Looking around him, he saw a few couples standing in line, talking to each other. Not all of them looked like happy couples; some didn't even look at each other. Heero wasn't blind to relationships. He just regarded them as a liability in his line of work, and he had used that as an excuse to not interact with potential lifepartners. He lived for his work, and he was satisfied with that - at least, he thought he was. Duo Maxwell popped up in his mind again, and it confused him. Would he be the one to change his life?
"Here you are," a female voice rang into his ear and he was startled out of his thoughts. The teller had returned and divided the money neatly into two thick envelopes, firmly sealed. "You only have to sign," she said as she shoved paper and pencil towards him.
As he signed, he mentally reprimanded himself for allowing his thoughts to drift off. He wasn't never caught off guard - that wasn't like him at all!
"Is there something else I can do for you, sir?"
"No thank you," he said, brusquer than he intended, and put the two envelopes in the inner pocket of his Armani overcoat. The teller scowled and called out loudly for the next person in line. Heero turned away from the desk, a little awkward with the heavy envelopes, tugging at the left side of his coat. Grumbling, he left the bank and went back to his hotel. Hopefully he could relax a little, take a hot shower, and prepare himself for what was to come. Heero already knew he would be keeping an eye out for any news concerning the International Depository. Either way, he had to be ready for action as soon as Chang called in on his merchandise.
The International Depository, located at MO-II, was a similar building to what was widely known on Earth as 'Fort Knox'. The small resource satellite had played a pivotal part in the history of war, and it was on MO-II that the capitulation and subsequent peace treaty had become official. Because of its significance, it had been turned into a memorial site. Relena had suggested that some memorials should be kept, to remind people what 'war was capable of'. It had been easy to send the Gundams into the sun for destruction, but she didn't want humanity to forget about the horrors of war. A visit to MO-II was obligated for school children and politicians; a large part of the building had been turned into a museum.
The other part of the building, what no school child or adult got to see, was the International Depository. MO-II didn't belong to the space colonies or to Earth. It was without leadership or government, and was as such regarded as 'neutral.' Many war-related objects were stored here, objects and information about the multiple parties involved in the wars, that simply shouldn't fall into the wrong hands. The gundanium chips had been brought there as well. It was impossible to break into the International Depository, and specifically its vault. If a thief would get past the first extremely intricate alarm, he had to deal with a lot more electronic locks, all interconnected, timed and under pressure - entire sections of the building would be irrevocably sealed off with solid steel doors if the tiniest shift in weight or pressure occurred.
Rebel groups had tried to break into the Depository to get their hands on mobile suit plans. They had used impressive gunpowder and massive laserbeam force; but only succeeded in scratching the front door. The building didn't need the presence of physical guards; it was guarded by the complicated alarm system, massive locks and a gigantic number of cameras. Heero didn't know why he was almost convinced that Duo might be the one to break into the Depository and walk out with the chips. It was simply unheard of; he wouldn't get past the first alarm, like many others before him. As soon as the alarm was compromised, armed forces would be there within a few hours; there was no need to hurry, due to the automatically sealed doors. The thief would be trapped, without any chance of escape.
So why was he worrying? Duo, if he was Shinigami, had managed to steal the Gundam building plans, which had been on display at one of the most heavily guarded museums of the world, just like MO-II. Stealing plans or chips, it would be the same to him. Heero recalled the details in the report Lady Une had given him. No sign of forced entry, no footprints, no fingerprints. The thief had disposed over the very specific codes for the alarm system, hence why Lady Une stated in her report that it had to be an inside job. The entire management, staff and guards had been replaced - and the rest was silence. Nichol had casually confirmed it was Shinigami who took the plans, but Heero didn't have confirmation on Duo being Shinigami.
