Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ For Myself ❯ Seven ( Chapter 7 )

Seven

Matty woke slowly, looking around the darkened room. His body felt heavy, and his arms were sore. He started to move them...but they didn't do what he wanted—and there was a sound of metal on metal. He tugged at his arms again, blinking blearily at his hands. That was strange that he was holding them above his head like that...he pulled again, which made the metal sound come again.

The realization took him a moment to fully understand—and that was about when he realized there was cold metal on his wrists.

"What..." he croaked, yanking harder.

"Whoa...calm down," Jaden muttered, darting across to him. "Calm down..."

Matty cried out in horror, yanking again. The bed jostled hard from the motion.

"Don't make me sedate you," Jaden protested, sitting next to him. "Come on, you know you can trust me..."

Matty shifted where he lay and lashed out with his leg, slamming the back of the man's head with his shin—which hurt him and made Jaden cringe. He sniggered slightly, realizing how pointless it really was to struggle when he was locked to a damn metal bed-rail.

"You think that's funny?" Jaden snapped, shoving his legs down hard on the bed.

"That fucking hurt," Matty retorted, rubbing the leg he'd used with the other.

The man's eyes narrowed, and he moved across the room.

"What are you doing?" Matty demanded with a sigh. "Unlock me already, shit."

"You kick me in the head, laugh, then tell me to unlock you?" the man snapped, pulling something out of a bag. "How about you pretend you aren't stupid, and I'll pretend to believe you."

Matty gave him a look, then realized the package was a syringe. "Hey," he started, staring at the thing. "Jaden..."

"Oh, now you're okay with talking to me," the man snapped, ripping open a smaller package. "I'll tell you what, when you wake up again..."

"Jaden," Matty protested, alarmed. The man sat next to him on the bed and flipped his shirt up. "Jaden, don't," he protested, raising his legs to push away from the man. It was hard, especially since he was connected to the railing by his wrists. Jaden ended up crawling onto the mattress with him...and sitting on his legs.

"When you wake up, we can try talking again," Jaden informed him seriously.

"Don't rape the boy."

Matty jumped hard, turning to look at an Asian man blankly. The guy looked vaguely familiar, but then a cold wetness hit his stomach and he looked back as the scent of alcohol came up from the area. "Jaden!" he protested.

"I'm not going to rape him," Jaden retorted irritably, then gave Matty a dirty look.

"Why the hell are you sitting on him then?" the guy moved to the side of the bed, studying Matty's face. "He looks older than I remember."

Matty looked back down as the syringe package opened, starting to gather himself.

Jaden made an amused noise, meeting his eyes. "You honestly think you could dislodge me? Or you trying to turn me on?"

Matty released the muscles immediately, searching his face. He'd never gotten the impression Jaden saw him as interesting, and this situation wasn't being guided by the code of conduct the ESA provided.

"You scared him!" the Asian guy protested, punching Jaden in the arm.

Jaden gave the guy a look, then directed a sour one at Matty. "You gonna to quit thrashing around?"

Matty didn't move, studying the guy's face.

Jaden sighed and tossed a small vial across the bed, then took the needle and alcohol wipe across the room to a trashcan.

"My name is Shi..." the Asian started.

"What are you doing here?" Jaden snapped at the man, cutting him off.

"Well, I left the aquarium and got back to the safehouse, heard Rab and Ranger bitching at each other over the speakers—then saw your room."

"How did you find me?" the man asked nervously, looking toward the windows.

"Your phone," the guy gave him an interested look.

Jaden focused on him sharply, then turned and stormed across the room, pawing at Matty's pants.

Being locked to a bed and having someone messing with your pants isn't the most comfortable of situations.

"What are you doing?" the man demanded, moving up to him again. "You lost your mind?"

"His phone has Pax on it," Jaden retorted. "And I'm pretty sure Ranger can find that stupid phone...where is it?" he demanded, meeting Matty's eyes.

"Smashed under a fifteen foot brick wall," Matty retorted.

Jaden stared down at him.

"Yeah, see, this really big humanoid machine came and like...was shooting at our apartment...so we all hit the deck, then me, Jin, and Tim got thrown into the closet as the other pilots scrambled."

