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"The Preventer Special Ops Vignettes"Written By: Dùlin
Archive: This arc is archived on this site with permission. Do not reproduce it anywhere without permission. Disclaimer : Gundam Wing ? Not mine ! Not mine
! *whines* Why ? Rating: Mostly PG for the moment, for bad words, ratings may come up in future vignettes. Warnings: Original Character POV, bad humour, some yaoi implications, and slaughter of a paramilitary organization. Probably some violence and language as the arc develops, but nothing too heavy. A tad angsty too, but really, I'm doing this for fun and relaxation so be prepared for anything. Pairings : rumored, hinted at, implied, drooled upon 1x2, 3x4, 5xS and 6x9 Spoilers: probably some for the whole series Notes: This story is set as a canon continuation beginning in AC 201. The five G-boys, Zechs and Noin are all Preventers and elite members of the famous Special Ops. They are also instructors for the newest members of that elite team. The series will not really deal with personal relationships strictly speaking. It will follow the point of view of several OCs, with some exceptions, and mostly deal with how people would react to working with the boys. And mostly, it is supposed to be at least a bit funny. *runs away from her angst muse* Thanks : Karina, Cozzy Bob, Winged Kitty, MORgan,
Deb, Sakusha, and everyone who reads.
The Preventer Special Ops Vignettes Vignette # 8
Vignette #8 - Checkmate, part 2 At precisely 1500 hours, I’m back in the classroom. I didn’t even have time to catch up with Dinah and Pete, I only know the other group have been asked to go to some other place where their results would be given to them. Results of what I don’t know. As we sit down, I notice that we are quite a small group, barely fifteen. Unfortunately for me, most of those happen to be the ones I labeled thugs ever since the first day I began working here. People who seek power for the sake of it, and who enjoy crushing the ones below them. I am kind of hoping that this will be their last day here, but this is out of my hands. Winner circulates between us, giving out papers. When he gives me one, I realize that this is actually a psych test, or that it looks like one. The same innocent questions that can undo your career if you tick the wrong box. I know that in the beginning of Preventer, they didn’t have those, or the Gundam Pilots would never have been accepted in, no matter how hard Une would have pushed. I mean, those guys are psychos, and we all know it. Hell, Peacecraft threatened to blow up Planet earth and he’s in charge of training the most prestigious brigade in the whole organization. Winner goes back to his desk and clears his throat, which stops the low murmur in the room. «We can get started. I will ask you to answer those questionnaires as truthfully as possible. These will then be confronted with the psych evaluation you all had to take last year, if I remember well. But first, I would like each one of you to tell me a bit more about that commanding experience you have. Agent …» he looks a name up in the list on his desk «… Wesley, please, would you please begin ?» Wesley nods. He’s one of the few nice guys in here, and I count myself in the nice guys. It is actually interesting to note that I’m the only woman in here. It is quite strange. I know for a fact that women have often held high command positions during the war, just look at Une, or Sally Po, or even Catalonia. Women are not less power-hungry than men, and when they want to be in charge, they can be more ruthless than any man I’ve ever met. But all the women I’ve met in Preventer seem to care very little about whether they should lick someone’s boots or have someone lick their boots. Most of the time, they simply don’t care as long as everyone around does their job. I kind of tune Wesley out. First, because I don’t really know him, except that he’s ex-White fang and that I have no particular reason to like those people since they pretended to fight in the interests of my native colony while trying to destroy the place I have called home since I’ve been old enough to remember. I don’t hold a grudge, I just know my priorities. If I end up working with Wesley, it won’t affect our performances, but I’ve got no reason to get all chummy with him, unless he proves to be really nice as a guy. Did I mention he was hot too ? And that no one has a clue about his actual sexual orientation ? That kind of thoughts are nice enough to distract me from hearing yet another armful of beefy agents gloating about their glory days in OZ, or in the Alliance or whatever. Especially since my story is nothing like that. «Agent Isozaki, if you please ?», Winner says, interrupting my nice Wesley-induced fantasy, which was on the verge to become a nice Wesley-Maxwell fantasy since I have always known that I was a pervert when it came to beautiful boys. I straightened in my chair and look at him. He’s looking back, and he’s got a little smile on his face, as if he knows what I’ve been thinking about. I flush, but if I’m lucky, the dim light of the room and my tanned skin tone will cover it. Yeah, right, and Maxwell just proposed to me. I try to hide from my own embarrassment by telling my story. «Uh, it’s a bit complicated, I was part of a Sank-based rebel group, and we didn’t have a very rigid chain of command. I … I was working in what could be called