Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cult Characteristic ❯ Chapter 2

TWO.

Wufei stared at the small black screen, took a deep breath and pressed play on the little remote.

Heero, Quatre and Trowa had gone for the night; they had decided to get into the infiltration right away as it was a night club and they only two nights more before the operation. Alone in the office, Wufei had finally retrieved the video tapes from Une. Now he sat in the dark, remote in hand, wishing he was at the club.

Across the street from the club is an insurance office. They have several camera's outside the building, two of which just happened to be directed toward the other side of the street. There was months of footage. Thousands of people going in, coming out, walking past…The first camera angle was a gem for identifying members of the cult; it was aimed at the damn front door! The second camera was actually aimed at the sidewalk leading up to the insurance company's main doors, but the background showed the windows of the upper building belonging to the cult. Lights went on, shadows moved past, faces appeared and disappeared…It was useful for seeing how often those parts of the building were accessed. However, there was nothing on the lower levels. Hopefully the others would infiltrate that far though Wufei doubted it.

Wufei decided to focus on the first tape, freezing each frame and matching faces to the photos he had. There were very few. Most were new, and he started running them through the Preventers database.

After five hours Wufei was ready to scream. If he didn't know better he would have thought someone had collected the scum of the universe and shoved them all in one building. Add to that the fact many people who went in never came out again and Wufei wanted blood. Lots of it.

Wufei had managed to place faces into groups. His desk was now a montage of photos. There were several teams he classified as `collectors'. They were the ones who did the kidnapping. There was another group Wufei classified as `victims'. Fiona was right; they were the photos from the files. Then there were the ones who didn't want to get their hands dirty. The heads. The heads that, if Wufei had his way, would roll.

"How is it going?"

Wufei waved an arm over the desk and idly watched Une's eyes rove over the mass. She was visibly pleased.

"This is incredible! You could tell all this from those tapes?"

"And Fiona, yes."

"Amazing…"

The compliment was not lost on Wufei. He allowed a weak smile to touch his lips.

"You're right you know," he said very softly, fingers touching the edge of the `victims' photos as he glared at the table.

"About what?" Une asked, a little nervous.

"It's potentially fatal. For all of us."

And they left it at that. Wufei watched the door close before pressing play on the second tape.

*

Une closed the door and sighed heavily. She was nervous. This case was getting to her; had got to her the moment she realized what they would need to do in order to be successful. The problem was it didn't need to be a potentially fatal case. There was one man who could have walked straight into that building, gotten them every scrap of information they needed, and walked straight back out again. But that man had run. He was missing only on Preventer employee files. Everyone knew Duo had run. They just didn't know where. Right now Une would have given anything to know. They needed the skills he alone possessed.

"You should go home."

Une stared at Noin and grimaced.

"I can't. There is work to be done."

"It's being done. We can handle it."

"I know that, but…what if they do have a weapon, and we fail…"

Noin nodded in understanding. They could take no chances with this case. They all knew that, Une most of all. But Noin also knew it was important that someone get some sleep, because it was obvious certain pilots certainly weren't about to.

"We have two days Une…the boys are already in the building. You've seen what Wufei's already managed to do. Just give them time. Get some rest for when we need you."

Une quirked a small smile. She knew it was Noin's subtle way of saying she was only getting in the way at the moment. After all, it was almost three in the morning. Sighing in defeat, she headed toward the elevator. She grabbed her jacket off the rack at its side when the light beeped, the doors opened and three very pissed off young men practically fell into the office.

"They know Preventers are on to them. They ever know which Preventers!" Quatre bellowed at the empty offices. Une could have sworn she heard Trowa Barton swear.

"What?" She snapped, furious.

"There is a leak," Heero said promptly and they were suddenly running for the case office. Wufei took one look at them when they entered and pressed stop on that damned recorder.

"We going in?"

Milliardo walked through the door and whispered something to Une. Her eyes went wide and she turned to face the room.

"You are right. Someone in the government is leaking our information."

"I suspect they are the ones financing the cult," Milliardo explained, but there was no mention of who was doing said financing. "We go in tonight."

Une watched the reactions, but all she saw was grim determination.

"We'll need Fiona."

Everyone gaped at Wufei.

"We haven't been in the lower levels," Wufei explained calmly. "She has."

Une nodded and grabbed a phone, calling Fiona's parents. The decision lay with them, but considering their desire to help in everything else so far she doubted there would be a problem. Besides, Fiona's parents were colonists. They trusted the Gundam Pilots like they trusted God. Ironic when their daughter had just spent two years as the victim of a satanic cult.

By the time she hung up and nodded to Wufei, Milliardo had already figured everything out. The phones were ringing Preventer agent homes and said agents were jumping in their cars and headed for the office. By the time Une reached the foyer her `troops' were assembled. All she had to do was wave them out the door, but she didn't. She put on a vest and grabbed a gun like all the rest and headed out behind Milliardo. He was still in charge of the operation, but if he needed clearance for anything she would be there.

Une stared at the sky outside her car window as it screamed toward the cult headquarters. There was no moon. It was a pitch night. Her chest ached where she had once been shot. Something was going to happen. Une wished she knew if it was good or bad.