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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Chapter 69 Sanc New Port City Preventer Headquarters 22: 35 Chang Wu Fei It was madness. He could only stare at the woman and wonder if she had, once again, become mentally unstable. How could she ask him to do this? This was work he had been only too happy to leave behind him with the ending of the wars. During the One Year War he had been called a terrorist, and he had been capable of, and quite happy, to blow up buildings and people in equal measure. He had reviewed those days continually since peace had come to the Earth Sphere and he could not think of a time during the war when he had given a thought to the lives that would be lost or affected by his actions. He had not considered the lives of fathers and brothers or sons. He had given no thought to mothers or sisters or daughters. He had sought his ideal of Justice and truth. He had fought because he had been taught to fight for what he was told was right. During the Barton Incursion, while he had not been a terrorist slaughtering soldier and civilian alike, he had looked upon himself as a soldier. In his own way, torn from the turbulent emotions of the past, he had sought to make amends for the wanton destruction he had perpetrated during his time as a terrorist. He had chosen to believe the words of those who had come to recruit him and of his own free choice he had backed the side he had believed would preserve the honor of the soldier. He had made so many mistakes in his short life. Why was it that when time passed and he looked back over his life he saw that he had been used. Manipulated. Guided along the paths that others chose, believing it was what he believed. He looked back on the wars he had fought to this day and he was horrified at his choices of the past. He sought peace. Then and now. Why, when he looked back, did it seem that he had made so many mistakes? He had been too young. An innocent used by others. It must not happen again. He was not intending to be caught up in such foolish games ever again. This interview he had been summoned to with Preventer Earth was looking to be an extremely foolish game indeed. Once, before the war, he had been training to become a scholar and had given no thought then to bloodshed and killing beyond its implications in history, as recorded in the libraries he had frequented. It was his hope that one day, when the killing was lost in the peace he had sought to birth, he could return to his books and to the joys of learning for the love of learning. He had become a Preventer at Sally Po's request. Her suggestion had at first seemed a logical solution to the problem of what to do with himself. His colony and his past was so much space debris floating in space, a source of income to the salvage crews of the Sweepers. The Earth Sphere Council and security division had wanted to incarcerate him for crimes committed against humanity, both as a terrorist and as a soldier for Barton's little coup. Preventers had saved him by stepping forward and with the aid of Relena Peacecraft he had been placed on probation. A full agent within the Preventer organization for a period of no less than five years, at which time his case would be reviewed. Much the same set up as the other Gundam Pilots endured. Truth to tell, he was glad of the conditions that placed him within the Preventer ranks. Were he not a Preventer, then what would he do? What would he have become? He had no where to go. Yes, there were other colonies in the L5 cluster, but none of them had been his home. Yes, it was true that some of those colonies were of the Dragon Clan, but he felt that he did not belong there. They were simply not his people. His clan, his people had self destructed. If he was totally honest with himself, he still did not understand why. Their sacrifice had pushed him deeper into the war, driving him insane with grief and a thirst for justice … revenge in truth … against those whom he saw as having destroyed the colony. Looking at it now, he could admit that it was not Oz who had destroyed the colony. Yes, they had been going to invade the artificial world, but he could admit, if only to himself, that their intentions had been to take control, not to destroy. It was his own people who had chosen to end it all, rather than live under the heel of the oppressor. His people? Had everyone on the colony taken a vote? Had everyone known? Or had it been his Master who had decided for everyone on the colony? In those last few hours had it been only his Master and a few disciples who had become the ultimate authority. Had those people, his cousins and his few friends, his fellow students even been given the choice? He had not been thinking then, only feeling, and now he could understand that that was just as his master had intended him to be. Feel, do not think, and that was exactly the opposite to what his master had spent so much time teaching him as he had grown. *"Always think." the Master had said. "Think before you act."* From the moment he had witnessed his colony explode it was emotion not thought that had ruled him. As his Master had intended. China had been invaded so many times in history that it had become something of a way of life. He had been a scholar. He knew the history of his people. Time and again his ancient homeland had been invaded, and time and time again the people had emerged with their identity intact. Enriched, in fact, by absorbing the invaders into their culture. This was history. Proven, historical fact. The Chinese people were great survivors, so why, he had to ask himself, had these descendents of a great culture chosen to destroy themselves? He had not thought it through until after the wars. He had not had the time or the opportunity to think, only to act. He had made so many mistakes that now he could recognize. He had been given inaccurate information repeatedly, and in the past he had never questioned the validity of the information