"Their suits are close, then?" Jaden asked, looking toward the windows again.

"Why would I know that?" Matty protested, studying the man. "They pointed out what I don't know I can't reveal, and they thought Ranger'd come after me anyway."

"Deroy's a piece of work," the other man noted in amusement, looking him over again. "You are pretty cute."

"Oh, wonderful," Matty muttered, looking across the room. "I'm locked to a bed and some guy thinks I'm cute."

"I won't touch you," the man retorted irritably, looking to Jaden. "What are we doing here? You gonna kill your phone before you get us caught? Mine's back at the safehouse."

Jaden sighed, raising the thing to look at the face, then flipped it over and popped the back of, then the battery out. He took that across the room into the bathroom.

"So...I'm Qingfu," the guy added, studying Matty. "We met briefly before on 27."

Matty studied him, then snorted, looking around again.

"I can get us a helicopter or a plane ride before the fuckers realize we've defected," Qingfu noted, turning around to Jaden. "Ranger had made plans to keep him," he indicated Matty. "So us having him won't be entirely unusual."

"What?" Matty demanded, fear shooting through him.

"Easy, kid," Jaden retorted, moving from the bathroom. "I told you, I only want to keep you safe from that psycho."

"So why not leave me with my boyfriend?" Matty snapped. "I was safe...they caught Ranger anyway."

"What?" Qingfu protested, looking around to Jaden.

"They had Ranger," Jaden retorted dryly. "What you didn't see was him knocking everyone out while the ambulance driver shot you up. Your dumbasses might have cleared up the network on 25, but I'm pretty sure they're only looking for his guys in space. I don't know if you remember or not, but I didn't shoot you up with anything, and you were sleeping for an hour."

Matty stared at him.

"We're going to use that network to get away from here," he added, looking around to Qingfu. "Then I'm going to figure out a way to get away." He looked around to Matty again. "I fought Ranger," he added, looking to Qingfu. "He and I were fighting when Yuy freaked out on him. Yuy was mopping the driveway with his face again, but all it takes to stop Yuy's world is for the kid to cry out," he gave Matty a look. "How does it feel to know if you cry, one of the most powerful forces on the planet bends to your whim?"

"And what the hell good," Matty asked, looking to his hands, "does that do me...when I'm handcuffed to a bed-railing?"

Jaden made an amused noise, looking him over. "You're going to fight me every step of the way, aren't you?"

"I want to be back with my boyfriend, where I'm safe," Matty retorted, meeting his eyes. "It might be a strange idea to you, but locked to some strange man's bed doesn't imply safety."

Qingfu started snickering.

"I will sedate your ass," Jaden snapped at the man, then looked back to Matty. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"If you get me back to Heero, I'll make sure he doesn't come after you."

Jaden stared down at him a long moment, then looked around to Qingfu. "Get us a plane. I want to get away from here as soon as I can. I don't care where, as long as it's not on this continent."

Matty closed his eyes, pulling at the cuffs.

He'd thought he was safe. Heero'd been with him...Ranger had been captured...but he'd thought he was safe.

He could have cried...he wanted to cry...but with Jaden and Qingfu running around and organizing things...he realized he didn't want them to see it.

- -

"Where the fuck did he go!" Heero slammed the man's head against the wall as he shouted, moving again like he'd punch.

"Whoa...whoa whoa..." Wufei moved in before the violence could break out a second time.

The night had been long enough without that.

Heero backed off, flexing his hand at about shoulder height. His muscles were completely tense, and Quatre'd left the room because of him.

Granted, if not for Quatre, they wouldn't have realized the medic that had given Matty a shot to "soothe his nerves" had actually given him one to knock him out.

The man himself had been trying to claim some higher cause, something about a lawyer and representation...but little legalities like that didn't catch Heero's attention. He wasn't interested in what someone who'd wronged him wanted, he was interested in answers...and the man had found that out the hard way.

Wufei tossed the man's ice pack back in his lap, watching as Heero started to pace. "I want you to understand something," Wufei noted, turning to look at the man. "If I get bored or exasperated, I'm going to leave."

The man's eyes widened.

"So...I suggest you start answering our questions."

"You'd be court martialed," he protested.

