can get into his home."
While the blonde hurried out to carry off his tasks, the team leader faced Barton beside him and told him, "Find where he lives and get satellite images for a mile-wide radius around it. We're going to need to take him down at his place to and we'll need a lay of the land before we close in. Find any vantage point you can get."
"On it," Night replied as he rushed for his station.
Meeting Heero's gaze, Chang nodded firmly, "Nice work, Yuy."
Shaking his head back into reality, the psych major was still shell-shocked that his analysis had been trusted so explicitly without the slightest hesitation in such an important situation. "Y-you don't want to verify that I got it right?" he heard himself question.
The corner of his lip curling in a lopsided smirk, Wolf responded, "I don't have to. That look in your eyes was the same one Meiran would get whenever she found who we were after. And she was always right when she had that glint. For a second, it was like she was still here."
Mentally reeling from that, Yuy blinked widely... then he felt a small, honored smile spread across his face as the knot in his stomach disappeared. Along with the first bit of pride in his efforts that he'd felt in a very long time, the significance of the fallen Preventer's hand possibly still being present through him was not lost to him.
"I need to call Anna and Duo back here," Wufei thought aloud. "Are you comfortable working with Quatre to give him a hand in pulling information on our Mister Sweeney? He'll be pretty tied up in getting a hold of that warrant this late on a Friday."
Heero nodded, "I'm more than happy to help. Will I need special access into any of the databases he would normally go through?"
At that, Chang chuckled deeply, "You already have access to everything." To the growing eyes watching him, he shrugged, "Let's just say Lady Une and we were hoping you might want to dig into this investigation at some point, so we planned ahead."
The student shook his head in amusement as he laughed, "Of course, you did. Why am I not at all surprised?" Not about to delay the hunt any longer, he sobered and stated, "Where do I start?"
His friend answered, "Quatre will give you a crash course so you can get started." Removing his cell phone from his jeans pocket, he concluded, "Once I call the others back, and brief Lady Une on what's going on, I'll walk you through the rest so you can hit the ground running. The sooner we have this guy in custody the better."
"Okay," Yuy nodded again. "I'll get on it, then." That said, he returned to the cluster of desks to check in with Agent Rock as the team leader typed furiously on his phone's digital keypad.
* * * *
Emotionally exhausted from the purge of the conflicting feelings he had been holding onto, Duo sighed deeply and pulled back from the shoulder he had been crying into.
Wiping his violet eyes dry, he sighed at the kiss that was pressed and held against his temple. "Better?" his companion asked quietly as she tightened her arms around him.
Letting out a puff of air, Maxwell stared out to their view of the river running beside the private patio they were sitting on. He hated being open to the fact that he was still hurt and struggling after so many years, but he was able to take it in his stride with his present company. Downs was the only person who really knew his story and why he was the way he was and she took that on gracefully by just being there for him without judging.
"I'm sorry," Anna muttered, sniffling as she brushed away a stray tear. Her former lover blinked in confusion and she swallowed roughly. "I've been pushing for you and Heero all this time because I thought you might have been ready. I never meant to pressure you when this is still hanging over you."
Rolling her eyes at her own sentiment, she snapped at herself, "And how fucking stupid of me to think that it wouldn't be there-" Her partner reached over to hold onto one of her hands, cutting her off.
Duo kept their gazes locked and told her, "Don't be mad at yourself for that. I'm not." Smiling, he reassured, "I know that you only had the best of intentions for me. You always do. Hell, you're one of the few who ever did. It's one of the reasons I love you."
Biting her lip, the weapons expert squeezed onto his hand in hers and sniffled again. "I love you, too," she whispered sincerely.
She paused and decided to go out on a limb by stating quietly, "Take this how you will, but it has to be said. You have to give others a chance to prove they can be trusted and loved the way you gave me that shot... and I think you're safe with Heero to do that." She giggled, "I'm a pretty good judge of character when it comes to this sort of thing. That's what I've been trying to get you to see."
With a gulp, Agent Scythe nodded shallowly. He knew that she was right. The only way to trust anyone was to allow them the opportunity to prove they could be trusted in the first place. But being so open and vulnerable still scared him.
