Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 81 ( Chapter 81 )

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“Family Ties”

 

January 2007 ShenLong

 

Chapter 81

 

[ESUN Headquarters]

 

Une stepped out into the smaller reception room and informed Sky she was ready for the call. Whilst the agent patched her through, she pulled out a chair. She had a feeling she would need to sit to talk with Agent Night.

 

“Okay, Commander, patching through now.”

 

The comm unit made a few interesting noises and then the voice of Fire came over the airwaves. It was crackly and in-dispersed with static, but Une was able to hear pretty well.

 

“Agent Fire. Report in,” Une demanded.

 

“Commander, retrieval mission was a success. We have Agent Night back with us.”

 

Une let a sigh of relief escape. “Thank god,” she muttered. “What is Night's status?”

 

“At this stage we haven't a clear status for him. Barton has gone to fetch the med kit and will do a complete check shortly. At this stage he appears operational. He does have a bullet crease to the upper arm and some other injuries; a full report will be given once Barton has the chance to take a look at him.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Commander, Night wishes to speak with you in regards to Barton and what is going on here.”

 

“Thank you, Fire. Put him on please.”

 

Wufei nodded to Duo who closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

 

“Commander, Agent Night here.”

 

“Good to have you back, agent.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Night, I know there is a lot going on and a lot has happened to you. Right now I'm interested in what Barton is up to and what you've discovered whilst being held. All the other details of your kidnapping and such can wait until later.”

 

“I thought as much,” muttered Duo. “Commander, Barton has developed a computer virus, specifically a Firecell.”

 

“We are aware of that, Night.”

 

“Yeah, well, this virus was developed by a guy named Hawkins...”

 

“The professor. Agent Day has already confirmed that for us.”

 

“Barton has Hawkins here.”

 

There was silence on the other end of the com unit for a brief moment.

 

“I see. Day said he'd disappeared, but we have no trace of where he went.”

 

“Barton kidnapped him too. He's had him develop the Firecell program...” Duo went on to explain all he knew, keeping it brief and giving just the facts. “He plans on taking over, putting his own people on the ESUN board and running the earth and colonies himself. He has a back up army and several mobile suits at his disposal and plans to use them to force the earth and any colonies that refuse to comply.”

 

“Damn. Do you have any further information on the army and the suits?”

 

“The army is made up of ex OZ, White Fang and the trash from the streets of L2; mainly drug lords, pimps and the criminal population. They are ruthless, but there is one advantage.”

 

“Oh? And what would that be?”

 

“One of my original kidnappers that was taken too was forced to spend time training some of the army. Suffice to say if I know the criminal population, once the shit hits the fan they won't be fighting like soldiers should, they will be fighting dirty and most of all, they will only be looking out for number one.”

 

“Now that could be an advantage,” Une mused.

 

“Yeah, it will,” Duo replied.

 

“What about the mobile suits?”

 

“They are a specially developed suit. Based on the Serpent, Barton has modified them so they can be either piloted or used in Doll mode.”

 

“The pilots?”

Duo sighed again. “Unfortunately, the pilots have been trained by myself.”

 

“Shit!”

 

Wufei's eyes widened at the expletive from the Commander and also the confession from Maxwell. Night had been an excellent pilot so no doubt these pilots would be good - and that was not so good for them.

 

“I haven't had a lot of time to spend with them and I've only taught them the basics. I wasn't about to fine tune them if I could help it,” Duo informed. “Also, the suits themselves. I had to program them.”

 

“That bastard,” Une growled.

 

“Don't worry, Commander. Although they were watching me like a hawk I did managed to make a minor alteration to the programing, a little something that Hawkins suggested. I'm pretty certain that Barton hasn't picked up on it.” Duo rubbed his face with a weary hand.

 

Trowa entered the cockpit with the med kit in hand and frowned when he saw the fatigue in Duo's face.

 

Une asked for further information which Duo gave. He told her all he'd done thus far, including his escape from the cell and the resulting skirmish with the group of soldiers.

 

“You put them all in a closet?” Une all but shrieked.

