Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ For Myself ❯ Six ( Chapter 6 )

Six

"What?"

Jaden was standing with his back to the wall outside Ranger's room. He'd been about to go in and try to talk sense into the man again, but his phone hand rang.

"You're sure?" Ranger persisted. "You're not just saying that because...yeah. I guess...no." The man sighed. "Okay, I'll take your word for it, I guess gays do things..."

Whoever he was talking to exploded on the other end, and Jaden wondered at Ranger's utter lack of even the semblance of being politically correct.

"Sorry," Ranger muttered. "I just start thinking of that boy..."

All amusement left Jaden in an instant.

"...and I forget what I'm saying. Yes I know what he said. I don't care...I doubt we'll be able to take care of this mess in a head-on attack, and he keeps insisting we can stand up to a gundam. Without one of the special suits from...from back at base, we can't do a damn thing."

Jaden pressed his hand to his mouth, closing his eyes. If he let his anger build at this point, Ranger would feel him—and Deroy had obviously lost his fucking mind.

So what was the point? Why was Ranger getting anyone to find anything out about that stupid kid?

"Okay, so...if you can get one of our other safehouses ready for him...we're gonna go into town again after a bit. I'll go grab him while Rab is playing with the other suits..." he trailed off. "Yes, there were two."

Yeah, a Leo and a gundam.

"No it was not a Leo," Ranger retorted. "You'd have to see it...you saw the feeds didn't you? We couldn't see it until we opened the hatch. Scared the shit out of me to see that damned scythe..." Ranger chuckled. "No, I never ended up anywhere important enough for the gundams to come. I'd never seen one, and with what I do...I never fought one. Of course I know how to fly a suit. That's basic training." He laughed again. "I guess...just get a place ready for me, all right? Rab will probably be pissed at first, but I can talk him around."

Jaden ran a hand through his hair, looking around. If Rab would just come in, he could point this out to him. This would be blatant proof that Deroy had some obsession with the damned boy...but if Ranger got to him first...

"All right, so...nothing fancy. He's just a kid. I'll lose his phone in the building and probably have to knock him out—he's a wiry little bastard...so...yeah. Uh-huh, all right...bye."

Jaden moved away from the door quickly, sliding into his room. He took a few steps to drop on the bed, starting to massage his head.

"Hey!" Rab called from the entryway of the house.

Jaden jumped up, but before he could make it to his door, Ranger was already halfway across the room with happy greetings.

He'd known he wouldn't get his point across.

"You about ready?" Rab asked seriously. "I'm ready—at this point, they should all be at their apartment. I was thinking we should just destroy the thing and be done with it."

"We can try," Ranger agreed happily, moving to grab his jacket, then spotting Jaden. "Hey, J," he added. "Where have you been?"

"I have a headache," Jaden returned, pressing at his temple again.

"Oh," the man hesitated. "There's some aspirin and stuff in the cupboard behind the mirror," he indicated the bathroom. "That should help, shouldn't it? I don't think we have anything for a migraine."

"You could pick some up on your way," Jaden noted sarcastically.

Ranger laughed like he thought it was a good joke, and Rab rolled his eyes. "Be ready to run," he ordered, "and get Qingfu away from those damn whales. If we do it we're leaving the MS and heading back to Brazil."

"Right," Jaden agreed, running his hands over his arms. "I'll...I'll do what I have to do."

They both gave him mildly perplexed looks, then turned and started for the door. Rab instantly started talking about what he'd found and how he'd thought to approach it, and Jaden dropped to his knees on the couch as the door shut behind the pair.

There was no way Rab would ever believe him. He put far too much faith in Deroy, even though Deroy had proven himself sketchy before.

So it was up to him.

He looked around the safehouse, then moved toward his room. If he left too close after the others, they'd notice him for sure. He'd gather his things and hope that Qingfu showed up before he was done.

He couldn't wait anymore—there was no time left.

- -

Matty sighed, leaning against Heero contentedly. They were in the first apartment on the couch. Jinli was up in the loft doing his forms, and Trowa was sitting at the bar talking to Timothy about something that made them both laugh a lot. Quatre was stretched down the other end of the couch, actually watching the show.