He had to focus on the mission, he reminded himself. Duo Maxwell was distracting him, sidetracking him. It would be a massive blow to the rebel forces if Chang and his chips, and Duo as the masterthief, would be taken out, but he started to hesitate. Chang was the major player here, not Duo. Duo worked for him on a commission base. He wasn't any of his priorities, Chang was. He should use his time to infiltrate the group more, become best friends with Septem - which made him shudder - and find out more about Chang and what he was up to. He would either arrest Chang himself or call for backup, depending on how the mission went. Yes, he should focus on that. Tomorrow he'd call Nichol and set up another appointment. And if he saw Duo again...well...that depended on the circumstances. For now, Heero refused to think about him any longer; he had to focus on the mission. But Duo Maxwell was tenacious, and he kept thinking about him...and truth to be told, he didn't object to it too much.
The following days were frustrating. Chang refused any meeting, and when Heero finally got to talk to Septem again, he learned that Chang wasn't even at L4 anymore. The general refused to give him more information, and after buying Nichol a few beers, Heero found out that Chang had left at the very same evening, when he had excused himself for the dinner at Septem's mansion.
"He wasn't in a hurry, if you might think that," Nichol said. He enjoyed being the one asked for information, and the feeling of power that came with knowing something the other didn't. "Chang moves in slow-motion, but every step he takes, is extremely well-thought. He never takes a step without considering every option. He has a plan, I'm sure of it."
"What kind of plan might that be?" Heero asked. Sometimes Nichol bragged and talked too much, and his loose lips would come in handy. This time, the other was more aware of what Heero wanted, and with a big grin on his face, he put the beer in front of him, back on the table.
"Odin, Odin," he shook his head, still grinning, "you can't expect me to start blabbing about Chang's plans just because you bought me a couple of beers."
"Why didn't you tell me immediately that you don't know a thing about his plans?" Heero commented dryly. The other scowled, but it didn't sour his mood.
"I know my position, and Chang isn't going to confide in me. However..." He reclined into his comfortable seat, "he's best friends with Shinigami, and as soon as he brings him the gundanium chips, he's ready to take his next step."
"Shinigami must be very talented to get into the International Depository," Heero said. He took a sip of his wodka-martini. Too much martini, not enough wodka. "I heard that once you set off the alarm, all sections of the building are sealed off automatically."
"He knows that - what do you think he is, a petty burglar? There's nothing he can't find his way into, state of the art security or not." Nichol picked up his beer again and took a firm swig. "It's not any of your business anyway," he muttered. "You're only here for the conductors."
"I like to get to know the people I work with better," Heero answered deadpan. He didn't owe Nichol any explanation, but he was cautious; no need to rile anyone. The man scratched at his sideburns.
"Yeah, you're right about that," he said. "Give me another beer, then!"
Contrary to what many people might think or believe, the life of a secret agent isn't that exciting. It's often boring - waiting for the next move to make, carefully setting up people against each other, like moving pawns on a giant chess board, calculating who was going to do what and when - and the outcome was always different than one expected. Being a secret agent and working undercover didn't entail luxury and decadence. The Star hotel, where Heero resided for now, was fairly crappy, certainly to L4's standards; no cockroaches, but no clean towels or bedlinens every day either.
Going undercover was a double-edged sword, in any situation. People would expect him to live a swanky lifestyle, as much money he was supposedly making with his trade, but on the other hand, people would expect him to live low, to stay under the radar, because of the very nature of his trade. Heero had set up his cover perfectly, of course - anyone checking up on his background would see what he wanted them to see: Odin Lowe, with criminal records on smuggling and counterfeit goods, also a few arrests but not enough to hold him in jail for an extended period of time. Heero had made sure that his cover persona wasn't popping up on the grid too often; too many lies would be hard to remember, and why make things difficult? His cover was good and solid, no need to add superfluous, elaborate layers to it; keep it simple, and keep out of trouble.
He pulled out his laptop and booted it up. This hotel wasn't that low-quality that it didn't offer free access; he set everything up so he could access the United Earth Sphere Alliance's secured system through a private, protected satellite. No need to allow other people to snoop around these lines either. As Heero was waiting for the connection to be made, he drummed with his finger on the tabletop. Should he tell Lady Une that he'd seen Barton and Winner at Septem's garden? For all that he could see they were just taking a walk; but a walk in the garden of someone known for being on the...less than perfect side of life? If Winner was as stupid as to risk his solid reputation...maybe he couldn't care less, for whatever reason? He had associated himself with the Barton Foundation as of late, which could be easily explained from a business point of view; Winner possessed resource satellites and mining operations, Barton the heavy machinery. Maybe it was just a matter of time before they would associate, Barton delivering the machinery needed for Winner's operations. It was just too much of a coincidence, and Heero didn't like coincidences. He made a firm mental note of it - now he had two distractions going, Duo on one side, Winner and Barton on the other side.
