Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Business Proposition ❯ Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Eight      "Understandably," Duo muttered to the gathered men in uniforms, "many of you are...upset...with Brigadier Yuy, but I'm not entirely sure you all understand the current situation. You're all aware that the colony A02227 started...an...application...for independence, if you will." He rolled his eyes, using the control he'd been given to turn on the large screen against the wall behind him. It was a picture of the forty-seven supposed prisoners of war. He clicked the button again so it cycled to a picture of Matty they'd all seen before—a picture of him looking at the bruise on his arm while he talked to the ship with the supplies.

"I've seen that kid," a guy near the front spoke up, studying the picture with evident interest. "I thought I saw him earlier."

"He's right there," Duo noted, pointing to Matty—the guy had moved into the room as Duo'd made his opening speech, and was standing in Heero's arms as everyone turned to look. "Sorry, Mattox," he added as Matty pulled away from Heero quickly. "Here," he added, hitting the button again so it showed one of the shots of the 'prisoners' waiting for their personal interviews. "On January twentieth, A.C. 202, at approximately fifteen-hundred hours, rebels, malcontents, and anarchists took control of a civilian shuttle and took forty-seven prisoners hostage."

Everyone was looking at him again.

"With the assistance of the other four Brigadiers raised to rank with me, we former gundams infiltrated the colony via a commodity-supply ship, and rescued the civilians." He clicked the button again so it showed another shot of the forty-seven prisoners. "The cost to the rebels was twelve casualties and forty wounded in direct combat—a greater number due to explosions and fighting the subsequent fires."

He had to suppress a grin at that, and wished that Trowa'd agreed to let him be an ass for the presentation.

"Nearly a month passed," Duo went on, "before an anomaly occurred." He clicked the button and the picture changed to a silent recording of a group of mobile suits in a fight with others. It made some of the men jump, and some of them lean forward intently. The eyes were glued on the screen. "In a strange maneuver that we weren't fully sure of, a small group of these soldiers broke free of the barricade and disappeared into space—while some," he hit the pause button as it showed a machine.

There was a button that mobile suits had been equipped with after the eve wars that declared surrender. When that button was active, no suit could attack it—the programming simply did not allow for violent actions against that suit—and with the status set, the machine would not self-destruct. The shot Duo'd stopped on was one that most of the men would recognize. The flagging of the MS as a surrendered object. The machine itself was outlined, the suit-style named. The distance between the two machines, the amount of heat, and the status of the cockpit door were listed, and the entire thing would flash white.

"You see, this was a ploy," Duo noted, hitting play again so it showed machines swooping in to take the surrendered one into custody. "This ploy allowed at least one suit to escape the colony un-caught...and for one man...one of the former first lieutenant Deroy Hanager of the fifty-seven specials, A.K.A. Ranger," he clicked the button so it pulled up the man's stats. It showed the picture of when he joined and the last picture he'd had taken while properly in service, as well as his fingerprints and physical stats listed. "It allowed Hanager to escape to this colony," he pounded the podium with his hand as he eyed the men and women in front of him. "To this colony. The rebels planned extensively and in secret—not throwing up any warning signs of their discontent with the hope that if their first plan failed, they'd have men free to enact any further plans they came across." He surveyed the stricken looking men a long moment.

Matty shifted so his back was to the screen.

Duo clicked the button again, glancing at the screen. "Hanager left this colony and headed to earth." The shot was of Ranger in Matty's store, standing happy as you please as he watched Lu playfully flirt with Matty. "To follow her," he clicked to a shot of Lu smiling impishly at the camera in full uniform. The background was blurred, and no one knew who had taken the picture. It had just been in the database—it'd probably been Zechs for her to smile so openly. "Colonel Lucretzia Noin of the unit five Preventers. She was on earth visiting with us," he gestured back toward Heero, Trowa, and Quatre. "Meanwhile, Brigadier Milliardo Peacecraft," he flicked to a shot of the man from an E.S.A. summit, "attempted to remain out of sight and out of mind...which brings us back to the network that had been set up prior to the...first...hostage situation."

The group muttered.

"Some of you may have noticed Minister Darlian," he flicked to a picture of Relena when she'd been making a speech about 27's independence, "advocating for the colony. No one was happy about this—but life isn't easy and isn't usually fair." He clicked the button to a shot of Relena crying when she'd been talking to Heero. He kept a history of important calls on his laptop, and that conversation had warranted saving. It also warranted more muttering from the crowd.

