Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Purrfect Houseguest ❯ Chapter3 ( Chapter 3 )

Author's Note: I realize that neko means plain and simple cat. For this fic however I took the liberty to make nekos a different species of humanoid felines. (imagine them a somewhat like Merle (Van's annoying friend) from Escaflowne. Basically like a human with cat ears, claws, fangs and tail, and not to forget a feline personality).  Hopefully I'll soon have a picture of Zechs up too.
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The Purrfect Houseguest

Part 3

Professor Noventa was in the middle of a conversation with his guest, when a small light started to blink on the intercom system, indicating that his secretary was trying to call him.

"Excuse me for a second." The professor pushed a button next to the light. "Yes, Miss Myers?"

"Dr Po is here, Professor. Do you want me to send her in?"

"Yes, please, we are waiting for her."

A moment later the door to his office opened and the young walked into the room. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, please have a seat, this might take a while. Have you met Inspector Otto from the OII yet?" Noventa gestured at his visitor, a young man with dark, curly hair.

"No, I don't think we've met." Sally gave the inspector a curt nod as she grabbed one of the extra chairs and pulled it closer to the desk. "But if you don't mind me asking, what's the OII doing here? I'm not under investigation, am I?"
The Office of Internal Investigations, or OII for short, monitored science facilities to assure their compliance with the laws regarding cloning and biogenetics.

Otto smiled softly. "I am currently conducting an investigation, that's true However, it has nothing to do with you or your lab," he assured here. "I'm only here to request some assistance."

"What kind of assistance," Dr. Po asked curiously.

"`What do you know about Gentec, Doctor?" the inspector wanted to know.

"Gentec?" the young woman echoed, somewhat surprised. "Not that much I'm afraid. It's a privately funded biogenetic company that's involved in pretty much the same research as IBG. I remember my father telling me that Gentec had offered him a job when he was still a young doctor, but he refused because he didn't agree with their work ethics. I also heard about a scandal involving the company several years ago, but I don't remember the details."

"All of that's correct," Otto confirmed. "Gentec's research is financed by the Romefeller foundation, a group made up of wealthy and influential European aristocrats. The company used to be one of the largest, if not THE largest biogenetic corporation, with more than two dozen laboratories all over the world. About six years ago it was discovered that Gentec was using recombinant DNA technology to breed endangered animals, and sell them on the black market to high paying private buyers. That led to the scandal you were referring to."

Dr. Po frowned. "They sold rare animals just so that some soiled rich people could lock them into gilded cages and show them off like trophies? That's outrageous. I'm not surprised my father didn't want anything to do with that kind of stuff."

"I agree," the inspector nodded. "But it appears that not everybody has those kinds of scruples. Gentec and Romefeller have been making good money from those sales for a very long time. Rumor even has it that they raised and sold nekos long after they were officially declared extinct."

Sally's frown turned into a scowl. "Unbelievable," she exclaimed. "Selling exotic pets is one thing, but nekos were no animals, they were humanoids. Don't we have anti-slavery laws against those kinds of practices?"

"Well, I can imagine it to be rather hard to regulate something that officially not exists," Professor Noventa pointed out.

"I suppose that's true," the doctor admitted.

"In any case," Otto continued. "After several warnings and hefty fines, eight of Gentec's facilities were closed down. Romefeller's lawyers tried to fight the shutdowns, but under the new laws that bind private research groups to the same rules as public labs, they really didn't have a leg to stand on. After that, things quieted down but we always had our suspicions that Gentec still continued with their illegal work. Unfortunately we had no proof until recently, when one of Gentec's own employees, a young lab assistant who had recently been transferred to a different facility, contacted the OII. I can't give you details, but if only half of what she told us is true, we will have enough cause to shut down Gentec permanently."

"And that's where you come in, Doctor Po." Noventa remarked.

Sally looked at him puzzled. "How so?"

