Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Above You ❯ Chapter 11

Eleven

"Right, it's clear," Duo muttered, rejoining Trowa and Heero. "Where's Quatre and Fei?"

"Not back yet," Heero returned, shifting the emergency lamp they were using around on its shelf.

From what they'd been able to gather, the area they were in hadn't had people for years. Maintenance probably went through once in a while to check the seals, but there was dust around, which was saying something since the vents usually dealt with that sort of issue.

For the sake of prudence, however—ignoring that Wufei said she was bad in bed—they'd decided not to hang out in the middle of the hall. They'd found a utility closet that had an access port and had set up.

It was going on midnight.

Heero ran a hand down his face as Trowa and Duo muttered to each other. Matty's flight had left at what? One? Two? It must have been two. His own flight had been at three, and that had been around when Matty had been grabbed. So, not counting the flight, he'd been with those people for nine hours, and they'd hurt him. He'd said his arm hurt...Ranger had really hurt his arm...

"Yo..." Duo ran a hand in front of Heero's eyes.

Heero jumped and smacked at him.

Duo snickered wickedly.

"You okay?" Trowa asked curiously, studying his face. "You still with us?"

"What?" Heero retorted, looking between them.

"I asked if you thought we should get the shuttle for Quatre and leave him to guard it or just go after the prisoners," Duo returned, studying his eyes. "Where were you?"

"He's been in there for nine hours," Heero returned a bit uncomfortably, not entirely sure what had happened. He'd heard them talking, but their words hadn't made sense, he wasn't listening to what they were saying—he'd been thinking.

He should ask Duo about that some other time.

"Oh," Duo nodded his agreement. "I get ya...worried?"

"I guess," Heero returned, studying Trowa's face a moment. "I just can't stop thinking about him."

Duo nodded again, glancing at Trowa.

"Hey," Wufei muttered, ducking into the room. "I got the alarms disconnected from the doors. We'll be able to get in and out without a fuss," he kneeled down and looked between them all. "Where's Quatre?"

"He hasn't come back yet," Duo returned.

"Should we go for him?" Wufei demanded.

"Since I'm such a pussy?" Quatre snapped, sliding into the room as well. "Kiss my ass, Fian."

"Fian," Wufei rolled his eyes. "What's the verdict?"

"About what I expected," Quatre returned. "After you guys start making noise by that armory, a few of them should vacate the premise and leave a streak a mile wide for me to work with."

"Could you see if it'd been refueled or not?" Heero muttered, meeting his eyes. "The oxygen?"

"There's fuel enough," Quatre reassured him. "They overfill it for a round trip and it only made half that. I imagine the oxygen levels are fine, but even if they aren't, there are suits enough on there and oxygen enough...shit, even if there's not enough to get all the way back, as long as we don't hit anything we can make it back to 25."

"Synch watches, and break!" Wufei muttered, pretending to dart for the exit.

"Do you have watch?" Heero asked him blankly.

"Uh...no," Wufei returned. "Neither do you...or you," he indicated Duo.

"I use my phone," Quatre agreed in amusement.

"So, I'm taking it that it's a no on us-getting the port for you," Duo noted to the blond.

"That's a hell no," Quatre retorted. "If you do that, they'll know exactly what we're doing. When shit starts going they'll probably think we got someone over here waiting for us all...and even if they do add a lot more, I can hold the ship and keep it in dock until you come...and you guys can burn your own trail to get in. I'm hoping that you'll be making so much noise there that they forget about the partially fueled shuttle they left behind...and that is a hint, gentlemen."

"So, smoke and mirrors," Trowa noted considerately, stroking his chin.

Quatre gave him a look.

Trowa looked back, then looked to the rest.

"I didn't see anyone waiting over there," Duo noted, jerking his head toward the colony-side of the port-wall. "I climbed up through the vents and things and didn't see anyone."

"Good," Heero muttered. "I had the same notion."

"I saw some cars going by," Trowa noted. "So we'll definitely want to stay by the wall."

"You find any proximity monitors?" Heero muttered to Duo.

