Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Advanced Reservations ❯ Chapter 14

Disclaimers: Not mine, don’t sue. I’ll send one of my kids to terrorize you if you do.

Warnings: Some angst, some strangely placed fluff, confused Wufei (I have to torment somebody, it just happens to be him for now!)

Pairings: 3x2 mainly, some random other scattered about

On with the next part!!



After reaching Noin’s hotel room, Trowa decided to touch base with the other two groups in order to see if any of them had made progress in their own investigations while Heero and Noin began the arduous process of sorting through the many people Duo had requested Noin to investigate. The braided man had given no reasons for his suspicions of these people, but they had to rely on his instincts.

When he dialed Wufei’s number, he blinked in surprise when Car answered the phone instead of the man he had been expecting. The woman snickered when he questioned this, stating that she didn’t approve of people talking on phones while they were driving. Trowa grinned briefly, before wiping the expression away to turn the conversation to more serious matters. “Were you able to find anything?”

“It would have been hard to find anything that could have given us a hint what happened, and I don’t think we would have recognized what anything was even if we had found it. Trowa, the plane was trashed, ultra bad.”

“From what I’ve seen, Duo is a compulsive neat freak,” he frowned.

“He is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I think it must be cause the way he grew up or something,” Car mused. Trowa was able to hear the frown in her voice as she continued, “But when I say trashed, I mean completely and totally trashed. As in, someone was looking for something, and when they didn’t find it they got pissed and took a hatchet to the place. Whoever it was even ripped up the cushions out of the chairs. I’m really worried, Trowa.”

He decided not to share what they had found in Duo’s apartment, at least not until they were all together. He lowered his phone long enough to ask Noin if it would be okay for everyone to meet in her hotel room. She agreed, stating that there was plenty of room for everyone in the suite. Putting the phone back to his ear, he related directions to where they were, asking Car if she and Wufei would pick up some food for everyone.

Trowa had barely disconnected the call before his phone rang. He answered, identifying Alexi’s voice. The Russian didn’t wait for him to speak, promptly speaking without pause, relating what he and David had learned.

“Someone has been asking questions about Duo. David and I have spoken to several of the employees, and they all say that a man has been searching for him, asking many things about where his home and who his friends are. Thankfully, Duo never shared any information like that with those in his employ, but it wouldn’t be difficult to find out at least some of the information, such as where he resides.”

“Damn,” Trowa spat, his mind running quickly through several scenarios at once. “Were you able to get a description of this man?”

“We were,” Alexi sounded smug. “We can do better than a description, my friend. David managed to sketch a picture based on the descriptions we received. He is quite good, not as good as Duo, but still quite good. The sketch should help us in finding this man.”

“We may have a lead,” he spoke as he replaced the phone in his pocket. “A man has been asking Duo’s employees some personal things. David drew us a sketch of him.”

Heero nodded, then held up his hand, in which he held several files, “Good. If we have to locate all of these people, we may not find Duo until it’s too late, even with my hacking skills.” Heero nodded to where his laptop lay open on the table, using it to gain access to far more files than he could with a regular unit.

Noin moved around the hotel room, gathering some of the papers she had been working on earlier, “These are all the people that Duo asked me to investigate. I only managed to get the bare facts, when Une called, asking me to help you two out.”

“We appreciated the help,” Heero offered with a slight smirk. “You managed to keep us both out of jail.”
At her bewildered look, he shrugged, “If he had stood in our way much longer, I would have removed him from the equation. I wouldn’t have killed him, but he probably would have been very hurt by the time I was finished with him. He was keeping us from helping Duo,” he stated finally as an explanation.

Trowa understood, probably better than anyone, what Heero would go through in order to help the missing man. The two had been partners during the war, often searching each other out when a mission required help. They had been able to work together as a team, almost flawlessly, each compensating for any weaknesses the other had. Even without staying in touch for several years, Heero obviously still felt the bond that had been formed by blood and death.

