Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 49 - ( Chapter 49 )

— 49 —

March 3, A.C. 205. Base. 10am

Wufei studied the human mountain in front of him with interest as the man eyed him skeptically. The men of the group were definitely polite to him, treated him with respect, but they seemed to think his size in comparison to theirs suggested an effortless win.

“Sir?” the guy asked.

“I’m trying to figure out the likely level of training you’ve had in hand-to-hand,” Wufei explained.

“The little Asian guys will kick your ass,” Tamming, one of Wufei’s men, noted happily from the line he was in off to one side. “They’re all wiry and stuff.”

Wufei turned to give the guy a look. “I’m neither little nor wiry, Tamming.”

The man flashed him a grin.

“He was raised by the highest kung-foo master of the colonies,” Conway, one of the females noted, mocking a martial-arts pose.

“Conway, don’t make me disown you,” Wufei chided.

The female grin, then fell back to attention.

Evidently, his guys had gotten the same impression of the four as he himself.

They didn’t take Wufei seriously.

Wufei sighed and stretched his arms up above his head before popping his neck–which made Conway titter–and fell into stance, studying the man in front of him. “First on the ground,” he noted to the other.

“All right,” the guy muttered, frowning slightly…and Wufei moved at him.

The…fight…as it were, didn’t last very long. The man wasn’t as stupid s he was coming off, evidently, because he did manage to avoid the first few moves, but before Wufei could even manage to think about losing his breath, the guy was on his back.

“Good,” Wufei noted, moving back to take his stance again. “Again.”

The man blinked at him, then picked himself up from the ground slowly.

“And…go,” Wufei suggested…and moved again. The man tried to react to his motions instantly the second time around, which made it that much easier for Wufei to put him on his back…as his comrades shifted almost uncomfortably.

Wufei’s team was silently waiting at attention. None of them cheered…or looked the slightest bit surprised.

“You’re going to have to work on your response time,” Wufei noted, considering the man with interest. “I’m thinking your hand-to-hand is limited.”

“Sir,” the guy agreed, picking himself up slowly from the dirt.

“So, let’s go once more,” Wufei suggested. “I want you to try and avoid my movements, not step into them…and then I’ll set you up with Freeman.”

“Sir!” Leroy Freeman called from his spot in line.

“Ready?” Wufei asked as the man processed what had been said, then nodded. “Go…”

- -

March 3, A.C. 205. Base. 11 am

“It has to be something in this area,” Trowa muttered to Doug as the rest of his team studied the schematic being projected on the wall.

“But it could have been a defect,” Doug argued, thinking back. “I mean…we thought something like this could happen so we made sure which parts we put where…”

“The only way to test that is to take more of those suits into the air,” Trowa denied, focusing on him levelly. “I’m not putting any of you up in those suits.”

“Even volunteers?” Doug demanded irritably.

“Especially volunteers,” Trowa retorted, looking back to the machines. “They power up now right?”

“Yes, sir,” Kuren noted, her eyes still on the projection.

“I want them ground tested again,” Trowa noted, looking back to the schematics himself. “Lessorn, Mitner, you take that.”

“Sir,” the two men muttered, turning and heading back to the machines.

“I’m going to take this and look at it,” Sifen muttered, moving up to the piles of papers. “I can’t think out here,” she gestured toward the lack of walls around them. “I’ll be inside, you?” she added to Kuren.

“Yeah,” Kuren agreed, moving forward herself to grab a set of papers.

“You going to stand here and stare at this?” Doug demanded irritably of Trowa.

“When I’m standing here staring at this,” Trowa retorted, “I’m visualizing the damn mechanics and what they do. You seem to forget how long I’ve worked on these machines.”

“Of course,” Doug agreed wryly. “Let’s go watch the test,” he added to Temms.

“Right,” the guy agreed, following after with a few of the remaining people with him.

“I want to go check on Din and Lessin,” Noss muttered, looking to Trowa. “Is that all right?”

Trowa waved him off without looking away from the pictures.

He took it as a personal offense that two of his machines had failed. He’d never had machines fail on him before, not when he had the full materials at hand to fix them…and he didn’t want it to be an issue that affected his entire unit.

He was going to figure it out before Jordan needed the suits…even if Jordan hadn’t said a word to him about it they both knew it was true.

A unit of machines had been stolen from Chile and while some were definitely on the black market, like the two from China, who knew if the rest had been taken to be used.

He wasn’t failing Jordan…and he sure as hell wasn’t going to fail his men.

- -

March 3, A.C. 205. Base. 12 pm

Quatre yawned tiredly as he left Bird’s room with Paris a few steps behind him. They were both tired, though Bird seemed to be doing better for the companionship…without his necklace.

“I noticed that I start freaking out when I keep it on for a few days in a row,” Paris muttered as they started down the stairs. “You?”

“As soon as I got used to having it on I wanted to take it off,” Quatre returned, tilting his head. “My situation is different, though. I live with what I consider my family, so I like feeling them most of the time.” He rolled his eyes as he said the last, since the previous night he definitely had not appreciated feeling them.

Paris flashed him a grin, hooking his necklace back around his neck. “It seems like a bad idea to me to keep it on all the time…I’m so used to it guiding my social interactions…”

“Which is why you’ve been sleeping with Doe?”

“Illia is something else entirely,” Paris retorted, almost offended by that. “Leave my girlfriend alone…it’s not like you’re not getting laid.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” Quatre retorted, meeting his eyes pointedly. “Simone and I are taking things slow.”

“You wish she’d hurry up,” Paris retorted.

Quatre elbowed him.

Paris laughed a bit, then yawned. “You seen Gina or Varia lately?”

“Last time we had our meeting,” Quatre returned, shrugging. “I’m assuming the ladies are exploring the situation fully on their own.”