"I didn't pick up on any, but my phone isn't as sensitive as my laptop. We'll need to be careful when we get there."

"I can get to the port through this," Quatre noted, gesturing down the hall. "I got up into the vents. I'll get up there again and wait for your noise, then go down quiet-like and clean up. I'll start the air tanks loading while I wait...but we can't take long on this. You know that, right? We get as many as we can and get out."

"That defeats the purpose of us coming at all," Heero retorted. "They want a war, we'll bring it to'em, and they can decide if this game of independence is really worth it in the long run."

"They're committed now," Quatre noted. "They took the hostages and contacted the governments...if their claim falls short, they get struck with the 'terrorist' name-tag and tried as instigators of violence. Rabid-Marsh'd get ten to life on that alone."

"I guess they all call him Rab now," Heero noted, thinking back to Matty and how well he was really dealing with all the shit going on. "You think he managed to get back to sleep?"

"I really want to ask you, 'who, Marsh?' but I think you'd hit me for that," Wufei noted, grinning.

Heero gave him a look.

"So," Wufei swept on happily, bouncing slightly. "When do we start?"

"It's late," Duo noted, looking to his phone. "We've had a long day and the prisoners will all be sleeping. I say we give it until five and start finishing our plans. Arguments?"

"That works," Heero muttered, shifting slightly. "I want to go now, but I know that's impatience."

"How's the anger?" Duo asked.

"I think I'm okay," Heero returned, shifting again. "Just watch me as we go in closer."

"Right," Duo agreed. "So who takes first watch?"

"I will," Quatre returned. "I'll leave it cracked and keep an eye out. If anyone comes just try to close it as much as you can. Unless they know we're here, they shouldn't notice at all."

They all nodded at that, situating around. The closet was big enough for them to lay straight in, with their heads under the lowest level of shelves. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable, but in their situation, it was probably the safest.

- -

"Hey, Williams...hey..."

Matty opened his eyes tiredly, blinking up at Jaden.

"You awake?" the man asked, considering him skeptically.

"You woke me up, what do you think?" Matty retorted, draping an arm over his eyes.

"Come on...we're gonna hit the clinic," Jaden kicked him lightly with the side of his boot.

"Huh? Oh...oh, all right," Matty sat up and yawned, covering his mouth. "I have to pee again...and my mouth is gross," he made a face as he realized he hadn't brushed before bed.

"Go grab a toothbrush, then," the man pointed across the room at one of the bins the soldiers had set up.

Matty blinked at that as he climbed up, realizing something was different about the man. He'd been grabbing things for Matty before they went to bed.

"Go say in the camera what's going on, too," Jaden suggested. "I'll wait by the door."

Matty frowned at him, wondering what had happened. He grabbed a toothbrush and some toothpaste from the bins, then considered the other stuff in it. There were bottles of soap and deodorants and things. That meant there were probably showers, too. That'd be nice.

Tell the camera?

He moved up to the thing and hesitated. "Uh...we're going to the clinic to get this looked at," he noted, indicating his bruise. "I'm gonna brush my teeth and stuff first...and then we'll be back." He hesitated again, then turned and headed for Jaden and the door.

The walk was quiet and brisk. Matty nearly had to run again to keep up. "Hey...hey," he muttered, grabbing the guy's arm. "Can't we slow down?"

Jaden sighed and gave him a look, stopping obligingly a moment.

"What? What did I do?" Matty demanded, fidgeting slightly.

"Rab was annoyed at me for being so friendly with you," Jaden retorted. "Said I was taking it too far."

"Oh," Matty receded slightly, starting to walk and hesitating again. "I'm sorry."

Jaden grinned slightly at that and shook his head. "You're gonna get me in a world of hurt, kid. Let's go."

"I'm not trying to," Matty protested.

"You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Supposing this all went to deep-nine shit, I couldn't let you get hurt or killed...which may not bother you in the slightest, but it puts me at a disadvantage."