They spent the time waiting for the others by scanning the files that Noin had put together. By doing quick computer searches, they were able to discard several of the possibilities upon learning that some of the people had died previously or had never left the colonies. Still others were on Earth, but resided or worked in other countries, and their whereabouts were accounted for. In the end, they were left with five files out of sixteen, a much more manageable number. Trowa was hoping that, with the aid of David’s drawing, they would be able to narrow down their search to one individual.

David and Alexi arrived shortly after they had completed their reduction of files, the smaller man handing over his sketch to Trowa with a flourish. Taking it, he gaped openly when Alexi pulled Noin into an embrace, letting him know that they knew one another, and were very close. If his guess was correct, they were a great deal more than just friends. This was verified when Alexi gave him a look, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“I thought you were gay,” he blurted, nearly rolling his eyes at himself at the accusation.

The Russian laughed, keeping an arm around the black haired woman, “I love Duo like a brother, and so I may say or do some strange things to protect him from unwanted advances.”

Thinking back to the first day they had met, Trowa had to acknowledge that what Alexi had said could have been an attempt to make him jealous just so he would leave Duo alone. When that had not worked, Alexi had been more welcoming, willing to answer any questions he had about the American. He had even gone so far as to keep Duo busy so Trowa could arrange something special for them. “You are a sneaky man, Alexi,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

“If he suddenly decides that he is gay, he better find a very deep hole to hide in for a very, very long time,” Noin stated seriously. “I will not be dumped for another man twice in my life.”

Trowa briefly considered asking what had transpired between her and Zechs, wanting to know how the platinum blond haired man had eventually ended up with his own former lover, but the expression on her face made him hold his tongue. He put it in the back of his mind to possibly bring it up some time in the future, after they had found Duo - willing to let the American shield him from the black headed woman if she was angered by asking.

“I think I found him,” Heero’s low voice was clearly heard across the entire room, gathering everyone’s attention. “He wasn’t in the files we had in our stack of possibilities. The file states that he has not left the L2 colony in several years.”

Trowa moved to sit beside the Japanese, taking the file that Heero held along with the sketch that David had drawn, noting that the resemblance was easy to see. The man in the sketch was older than the one shown in the file pictures, but it was easy to recognize the man, the features never changing over the years. Trowa raised his head to offer David a smile and a nod. “You did an excellent job. This is the man that has been asking questions about Duo.” It wasn’t a question, but the small man nodded, answering anyways.

“Now we just have to hope he is the same person that Duo was looking for,” Heero added softly, making Trowa frown. The same thought had crossed his mind earlier, but had decided to keep it to himself until they were able to investigate this man further.

Wufei and Car finally arrived, bringing enough food to feed a small army. No one questioned the large quantity as they helped themselves to the variety of dishes, bought from several different restaurants. Trowa didn’t have much of an appetite but picked at the food that Heero had put on a plate for him anyway, nibbling while he scanned the rather small file that Heero had assembled.

He was getting ready to set the file to the side when the black haired woman appeared at his side, looking at the sketch over his shoulder. Looking up at her, he found a frown marring her features. “What is it?”

“I know him,” she pointed at the picture. Trowa looked back at the sketch, seeing a large, muscular man with stringy hair and small, mean eyes. He waited to see what else Noin would say. “He was an interrogator for Oz. I remember seeing him with some of the prisoners. I tried to stay as far away from him as I could - he gave me the creeps.” She reached for the file, looking over it briefly, her frown deepening. “This isn’t the name he was going by at the time,” she stated, handing the file back to him.

Everyone in the room remained silent as the former Oz lieutenant paced back and forth. She spent several minutes mumbling under her breath, clearly upset when the memory didn’t materialize immediately. When she stopped in the middle of the room, everyone held their breath in hope. “Jacob. His name was Jacob Winter, not Seth like it says.”

“Is it just an alias, or could this be a family member whose name he stole?”

“Jay-cob, Jakey or Jake,” Car said suddenly, startling everyone.

Wufei, sitting beside her, gave her a baffled look, “What are you talking about?”

“That’s what we called him on the street,” she explained. Trowa didn’t say anything when she reached for Wufei’s hand, apparently needing some sort of comfort at the memories invoked by the name. “He wasn’t a good person, even back then.”

“Tell us what you know,” encouraged Heero when she fell silent.

