Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Above You ❯ Chapter 8

Eight

"You feel big now?" Iraida demanded of Quatre, moving closer to him with crossed arms. "Big man for intimidating some little sweet boy?"

"Little sweet boy?" Quatre asked blankly. "You didn't meet Matt, did you? And I didn't intimidate him..."

"I meant Spence," she retorted.

"You're annoyed at me for that?" Quatre asked her blankly, setting down his cup of orange juice. "You want me to just accept some guy I've never heard of right-off when my sister's saying she's serious about someone? I'm old enough to be taken seriously, Ray, and I damn well intend to be."

"What was that nonsense about hurting her being worth his life?" the woman snapped.

"Nonsense?" Quatre returned, nonplussed. "I don't understand what you mean."

She gave him a level look.

"Either sit down and have breakfast with me or storm off to pout. You're the one who was busy the last day and a half, I've been here."

"Except when you ran down to the pub?" she snapped.

"Hey, I called and asked if you wanted to join us after we were there," he gave her a look.

"You're spoiled," she informed him, moving to sit with him at the table. "I'd be glad you were leaving if you were actually doing what you normally do and staying another two days."

"We're actually going to L-5 this time," Quatre noted, moving the serving trays within her reach. "I may be able to come back afterwards, but..." he thought of Wufei and how he was already putting his walls up. "We haven't gone to L-5 in five years...and I think he'll need all of us."

She sighed tiredly, rubbing his knuckles lightly with her fingers, then started gathering her food. "You should have heard Bella last night after Spencer left," she noted.

"Why? He get all pissed off at her?"

"For what?" Iraida returned in confusion. "She was pissed at you. She told us that you set Duo to courting her."

"Duo?" Quatre asked blankly.

"She's pissed at him, too," the other noted. "With how long they've been friends, she thinks it was a bastard thing for him to do."

"You wanna know the funny part?" Quatre muttered, starting to scoop some egg onto his toast. "Duo decided to do it all on his own—I set Trowa to courting her. You're missing my point though. I did it to see what he'd do when we weren't there. I guess I will have to face her fury, won't I?" he made a face as he bit into the toast. "Oh well, I guess it's not the end of the world...I just have to make her see why I did it."

"Why did you do it?" she snapped.

"To see how Spencer reacted," Quatre gave her a disbelieving look. "You need to get your hearing checked, Ray. I said the same thing a few times now."

She gave him a look.

"You gonna come down and visit us?" he added, deciding to leave that until he had to touch it again. "You and Siha didn't want anything to do with me this whole trip."

"You're having lunch with Siha, right?"

Quatre nodded.

"She'll tell you why she's avoiding you," the woman grinned slightly. "No doubt she's assuming you'll freak out like Addy did."

"What?" Quatre asked sharply, meeting her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you were supposed to be some almighty trained warrior with the eyes of a hawk," she retorted dryly. "Go back to your breakfast, it's not my business to bandy around."

- -

"Don't go to 27," Heero protested, pacing up and down the hall. "I told you...they were trying to close that down, but a bunch of vets got permission to live there...and they've been making all sorts of noise."

"Noise?" Matty echoed blankly. "What are you talking about? They do have a bunch of hot-shot war-rick ex-soldiers there, sure, but my uncle said it should be fine as long as I just...don't do anything."

"What?" Heero asked blankly, stopping. "Whatever...don't go. It's not safe."

"And what will they do to me?" Matty retorted. "You're paranoid, Max. The wars are over."

"You're from earth and they're from space, Matt," Heero retorted. "You said you were born in Hangzhou, right? Well the Alliance was all over that..."

"I was raised in New York," Matty retorted. "And I still don't see how it matters!"

"What will it take for you to believe me that it's not safe?" Heero snapped at him. "Don't go...especially alone...come on," he dropped his tone to cajoling. "If you go out there, you won't get back until six or seven tonight...I thought we were going to dinner."

"If I go, we won't?" Matty demanded in a severely level tone.

Heero tsked, pulling the phone away from his ear to compose himself. "Okay, fine. I'm ex-military," he snapped. "I'm a damn war-rick. Can you accept that? Can you accept that I have lines of intelligence not available to the common populace?"

"You're talking about that article in the newspaper the other day, aren't you?" Matty demanded. "The one saying experts warn of impending danger? I read that, too..."

