Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 50 - ( Chapter 50 )

— 50 –

March 4, A.C. 205. Base. 12:30 pm

Judas raised an eyebrow at Xane as he moved into the bar with Paris and the other guy.

“Fuck you,” Xane muttered, laughing as he moved to join the other. “And I mean that.”

Judas laughed and smacked his friend in the arm. “He’s not seeing us for some reason,” he added. “I haven’t figured out why yet.”

“Maybe Jor told him to back off?” Xane offered, tilting his head.

“Maybe, but we may not be the first ones here,” Judas shrugged.

“I’m gonna go make a nuisance of myself,” Xane noted, looking to the guard at the bottom of the stairs. “Come on up in five minutes.”

“All right,” Judas agreed, taking another drink from his glass.

“Wait here, you two,” Xane ordered his followers, who looked around to the two guys with Judas, then moved to sit with them.

Xane bounced up to the bouncer and met his eyes, grinning slightly as he waited.

“No,” the man ordered him.

“No, what?” Xane protested. “I didn’t say anything yet.”

“No, Mouthy,” the man retorted, raising his hands to gesture the man back. “Go away from me.”

“Don’t,” Xane protested, then crossed his arms and looked him up and down.

“Go away,” the man protested, almost starting to laugh. “Don’t…”

“You’re gonna make me do it and you know it,” Xane muttered, moving forward to lean against the door with one elbow and study the guy’s eyes.

“Stop,” the man protested, grinning slightly as he moved backwards out of the little space. “I’m gonna get you in the balls again…”

“Ah, but I know the move now…” Xane muttered darkly, suggestively, studying the man’s eyes intently.

“Oh, go in,” the guy muttered, sliding out of the way. “It’s not my fault.”

Xane laughed wickedly and slid in the door. The guy wasn’t interested in males, but he wasn’t homophobic. He was usually easy going with the flirting, finding it amusing…but Xane tended to take things over the top just for the laugh. That was beyond what the man was willing to deal with, and though he knew he was being manipulated and found it funny, he didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with it.

The spy bounced up the stairs to the Jon’s office and ran his fingertips across the door as he shoved it open.

“Hey!” Jon protested, rising to his feet in protest.

“Mouthy,” Jordan muttered, raising his eyebrows at the guy.

Xane almost stopped to stare, then controlled it to grin at the man.

“What in the world could you be doing here?” Jordan asked sweetly.

Xane flashed him a wicked grin, leaning backwards against the door. He was hoping this wasn’t going to get him in trouble…he knew that his going to Jon in the past had actually caused his superior severe issues…

“I said not to let any of you in,” Jon noted to him, grinning wickedly. “Did you knock him out a little?”

“How do you knock someone out a little?” Xane asked blankly.

Jordan grinned at that, giving his friend a brief look. “What are you doing here, second?”

“I came to ask you a question,” he returned happily.

“Ask me a question?” Jordan asked, obviously not believing.

Xane flashed him a grin. “What’s another clue?”

“You think that’ll work?”

“Yes?” Xane asked curiously.

Jordan raised his eyebrows.

“I knew you’d be here,” Xane lied happily. “Why else would I have come?”

“You damn well better mean that,” Jordan noted, raising an eyebrow and moving across the room to the window to see down. “That’s fun…guess who just walked in?”

“Riley?” Xane asked, moving to the window himself…to see Danielle and Trent moving into the bar and looking at Judas.

“You’re guessing wrong today,” Jor noted skeptically to him. “How ever are you going to win?”

“Hush,” Xane muttered. “So what hint can I get from you?”

“I gave you my hint,” Jordan returned.

“But it doesn’t work.”

“Actually, yours is probably the most obvious.”

Xane tilted his head at the guy a moment, then looked out the window to his friends.

“You don’t need nor get a hint,” Jor added as Judas cautioned his two companions to wait. “I don’t get why you didn’t bring them up.”

“Because Paris knows that you get annoyed with me for talking to Jon.”

“It depends on the situation,” Jordan agreed as the door at the bottom of the stairs opened.

“He wouldn’t deck my guy, would he?” Jon asked skeptically.

“I don’t know,” Jor muttered, grinning slightly.

“I backed him down,” Xane reassured him. “He probably didn’t make too big an issue about letting Jude up.”

“He knows I’m up here,” Jordan noted.

“He was probably trying to warn me without saying it, then,” Xane noted in amusement.

There was a tap on the door and it shoved open to reveal Judas, stopping to blink at Jordan.

“Yeah,” Xane agreed with a grin. “That was my thought.”

“Well, shit,” Judas muttered, moving in and smiling. “Hi, Jon.”

