Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 2 Reign ❯ Double Time ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven: Double Time

"Unfortunately," I muttered pleasantly, "Your instructor is feeling a bit under the weather." I looked the gathered recruits over as Wufei gave me a dark look. "And since this is the case, I decided to step in."

"Mr. Maxwell is as fully trained as Barton and myself," Wufei informed them all, "And for the next two days he will be taking place of Barton."

"Maybe he should take your place as well." someone near the front muttered.

Wufei focused on a dark haired guy who was glowering at him challengingly.

I stepped forward, studying him in disbelief, "I did not just hear you say that."

He focused on me, still amused as the men surrounding him exchanged glances, "Maybe you should get used to it. I speak my mind."

"Good!" I replied happily, "It should be a nice change to hear the mindless blather of a dumb-ass."

"Excuse me?" he replied, his tone challenging, disbelieving, and overall disrespectful

Wufei laughed slightly, "You don't want to challenge Maxwell, Ramon." he cautioned, "He didn't mention it, but he is the reason Barton is out of commission."

That got a derisive snort.

I studied him, pulling my jacket off and tossing it to Wufei, who truly looked nervous now, his laughter ending. I could tell he was torn between saying something to me and keeping his peace. "Would you like me to prove it?" I asked sweetly, moving toward him. People moved from my path, though many of them didn't seem to consider this an issue.

"Duo…" Fei started.

The Ramon guy looked me over, "Pretty boy." he noted to a blond guy that finally did step aside.

I smirked, pulling my shirt off and studying him, "Whether or not I'm physically appealing is not an issue to be dealt with."

He blinked, probably thinking it would have offended me to be called pretty. I knew I was attractive to both males and females, and having it noted to a crowd was nothing. Hell, I didn't mind that in the slightest. I smirked at him, "We can discuss that in private."

He blinked again, his eyes widening.

"Duo, really…"

I met Wufei's eyes, "Would you rather take care of him?"

"Trowa doesn't like us to get involved with the recruits."

"Fine." I replied, focusing on the guy, "You're out of our service."

He blinked disbelievingly at me.

"Now we can fight." I added pleasantly, moving at him.

"Duo!" Wufei shouted.

I stopped instantly, my fist nearly contacting the guy's face as I stared into his eyes and he realized suddenly that my blow would have been painful.

He was staring at my hand, at any rate.

"Wufei," I muttered, "You're interrupting."

"It's not that easy to get him out." Wufei muttered, "And since he's a recruit and you're a fully trained soldier, Trowa, Quatre, and Heero will want a word with you."

"You're not in that list." I noted, lowering my hand and glancing at Ramon as the people around stared.

"I, personally, agree with your particular form of authority."

I scratched my head, thinking about that a moment, then picked up my shirt and pulled it on, pointing at the Ramon guy, "You'll be my partner, then."

He blinked at me again.

"Shall we?" I added, looking everyone over, "I'll be talking to Heero tonight," I added to Wufei.

Wufei sighed, "Just leave it."

"Mm, no." I replied, taking my jacket from him and turning to everyone else again, meeting Ramon's eyes.

I was happy to note that he seemed nervous.

-

I found it fairly hilarious to see Ramon getting bettered time and again in front of the entire set of recruits. Duo never actually hurt the bastard, but the position he would end in for each instance showed very clearly that if the movement had been followed through it would hurt. Ramon was becoming more and more respectful of Duo.

Too bad Trowa refused to let me do that.

Duo's style of instruction was much more abrupt than Tro's, even though they both got their points across. Having a living dummy helped that a lot. The day passed more quickly than days with Trowa ever seemed to. Duo taught a lot more action than words. We moved around the field as normal, had lunch as normal, and took breaks as normal. The only thing that changed was the manner in which we taught.

Duo liked to use me in his instructions as well, which was making the point to the gathered recruits that I really wasn't some helpless infant to be coddled and left on the side-lines.

"I'm rather fond of steel-toed boots," Duo muttered finally, lifting his leg and resting his boot on a low wall near us, tapping the toe, "They are considerably heavier than say…Wufei's." he indicated for me to follow suit, so I did, "But for kicking…"

"You kicked Trowa with steel-toed boots?" I asked in disbelief, straightening.

Duo blinked at me, straightening as well.