"What part of 'other lines' meant the newspaper?" Heero retorted. "I happen to know that there are investigators on the colony as we speak, looking out for a possible fire."

"Fire?" Matty asked blankly.

Heero ran a hand down his face, realizing he probably shouldn't use Preventer lingo if he wanted his friend to take him seriously. "Fine...make me be an asshole, then. No, we won't go out to dinner tonight if you go."

"Well damn," Matty snapped, his ire rising. "We'll just have to fuck again, won't we? We will anyway! It's not like you care to take me nice places."

"What?" Heero snapped, pulled up short. "That's not what I...Matty..."

"My flight is leaving, Max," Matty noted darkly. "I'll have to suspend my phone until we're away from the colony."

"Matty, wait," Heero protested...as the line died. "Matty!"

The last had been a useless addition.

He ended the call irritably, glowering at the phone like it could understand him. The timer disappeared and a note of Matty's flight boarding flashed across the screen briefly.

"What's up?" Duo asked blankly.

"The idiot is going to 27," Heero snapped, rounding on his friend.

"He's not...not really," Duo protested, pulling out his phone and staring at it. "What the hell does he think?" He hit a few buttons and raised the thing to his ear.

"He's boarding," Heero snapped. "Hung up on me."

"Fuck!" Duo snapped, running a hand down his face. "Maybe we could cancel his flight?" he started for his bedroom. "I got the wire from Noin that there is a fire brewing...they think it could break out any day now."

"Nice," Heero muttered, following irritably. "You do that...I'm gonna go let the others know."

- -

"Well...you're going to be an uncle," Siha said quietly.

Quatre stared at her.

She hesitated almost uncertainly, then smiled slightly at him...and waited.

Had she really just said that?

Quatre couldn't get his mind around in the information.

"Uh..." she licked her lips nervously. "Aren't you...happy?"

"Happy?" he repeated blankly. "How are you pregnant?"

"The usual way, I imagine," she noted dryly, then raised an eyebrow at him.

"From...who?" he demanded. It bugged him that she hadn't given him the chance to meet the guy.

"Well...I'm not...entirely...sure."

Quatre felt like his jaw should have dropped as he continued staring at her.

"Quatre!"

Quatre turned gratefully to Heero...and realized his friend wasn't happy.

"Quatre! My idiot boyfriend just headed to 27 and Duo said Noin gave him word."

Quatre stared at him, too.

"Boyfriend?" Fasiha demanded blankly. "You're gay?"

"What? No, bi...wh..." Heero shook his head and looked back to Quatre. "He's trying to cancel the flight."

"Matty is?"

"What?" Heero stared at him a moment in incomprehension. "Are you okay? I meant Duo."

"Oh...huh," Quatre sat back in his seat as he tried to think. "Fasiha is pregnant," he added to his friend. "Not sure who the dad is."

Siha stared at him in disbelief.

"That's talent," Heero noted dryly. "You ever hear of a condom? Or that shot?" that was obviously to the woman herself. He focused back on Quatre. "Where's Trowa?"

"Probably in his room," Quatre muttered. "And since you're telling me, I'm assuming you're keeping it," Quatre noted, tilting his head.

"It's not an it," she snapped at him. "It's a baby."

"How far along are you?" Heero asked, hesitating a moment.

"Probably six weeks," she returned, blinking at him.

"It's still an it," he retorted, snorting in amusement. "No sex, no face...looks more like a shrimp than a baby...but whatever." He disappeared.

"Shrimp sounds good," Quatre noted, meeting his sister's eyes.

She gave him a look that let him know exactly how much she appreciated that.

"So are you going to bother figuring out who the father is, or have you been a whore?"

"You're worse than Addy," she snapped, her tone injured as she looked back to her plate.

"If you can't tell who the man is who helped you get pregnant," Quatre noted, "that's your own too bad. If you really have been a slut, then you probably shouldn't be offended by me noting it. I don't actually care if you keep it, I just want to know how much a father-figure I'm going to be."

"None, if you're going to be a dick like this," she snapped.

Quatre flashed her a grin. "All right, call and let me know when you go into labor...and I just realized that he said there's definite activity on 27 and Matty is heading for it...excuse me," he leaned over and hugged her, then grinned until she smiled back at him. He kissed her forehead and rested a hand briefly on her abdomen as he really realized she was going to have a baby...then turned to find Duo.

