Milliardo looked over the reporters gathered in the meeting room he'd arranged. The station had hundreds of them, from tiny rooms just big enough for a grieving family to rooms so large they echoed with hundreds in them. This room was just the right size for a gathering of reporters from newspapers and vid feeds from all over ESUN. There were about fifty of them and Milliardo knew that, if he let things get out of hand, they'd eat him alive. He stepped out onto the stage, a microphone in his hand. He'd decided against a podium because that pinned him in one place. This way he could walk around, get closer to the questioner and let everyone get a good look at the 'Platinum Prince' a title he hated, or found amusing, depending on his mood. He addressed the group in his best parade ground voice, ignoring the microphone for the moment. “Attention, everyone! Before we begin there are a few rules to be explained. One, I am not Relena! You will not run over me like you do her. I will point at the person allowed to ask a question. Only that person will speak. If you interrupt too many times, you will be shown the door. No exceptions! Two, you don't need to shout, you will be given a microphone. When you are requested to relinquish the mic, do so at once. If you ask a question after you've been asked to hand the mic on, you will not be answered. Three, if I say 'no comment' that means no comment, move on. If you don't, you'll be asked to relinquish the mic. If you don't, see rule two. Four, do not ask a question that has already been asked. I have a very good memory and you won't get past me. If I've refused to answer the question for someone else, I certainly won't answer it for you. Now, I won't ask if there are any questions because that's what we're all here for. So... First question?” Milliardo stood at parade rest and waited until one of his assistants handed a microphone to one of the reporters. He had no idea how they chose and really didn't care. He also had no idea what he looked like, standing on the stage in his pseudo-uniform of navy blue double breasted jacket and pants. “Good day, Prince Peacecraft.” Milliardo raised the microphone to his mouth for the first time. “I am not a prince. I relinquished my crown years ago. You may call me Colonel Peacecraft. That is the rank I hold in WEI Security. As do all the other pilots.” He had to laugh slightly as several faces fell. This was one question that had already been answered several times but someone had to ask every time, like the answer was going to change. “Please continue.” “Thank you. This explosion, what caused it, exactly?” Milliardo grimaced to himself. Trust a civilian to get it all wrong. “First, it wasn't an explosion, per se, it was an explosive decompression. There is a small but significant difference. In an explosion, superheated gasses burn, all sorts of things could cause this. But what we had here was an explosive decompression. A popped stitch in one of the seams let go, this caused the air to rush out through the gap all at once. The suit actually jetted into space. The occupant died of suffocation and exposure to space. A very nasty way to go.” There was a murmur from the reporters then the speaker handed the mic to the next person to ask a question. “Thank you. Um... You said that it was just a popped stitch. What exactly is that?” Milliardo quashed the urge to swear with a ruthless hand. “It's exactly what it sounds like. When you overstress a seam; like a, say, size 10 trying to squeeze in to a size six, the stitching will break. Pressure suits are under a great deal more stress than the aforementioned incident, stitches pop, but a simple re-stitching will take care of it. If it's done in a timely manner. There are inspection and maintenance schedules in the owners manuals. This schedule lists minimum, optimum and required maintenance, on some stations and colonies it's illegal to do less than the optimum. On this one, unfortunately, it's not.” Another reporter accepted the mic, they seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement of one question per person. “I see. So, what's next for WEI? I hear that someone is suing them.” “No, no one is suing WEI. WEI is suing the Wonder Tours/Galaxy Tours group. And we're also looking at charges of murder by conspiracy. That charge to include top executives and some middle management. To Wit, the people who passed down orders to water down the inspection and maintenance schedules and the people who implemented them.” There was a soft rumble of speech which rose to a babbling roar, Milliardo had known that his statement was going to make a splash. He hadn't expected a riot, which was what he was getting. He waited what he considered a reasonable length of time, then requested attention. He didn't get it. He called for their attention again, and again, he didn't get it. “SILENCE!!” Milliardo's parade ground bellow startled the entire population of the room into complete silence. “Thank you. If there is a reasonable and intelligent question somewhere in this disgraceful display, I'd like to hear it.” He glared around. “Take your time.” There were a few shamefaced looks, but most of the people in the room started to yell again; all of them at Milliardo. He stood, straight-backed and furious, for a few more moments then started pointing. “Him, him, her, him, her, and .... her. Out! Now!” Security started pulling the worst offenders out of the crowded room and ushering them to the door. Of course, they objected, loudly. They wound up out the door anyway. Other reporters objected and were told that they could leave, too. After the ejections and departure of the others, the room quieted drastically. “Now that that's taken care of; does anyone have an intelligent question, or do you all want to scream and carry on like two-year-olds again?” After some shifting and muttering, one man was chosen, he