Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sex, Substances, Sin, Salvation ❯ III - E - Report on Gotham Harbor Raid ( Chapter 20 )

“Sex, Substances, Sin, Salvation”

How these 4 s-words are intertwined with one another, and Gundam Wing fanfiction madness

By Masamune Reforged

WhenShootingStarsFall.com

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Gundam characters, they are the property of Bandai, Sunrise or someone else, but not me. I use them for no-profit whatsoever, but for entertainment's gain.

Warnings: Yaoi (including graphic lemons, 1x2, 3x4, some OZzie lovin') cursing, drug use, violence, angst, insanity, cameos, AU, lunacy, not nice stuff as well as nice stuff.

 

Part E in “In the Concrete Jungle”, Page III of the s4 arc.

Report to Captain Merquise on Gotham Harbor Raid.

Zechs' POV

 

“So what you're telling me is that our information on the smuggling ring was totally wrong?”

 

I tried to hide the irritation in my voice, but it was hard. I had personally reached a bargain with a recently arrested crim, a child porn distributor. In exchange for reducing the charges brought against him in court, he had agreed to give us insider information on smuggling operations coming into the Gotham Harbor. The ink had barely begun to dry on the scum's papers and already the move had failed.

 

But something wasn't right. The crim had struck me as absolutely willing to betray his mob pals. Child pornographers don't tend to make many friends in the city prison. One had recently been choked to death on another inmate's penis while fellating him in the showers.

 

“I'll bet that son of a bitch lied to us!” The brown haired cop reporting to me slammed his fist in his palm. “I'm telling you, Zechs, that piece of shit fed us that bullshit to save his own ass!”

 

“Tch...” the other cop, both slightly overweight and over the hill, grunted his dissatisfaction, although more likely at his partner's words than at anything else.

 

The two in front of me were Sergeant Walker and Sergeant Digandelle. I had personally helped Walker through the Academy, and especially seen to it that he work at my precinct. Walker was a genius in everything involving bullets. He was also a hard-worker and honest, even though he had a tendency to overreact, especially when pride was at stake.

 

“I don't know about that...” Walker's partner, Digandelle, spoke in a soft, almost mumbling tone. “There was nothing at that warehouse, nothing at all. Renting an entire warehouse on Gotham Harbor isn't cheap. Nobody would pay that much and not use the place.”

 

Digandelle was a veteran of thirty years. He was an unfriendly, unmarried Greek whose short black hair was going grey. His aloof attitude and his inability to look people in the eye made him appear dishonest. But Digandelle's years meant that he was very knowledgeable about Metro City, and he always erred on the side of caution. He and Walker were perfect foils for each other.

 

“You're suggesting they packed up their operation and relocated?” I asked. Digandelle always had an interesting way of approaching problems from different angles. It was the kind of skill I hoped Walker would pick up. “Or that they knew we were coming?”

 

“Who knows?” Digandelle shrugged. But that was his flaw; he was lazy and quick to give up. “Black market moves around a lot. It may just have been time for them to close down the shop...”

 

“It was no coincidence!” Walker snarled. “You're right. An empty warehouse on the harbor... But you know what? I'd be willing to bet that scum tipped them off just before we got there.”

 

“The informant has been locked up since his arrest.” I shook my head; it was beginning to hurt. I rubbed at my temples with my index fingers. The throbbing didn't subside. “His phone calls have all been tape-recorded. And if he passed anything along through the others in Holding... well, you know an investigation there is pointless.”

 

“So now what are we going to do about it!?!” Walker insisted. The kid was one of those rare good ones. But, for the love of God, he was the worst person to have around when a migraine was kicking in.

 

“We have the boys in Analysis looking over some of the stuff left behind,” I answered. “But Maiser wasn't too optimistic about it...” Digandelle looked at his watch. Walker opened his mouth to protest. “For now there's nothing more we can do. I want you to finish any paperwork you have before going back out on patrol tomorrow.”

 

“That's fucking bullshit...”

 

“Care to repeat that, Sergeant Walker? Did you hear my order?!?” I asked threateningly. I dropped my hands from my pounding head to the desk. I stared Walker down. For a blissful second the room was silent, and then the rush of blood created by the burst of anger made me wince.

 

“Nothing. I apologize, Captain,” Walker answered automatically.

 

“You two can go now,” I dismissed them.

 

Digandelle was out of the room in a moment. Like clockwork, he would be done with his daily and home before dinner. Walker remained standing in front of my desk. I really wanted to throw him out. Most officers in the precinct would have scampered out after being barked at like that. It spoke a lot to the bond I shared with Walker that he was still standing there... and that I wasn't kicking him out on his ass...

 

“What is it?” I couldn't hide the frustration in my voice.