Duo and Wufei were at the cave. Duo'd been severely annoyed by a scratch on Deathscythe's hull, and was taking the time to paint it. Matty thought that seemed ridiculous, but they treated their machines like they treated their cars—better, actually. Wufei had something he wanted to do to his machine, but he hadn't gotten so detailed.

Well, he hadn't been bitching about it.

A siren shrilled to life across the screen, making all conversations stop. After a moment, a ticker scrolled across the screen. /Attention pilots. Channel 387; use code/

"Use what code?" Quatre muttered irritably, hitting the numbers it'd suggested. The screen demanded a password, and he looked around to Heero.

"Probably 002," Heero noted. "Though it could be four, since you've been playing the face of..."

Quatre gave him a look and typed in his own code.

A man appeared on the screen, wild-eyed...he looked vaguely familiar to Matty, but he wasn't sure why. "Two rogue MS suits are currently attacking..."

The building shook.

Quatre and Heero looked to each other as another rattling came, then jumped up and ran to the window.

"How the hell do they know where we live?" Quatre snarled, turning to look around. The man on screen was still talking, but he was basically saying they weren't sure what was fully happening.

"Duo?" Matty muttered, the phone to his ear. "The MS are...are here."

"Son of a..." Duo started—both Heero and Quatre had turned to look at him, then behind him.

Matty turned his head as Duo continued cursing and shouting across the cave—to see Trowa and Tim standing there.

"Get down!" Quatre shouted, throwing himself to the floor as Heero dived as well. Matty had enough time to see Trowa shove Tim to the ground before getting shoved off the couch himself...and looking up to Jinli, who was standing at the edge of the railing with wide and horrified eyes...before the worst sound he'd ever heard in his life blotted out anything remotely like thought.

"In the closet!" Heero started shouting, pulling Matty off the floor as he realized the brick of the building had been cracked. "Get in the closet now!"

Matty and Tim were both herded into the bedroom area as Quatre spat acid curses about the price of fixing the building and why they hadn't lined the entire apartment with gundanium...then Jinli was behind Heero demanding what he was supposed to do, only to be shoved into the closet as well as the door slammed closed.

Tim moved away from the back-wall of the thing, staring in horror as more of that awful sound came. He could hear Trowa talking loud and fast...then the door slammed, and the apartment fell silent...until another volley of sound hit them.

"Wufei told me this was lined with gundanium," Jinli muttered to Tim, whose eyes were round as quarters. "Bullets like that can't hurt it..."

Something glass sounding cracked, and Matty looked around in dismay as he realized he'd dropped his phone.

"Why did I ever get involved with these guys?" Tim muttered curling down into the corner. "Why..."

"So you could fall to pieces like a bitch," Jinli snapped. "Look at yourself...almost like you'd pee yourself...and the nineteen year old is fine."

Matty gave him a look as Tim focused on him.

"You are," Tim muttered, staring at him in dismay.

"Until I hear Ranger's voice," Matty retorted, tossing a shoe toward the area where Trowa's clothes hung down. "I fall to pieces when I hear him."

"And run," Jinli noted.

"Thanks for the..."

"No," Jinli cut him off. "Quatre and Duo realized it when they were talking yesterday. You heard Ranger and you ran—you're supposed to be able to do that instead of freezing."

Matty blinked at him...as the electricity flickered out. It took the teen a moment to realize he'd been ignoring the sounds outside their hiding place...until another explosion came.

Jinli pressed himself to the wall at the sound of a building falling apart, closing his eyes and starting to pray. Seeing that made Tim curl up even more, and Matty looked to the roof of the closet. They'd all told him they thought Heero'd lined the thing with gundanium, but he'd never owned up to doing it—he had however, told Matty.

The thing would hold up to some large thousand pounds of pressure—which he'd went on to explain meant the apartment falling down on top of it wouldn't even dent it...and if what Matty was hearing was correct, the apartment would be falling on it at any moment.

The closet lurched, throwing them against Tim and the wall...until it hit something solid and rebounded.