"That's right," Duo agreed, meeting eyes as he leaned against the podium again. "The rebels—or let's be blunt. The former Colonel Marshal Gerrange of the forty-first MS Unit A...A.K.A. Rabid, A.K.A. Rab A.K.A Marsh." He clicked the button so it showed Gerrange's information. "The former Colonel Gerrange had set up for Zechs Marquise to be kidnapped and held hostage to induce Relena Peacecraft into cooperating."

Another mutter ran the crowd.

"On February sixteen, A.C. 202, Marquise was taken hostage," Duo repeated, looking around again. "And on February twenty-fifth, in an attempt to save the man, a selected contingent of soldiers entered V09613 and found a building that had been used to hold the lightning count and many soldiers."

He clicked the button again so it showed the building.

It was a large building.

"What we thought of as a small rebellion mostly confined to 27 has proven to be greater than anticipated." He clicked the button again so it showed a view of the MS that had attacked the day they'd gotten their call came into view. "Much greater, with armed MS."

The mutter rushed the crowd again.

"So as you can see," Duo clicked again, going through a series of images that showed the threat, "what happened this morning was not simple whim. Some of the soldiers who had not fully left the military were found to be in Gerrange's camp. Information that the Preventers gathered on the gundams, technology constructed based on that information, and project files that had not been investigated are all listed under the black-ops branch of information. Selected few," he gestured to the room at large, "are given access to that information...and some of the men in Ranger's camp are known to have access."

The mutters came again, a little angrily as the men realized the full implications behind the recode. Most of them had probably assumed, but having it confirmed was something else entirely.

Duo let the mutters continue and peak, tapping the control into his left hand patiently. The rest of the presentation would get directly to the point and bring up any guilt, and he wanted this annoyance to pass before invoking that.

There were definite benefits to knowing what little a space-heart could do—and that went beyond being naughty and trying to seduce Quatre.

"On March twenty-ninth," Duo spoke up when it had started to quiet, "A.C. 202 at twenty-one hundred hours, Gerrange contacted Colonel Noin with the edict that if the barricade was not removed within one hour's time, he would send soldiers out to attack it." Another mutter moved through the room. "What many of you may not know is that Colonel Noin and Gerrange had once been on friendly terms—understandably, her feelings toward him had become less warm when he kidnapped her boyfriend. The conversation turned into an exchange of words that no one could fault the Colonel for, and Gerrange sent a first wave of soldiers out to attack." He clicked the button so it showed Lu's first shots of the MS. "Backup was called for, fighting entered into...and a series of skirmishes ended with Colonel Noin critically injured—she's currently in the hospital with the Brigadier Marquise at her bedside. I've spoken with her daily, and am happy to say she's recovering nicely. She should be removed from the I.C.U. this evening or tomorrow morning."

Duo hadn't gotten a chance to tell that to his friends, and he wished that Wufei wasn't locked away in confinement to hear it as well. He'd gotten Zechs' call as he was heading to the front of the room, and probably shouldn't have worked it into the carefully planned speech—but there was nothing to do for it. If Trowa wasn't going to let him be an ass, he'd add his own two cents another way.

Heero ran a hand down his face, and Trowa ran one through his hair. Quatre's head turned slightly toward the others, but he remained leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"This attack," he clicked to the next picture of the fighting, "or...battle, ended abruptly as men...with access to the black room," he added pointedly, "scrambled the satellites surveying the earth. With that blow, we lost an hour's worth of surveillance on the planet entry—and only a fool would misunderstand why that's important. The rebels have landed on earth—with help of their still working network."

The crowd broke into a babble at that, protests and anger, dismay and confusion swarming through the tones he could hear.

He focused on Quatre, noting that his boyfriend was considering the crowd with the same set expression he always had when focused.

"Due," Duo raised his voice again so it boomed across the room through the mic, "to the uncertain nature of all our information, Brigadier General Yuy decided that one or two days of missed work is nothing compared to the enemies having access to the plans of highly classified weaponry."

The room fell silent...so silent, he thought he'd hear a pin drop if his own ears weren't ringing from the sound of his own voice.

"No man that the space-hearts don't clear will be given access to the black-ops information. No man," he added pointedly, staring around and meeting as many eyes as he possibly could. "No man, woman, or dog...no child, no girlfriend, no ranked officer will have access until Yuy codes your access keys."