- -

Matty glared accusingly at the stars out the window of the ship. He knew that Max was paranoid about 27, but it had an old-town that was supposed to be a good touring spot. It also had a huge music store...a place that had tons of old music for sale...and live joints, too! There weren't any groups playing that he knew, but Taili would never let him live it down if he didn't hit the place since he was there...not to mention how bad it'd kill Abel if he'd had the chance to hit one of the lives and passed it up.

Besides, he liked hanging out with his father and uncle and all, but they treated him like he was a kid...he had more liberties than Lifon, for sure, but his little sister wasn't even sixteen. He was tired of the paternal directives. The guy'd been wary about meeting up with Max, and hadn't let down his guard. The first time Matt'd come back from visiting, his uncle had made some sideways comment about him actually coming back.

He didn't need Max telling him not to go somewhere out of paranoia alone.

Matty pushed his hair behind his ear, realizing there was a guy standing at the end of the row and looking at him. It didn't seem to be a safe attention, but then again, Max's hadn't felt safe at first, either.

"Hey, kid," the guy muttered.

Matty glanced sidelong at him, glad he hadn't taken his headphones out.

"Your momma know where you are?"

Matty tapped the ear-bud, then made a face. The guy wasn't going to leave him alone. He made the motions like he was pausing his music...and blinked as the music program opened and spun to a random song, halfway through. "Uh...what?" he asked, looking up.

"Your momma know where you are?" the guy grinned at him.

"My mom is dead," Matt retorted, glowering at him.

"Oh...sorry," the guy receded slightly, though still very focused. "Where you from?"

"I'm sorry, I'm listening to my music," he returned, hitting play...and turning up the volume.

The guy sneered slightly at him, then moved away.

Matty sort of wished the flight was more populated. The shuttle could hold a hundred or more passengers, but at the most he'd only say there were seventy, and that was probably stretching it.

He didn't particularly appreciate the guy walking by the end of his isle repeatedly, either.

'I dunno, he just keeps walking by,' Matty explained to Max. Something about the man had seemed very intimidating. 'And he's not looking at me obviously, but I'm pretty sure he IS looking at me.'

'Well, just keep in the main of the group,' Max muttered. 'Don't stray off by yourself...I wish you hadn't gone.'

'I'm starting to wish the same thing,' Matty noted.

'We couldn't get them to turn around,' Max added. 'They were saying something about setting things off and...just be really careful, all right?'

'Turn around?' Matty returned blankly. 'How do you mean?'

'I mean I tried to get the flight docked before it had even left, and they wouldn't do it because they know there's shit going on out there and don't want to tempt fate.'

'You couldn't get them to turn the flight around,' Matty protested.

'Not now. Two years ago it would have been done without argument.'

Matty stared at the phone a moment, but War messaged and it distracted him.

...Warrick...War-rick...the thought was as vague as the phrase. War-rick was a term used to describe men who'd survived both wars, but it was only used if the person had frequently been in the heat of battle. War'd said it was an assumed name, too...the guy stopped at the end of his row again.

He was getting an uneasy feeling about this...there was another guy who was moving up and down the isle. There were actually a few guys with that same restless energy...and he wasn't the only one who'd been talked to, or was being talked to.

Something wasn't right.

'Hey, I have to suspend,' Max noted. 'We're going. I know you're docking, so I'll turn it on as soon as I can.'

'All right,' Matty agreed.

They unloaded from the ship, and he could see the other passengers were nervous as well...and something wasn't right.

'Something's not right,' he noted to Max, hoping he'd show back up online.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," a more charming man muttered, looking them all over brightly. "I feel I must apologize, but we need you to come with us this way..."

The group started moving as a herd, still nervous and uncertain, but willing to follow the man who looked almost like he could be staff.

Almost only counted in horseshoes and grenades...that's what his dad and uncle would note very pointedly.

"No no, Mr. Independent," the man who'd spoken to him before muttered in his ear, moving up behind him. "We go this way."

"No, I do not," Matty muttered, starting to pull away from him...and his stomach dropped as something hard and cold was pressed into his back.

"No, you go that way," the guy said quietly. "And you do it without a fuss."