our transport division, since I’m a pilot. I was working under the direct command of the one in charge of the division when he was killed, so I just kind of took over. That’s all.» Winner raises an eyebrow. «Really ? And how come everyone in your group was just ready to follow your command ? Did they choose you, or were you appointed by someone ?» I frown, trying to remember the exact circumstances of those hectic days. «Neither», I finally answered. «We were constantly on the run, we didn’t have time for power struggles. Someone had to make some decisions, so I did. I was the most experienced as far as piloting was concerned, and no one ever protested that I can recall. Of course, most of them are dead now», I add without thinking. He looks at me, an unreadable look on his face, then turns to the next agent. **** We complete the test sheets and hand them out before getting out. We’re led to some plain room, with a television set and some magazines, and Winner tells us we get an hour to relax while our results are being processed, before we can go back to the locker room. I swear under my breath, I had hoped to finally see Pete and Dinah and learn how it went for them. After all, Winner clearly said that he won’t take a lot of people in his class, and I remember Marco saying that he was the one to toss a lot of people out. Of course, time seems to slow down and that hour drags endlessly as I poorly attempt to distract myself with a magazine on motorcycles. It seems like a century before an agent comes and tells us we can go back to the locker room. Just before we go, though, he takes a paper out of his pocket and calls out ten names, saying those people should go to Captain Winner’s office to be given the reason of their dismissal from the training. Not just the class, the whole training. My name is not in it.
I can hear the angry voice before even entering the room, and I freeze. Because it’s Pete I hear yelling, although I can’t make out what he says. I get in there very fast to see what is going on. Pete is standing next to his open locker, shoving his stuff into a duffel bag. Next to him, Dinah looks at a loss what to say. Everyone else is doing their best not to stare openly in his direction as he loudly recriminates and swears. «Damn it ! Why does it always have to be me ! Why did I do wrong this time ?» «Pete …», Dinah begins, but he interrupts. «Don’t you fuckin’ tell me they have a good reason ! Do I look like those useless bullies they threw out before ? Do I really look like I can’t even tell where my ass is with my hands and a map ? I fuckin’ supported everything to get to that point, when I didn’t even want to in the first place, and that’s what I get !» I frown and get closer. «What is going on ?», I ask. Both Pete and Dinah turn around. «Minako, thank God !», Dinah exclaims, apparently relieved to see me. I would like to smile at her, but Pete is glaring at me, and I don’t understand why. I look around to see if he couldn’t be looking at anyone else, but apparently not. «You want to know what’s goin’ on ? They fuckin’ threw me out of here, that’s what’s going on ! And it’s all your fault !» I see red in an instant. I am someone temperamental, and I can’t stand being falsely accused. My voice is dripping with threat when I next speak to someone who looks to be well on his way to become an ex-best friend if he doesn’t come back to his senses quick. And I wouldn’t not be again slapping some sense back into him right now. «What ? My fault ? How can it be my fault ?», I snap. I dimly hear the door opening with a creak, and register some more people coming in and stopping dead in their tracks when they stumble upon the scene. If I was paying attention, I would realize those are our instructors, all of them, even Peacecraft is among them. But at the moment, I can’t care less, because the person attacking me is someone I care for, and he’s being unjust and unfair to me, and it hurts far more than I thought it would. «You persuaded me to take the tests with you !», Pete snarls in my face, and he really must be angry to forget that I never, ever stand someone talking to me that way and walking home on their two legs. «You made me come here when you knew I would ridicule myself ! I hope you had a good laugh !» «Pete, that’s enough !», Dinah says warningly, but I’m faster. The slap echoes through the room, followed by a loud bang. I didn’t pull my punch and Pete knocked his head in his locker door. Now he’s watching me with wide eyes, but I’m far too furious to care ! «Now you shut up and listen to me, Simmons ! I didn’t make you do anything ! I asked you if you would like to come, because I wanted to be with friends ! I never forced you to take the bloody tests, and you passed on your own ! I never made fun of your abilities, and I never designed any grand scheme to make you ridiculous because my world does not revolve around your ass ! If you made a fool of yourself, you did it on your own and you certainly didn’t need me to turn green every time you just looked at something even remotely Gundam-related, so FUCK OFF !» My ears are buzzing, and I suddenly realize how silent the room is. All my body is tense with the frustration and the anger directed towards Pete at the moment. I can’t believe he said that. I can’t believe he would think so little of me and deem me capable of belittling him on purpose and for fun. Pete is looking at me. He is holding