The silence was tense.

"Gerrange...Rab, has men throughout the colonies and across the planet, and the very integrity of our military is now considered under fire. Starting today, starting now, we will be working to find any man loyal to Rab. Any man, even if he's just your old buddy," Duo looked them all over again, seeing consternation in a face or two. "Starting now, we fully intend to find every last one of you...and deal according to your treason."

The outburst that followed was a little tamer than Duo'd expected. Men jumped to their feet, yelling and gesturing at him as they did so...but no one pushed forward and no one got knocked over.

Soldiers flooded into the room and lined the walls as Quatre led Heero and Trowa down the aisle, ignoring the shouting that was directed at them—even though it did taper down when the soldiers lining the wall were fully noticed.

Quatre smiled briefly at Duo, taking the microphone from him. "I've spent this morning gathering up men and women with my same talents, and the lot of us are going to spend as long as it takes to go through each and every one of you," he looked them all over. "I have twenty-five men and women waiting in rooms around this area, and one by one each and every one of you will come with the escorts to these rooms. If this requirement is offensive to you, then you'll have to deal with it on your own. Me and my people do not care, nor do we intend to hear it. In a few moments, refreshments will be offered in this room, and with cooperation, we should be finished before five tonight. Cooperate, ladies and gentlemen. Personally, I'd rather not miss my supper."

- -

Matty sighed as he moved down another hallway, arms crossed. He hadn't been overjoyed when Heero'd been spirited away from him by ranked officers. He'd waited in the area until he'd heard raised voices, then decided to find something else to do. Unfortunately, Trowa was having a similar meeting, Quatre was doing interviews, and Wufei hadn't reappeared, though it had to have been two hours.

He sighed, dropping into a seat under a window. Light from outside was shining in on the small couch, and the hall was empty. He sat there a long moment, then turned to look out the window at the other side of the colony.

It sparked a memory in him that made him smile to himself. When he'd met with Heero on L-4...on 22, he'd been thrilled to see the colony out the window like that. When Heero'd noted that the Winner mansion was in sight, he'd been excited—the rest of the night hadn't been bad either, but the moment when he'd seen the Winner mansion...it struck him, somehow. It was almost like he could feel Heero's heat along his back, and feel his mouth about to whisper in his ear...

He'd probably seemed childish that night. Heero'd certainly been smiling about it, but...

Duo was 02.

Matty sat up as a ball of emotion swam through his stomach.

Duo was the pilot the military had called 02...the man said to call himself the god of death.

The man who'd killed the people who'd killed his mother.

Matty shoved out of the seat, starting back the way he'd come. He didn't like to think of his mother—the grief still tore at him when he gave it the chance. He had, however, promised himself to do one thing if he ever got to meet the man who'd avenged his mother...and it didn't matter that he'd known the man for four months.

It was strange to think that after all those years, he'd actually meet the man...and his dad probably knew. His dad...had his dad realized? He hadn't really ever talked to his dad about the pilots—not more than to say that Heero was who he was and the others who they were...and then the painful conversation about Wufei and A0207, but that paled in comparison.

"What's up?" Duo muttered, looking up from where he was pouring himself a cup of coffee. There were other men in the room who'd fallen silent on his approach, but Matty didn't care.

He threw himself at Duo and wrapped his arms around the man's neck tightly. The ball of emotions gave-out, though, under the torrent of sheer grief.

"Whoa..." Duo muttered as he started to sob, steadying them and raising his arms. "Whoa...what's the matter?"

"Thank you," Matty returned, burying his face in the man's shoulder as he tried to stop crying. "Thank you..."

"What?" Duo protested, starting to pull away. "Matt? Are you okay?"

"What's going on?" one of the other men demanded irritably. "Maxwell..."

"Bite your tongue," Duo snapped at him in an unmistakable tone of command. "Matty..."

Matty didn't bother trying to talk, grateful in more ways than one. When he'd heard...when his father had broke down crying at a news report...when his father had sang the praises of the pilot zero-two...they'd both cheered the vengeance. It probably wasn't quite right that the fiery death Duo had perpetrated had brought cheering, but had it been any worse than the way she'd died to begin with? A bomb going off in the room above her because some bureaucrat had a room there? He'd assumed then when he thought about it, that he'd give the man a hug...he'd thought it'd just be a brief hug and he'd have to be content...but Duo...Duo was his friend. He wasn't only zero-two...he was Duo, he was War...