Logging in took him quite some time; there was a lag in the connection and he entered his codes carefully, and checked them twice over. Finally he was granted access to the secured line and soon enough, a message popped up on his screen. He was to contact Lady Une immediately, urgently, no matter what time. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach; Heero was sure he knew what this was going to be about.
Keying in another set of codes, he checked and double-checked to make sure the line was really, really secure. The secret service had its own satellite for sending and receiving messages, video and audio - but Heero didn't trust anything he didn't program himself. His father had passed on some paranoia to him, but he was rather safe than sorry. His fingers danced over the keyboard, as his eyes were glued to the screen. The video connection was being established, now he was knocking on Lady Une's virtual door. It was an annoyance that there was a lag in the connection, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Image was coming through; Une was saying something, but the audio wasn't in synch. Frustrated, he tried another frequency, but the words came in scrambled. Une kept talking, but then tilted her head a little as she didn't receive any response. She suddenly turned around and grabbed something behind her. It was a piece of paper, and she wrote something down, holding it up in front of the camera.
"Chips stolen" was all that she had written down, but it was enough.
"Idiots!" Heero said out loud, in the belief that Une couldn't hear him either. "Totally unacceptable! Why did you ignore my warning the first place?"
Lady Une put up her hand. "Don't you dare, Yuy!" Her voice came in a little distorted, but audible. The reception had been finally established. "I just had the scathing of a lifetime, courtesy of our Queen, so don't you start all over again."
"This would never have happened if you had taken notice of my warning." Heero had the decency to blush, if only a little. She would scrub his ears about his "Idiots" later.
"Damn it, Yuy!" He was shocked. He had never heard Lady Une speak a foul word. "What do you think that I was doing? Nothing? Sitting at the beach for fun? My hands are tied, Yuy. I've taken good notice of your warning, but I had to face two ministers who thought it wouldn't be necessary to send forces to the International Depository because of it supposedly invulnerability. There was nothing more I could do!"
"What do you mean?"
She took off her glasses and started rubbing the bridge of her nose, suddenly looking very tired. "I spoke to the Minister of Defense and the Vice Foreign Minister. They voted against sending forces to MO-II, as they both weren't comfortable with it - it could be seen as a declaration of war, or so they said. You know how fragile the relationship between Earth and the Colonies is, and sorry to say, but our Vice Foreign Minister isn't Darlian."
She was referring to Relena's father, who had been widely known - and respected - for his diplomatic and pragmatic skills. After his murder and Relena becoming Queen of the World, there was no one else suitable for this particular position; no one was good enough to match Darlian, and it showed. The current Vice Foreign Minister, Heero didn't even know his name as the man hadn't left any impression with him, was scared that everything could be interpreted as a declaration of war.
"Protecting the International Depository isn't a declaration of war," Heero said, agitated. "It's to protect people from..."
"I know," Une interrupted him. "The Minister of Defense wasn't willing to free up armed forces, and didn't see the necessity in sending them. He completely relied on the alarm and defense system of the Depository itself. He wouldn't even consider that one man could succeed in breaking into the vault."
The Minister of Defense was Marshall Noventa, an elderly man who had lived through the wars and was fully deserving of his title, contrary to 'Duke' Dermail and 'General' Septem. His granddaughter Sylvia was Heero's secretary. Noventa had passed up on the offer of the post of Vice Foreign Minister as it included traveling and much tension, and at his age, he didn't feel up to it. As Minister of Defense, he had a steady life close to his granddaughter, his only living family.
"Is there any surveillance material? Camera footage?"