stepped into a small open area and held out his hand for a mic. He shifted from foot to foot, cleared his throat and finally asked, “I understand that ... WEI is under the gun, so to speak, but don't you think that attempting to charge them with murder is a bit extreme?” “No, I don't. The executives of Galaxy Tours increased the amount of time between inspections and refused to flush the air tanks properly, all in the name of profit. Those popped stitches wouldn't have been a problem, if they'd been repaired at once. As it was, they were allowed to continue to gap until the seam ruptured. The air tanks are another problem. If they aren't flushed properly, they stink, they become contaminated with all sorts of gasses. If you want the names, there's a handout at the end of the interview. The contaminants are bad enough, but they also didn't fill the tanks after every tour. This left some of the tourists without sufficient air for the emergency. It's all neglect and greed. Next.” Milliardo fielded nit-picking questions for the next thirty minutes. He was polite but put up with absolutely no nonsense. He glanced at his watch and decided that it was time to call an end to the conference. “One more question, then we'll end it.” The woman stood up, elegant and arrogant. “I don't understand how you can say WEI will sue anyone. Winner is just a child, spoiled and foolish. This tantrum is only going to prove WEI needs a stronger hand at the wheel. He obviously doesn't understand profit and loss at all.” Milliardo raised an eyebrow at her. “Quatre Raberba Winner is one of the strongest men I know. He is very well versed in business and understands profit and loss quite well. He also understands that profit and loss are one thing, human life another entirely. There is no profit in the loss of human life. WEI is suing in order to make an example of people who put money above human life. And the charges of murder will stick. Now, I believe we've covered everything. This interview is at an end.” Many of the reporters started to leave and quite a few got completely out the door, some didn't want to leave yet. These few started shouting questions at Milliardo. He glanced around the room then leaned to an aide, “Get the names of all of these people. I'll not tolerate this sort of behavior. It might be acceptable to someone who needs to cater to the illiterati, I'm not one of them. They are not to be allowed into any interviews in future. Understand?” The aide just smiled slightly, gave a sort of semi-salute and murmured, “Yes, sir. I understand completely, sir. And may I just say, good for you. This sort of chaos doesn't serve any purpose except to cater to the egos of a bunch of ... I'm not sure what.” Milliardo bowed slightly and whispered back, “Precisely.” He strode to the door, back erect, hair flowing around him. . Wufei met him at the door to their quarters. “That was magnificent. I'm so glad you didn't put up with their idiocy. What a scene at the end! Most amusing.” Milliardo sighed and kicked off his boots. “Help me off with this tunic. I'm exhausted. The strain of not telling them what I thought was ... outrageous.” Wufei helped Milliardo get out of his suit and into some comfortable sweats. He knew how hard it was to have to dress in something uncomfortable then be polite to a bunch of idiots. He was still working on getting Clan Chang on it's feet, so he was also doing double duty. Wufei had thought that his repudiation of the Clan Council would be the end of things. It wasn't. The clan elders had thrown themselves on his mercy and begged him to at least help them establish some sort of new government. He'd agreed, so he was spending more time than he wanted in formal robes and conferences. Milliardo gave him a grimace of sympathy and a kiss. “Have you worked on our suit? How does it look?” Wufei gave Milliardo a look that Milliardo privately called his 'feral dragon' look. “So far I've managed to figure out who, exactly, is responsible for the actual wording of the owners manual, they're in hot water up to their necks. The executives who decided that the minimum inspections and maintenance schedules were too much have also been identified. I sent a petition for arrest warrants to a judge. WEI is going to handle the arrests itself. Facilities are being provided by the local constabulary. Things are moving.” “Good, good. I hear Duo and Heero are going to be involved. I find that... interesting.” Wufei grinned at Milliardo while handing him a cup of coffee. “Oh, it's a great deal more than interesting, they're going to be heading the arrest teams and testifying at any and all trials.” Milliardo snorted into his cup of coffee. “I wish I could be there. But I've got to go...” he thought for a moment. “Where the hell do I have to be?” Wufei poured himself a cup of tea from the companion to the coffee thermos on the table. “Have no idea. I have to be on L5-Diego, the clan elders want another meeting with me.” “Do you have to? They're still trying to get you to return to the clan and I don't like it.” Wufei smiled at the definite whine in Milliardo's voice. “Yes, I have to. It's my duty. But don't be afraid that they'll convince me to come back to them. I'm all yours.” “Until you have to go to another meeting.” Wufei shook his head. “This is the last one. I promised myself that they could have exactly four and not one more. This is the fourth one. You want to come too and stand at my back? I'd really appreciate it. They seem to think that, if they show me enough pretty young girls, I'll change my orientation; just to please them. Idiots!” Milliardo sighed. “I need a social secretary. I swear, I'm going to turn my whole schedule over to Trowa and let him arrange it to suit. I'll go with you, whatever it takes.” “Thank you.” Wufei settled against Milliardo's shoulder and sipped at his tea. This was the thing he had always longed for