Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ ZER0 ❯ Wrath ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Vinyl-Koneko 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Suspense / Psychological / Police / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.31.2002 | Updated On: 10.14.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 458 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Suspense / Psychological / Police / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.31.2002 | Updated On: 10.14.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 458 | Status: Completed
Title: ZER0 - Part 3 - Wrath
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net
Rating: R
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Wrath is the Third Deadly Sin and is defined as a forceful, often vindictive, anger. I'm assuming Preventers HQ is in New York, NY because in EW it was in a tall building surrounded by other skyscrapers, it was snowing towards the end of December, and there were Christmas things all over the place. I know other countries celebrate Christmas and such, but this makes it easier for me. 'K? ^_^ On with the fic.
*~**~*
January 12, 201 AC
*~**~*
It had taken two days to get a forensics team in and out. Two days for the mother to be cleared as a suspect, and two days in which the killer had to get as far away from New York as possible. Duo was getting antsy. A twelve-year-old boy was dead, the former-Gundam pilots were involved somehow, and whoever they were dealing with knew what he or she was doing. The hair that the forensics team pulled from the carpet was actually from one of the dogs, but they did find out how Evan Gail was killed. The medical examiner said there were remote traces of alcohol in the boy's stomach, so you add that together with the severe burns around his mouth and down his throat, you realize that the killer's an extremely sick individual.
"...Earlier today, a public mass was held for Evan Gail, who was mysteriously murdered in his own bedroom two days prior. Friends, teachers, and other members of the community were said to have joined in prayer for Evan Gail, and a hope for swift justice on behalf of his killer..."
Duo switched off the radio. He didn't need to hear anymore of the fables the news had come up with. Preventers wasn't giving them any information and had forbid Evan Gail's mother from leaking any, as well, lest she should draw attention to herself and become a target.
"Do you think those images were planted?" the violet-eyed American asked when Trowa entered the break room.
The Latin man shook his head. "There was enough dust coating on them to suggest that they had been there for a substantial amount of time."
"But the kid was only six-years-old during the war. He wouldn't even have understood what was going on," Duo sighed, grabbing a coffee and slumping into a nearby chair. "Six-year-olds are supposed to be watching cartoons and oversized puppets, not keeping track of attempts to overthrow OZ!"
Trowa shrugged in response. "Hero worship, maybe. Besides, what were *you* doing at that age?"
All of Duo's planned counterattacks were wiped out before they had a chance.
*~**~*
January 17, 201 AC
*~**~*
Duo bounded up the last three flights of stairs, taking three at a time in each stride. He had slept in and was an hour late. He missed the bus, had to call a cab; cab drivers always seem to take the longest route possible in order to get a higher charge. His particular cabbie seemed to have a hearing problem, which Duo only found out about when he ended up at a local Birth Prevention Clinic instead of Preventers Headquarters, but by the time he noticed the cab driver had taken the money and left. Duo had to call another cab which took ten minutes to pick him up and bring him to the correct building.
And then the elevators were closed for repair.
'Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice...' repeated like a mantra in the American's head as he carefully slipped out of the stairwell and dashed down the hall into his office, closing the door behind him and letting out a relieved sigh as he slid down the door.
"Where've you been?" came Heero's irritated monotone.
"I learned about the sense of humor instilled in New York cab drivers. Why, you miss me?" Duo put on a broad grin as he asked the question, internally praying that he wasn't going to be killed by the Japanese man.
Heero didn't even blink in response. "There's been another hit." Duo reflexively caught a manila file that was tossed in his direction on the floor. "It was an agent this time. Found dead in his office this morning by the cleaning crew."
"Paul Lucas, 31, killed instantaneously by a bullet between the eyes." Duo shivered involuntarily. "Seems a little not creative compared to the last kill, doesn't it? And how the *hell* does a serial killer get into HQ in the first place!"
"Wufei's with Trowa in Lucas' office now. We have to search his apartment."
"Goodie," Duo replied bitterly. "Wu-man's joining us now, huh? All we need is Quatre and the whole gangs back together!"
"Give the killer another week and that just might be the case."
*~**~*
The apartment of Paul Lucas was located on the fifteenth floor of an eighteen story apartment complex in lower Manhatten. Lucas's room, number 1503, was a simple studio apartment, only containing furniture and items that the habitant was sure to use. A laptop was plugged in on a table at one wall, still on, and next to it was a humble book collection that included an English dictionary and multiple volumes for other languages.