"Yeah, probably," Wufei agreed, studying him. "The thing is, nothing will come of it...we've all had it before, and look at us now?" he gestured casually at Heero, who was popping things.

"The camera," the guy protested, looking up at the thing.

"I don't think it's on," Wufei returned, rising to his feet. "I'll go check."

Heero turned back to them.

"No!" the guy protested, almost jumping after him. "No...it's...it's okay."

Wufei gave the man a skeptical look and sat on the table again. "So...where was the plan to take him?"

"Well...there's a place over on Stark Street," the man muttered, looking perplexed.

Heero turned, his phone moving to his ear.

"But if you were fighting Ranger and...and Timorre was," the guy said quickly. "If Timorre was against Ranger...then that wouldn't be the place."

Heero turned on him. "Who do you need to call to find out?"

The man mouthed at him, probably thinking something about the Fifth Amendment rights...but then he looked to the camera. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted.

"Why don't you take a minute to think about it?" Heero asked, moving forward and shoving Wufei away. "I'm really about out of patience."

- -

Duo pounded the punching bag harder, feeling something changing in the substance of something. It might have been the bag, or it might have been his knuckles. He didn't care, because until Heero could get answers from someone, they were sitting around waiting.

They had to wait for the fire department to declare the integrity of their apartment sound, they had to wait to find out if there was any damage to Deathscythe or Demigod...they'd chased Rab until the engines on the shields had started to overheat. They had to wait to know if Matty was even safe. They had to wait to see if the local PD could find Ranger...

There was a sound that didn't match the pattern of his punching, contrasting with the sound...like tearing.

The bag tore apart, and his arm extended further than he'd intended...and shrieked with pain as the tightened muscle over extended.

"Fuck!" he shouted swinging so his hand didn't slam into the wall. His elbow took the force instead, and he dropped into a crouch as his pain-clouded senses swam.

"Duo?"

Duo turned on Wufei.

"Don't you dare," Wufei warned him, taking a step back. "Don't you..."

Duo swung.

The moment prolonged indefinitely as Wufei dodged his first few swings, but then one landed solidly in the man's side...and he exploded into action.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" a colonel darted from somewhere else in the gym as soldiers muttered to each other, shoving Duo back, then dodging the hit Wufei threw around the man. "Stop!" he shouted. "Stop it!"

Duo realized that there was something wet on his face, wiping at it, then blinking at the blood on his wrap—he had a length of cloth from the boxing. He wiped again, feeling a stinging sensation after a moment, then met eyes with Wufei.

Wow...he'd really just done that, hadn't he?

He looked around at the soldiers that had gathered—an awful lot of them for such a short fight...but at the same time, when had Wufei landed that punch? Hadn't they been by the...

He looked back across the gym, realizing they'd crossed half of it.

Wufei let out a guffaw of laughter, wiping at the stream of blood on his own face. "You look like shit, Maxwell."

"You look worse," Duo retorted.

The man licked his lips, hesitant to move from between them.

"You punch like a bitch," Wufei added, wiping more.

"Bitches do damage," Duo retorted, looking around for a mirror. "Come on, let's go clean up."

"Uh..." the colonel started uncertainly.

"Stand down," Duo ordered, meeting his eyes evenly.

The man stared at him.

"You'd hesitate to listen to a Brigadier General?" Wufei demanded.

The man's eyes went even wider and he fell back instantly, saluting them.

"I'll get maintenance down here to clean that up," Duo noted, indicating the punching bag he'd destroyed. "I'll also get the order for a replacement sent out."

"No need sir," the man saluted. "I can take care of that."

"Very well," Duo agreed, looking around to the soldiers were staring at him.

"Do you suppose they aren't saluting because I'm not in uniform?" Duo added to Wufei.

The soldiers almost fell into stance as one, and Duo nodded cordially to them as he turned away.

"Oh, I was going to tell you," Wufei muttered, pressing at the wound on his chin. "Heero terrified the guy into calling his friends. As far as they can tell, the only change from normal in their lines is that someone took a plane to China."

"China?" Duo asked, looking to him in confusion. "Why China?"

"Maybe because most people think of Asia as a really long way that way," he pointed east.