his cheek, which is beginning to darken. I note detachedly that he’s going to have a nasty bruise, but some part of me doesn’t care. He had it comin’. His eyes are still too wide, and I think he just realized he’s gone too far. «Minako, I …» «Just shut up ! I don’t want to hear any more !», I growl. I shoot a look around and realize everyone is watching us. «What the hell are you people lookin’ at ?!», I bite coldly, and everyone (apart from our trainers whom I still don’t pay attention to) suddenly find something insanely interesting to do in their lockers or in another room. «Minako …», Dinah says cautiously, holding out a hand to me, but I avoid it. «Don’t», I say in a tense voice. «Just … don’t. Leave me alone.» I can feel tears coming, and I just don’t want to cry like a baby in front of everyone else. «Shimatta !», I curse under my breath, and I just burst outside the room, knocking someone out of the way as I flee. **** I went on the roof. The roof is a great place to think and to let some steam off. I know I cried for a while, but now I feel drained. I feel like the little part of my heart that was sure Pete would always be my friend and always be by my side has been tramped. I’m sure he’s regretting everything he said, but I am not sure I am ready to accept any apologies at that point. I just don’t wanna see him. I am instantly on the alert when I hear soft footsteps coming towards me. I didn’t hear the roof access open, and I can tell that whoever it is, they're not trying to hide themselves, it’s just the way they walk naturally, almost without a sound. I don’t turn around. I almost start when Winner suddenly stops besides me. He doesn’t look at me, staring straight ahead at the scenery I had been fixing but not seeing during the moments it took for me to calm down. He doesn’t say anything either, but his eyes are full of sorrow, like he’s feeling bad for some reason. I shrug it off. I don’t need his pity. «What did you tell him ?», I finally ask, not looking at him and hating how rasped my voice sounds from the crying. There is a short silence before he answers. «That he did not belong here.» I turn unbelieving eyes to him. «What ? Why the hell did you have to tell him that ?» He finally looks at me, and I see that he doesn’t regret his decision one bit. «I told him that because it’s the truth.» «It’s cruel, and nasty , and …» «The truth is never pretty», he interrupts quietly, «but it’s the truth. I make it a rule never to lie when such important matters are concerned.» He grips the railing, as if trying to anchor himself, and suddenly he looks very young. «It was not an easy decision to make, and I know he didn’t take it well. But I have choices to make. I do not want someone to get hurt or killed because I took a wrong decision. Not anymore.» My throat is too dry for me to speak, and I can only look at him, and at his eyes that are not young anymore. «He is a good investigator. I know of some police departments who would be more than glad to have him in their ranks, and I told him that, but he was too furious about being out of the Special Ops to really listen. Once he has calmed down, I will give him pointers to help him find a better way to express his talents. He really has talent. Here is just not the right place for him, and I’m even surprised he lasted that long. It proves he’s strong.» He smiles a bit sadly. «I’m not doing that to hurt anyone, Agent Isozaki. I am doing that because I do not want my men to get killed. He can have his chance somewhere else, a far better chance. It would be selfish and irresponsible of me to risk his life when he could do so much good somewhere else. I hope in time, he will understand that I did not mean that he was bad at what he was doing. Just … not everyone is made for that kind of job, that’s all.» I nod. I understand. I also understand why Pete reacted that way, he’s kind of a hothead. But that was still no reason to lash it out at me, and my pride is still hurt at that. But strangely I feel a lot calmer. And I squish the little voice in my head that finds it odd that one of my commanding officers would feel the need to come up here and comfort me. Well, it was not really comfort, but I think what he told me was something I needed to hear, because I know Pete has always been a damn good agent, and that they wouldn’t toss him out for no reason. We both jumped as his cell phone suddenly rings. He looks at me apologetically and answers. «Oui ? (1)» He listens to whatever the person at the other end of the line has to say, then steals a quick glance in my direction. I just look back. I know enough to recognize he’s speaking French, but not that much that I can understand what he’s talking about. «Non, ne t’inquiète pas, tout va bien. C’est arrangé, il n’y a pas de problème. Je descends.(2)» Some more buzzing words from the phone, and he chuckles. «Je sais, Trowa. Moi aussi. J’arrive. (3)» He hangs up and looks at me. «I’ll see you in my Strategics class on Monday morning, Agent Isozaki.»
This came out kind of more angsty than I intended to, since this series is supposed to me more for fun. It seems I am unable to stick to pure fluff, drama and real life situations just come back to me. Also, I am attached to Minako and I need to make her feel real to you readers. So I hope this thing helped to ground the vignettes in reality and the fluff should be back soon with the first medical examination. |