"I'll try," Maxwell promised in little more than a breath. "I can't give you any more than that, but I will make an effort to take things a day at a time and see how it goes... as opposed to pushing him away and not bothering to put any effort into seeing what may or may not be there. I'll have to go slow about it-"
An excited, unintelligible sound erupted from the redhead as she sprung to her feet and threw herself at him to latch her arms around him while raining kisses on his face. Laughing as he held onto her, the braided agent managed, "Okay, okay. Calm down, Annie."
The longtime friends laughed, only to have their fun broken up by the sound of their cell phone alerts sounding- the buzz of a Star Wars light saber coming to life for Anna and a snippet from Darth Vader's theme song. Reaching into their pockets, they read the test messages across their screens.
"Sorry to cut in, but I need you two back at headquarters right away. Heero had a breakthrough in our search," the redhead read aloud, the teammates' eyes widening with a sharp gasp. Bolting to their feet, they moved inside to pay the bill and get back to the office when they noticed a crowd gathering and quietly murmuring between one and other at the bar they had to walk around.
Coming to a stop, the agents frowned and turned their heads to the television screens that the captive onlookers were watching.
A reporter behind his anchor desk stared back as he continued with his report, "The images we are showing you were taken by amateur photographers who happened to catch sight of what they can only describe as a massive explosion overhead."
In smaller, pixelated displays beside him, shots of a brilliant ball of light and wide ring clouds rippling across the skies were displayed as the newsman spoke. Their eyes widening as far as they could, Duo and Anna took in the pictures while the color drained from their faces and the weapons expert grasped onto her partner's arm.
"At this time, the private jet that was carrying five of the world's UN pacifists and three Senators that had disappeared from radar at about the time of the blast, remains missing," the reporter informed. "The identities of those onboard the flight that was en-route from Washington Airport will not be announced until their whereabouts have been confirmed and their families have been notified." Under her breath, Downs breathed, "Holy shit. You... you don't think..."
Together, they all but ran to see that the bill was paid so they could be off as quickly as possible. Once they were outside and rushing for Duo's car, Anna sent off a text to Wufei that read simply in all caps: 'TURN ON THE NEWS! NOW!'
* * * *
An hour later....
The reports of the explosion was all over the national news, with millions of eyes and viewers taking in the accounts of what had happened from the ground.
One of those interviews included the account of a middle-aged farmer who described his perspective of what had happened in great detail from what he saw in the sky to the invisible force that knocked him back.
Few listening and watching were more absorbed in the news than the agents in the Federal Security Central Division.
Glued to their desks as they were fully immersed in their jobs, the Preventers had the flat screen television in rec area playing to keep updated on what was happening without having to break from their work.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am now being told that what debris has been collected from the blast is consistent with fragments of a plane," a female correspondent on the monitor frowned deeply from her location in the middle of the farmer's field. "While the names of the Senators and World Pacifists are not yet disclosed, their fate is looking more and more grim by the minute..." Wufei picked up on every word she had spoken and his fingers stopped their typing so he could dry wash his face.
Senator Treize knew those identities. He was originally supposed to be on that very same flight with those men and women whom he called his friends, only he changed his plans to get home sooner. And he was not taking this new development well.
Peering over at the Commander's closed office door, Chang bit on his lip in thought and sympathy for the couple inside as they grieved the souls that were lost.
If ever he felt the pressure for answers before, he felt it crushing him now.
And all of the Preventers eggs were resting in the basket named Gary Sweeney. Chang had been through his thin file in the last hour and if Heero hadn't been so convinced that he was their person of interest, the agent would have been nervous on his call to center all of their efforts on him.
Sweeney was a librarian with a clean record. One slap on the wrist for being drunk and disorderly in public while he was in college came up on the two pages for his background check. Since it was tough to find a college student who wouldn't occasionally have a few more than they should have, it was easy to see how the folder went into the discards during the initial search.