 

“Ah, those would have been my orders, Commander,” Wufei stated.

 

“Agent Fire!”

 

“Commander, I don't give a shit what you're about to say about protocol or anything else. They were not playing by the rules, in fact, I don't think they had any ethics at all and therefore, in my opinion, justice was served,” Wufei defended himself.

 

“Agent Fire, whilst I do not condone what you've done, I can see your reasons for doing so. Off the record, I agree with you.”

 

Wufei's black eyes opened wide and he was momentarily lost for words.

 

“How long before Barton knows you're missing?” asked Une.

 

“Unsure,” Duo replied.

 

“Fire, I take it the shuttle is still cloaked and Barton doesn't know of your presence yet?”

“At this stage that would appear to be correct, Commander. However, once those soldiers are discovered they will know someone has infiltrated their ranks and it will only be a matter of time before Barton comes looking.”

 

Quatre appeared in the cockpit carrying four containers of tea and seeing the current situation, he took a seat behind the pilot's chair. He glanced at Trowa who shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have a clue how long the pair would be talking with Une.

 

With a sigh, Quatre passed Trowa one of the containers, then reached forward to pass Wufei one too. Duo declined his for the moment.

 

“If my instincts are correct, Barton won't waste any time in trying to track you all down...”

 

“Fuck! What the hell is that crap?!” Wufei choked out.

 

“Agent Fire! Mind your language! May I remind you you're speaking to your commanding officer here!” Une snapped.

 

“Sorry, Commander, I wasn't speaking to you, rather to Winner.” Wufei glared at the blonde who stared defiantly back.

 

“What?! You asked me to make tea, so I fucking did,” the blonde snipped.

 

“That's not tea! It's fucking poison!” Wufei glared at the container.

 

“I think you're supposed to remove the tea leaves before adding the milk and drinking,” Duo told the blonde as further study of Wufei's beverage showed a lot of little brown things swirling around.

 

“Are you really?” Quatre questioned, his voice innocent.

 

Duo couldn't help a smile.

 

“That's the last time I ask you to make tea,” Wufei growled.

 

“Good,” Quatre shot back. “Mission accomplished,” he muttered under his breath.

 

“Chang! Need I remind you we have a major catastrophe about to happen here?!” Une interrupted.

 

“Ah, sorry, Commander.”

 

“Listen and listen good, agents.” Une brought the agents all up to speed with what was going on in the earth sphere, Barton's broadcast and following demands. “I have a transport shuttle en-route to you as we speak. I will have Sky contact them and let you know the frequency to contact them on. I have to go and get back to this meeting with the ESUN board as Barton will be in touch in another fifteen minutes. Once you have the frequency of the other shuttle I expect you to contact them. I will speak with both you and the other shuttle as soon as I can.”

 

“Roger that, Commander.”

 

“Une, out.”

 

“Fire, out.”

 

Une gave a weary sigh. Whilst she was relieved to have Agent Night back in the fold, she was extremely worried about how all this was going to play out. Pushing the comm unit again, she spoke briefly with Sky, requesting he obtain and send through the frequency of the transport shuttle to the one already on the satellite. Taking a deep breath, she stood, straightened her spine and went back into the lion's den to do further battle.

 

* * *

 

[Satellite XRB 23]

 

Checking his watch, Barton gave an inner smirk. He rubbed his hands together and stood up. “Time to see what our esteemed board is prepared to do,” he told the waiting group.

 

Wainright, Richards and Zaheer all followed Barton from his office and back through the satellite corridors to the main control room. Once inside, Barton walked over to where Craven was sitting.

 

“I think our hour is up, time to contact the ESUN and find out what their decision is.”

 

“As you wish, sir,” replied Craven.

 

Barton moved across the room to sit in the chair opposite the camera whilst Craven busied himself getting things ready for the broadcast.

 

“Connect me directly to the ESUN, this doesn't need to be broadcast to the rest of the earth sphere and colonies. I can speak to them once I've had my answer from the board,” he told Craven.