"What the fuck is with you?" I demanded, forgetting that we were in front of people, forgetting that these people were very judgmental.

"I was wearing my shoes," Duo muttered reassuringly to me, "I wouldn't kick you guys with steel."

"I'm not so sure of that." I muttered darkly.

"We can talk about this later, Wufei."

I took a breath, looking back to the recruits, who were blinking at me, then nodded.

"As I was saying," Duo went on, ignoring that I was still glaring at him, "If you can wear the steel-toed boots regularly, it adds that much more muscle to your swings. Having the steel toe itself," he laughed an evil sounding laugh, "Let's say I find it useful."

"How would you even know?" Ramon asked petulantly.

"Because I like to fight," Duo purred, "I like to start shit and finish it with a bang." his sidelong glance to me suggested he wanted to add more to that.

"And you could get away with that, being a knight." Ramon muttered.

Duo laughed, hopping the wall to near the guy, "Funny thing about that…I haven't been a knight for more than a week."

Ramon thought a second.

"Okay, so it's been like…two weeks technical since our king named me knight. For the last two years I've been absent."

"Funny," Ramon noted, "Our queen has only been back on her throne for one year."

"Yeah," Duo agreed in a slightly amused tone, "I was at her wedding, remember."

Ramon blinked.

"I was the best man in her wedding," he added, "I made a speech at her wedding." he smiled, "Made her cry and hug me."

I looked away from him.

"But see, I didn't take my position with the other pilots. I went out to play some more."

"Play?" Ramon asked, thinking he'd found a loophole or something.

Duo grinned at him, "Yes. See, before I came back, I was running around the world. I must admit that I went into some rather seedy dives."

"Couldn't imagine that," Ramon muttered sidelong to his friend Stephan-the man I'd fought with, actually. These two were pains in my ass.

Duo moved instantly to stand beside the guy, grabbing a handful of his hair as he studied his eyes with a smirk-Stephan had been laughing, "I made a study of the baser side of human nature."

"Duo, don't!" I shouted as he threw the blond and stepped directly up to Ramon, "Stephan," I snapped as he moved to jump at Duo, "I suggest you don't act on that particular urge."

I moved forward slowly as Duo and Ramon stared into each other's eyes. I knew that this was Duo. Ramon would have been glaring at me if he could have managed it.

"Ramon, step-off."

"Fuck you."

Duo moved, almost exploding forward…

"Duo!" the fact that I'd shrieked his name was probably the reason why he stopped, "Ramon!" I snapped again, using the authority I was suddenly feeling with Duo about to snap the guy's neck.

Ramon glanced at me.

Duo chuckled something like a purr, "We can deal with this one of two ways," he muttered, "I'll let you decide…because in the end, I'll have my way."

"Duo." I said darkly, grabbing his bicep.

"Don't be rash now, Fei." he purred at me in Chinese, turning to meet my eyes, "This fucker deserves what I give him."

Ramon's eyes widened and he looked to me, probably realizing that Duo wasn't like any of us. Duo wasn't thankful that they were here to help us win the cities back. Duo saw soldiers who needed to respect their superiors.

"Duo, Heero told us not to actually hurt them."

"Then Heero and I can have it out when I'm done."

"Trowa…"

"Is in his bedroom on pain-meds." Duo finished for me, his tone snapped.

"Don't make me do this, Duo." I muttered almost pleadingly. "I can not let you do this."

"Let?" he asked, focusing on me, "You?"

I tightened my grip, studying him carefully, "You'd hurt me?" I asked quietly in Chinese, knowing that no one but Ramon could understand Chinese near us.

I was shocked when he backed away from my hand, his eyes focusing in shock on my face as if I'd made a real threat.

"Ramon," I snapped as he stared at me openly, "Get back in formation."

Ramon did as told for once, still studying me curiously.

I pointed at Duo, "You're done. Go back inside."

Duo was still staring at me in shock.

"Move, Maxwell!"

He stepped away from me slowly, then turned and disappeared inside.

I grinned at the recruits as if I hadn't just been about to wet myself or fight my best friend, "I apologize for that." I muttered as the door to the compound shut, "But Sir Maxwell is a bit extreme when he's irritated."

"He looks like he could snap you like a twig," Stephan muttered, blinking at me.