“So much for being our friends,” Paris noted, frowning some. “Speaking of friends…aren’t we going to do a group dinner again soon? I want to let Yuy know I’m dating that girl before he finds out other ways and attacks me for it.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Quatre muttered. “You won’t be critically injured for more than an hour.”

Paris gave him a very level look.

Quatre smirked at him. “I’ll call it tonight,” he noted, considering it. “Jor said something about steaks when we were leaving, so I can buy them and start barbequing them and Chai will probably help.”

“All right,” he muttered, sighing slightly. “You heading to lunch?”

“Yeah, just at the house…unless you wanna go eat.”

“I’m meeting Illia,” Paris shrugged slightly. “I was just making sure you weren’t alone.”

“If you recall, I like being alone,” Quatre gave him a look.

Paris grinned at him and winked, then hesitated as they exited the M building. He sighed, looking to the sky a moment, then met Quatre’s eyes again.

“I’m going to ask around this afternoon,” Quatre muttered, looking to the grass. “If what you’re saying is true, then I’m going to order that you have to sleep with the necklaces off.”

“You sure you want us to do that?” Paris protested. “I mean, if someone brings someone home for the night…”

“I’ll figure something out,” Quatre waved that away as he started for his car. “Let’s meet in my office at one,” he added as he pulled his car door open. “We can work out the fine details.”

Paris nodded, watching as he started to back out, then headed for his own car.

He seriously didn’t want Yuy to attack him for messing with Doe. She was a sweet girl and she seemed reasonably fond of him…it wasn’t like he was just using her. He’d let her know he’d be happy for a real relationship with her if she decided she wanted it…she’d even considered it a moment before dismissing it…

He grinned slightly to himself as he started his engine. She was a very special girl.

- -

March 4, A.C. 205. Base. 12 pm

“Reality is screwing with you,” the man named Duane noted, looking Xane up and down. “And I’d love to play along.”

“Watch out, he plays rough,” Paris muttered, shoving him to the side. “What now? I want to be first, damn it.”

“Then help me understand this shit,” Xane muttered, tossing the notepad Jor had given him at the guy. He looked Duane up and down with a tilt of his head, then met his eyes. “I was told if I was naughty I’d get put in the corner.”

Duane’s eyes flashed wickedly.

Xane considered that a moment, then looked to Paris. “He told me that Quatre was going to be reading whoever I was with for the questioning. I got the impression that my being naughty would end badly.”

“He can’t fool Quatre,” Paris agreed, gesturing at their companion with his thumb. “I can, but I’m not into your…entertainments,” he looked his friend over with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Xane flashed him a wicked grin, then pulled the notepad back to himself, considering it. “School days new craze old school blood, too…” he tossed it at Duane as he thought. “It makes me think of school buildings…but…” he shook his head.

“The old school and school days kinda imply that,” Paris note, looking around the street they were walking on. “But what’s the bit about blood and crazes?”

“We should ask around about old schools,” Xane muttered, running a hand along the back of his neck. “Or blood in relation to schools.”

“But where at?” Duane asked, passing the notepad back to Paris. “Where do we start?”

“Well, I suppose it’d be the bar,” Xane noted, considering things. “We can pull Jon aside and get him to give us a direction.”

“Aren’t you not supposed to do that?” Paris asked uncertainly.

“Mm, there’s a bit of that in it…Jon likes to try to tempt me into more than what I offer, and if I start looking like I’ll hedge he gets more willing to tell me things. I don’t bother telling Jordan about it, though, because I’m not sure if it really fucks with their power…I’d never really do anything with the man…but Jor is easily made uneasy about some things.”

“Some things are worth it,” Paris noted pointedly, looking the guy over with a vaguely raised eyebrow. “This is your game and I’ve never been to this bar…”

Xane held out a hand to stop the pair as a man with a bat stepped from an alley in front of them.

“What?” Paris asked nervously.

“One of you take off your necklace,” Xane retorted, raising his eyebrows at the man.

“You seem to have money,” the man noted, moving closer to them.

“Yes, we do,” Xane agreed dryly. “You seem to have a death wish.”

“Unless you’ve got a gun around you somewhere,” the man muttered, looking him over skeptically, “then I’m the one armed.”

Paris separated the magnet from the metal and tucked it into his pocket as Duane looked nervously from Jordan to the man attempting to accost them.

“How serious is he about this?” Xane asked Pairs, still studying the man.

“Fairly,” Paris muttered, considering what he felt. “At least…it’s easy.”

Xane pulled out his firearm, aiming it at the man’s head. “Is it easy now?”

The man stepped back, then again.

Xane cocked his weapon.

The man turned and ran for it.

“No, it’s not easy now,” Paris noted as he disappeared around a corner.

“Never show fear,” Xane suggested to Duane as he uncocked his piece and tucked it away. “We aren’t weak and they aren’t going to win against us…don’t let them think there’s a chance they might.”

“Sorry,” Duane muttered, looking down.

“I want you to keep a perfectly serious face,” Xane informed him. “Until we find where we’re sleeping tonight, you don’t show any emotion.”

The guy blinked at him.

“That’s an order,” Xane noted, studying him. “Acknowledge.”

“Sir,” the guy muttered, looking uncertainly to Paris. He wasn’t entirely sure that was allowed.

“We’re in his lands and here so he can train us,” Paris noted. “He can give us those orders.”

The guy frowned…and flinched hard when Xane hit him upside the head. He stared at the man in amazement.

“No emotion,” Xane repeated seriously, then looked to Paris.

“Me, too?” Paris asked, focusing on not changing expression.

“You should be fine,” Xane returned, taking the little notebook and tucking it into his back pocket. “Let’s go.”