"But it's a remarkably short way that way," Duo protested, pointing to the west. "Comparatively, I mean."

"It's either an idiot mistake or something deeper," Wufei noted, running his hands through his hair, then sighing and looking to his knuckles. "Was there any particular reason you attacked me?"

Duo considered that a moment, then shrugged. "I wanted to really fight, and you're more than capable."

"Oh geeze," Wufei retorted, giving him a look. "How kind of you."

Duo grinned at him, massaging his right arm. "I knew you'd appreciate it...why the hell China? Where the hell in China?"

"Hong Kong, as close as we can tell. Heero's ordering himself a ticket now."

"Only one? Are we meeting there later?" Duo gave him a concerned look.

"In case you hadn't noticed," Wufei returned dryly, "we have these really big mobile suits...and they're the only things capable of stopping the rogue suits."

Duo gave him sour look.

"Trowa's talking about heading up to 27 to pick up his parade, so Quatre will probably go with Heero."

Duo's heart throbbed, and he avoided Wufei's eyes entirely. He didn't want Quatre anywhere he wasn't—he didn't want to be without Quatre...but sometimes it was necessary...right?

Was there a valid way to get Quatre to stay with him?

The thought made him feel guilty, and he looked around to see if Wufei was watching him.

Wufei's expression was vaguely amused as he looked out the far window as if nothing had happened.

"Don't laugh at me," Duo protested.

"Jin was trying to convince Heero to take him along," Wufei noted, looking back to Duo.

"Jin would be good," Duo agreed quickly. "The two of them could...Quatre wouldn't have to..."

Wufei started laughing, stopping walking.

"What?" Duo protested, rounding on him. "What?"

"You looked like a kicked puppy when I suggested Quatre go with Heero," he noted, snickering more. "You're head over heels for him..." he laughed even more.

"Why is that funny?" Duo protested. "I don't see why that's funny!"

"Because you're all big and bad...but not without your Quatre..." Wufei darted past him quickly. "Poor baby..."

Duo took a swing at him, chasing him down the hall.

He didn't feel bad anymore for attacking the guy—he deserved it.

- -

Ranger's hands were shaking as he stared at his reflection in the mirror in front of him. There was no denying he'd gotten into a fistfight...but with his now-blond hair, Jaden wouldn't see him coming.

He was going to kill Jaden. He knew Rab would be all right with Qingfu—just as long as he could catch that treacherous bastard.

Their network was big enough, but it only had one or two people in most places—and only in the larger cities, anyway. If he could get back to Brazil, he could get more soldiers—he could probably find some spies and stuff to send after Jaden...but that would take so much more time than just going after and grabbing the bastard.

What did he think? That Rab would be okay with him stepping in like that? Who knew what he'd given away by going for the boy like that—maybe he was playing both ends toward the middle. Maybe he even had someone else he was working for.

It didn't matter in the end, because Ranger wanted to hurt him. His hands almost ached with the want of grabbing his skin...maybe if Jaden just gave him the boy...maybe they could make a deal.

Why was Jaden even after the boy? Had he gotten him? The man Ranger'd been planning with had been the one in the ambulance they'd taken the kid to. The man would have known Ranger'd get away as soon as he could...and he'd probably sedated the boy. He'd seen Jaden supporting the boy into the crowd, but had lost him...and with the way Yuy'd been going after them both, there was no way they were in league together.

So...the question was how to get to Hong Kong fast—he'd called around while he'd been bleaching his hair. Jaden had taken a plane to Hong Kong.

Ranger ran his hands through his hair.

It was time to get moving.

- -

Rab dropped into a crouch between the rooms that had belonged to Jaden and Ranger, not trying to control his shaking hands.

Ranger had been captured...and where had Jaden gone? Jaden and Qingfu had both disappeared...where had they gone?

He dropped over sideways, staring across the deathly empty apartment, listening to the sounds of the city around him.

It had been damn hard to get away from the three machines. Even the standard fucking Leo had been hard to get away from...and making sure his landing spot hadn't been discovered had been stressful enough when he'd thought Jaden would be waiting for him.

Where had he gone?

He curled up into a ball between the rooms, staring blankly at the back of the couch in front of him.

Now what was he supposed to do?