"We have to get out of here," Tim hissed, looking around. "If that was the outside wall...I don't think this could take hitting the ground if it got knocked over."

"Right," Matty whispered, darting to the door and sliding it carefully open. He wasn't sure what he expected to see—but it wasn't Trowa's bed. The door stuck before it opened all the way—and the closet was hitting the gundanium-lined shelf that sat at the head of Trowa's bed. "Come on," he whispered, darting out as Jin tossed Tim behind him.

The apartment was more a veranda than an apartment. The outer wall had been pierced-through—but the windows were made of a good bullet-proof glass that lay in firm sheets where they'd fallen...and Deathscythe had engaged the one MS.

"Holy shit," Jinli whispered, staring across the now open wall.

"Heero builds things to last," Matty agreed in vague amusement.

The only thing left whole were the beds against the wall and the closet. The dividing...thing...had snapped, and part of it was hanging from the inside-end, while the outer bit was laying across what had once been the outside wall.

"Damn, the carpet's fucked," Matty muttered, looking down at the thing.

"The carpet?" Jinli demanded of him. "There's a veranda where your bedroom used to be, and you're worried about the carpet?"

Matty sniggered at that, looking around, then noticed the second MS in front of the building—not quite coming at it, but it seemed to have flicked attention to it.

"It's time to move," Jinli added, yanking Tim from where he'd been curled on the bed. He pulled the guy bodily toward the entrance to the second apartment, then hesitated in the hall. "This is the most structurally sound area left," he added, indicating an area between rooms. "We'll want to just hunker down here. I'd pull the closet up to the door to be sure we were safe, but I don't think I could move it."

"The five pilots together couldn't move it," Matty reassured him. "They moved it with a crane or something weird...or maybe Heero just built it against that wall."

"I think that," Jinli agreed, turning back to look at the door...as the loud sound came again. There was the sound of breaking and cracking from the other area...before the closet slammed to the wall.

Matty laughed nervously. "See? You don't have to move it."

"But we may need to run," Jinli noted, hauling Tim up again. "Keep your head," he suggested. "I'll take care of the peace-lover—I was trained with Wufei, so I can handle that...but I can't do both him and you. Stay with me, keep your head, and we can make it out of this alive and probably not critically injured."

"Your assurance is invaluable," Matty retorted. "But the real question is do you have the insurance."

"Oh haha, funny boy," Jinli retorted.

The closet creaked, then slid away from the wall like it was being dragged...until the very end they'd been in was hanging outside the apartment...and the Leo that had been doing it fell backwards into the street.

"I wish I had my phone," Matty hissed, then looked down at Tim. It took him all of two seconds to have the man's in his hand—and all of two more to dial Heero.

"Oh my god!" Heero sounded like he was panicking. "Tim? It's okay we'll figure something out...we'll..."

"We're in the new apartment," Matty said quickly. "The closet moved in and hit the wall, and we got out."

Heero's relief was almost palpable...as the closet started sliding.

"No!" Trowa shouted. "No! Tim!" the closet started falling.

Tim, who'd been staring at their once safe-haven, looking around blankly to the phone.

"Heero's talking to him," Matty said quickly.

"The elevator went to shit," Heero added quickly. "You need to come down...there's nothing we can do. They were after the apartment the whole time—it's only a matter of time before they switch sides."

"Right," Matty muttered.

"Get anyone out who's still in there," he hissed. "Please, Matty...get anyone you can and get out."

"Understood," Jinli muttered, taking the phone and pulling at Tim. "We're moving."

- -

Trowa was shaking as the closet slammed into the ground, bouncing twice before it snapped and fell open. It was stepped on by a mobile suit about two seconds later, and if their friends hadn't made it out of the thing, they would have been crushed...though the fall itself probably would have killed them fine.

He sank to his knees, his hands closing to fists as he looked up and around to Heero. "I need Heavyarms."

"No, you don't," Heero muttered.

The suit stepped on the closet again...and Trowa's nervous stomach got the better of him. He leaned to the side and retched hard. Unless he had his weight against them, he couldn't control his hands from the shaking.

That moment...that instant before Heero'd said they'd gotten out of the closet—watching the thing, his end of it, hanging in mid air...then starting to fall...