the most, not the hot, sweaty sex, although that was most gratifying, no, he'd longed for the quiet moments where he and his lover just sat together and did nothing. He sighed happily and Milliardo kissed the top of his head. . Duo examined the paperwork then handed it to Heero. “Check it over. I don't want any mistakes. None.” Heero just grunted and took the papers. He also examined them carefully, checking that 'all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed'. When he was satisfied, he handed the papers back to Duo. For this mission, Duo was team leader, Heero's job was to back him up. Heero didn't care which position he took, he just wanted to get the people who'd nearly killed them both. Whatever it took. Duo looked over his shoulder, the backup team all looked like junior executives, suit and tie types. They weren't, they were some of the best that WEI had. Some of them had even been trained by them, on Earth. He nodded and walked up to the door of the Galaxy Tours building. He took a deep breath and showed his badge to the guard on the door. “Maxwell, Duo. Acting in behalf of WEI. We've got some people to pick up. I'd appreciate it if you didn't sound any alarms.” The guard gave Duo's credentials a glance then just opened the door with a nod. Heero muttered, “Well, that was easy.” Apparently the man had overheard him, as he said, “I'm not crazy about any of the execs that you're after. And I like my head where it is. Help yourselves.” Duo led the way into the building, past the information desk and right up to the hostess stationed by the elevators. “I'm lookin' for these people.” He handed a complete list to her. She looked at it for a moment, then shook her head. “I'm sorry, sir, most of these people are senior executives. They don't see anyone without an appointment.” “Don't much care. I want to see them.” He turned to his group. “You and you, station yourselves where you can see the stairs and the elevators. If you can't both see them, make sure one of you sees stairs and the other elevators. Make sure you can see each other. Go!” The men hurried to station themselves as they'd been instructed. “You three, garage. No one out until I say. Go!” They opened the stairs and disappeared. Duo turned back to the hostess. “Now... Janet, we see the execs privately or we cause a great big, huge scene. Your decision.” Janet bit at her lip for a moment. “Ok, I don't want trouble for interfering with an investigation or something. This way.” She led the way to a different bank of elevators and inserted a key card. Duo knew that, if they didn't work fast, half their quarry would escape like rats from a sinking ship. He decided to catch the king rat first. “President's suite first.” “Yes, sir. We'll have to change elevators. Um ... If I might?” Heero grunted, he was getting a nasty feeling about this. If they didn't move fast, they could be out of luck. He grabbed Duo. “I have to get to a terminal, now! Someone may try to delete their files.” “Go. I'll start the pick up.” Heero just entered a nearby office, pulled a protesting man out of his chair and sat down. One if the team stopped the man and explained exactly what was going on then hauled him along with the main part of the team as they headed for the elevators. As they trotted along Janet explained her idea. “See, the president's office is fairly isolated, I'll call Carrie, she hates Mr. McNulty. He's harassed her from the first. She needs her job so she can't protest. But this... she'll get a real kick out of it.” “And you're helping us, why?” “Um... don't piss off the little people. When you need them, they won't be there. Do you have any idea the shit I put up with? Mostly from the senior executives? If I hear one more asshole ask me if I know who they are, I'll puke. Here's the deal ... Keep my name out of this, get me a good job somewhere else and I'll se that you catch every single one of them.” Duo just gave the woman an evil grin. “Done. You like WEI? Very nice place to work. I'll see you get a job. Keeping it is up to you.” “Fine. First thing, you need to shut down inter-office email. That way there's no way for anyone to sneak them a heads up.” One of the team members muttered, loudly, “Don't piss off the little people, it'll bite you in the ass sooner or later.” His friend rolled his eyes. “You bet your ass.” Heero rejoined them at a hard trot. “I blocked everything, in-coming, and out-going email, telephones are down.” He held up a hand. “I know, it's a red flag. But how many senior executives actually pay any attention to why stuff doesn't work. I planted a popup that says the systems are down due to maintenance. That ought to hold everyone for at least an hour.” Duo snickered, hugged Heero and headed for the elevators again. Janet just sighed and followed. She just hoped his offer of a job was real. She'd burned her bridges here. The group entered an elevator hidden in a side hall. Janet used her personal key card to open it. Heero frowned. She noticed and said, “All the elevators switch over to emergency operation when the computers go down. No one but authorized personnel can use or even open them. And no one on your list is authorized.” Duo looked suitably impressed. “You can remember all that?” Janet shrugged. “I remember lots of stuff. What do you want to know?” “Who's really responsible for this fiasco. Those suits are good suits, shouldn't have ruptured. We want to know who, why, and... you know... all that stuff.” “I'm not sure, I don't work near the engineering section. Let me make a call?” Duo glanced at Heero, Heero just shrugged. “Ok. Heero can listen in?” Janet just nodded and started dialing. “Clement, darling, how are you? ... Look, I got a bump of curiosity as big as a soccer ball. Who's who in the suit fiasco? Can you look it up for me? ... 