"What's going on?" Matty hissed, not moving.

"I didn't say ask questions," the guy muttered, jabbing him painfully in the side.

Matty hissed, doubling over partially.

"Move, kid. You're the one from Earth, aren't you?"

"Fuck you," Matty returned, realizing that his heart couldn't be beating faster because it had stopped.

The pain came again, sharper, and he stumbled slightly...and was shoved at the same time.

It hurt...and he was nearly falling to his knees with the pain of the repeated action before he complied. There had been men hanging back around him, but part of them had moved forward...and there were three around him.

His phone buzzed.

"You can ignore that until we catch up with the others," the man with the gun noted in a dark growl. "Just keep being quiet like this, and we won't have any problems at all."

- -

Heero narrowed his eyes as he waited, then looked up to Duo. "How did you set his pax?"

"Huh?" Duo asked, looking up from whatever he was doing. "What do you mean?"

"Did you turn on stats?"

"No, but I can," Duo noted, looking around to him from the laptop. "Why?"

"He said something wasn't right when I was suspended, and I just asked if he was okay and he hasn't replied yet."

Duo stared at him, then focused on the laptop.

"I told him not to go," Heero growled.

"And how should he know that you have a direct line to the Preventers?" Wufei asked sweetly, if quietly. "Don't even start that shit."

"I just..."

"Have a bad feeling?" Quatre muttered, looking them all over somberly and pressing his nail to his teeth and lips. "I do."

"Maybe he's just busy," Trowa offered quietly, looking way. "Maybe he's gotten distracted by someone at the port."

Heero laughed coldly.

No one believed that for a minute.

- -

"Let me see that," the man muttered, yanking Matty's phone from him.

'Tut tut, looks like rain...'

Matty focused on his phone sharply as the man's eyes narrowed.

What the hell had that been?

'Tut tut...looks like rain...' the sound of rain came from the thing.

"Put me on it," the man snapped, shoving the phone back at Matty. He caught a brief glimpse of rain on a pure black background, pooling at the bottom...and the image disappeared as his hand touched it.

"Uh...what?" Matty asked blankly.

"Put me on your damn phone," the guy snapped, gesturing irritably at the thing. "I don't want to see your screen saver."

'First lieutenant Jaden Timorre, 89th MS unit A.' the words flashed across the screen with a picture of the man...only he was younger in it...and there was one of his fingerprints in the corner.

Matty blinked at that.

"Do it," the guy snapped, shoving at him.

"I don't know how," Matty protested, moving away from him slightly. He looked the room over briefly, noting that it looked like a clinic lounge or something.

"You need to comply with my demands," the man informed him evenly. It wasn't the guy who'd led him away from the port at gun-point. This guy had been with the man who looked like he was in charge. "You'll be compensated."

"Compensated?" Matty repeated, meeting his eyes. "Comply? What the fuck are you talking about?"

The man's eyes flashed irritably.

'What's going on?' Max demanded. 'Why aren't you answering me?'

'This guy wants me to put him on my phone,' Matty was glad he could type fast.

"Hey!" the guy pulled the thing away from him again.

'Tut tut, looks like rain...tut tut...looks like rain...'

"What's going on?" another man asked, moving closer to him curiously. "Why do you have his phone?"

"He's got pax on it," the man noted, showing him the screen.

If it'd taken the first guy's print...Matty really wanted to get all of their prints. He licked his lips slightly, then swallowed and looked back to the room.

If what he was gathering was right, then there were probably forty passengers and the rest were part of whatever group this was.

Didn't it fucking figure that Max had been right? He'd thought Max was paranoid and then he gets a gun shoved against his liver...

The second guy took the phone...which started the cooing about rain again.

"That's obnoxious," the guy noted, passing the phone back to Matty. "Turn it off."

"How?" Matty asked blankly.

'Colonel Rin Qingfu, 53rd MS unit A.' A picture of that man flashed across the screen, too, with his print.

'Shit,' Max muttered. 'It's showing them the screen saver, right?'

'Yeah,' Matty agreed, paging through the options. 'They want me to turn that off and add them.'

'You don't know how,' Max noted...probably happily.

"Well?" the colonel snapped. "Who are you talking to?"

"My boyfriend," Matty snapped.

The man snatched the phone away from him again.

'Tut tut, looks like rain...'