he had been given. No. Not quite true. There were instances during the war, like New Edwards, when he had questioned and investigated. He had been lied to so often and in most instances he had not questioned. It was not a mistake he was about to repeat again. “You want me to become a terrorist?” he was certain she must hear the disbelief in his voice. He could not believe the words given in her quiet voice that turned back the clock to painful memories. He did not wish to follow those instructions and return to a past life, and he did not care that she could read it in his voice. He wanted her to. Preventer Earth sighed, eyes drifting to the clock on her desk. She had a tight schedule to maintain if this was to be believable. “Chang Wu Fei, we do not have the time to argue this just now. I can only ask that you trust me as I need to trust you. I need you to give the impression that certain people are under threat from terrorist activity. I do not actually want people killed, you understand, although I realize that that could all too easily happen. I do not have the time to give you a full explanation if this is to be made to work to our advantage. Time is vital. I want you to attack my own home, Wu Fei, without killing anyone, if at all possible. I need you to give the impression that the attack was carried out by terrorists. Enough damage needs to be done and in such a way that it will fool investigators. By the way, before morning I will be assigning you to head the team to investigate these attacks. The first in this series of attacks was the assassination attempt on the L3 Representative that occurred earlier today. This incident can later be proven to be no part of the terrorist assault, but for now we need to have people believe that it was a part of the terror campaign. The second attack will be the assault on my own home. The third will be an attack on the Sanc Palace.” Dark eyes opened wider, if that was possible, and he glared cold fury at the Preventer Chief. “I have never been a liar, Lady Une and I am no longer a terrorist!” “I know that you are neither a liar nor a terrorist, Wu Fei. I also do not doubt that you have not lost your touch at this type of fighting. I am trusting you to carry out these orders, distasteful as they are, because I have no other options available to me. I am trusting that you can carry them out with a minimum threat to life. You are one of the few people I could trust to take the necessary care with human life that must be taken. I can tell you more after the attack on the palace is carried out. There will be more time then for me to brief you on the current situation. The three instances should be sufficient to keep the media off the Martian story for at least a day or two, more if we are lucky, and by that time we will have come up with another solution." //I hope.// "In the short term this is the best that I can do and to effect the required result, I need for you to accept the mission. It has to be you, Wu Fei. You I can trust not to kill indiscriminately. It is necessary, Chang. I have already made provision for my home staff to be in the rear of the house for a meeting. They will be discussing heightened security arrangements in the rear of the manor, well clear of your projected target area. If you attack the front, very few people will be hurt and no one should be killed. I have the plans to the estate security system and the house and grounds available. You can study them on your way, but I need my house to be hit within the next twenty five minutes for this plan to be viable. Time is of the essence.” “You are mad, Woman.” She could, oh so easily, and quite cheerfully, strangle the stubborn young man. “No, I am not mad, Chang. At the moment I am desperate to get the hounds off the scent of serious trouble, and I am willing to blow up my own home to do it. I can give you a better explanation when there is time, but there is none now. How best could you do this, without being caught, in the available time frame?” For a long moment he glared at her, wondering if he dared to trust. He had trusted before and he had been lied to, misdirected and his trust abused. Preventers had treated him fairly. To date. He did not know how far he could trust her, considering that she had cause to hate him, if rumor was true. She was said to be the lover of the man he had killed and she had not given any indication that she blamed him for the death of Treize Kushrenada. Not once in all the years following the war had she fronted him on the death of the man. “Rocket launcher. Medium charge would be sufficient to take out the front of the manor.” She sighed softly, accepting that by those few words in that cold, emotionless voice he had given tactic agreement to carry out her plans. She was not unversed in this type of operation and the choice of weapon was no surprise to her. Indeed, she had expected his choice and knew the armory more than capable of fulfilling his need. “You could use the same type of weapon on the palace as well? The emergency protocols at the palace are well known to you and at this time there is a level four alert in place at the palace. Still, I expect you would have no difficulty in finding your way onto the palace grounds. I believe that you would know the layout of the palace sufficiently well to know where best to hit the target with a minimum of threat to the personal, both Preventer, and palace employed staff. It is vital that you perform this duty and escape without anyone being able to recognize you.” Dare he trust her? Without an explanation that could be in any way called satisfactory, she expected him to agree to such drastic action. Dark, exotic eyes met brown and he nodded once, short and abrupt. “Yes.” He could do it. He could do this thing she wanted of him, but would he? Would he truly be able to return to those days, even for so brief a time? //He has not agreed. Not yet. I know that look in his eyes. He wants to know more. I have no choice. I will have to trust him to do this. He could turn from the mission at any time and I would not blame him. I have not told him sufficient information to explain, and he is no Terrorist now.