"When we execute a search warrant on their lab tomorrow I want to take one or two experts along to make sure that any evidence we might find will be properly handled and processed,' Otto explained. "Professor Noventa suggested you and your assistant for the job. I'll send a car to pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:30."

Dr. Po inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Mr. Chang has the day off today, but I'll call him and let him know to come in early tomorrow."

"Thank you, Doctor. That will be all for now," Noventa told her. "We won't keep you any longer, I know you are busy."

Sally rose. "Inspector, Professor," She nodded curtly at the two men before leaving the office. The young woman was more than a little upset about what she had heard. Groups like Gentec were what gave cloning and biogenetics a bad reputation. She was only too happy to do what she could to help to stop them. And knowing Wufei; he probably felt the same way.

#####

What have I gotten myself into? Wufei groaned inwardly, as a group of screaming kids raced past him and toward the school gate. It was career week at Mariemaia's school, that time of the year when the kids brought in and showed off their parents. How Marie exactly came up with the idea to invite him, he still wasn't sure.

I hate giving speeches. How am I supposed to entertain a bunch of nine-year olds for forty-five minutes? They will probably be bored after ten, Wufei thought, just as another group of kids rushed by, nearly knocking the binder that he was carrying out of his hand. He was almost ready to turn around and head back to the car when he felt Treize's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

"Remind me again; why are we here?"

"Because you volunteered to talk to Marie's class about your job," the tawny haired man told him.

"Volunteered?" Wufei scowled at his lover. "You made me volunteer."

"I didn't put a gun to your head, did I?" Treize asked innocently.

"Of course not," the younger man snorted. "That wouldn't have gotten you anywhere. But taking away my panda slippers and hiding them, that was low."

Treize chuckled. "Oh come on, I only did it for Marie. But don't worry, Wufei, you will be doing fine," he reassured his lover softly, while gently prodding him toward the school building. "Let's go, it's too late to change your mind now."

Marie's teacher, a brunette woman in her mid-thirties, was already waiting for them. She greeted the two men with a friendly smile and a firm handshake. "Mr. Khushrenada, it's so nice to see you again. And you must be Mr. Chang. I'm glad you could make it. I'm Miss Harper, by the way, Mariemaia's class teacher."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Wufei told her.

"Let's go in, shall we?" she suggested. She opened the door to the classroom and cleared her throat.

After a few moments of shuffling the kids was sitting at their seats. All eyes were trained on their teacher and the two men by her side. Marie waved at them and Wufei smiled back at her.

"Class, as you can see, we have two guests this morning. I'm sure you all remember Mariemaia's dad, from last year's career week. And this," she gestured at Wufei, "is Mr. Chang. He is a scientist, and he will be talking to us about his job today. I want everybody to listen carefully. I'll be asking you questions later on. Mr. Chang, the class is all yours Mr. Khushrenada, if you want to can take a seat right next to your daughter."

"Thank you." Wufei cleared his throat and looked down at his binder. "Well, I thought I'll start by showing you a few photos. You can pass them around and look at them while I'm going to tell you about the IBG and my work there. Later you can ask me questions that you might have."

Wufei was surprised; the kids not only were quiet but actually seemed to be paying attention. He had been working for almost a week on his speech. Putting the concept of cloning and biogenetics into words a 9-year old could understand hadn't been easy. As soon as he was finished more than a dozen hands shot up.

"Yes," he asked a blond boy in the first row.

"Have you ever cloned a dinosaur?"

"No, no we haven't?"

"How about a mammoth or a saber tooth cat?" the boy wanted to know

Wufei shook his head. "No, we haven't worked with anything that has been extinct for that long. Those photos I passed around showed some of the animals cloned with our help. They are mainly endangered species."

"Mr. Hurlock from our Church group says cloning is wrong and should be outlawed," a girl with long black pig tails threw in. "He says we should not try to play god."