'Puter's down? Well, don't sweat it. Get back to me when you can. ... I heard that the maintenance guy got his ass chewed out for not doing some picky thing or other. He's all in a snit and doing it right now. ... Why, Mr. Stiffey, language. My virgin ears.” She laughed and hung up. “That man is the biggest gossip in the building. He'll tell Mary, who'll tell someone, who'll tell someone else, meanwhile Mr. Stiffey will be telling all his cronies all about it. Word will be all over the building in a matter of minutes. No one will think a thing about everything being down. Most of the ‘little people’,” She made air quotes., “will sneak out and go home, leaving your ... I believe you call them targets, out of the loop entirely.” Duo grinned at her. “That's great. The elevators don't work so they'll all use the stairs, clogging them up. If I wasn't gay, I'd ask you out.” She raised an eyebrow. “And what does your sexual orientation have to do with buying me dinner?” Heero snickered behind one hand, Duo smacked him on the arm. “Shut up. We'll take her out for something nice.” “Ok.” Heero glanced at the floor indicator. “We almost there?” Janet checked too. “Yeah, next floor. You guys ready?” Heero glanced at the other team members, getting nods from them all he turned to Duo. “Ready, let's do it.” Janet showed them, right on the elevator map screen, where each office was. She'd brought them to the lower most floor in the series they were going to be on. This way they could leave a man to watch the elevators and the stairs to make sure that no one on their list slipped out. Heero fussed with his computer then deployed the view screen. “I got it. Here are pictures of everyone we're after. Take a good look so you'll recognize them if they try to slip away.” Everyone looked at the pictures, then Heero appointed the watchers and headed the rest of the group toward their first pick up. It was right through the first door next to the elevators. The receptionist did her best to get between them and the door, but Duo just caught her in his arms, whirled around, using her own inertia, and pushed her into the arms of the man right behind him. “Keep her out of trouble.” The man just grabbed her and pulled her out of the line of fire. They burst into the office in a flurry of uniforms and papers. Duo cornered the Jr. VP announced that he was under arrest, read him the charges and cuffed him. The man seemed a bit stunned and didn't put up much resistance. When he was led away he followed his keeper docilely. Heero poked Duo. “Um ... where are we keeping them?” Duo snarled, “Dammit! Didn't think of that. What now?” Janet came to the rescue. “Look, there's a secure facility in the basement. It's for valuable cargo and whatnot. I think... if you get some men to watch it, it'll do for a few hours, until you can transport them somewhere else. Or ... you could just send them down to the executive garage and stuff them into your paddy wagons there.” Duo was already on his phone, correcting his oversight. He ordered the secure transports to line up in the executive garage and also ordered two guards, beside the driver, for each one. “There, I don't know where the hell my head was.” Heero just shrugged. “We're really more used to going in, blowing stuff up, and getting out. No prisoners. This is the first time I've actually dealt with them. You?” Duo laughed softly. “Me too. Oh, well, if that's the worst mistake I ever make, we're really going to be lucky. Come on. Next?” Next was another Jr. VP. This one didn't want to go quietly despite the warrant. Duo got to fight him instead. “I know Karate! You won't take me in.” Duo just eyed the slightly overweight, 40+ executive and shrugged. “Ok. But I'm warning you, there's only going to be two hits. I'll hit you, you'll hit the floor. So, take your best shot.” The man snorted, he was twice Duo's size and then some. He took his stance, Duo laughed. He launched a kick at Duo's head and wound up flat on his back with no idea how he'd gotten there. “Someone put some cuffs on the Karate Kid there.” Duo sauntered to the door, braid swinging. “Oh, and tell him Shinigami is not amused.” The snickers that followed Duo out the door angered their prisoner, until Shinigami finally clicked, then it was all they could do to keep him from fainting. Heero checked the name off of his list, pocketed his PDA and announced, “The next three are on the same floor, one floor down and in the same office group.” Heero looked around at the group. “We're down to four, plus the two of us. You want to wait on re-enforcements?” Duo glanced around. “Don't know. Threat assessment?” Heero sighed. “Not sure. If it was Oz, I'd say wait. But what kind of shape these guys are in? I couldn't say. Janet?” Janet came through again. “Names?” Heero read them off to her. “Fat, slow, coward. In that order. I'd say grab them all at once. Each one of them should only take one man. There's six of you and me. I'm no good in a fight but I really don't think that these three together could take the weakest one of you.” Duo just nodded his thanks, counted his men off and assigned each team a man. He made sure that both he and Heero were paired with someone else. That put the strongest members with a weaker one, not that he thought it was necessary, but he'd established the protocols himself so he wasn't about to violate them. It didn't take more than ten minutes to pick up their three targets. None of the men resisted after reading the warrants, in fact, one of them offered a deal right then and there. Duo told him to talk to the desk sergeant when he got 'downtown'. Heero glanced out the glass doors and blinked, he took another look and said, “Duo, look. What the hell?” Duo looked out the door and nearly jumped out of his skin. “This is just weird. If I'm not mistaken, at least half those people are on our list. I have no idea who the others are.” Janet looked the small crowd over. “Well, I think that's all the people on the list