 

“Yes, sir.” Craven went back to his console and typed in a few commands.

 

The rest of the control room was silent.

 

Having finished with his preparations, Craven turned back to Barton. “All ready, sir.”

 

“Good. Let's broadcast.”

 

* * *

 

[ESUN Headquarters]

 

Une stepped back into the boardroom and paused. She glanced around and then shook her head. They were worse than a mob of kindergarten children. The noise level was quite high as they all discussed, or rather argued, their points regarding Barton and the virus. It was clear that most of them didn't believe what Barton had said in his broadcast earlier. She glanced at her watch, noting the time was almost up and sighed.

 

This was going to get ugly.

 

Moving back to her seat, she looked at Relena who gave her a long suffering look in return. Sitting down, she addressed the woman. “Relena, these idiots aren't going to see reason. Once Barton releases that Firecell again and the earth sphere falls completely under his control, the people are going to panic. It won't be safe to remain here.” Une could clearly see what would unfold.

 

Relena was no idiot either and she could see the implications of what was going to happen. “I'll head back to my residence, I'll be quite okay there,” Relena replied. “It has an excellent security system and then there's my bodyguards too.”

 

“No, Relena. It won't be as safe as you think. The security system won't work if there's no power and your bodyguards won't be able to keep mobs of people at bay.”

 

“The power grids will be under his control too?” Relena whispered.

 

“Yes, Relena. Everything that is remotely controlled by a computer will be under his control.”

 

“Damn. I guess I didn't realize just how dependent we are on the electronic sector.”

 

“Relena, I want you to come back to Preventer Headquarters with me. You will be safe there.”

 

“But, won't Preventer be affected too?”

 

“To a point, yes. We have our own generators so power won't be an issue should he take those over and cut them off. We also have had the insight of a very smart agent who has been working around the clock to reprogram the entire Preventer network and keep us up and running.”

 

“Heero?”

 

Une smiled. “Yes. Thanks to him Preventer shouldn't be as affected as the rest of the earth sphere.”

 

“Okay, Une. I'll come with you, but you must let me try and help.”

 

Une nodded. “I'm sure we can find something for you to do.” Honestly she didn't have a clue what Relena could possibly do, but she would find something, even if it was just running errands through the building.

 

The small screen in the corner of the boardroom made a hissing noise and everyone fell silent as their eyes turned to watch.

 

Barton's face appeared on the screen, a self satisfied smile on his face. “Ah, hello again. It's nice to see most of you together,” Barton began. “I take it you have had your meeting? Your hour is up and I'm ready to hear your decision.”

 

“Now see here.” Senator Lynch stood up and faced the screen. “I suggest you stop with all this bullshit and crawl back under whatever rock it was you crawled out from and stop playing games. The ESUN is doing a fine job of running the affairs of the earth and colonies without your interference.”

 

A gray eyebrow raised itself and a sharp bark of laughter followed. “Really?” Barton asked. “Seems to me the ESUN is making a mockery of everything. You lot don't give a damn about the colonies, if you did then why are they still struggling?”

 

“They're getting their funding, the rebuilding is in place and several schemes are being implemented to bring the economies back up to par,” Lynch snapped.

 

“Then you are delusional. When was the last time you visited a colony, senator?”

 

Lynch remained silent.

 

“If your mob hadn't been siphoning off funds, especially from L2, then the colonies would be a lot more prosperous than they are right now,” Une interrupted.

 

Several jaws fell slack with that revelation.

 

Barton's eyes narrowed and he glared at the Commander.

 

Une didn't flinch. “Oh yes, Preventer is quite aware of your activities, Barton. We know you've had Richards and Wainright doing your dirty work for you, taking funds and using those funds to build yourself and your followers to what you are now. Tell me, have you informed the people of L2 of your activities? Let them know the reason they aren't advancing as quickly as the other colonies is because you've stolen their funding?”

 

“Sometimes a sacrifice is needed, Commander. L2 isn't all that important, in fact, I think we would be doing the entire sphere a favor in removing it from the picture. It's only full of criminals, whores and drug addicts, and who is going to miss them?”