“Hi,” Jon returned with a grin. “I told’im not to let you up.”

Judas flashed him a smile.

“So…what hint do we get?” he asked his superior.

“You, I might consider offering…Mouthy, no.”

Xane sighed at him, then moved away from the window and gave him a very brief hug. He rested against the guy a moment, then pulled away again and waved at Jon.

“Sorry,” Jon muttered, smiling at him. “See you later, huh?”

“We’ll do lunch,” Xane agreed with a slight smile, then turned and started down the stairs.

“I was told not to say,” the guard guy muttered to him as he passed.

“Yeah,” Xane agreed. “Thanks anyway.”

The guy smiled at him.

“Jor’s up there,” Xane muttered to Danielle. “He won’t give me clue, though…let’s go,” he added to Paris.

Duane and Paris scurried to follow him from the bar.

“Well?” Paris asked as they moved back outside.

“He said mine is simple…which says we’ve talked about it. I don’t get a clue, which means we have the information…so, let’s go find somewhere to get lunch, and then we can go start talking to people about the schools.”

Paris nodded as Duane looked back to the building, then nodded and moved to follow.

- -

March 4, A.C. 205. Base. 2 pm

“I just need the okay of your government to send a mission…just an assistance group to help set up a clinic and food dispenser.”

The ambassador of Tanzania looked intrigued, but not suspicious.

“I know all types,” Chance added, smiling at the man. “I have a friend who’s wanted to get a help center in that area…I’m asking Mozambique, too…since I talk to both of you, you know? So if you can run the request, I’d seriously appreciate it.”

“All right,” the man muttered quietly, considering it a moment with a shrug. “I don’t see it being a problem…there are some issues down around the river…and maybe you can slip someone in to look around?”

Chance feigned being startled by that, then perked up slightly. “That’s a good idea…”

The same idea the Mozambique ambassador’d had, actually…

The man grinned slightly, then shook his head. “I’ll see what I can do…have you made any progress?”

“No,” Chance returned with a frown, considering the information. “I’m still trying to work on it…I’ll let you know as soon as I figure anything out.”

The man nodded and moved to offer his hand. They shook and muttered a few parting greetings before the ambassador turned and left the office.

Chance moved forward to lean against his hands against his desk, his thoughts dark. He hadn’t wanted to slip Judas or Xane into those countries without someone to vouch for them, aside from the I.E.C. members. Some of the countries in the Earthsphere Union had only joined for self-preservation. They didn’t look kindly on the coalition, they saw them as intruders, and a spy being caught in that situation could explode…and putting either Featihl or Ifhera in that position would instantly have Jordan himself in those countries, super ceding laws.

Jordan didn’t care about the laws. He jumped through the hoops and did their tricks only because it made it possible for him to do whatever the hell he wanted to…but he’d proven that he did not, in fact, have to concede to that higher power, and his full loyalty had always sat with his friends. He’d all but lost Xane once, and Chance doubted he’d ever let it happen again.

“So morose for a plan that worked beautifully,” Quatre muttered wryly, moving into the office and shutting the door after himself. He’d been in the adjacent room to read the emotions of both ambassadors. “I’d think you’d be happy at your triumph.”

“Dark thoughts, Cat,” Chance returned, turning his head to look at the guy. “My plan did work, but the idea of what could go wrong here is telling.”

“What could go wrong?” Quatre returned blankly, moving to drop in the seat the ambassador had been occupying. “It’s Mouthy and Jude…I mean, seriously.”

“Don’t be so complacent,” Chance grumped, looking away. “You know that if either of them get into trouble, Jor will go for them.”

“I’d imagine we all would,” Quatre returned, running a hand through his hair. “I suppose we can’t really celebrate until both governments come back with a positive response, huh?”

“Pretty much,” Chance muttered, pushing away from the desk.

“Okay, fine,” Quatre muttered, shoving back. “You brood, I’m playing normal,” he pulled out his necklace and clicked it around his neck.

“Why don’t you just take off the magnet?” Chance asked him blankly, studying him. “It’d be easier than taking it all off all the time.”

Quatre gave him a level look and snapped the magnet to the metal.

“No, seriously,” Chance protested.

“Paris does that,” Quatre returned, situating the necklace better around his neck. “I don’t want to copy him.”

“It’s expedience,” Chance returned, raising an eyebrow. “You know it is.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think of it,” Quatre replied, rising to stretch. “You know me well enough to know that I won’t play lamb.”

“Sheep,” Chance corrected, raising an eyebrow.

“Baa,” Quatre retorted, starting for the door. “Let’s go get some coffee.”