She continued rubbing. "Yuy, the thief was an invisible ghost. We have nothing of him, no footprints, no fingerprints. Nothing."
Exactly as when the Gundam building plans were stolen. "But those chips...they have to weigh a lot!"
"Gundanium is pretty heavy, certainly when it comes to two thousand chips." Une's voice had definitely taken a sour tone. "They were stacked in large boxes - he took the chips out and left the boxes, but we have no idea what he used to transport them. The only thing we have is that, according to G., he used equipment that is so state of the art that he has to invent it yet."
G. was a close partner of J. and was responsible for at least half a dozen inventions for the secret agents, at least the double zero numbers. Heero frowned. He had seen something of what he thought was Duo's equipment; the grapple, the mounting gear - it hadn't looked that much state of the art to him.
"What did he use?"
"G. has a good clue on the weapon," Une said and reached behind her again, leafing through a stack of papers. "Weapon, equipment...he cut through the roof and straight into the vault with it. I don't know what to call it." She held the papers up in front of the camera. "Here."
Heero squinted and took screencaps of what she was showing. It looked too bizarre to be true.
"Impossible," he said. "Was G. high on something?"
"Don't ever ridicule their knowledge, Yuy," Une snapped, but her voice lacked the scathing tone she used when she disagreed.
"As you can see, he has used an above average sharp weapon. Notice the curving and the smooth cuts on the surface? G. thinks it's a scythe-shaped weapon. A thermal scythe of some sorts, as the roof is made out of solid titanium and judging from the burn marks, it went through it like butter."
"Impossible," Heero repeated.
"What is your objection?"
"The vault is the heart of the International Depository, and it's sunk into a basin with a laser alarm. According to this, G says he's more than 100% sure the thief used the thermal scythe to open the vault. How can he operate a thermal scythe under water?"
"That's up to you to find out, Yuy. You warned us of the theft in advance, it's not your fault that two Ministers are too stubborn or too stupid to see the very danger under their nose. I want you to establish contact with the thief, get to know him better, and finally deliver him to us. We have some catching up with him to do."
"No!" Heero all but shouted. He felt his face flush when Une looked at him, surprise clearly written in her eyes.
"Excuse me?"
"We...we can't apprehend him just yet," he defended himself weakly. "It would ruin...my contacts in the business," he continued. "Besides, Maxwell works on a commissioner basis, he probably doesn't know a thing about the people he works for."
"Maxwell, hm?" Une's sour mood was lifted, she even sounded enthusiastically. "So you've met him personally already. Good work!"
Heero cringed, and cringed some more. He had to salvage the situation, no matter what. Fortunately, he hadn't spilled Duo's first name.
"Forget it," he said a little too lightly, "there isn't a single shred of information to be found about him. War orphan, L2, need I say more?"
"You're the only one who knows what he looks like, Yuy," Une said sternly. "Don't tell me that I have to draw you a picture. If this guy really doesn't exist like you say, you're your own only lead to him. You know how he is and what he looks like. I need you to stay in touch with him and retrieve those chips, before things really get out of hand."
"I strongly advise against it," Heero said. He was veritably sweating. If Une made the connection to the person who stood next to Chang on the picture in the Operation 'Zero System' files... "We're ruining golden opportunities if we do this."
"Are you really going against my orders?" Lady Une sounded amused and offended. The audio signal still wasn't in synch with the video, so he saw her moving her lips way before her words reached him. "I don't care if you have to crawl into bed with him, you make sure those chips are returned, and that he's properly brought to justice for his crimes. Do you understand?"
If she could see his furious blush despite the less than stellar video, she ignored it, for which he was thankful.
"I understand," he answered dutifully.
Une didn't dignify him with an answer, reached for her keyboard and the connection was cut. The video image turned black and it was suddenly very quiet, very eerie in the room. Heero heaved a sigh and put his earphones down. Mimicking his boss, he started rubbing the bridge of his nose. It felt like this mission was going to much more difficult and intense than he thought. Focus on the mission, that is what you do best.
Somehow he couldn't convince himself.
Chapter 3 | Chapter 5