“How dare you!” Relena spat, her anger well and truly roused.

 

Une put a hand on the girl's arm, warning her not to say anything further. Instead, she fixed her icy glare on Barton. “You would know, wouldn't you, Barton? After all, isn't that where you've recruited your army from?”

 

Barton's eyes narrowed. “How do you know about my army?!” he demanded.

 

Une smirked. “Oh, I have my ways,” she replied. “I guess they're not good enough to have a colony and exist, but they're good enough to form an army and sacrifice their lives for a delinquent such as yourself. I wonder what they would think about their leader if they were to know the truth?”

 

Barton turned a rather deep shade of red for a moment before regaining his composure. “Enough!” he thundered. “I want an answer. Is the ESUN going to stand down or not?”

 

“No, Barton,” Lynch spoke. “The ESUN is not afraid of you and your stupid ideas. We will not stand down and allow you to take over; we will not be cowed by a dictator like you.”

 

“So be it. You have been warned. I will release my Firecell in full. I'd like to say it's been a pleasure, but I don't like to lie. Good day to you all, it was nice meeting you.”

 

The screen fuzzed and went blank. Immediately the room exploded into a cacophony of voices, each having something to say about Barton and his threats. Une let them go at it, she knew it wouldn't make one iota of difference; the damage was done.

 

“Relena, I think we should leave now,” Une said to the senator.

 

Relena nodded and stood. She tried to address the rest of the board but they were too busy arguing amongst themselves. With a sigh she gave up. “I'm coming,” she told Une.

 

The pair slipped out unnoticed and headed for Une's car. Once inside, Une started up the engine and pulled out of the parking area and onto the road. She drove in silence for a couple of minutes, then spoke.

 

“We need to get back to Headquarters as quickly as possible. I have a feeling that Barton won't wait long to release the full Firecell. I'm also betting he will broadcast to the people and let them know the ESUN has elected to remain in power and that's why he's doing what he is; that's if they haven't already seen the broadcast at the ESUN.”

 

“This is going to get ugly very quickly,” Relena said softly. “The people, they aren't going to like it when they have nothing, if what you say about this virus is true. I can see they will be angry and rioting will occur, they will blame the ESUN for their predicament and it will escalate out of control...”

 

“Exactly,” Une replied. Relena could be one smart cookie when she wanted to be. “Now you know why I want you safely out of the picture.”

 

“I'll cooperate fully, Une.”

 

“Good.” Une pushed the car as fast as she dared. She had no idea when Barton would unleash the virus in full on the earth and colonies and personally wanted to be back safely within the Preventer building when it happened.

 

Five minutes out from headquarters, Une knew the worst had happened.

 

Traffic signals had stopped working, trams, trains and anything else that relied on electricity to power it had come to a standstill. She tried the car radio - nothing. Pulling her cell phone from her pocket she noted it too was dead. Grabbing the comm unit, she prayed that was still working.

 

“Preventer Headquarters, this is Commander Une, do you copy?”

 

Silence.

 

“Preventer Headquarters, this is Commander Une, do you copy?” she repeated.

 

“Commander Une, this is Agent Sun. We copy. Excuse me, ma'am, but where the hell are you?”

 

“I'm on my way back, Sun.”

“Thank god for that. It's going crazy around here.”

 

“The Firecell?”

 

“I take it you haven't seen the broadcast, ma'am.”

 

“Only the one at ESUN Headquarters. Has Barton had another one?”

 

“There was a broadcast just a couple of minutes ago, ma'am, right before everything went to hell.”

 

“Have you recorded it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I'll want to see it as soon as I get back.”

 

“I'll have it ready for you, Commander.”

 

“Sun, listen up. I'm about five minutes out. I need agents to be on guard at the main entrance to the building and also the parking area. With this Firecell now loose it will only be a matter of time before it becomes a battle zone out here. I have Senator Peacecraft with me and we may need assistance to get back into the parking area and building.”

 

“Yes, Commander. I'll get on to it now.”

 

“Thank you, Sun.”