The man tossed the thing back into Matty's hand and glared at him.

"He's the one who put that on there," Matty explained quickly. "I don't know how to work it at all."

"Lying to us won't help," the first man noted.

"I'm not lying," Matty muttered, drooping slightly.

"Ranger! Get over here!" the colonel snapped, turning and walking away as he gestured at Matty. "You deal with him."

"I don't know how to use it!" Matty protested as his fear flashed through him.

It was the man who'd put the gun in his back.

'What's the matter?'

Matty didn't have time to respond to that before the man had joined them, looking him over skeptically and extending his hand.

Matty passed the phone.

"If he's using an As model with pax," another man snapped, moving up to him and shoving the guy's hand back toward Matt. "Don't touch it, idiots, it could store your prints."

"Kid says he doesn't know how to use it," the first one muttered.

"Shit, look at his eyes," the new guy muttered, looking Matty over with a sneer. "Pretty boy probably lies...I'd like to wipe that innocent look off his face..."

That...was a scary comment.

Matty receded more.

"Go away, Gene, you're scaring the boy," the man who'd had the gun noted, shoving the man off. The phone was singing some song about...honey?

What the hell.

Matty shifted slightly, wondering where the fuck Max had come up with that.

"Just don't have anyone else touch it," the guy muttered, still studying Matty's face. "You're already copied if he has that."

"He's the earth boy," Ranger noted dryly. "He doesn't have ties to anyone who'd have access to that database."

What?

I'm ex-military. I'm a damn war-rick. Can you accept that?

...well, shit.

"He also shouldn't be able to afford pax," the other man noted, then shook his head and looked back to Matty.

"My boyfriend got it for me," Matty muttered, staring directly into his eyes. He didn't even feel the remotest bit of guilt for the lie. Hell, with the way they'd all been paying attention to him, War may as well have been his boyfriend—he doubted the sex would be any worse than Max and that was better than he'd had before...

"Your boyfriend bought you a three-hundred dollar program for your phone?" Gene demanded, raising an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that?"

"I do," Ranger noted, shoving at Gene. "I'd do it for a mouth like that," he smirked slightly. "Go on."

"You're not supposed to humiliate him," the first man noted pointedly, studying Matty's face as Gene walked away.

"Huh?" Ranger looked back to Matty in confusion, then smirked slightly. Matty had blushed and was trying hard not to think of the numerous comments Max had made about his mouth that had sounded similar. "That's not humiliation..."

"Just drop it," the guy snapped. "And give him the damn phone back. If I have to hear that song play through again I'm going to do something to that piece of equipment that wouldn't be approved of."

Ranger gave him an exasperated look and passed the phone back to Matty.

"I need you to add me to your okay list," the guy repeated.

'First lieutenant Deroy Hanager, unit 57 special.'

'Oh FUCK,' had been Max's comment at some point.

'Fuck?' Matty asked, biting at his lip as he started paging through the pax options again.

'Just do what HE says,' Max returned. 'He has the military clearance to hit you, even IF they're following the conventions...and they've been trained to hurt without much bruising.'

"Well?" the other man asked.

Ranger had his arms crossed.

Matty controlled his heartbeat as he looked back up to them and shrugged. "I don't know how."

Ranger moved...and a sharp hot pain lanced down his jaw-line. He stumbled back a few steps until his back hit the wall, raising a hand to his jaw...and realized he was bloody. He stared at his hand a moment and looked to Ranger in confusion.

"Just do what you're told," Ranger said quietly. There was something eerily comforting in his tone, and he had his arms crossed again.

"I don't know how," Matty repeated, wiping his hand off on his pants.

"Wait!" the first guy, Jaden, protested, grabbing at his wrist.

"You're an idiot," Ranger snapped, shoving him against the wall...and wiping off Matty's chin with his sleeve.

"Hey!" Matty protested, jerking back from that.

"Damn it, Ranger," Jaden snapped, pacing off in a small circle. "Damn it..."

Matty pressed his hand to his chin again.

"Stop doing that," Ranger's tone was still quiet...and still deadly.

"Doing what?" Matty muttered, swallowing slightly.

"You don't need to get blood all over your clothes," the man supplied, glaring back at him.

"I don't have anything to wipe it with," Matty snapped.