except for the VP in charge of the engineering group. And the one in charge of advertising. The rest are about half our legal department.” Duo snickered. Heero just nodded and told one of the men, “Line 'em up and hook 'em up. Tell the legal beagles they'll have to meet their clients at the station. I'll call for more men.” Duo put his head together with Heero and they decided to wait until all the small fry were gotten out of the way before they went for the big fish. It didn't take long, as all the men and women in the reception area were being very cooperative. In fact, most were on the verge of panic stricken. It only took about twenty minutes to get them all cuffed and taken down to the loading area, into buses and on their way. Their lawyers accompanied them to the paddy wagons and then went to the station to wait for them to be booked and checked in. This cleared the area out almost completely. There were only two people not on the team still in the area. One was Janet and the other was a man that neither Heero nor Duo knew. He wasn't on their list either. “Who are you?” Duo just stared at the man, waiting for an answer. “Um ... I'm Janet's ... boyfriend, sort of. What's going on here?” The man actually cringed under Duo's glare, but he stood his ground nonetheless. “I'm Duo Maxwell, Colonel in WEI Security. We're handling the arrest of all the people complicit in the conspiracy to save money by neglecting suit maintenance.” “I ... sorry, my name's Ira Flanders. Why is Janet here? She hasn't done anything wrong.” Duo grinned. “Hey! Take it easy. Your girl is something special. She just jumped in and started helping out, the second she realized who we are. She's got a job at WEI in consequence. Relax.” Ira sighed in relief. “Oh, thank goodness. I was wondering how she could possibly have gotten involved in that mess. She had a tizzy...” Janet smacked him on the arm. “Ow! Well, you did. Anyway, she got really upset when she realized what had happened. I had to listen to one of her justice rants all evening, after it was on the news about the suit exploding.” Duo opened his mouth to explain that it hadn't exploded, exactly, Heero just patted his arm and told him softly to let it go. He decided to do that in favor of getting on with their mission. “Ok, I see. We need to get going on the two biggies, before they figure out how to slip away.” Ira grinned. “I have a friend in security. He accidentally triggered the emergency intrusion locks. No one can get out of the building unless they have a security key. And none of the people on your list, unless I'm sadly mistaken, have a key. None of the senior executives have them. They're supposed to be out of the building at the first sign of trouble. So ...” He gave Duo a big grin. Duo grinned back. “We got 'em cornered. Thanks, man. Here.” Duo handed him a card just like the one he'd given Janet. “We better go find our fish.” Heero pointed. “We take that elevator and go up to the top floor. Both our fish are on the same floor but in different suites. Shouldn't take much, unless one of them wants to make a shooting war out of it.” Janet snorted. “Not much chance of that.” Heero just grunted, “Good.” and led the way. They punched the floor number into the keypad and rode up in silence. Janet stayed at the back of the elevator with Ira holding her hand. They stopped at the floor but the doors didn't open. Heero punched the 'Open Door' button, nothing happened. He glanced over his shoulder at Janet and Ira, Ira was on his phone and Janet was dialing. Ira connected first. “Ok, seems our ... your last two pickups have barricaded themselves in their offices and locked the Executive elevator doors from someone's office computer. My guess is that Bradford did it. He's just about computer literate.” Duo nodded. “Ok. Thanks. Heero?” Heero fiddled with his computer. “Nowhere to set this up. I need a flat space, and room enough to work. My PDA is powerful, but not adequate to this job. Ira, can you get someone to do it from their end?” Ira shook his head. “Executive override. We're stuck in here until the lock is negated, or someone pries the door open. If we're not lined up right, we'll still be stuck.” Duo looked at Heero, who shrugged. “I can do it. And I don't think there's going to be a problem with the doors being misaligned. It's not a power failure, they shut them down.” Janet blinked at Ira. She whispered softly, “Can he really do it?” She didn't whisper soft enough. Heero chuckled. “I can do it. I need a bit more room, though. Everyone scrunch back.” Duo mouthed, 'scrunch?' at the man standing next to him, the man just shrugged. They all moved as far back as they could and gave Heero room to work. He shoved his fingers into the crack between the doors and pulled. The minute he got a bit of space, Duo shoved his fingers into the larger crack too, crouching down to get room to work. Duo pulled hard, just managing to hold the room Heero had made. Heero got a better purchase, pulled again and they both had room to get a full hand into the space. And that was all it took, the doors opened as Heero pulled on one side and Duo on the other. They held the doors as their team poured into the open reception area. The only person there was a very frightened looking older woman who held up her shaking hands and exclaimed, “Please, I'm only a receptionist, don't hurt me.” Duo nodded to Janet. “Take care of her. She's not who we want.” Janet hurried to the woman, murmuring reassurances. Ira followed and picked up a phone. “Damn, dead. I was going to call my friend and see if he couldn't undo the emergency locks on the suite doors.” Janet scowled. “And why don't you use your cell, as if I didn't know?” “Dead bat. And don't give me that look. I plugged it into the charger cord last night.” “Did you plug the cord into the wall socket?” Ira gave her a shifty, shamefaced look and sighed. “No? Didn't