"Looks like Agent Lucas travelled a lot," Duo voiced. "The apartment is low budget, and there isn't a lot of personal touches to show that he uses it a lot. There's a laptop instead of a monitor-CPU unit, and his books are mostly translating dictionaries." He whirled around at the familiar sound of clacking. Heero was already hacking his way through the laptop. "Neh, Heero? Do you think Lucas left that on accidentally or the killer wanted us to find something?"
"Maybe it'll self-detonate if fed the wrong password," Heero replied with a slight smirk.
Duo's expression turned disbelieving. "Why do I have the feeling that yours does?" Duo dropped to his knees and peered under the bed. "Shit, there isn't even a sock under here!" He heard a beep and looked back over in Heero's direction. "You're in already?"
Prussian blue eyes were searching through files as he nodded an affirmative. "He used Windows; what do you expect?"
Duo smiled in response, catching a ribbon of light out of the corner of his eye. There was a thin line coming out through the wall, and on further inspection, one part of the rear wall actually looked slightly newer than the rest of the room. 'We hide our skeletons in the closet,' Duo thought, rapping lightly on the wall. It was definitely hollow, and the space behind sounded quite large. Duo looked around the room for some way to smash open the wall but couldn't seem to find anything that could serve as a battering ram, so he had to work with what was available.
The braided man grabbed a pencil, marking where he had hit the wall so if there was in fact nothing there, he was certain that he wouldn't hit a stud and break a few bones. He wrapped a sheet around his right hand, and hit the X on the wall. Sure enough, his fist went right through and more light streamed in through the hole he had created.
"Duo...what are you doing?"
"Not sure. I'll let you know in a minute." Duo tore away at the crumbling wall until he was able to fit through his instant doorway. The room was dusty but bright due to the sunlight entering through a round, glass panel near the ceiling.
A plastic mannequin was hanging by a noose in the corner, dressed up in a red OZ uniform, a wig, and makeup. More of the familiar, red, dripping spray paint was traveling down the mannequin's face.
/tRAitOR/
"Hey, Heero?"
"Chotto matte kudasai. I found something."
"Yeah, I did too." The room wasn't that big; the ceiling was a perfect cube, height feet tall, wide, and long. Behind the hung Lady Une mannquin were several little boxes with numbers on them. They looked like coffins.
/01 02 03 04 05/
After convincing himself that the little coffins wouldn't blow up if he tried to open them, Duo grabbed the closest on, which happened to be the last numerically, and opened it carefully. Inside was a clay figure with exaggerated slanted eyes and a black ponytail. Pins were sticking out of various places of the clay figure's anatomy, and red smears were painted on in some locations. It didn't take the supreme knowledge of the universe for Duo to figure out what the clay people with the coffins were and who they represented.
Growing up on the streets of L2, Duo had seen everything from the horrid to the just plain strange; one woman made voodoo dolls on the street to earn money. She said all that was necessary was a hair from the subject and the connection between doll and person could be made.
Duo wondered if each of their actually hairs really were inside the dolls, but quickly set the idea aside as a scam. He hadn't had any unexplained pain the the last couple of years, and based on the areas of the Wufei-doll the pins were stuck in, the Chinese man would have had problems with the more sensitive area of the male anatomy if they really worked.
Duo put the doll back where he had found it. Objects weren't supposed to be tampered with, and Duo couldn't tell if these...things would be needed or not, so it was best to just leave them alone. He went back into the main room to see what Heero had found.
"Some pretty odd shit in there, Heero. Voodoo dolls of the five of us in coffins and a mannequin with a strange resemblance to Lady Une hanging by her neck in the corner. What'd you find?"
"Paul Lucas was a former OZ official. There are dormant bombs in his refridgerator wrapped in tin foil and freezer bags. According to this log on the computer, he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430." Heero looked at his watch. "If it wasn't for our serial killer, the bombs would have just gone off."
"But he wanted to knock off us pilots and Lady Une. Wufei's assignment just got changed and Quatre isn't even on the planet," Duo's eyes narrowed as he read the computer log. 'There's no way Lucas could've anticipated us all to be at HQ today...' "What was he going to do? Transport us all to the same location with his mind?"