 

“Two things, Captain. I'll be brief,” Walker promised.

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“I found this at the Gotham Harbor warehouse we raided today.” Walker pulled out a book of matches and threw it on the table in front of me. ~Candi's~, it read in black ink. The 'i' was dotted with a pink heart. “And there's a phone number scrawled down on the inside,” Walker continued. It was in pencil, 393-8695.

 

“You think this is a lead and you want to keep investigating the case,” I said. Walker's gung-ho nature was admirable, even if it was predictable. He nodded. “Then why didn't you submit it to Evidence as the regulations demand?” I asked, feeling the rhythmic pain in my head sharpen into pointed stabs. Was Walker trying to make my skull split in two?

 

“The leak would try to cover the trail if I submitted it to Evidence,” Walker answered promptly.

 

I didn't even blink at the word 'leak'. It was true that information had been getting out about particular cases. Several raids over the past couple months had yielded nothing except familiar tell-tale signs of scrambles to pack up operations and escape with what they could. A gangster about to turn State's Evidence had wound up dead in the bathroom of a safehouse in our district. Une was out for my head... I'd seen bad times in the past- hell, there was no such thing as a good month in this area- but this past stretch wasn't due to the area; the problem was internal...

 

And it was still only February... the straight middle of it, the 14th. It was shaping up to be a long year...

 

“You know I should scold you about not following regulations, right?” I asked dryly.

 

“And tell me that worrying about the leak is your job, not mine. And scold me for not trusting my fellow officers. And that I should always follow regulations.” Walker ended with a smile. He had me pegged.

 

“Who else have you shown this to?” I handed him the matchbook back.

 

“Just you, sir.”

 

“You don't trust Sergeant Digandelle?”

 

“I have wondered about him being the leak, yes.”

 

“Hmm...” I rubbed my chin with my thumb. I needed a shave. “What was the second thing you wanted to talk about?”

 

“You're okay with my breaking regulations on the matchbook?” Walker asked, surprised. The captain ignoring a breach of regulations? What was the world coming to? Desperation.

 

“What matchbook?” I tried to sound as earnestly clueless as possible. Walker smiled.

 

“Then, well, I was wondering about Otto,” Walker started.

 

I frowned. Otto... A different sort of pain made the headache feel like it was suddenly nothing.

 

“He's paralyzed from the waist down. The bullet did irreparable damage to his spinal column. He won't walk again.” The words came out of my mouth covered in bile.

 

“What about getting the bastards that did it to him?” Walker had ice in his eyes.

 

“None of the eyewitnesses have given us anything good yet,” I answered. “The cashier looks like he might start opening up soon, but both Quatre Winner and the student, Asian kid named Chang Wufei, haven't helped at all.”

 

“You think they're covering?”

 

“Quatre Winner cover for a crim? That would be front page news. He's been in trouble for heavy partying and cocaine before, normal celebrity crap, but no criminal record. The other kid's record is clean too. Noin's precinct is in charge of the investigation, so I haven't met with the witnesses yet.” And I felt ashamed for not doing so.

 

“Let me look into it?” Walker almost didn't ask. He almost demanded it.

 

I nodded. “We can't allow the trail to go cold.”

 

-end Zechs' POV

-end “Report on Gotham Harbor Raid”

Part E of Page III, “The Concrete Jungle”, in the s4 arc.

 

Next: Same Shit Different Day - Trowa's

 

WhenShootingStarFall.com

 

 

Cop terminology:

Crim = criminal

 

Evidence. A subdivision of the police force responsible for insuring that police do not break the law while carrying out their duties. This involves following protocol for building a case against criminals (in case it needs to go to trial), controlling seized goods / funds, and validating said goods and evidence. Each precinct has an Evidence department.

 

Analysis. A subdivision of the police force responsible for authenticating, validating, evaluating and catologing evidence and seized goods. It is in the same set of subdivisions as Evidence (Oversight). Because of the technical nature of the duties and the expenses involved only a handful of fully sanctioned Analysis subdivisions exist in Metro City, often located away from precincts.

 

State's Evidence - Evidence provided by a witness or informant that will be used in upper level cases. Because this evidence is used in federal cases, it is pivotal information that has taken a great deal of time and activity to uncover that is further delayed by the formalities of the federal legal system. Usually the provider turns such evidence in order to lessen their own prospective jail time, and they may become targeted by those they are turning evidence against.

 

Daily - A run down of daily duties / accomplishments that each officer must submit before going home.

 

ID Notes:

Walker is a young Special officer in Gundam Wing. He is a friend/protégée of Zechs and dies after only one episode. Because I think he's one of the coolest, sexiest Ozzies, he's gotten a better, longer role in my story.

 

Digandelle is a very minor figure in Gundam Wing, an Alliance officer.