"I'm sorry for trusting you," Matty retorted, frowning at him. That 'deep-nine shit' comment put him in mind of Max saying he was coming in to save him.

"When did I tell you my name?" Jaden demanded, turning to meet his eyes. "I don't remember telling you my name, but Ranger and a few others said you called it."

...from my phone.

Shit.

Matty blinked at him, then thought a second. "We were talking," he adlibbed, trying to think of a sufficiently random moment of conversation. "I don't remember now..." because there was no moment he could have gotten that information and really forgotten.

The guy frowned. "I really thought I hadn't said anything to you."

"I think of you...as Jaden," Matty noted thoughtfully. "Maybe...maybe someone else said it?"

"Most people just call me J," Jaden returned frowning.

"I don't know," Matty muttered, frowning more. "I don't remember...it's just..."

"Hm," Jaden returned. "I guess maybe someone did..."

"I dunno...I'm not trying to...to..."

"That's sort of the point," Jaden retorted dryly. "You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing, and I'm doing what I'm not supposed to be doing."

"I'll stand up for you," Matty offered. "If...if it goes to deep-nine."

"I appreciate that, kid," Jaden retorted dryly. "Unfortunately, if I don't back off, Rab said he'd get someone else to sit with you. I told him to do what he thought was best...because if I'd argued he'd have done it anyway."

"I appreciate that," Matty muttered, looking up to his face from the corner of his eye.

"Of course you do," Jaden retorted. "I did it all without even thinking about it, too...which scares me. I thought I could do this. Maybe we should talk about me for a while."

"My boyfriend might get jealous," Matty noted, grinning slightly.

Jaden gave him a level look.

Matty snickered and shrugged slightly.

"Don't take it personal, huh?" Jaden added after a minute. "I have to back off. I'm amazed I was let to do this without anyone around," he gestured around them.

Matty nodded. "I guess I get it...but you're still in charge, you know? I'll do what you say."

Jaden looked sidelong at him a long moment, then nodded.

Matty hesitated, looking around blankly.

"Hm?" Jaden muttered.

"What time is it?"

Jaden grinned at him slightly, shaking his head. "It's six. I know it's early, but the doctor said we should get right on it."

"Right," Matty muttered, rubbing at his eyes as he looked around. "Right..."

- -

"He's going to the clinic," Heero muttered blankly.

Duo roused himself and looked around to the guy, then blinked at the phone he was holding up.

"Way to be subtle, Yuy," Wufei grumped. "The only light up and down the isle at all is your phone."

"It's a hallway...and no one comes back here," Heero shook his head slightly, looking around. "Where is this clinic?"

"I'll look up the floor plan in just a minute," Duo returned, rubbing his eyes and running his hand through his hair...and stopping as the length-change meant the hair was no longer in his hands. "Shit..."

"Huh?" Heero looked back to him in confusion.

"I forgot I had you hack it off," Duo explained, sitting up and shaking his head to test the weight difference again.

"Oh...you awake, Quatre?"

"Yeah," Quatre muttered, still not moving. "I'm just thinking that we're about to go do a head-on assault...there are five of us and a full colony of them."

"It hardly seems fair," Wufei agreed. "They won't have any idea what hit them."

Quatre chuckled darkly.

"We are nuts, aren't we?" Trowa muttered through a yawn. "Doesn't matter—it's not exactly a fight to win. We just gotta get forty-seven and get out. Have you been watching that feed all morning?"

"I turned it on and had the screen dark with a ear-bud in," Heero returned, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey...I should have had two watches," Quatre muttered, sitting up to look at Heero as best he could with half his body under a shelf.

"I couldn't get back to sleep right now if I were drugged," Heero retorted. "I'm way too wired."

Quatre made an annoyed sort of noise.

"It's not a dig at you," Duo reminded the blond. "Matty's in there somewhere."

"I know...but you guys always cater to me, it's annoying."

"Think of it as respect and get over it," Trowa suggested, sitting up as well. "How do you know he's going to the clinic?"