But it was the brief mention of Sweeney's participation in a campus protest against the school board that made Yuy certain he was their man. Granted, he was a low man on the totem pole, but they had to start somewhere.
"Okay. I'll be calling you back soon. Thank you, your Honor," Quatre said into the receiver of his phone.
Hanging up, he spun his chair to look on his team leader. "That was Supreme Court Justice Manuel. In light of what's unfolding, he wants to be kept in the loop of everything we're doing until we've made an arrest. The second we have anything solid on Sweeney, he'll have a warrant for a full search of his home and to bring him in issued."
Able to breathe a little easier at that, Wolf responded, "Good. Nice work, Rock." Standing up, he propped his hands on the edge of his desk and leaned towards the other desks and asked, "Any of our 'friends' in cyber anarchy hell taking responsibility for what happened today, Night?"
Shaking his head, Trowa sighed, "No. For being as vocal as they are against the government on blogs, everyone's keeping their heads down by not even so much as logging into these hate pages. But, we had expected as much since anyone with a brain would keep quiet at a time like this."
There was a snarl in his voice as he went on typing and sneered, "Political agenda is one thing, but it's an especially fucked up thing to go after world representative pacifists."
Chang glanced over to Anna, but thought twice about interrupting her as she paged through print off after print off of the images from the blast.
Intently studying the rings, the bulb of light and the 'fingers' of projected debris that stretched across the blue sky, she would occasionally stop to grab a pen and etch some notes down on the snapshots for her analysis.
Well aware of that focused look in his lover's blue eyes when she was onto something, the team leader left her to her task and turned to the intern instead. "Anything on our librarian that we can use to hold over his head, Wing?"
"Nothing on the immediate surface from what I can tell so far," Heero informed without missing a keystroke in his going through years of highly classified data that he was silently startled the government had access to. "But I'm not surprised by that. It's how people like him operate."
Still typing furiously, the scholar replied, "Gary Sweeney has a problem with authority, but he's not about to stick his neck out more than he has to in making that point. He likes blending in while silently loathing everything about the powers that be. That's why he was approached to purchase the plates for Klein's shooter. By all authoritarian standpoints, he's a nobody that would never have set off any red flags."
"He blends into the background," Duo all but whispered in surprise, blinking his enlarged violet eyes that gazed over at his roommate.
Wing smirked at him. He stopped typing to reach over for their notebooks. Flipping both pads over to the sheets that were face down, he pointed at their scribbling in the middle of the pages in their own handwriting with the same message that they both had circled...
'Blends into the background.'
To Scythe's stunned face, Wing grinned, "As soon as I saw we had the same theory, I knew what I was looking for. You made a brilliant deduction going off of what you had."
Unable to help the proud smile that lit his face at the compliment, Maxwell snickered, "See. I told you I'm more than a pretty face." His teammates chuckled, but looked on him with impressed expressions.
A bright ring from a new alert that hit Agent Night's computer sounded. Quickly accessing the page that he got, his visible emerald eye grew. "Hey, Anna," he called from the opposite end of the cluster from her. "Mind taking a look at what I just pulled up here?"
Practically materializing in his lap in the next blink, the redhead typed at his keyboard to page down the report that she scanned over. With every line she read along, her own eyes grew further and further until she asked, "Quatre, call Judge Manuel for that search warrant."
The rest of the crew froze and looked to her as Wufei asked, "What do we have?" "Well, unless our librarian moonlights in hunting, he's been building up one hell of an arsenal including a series of guns over the years," the redhead replied.
Frowning, Winner stated, "I'm going to need more than that to earn a warrant. Anyone has the right to purchase firearms once they've gone through the proper, legal channels." Anna turned the monitor so everyone else could see the Xeroxed copies of multiple license plates with the same face as she shook her head, "Yea, but not everyone does so under different aliases at different gun dealerships every time."
His jaw falling wide open, Heero looked to his equally shocked friends. The first to recover, Agent Wolf's eyes narrowed at the many images of the red-haired man on Barton's screen and ordered, "Quatre, get that warrant."
* * * *
It was a mix of emotions that Heero was battling as there was little more he could do than sit back and watch the Preventers make their preparations to bring Gary Sweeney into custody.
