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"Sensus Divinitatis"Written By: The Plotting Housewife Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu
and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements,
Ghosts, Demons, Apocalypse, Major character death, blood, gore, violence Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5x6 Summary: It begins with a prophecy and ends with
Judgement Day. What happens in between will determine the fate of
the human race. The murders of the Gundam Pilots was only the catalyst.
The beginning of the end. " Sensus Divinitatis" Chapter 5: June 23rd, AC 206, 9:17am "Damn it!" Une tore her glasses off her face and slammed them on the desk. She rubbed her temples in frustration. None of this made any sense! She'd spent the last two and a half hours viewing video footage from the ESUN's global surveillance positioning satellites. She'd uplinked every satellite that was within range of the pilots' homes on the evening of June 21st. Not even the infrared had picked up anything, which was impossible. Someone had broken into their homes and killed them and those someones should have been visible. But there was nothing. Not a goddamned thing. She could see the heat signatures of the pilots. She saw them milling around, doing whatever it was they did on any given Thursday evening. The human shaped blobs of red, orange, and yellow moved around their respective homes, working, watching television, taking a shower. She saw Barton leaving his place of employment. She watched his trek from the building to his car. She watched him drive along the same route he probably always did on his way home to his partner. At approximately 7:38:02 in the evening, she witnessed what was mostly likely the final video frame of the living pilots. The next frame read 7:38:03 pm and it showed the pilots in the positions they had been in when their bodies were found. Still and lifeless. Their heat signatures already begun to take on the cooler colors of yellow, green, and blue that registered lowering body temperatures. There was no way in Hell an invisible force had swooped in, unseen, and killed them all in a fraction of a second. There was no way their bodies had cooled that much, that quickly. Yet the evidence was right there in front of her eyes. They had been killed simultaneously, across the board, in less than a second. Even when multiple killers carried out a mass murder in different locations, it was never perfectly synced like this. Usually there were seconds, minutes, between one murder and the next. The footage showed a flawless, seamless crime. The pilots alive one moment and the next, dead. And where were the killers? Why hadn't they shown up in the footage? Her mind briefly entertained the idea that they had killed each other, but immediately dismissed it. That was impossible, too. This was not the blueprint for murder-suicide. She'd have seen it on the video. Even if Yuy had strangled Maxwell, there was no way he could have slashed himself to death like that. And if Barton had killed Winner, it still didn't explain how he'd managed to bludgeon himself. It also didn't explain how Chang was killed. Une's mind was racing in circles, chasing one preposterous thought after the other. She'd hoped reviewing the footage of the pilots on the night of the murders would give her some insight into what had happened, but it raised more questions than answers. The only other viable option was that someone had hacked into the surveillance mainframe and sabotaged it. But who would have had that kind of access and capability? A name pushed its way into the front of her mind and a chill shot down her spine. Even though he was not an official suspect, Zechs was at the top of her personal list. She did not believe he was dead and the fact that he was AWOL raised some monumental red flags. There were only a few people on an extremely short, select list besides Zechs who could have pulled something like this off. That list was basically limited to the Gundam Pilots, and Treize Khushrenada himself, and they were all deceased. There may have been a few others capable of this level of subversion, but Une didn't think it likely. As much as she wanted to name the elusive former "Lightning Count" as a suspect, she could not at this point in time. The best she could do was declare him a Person of Interest. The physical evidence was just not there. Not yet. She needed something solid to bring to the ESUN high courts. She tried a different tactic. Zechs was last seen near Geneva, Switzerland, outside a cafe. There were some reports that he had been conversing with a known arms dealer, but nothing conclusive. The arms dealer had been taken in for questioning and was under constant police watch. He had revealed nothing to law enforcement about any possible encounter and claimed he hadn't seen Merquise in six months and had no idea where he was. The arms dealer was since behaving himself and no contact