"A couple minutes ago," Heero explained, "I heard Timorre talking...to Matty. Matty wandered around a minute, then came up to the camera and said they were going to the clinic to get his bruise looked at."

"At least they're responsible," Quatre noted dryly. "So, Duo...you got that handy-dandy map?"

"Handy-dandy?" Duo echoed blankly.

"Oh shut-up," Quatre retorted.

"I'll look," Duo agreed, raising his phone. The light of the screen illuminated the full closet, and they all sat there looking at each other as they waited.

"There," Duo muttered, tapping something.

Heero's phone beeped. Heero accepted the file, and watched as a black-and-white map unfolded across the screen. Finally, it showed a highlighted area. He zoomed that out some to get the path he'd need.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was going after Matty. As soon as the guy had left, the plan had changed. It would have been easier to get the full herd onto the ship at one time, but if it was just him and Matty...well, worse came to worse they could go into the old port again, get the suits, and launch into the great-black yonder. He was pretty sure he could aim them for the next colony over; it was just a question of if they'd get picked up in time or run out of oxygen.

"So, I want you to make a lot of noise," Quatre muttered, running his hands through his hair. "It will be easier to take and hold the ship if there's only ten guys left to guard it, you know? And that way when you get all the hostages there, there will be less chance of them getting shot on the load. Yuy, you need to be fast. As fast as you can make it. We'll need you to clear our path or cover our retreat, you got that?"

Heero nodded.

"You three, be damn careful," Quatre admonished the others. "No stupid risks, no last stands. You need to get in, get the forty-six, and get out. What we're doing is heroic enough for the history books, don't stand back to play more'n that. Got it?"

"Right," Trowa muttered as Wufei nodded.

"Duo?" Quatre asked.

"I'm just trying to think of the best way to get a lot of attention without being overly heroic," the American noted dryly. "If I stay behind to play distraction, you gonna skin me?"

"If you get caught," Quatre retorted, "they aren't going to assign you an escort."

"Shit, I can play hide'n'seek when I got a half-full colony as my playground. I don't know about you lot, but I know Yuy'll come back for me after he gets the boy clear."

"Don't play the hero," Quatre snapped.

"Yeah, that's Heero's job," Wufei purred, rolling the r a few more times than normal.

Heero flashed him a grin. He liked it when they said his name like that...it sounded suggestive, and the only people who did it were them, so it was also a familiar thing.

"Right..." Quatre muttered, rubbing his temples. "I don't know what else to say here..."

"Kick ass and take names?" Wufei asked curiously. "Or maybe kick ass and forget names? If I see a hot chick, can I get her name? I love a woman in uniform with a deadly weapon...turns me on."

Duo snorted at that.

"Yeah...get her name and number, make a date," Quatre retorted. "Just don't expect us to come bail you out when your booty-call turns into a trap."

Wufei laughed wickedly.

"Did you honestly just say 'booty-call', Quatre? Really?" Trowa demanded in a level tone.

Quatre sniggered, flashing them all a grin, then rose to his feet to stretch. "No time like the present to win the heart of a boy," he noted.

"He's mine, and you can't have him," Heero retorted happily. Duo might trip him up when it came to comments like that, but he knew for a fact that Quatre was kidding.

Quatre sniggered.

"Right...one two three, break," Duo muttered, rising and stretching as well. "How about coffee first?"

They all exchanged amused grins, then looked down to Trowa.

"Okay, okay," Trowa muttered. "Nothing like the promise of adrenaline to get you up and moving before dawn..."

"We're on a colony," Duo noted dryly. "They don't exactly have a dawn."

- -

"It's a fine bruise," the doctor muttered, running his fingers gently over it. "And you can feel the tissue is tender," he ran his fingers along Matty's arm. "But there's nothing I can really do to help...I suppose I can give you an analgesic cream...if it hurts too much."

"I should be okay," Matty returned.

"Hm...I'll let you think about that seriously...talk it over with, uh, J," he nodded his head at Jaden. "I'll go access your medical records."

Matty blinked after the guy in confusion.