Wufei rubbed her back in a soothing manner as she began to speak, her eyes focusing on the distant past. “Before Duo became a member of Solo’s gang, Jake considered himself the second in command. Once Solo found this long-haired kid with wild eyes, and magic fingers, Jake became jealous. The new kid learned fast, and he was quick. No one could keep up with him once he got the hang of stealing, and it didn’t matter if it was from the street vendors or working a crowd picking pockets.” Car sighed deeply, hanging her head down, “He didn’t even have a name yet; we just called him Kid.” The statement seemed oddly out of place, but Trowa felt his heart clench at the reminder of Duo‘s painful childhood.

Car took a few minutes to pull herself together, gratefully taking the glass of water that Noin offered her. “After Solo brought in the Kid, we heard Jake rambling while walking the streets, talking about how the Kid took his place. I heard him say that he would make the Kid pay. Eventually, his threats made it back to Solo, who kicked him out of the gang because of them. Jake blamed that on the Kid, even if he didn‘t have anything to do with Solo‘s decision. When the plague came through, a lot of people died. Me and Duo were some of the lucky ones, or unlucky ones, depending on how you look at it, that appeared to be immune to the disease. Jake was long gone by then. We hadn’t seen him around for several months before everyone got sick. Getting kicked out of the gang probably saved his life.”

Trowa digested this new information as much as he was able, recalling what he had read about the plague that had nearly wiped out the poor population of the L2 colony. Only four percent of the destitute population had survived the plague without the benefit of the anti-virus to help them. He knew that Duo had stolen several of the shots for his gang members, but had never taken one himself, an attempt to die along with Solo.

Heero was apparently able to think a little faster than Trowa was, because the Japanese man suddenly spoke, voicing an important question. “Would he hold a grudge for that long? For something as simple as getting kicked out of a group?”

Inhaling slowly, Car leaned back into Wufei, who didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms loosely around her. “You don’t understand how it was back then. Living on the street was rough, but sometimes it was better than living where you were could be abused or sold for entertainment,” the redhead released a shudder, telling everyone what kind of entertainment a helpless child could be used for. “For some of us, it was easier to be alone. Others needed the protection that they could get by being part of a gang. Gangs shared everything, any money or food they managed to steal was split equally with the group.”

“So the kids in gangs pretty much depended on the gang to survive?” Heero was still going a tad faster than Trowa was capable of.

“Yeah, pretty much. Some kids didn’t need the protection of the gang, but they stayed so they could help the others. Solo was one of those and when he got the hang of it, Duo was, too. They both could have survived easily on their own or together, but they took care of the kids in their gang just like they were a family. Jake, on the other hand, needed someone to keep him out of trouble. He had a mouth that got him in a lot of fights, and he couldn’t steal worth a damn, either. If he hadn’t had someone to depend on, he probably would have starved or got beaten to death by someone he pissed off.”

“So being kicked out of the gang was basically a death sentence for someone that wasn’t able to take care of themselves,” Trowa mused, glad that his brain had finally decided to get with the program. When Car nodded, he looked first at Heero, then Wufei, “That would be a good reason to hold a grudge for years, but why against Duo instead of Solo?”

“Solo didn’t survive the plague,” Car was the one that replied, her voice weary and sad. “I guess Jake blamed Duo for being kicked out of the gang, and he probably held it against him that he managed to live when Solo didn‘t.”

The group as a whole fell silent, thinking about the mindset of a man that had pursued revenge for seventeen years for a perceived slight from two children. Several minutes passed before anyone moved, and then it was Heero and Trowa at the same time. As one they converged on Heero’s computer, Trowa taking a seat beside the Japanese man, acknowledging Heero’s superior talents with the laptop.

It wasn’t long before papers began spitting out of Noin’s printer, Wufei and Car gathering them as they finished printing. The Chinese would scan a page for any pertinent information, then hand it off to the woman. Car would then read the page in depth, ensuring they didn’t miss anything in their rush. Once she was done, she would hand off the page to Trowa, who would place it in the growing file while Heero remained at his laptop, his fingers flying over the keyboard, trying to get all information they could on Jacob Winter.