Heero closed the laptop and took out his cel phone, presumably to call Trowa about the discoveries. "Maybe. How else would we explain Wufei getting assigned to this case and Quatre's unannounced arrival right after we left?"
*~**~*
End Part 3
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net
Rating: R
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Wrath is the Third Deadly Sin and is defined as a forceful, often vindictive, anger. I'm assuming Preventers HQ is in New York, NY because in EW it was in a tall building surrounded by other skyscrapers, it was snowing towards the end of December, and there were Christmas things all over the place. I know other countries celebrate Christmas and such, but this makes it easier for me. 'K? ^_^ On with the fic.
*~**~*
January 12, 201 AC
*~**~*
It had taken two days to get a forensics team in and out. Two days for the mother to be cleared as a suspect, and two days in which the killer had to get as far away from New York as possible. Duo was getting antsy. A twelve-year-old boy was dead, the former-Gundam pilots were involved somehow, and whoever they were dealing with knew what he or she was doing. The hair that the forensics team pulled from the carpet was actually from one of the dogs, but they did find out how Evan Gail was killed. The medical examiner said there were remote traces of alcohol in the boy's stomach, so you add that together with the severe burns around his mouth and down his throat, you realize that the killer's an extremely sick individual.
"...Earlier today, a public mass was held for Evan Gail, who was mysteriously murdered in his own bedroom two days prior. Friends, teachers, and other members of the community were said to have joined in prayer for Evan Gail, and a hope for swift justice on behalf of his killer..."
Duo switched off the radio. He didn't need to hear anymore of the fables the news had come up with. Preventers wasn't giving them any information and had forbid Evan Gail's mother from leaking any, as well, lest she should draw attention to herself and become a target.
"Do you think those images were planted?" the violet-eyed American asked when Trowa entered the break room.
The Latin man shook his head. "There was enough dust coating on them to suggest that they had been there for a substantial amount of time."
"But the kid was only six-years-old during the war. He wouldn't even have understood what was going on," Duo sighed, grabbing a coffee and slumping into a nearby chair. "Six-year-olds are supposed to be watching cartoons and oversized puppets, not keeping track of attempts to overthrow OZ!"
Trowa shrugged in response. "Hero worship, maybe. Besides, what were *you* doing at that age?"
All of Duo's planned counterattacks were wiped out before they had a chance.
*~**~*
January 17, 201 AC
*~**~*
Duo bounded up the last three flights of stairs, taking three at a time in each stride. He had slept in and was an hour late. He missed the bus, had to call a cab; cab drivers always seem to take the longest route possible in order to get a higher charge. His particular cabbie seemed to have a hearing problem, which Duo only found out about when he ended up at a local Birth Prevention Clinic instead of Preventers Headquarters, but by the time he noticed the cab driver had taken the money and left. Duo had to call another cab which took ten minutes to pick him up and bring him to the correct building.
And then the elevators were closed for repair.
'Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice...' repeated like a mantra in the American's head as he carefully slipped out of the stairwell and dashed down the hall into his office, closing the door behind him and letting out a relieved sigh as he slid down the door.
"Where've you been?" came Heero's irritated monotone.
"I learned about the sense of humor instilled in New York cab drivers. Why, you miss me?" Duo put on a broad grin as he asked the question, internally praying that he wasn't going to be killed by the Japanese man.
Heero didn't even blink in response. "There's been another hit." Duo reflexively caught a manila file that was tossed in his direction on the floor. "It was an agent this time. Found dead in his office this morning by the cleaning crew."
"Paul Lucas, 31, killed instantaneously by a bullet between the eyes." Duo shivered involuntarily. "Seems a little not creative compared to the last kill, doesn't it? And how the *hell* does a serial killer get into HQ in the first place!"
"Wufei's with Trowa in Lucas' office now. We have to search his apartment."
"Goodie," Duo replied bitterly. "Wu-man's joining us now, huh? All we need is Quatre and the whole gangs back together!"
"Give the killer another week and that just might be the case."
*~**~*
The apartment of Paul Lucas was located on the fifteenth floor of an eighteen story apartment complex in lower Manhatten. Lucas's room, number 1503, was a simple studio apartment, only containing furniture and items that the habitant was sure to use. A laptop was plugged in on a table at one wall, still on, and next to it was a humble book collection that included an English dictionary and multiple volumes for other languages.