He retched again.

He'd never been so emotionally affected by any fight...but the idea of them...

"I need something," he hissed.

"The base has suits," Heero said levelly.

Trowa looked up to him.

"Take my bike," Heero ordered, passing him the keys to the new machine. "Take it and get yourself a suit."

Trowa darted away from the man.

- -

Watching Trowa take off through the feet of the fighting MS left something to be desired, but it was more along the lines of him thinking his damn closet was integrally sound. Seeing that smash on impact to the ground was disappointing...and seeing what was left of their apartment wasn't all that much better.

"We need to move," he shouted to the various people who'd lived in the apartments. "We need to get back! Go!" he pointed toward the far back corner of the parking garage.

They obeyed the voice of authority with alacrity, stumbling in their haste and setting off car alarms as they ran.

Matty needed to hurry up and get out of the damn building before something happened and it collapsed...but Matty would. He didn't doubt that...Matty could do it, and he'd do it right. He'd have made an excellent soldier—but really, for his part, Heero was just as glad he wasn't.

- -

"Go," Jinli ordered the neighbors, indicating the stairs. Tim was already on the first landing as he looked back to Matty. "There's nothing left there," he noted quietly. "Once they get the bricks cleaned up, we can see what's still working, but there's nothing left there now."

"I know," Matty muttered, staring sadly at the gaping hole that used to be an apartment. "Come on," he added, starting down the stairs.

It didn't take them long to sweep the lower apartments room by room, and evidently the two suits had forgotten about the building, because the fighting moved away from it...but floor by floor was taking them a very long time.

At least the people were willing to take the stairs once they heard the fighting had moved away and the elevators weren't working. None of them quibbled about having to climb themselves—though with their lives in the balance, it might make a difference.

By the time they'd made it to the second floor, sending the few people they found out to the carport, Matty's legs were rubber. He crouched as Jinli looked back to him, then nodded once.

"I'll go this time," Tim muttered. He seemed to have regained himself, and headed off in the direction Matty would have gone.

"Would you look at you."

Matty froze, turning toward the stairs to stare.

Jaden moved from the shadows, staring Matty up and down. "Are you playing a hero? I thought that was your boyfriend's kink."

"What are you doing here?" Matty squeaked, starting to dodge after Jinli and falling. Even with the adrenaline, his legs were too tired to hold him.

"Calm down," Jaden hissed, darting forward to him. "You need to rest your legs...did you...were you up there?" he pointed up.

Matty stared back at him.

"I suppose you would have moved in with him at that," the man mused, looking around. "And I guess that makes sense with what Ranger was saying."

"Ranger?" Matty squeaked.

A little girl came running down the hall in an over-large t-shirt, a doll pressed to her chest and terror on her face.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, sweetheart," Jaden reached out and caught her. "Wait for your parents, huh?"

She started bawling, clinging to him.

"You're okay," Jaden reassured her. "You're all right..."

"Thank you!" a man said, scooping the child from his arms as she turned her crying to him. "Thank you! Rita?"

"I'm coming," a woman said, pulling a young boy after her. "I'm coming..."

Jinli moved slowly up to them, studying Matty and Jaden with fierce eyes.

The couple and their children disappeared down the stairs before a teenage girl came from the other direction. She was sobbing, and Tim was encouraging her up the hall...he stopped to look at Matty and Jin, then pushed her down the stairs.

"Who is this?" Jinli asked, looking down to Matty.

"His name is Jaden Timorre," Matty returned, rising shakily to his feet. "And he's one of them."

Jinli had a handgun in his hand so fast that Matty wasn't sure where it'd come from—and Jaden was pointing his own weapon right back at the man.

"What do you want?" Jinli demanded, moving forward around Matty.

"I'm just here for the boy," Jaden returned.

Jinli grabbed Matty as he stopped behind him, and Matty made himself small against the man's back.

"Williams, you know I won't hurt you," Jaden snapped.

"You need to leave," Matty returned. "You need to get out of here."

"I can't do that," Jaden said quietly. "Ranger's after you."

"I don't care if you guys want me," Matty snapped.