"I know, some people think that way," Wufei replied. "But I don't agree. Humans have been responsible for the extinction of most of those animals that are gone today. I think it's only fair that humans should do anything they can, to bring back what was lost through our mistakes." The young man pointed at another girl who had been raising her hand. "You have another question?"

"My dad says that a lot of animals became extinct because some selfish people hunted and killed them until there was none left. But what about nekos, how did they die?"

"You mean there really was such thing as nekos?" a tall, husky boy blurred out. "I always thought they were make-believe, just like the Loch Ness monster, or the Yeti."

"No, nekos really existed. They were intelligent feline humanoids who lived alongside humans for thousands of years," Wufei explained. "As for your question …From what we know they died from a disease, that was carried and spread by common house cats and that only affected nekos. It was a fast moving epidemic, and at the time there was no cure for it. Within a few decades almost 90% of the neko population was whipped out. The same disease can be still found in housecats today, but it can be cured easily with a simple medication. Unfortunately the discovery of that drug came about a century too late for the nekos."

"That's so sad," the girl who had asked the question remarked. "Are you going to make some neko clones, just like you did with other animals?"

"Not any time soon, because they are NOT animals," the young man pointed out. "Nekos were humanoids and therefore we are not allowed to clone them. Perhaps in the future once we have learned everything there is about cloning and its effects somebody will be able to do it."

"I'm afraid we will have to stop here." Miss Harper announced before Wufei could take another question, eliciting moans of disappointment from the class. She raised here hand to quiet the children. "I know, I know, not everybody got to ask a question. But unfortunately we are out of time. The bell will ring any moment. Let's all thank Mr. Chang for his wonderful representation. I think we all learned a lot today, haven't we?"

#####

"Duke Dermail, what a surprise. It's been a while since we talked last. What can I do for you?"

"This is not a courtesy call, Dr. Tubarov," Dermail replied curtly. The gray-haired leader of Romefeller looked serious. "I just got word that the OII acquired a search warrant against your facility."

Tubarov have an exasperated huff. "One would thing they have better things to do to than constantly harass us. They are probably just fishing in the dark again, hoping to find something they can use against us?"

"Well, it seems that this time it's a little more serious," Dermail replied. "One of your own employees blew the whistle."

"Who?"

"I don't have a name; I just know it is one of your female lab assistants."

"Noin," Tubarov growled.

"Excuse me?" the duke asked puzzled.

"That's her name; Lucrezia Noin. I'm positive it is her. She had been transferred from Victoria only a few weeks ago."

"How much does she know?"

"Enough to cause serious trouble," the Doctor remarked grimly. "She has been working with me on the neko project."

"Leave the woman to us," Dermail ordered. "You just make sure that all incriminating data is transferred and removed from your computers by tomorrow morning. I'll have our lawyers on standby in case they are needed."

"You have nothing to worry about, your Excellency," Tubarov assured him. "The OII won't find as much as a dirty Petri dish when they come. But what do you want us to do about him?"

"Have him moved to the new lab in Brazil. We can't afford loosing him now. We have already put too much time and money into the project."

"Understood, Sir. I'll take care of everything right away."

As soon as his conversation with Duke Dermail had ended, the doctor placed a call down to the holding area.

"Mueller, I just got orders from the top; we will be transferring to Brazil ahead of schedule. Prepare Zechs for transport, you will be moving him tonight."

"What happened?" the man on the other end of the line asked.

"Apparently Noin ran to the OII and cried her heart out. We will be having visitors tomorrow morning."

"That bitch," Mueller growled. "I knew she was trouble."

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T.B.C.

Another author's note: This chapter was hard to write. I wanted to explain a few things regarding nekos, Romefeller and Gentec and they way many of the characters in the story are connected, but I didn't want to do it by using a narrator. Hopefully the chapter didn't turn out too boring.

What's to come: In the next chapter we will finally meet Zechs. Marie, Treize and Wufei take their weekend trip. Zechs is taking a trip too, but he and his handlers don't seem to agree on the destination.