Ranger's hand twitched and Matty receded, looking down.

"He's nineteen for god's sake," Jaden snapped, shoving at Ranger slightly. "Get him something clean to put on that."

Ranger glared at Matty a moment longer, then turned and walked away.

"You see what I have to deal with?" Jaden groused, gesturing after the man and looking toward the one who'd told them all to head one direction. "Christ...are you all right, kid?"

Matty nodded, not quite looking at him.

"Ranger is from a group called Specials," he added, studying Matty's face. "It's not the mobile-suit type of specials either. They're highly trained soldiers that have had the various conventions carved into their brains—and they have a bit of clearance with it." Ranger moved back to them with a paper-towel. "Thank you," he took the thing and wiped at the sore spot on Matty's face. "Here...you do it...Ranger, go ahead and check everyone else out. I'm sure Rab will be ready to make our announcements soon."

Ranger gave Matty another long dark stare, then turned and walked away.

"We have a few of them," Jaden added. "Any normal soldier could lose himself and beat the living shit out of you," he noted that pointedly, "for not obeying. But the conventions state 'minor forms of coercion'," he made air quotes. "So they trained some soldiers to control themselves. That's him," he gestured at Ranger again. "So let's keep things from getting unpleasant. Stop playing, I just want to see who is on your list...and then it'll be fine."

Max muttering about hackers traveled through his mind.

He started to shake his head.

"I'll call Ranger back over here," Jaden half-purred, studying Matty's eyes.

"I don't know how to do it."

"It's pax," the guy said calmly. "It's user-oriented."

"It's pax-pro," Matty returned, frowning slightly. "And I didn't set it up."

"Pax-pro?" the guy repeated, narrowing his eyes. "That's a five-hundred dollar program."

Matty's mouth rounded into an 'o' of disbelief. "He said he got it for like...a hundred!"

The guy raised an eyebrow. "You believed him?"

"He doesn't lie to me," Matty muttered, looking down. He'd never had qualms with lying to save his own skin. He'd lied to his father's face when it kept him from getting into deep shit. This situation seemed to equate the 'deep shit' merit badge...he could commit to the lie.

"Why don't you know how to use it?" Jaden muttered, still skeptical.

"He installed it and gave it to me...said he made me administrative...but then I came out to space and..."

The guy tutted.

Matty looked up to him in confusion.

"You're lying to me."

He grinned slightly back at the man. "Only a very little."

The guy's eyes narrowed and he turned. "Ranger!"

Ranger, who'd been talking to an elderly woman, excused himself and moved toward them with a slight bounce in his step.

Matty felt his stomach sink, watching the other man...who was watching him.

He really wished he'd have listened to Max.

- -

"Hey!" Duo muttered sharply over his shoulder to Heero. "Look."

Heero moved around Quatre to look at the screen. Duo had a video playing with a messaging window open next to it.

'You're not supposed to hack our system, War,' Noin had noted, but there hadn't been any other notices.

"...and as we don't want to make a public spectacle of ourselves," a man was muttering into the camera, "we've decided to take a quiet approach directly to the people whom matter."

Heero studied his face carefully, trying to make a judgment of his character. His face was shaped for the aesthetic, and his voice oozed charm and charisma...and that was Matty.

Heero focused sharply on his friend in the background, tapping the full-screen mode.

Matty was sitting behind the man with his phone held between his hands like it offered comfort. His eyes were somewhat focused, and he didn't look too scared...but there was a gash on his chin...and a bruise peaking out of the edge of his shirt.

'You didn't tell me he hit you,' Heero noted, glad he had his own phone out.

On the screen, Matty glanced down at his own phone, then flashed a guilty look at the camera. He glanced to the side and bit his lip, looking back to the speaking man.

So...they were live, and he was being watched.

'It was that Specials man, wasn't it?' Heero noted, feeling anger boiling up through his blood. It was a strange sensation, and he had the brief thought of wanting to consider it...but the situation was too prominent. 'I can read lips.'

Matty glanced at his phone again, then licked his lips. 'They call him Ranger,' he mouthed very carefully.

'If you can do it less obviously, I should be able to read that, too. Ranger?'

'Yes,' Matty mouthed, looking down.