"No, I have no intentions of letting Ranger get you."

Matty peaked around Jinli's back, but Jin started moving. Matty moved with him toward the stairs, the gun still pointing at Jaden's head.

Moving like that was very awkward, but it didn't lessen the tension in the slightest. They started down the stairs, and after a bit of stumbling, they reached the foyer...as one of the machines fell.

Jaden's attention swung toward the sound, and Jinli broke the standoff, shoving Matty at the entrance to the bike room as he moved behind the counter. Shots rang out as Matty dived into the secondary room, and started for that exit.

- -

The sound of gunshots tore Heero away from the group as Tim, who'd been halfway across the garage, turned to look at the building in disbelief.

"Keep them here or move if you have to!" Heero shouted, shoving Tim toward the people. "Quatre will be here with the military any time now!"

Tim tried to protest being put in charge, but Heero was gone before he could do more than get a word in.

In the moment that followed, Heero sprinted across the ground, noting that the MS Duo'd been fighting hadn't gotten up. That didn't really matter to him, because Demigod was still facing off the other Leo...and who knew where Trowa was with the suit he'd be piloting.

He dodged a bullet that probably would have hit him as the foyer-room became clear to him...and Jaden Timorre.

He snarled as his mind organized the picture—Jinli on the floor, not wounded, and Jaden trying to find somewhere to take cover.

"Where is he?" Heero snarled.

Jin pointed at the bike room, and Heero turned to look outside since that room was empty...but then he remembered Timorre with a gun, and turned back to the man, raising his own weapon.

"Ranger's after Williams," Jaden snapped. "I was just making sure he didn't get him."

"Don't even start that..."

There was a terrified squeak from outside, then, "Heero!"

The absolute terror in Matty's voice forestalled the argument, and Heero turned instantly for the exit.

When he gained the front of the building, the first thing he noticed was Ranger...and the gun pointing at Matty's temple.

He froze.

"That's right, Yuy," Ranger snarled as Jinli spilled from the building behind him.

"Fuck!" Timorre snarled, then darted at the man.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ranger snapped.

"Give him to me," Jaden retorted.

Ranger hesitated, and Timorre took the moment to knock the gun from the man's hand. The expression on his face—the shock—would have been funny in other circumstances, but Matty was trying without success to break free of the man.

"I'll kill you," Heero snarled, lunging forward himself. He slammed into the man, feeling both Matty and Jaden snap around behind him, running into each other, then they were moving, rolling across the driveway.

He wanted nothing more than to pour all his frustrations into the man's body. His knuckles were well wet before a minute had passed, and there was noise behind him, but he couldn't tear his focus away from the man who'd upset his lover so badly...he'd take care of Ranger first, then figure out what was going on.

- -

"Let him go!" Jinli snared, moving after Timorre with his weapon raised. "Let him go, man..."

"As long as Ranger knows where he is, he won't be safe."

"Don't be a fool," Jinli snapped.

"Let me go," Matty protested, trying to fight free of Jaden. "I'll be fine..."

"Stop," Jaden hissed down at him, moving the weapon so it dug into his side.

Matty and Jinli both froze.

"We're going," Jaden snapped.

"Don't be a fool, man," Jinli protested, stepping slowly closer—but he did stop as the weapon dug more. "Look," Jinli pointed at Heero and Ranger, rolling on the ground. "We've got this."

"Until he's arrested, in police car or something, you do not," Jaden snapped, moving back again.

"Jaden..." Matty started.

"Don't start," Jaden snapped at him. "Just come with me."

"I'm not willing to leave Heero," Matty said, moving away from the weapon slightly.

Jaden's hand moved into his hair and pulled. It made him hiss as the man glared at him, then raised the weapon to point at Jinli.

"You think I'm scared of dying?" Jin asked blankly, lowering his weapon very slightly. "You think I'm scared of getting shot?"

"Don't shoot him," Matty hissed, trying to free his hair. "Jaden..."

"Come with me, or I'll blow out his knees," Jaden noted.

Matty froze, remembering Jaden begging him not to let Heero do that. He'd heard that doing that would mess up a person's legs for life.