Of course, he was proud of his assessment in getting who was looking more and more to be someone related to the case as new details on him were rolling in over the hours.
But there was also the worry for the people who he was slowly coming around to accepting as a family of sorts. The plan had been made to take the librarian down in the middle of the night so as to keep the element of surprise on their side. However, they were still dealing with a heavily armed and therefore potentially dangerous man.
To keep his mounting worries at bay, the psych major stayed close to Lady Une and Treize while the agents worked out the logistics of their takedown.
That move made it a little easier for Yuy to cope as he was able to provide what bit of comfort he could for the couple that was still in disbelief and loss over the close friends that they had lost in the plane explosion earlier that day.
"Heero," Middie addressed gently as she joined the scholar on the couch in the rec room that he was occupying, "You should head back to Duo's for the night. You've done more than enough here and I don't want you to have to see more than you might be ready for as the others get ready. Seeing preparations like this can be pretty... intense."
Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, the intern tore his gaze away from the team that was huddled together around Agent Wolf's desk and met the brown eyes watching him. "Is there anything I can do to help them with this part?" he inquired, the hope and the longing that he felt to be needed right then dripping from his voice.
Gulping, Heero gestured to the agents and asked, "They're going to be okay... right?" He hadn't missed how he was unconsciously looking at Duo in particular when he spoke up.
Middie's grin warmed and reached her eyes as she nodded firmly, "Yes, they will be. I realize that there are no guarantees when it comes to this part of the job, but they've conducted dozens upon dozens of takedowns like this before. They'll get this one done and come out of it fine, I'm confident in saying."
There wasn't a whole lot that Yuy would have been able to do whether or not that was the case, he knew. In the end, he had to trust her and hold out the same faith that everything would run smoothly for his friends. Against his urge to stay alert, the release of his nerves brought on a wide yawn that he covered his mouth with a hand to mask.
Only then was he aware that the hour was closing in on midnight when he checked his watch.
"Come on," Treize chuckled as he neared after having listened in on part of their conversation. "I'll take you back to Duo's so we can give my lady and the others the room to get ready to bring your man in." As the scholar reluctantly stood up, the Senator patted his back and led the way for the elevators.
Sluggish in his steps and his stomach still unsettled, Heero followed after the politician and waved at the Preventers when they peered up to smile and wave back at him. As always, Maxwell had that impish grin on his face that promised trouble and a captivating glint in his violet eyes that stirred something in the scholar's chest when he was given a wink.
Then, he was gone when the counselor rounded the wall that separated them.
As the elevator doors closed, Yuy told the new father-to-be, "Thank you for offering a ride back since I came in with Duo."
A smirk tugging the corner of his mouth, the Senator replied, "Actually, I should be thanking you. This will be a good distraction from everything that's going on at the moment." He folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes as he leaned heavily against the wall beside him.
Khushrenada commented, "I won't bother telling you not to worry because you will, same as Middie and I will. Especially after what happened to Meiran and Anna..." His voice trailed off and he shuddered. "It's very hard to be the one sitting back and waiting. And no matter how many times these situations come up, they never get any easier."
Slowly turning to look on the scholar, Treize gave him a small smile. "So, thank you for giving me an excuse to get out of there for a while."
Heero swallowed roughly with a nod as the elevator slowed to a stop and the arrival bell rang. At the opening of the doors, the politician and the intern entered the long corridor leading for the front lobby.
Back up on the seventh floor, Chang stared down at the blueprints of Gary Sweeney's home that Trowa had pulled together.
Looking to the satellite images of the hills and trees surrounding the lone house, the Chinese agent ran over the strategy of attack that he had just laid out to his team... and now he was second guessing himself.
He never second guessed himself before. Not when this was going to be a routine arrest with everything working to their favor since their target was likely already sound asleep in his bed, completely unaware of what was coming for him.
"Okay," Chang nodded firmly as he righted himself and rolled his shoulders back. Eyeing his fellow agents, he told them in a clear and steady voice, "Let's suit up and move out."
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