"I'm really not that easy to take down, Stephan," I muttered, raising an eyebrow at him, "The level of combat I choose with you lot and with my equals is totally different. If Maxwell and I went all out, it'd be completely up in the air which one of us would win."

Actually, Duo would win, but that wasn't something I intended to spread around.

"Why did that question cow him?" Ramon asked, staring after Duo.

"Because Mr. Maxwell and I have an understanding of sorts." I replied in his ear in Chinese.

"Fagets," he breathed, starting to turn toward his friend.

I laughed at that, meeting his eyes, "I suggest you don't go throwing that one around when he's near, Ramon, because you seem to have caught his attention and I, personally, wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of that."

"I thought you two had an understanding?" he muttered.

"But I'm engaged," I reminded him, flashing my rings at him, "I really would rather not cheat."

He blinked at my hand, then met my eyes.

"Wufei! Where's Duo?" Miguel asked, coming out of the compound and moving up to my side, smiling out a the recruits before focusing on the guy beside me, his eyes narrowed.

"He's done." I replied, "He went back inside."

"You didn't lose him, did you?" Miguel snapped.

I gave him a look.

He sighed in exasperation, "The security team wants to meet with him. Where did he go?"

"I'd imagine to his office," I replied, "He didn't finish setting it up before we came out here."

"All right." he nodded respectfully to the recruits, then turned and started back inside.

"Why do I get the impression that I'm missing half of this?" Ramon asked, watching my fiancé disappear just about as fast as he'd appeared.

"Because you're missing all but a corner of it," I replied, studying his eyes, "What happened between when Relena stepped down and when Relena reassumed her duties is not public knowledge. Everyone knows that we decided to take on the syndicates, but no one seems to understand why." I looked the people over, "I know you all have your own reasons for joining us, but we started this because of a few issues we had while living out in the world."

"Like what?"

"We may tell you that later," I informed him, "But for the time being, just think a moment about what Sir Maxwell told you and what I told you…about why you're all here."

Looks were exchanged and a slight shift went through the crowd as my watch started beeping at me.

I looked to the face, realizing it was five and nodding slightly, facing the troops again, "Dismissed until eight-hundred tomorrow morning."

"Eight?" Stephan asked, "We start at seven…"

"And I wouldn't know this because I'm never here," I agreed, rolling my eyes at him.

He got glared at.

"Eight sharp, ladies and gentlemen." I repeated, "Do not be late."

They all fled, though Ramon was walking slower behind Stephan, watching me over his shoulder.

I met his eyes and watched him in return. The last time he'd stared at me like that, he'd attacked me. That had been the day Duo had arrived, actually.

I was hoping he would again, because if anyone would be sent to find me, it would be Duo, and Duo moved faster without children, and Duo wouldn't make me stop fighting or shout at me for defending myself.

I smirked slightly at Ramon, hoping he just tried to fuck with me tonight.

-

"Ah, Sir Maxwell!"

I studied the white-haired man with interest as he moved forward, offering a hand to me. I could never remember his name. The others I was fairly sure of, but this guy…

"I hope we didn't interrupt anything. I heard you were teaching the recruits."

"I was, but I'd finished my part by the time Mr. Juerez found me." I replied, shaking hands with the other members of my team. Most of them were about my age, though there was another man with gray hair.

"Oh wonderful," he said with that same annoying cheer, moving to his chair and waiting for me to sit as a sign of respect-I figured he pretty-well hated me, but some things couldn't be helped.

"What did you need?" I asked curiously, looking everyone over.

"We wanted to ask what changed you were planning on making," a vibrant looking woman everyone seemed to call "Cherry" replied easily, also taking her seat, "And I wanted to argue with you on the facts."

I smiled at her, looking everyone over, "I wasn't actually intending to do more than add another route to the patrolling pattern."

That made people blink.

"Another route?" the white-haired one demanded, "Why ever for?"

"Because it was the only soft-spot when I penetrated the building."

The room fell silent.

"You may all note that my arrival wasn't heralded by a choir," I added, looking them over, "I studied your grid-work and was fairly impressed. I managed to get to the roof."

That brought exchanged looks.

"I am a specialty fighter," I reassured them quickly, "So an average spy wouldn't be able to make that particular entrance, but just the same, I'd rather have it patrolled a few more times a night."

That got nods.

"And maybe a bit of patchwork," Cherry mused.

"Possibly," I agreed, "I don't want to change things too drastically until I am in full command."