"Don't worry about me," Jinli snapped, glaring at the man. "Do not worry about me. It's more important that you stay safe."

Heero shouted something unintelligible as he was rolled onto his back.

Matty wanted to go to him, to kick Ranger in the head or something, but then Jaden's grip tightened.

"Man, let him go..." Jinli aimed at Jaden's head.

Jaden moved Matty between them.

Jinli laughed coldly, cocking the weapon.

Matty dropped his legs out from under him as a shot fired, groaning as his hair tore from his head, then rolled away, toward Jin.

Heero made a startled oath, kicking Ranger over and turning toward them.

Jaden was staring down at Matty in disbelief, then looked up to Jin as he opened his hand to let strands fall.

"Trust is a wonderful thing between friends," Jinli hissed, cocking his weapon again.

"Yuy," Jaden started, moving backwards. "Yuy...you don't understand."

"You're trying to abduct my boyfriend," Heero snarled, moving at Jaden. "You've already had a hand in two others, and now you're back for another go."

"Not me," Jaden protested, backing away still more. "I'm not the one..."

Matty shouted, and as they turned, they saw Ranger had him over his shoulder, running full-bore at the MS.

"Shit!" Heero snarled, turning to run after the man instantly. Jinli was a moment behind him. It didn't take long for them to be under the feet of the fighting MS, and Heero made a circular gesture, the full length of his arm.

Deathscythe focused down on him.

Jin blinked as the man made several other gestures, and Deathscythe dropped to its knees...in front of Ranger...and the hand moved down to create a barred prison around the man. Matty scrambled out as the second hand enclosed the man, and stumbled a few feet away, trembling and breathing hard.

"Should I crush him?" Duo's voice came from the machine. He sounded vicious.

"Probably not," Heero returned, dropping down next to Matty. "That wouldn't end well, but I think he's armed."

Ranger cried out as the fingers closed.

"You okay, Matty?" Duo demanded.

Matty nodded, still shaking as he clung to Heero.

"That's good," Duo muttered, then laughed coldly. "You think I could get away with an accident?"

Heero started laughing.

"Maxwell..." Jinli protested.

Duo laughed more.

Jaden slunk across to the apartment building, ducking into some bushes.

If Ranger was stopped, Ranger was stopped. He'd like very well to know Ranger was in prison and couldn't hurt anyone—he might be able to get some leeway with Rab if Ranger was gone...and for the moment, they seemed to have forgotten about him.

- -

"Stay here," Heero instructed Matty, who'd been given a light sedative to calm his nerves. "I'm going to make sure they've got Ranger."

The second Leo had disappeared with the other suits behind him. That included the one Trowa'd gotten, because there was no other way a third MS would have shown up on the field, let alone have attacked the remaining suit.

Heero jogged across the area to where they'd had Ranger in their grasp...and slowed as he looked around.

There were people all over—bystanders, officers, soldiers, paramedics, and people from the apartment. People from the fire department had gone up to check out their apartment, and how sturdy the rest of the building was after the pounding it had taken.

That wasn't what made him freeze though.

There were officers laying around the backseat of the car that had been meant to take Ranger...knocked out.

Ranger was gone.

Heero snarled, turning back to the ambulance Matty had been at...and had the worst moment of horror in his life.

"Matty?" he shouted, darting back to the empty machine. "Matty?"

There was no response.

"Where did he go?" Heero snapped at the man who'd been attending Matty's injuries.

"The blond man came and got him," the man returned easily. "He said they'd wait for you with the others."

Heero stared up at him, then swore and turned to run to where Jinli was smoking a cigarette with Quatre occasionally taking the thing. They were staring up at the apartment. They hadn't heard from Wufei, Duo, or Trowa.

"What's up?" Quatre asked, exhaling and looking to Heero.

"Please tell me you have a blond soldier here," Heero snapped.

"Oh, probably," Quatre muttered, looking around. "They wear helmets, though, so..."

Heero closed his eyes.

"Why?" Jinli asked.

"Because Timorre got Matty," he explained, turning and starting to search faces. "Ranger's gone...and I think Timorre got Matty."