Title: Last Two Standing
Chapter: 1
Story Notes: This is 'technically' version two of this story. It was in great need of some substance to it. I have been doing a bunch of research this time around BUT there will still be some made up factors here. This is a fiction story after all.

Chapter Notes: For those of you who remember the original. This starting is completely new :)

Every news stand in the city displayed the same line on the front page of the newspaper. Big bold letters reading, "Foreign Representative Dies on Sank soil." The black stood starkly against the low quality paper it was printed on and the sheer volume making it almost overwhelming. That day's head story was printed in a rush at 4 a.m. Taking up the majority of the front page and continuing another six long columns after you went to the next. 'Was it natural or intentional?' 'No signs of foul play found.' 'Healthy at the age of 55.' Between all the lines of accusations, anyone could read into the consequences that were surely to follow.

Prime Minister Bascho had traveled to the Sank Kingdom in hopes of negotiating an agreement. Several smaller countries were at war over a section of land and the resources that it would give to the victors. Everyone country was over crowded and the resource rations were spread far too thin. Not to mention the vast amount of profit to be made in the trade of precious raw materials that only existed in that chunk of land.

Such matters would normally go by the Central International Government without a second glance. Besides from a minimal amount of cargo air traffic that carried raw goods, all counties on the planet remain independent of each other. But the undeniable fact that the feud was spreading outside of these few areas of land made the issue a... higher priority.

Contacts with the majority of the battling counties had never been strong or peaceful. Several had marked the Sank Kingdom as being greedy with the large amount of land they lived on. Threats of a hostile nature were already being sent to the green kingdom. Any breach in the safety level Sank kept was basically a risk that couldn't be taken. Not after several successful terrorist attacks to key points across its soil.

The largest of the waring countries reached out to the CIG. They wanted to find a solution to keep the violence from spreading and harming more. Sank agreed to lend their own man power and resources if all nuclear and mecha weapons were handed over as a trade. That was the reason for Bascho's trip. Several waves of trained military had already been deployed to help and keep outbreaks to a minimal. This was to be the signing partnership between them.

Shaking his head just a fraction of the inch, Heero neatly refolded and deposited the newspaper, he had bought just a few minutes before, into a trash can located at the end of the block. Nothing good could ever come out of any representative losing his or her life while visiting foreign lands. Even with no evidence, there was little to go along with the assumption of a death by natural causes in this case. Bascho was in outstanding condition for a man of his age. No history of family heart problems and was known to walk five miles every other day with his twin sons. Men like that didn't just keel over in their sleep.

The Japanese man peered at the flashing 'Don't Walk' sign from under wild brown bangs and tapped his booted foot impatiently. He wasn't in danger of being late for work, in fact he was never less then ten minutes early each and every day, but with news like this, he could only imagine the chaos he was about to find himself submersed in once he stepped through the front doors.

A pat to his jacket's left breast pocket reassured his overly active brain that 'yes' he had grabbed his I.D. drive off the dresser this morning. The long rectangular object was solid through the light fabric. Without it he could never get past the front entrance to the Station 14 building on the corner of 157th and Grand.

One man dressed in the blue uniform of a city officer was there to greet anyone who happened in. This day was no exception. With one hand Heero pushed opened the first black tinted door, the other was already holding out the metallic jump drive looking card that contain his serial and badge number. This the waiting guard plugged into a small hand held device, deep blue eyes moving slowly side to side, carefully verifying the information that scrolled over the screen.

Heero was quite positive that the older gentleman recognized and knew, by first, middle, and last name, who he was. He had been working at this particular station for well over a year now. That same blond guard had been watching the door, taking badge cards, the very first day he was led through by a superior. And even that superior had been required to present a valid I.D. before being allowed to continue through.

Scrutinizing eyes looked up from the light of the screen directly into Heero's own dark blue spheres, peering almost beyond the point of comfort. Short lashes flashed together for a second before the man nodded and handed the drive back. A quick press of metallic keys were the code to unlock a thick second door to the guards left. He politely pushed it open for the other to pass, one hand on the handle, the other resting on the gun at his hip. The same as every day.