"Looks like Agent Lucas travelled a lot," Duo voiced. "The apartment is low budget, and there isn't a lot of personal touches to show that he uses it a lot. There's a laptop instead of a monitor-CPU unit, and his books are mostly translating dictionaries." He whirled around at the familiar sound of clacking. Heero was already hacking his way through the laptop. "Neh, Heero? Do you think Lucas left that on accidentally or the killer wanted us to find something?"
"Maybe it'll self-detonate if fed the wrong password," Heero replied with a slight smirk.
Duo's expression turned disbelieving. "Why do I have the feeling that yours does?" Duo dropped to his knees and peered under the bed. "Shit, there isn't even a sock under here!" He heard a beep and looked back over in Heero's direction. "You're in already?"
Prussian blue eyes were searching through files as he nodded an affirmative. "He used Windows; what do you expect?"
Duo smiled in response, catching a ribbon of light out of the corner of his eye. There was a thin line coming out through the wall, and on further inspection, one part of the rear wall actually looked slightly newer than the rest of the room. 'We hide our skeletons in the closet,' Duo thought, rapping lightly on the wall. It was definitely hollow, and the space behind sounded quite large. Duo looked around the room for some way to smash open the wall but couldn't seem to find anything that could serve as a battering ram, so he had to work with what was available.
The braided man grabbed a pencil, marking where he had hit the wall so if there was in fact nothing there, he was certain that he wouldn't hit a stud and break a few bones. He wrapped a sheet around his right hand, and hit the X on the wall. Sure enough, his fist went right through and more light streamed in through the hole he had created.
"Duo...what are you doing?"
"Not sure. I'll let you know in a minute." Duo tore away at the crumbling wall until he was able to fit through his instant doorway. The room was dusty but bright due to the sunlight entering through a round, glass panel near the ceiling.
A plastic mannequin was hanging by a noose in the corner, dressed up in a red OZ uniform, a wig, and makeup. More of the familiar, red, dripping spray paint was traveling down the mannequin's face.
/tRAitOR/
"Hey, Heero?"
"Chotto matte kudasai. I found something."
"Yeah, I did too." The room wasn't that big; the ceiling was a perfect cube, height feet tall, wide, and long. Behind the hung Lady Une mannquin were several little boxes with numbers on them. They looked like coffins.
/01 02 03 04 05/
After convincing himself that the little coffins wouldn't blow up if he tried to open them, Duo grabbed the closest on, which happened to be the last numerically, and opened it carefully. Inside was a clay figure with exaggerated slanted eyes and a black ponytail. Pins were sticking out of various places of the clay figure's anatomy, and red smears were painted on in some locations. It didn't take the supreme knowledge of the universe for Duo to figure out what the clay people with the coffins were and who they represented.
Growing up on the streets of L2, Duo had seen everything from the horrid to the just plain strange; one woman made voodoo dolls on the street to earn money. She said all that was necessary was a hair from the subject and the connection between doll and person could be made.
Duo wondered if each of their actually hairs really were inside the dolls, but quickly set the idea aside as a scam. He hadn't had any unexplained pain the the last couple of years, and based on the areas of the Wufei-doll the pins were stuck in, the Chinese man would have had problems with the more sensitive area of the male anatomy if they really worked.
Duo put the doll back where he had found it. Objects weren't supposed to be tampered with, and Duo couldn't tell if these...things would be needed or not, so it was best to just leave them alone. He went back into the main room to see what Heero had found.
"Some pretty odd shit in there, Heero. Voodoo dolls of the five of us in coffins and a mannequin with a strange resemblance to Lady Une hanging by her neck in the corner. What'd you find?"
"Paul Lucas was a former OZ official. There are dormant bombs in his refridgerator wrapped in tin foil and freezer bags. According to this log on the computer, he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430." Heero looked at his watch. "If it wasn't for our serial killer, the bombs would have just gone off."
"But he wanted to knock off us pilots and Lady Une. Wufei's assignment just got changed and Quatre isn't even on the planet," Duo's eyes narrowed as he read the computer log. 'There's no way Lucas could've anticipated us all to be at HQ today...' "What was he going to do? Transport us all to the same location with his mind?"
Heero closed the laptop and took out his cel phone, presumably to call Trowa about the discoveries. "Maybe. How else would we explain Wufei getting assigned to this case and Quatre's unannounced arrival right after we left?"
*~**~*
End Part 3