Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden preventetrs ❯ The War After ( Chapter 1 )

The War After (Hidden Preventers 1) by LxRex

Heero glanced at the clock, then resumed typing furiously on his keyboard. He figured he could only stay in here for 10 minutes max - this system was watched quite closely. Which only proved, of course, that this guy had something to hide. Ah, he was into Aston's email. He began downloading messages as fast as his computer would let him, starting with the most recent and working backwards.

After nine minutes, he stopped the download and disconnected. So much for the fun part. Now came the tedious part of the job. He decrypted the files, opened the oldest email and began reading. He didn't know what Quatre was expecting him to find - as if this guy would put anything incriminating in his emails anyway.

The first few messages were pretty ordinary; all vague but legit-sounding business stuff. No details. Then he opened a message from someone named Roper:

"I have decided to start a small business outpost on L2," the message read. "A source of mine has confirmed that there are many old Strikers there that are primed for some reviving. I think it will be a profitable place to do business."

'Striker' was slang for standard Oz concussion mines. It could also refer to the fans of the recently revived sport of rugby. L2 had both things in abundance. It wasn't exactly proof, but....

Heero closed that message and opened another one. His eyes scanned quickly over its contents. Wait... now here with something interesting. This could be what they've been looking for. He instructs his computer to call Quatre on their secure line.

"Hello, Heero." The Arab's face appeared on his computer screen. He looked the same as always: Quatre didn't seem to have aged a single day since Heero first met him.

"Hello Quatre." He cut right to the chase. "I've found something that could prove useful. There's a man named Roper on L2 who seems to be Aston's underling. One of the previous letters I read from him said he'd found that mysterious arms dump that's supposed be on L2. Now listen to what Aston says to him in a later letter:

"An employee of mine stationed on Earth has reported to me that there is some unrest in South America. An argument over an area of land that was bombed during the war. The businessmen want to build on it, the nature-nuts want to replant trees. The bottom line is the two sides are growing quite impatient with each other. All of my sales people are occupied elsewhere at the moment, so I thought I would alert you to the potential profit there. I think both sides of the argument would be particularly interested in your new line of merchandise from L2. Of course, if any sales are made there, I will expect 30% of the profits."

"Aston must be pretty confident - and powerful - to make a statement like that."

Quatre had been listening carefully. "Well, Sally said he was."

"Do you think this gives us enough ammo to go after him?" Heero realized the irony of using the term "ammo" when referring to catching an arms smuggler.

"I think it is. We'll see what the Preventers say."

Heero grunted. He knew what that meant - they would be going Aston whether they got the OK or not. Once again, he was glad he took this job. "I think this guy Roper might be trouble too. And he's apparently set up shop right in Duo's backyard."

Quatre nodded. "We should definitely check him out."

"Don't tell Duo yet." Heero cautioned, almost grinning.

"Of course not." It was pretty hard to forget what had happened last time. "Do you have any other information?"

"I haven't been through all these emails yet. I figured you'd be going to bed soon."

"Oh. Yes. It's been a long day, actually." Heero wasn't the type to forget the time difference. "Send me everything interesting that you find. I'll talk to Sally first thing in the morning."

"No problem. Goodnight, Quatre."

"Goodnight."

Quatre sat back at his desk and sighed. He hated to admit it, but it seemed as though Sally was right. The signing of the disarmament treaty by the world's leaders didn't guarantee safety for the people after all. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Sally that had started this whole thing. She happened to be in town one weekend, so he'd invited her to his home:

"How's Wufei doing?" Quatre asked her. "Enjoying being a Preventer?"

Sally smiled slightly. "Wufei's fine. And yes, I think he likes being a Preventer. He's been a little frustrated lately, but then we all have."

"Why's that?" He asked curiously.

"Well... we're not convinced that this world peace is going to last. I think something like what happened with Marimeya could happen again, and if it does I'm afraid we won't be any better prepared for it."

"Happen again? But how? All the world leaders have sworn to peace now."

"The new peace treaty doesn't give me much confidence. I think it's going to backfire, and backfire big. And I'm worried that the Preventers won't be powerful enough to save lives when that happens."

Quatre frowned. "What do you mean, backfire? Do you think one of the regional leaders will break their promise and declare war? It appears to me that everyone has learned their lesson - for a while, anyway."

Sally shook her head. "Even if all the leaders do stay true to their word and uphold peace, it doesn't mean that all the individuals will. As long as there's been laws, there've been people who break them."

"But we're entering a new era now. People have changed - I can see it. I'm not saying that something won't happen, but you could least give the world the benefit of the doubt."

"It's my job to look for trouble. And Quatre, think of this: Even if every rational person in the universe did support peace, there are still some out there who are just plane insane. You can't reason with psychopaths. And there are still people who have no empathy for others, who see nothing but their own gain. They'd be more than willing to sell weapons to the psychos if there was good profit in it. Until we figure out how to cure people like that, the public isn't totally safe. That's the premise the Preventers is based on. And if there's one thing the battle with Marimeya taught us, it's that it's better to be safe than sorry."

