Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Angel and the Assassin ❯ Mission Accepted ( Prologue )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
The Angel and the Assassin
History is much like an endless waltz.
The three beats of war, peace, and revolution
continue on forever.
- Mariemaia Barton in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Prologue: Mission Accepted
A wordless sigh escaped the man's lips as he glanced at the glowing red digits of the clock on his desk. 1:59. One minute. That's how long he had till the most dangerous assassin ever known would show up in his office. The room was dark save for the glow of the computer screen. He glanced around a bit nervously and wished again that he could have sent one of his assisstants to deal with this. However, his superior had ordered him to personally handle giving this assignment to an assassin who was known to kill his employers if they made a mistake or did not pay the agreed amount. The room seemed to suddenly grow darker and he held his breath, glancing up at the closed door.
"Who is the target and what price are you offering?" a deep, ominous sounding voice echoed softly throughout the large office.
He jumped in his seat as a shadow detached itself from the wall to his left. Well, he isn't called the 'Perfect Shadow' for nothing, he thought to himself nervously. Grabbing the file on his desk he held it out to the dark figure, and held his breath as the assassin took it. There wasn't enough light to see any details of the apparently masked figure and for once he was glad he was only a messenger boy this time. That way he only had to hand the file over and make sure 'Kage', as this assassin was most often referred to as, understood the particulars. He exhaled slowly and tried to calm down his racing pulse.
"The price is high enough?" he questioned in a somewhat shaky voice. Blast it all! He actually sounded as nervous as he felt.
Kage raised his head and the man froze. After what seemed like an eternity of time, that deep voice spoke in a soft and almost menacing tone. "I will determine if it is high enough when I have seen if the target is worthy of such a dishonorable death."
The man's mouth dropped open. He actually decides if they deserve to die?
"Until then," the voice continued, "consider the target eliminated unless I decide otherwise. Payment will be discussed after that."
The man blinked and then Kage was gone. He breathed out a sigh of relief and proceeded to send the news to headquarters via his computer. He silently prayed that he would not have to discuss payment with that deadly shadow.
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Beep. Beep.
Heero Yuy paused in his typing to regard the small file that had popped up on his laptop's screen, his Prussian blue eyes widening as they absorbed the information. "Shit!" he muttered as he reached for the phone.
Since joining the Preventors a little over a year ago, Heero had been successful in quelling many of the rebellions or assassination attempts that seemed to spring up every so often. He was so good in fact, that he had become quite famous at Headquarters as the top agent. As such, he never seemed to be caught off gaurd, constantly monitoring and watching for signs of trouble. However, something like this hadn't been attempted in years and his alert system had been delayed, something it never did. That could mean they were good. Then again, they could just be lucky. Heero wasn't going take a chance.
"Hello?" a voice that sounded ready to yawn came over the line.
"Sally."
The voice instantly went alert. "Yes? Who is this?"
"It's Heero."
"Heero? It's four-thirty in the morning! Is something wrong?"
"We've got trouble," Heero said in that deadpan monotone of his.
There was silence as Sally Po absorbed that and tried to wake up more fully. When she spoke again her voice was tense. "What kind of trouble, Heero?"
"They're after Relena."
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Quatre Winner sighed as he finished with the last of the days reports. Even three years after the war, he was still swamped with work to keep the peace between the colonies and the earth, as well as having to handle all the business of the Winner Corporation. Sometimes it seemed to much for him to bear. After all, he was only nineteen years old, how much could he possibly handle on his own? However, he knew that the owners of the other businesses were just waiting for him to make a mistake, so he kept pushing on determined to keep his father's work from failing.
Yawning, he ran his fingers through his golden hair and reached for his briefcase, preparing to go home. Suddenly, the vid- phone beeped and he stifled the urge to punch it. He had been so close to leaving! Instead he reached for it slowly hoping it wasn't more business. The face on the screen was a huge surprise.
"Wufei?" he asked incredulously.
Wufei Chang couldn't help the slight quirk of his lips as Quatre's surprise turned into unabashed joy.
"Wufei, it is you!" he cried. "How have you been? It's so good to see you!" Quatre was overjoyed. With all the work he had to do, he rarely had time for anything else including speaking with his old comrades.
Wufei frowned slightly. "It's good to see you too Quatre-san, but we don't have time to catch up on things."
Quatre caught his tone and quickly asked, "What's wrong? Is something going on with the Preventors?"
"I don't have time to explain all the details, but right now we need you at headquarters. Apparently, Relena Dorlian has been targeted for assassination and we don't know whose behind it. It seems to be a large organization. We need to stop them."
"And you need me?"
Wufei nodded. "There aren't many Preventors with enough experience to handle this sort of situation. We'll probably need you the most."
"Are the others going to be there too?"
"Yes. Are you in?"
"You bet I am! I'll leave first thing in the morning!" Quatre said firmly. And he meant it. He could take care of the important business on earth. A few of his sisters could handle the small stuff up here in space.
"I'll see you tomorrow then." The screen went blank and Quatre smiled. He didn't consider it a good thing that Miss Relena's life was in danger, but he was thrilled to have something to do other than this monotonous office job he'd been stuck with for the past two years. He just hoped it wasn't too dangerous.
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"Duo!.... Duo?... DUO!" a voice rang out impatiently across the scrap yard.
"Oooowww! Geez, Hilde. Do you have to yell?" Duo Maxwell complained. He rubbed his forehead where he'd hit it on a pipe above his head.
Hilde crossed her arms and made a face at her husband as he crawled out from underneath an old car engine he was working on. "If you'd answer when you're called, I wouldn't have to," she snapped with more mirth than anger.
"What's up, Babe?" he asked as he threw some tools into the tool box next to him.
"Heero's on the phone. He says it's important."
Instantly, Duo was up and running, his hip-length braid flying behind him. He slid to a stop in front of the vid-phone with his trademark grin firmly in place. "Heeeeroooo...... Buddy, ol' pal....... What's up?" he said as though he had just seen him yesterday, when in fact, he hadn't seen Heero since he was the best man at his and Hilde's wedding; whichi was two years ago.
Heero stifled a groan. Getting to the point, he filled Duo in on the situation. By the time he was done, Duo was nearly bouncing off of his feet. "So I finally get in on a little action, huh? Well, that's fine by me. Hilde can take care of things by herself for a while. See you soon, pal!" He hung up and raced outside. "Hey, Babe, guess what?"
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Okay, okay! I know it was short, but I was in a hurry and I wanted to get it up right away. Hope it caught your interest. Any comments just contact me. No flames please, they'll only be ignored. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'll try my best to get chapter one out. - Midnite.