"You should take the cream," Jaden noted seriously. "It's a visual aid. You got hurt and we got you medicine. We're good people and an accident happened."

"I don't care to have pain-relieving cream," Matty retorted, giving him a look. "Besides, those things always stink and it stays with you."

"Don't argue with me like that," Jaden retorted. "I'm in enough shit without you egging it on. Just take the cream and use it once or twice. No harm, no foul."

"You making me use something will just tell my family that I'm under duress or something," he retorted. "My dad knows I wouldn't get a cream for something like this," he moved his arm. "They'll know it's just you making the motions."

"The motions are nice things that put us all where we want to be," Jaden retorted. "Don't be obnoxious just because you think you can get away with it."

"Well, according to my sister," Matty retorted, "it's a consistent character defect. Don't think you're special because I'm an ass."

Jaden snorted at that, though he hadn't changed his position in the slightest. He was rather comfortably draped across the chair.

"I'll tell the camera that I decided not to take it," Matty noted. "I'll explain that it's stupid to use a cream like that and that you guys offered it...motion motion, right?"

"I think you should take the cream," he retorted.

Matty opened his mouth to retort to that...but there was a loud noise outside the building...an explosion that seemed to make the whole building vibrate.

Jaden jumped to his feet.

Something else exploded...and a whirring noise started somewhere a ways off.

There was another explosion.

"What is that?" Matty demanded, panic grabbing his soul as his whole idea of the space-vacuum around them took hold.

"I don't know," Jaden muttered...as a siren screamed shrilly to life. He stared at the flashing red light that lit up the room and pulled his firearm.

"What are you doing?" Matty squeaked, staring at the thing in dismay.

"Hush," Jaden ordered, looking over his shoulder at the teen a moment, then moving to stick his head out the door...as the metal doors down the hall started closing with a loud shunk, shunk...

"What is that?" Matty squeaked, moving forward more. "That's not...it's not going to close us in is it?" he started to dart for the door.

"I don't know what's going on," Jaden snapped, not letting him pass. The door to their room started to slide close, and he extending his right foot to stop it—which made it slide slowly back open. "It won't lock us in, calm down..."

Matty shied back slightly, noticing the gun again.

There was another explosion.

The whirring sound intensified, a fan slowly speeding up.

"What is that?" Matty demanded, raising his voice to be sure he was heard over the thing.

"There's fire," Jaden noted, gesturing him back. "Stay here...I'm going to check this out."

"Jaden!" Matty protested, darting after the man. He didn't want to be left behind...

"You're maddening," the man snapped as they reached the main doors, shoving him to the ground by a wall and gesturing with his free hand for him to stay. They were at an entrance to the clinic that didn't have a lobby, and the noise of the siren and the fan was blocking out all but distant shouts.

Jaden moved out the front doors of the building, looking around the sky carefully, then hesitated and pulled a radio from his pocket and put it to his mouth. He nodded a few times, then said something else and darted back to the building.

"What's going on?" Matty demanded.

"An attack," Jaden retorted, grabbing him up from the ground by his right arm and shoving him forward. "Not sure who it is, though...they're exploding things, which can be damn dangerous with this much oxygen around."

"An attack?" Matty demanded...Max had said he wouldn't be there a full day. Assuming he meant twenty-four hours...

"Get in here," Jaden snapped, tossing back into the exam room. "Get by that corner and stay on the ground," he gestured.

Matty sank down by the end of the exam-bed, looking around wildly. The corner the man had suggested was a long way away from the man himself, and that idea didn't work for Matty's thought-processings.

"Here," the doctor half-shouted, tossing a tube at Matty. "Don't ingest it and rub it in...I have to go," he added to Jaden. "Be careful, Timorre."

Jaden nodded, and the doctor turned to dart away.

Matty tucked the tube into his pocket, biting his lip. "Shouldn't you get away from the door?" he demanded.

"That's an excellent idea," Jaden retorted. "I'll just let them come take you, shall I?"

"But they could shoot you..." Matty protested, moving closer to his legs.