Wasting no time Heero made the short trek down a plain white hallway to the next point of security. This time two personnel dressed in black, almost business like suits waited to greet him. One was male the other female, both watching from behind dark lens glasses. A simple person off the streets would surely suspect the FBI from Hollywood movies, but if they concluded on that, then they probably would not have made it passed the first door.

Between them was a single doored elevator, reinforced both inside and out. No directional indications pointed up or down. No buttons to operator or open it as one might be use to. Instead a retinal scan was the key to entry and usage.

Neither one of the officers moved as he leaned over to allow the wall machine to do its job. A laser thin green light scanned over his iris, matching unique areas of recognition both there and in his pupil to data that was already in the system. A government issued image appeared on the screen next to the scanner displaying his full name: Heero Odin Yuy, age: 26, rank: Specialized Agent, and Security access level: Full. A moment more and the metal door slide soundlessly open and he was able to take the elevator to the underground level C. It was not the floor he would normally occupy, but with a bit of deductive reasoning he decided to make it his first stop.

A jerked halt and the elevator door slide open again to strategically lite room in complete chaos. Too many people to comfortably fit inside its walls were running back and forth exchanging maps, papers, and print outs. Almost every inch on useable level space was covered with reports of every variety. People were shouting and orders were being directed across the large room. On the far wall three projected screens displayed the current news, each playing a different network, all giving their own report on the late breaking news.

Several groups crowded around the flat panel monitors setup to flash through online sources of incoming and outgoing information, both private and not.

One of the closer clusters of computers to the elevator was where a thankful call centered his gaze. "Heero! Thank god you're here. I would have called you in sooner but I haven't the time for even a minute away from this." A lady with her dark hair twisted up and into a bun gestured with both of her hands in a wide arching motion to each side.

He made a careful path through the current of sporadically moving bodies to the table she was standing next to. The computer's handler was a frequent partner of his on some of the toughest cases, a young agent by the name of Wufei Chang. His slanted eyes focused on investigation reports from four different divisions that tiled his screen. These also included autopsy reports from three high security level doctors. Leaning closer, Heero gave the information presented a quick glance, digesting as much of it before turning to the woman who first noted his arrival. Miss Une, the head of Preventers, and Director to station's Specialized Inner Planet Crime Division.

"It's all over the papers. I looked at one on the way over. But it was vague." He watched his superior's facial and body language as he spoke; noting the obvious signs of stress. An indication of a long, sleepless night.

Une ran a hand upwards to push away locks of hair that had come free of their bindings then readjusting the wire framed glasses that sat lightly on her nose. "The media will have little 'useful' information on this subject. That is the most I can hope for at this point in the game." She took a pile of yellow sheets off the table and held them out for the other to take a look at. By her comment, the situation was far more involved then he first suspected.

There were four sheets total. Each one titled with a different name at the very top, marked darker then the rest of the document. The bottom was a privacy discloser, signed by the station's own in house doctor Sally Poe.

Each was an autopsy report.

"Then…?"

"Yes." Une paused to take a slow, deep breath. "Of the 'four' deaths that occurred late last night, only one was release to the public. There was far more to this gathering then I was allowed to divulge to even my own team, Heero. Only the handful of men and women assigned to the case were allowed the specs behind it. And even that was only a small part of the big picture."

"Secrecy took priority over security."

Both gazes shifted down to Wufei. His emotionless comment hitting the nail on the head after remaining silent through the entire exchange.

"And I specifically warned them that doing such was a mistake." Une sighed loudly before she was pulled aside by another officer holding a cell phone. The call, of course, was important.

Heero crouched next to the desk, so he could focus on the Chinese agent's meticulous keystrokes and ignore all else that was going on around them. "So, what do we know is fact in this so far?"

Nearly black eyes glanced in his direction for a split second before pointing to the screen. "Four died, each of seemly natural causes. They were found in their beds early this morning." More taps to the keyboard and several pictures pulled up. Three men and a woman, all were obviously not from Sank. Each image was taken before the bodies had been moved from their beds. There were no signs of struggle. "Nothing was missing from the rooms, nothing looks to have been tampered with."

"Do 'we' have somebody down there investigating?"

A small nod. "Yes, Trowa is checking into the surveillance of the rooms, along with the duct systems and external security."