"Matty?" Duo persisted, wiping the tears from under his eye with one hand. "Are you okay?"

"You killed him," Matty whispered back.

Duo's expression blanked instantly, and his hand stopped moving.

"You killed the bastard who killed my mom," Matty whispered, pulling away to wipe at his eyes. If he'd taken the moment longer to think about it he should have, he could have avoided that blankness...but he wasn't accusing Duo of anything...Duo'd avenged his mother.

Matty gave up on wiping the tears away that had started again anyway, and pulled Duo back into a hug—and the hug Duo returned was comforting.

"I see...you're busy," the man who'd been bitching before noted quietly. "I think I understand what happened today. I'll...talk to you later, Brigadier." There was a sound that was almost sharp, but Matty didn't bother looking around as the other men in the room also muttered like that, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind themselves.

"Are you all right?" Duo whispered, grabbing a napkin from the countertop and using it to wipe at Matty's face.

"I just..." Matty felt a fresh wave of tears, and realized there'd be no way he could talk to Duo about the matter for a while. He wrapped his hands around Duo's and kissed the bump where his thumb met the rest of his hand, wrapping both his hands around Duo's as best he could. He'd never realized how much bigger than him that Duo was, but both of his hands weren't enough to cover that one.

Duo made a slightly amused noise, raising his other hand to lift Matty's chin and study his eyes.

Matty looked away, leaning against Duo's chest. He knew he was about to start crying again, and Duo looked dumbfounded—reassuring, but completely lost.

"What's going on?" Heero asked blankly, moving into the room. "Matty?" he demanded, breezing forward and pulling Matty to his chest. Matty went willingly, not bothering to fight the tears. "Rosund told me that Mattox was upset," he sounded slightly amused. "It's amazing how bitchy men can be until you snap something about your boyfriend being upset—I'm not entirely sure if they understood, or if they hadn't realized I had a boyfriend."

"Bunch of idiots not to," Duo noted quietly, looking back to Matty.

"What's wrong?" Heero muttered, moving so he could look down at Matty's face—but the sympathy in his voice broke the bit of self-control he'd managed to regain.

"He said...he told me thank you," Duo said quietly. "Said I...I killed the bastard...who killed his mom."

Heero stopped, then wrapped his arms around Matty—which made him cry even more.

"I don't understand," Duo muttered quietly. "I didn't even know she was dead."

"He said that she was in a building that was bombed by Oz," Heero returned quietly. "I haven't asked more after that—all I know is that in one of your fights, you...defeated...someone involved."

"And you're only now telling me?" Duo demanded, a bite in his tone.

"Honestly, Duo? It slipped my mind," Heero kissed Matty's head. "That was the night back on L-4 before he got grabbed—the day we met Spencer. We'd been muttering about what we could say to Quatre if he were at the mansion...it was before we told him who we were, remember? When I got into the mansion Quatre was waiting for me, and...I...said one of the things..."

Matty jerked his head up to look at Heero in disbelief. The comments Heero'd made that he could say in the foyer of the mansion had been to do with removing boxers.

Heero grinned down at him, his eyes sparkling before he focused on Duo again. "Quatre didn't...punch me...or anything...like I thought he would. I actually made a move on him...like...back to the wall and everything...and he didn't hit me until I pointed out his reaction was...different." He snickered, looking back down to Matty. "Now we know why...but I pissed him off and the rest of that day was me trying to smooth his feathers...and the next day," he looked across the room. "The next day was when they took the shuttle."

Duo ran a hand through his hair as he thought, then moved forward and pulled Matty into another hug. "I will do anything for you," he said quietly, studying Matty's eyes. "I can't imagine what our lives would be without you..."

Matty laughed at that, hugging him even tighter.

"If something I did in that war did good," he added, pulling away to meet Matty's eyes again, "then I'll be more easy about it...but really, I'd rather not think about what I did, all right?"

Matty nodded, scrubbing at his face again.

"And if you ever come throw yourself at me in front of other people again, we might end up with Heero on our asses."

Matty started laughing at that, and hugged the other again, appreciating the moment Duo let it continue.

"Now, if you come in private..." Duo muttered in his ear, eyes raising to Heero's.