Heero considered him a moment, then looked over his body. He wasn't carrying himself in a way that suggested he'd been broken. Whatever had been done to him hadn't been enough to terrify him. Probably scared him shitless, though. If the way his eyes darted to the side counted as anything, the man who did it was just off screen.

"And according to the conventions," the man speaking noted.

'What do they call the guy speaking?' Heero asked quickly.

'Pan,' Matty mouthed, licking his lips again. 'He's not in charge. A guy named Rab is.'

Heero blinked at that.

"...we have chosen a small colony with little to no civilians present," the man added. "We have forty-seven prisoners of war."

"Hostages," Duo countered in a low growl.

"We will treat the prisoners with care as far as we are able," the man added. "Until the situation is resolved, we will keep them with us. You, boy, state your name and age...any medical conditions that may need addressing."

"Matty Williams, nineteen," Matty returned promptly, studying the camera. "No medical conditions."

"Where are you from?"

"Earth," Matty returned, not looking up at the speaker.

"You, woman..." he moved to an older lady to Matty's left.

'You trust me, right?' Heero asked. 'I don't care what bullshit they're spewing, you're all hostages to make the government capitulate...independence my ass. They should treat you all right, they're claiming to be an independent nation and to be taken seriously at all they'll have to stick to every goddamn convention ever written. If they want their independence, they'll have to take it by force, because there's no way you're going to be there for more than a day.'

'What do you mean?' Matty returned.

'I mean we're coming to get you,' Heero returned, looking around as he saw the same look on Quatre and Duo's faces. 'We're getting all of you out...forty-seven, he said? Not that many, really. Just relax and don't fight them.'

'They want me to add them...and I don't know how.'

'You don't know how, and even if you could figure it out, you wouldn't be able to,' Heero noted happily. 'Duo's not letting them into your machine when we fully intend to use it to our advantage. Do whatever you can to keep them from taking it away from you, and if they demand you turn it off, don't hesitate.'

'I'm scared.'

'You'll be all right, Matty,' Heero wished the simple words could be as reassuring as he wanted them to be. 'We're going to get you out of there.'

'That doesn't make me not scared.'

'I'll bring you a big gun,' Heero noted, grinning slightly to himself. 'How will that do you?'

'I can't shoot...Ranger.'

Heero dropped back into the chair behind Duo, running a hand down his face. They were in the L-5 port, but hadn't even left the gate.

"We need to head toward the armory," Duo noted, looking around at them all. "We need to get where we can get a flight out of here."

"Let's go, then," Heero muttered, rising to his feet.

"I got them to redirect our baggage," Trowa noted, rejoining the group. "You all look ready for action."

"Yeah," Duo muttered, closing his laptop and rising to his feet. "You missed it, Tro. The residents of 27 contacted the government officials with an announcement. They have prisoners of war...and they're declaring their independence."

"How can they have prisoners of war if there is no war?" Trowa demanded sharply.

"Funny, that," Heero muttered, starting toward the military section of the port. "As soon as they took Matty, they got one."

"All for the love of one sweet boy!" Wufei put on a dramatic pose...but didn't fall behind.

"Love...lust...friendship," Quatre shrugged. "It falls in there somewhere."

"You lust for the boy?" Wufei demanded, flashing him a grin.

"No more than you do," Quatre retorted.

"Shit, Heero, we aren't the only bi ones here," Duo purred happily, flashing Quatre a wicked grin. "You workin' on Tro yet?"

Heero flashed them a grin, though his mind wasn't on their conversation.

They had to get out to the colony without being spotted. He was pretty sure 27 had a port access that had been walled off from the inside. Part of the outer seal, if what he remembered was right, had been corrupted, and it'd cost less to wall it off than to fix the seal.

That gave them access from the outside...but getting in wasn't really the problem. The problem was in getting close enough to get in without jeopardizing the hostages.

"Do you suppose I could kill Ranger?" he half-purred at Duo.

"I take it he's the reason our boy has that gash and bruise? And the blood, I imagine."

Heero looked at him sharply.

"On his pants," Duo agreed. "At least I think its blood...we'll have to ask him when we see him. And no...I don't think you can really kill him. They're being as civil as they can manage and if you do that it'll make him a martyr."

"I don't mind that," Heero snarled.

"The very soul of civil disobedience, you," Duo noted dryly. "Let's wait until we're face to face with him to make any solid calls."

"Right."