// “By the time you get to the car pool, I will have the equipment you need waiting for you and a vehicle. It is necessary, Wu Fei. I will explain the need to you, but at this moment there is not sufficient time for me to convince you of the necessity of these actions. All I can say is that I want you to trust me and I will do nothing to violate that trust. It is vital to the peace.” “Yes. Yes, you will explain.” he glared at her, rising and sweeping to the door, turning to pin her with eyes of dark fire. “I am no longer a terrorist who will act on lies and deceit and never question those who give the orders.” “I do not expect you not to question. If you did not question these orders, then you would not be the right man for the job.” The door had barely closed behind him before she was ordering the required equipment be taken to the car pool and a suitably nondescript vehicle readied. She efficiently arranged for a replacement vehicle of identical colour and model to be brought into the garages less than an hour after Chang would depart and then she leaned back and waited, watching the computer screen for the exact moment when Chang signed out the car and the equipment. The security feed enabled her to watch his progress and she was relieved that he spared no time in reaching the garages. He had understood her need for urgency, if not the reason behind it. Time was of the essence and by the time he had driven out of the garages she had erased the records of the cars engine number and registration plates and replaced them with the new vehicle soon to arrive. The next step was to replace the information on the sign out documentation Chang had needed to file, a feat that took mere seconds. The weaponry that had been in the car was also treated to some adjustments and by the time she had finished no such equipment had been the property of the Preventers as far as any investigation would show. That done she reassigned the supply personal who had handled the equipment to safely distant locations and sat back finally, eyes on the clock. It would not take Chang long to get to her home. She could only hope that he would commit himself. When her com line buzzed she drew a deep steadying breath. This should be the first of the calls from the media over the email they had received. ------------------------ 22:51 Chang Wu Fei He nodded slightly to himself, studying the floor plans of the house that was mostly hidden by the trees and by the rising storm. From his vantage point the house lay spread before him, though he could see more a darker blur and just the odd light glinting through the wind driven slush. What he could see was just enough of the house to give him an accurate target without placing himself too close for a getaway, though the storm was going to present problems. He knew the security around this house. He had helped to set it up and he knew there were very few chinks in the armor he could take advantage of. The haste with which this mission needed to be carried out disturbed him, but he had decided that he would trust. At least for now. If his trust was to be abused yet again then he would have a great deal of enjoyment in taking down Lady Une and the Preventers. He would not be used again. He would not be made a scapegoat. Nor would he be blamed for this piece of work either. Before he returned to Preventer Headquarters he would check to see if she had covered his use of Preventer equipment and if not, he would know that she was using him. It would be the last mistake she would ever make. He was no longer a tool. The beauty of his choice of weapons was that he could accurately hit his target from a good distance, allowing for a quick and relatively unseen escape from the scene of the crime. He winced at that thought. It was a crime. Would he be turning back the hands of time with this single action? Would he be opening Pandora's box by this act? //I will need to ditch the car and ensure that no DNA samples or finger prints can be taken to later be used to link me to the attack.// While the missile to be fired from the weapon lying on the back seat of the car was quite powerful, he was certain that it was not too powerful for the mission he was to accomplish. She had said that she wanted no one killed and as few as possible injured. The missile alone could not accomplish that objective. He must be exact in his aim. From the design of the house and the details of the blue prints he had spread out before him he would have very little chance of doing any great damage to people, if they had indeed been summoned to the rear of the structure. There was no means by which he could check on the location of the Preventers in the house, so he could only trust. About the only thing he could be certain of was that Preventer Earth would not have Mariemaia Kushrenada in a position of danger. That was cause for him to believe that she at least spoke the truth in regards to the positioning of the Preventers. Trust, however, did not come easily to him. //Why? Why do you insist that this must be done? I have never known you to be a fool, even in the days when you were in Oz. No, I have not known you to be a fool, but I have known you to be insane. Is this another case of your instability affecting your judgment? Do I fire?