"I'd be worried if you didn't have Quatre...maybe," Heero noted, moving forward and ruffling Matty's hair. He leaned forward and kissed the top of Matty's head again—he was eyeing Duo as he did it, because the man hadn't moved to back away at all. For some reason, he leaned down and kissed Matty properly—it was an awkward position, and Duo wasn't letting go.

Heero started laughing wickedly when he pulled away, kissing Matty a second time, then sighed and started for the door. "You're too damn lucky," he informed Duo. "Rosund will tell people you need left alone—but I still have to code the cards."

"You are the one who did it," Duo retorted, grinning slightly at his friend as he let Matty go. "Don't look to me for sympathy."

"I'll just look to you for bombastic speeches," Heero retorted...and disappeared from the room.

"It was not bombastic," Duo retorted, then looked around...and blinked at the floor.

Matty blinked back at him, then looked down as well—to a puddle of coffee under Matty's feet. He blinked at it a moment longer, then shifted back as he realized something.

His shoes were wet.

"Son of a..."

"My shoes aren't wet," Duo noted, extending his leg to admire one of the shiny shoes he had on.

Matty stepped on his foot.

- -

Wufei yawned as he moved toward the door to the room his phone said Duo was in, looking around the hall. There were still men in the auditorium, and the soldiers had eyed him as he'd passed. They wouldn't have stopped him, he knew that, but he'd avoided nearing the doors anyway.

He'd gotten into his meditative state without any issues, and he'd given-over into sleep toward the end. The men entering to tell him his time was up had scared the crap out of him, and as soon as they'd given him back his jacket, he'd dug out his phone and found his companions.

"I don't know if you should go in," one of the men he recognized—didn't remember his name, but knew his face—noted quietly. "There was something going on with that Williams boy earlier."

Wufei gave him a confused look, then started for the room again. When he pushed into the room, he thought it might be empty...but a moment later, he realized that Duo was curled up on the end of the couch, and Matty was sitting at the other end, playing a game on his phone.

"Oh, hey, Fian," Matty greeted him happily, moving his foot—to kick Duo in the butt. Duo's legs were stretched out down the couch, and Matty was using them as an armrest. Matty himself was curled into the remaining space. "How'd your solitary confinement go?"

"I mediated for a while, then fell asleep," he shrugged, watching as Duo pushed up tiredly from where he'd been at. "What happened? You okay?" as he'd asked, he'd realized that Matty looked like he'd been crying. There was something to his eyes.

"Evidently," Duo said, pushing himself up, "I killed the bastard who killed his mother," he gestured at the teen and quirked his eyebrows in warning.

Wufei looked down to Matty blankly.

Matty smiled back at him and shrugged. "Make this do what I want it to do," he added, offering the phone over.

"I told you," Duo returned happily, "you can figure it out."

"I've been trying to for like...fifteen minutes," Matty retorted, rising up on his knees as Wufei took the phone...and Duo's screensaver came up. For Wufei's benefit, it was a pair of men doing what Duo called 'interesting things.'

Matty broke into giggles, yanking Wufei's wrist hard so he could see the screen properly.

"You're retarded," Wufei informed Duo, who'd smirked. "You know that, don't you?"

Duo laughed.

"Holy shit!" Matty looked up to Duo in disbelief. "Was that you?"

"I was holding the camera," Duo agreed, the smirk returning.

Wufei'd never heard that. He let the phone go promptly...and Matty's laughter turned to a naughty belly laugh.

"He normally throws it at me as soon as that pops up," Duo added as Matty scrambled to grab the thing. "I'm assuming the only reason he didn't that time was because you were so amused...see? He's happy to make you happy, too."

"You're stupid," Wufei informed the man, wiping his hands on his pants.

"You normally bruise me with the phone when I have it set to that setting," Duo reminded Wufei happily as Matty focused back on the screen. "So just because I'm pointing out the obvious doesn't mean I'm dumb."

Wufei grinned at that.

"The question, though," Duo added, starting around the couch. "Is why you were watching that little video."

"What are you doing, anyway?" Wufei muttered, turning away from his friend to see the screen when Matty held it. He'd been watching to the extent that he'd have dropped it when it looped, but arguing that at Duo wouldn't fly.

"He has a lock on it that I have to trigger," Matty explained. "I just have to figure out what the pattern is."