think so. Lunk head.” She gave him a fond look and her cell. He took it and started to dial. The crash of Heero applying his number nine to the door made him give up. The door collapsed inward in a shower of splinters. “Um ... never mind.” Janet snickered softly. Heero entered the office, papers in hand. He hadn't expected to meet with even this much resistance. He was really disgusted to see the man pointing a tazer at him. “Oh, please. Do you really thing that thing is going to do you any good?” “It's a tazer.” The man eyed Heero like he was crazy. “Mr. Damian, you're under arrest. I would suggest that shooting me with that thing will only add to your difficulties.” Duo, behind Heero, snorted. “Ya think? And is he even listening to you?” Heero just watched as the man tried to use the tazer. He didn't know what he was doing and failed miserably. The tazer refused to fire. “Um... you do know you have to take the safety off first, don't you?” Duo offered this advice in a sugary sweet helpful tone of voice that made someone snicker. “Safety? What ... don't come near me!” Heero just pulled the tazer out of the man's hand and pocketed it. “See here. Do you know who I am?” Duo helpfully handed the warrant to Heero who handed it on to Mr. Damian. “Sure do. And you're under arrest. Read the damn papers if you want to know why. Oh, and we're adding resisting arrest and attempted assault on an officer of the law. LEO's are sort of sensitive about that, you know.” Duo's cheerful tone made Heero relax and everyone else think he was near snapping point. Heero knew Duo's moods better than he knew his own. Duo was enjoying the man's discomfort. If he'd been ready to snap, his tone would have had that brittle edge that made even Wufei sweat. Duo turned to Heero and smiled. “We ready?” Heero nodded. “Yeah. We got him. Turn him over to someone to take down to the garage and we'll grab the other guy. Who'd have thought that a bunch of suits would be so much trouble?” Duo laughed and shrugged. “Who'd have thought that five fifteen-year-old kids would win a war? Goes to show.” “True, too true.” Heero laughed back and led the way to the other office. And more trouble. This time it was serious, the man had a gun. Heero blocked the door with one arm. “He's armed.” The soft words made the remaining members of the team stop behind him. Duo hissed in annoyance. “What?” Heero squinted for a moment. “Gas powered, small caliber handgun. Old. Very old. Collectable, might not fire at all. Depends on how old the ammo is.” Duo looked for Janet, she was in the very back of the group along with Ira. Ira was actually in front of her. He smiled at them and eased back to them. “You know anything about this collection of his?” Janet shook her head. “No, sorry. Um ... how dangerous is that gun.” Heero snorted. “One, it's a pistol. Two, it's small caliber. I need to know how old the ammo might be. Any ideas?” Ira bit at his lip. “Jan, loan me your phone.” She handed it over and he dialed, listened for a second then snapped, “Arden, I know you're there, and glued to the vid, pick up.” He waited for a moment. “Arden, pick up! If you don't, I'll send Heero Yuy there to personally kick your fuckin' ass.” He listened to a squeaking voice for a moment then handed the phone to Heero. “He wants to talk to you himself.” Heero put the phone to his ear and barked, “Hello! Yuy here!” The voice squeaked, Heero answered, “I don't care if the damn thing is legal or not. Do you know where he got the ammo?” He listened for a moment. “How old do you estimate it to be. ....Hn. That old?” Heero hung up. “Duo, he says it was in the box with the revolver when he sold it to ... what's 'is name? Never mind. He estimates that it's at least a hundred years old.” Duo bit his lip for a moment then started laughing. “Oh, hell, and here I was all worried and shit.” Heero moved to intercept Duo but he missed by about an inch. He snarled at the madman who'd moved at just the wrong moment and pushed his way through the hovering people. “Duo!” Duo was right in the middle of the room, talking to their target. “Look, dude, I don't want to bust your bubble or nothin', but ... that ammo is about a hundred years old. And I'm not exaggerating. You shoot me with that thing and I find out about it ... I'll smack your ass. Now .. give me the gun and no one gets hurt.” Duo held out his hand to the man. It was ignored in favor of what Duo would later call, 'gross stupidity'. “Do you know who I am?” Duo just shook his head, grinning madly. “I'm Mister Gerald Framingham. I'm the Senior Vice-President in charge of Operations. That's who I am. You have no right to do this to me. I was only doing my job. Go away. I'll call my lawyer.” “God, could you be more childish. What is this, the executive version of 'I'll tell my Daddy'?” Duo waggled his outstretched hand in a 'give it to me' gesture that was met with a small explosion. Duo jumped, then just took one step forward and punched the man square in the jaw. “I don't believe it! That asshole shot me! Damn, that stings!” Duo was outraged. “Hey, Heero! That cock-sucker actually pulled the trigger.” Heero just sighed, rubbed his face and grumbled. “Fuck, someone call a medic.” There were yells of 'Medic!' and some scrabbling as someone rummaged in their pack for bandages and Quick-clot. Heero got out of the way as Duo ambled out of the door, one hand pressed to his chest. “You better see to him. I think I broke his jaw. Fucker shot me! I don't believe it. Asshole.” Heero pulled Duo out of the door way and ripped his shirt open. Underneath Duo wore a bullet proof vest, unlike the old fashioned ones from the 20th and 21st centuries, these were actually proof against any pistol or rifle up to .50 cal. And were also proof against stabs. Heero pealed the Velcro straps open and eased the vest away from Duo's chest. Right in the middle of his left pectoral a