 

“Will see you shortly, Commander.”

 

“I hope so, Sun. I hope so.”

 

* * *

 

[Satellite XRB 23]

 

Barnes slowly came back to consciousness, his face hurt like a bitch, his eyes burned and he couldn't see properly. It was dark, that much he could tell; dark and cramped. There was a strange smell in the air too, a sort of sweet, sickly odor and the cloying scent of blood.

 

Barnes tried to move, the position he was in had caused his leg to go to sleep and he had a crick in his back. He pushed against whatever it was he was lying on and against, the object giving slightly before his hand disappeared into something soft and squishy.

 

He panicked.

 

Thrashing around inside the tiny closet he connected with more flesh and knocked items from the shelves before finally locating the hardness of the door. His throat gave voice to screams as he groped to find the handle and get himself out of the hell he was in.

 

Finally he located the handle and wrenched it to the right, the door opening abruptly and sending him tumbling from the closet to the floor of the hallway. Kicking and screaming he fought his way clear of the bodies that had followed him and scurried across the floor to back up against the opposite wall.

 

His eyes allowed him a small measure of vision, even if it was distorted, but it was enough for him to see and recognize his fellow soldiers - all dead.

 

The screams started again, Barnes scrabbling back and trying to get away from the corpses. His hysteria caught the attention of another patrol a few corridors over and they raced to see what the hell was going on.

 

Skidding around the corner and along the corridor to where Barnes was, the corporal spotted the carnage ahead and came to an abrupt halt, the other three soldiers slamming into the back of him and pushing him into the midst of the bodies. His arms flailed and a string of curses left his mouth as he fell amongst the dead.

 

The other three soldiers managed to stop themselves, courtesy of their corporal, and avoided joining him in the gore. Taking in the scene, they quickly back peddled, two losing their lunch and the other passing out completely.

 

The corporal managed to get himself out from the mess although his uniform was covered in blood and other unmentionable bits of gore and turned to face his fellow soldiers. “Shut the fuck up!” he yelled at Barnes who promptly stopped his screaming. Turning to the others he noted the two wiping their mouths and the third unconscious on the floor.

 

The two soldiers looked back at their corporal and shrank back. Those eyes spoke of murder and they couldn't really blame him, after all it had been their fault the corporal was now in the state he was.

 

“Wake him up,” the corporal snarled and indicated to the unconscious soldier. He turned back to Barnes. “What happened?” he asked as he moved closer to the wounded soldier. “And what the fuck happened to your face?”

 

Barnes was shaking and almost in tears. His voice stammered and hitched as he told the corporal of their finding of the two prisoners and then the ensuing scuffle. “I came around in there,' he said, pointing to the closet. “They put me in there with them... they're all dead, aren't they? They fucking put me in the closet with dead men!” Barnes' voice began to rise in pitch and volume, the shock of his horror awakening hitting him hard.

 

The corporal slapped the soldier across the face, jolting the man out of his hysteria. “How many were there?”

 

“I don't know. We only saw the two,” Barnes replied. “One of the bastards squirted some chemical in my face which burned like hell, still does and I can't see properly.” The eyes began to water and Barnes didn't know if he was crying or if it was his body's natural reaction to the chemical and was trying to flush it out of his damaged eyes.

 

“Okay, soldier. Stay where you are.” The corporal stood up and turned to the other three under his command, the third one having returned to the conscious plane. “Chester, you go get a medic and bring him here. Penrose, you go straight to the control room and find Barton or Zaheer. Let them know what has happened. Smith, you go to the section the prisoners were being held in, alert the guards in that section and check the cell those guys were being kept in, see if they are still there or not.” The corporal didn't doubt what Barnes had said, but given the soldier's current condition and his admission that he couldn't see properly, there was a chance that it wasn't the prisoners at all, but someone else.

 

“Yes, sir,” the three soldiers answered and hurried away, each grateful to be as far from the carnage as possible.

 

The corporal turned back to take a better look at the dead soldiers and try to determine what had happened whilst he waited for his team to return.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...