Wufei grinned, looking the face over a moment, then took Matty's hand and pressed his finger to a few icons...the phone showed a sweeping flame taking the desktop over, and Matty started to grumble...but that was only one of Duo's patterns. Wufei used the guy's hand for a second, then smirked as he realized something that Matty probably wouldn't realize.

"Don't!" Duo muttered, disengaging Wufei's hand from the teen's. "Don't just show him."

"Matty? How do you put a giraffe in a fridge?"

Matty looked up at Wufei as Duo gave him a disgusted look. "You'd have to like...cut it up," Matty returned, thinking about it.

"You put the giraffe in the fridge," Wufei retorted. "How'd you put a lion in?"

"You'd put it in?" Matty asked, thinking about that, too.

"Silly," Wufei muttered as Duo started trying to cover his mouth. "You have to take the giraffe out first."

Matty started laughing at that, then tilted his head slightly...and clicked a few buttons. The screen turned to one of Duo's favorite music videos, and Matty laughed in a pleased fashion.

"Over complication can ruin the simplest laid plans," Wufei noted, grinning at Duo, who was glowering. "Remember that...and know that Duo can key in a fifteen-touch chain."

Duo snickered, turning the grin onto Matty. "When you're on a long flight and your laptop died...you have to do something."

Matty laughed at that, then offered the phone over. "Do it again."

- -

"Tomorrow you're doing that presentation again," Une informed Duo as she moved into the little room he'd taken over. "And the day after that."

Duo looked up to her in disbelief.

"It will take three presentations to cover the staff to the extent we need it covered," she added, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "And since you started it, you'll finish it."

"No, Heero started it," Duo retorted. "Heero will finish it. If we're going to be here a few more days, I'd rather go spend time with Lu."

She glowered at him.

"Trowa could even do the presentation—or Wufei," he added. "The only reason I did it was because Wufei got himself locked up for no good reason."

"No, I meditated," Wufei protested, looking up from where he and Matty were studying Duo's phone. The desktop hadn't flamed yet, but all it took was one wrong choice.

Une put her free hand on her hip.

"Seriously," Duo returned, studying her eyes. "On top of that..."

"Hey!" Quatre burst into the room with slightly reddened cheeks. "Guess what we just found?"

Wufei and Duo focused on him sharply as he saluted Une in passing. "About three guys...seems to start with first lieutenants...no one higher has been more than friends."

"Three?" Une demanded, sounding sickened.

"At least three," Quatre agreed, meeting her eyes. "Ranger's pissed," he added, looking off to the side as an evil grin lit his face. "He's absolutely pissed about something, but there's no telling what."

"You really are just that evil, aren't you?" Duo asked in amusement. "That's cool."

Quatre laughed, and brushed him off.

Matty took the phone from Wufei, considering it a moment...and hit a button. "Damn!" he muttered as the desktop flamed.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Sorry," he muttered, lowering the phone to look at them. "I thought I'd just...just try since you were talking."

"Good job," Wufei returned dryly.

Matty hit him in the arm.

"So, tomorrow I do the presentation," he noted, "and Duo sits with Lu so Zechs can unwind...and then we all live happily ever after?"

"I just had a really wicked idea," Quatre noted, looking them all over.

"What?" Une asked in a too calm voice.

"I have thirty guys," Quatre returned, looking around to her. "We set up tomorrow's presentation for all the base, have fifteen entrances, and play Duo's pretty little speech on every screen leading up to the auditorium....at least the part that matters, anyway. Play clips of the other parts of the speech...but repeat the note that we're looking for traitors. Anyone who doesn't show up in the auditorium will be a traitor unless they can show valid proof they couldn't make it in."

Une stared at him.

"We pull the guilty or associated idiots out of the line," Quatre shrugged at her. "We send them to another room...so maybe only ten entrances. That way there can be breaks and a group of five to judge the guilty," he snickered, looking around to Duo. "Had I ever mentioned that I love pissing people off?"

"No," Duo returned, moving closer to him. "But it's hot."

Une gave him a dirty look.

Quatre laughed happily, then looked around to Matty with interest.

"What?" Matty asked, blinking back at him.

"There's a thread of you in him," he explained, indicating Duo. "What are you doing?"

Matty showed Quatre Duo's phone and hit a button—the animation of the desktop burning up played.

Quatre blinked at him, then looked back to Duo.

Duo grinned. "We were passing time."

"Right," Quatre agreed, shaking his head and looking around to Une. "So what do you say? Shouldn't we get started?"