"And is there any evidence to suggest an assassination?"

The typing stopped for a moment and the black haired officer backtracked mentally through all the information he had been privy to. "None that would come from a normal case... "

"Meaning?"

"Sally noted something unusual when doing her analysis of the bodies. None of the other doctors reported the same, but there was evidence that an unusually high level of activity in the brain was present before each of them died. Not only that, but the time of death was estimated for each person at 2:45 A.M. give or take about two minutes."

"That can't be coincidence."

"It 'could', but that would be very unlikely."

Heero looked closer at the scans uploaded for each brain. Sally was the only one who even mentioned any detail on its activity. So either the test was extremely useless or perhaps it was just a level above what the others in the medical field could accomplish. He guess would be that the later was true, knowing the history of their in house doctor.

At his request, Wufei pull up the previous scans from the four representatives. Being the nature of their job he knew the records would be present and that they would have access to them.

Seeing the two side by side bought a bit of unsuspected shock. "The areas of activity changed." Heero observed.

Wufei leaned forward in his chair to study one of the sets closer, the change was minimum but to a trained eye it was a tell tale warning. "Not only that... the percentage increased." He jabbed a finger to a small spot on the screen that in the first image was black, then the most recent was lit with yellows and oranges.

"Can that happen?"

The black tie of hair shook back and forth. "It's not supposed to. The percentage of activity in an average brain will remain the same after about the age of 12. All neuron connections have been established by that time and will remain that way at least through a person's sixties. After that they can only decrease, never increase."

Heero looked around to locate Miss Une, only to find her still in a heated conversation with whom ever was on the other line. She had wandered to the most isolated corner of the room at some point in during their searching.

A flash of color, out of the corner of his eye, drew his attention back to the screen. A small video window popped up over top of their work. Showing a single man about their age in an outdoor setting. Rain had long since soaked every inch of his navy uniform, and plastered long brown bangs over one eye. An extremely large white building was the distance background to the program's window.

Wufei was already in the motions of fitting a headset with an attached microphone over his head and adjusting it to the right height. "Trowa. Anything to report?"

"Would I be calling otherwise?" The man drawled before the scenery of the video feed shifted as he moved his communicator to show the ground in front of him. In the soft soil of the ditch, next to what appeared to be a gravel road leading past the area, there were four footprints, slowly disappearing with the constant down pour. The impressions was unusually bare footed. One set was side by side as it would be if someone were standing still, perhaps waiting. Then about nine inches in front and to the right was a single print. Then the last mark took up the distance of about two feet and appeared deeper set then the rest. More weight had been put on that limb, either in taking a long fast stride or stepping up into something, like a tall vehicle...

But, that was it, only four prints. None leading to the spot or away. More shuffling in the video and Trowa's head and shoulders came back into view. "This location is about a hundred feet northeast of the main gate entrance. It is rather open around the road, trees maybe 30 feet behind me. I searched the rest of the area and found nothing else."

"Where is the PD crew?" Heero asked.

The wet officer yanked a thumb over his left shoulder. "Still searching through the tapes. I found nothing of use there either, but got copies anyway.

Wufei bobbed his head. "Good enough, come on back, you'll be more use here."

"Roger that."

The window flickered to black and the Chinese Preventer clicked the 'x' to close it. He then proceeded to search the records of police cases. Looking at the databases from about three years prior. Images flashed over the flat panel screen. Reports, records, evidence.

"What are you looking for?" Heero finally questioned after several sets of cases had been brought up on screen then closed again. The files were from before he joined the force and very little was recognizable.

"There was a case I worked on for a brief time that also had footprints like that. Only in one area, leading nowhere, and bare foot." He opened another set of files and began rapidly scanning through them. Barely paying attention as the one beside him pulled up a vacant chair and finally sat down.

Three more sets of data were browsed through before a familiar snap shot was at the top of the pile. "There..." Two sets of eyes focused on the screen. There were, in fact, several cases that had happen within a six-month period that similar evidence had shown up. Wufei clicked over to the Preventer's official reports, hoping to find a connection between what had happened then and the most recent events.

Instead the photocopy had a large red stamp over top of it stating 'Dismissed'.