bruise about the size of a five euro was turning a dark blue. A medic pushed Heero aside and started to fuss with Duo. Duo just took the man's hands in his own and said, “Hey! Easy there, I'm fine. You better go in that office and take care of ... what's his name? I broke his jaw. Asshole shot me with an antique firearm. Go, shoo.” Heero just sighed. “Damn it, Duo.” Duo gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I'm ok, though.” They watched as their crew took their last prisoner away to the hospital. . Wufei glanced around the station house. It was crowded with people. They stood around in small clumps babbling like chickens. He was glad it was a small room. He checked his clipboard and nodded to himself. They were arresting exactly twenty people, most of them had surrendered when they heard there were warrants out. He was expecting at least triple that number to be involved due to lawyers and other hangers on. Milliardo eased in behind Wufei, put his arms around him and whispered in his ear, “Should you be here? Conflict of interest?” “Not a problem. I'm acting as advocate for WEI. I'm just checking my list against the list of who actually got picked up.” He gave Milliardo a look of undisguised glee. “We got all of them. Now all we have to do is figure out what charges we can actually make stick. And find out who wrote that piece of stupidity they laughingly call a manual.” “I'm on that one.” Milliardo glanced at his watch. “And ... I have to go right now.” They shared a quick hug and went their ways. Milliardo took the nearby slide way to the WEI offices here on the colony and a shuttle to the new colony, Mina Hurr. Quatre had already moved the Headquarters of WEI there, over the protests of some of the employees. Milliardo was ready to move there and stay. He liked the new colony, even though it was nowhere near done. It was a work in progress as Quatre said. It wouldn't be finished for another 50 years or so, but it was habitable now. The hub was complete, having been constructed in sections, welded together then 'wound up'. Putting the spin on the hub to establish gravity had been nerve wracking and the reason that Quatre and Trowa had been absent from Earth so much. Milliardo was still a bit angry about missing the event. He stared at the colony through the shuttle port and sighed. Right now, it was nothing more than a glorified cylindrical station, but it's promise showed. The medical station he'd just left housed nearly 50,000 people, this colony housed nearly twice that and would house more than six times that when the first ring was completed. It would be twice the size of the colony that had been here, before Clan Chang's Elders destroyed it. He worried that Wufei would have issues about that, but he was going to have to wait and see. A thing he really hated. Now, he was going to go to the HQ of WEI and get some answers. Quatre had given him complete authority to handle his questioning any way he wanted. He intended to take a hard nosed attitude to it. He was not going to put up with a bunch of shit from some snot nosed ad exec. . After checking in at the main desk, Milliardo went to Quatre's office and asked to see him. Quatre, it seemed, was out at one of the construction sites and wouldn't be in until after noon. Milliardo asked the secretary if arrangements had been made for him to use an office. After checking her computer, she said that one had been set aside for him. She told him the level and room number. He asked her to notify Quatre that he was in his assigned office, when it wouldn't distract him. He also used his cell to send Quatre a text message. He wasn't about to call him when he had no idea if the call might distract Quatre at a bad time. He took an elevator to the level containing his office, noting the unfinished construction and blank areas where nothing had been done at all. He knew the glass elevator was one of Quatre's little excesses. He liked for the executives to see how construction was going. Milliardo approached the desk and said, softly, “Hello. Is this my temporary office?” The woman looked up and replied, “Milliardo Peacecraft?” Milliardo raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Right there. You're the only VIP in residence right now so you've got the whole lot of us available. What can I do for you?” Milliardo handed her a data chip. “Load this into my desk top and start contacting the people on the list in appendix c. Get some security up here just in case I have trouble. I don't want to have to handle it by myself. That's the way someone gets hurt.” The woman stood up, held out her hand to be shaken and said flatly, “There's no trouble on my watch. I am security. You think you'll need more than just me?” Milliardo blinked at the power of her grip. She didn't try to crush his hand but she let him feel her grip. “Might. Read the file summary and decide for yourself. As of now, you're my chief of security, until Duo or Heero takes over. I'll just go in and start my preliminary.” “You do that. I'll get the files loaded, read that summary and send out notifications. I'll make proper appointments for these guys, I think. That'll allow us a bit more control over who's here and what's going on. Oh, by the way, my name is Cherish Thompson.” Milliardo nodded, refrained from remark, and entered the office. It was very modern, all glass, steel and leather. The desk was made of polycarbonate that looked like teak, and the chair was leather. The visitors chair was very nice looking, in leather and wood, but when Milliardo sat in it, he discovered that it was subtly uncomfortable. There was a small side table for it but it was just a bit too high. The rest of the office was done in a tasteful, indeterminate style. He nodded his approval and settled in his very comfortable chair. It didn't take long for Cherish to get through the files, and to hand them on to the