between the two had occurred in the last few days. Une skimmed through the phone records and online communications of the arms dealer, but found nothing beyond the typical discourse between him and his regulars. Petty stuff. Nothing she needed to concern herself with. It seemed as if Merquise had been off the grid for several months. Interesting... She almost didn't notice when a rumble reverberated throughout the building. It shook the very foundation of Preventers Headquarters and rattled the windows. Computers, files, and other desktop impedimenta were agitated from their places, the vibrations moving them around the flat surface. Picture frames jittered and fell off their nails. Une's head jerked up in surprise. She watched as her cup filled with pencils and pens trembled along the laminate surface of her desk. She caught it just before it teetered over the edge. Suddenly, the entire building began to rock and sway. Concrete blocks seemed to loosen from the structure. Une hollered, "Get down!" Acting on instinct alone, she dove under her desk. She suppressed the urge to vomit as the floor beneath her swung violently to and fro. Various items toppled off of desks. Filing cabinets tipped over. The glass panes of the windows, unable to withstand the shifting burden of the concrete frames around them, popped and shattered. The lights overhead swung wildly and then flickered off, engulfing the building in darkness. Une cursed as the sickening motion finally began to die down. The compound seemed to groan and give one last shudder, then it stopped altogether. Une crouched under her desk in the murky blackness and listened to the ominous silence. She strained her ears for any noises, whether it be cries for help, or sounds that might indicate the building was going to collapse. She heard a cough, and a male voice call out, "Is everyone okay?" Une crawled out from under her desk and stood up, surveying the damage. She sighed, slightly relieved. Not too terrible. The building's infrastructure remained intact. She'd have to replace the windows. There was possibly some cosmetic damage that would need to be repaired, but nothing catastrophic as far as she could see. She bent down to gather the things that had fallen off her desk and placed them back on top. Her computer hadn't succumbed, thank goodness. She walked over to the filing cabinet that was laying on its side and righted it again. The drawers had come out and papers were scattered everywhere in a jumbled mess. Her assistant would get those reorganized for her. The power was out and she muttered another curse. Figures. She ventured out of her office to check on her subordinates. She surveyed the large cubicled room with a critical eye. The other Preventers seemed fine. They were shaken, but there appeared to be no serious injuries beyond a few cuts and abrasions. The floor was littered with broken glass, shards of metal and plastic, pens, pencils, and other assorted stationary items. The remnants of ESUN issued computers, printers, and other equipment lay in pieces across the commercial-grade carpeting. Her brain quickly calculated a preliminary figure of the cost of the damage. The expenditure would be a pretty penny, but nothing too dreadful. Une quickly wrangled her haphazard group up, barking, "Everyone, out!" She herded them outside for a headcount and established a triage for the injured. Inspectors would need to come out and made sure the compound was structurally sound before anyone was admitted back in. Sirens could be heard in the distance. The ambulances were on their way. Une retrieved her phone and tried to contact Sally. Unsurprisingly, there was no signal. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to slam the damned thing down on the ground and stomp on it. This week was shaping up to be a real doozy. Twenty minutes later, Une was conversing with the building's maintenance team, trying to get a feel for the total damage estimate. It seemed the building was safe for reentry, but she wanted to confirm that before giving the green light. There was no discernible time frame to get the electricity working again as communications were down. No one's phone worked and they couldn't even establish a land line. A shout off to her left caught Une's attention. Her assistant, Billings, ran up to her in a panic. She was bordering on hysterical. Her voice shook and she spoke so fast, Une had a little trouble understanding her. She held up a hand and told the woman to slow down. Billings took a deep breath and let it out in a trembling exhale. She nodded and visibly attempted to collect herself. "Sir, I was listening to the analog radio. There's chaos everywhere! It was an earthquake. A big one. Nine points, they're saying. Oh god!" The woman gasped and sniffled, her hand clutched her shirt over her breast. "The epicenter was right below Sanq. They're saying it's been completely destroyed!"
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