// He had so little time to make up his mind. She had wanted her house and the palace hit within the space of an hour, and time was relentless. It was a fifteen minute drive to the palace, and he was pushing his luck by delaying as he was. He must either decided he trusted her or not. He fired or he did not. One way or the other, he had to make up his mind. Once he fired on her house, there was no going back, and he lacked so much information. The weight of the weapon in his hands surprised him, as he had not realized that he had picked it up. He blinked in surprise, to see that he had already loaded the payload and sucked in a deep, steadying breath. Automatic. It had been done so easily. Was he not so far from the old days as he had thought? When had he decided to fire the weapon? He had not made up his mind … had he? Not consciously, at least. Through the trees the house was a dim shape, the sleet becoming wind driven snow. At least the fire that would come would be extinguished by the weather in fairly short order. The entire house was not likely to burn with the weather now closing in over New Port City. He had to choose once and for all whether to fire or not, because the snow would slow him down reaching the palace, the secondary target. He had arrived at his vantage point in time to see a dark, standard issue Preventer vehicle pull away from the side of the house. By the time he had pulled out the blue prints a second vehicle had left the building and close on the heels of its departure a third vehicle had pulled away. He had watched in silence, lips pursed as the third vehicle had left the grounds. Une was definitely up to something. Was Mariemaia in one of those cars? He considered the darkened house for a few minutes, aware that he would have to chance the weather by driving with speed to effect his escape, but there was one or two streets that could be used as short cuts if he took care. If the child was in one of those cars he wanted her to be well away from the building when he fired. When he fired. So. He had made up his mind. He would trust Preventer Earth and he would face the consequences, as must others. With a prayer to his Ancestors that he not make mistakes again he hefted the rocket launcher to his shoulder, took careful aim and fired. He did not linger to admire his handiwork. He braced for the recoil, heard the whoosh of the rocket fire, and spun, tossing the weapon in the back of the car. The night exploded into sound and colour, sirens began to wail the alert as the Preventers in the gate house activated the alarms, but he was already in the car and moving. He had driven three streets before he turned on the lights of the vehicle and the radio. The first reports of the explosion would be on the air within minutes and he needed to know if anyone was killed. He needed to know if it was going to be necessary for him to kill Une. “…distress call received from the Terra Formation Station being established on Mars. It is not known at this time the extent of the assault on the new colony, but the mayday is suggestive of a total annihilation of all personal taking place. At this time the ESUN Security Council has refrained from making a comment, though a press conference has been announced for 8:30 in the morning, when more information is expected to be available. The contents of the distress call suggest that the Reavers have moved their base of operations from the Asteroid Belt to the vicinity of Mars. It has been suggested that the Reavers may even intend to take over the terra forming station and the colony to use them as a base for their attacks against vessels passing in the vicinity of the planet.” * “The three instances should be sufficient to keep the media off the Martian story for at least a day or two, more if we are lucky, and by that time we will have come up with another solution.”* Preventer Earth had mentioned Mars, he recalled, turning the radio down as he negotiated the slick roads with care, forced to keep within the speed limits, not wanting to be noticed by any law enforcement agents. Besides, the streets were just too slick to speed. Lady Une would just have to live with a delay of a few minutes. Even terrorists could run afoul of the weather. //She mentioned Mars, before I left. What has Mars to do with this?// He wanted that explanation she had promised and he wanted it soon. It would be a far reaching explanation, he was certain, to explain a connection between Mars and a terrorist group hitting political figures on Earth. Why was timing so important? The Mars story was out on the airwaves already, but when had this distress call been received? He had not been listening to the radio as he had prepared for his mission to track down the assassins after the L3 representative, but perhaps he should have been. He was confused. He could not see a link between the two events, assassination and Raider attack, accept that the two stories would be fighting each other on the air waves for priority. //Ah. She wants the Martian story off the air. Why? Preventers has as many ships in the asteroid belt as possible, chasing Reavers. More than the ESUN patrols. Mmmm. Rivalry between the two organizations? Ancestors, I hope not. I do not blow up buildings because she wants more money that the ESUN provide their own security service. If it is that petty then she will learn what it means to use me.// “...terupt this program to bring breaking news. An attack on the home of the Preventer Chief has been reported to have taken place. At this stage only sketchy details are known, but we believe there are no reported deaths or serious injuries. Our reporters are minutes away from the scene and we will be updating the news as soon …” Wu Fei clicked off the radio. He was making good time and it would be only a minute or two difference with the time frame Lady Une had given him. If she had wanted this thing run by a clock face, she should have taken up the weather with what ever God she followed. He had committed himself to complete this mission and he knew just where to hit the palace and the exact vantage point that would afford him the best view of his target. It would be a frontal hit on the palace. Standard procedure
in a security alert was to gather the people in the center of the
house, away from the windows and front of the edifice. The palace
was huge and at this time of night most of the staff would be abed,
but after the assault on Une's home an alert would have been issued. Another five minutes would see him in position for the hit. t.b.c.
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