people she thought needed to know. There were only two others, people she thought she could trust completely, she wasn't to be let down either. After she finished reading, she made appointments for all the men on the list. Since there were only four, it didn't take long. The only problem was that all four of them weren't the actual writers of the manual or the people who'd set out the parameters. They were the department heads. But they were somewhere to start. Milliardo rubbed his face, this was going to be a very long day. . The first and second interviews went fairly well. Neither man would admit to doing anything wrong but they both pointed fingers at higher ups and had emails to back themselves up with. Milliardo examined the evidence and wrote their names in the 'suspicious' column on the list he was keeping in his head. He hardly ever wrote anything down in a situation like this, until he was ready to make his final report. He had wondered why Quatre sent him here, until Quatre had asked him now many similar situations he'd investigated for OZ. He'd admitted that there had been several and Quatre had just nodded and told him to do his best, he was sure it would be good enough. He had no intention of letting Quatre down. There was a soft tap on the office door and Cherish stuck her head in, “Your next interview has ... um ... declined. I told him that he was in danger of losing his job but he said, and I quote, “I know my rights. I've called my lawyer.” Milliardo didn't even look up. “Fire him and notify security that I believe him to be complicit in murder, fraud and attempted murder. Think up something else, just to amuse yourself.” Cherish grinned at him, gave him a sloppy half salute and caroled, “Sure thing, boss.” Milliardo had to look up then and return her smile. “Evil woman.” “Damn straight. I got friends out there in suits. The big wigs don't care if they gas out or not. Assholes.” She shut the door with a decided thunk. Milliardo went back to his files, waiting for his next interview. . Milliardo sighed and rubbed his face. He had one interview left and this one was the tie breaker, so to speak. This man was the head of Advertising, and why advertising would be in charge of writing manuals was beyond his comprehension. He wanted to speak to someone in engineering, soon. The tap on the door let Milliardo know that his interview was here. He glanced up then sighed, this was going to be difficult. The man was already on his 'high horse'. He was one of those smooth, overbearing, pretentious executive types that set Milliardo's teeth on edge. Cherish gave him a quick signal that his security men had arrived. “Mr. Hayhurst, may I call you Nathan?” After having his extended hand ignored and a snapped no, Milliardo settled into his chair and began. “Very well, I see that you want to make this difficult. Do you know who I am? I usually don't start an interview like this but this time I feel it's necessary.” Mr. Hayhurst sneered, “No, I don't know who you are. Do you know who I am?” “Oh, yes, you're the man who is rapidly hanging himself. I'm Milliardo Peacecraft, I'll spare you the recitation of all my middle names. It's boring and pointless. You might also know me as Zechs Marquise.” He waited for this to sink in and wasn't a bit surprised when there was very little reaction. This man was so self-centered that he probably didn't have a clue. He offered coffee, was refused and condescended to. “Now, see here, my time is very valuable. What is this all about? I understand something was amiss with a manual? How is that my responsibility?” “It's your responsibility because you're the head of the department. All the guidelines come down from you. So, the manual was outrageously ... edited. Every minimum was set as optimum, the optimum was deleted and ... er ... so on. Why would anyone set WEI up for such a disaster. Suits need to have minimums done but it is well known that end-users tend to think that optimums are maximums and minimums are recommended. Do you understand?” Mr. Hayhurst had the gall to snort. “Look, the engineering types are all a bunch of hysterical old ladies. They set minimums that are outrageously expensive. Most companies don't want to buy suits that take the kind of maintenance they seem to think is necessary. WEI makes the best suits on the market and they don't need the kind of maintenance the engineers seem to think they do. It's a marketing ploy that has made our suits the best sellers ever.” Milliardo blinked. “I see. So you just ordered someone to water down the requirements ... to make the suits more attractive to buyers? And how the hell did you get engineering to agree to that.” The smug look on the man's face was answer enough. ”You never submitted your changes, did you?” “Not my responsibility. The actual writers were responsible for that. I don't know what they did. I don't read and approve every manual. I'm in charge of overall operations. I don't read very word that goes out of this place.” “I see. Well, you're under arrest and fired. In that order. I'll also have a few words to say to your head writer and whoever wrote that particular manual. Now, if you'd please stand.” Mr. Hayhurst sputtered and objected, Milliardo calmly asked him if he wanted to call his lawyer. He also told him that a company lawyer wouldn't be available to him as he was discharged due to dereliction of duty. This seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. He muttered and grumbled but allowed himself to be cuffed and handed over to the two waiting security men. Milliardo settled in to write his report, Quatre was not going to be pleased. But Milliardo was sure they had enough evidence to charge several of the executives with something, he just wasn't sure exactly what. However, Quatre wanted to make an example and that was what they were going to do. |
| Previous | Main Index | story Index |