That got some more looks, though my intent was not what they might think.

"I mean to say," I added, "That I will be changing scheduling times as per any norm in any security procedure. I'm quite pleased with the setup at hand."

The white haired man looked like he wasn't sure what to think.

I rose to my feet, glancing to my watch, "I do have some more things to do tonight, so please excuse me."

-

I yawned as I pushed into Duo's room, figuring he'd be back shortly and not putting too much thought into it otherwise. When Selena blinked up at me from where she was reading on the couch, I realized that Jesse had gone home, but Duo's toy didn't seem to be leaving.

"Uh…sorry," I muttered, blinking at her. There was something decidedly familiar about her-other than the fact that she'd been around for a week or more. Something about her facial structure reminded me of someone…

"What?" she asked, straightening slightly and touching her face.

I shook my head sharply, clearing it as my mind landed on Silvia Noventa, "Sorry it's just…"

She smiled at me, seeming slightly flattered.

I was grateful when my protest that it wasn't that, died on my lips. It wouldn't have been flattering and would have made me look stupid. "Sorry." I added again, turning and starting out the door.

"Oh, don't go!" she muttered, sitting straighter and closing the book she'd been reading, "I'm bored out of my mind!"

I blinked at her.

"Everyone was working today, and Mr. Trowa was sleeping."

I decided not to ask about that one, thinking a moment, "Duo should be back shortly."

"Is what he told me." she agreed, smiling at me, "But…well…"

I smiled a bit ruefully at her, moving across the room and dropping into the armchair, "So what'd you do all day?"

"Cleaned…read…did laundry." she shrugged, "Mike's an incredible pig, it seems."

It took me a moment to realize that she meant Duo, even though I'd heard her call him that before.

She shook her head and smiled slightly, "But he actually appreciates it when I clean up for him."

"He used to be really level-headed," I muttered, thinking back to the Duo I'd terrorized for being too churchy.

I probably shouldn't have done that, actually.

"He used to keep his stuff tidy…he even ironed his jeans."

She broke into disbelieving giggles.

I smirked at her, "Did you know that he was an assistant school-teacher or something?"

"Really?" that utterly amazed her, "They left him alone with children?"

I started laughing, "I actually said something similar to that myself."

She giggled, "That's terrible of me."

I winked at her, "You may have noticed, though, that his nieces adore him to pieces."

"I had." she tilted her head, "He always had pictures of them in his wallet."

I nodded, thinking about that. I'd been under the impression he'd taken a picture of him and Kayla with him in his wallet. Maybe he'd dumped it. I couldn't imagine how else she wouldn't have seen it…it had been larger than a wallet-sized picture, though.

"He actually worked with a nun," I added, grinning at her, "He used to preach to us about sex before marriage and after Trowa and Quatre had their little…" I thought about the little girls, "I don't want to say mistakes…but they were." I muttered, making a face, "He stopped trying to get us to stop sleeping with people, but he was always ranting and raving about sin."

"The lord forgives all sin," she muttered, thinking.

I sniggered, "Yeah. So I informed him repeatedly…didn't believe me, though."

She blinked at me, "What?"

"I used to say that to him all the time." I explained, "I'd try to get him to fuck Wufei or pick a guy up at a bar like that." I grinned, thinking to his expression for most of these occasions.

"He hasn't slept with Wufei?" she asked, blinking, "I thought that was what…Miguel?" she thought, "I thought that was Miguel's issue with him?"

"No, but he probably could fuck him with just one sentence." I muttered, "Which is Miguel's issue." I smirked slightly, leaning forward to her, "Have you ever seen the ring with the sapphire Wufei wears?"

She nodded, "It's pretty."

"It's Duo's."

She stared at me.

I sniggered, nodding to her and wondering if Duo would freak out on me about that. I was irritated enough with him that the prospect of fighting him was sounding promising.

"Miguel doesn't know, so don't tell him…or mention it near him. It took him forever to accept that Wufei wasn't taking it off."

She smiled slightly at that, thinking, "That's just…wrong."

I flicked my eyebrows at her.

She laughed, thinking about that, "A nun?" she asked finally, disbelief filtering across her face.

I smiled at her, "Sit back, relax, and let me tell you a tale…"

-

"Holy shit!" Ramon jumped as I moved in front of him, studying his eyes, "Jesus, Sir Maxwell," he added, stepping away from me, "What the fuck?"