The man looked back to him sharply, then narrowed his eyes as he thought. "Let's get back closer to the main base," he suggested...as another explosion rocked the area around them.

That was severely alarming.

"On your feet!" Jaden snapped, yanking him up. "Let's go!"

Matty had no intentions of arguing.

- -

Duo grinned slightly as he darted around another corner, amused by the water spraying around them as the siren screamed its useless warning and the colony fan worked to suck the smoke away from the civilians.

"Think that's enough smoke for'im?" Duo shouted to Trowa.

"Yeah," Trowa shouted back in amusement. "Now for the mirrors!" He stepped forward a few steps and aimed out one of the glass doors toward a tank-type machine outside...and shot. It took three shots...before that exploded, too.

Duo laughed wickedly.

"Clear!" Wufei snapped, darting forward.

Duo and Trowa followed instantly, hearing the men who were looking for them moving up behind. They hadn't been spotted yet, so no one would realize it was just three lone war-rick ex-pilots...and that was better. If they could draw all eyes toward themselves, that'd give both Heero and Quatre time to work with minimal interruptions.

"Down," Wufei hissed, gesturing them back as he studied the path they were taking. He had the layout of the place memorized, or at least their path. "Someone's coming. Do we engage?"

"We don't want them knowing our numbers yet," Duo reminded him. "We need somewhere to go...and we need to make more noise."

"Another car?" Trowa asked, flashing them a wicked grin as he looked toward the outside.

"No, we need it somewhere else," Duo returned, looking around behind them. "What could we blow up back here?"

"I wish we could have found an old abandoned armory that was still set up," Trowa said half-longingly. "We could use some flash bombs and shit right about now."

"So...let's not blow an oxygen tank," Duo noted to the man. "People are still going to be living when we leave here."

Trowa grinned that same wicked grin.

"Well, think of something," Wufei snapped, looking around. "I rather liked the exploding cars."

"But that gives them a path they can predict," Trowa reminded him.

"So get one further in the street," Wufei pointed. "There are some parked on the far side."

"Right," Duo agreed, looking around. "Let's go."

- -

Quatre grinned as the siren shrilled into life around him, watching as the soldiers who'd been standing around uncertainly made their decisions. As he'd hoped, most of them ran off.

"We could be under attack here!" someone was shouting irritably. "They could come here! You know!? Fueled shuttle!?" he gestured at the machine.

No one was listening to him, though. He was making useless noise to add to the din. The colony fan was loud enough on its own, not to mention the siren...and now shouting.

Something else exploded, and whether they wanted to rubberneck or help out fellow comrades, Quatre couldn't tell. All but the most paranoid left the flight.

It worked out to be about as much as he'd hoped.

He grinned and moved through the vent, dropping to his feet and looking around. It'd be about thirty seconds before anyone noticed him—he intended to use that advantage to find out where everyone was hiding.

"Hey!" someone shouted, turning on him with his weapon.

"Don't point that at me," Quatre warned, he didn't have to make an effort to aim, but the man didn't know that.

"Who are you?" the man shouted back. "Where are you from?"

"Let's say blue-deck twelve," Quatre offered, moving forward casually.

"There is no blue deck," the man returned, narrowing his eyes.

"Dang...maroon? Beige?" he held his hands up to show they were empty—he had his rifle around his neck. "I know! Mauve!"

The man raised his weapon.

Quatre shot him, felling him instantly. He'd been the one ranting about the fueled shuttle. The other soldiers who were there stared in shock...and started shooting.

The blond didn't feel particularly homicidal, and even though he could have killed the ten or fifteen men in one shot, he opted for the more humane form of severe-injury. More humane in that they'd survive with minimal crippling...if any.

...but then again, he couldn't let them all just lay there and bleed out.

He cursed himself mentally, darting into the shuttle—the port was beyond clear—and started the oxygen tank filling before grabbing a medical kit and darting back out to the main area.

He could take care of as many as he could before the others showed up...and get them out of the path that would be trampled. If it came down to it and he got caught, he'd gain brownie points as a humanitarian.

He set to work.