Quatre sipped his tea thought about that. Sally did have a point. "I guess you're right. Prevention of violence does take work."

Sally sighed. "Yeah, and that's part of our problem. The government is placing such tight restrictions on what we can do. A lot of tragedy could've been avoided if we'd known about Marimeya's plans sooner, but we didn't have the manpower or authority to find out, and we still don't. That's why Wufei's getting frustrated, and I can't blame him. We're not 'Preventers' in the true sense of the word; we're only allowed to put out fires after they've already done some damage, if you know what I mean. We could do more."

Quatre was listening intently. "I see your problem. But I can understand the Government's position too - they have to reflect the mood of the people, and right now everyone's very leery of anything resembling a military organization. Which is also understandable."

"Yes, being like the military is part of our problem. Everyone knows who we are: the trouble makers see us coming from a mile away and they go to ground. We'll never be able to spot new threats this way."

Sally's host was obviously thinking. "So what exactly is it you'd need, to be able to do your job better?"

"It would be good if we could - well, go undercover. Sniff out small problems before they became big ones. But the Government's not willing to give us that kind of authority, and none of us have experience working in the intelligence field anyway."

"So really what you want to do is spy on people." Quatre said seriously.

"'Investigate' people. " Sally corrected diplomatically. "We wouldn't have to do anything really illegal - even just the type of thing private investigators do would help us. Oh, now there's an idea." She smiled wryly, thinking out loud. "Ask the government if we could hire a private investigator. I'd like to see how that one would go over."

"Hmm..." Quatre turned to look out the window for a moment. Then he looked back at Sally, the light of an idea on his face. "I bet I can help you."

One of the woman's eyebrows rose. "How? Do you know any P.I.'s?"

"No. Not exactly. But I know a few individuals who would be perfect for the job. And you wouldn't have to worry about paying their salaries either. If your boss asks you could just call them an "independent source."

Sally knew very well who Quatre was talking about - and who would be paying their salaries. "You'd be willing to get involved like that?"

Quatre took a breath. "Yes I would, since I believe it will help protect the public. And you never know, I might just be able to provide you with some useful information too." He raised his hand before Sally could reply. "Hold on a sec." He got up and walked out of the room. Sally watched him go, then sat and waited. Quatre reappeared a few minutes later, not having got or done anything that Sally could see, and sat back down across from her. "I suppose we have some details to discuss."

"You don't even know if the others will agree yet."

"I think I can convince them. One at least."

Sally smiled. "Yeah, you could convince anyone of anything."

****

Heero had been uncharacteristically excited when Quatre had offered him the job. Quatre knew that his fellow Gundam pilot had been drifting pretty aimlessly since the war, and after Dr. J and the other engineers had gone to prison he'd become very lost. He had no education that would do him any good - one couldn't exactly put "training as an assassin" on one's resume - and he hadn't seemed interested in college. But now he was doing something that seemed to make him happy.

Quatre got up to head for bed. Hopefully Heero would turn up some more interesting information tonight, and tomorrow he'd call Sally. In the next few days he'd get everyone together on a conference call to make plans regarding this Roper man. He wondered if they should focus on taking this guy out of business now, or on looking for information that would lead them to Aston's whereabouts: He was the big fish in this pond.

The only problem was that the only one of them currently on L2 was Duo, and although Quatre loved the God of Death, he didn't exactly make the best undercover spy.

That thought inevitably lead him to Trowa. He hated having Trowa on a call along with everyone else. Seeing the other pilot's face just made Quatre yearn to have Trowa's arms wrapped around him again. All around him. He wanted to be completely wrapped up in Trowa's body. It had been months since they'd met in person.

But the thing he hated most about talking to Trowa on the phone was the way his lover reacted to him.

Then he suddenly remembered: Trowa's circus was going to be on L2 soon too. And coincidentally enough, so were Zechs and Noin. He smiled to himself. Those two at least seemed to be a happy ending. He'd been quite surprised to hear from Sally that they'd returned about a month ago after having vanished for so long. Apparently Noin had convinced Zechs not to pretend he was dead anymore. They would be good for each other, Quatre thought.

So it would be Trowa and Duo working together on this one. He shook his head. Now there was an odd couple. This was going to be an interesting mission.

There was that word "mission" again. Even though all the fighting was over, they were still caught up in a war. He wanted nothing more than to live in peace, but as long as the people were in danger he couldn't help but get involved. His conscience wouldn't let him stay out of it. And if anyone ever found out, it could be his downfall. But none of that mattered.

Heero had said to him once that fighting was some people's destiny and there was no way they could escape it. That seemed to be true for the five former Gundam pilots. People were calling them the "child soldiers" now. Quatre didn't like the term.