"I told you we could discuss certain things in private." I purred at him, shifting and using his retreat to my advantage, amused that he didn't seem to notice I was cutting him off from the rest of the recruits. A few of them were watching us curiously, but none seemed too inclined to stop and chat.

"You have to be kidding me." he muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"Hm, no." I muttered, thinking a moment, "You see, you've been nothing but an asshole to Wufei, and I don't take well to that."

His expression flickered to disgust and something I couldn't quite follow.

"And you see," I added, "Wufei is like a little brother to me. No one but me can pick on him."

He raised an eyebrow, "Incest?"

"I haven't fucked him," I countered, smirking slightly, "But that's hardly an issue for us to talk about. I want to know what your bone is with him." I reached past him and rested my left hand on the wall about even with his shoulder as he actually hit the wall, not bothering to really pin him in since there were so many people around. I knew too well that a claim of rape against me would be damn near impossible to refute.

He was staring at my arm now-which was nicely muscled.

"You're the fucker that attacked him, aren't you?" I purred, studying his eyes and thinking back to the day I'd shown up. Wufei had been upset and willing to rant to me.

"Chang…" he spat, then thought better of his words, shaking his head.

"And Stephan, huh?" I muttered, grinning, "Didn't the fact that Chang put him on his ass say anything to you?"

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Did he embarrass you or something?" I demanded, "Is this a personal issue?"

"Our personalities clash." he muttered, it sounded like something Trowa would say. "We're two of a kind."

"No," I muttered, thinking a moment, "You're a bitch."

He drew himself up.

I started laughing.

"Kyle?"

I turned my head to look at the blond guy named Stephan, who was standing near us. His expression stated he was willing to attack me.

"Oh, it's you," I purred, abandoning Ramon…Kyle, huh? "I was wondering where you'd gone. You seem rather attached to Ramon."

Stephan's eyes narrowed, though he avoided my eyes when I actually stopped in front of him.

"Aren't you just a good little boy?" I purred, grinning at him before turning to look at Ramon, "You call me a pretty boy, but you pal around with him?" I touched the silky blond locks dismissively, "He'd actually have really nice hair if it wasn't plastered with gel."

The guy moved away from me, his expression becoming pissed.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Ramon asked me, moving up to me, "You can't treat us like this…"

"I can treat you any way I damn well please," I whispered to him, "Because in the end, I'm stronger than you."

"You are in a position of authority!" Ramon snapped, "You can't just…"

"That just makes the issue sticky," I cut him off, studying his eyes, "It's nothing I can't deal with or that will actually interfere with our training. I simply have issues with both of you because you have issues with one of my brothers." I thought a moment, "I don't know why Tro lets you get away with it, but it will stop."

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Wufei deserves your respect more than I do." I added, meeting his eyes, "So can you please show him the respect he deserves? I don't imagine it would be too hard to dismiss you."

Ramon was staring at me.

"Please, Kyle," I added, "You help me, I help you."

That one took him by surprise.

"Well?"

"I'll try." Ramon said finally, thinking about that, "But he hardly treats me with respect."

"He pretty much despises you," I agreed, "Because he can't react to anything you do without being bitched every way but down by the other pilots."

"Did you really take down Barton?" Ramon asked suddenly.

"I did." I replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Why?"

"That's my business." I replied.

"Let's get out of here," Stephan muttered, moving around me and starting down the hall.

Ramon watched him go, then nodded at me before jogging to catch up.

I narrowed my eyes after the pair of them…

And someone started clapping.

I turned to look at Jacob, who was standing at one corner with an evil grin on his face.

"Oh, it's you!" I muttered, turning to him instantly, "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while but you seem to hide better than Keith did!"

"Um…okay?" he asked.

I smiled, moving up to him and actually pinning him to the wall as his expression registered dismay, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What might that be?" he asked, studying me carefully.

I moved to his ear, "You once told me you'd be anything I wanted you to be."

He caught his breath.

I smirked, lowering my voice still-more, "Selena is going out this evening with Hilde around seven." I touched his cheek as I studied him, "My door will be unlocked." and without waiting for his reply, I turned and started down the hall.

My brethren did, after all, get ancy when they didn't know where I was for extended amounts of time.