Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ For Myself ❯ Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Eight

"Barton!" Cardle jumped to his feet to salute with a happy smile breaking across his face. "Sir!"

"You wanna go to earth?" Trowa returned, studying the man's expression with interest. He'd been on base all of ten minutes, and wasn't intending to stay longer than he absolutely had to.

The smile turned into a grin as the man nodded in a more formal way—Trowa'd walked in on a class, and he had two more stops to make before he could be away. He still had to give Une the update and get her information, but overall he didn't plan to spend more than an hour on 25.

"Then get your stuff and meet me in the soldier's lounge as soon as you can."

"Sir!" Cardle turned and saluted his teacher, waiting.

The man sighed and gestured—which had Cardle disappearing before Trowa could blink.

"My apologies," Trowa noted, nodding his head to the man. "Excuse me."

"Sir!" the class saluted him as he turned away.

He had the military-issue cargo jeans on with a grey t-shirt. The only visual thing most soldiers would have on him is if they actually looked at his pass. Une would probably have kittens when she realized he went and did official stuff without his uniform on, but he was not going to spend half the day running around like a puffed up blue-bird on stilts.

What the hell was in Hong Kong?

Trowa balled his fist up and lashed out at a wall as he turned a corner. A hollow sounding thud echoed down the hall behind him, and in front of him, but he ignored it as things quieted down a moment.

Hong Kong was a major trading port. Ships, planes, and truck lines entered and left twenty-four hours a day. If Jaden was trying to smuggle Matty away entirely, what would be better than a cargo ship? Hell, a semi wouldn't hurt either—or a train...or a simple car to throw them off.

He ran his hands through his hair, trying to think of anything that might be remotely useful.

"Barton!" Une called from behind him.

A ship would take ages to get anywhere. The most unlikely thing would be to take one back to the United States. That would certainly be a long ride on a ship, and there were far too few options for escape. He'd have to set people to checking the ocean-crossers.

"Barton!" the woman called again, moving faster to catch up with him.

A train could take them back into China, and that would be hard enough to pin down, let alone if it passed to somewhere like Mongolia...or up into Russia. The idea of Russia made him cold inside, because the lay of that country meant they could disappear utterly and searching for a decade might not even make it. He'd heard that the mafia that had once been strong there had started to make a comeback after a few hundred years of quiet, but...

"God damn it, Barton!"

Trowa started, turning at the voice. "Oh...Une. Hi."

"Hi?" she demanded, hands on her hips as she stopped behind him. "I've called to you repeatedly...and now you say hi?"

Trowa blinked at her. "I'm sorry...but..."

"What the hell is going on?" she snapped. "I hear that we have Deroy Hanager in custody...then I hear we have three police officers down, Hanager's gone, and what about Mattox?"

Trowa ran his hands through his hair as he considered the story.

"Spill," she snapped. "What are you doing here? You're not alone are you?"

"I'm getting my parade," Trowa noted, looking around the hall again. "And we're going to earth, and we're going to hunt down Timorre and have him for supper."

"Timorre?" she asked blankly. "What are you talking about? Do we have Hanager or don't we?"

"We don't," Trowa noted, meeting her eyes seriously. "Come on, keep bitching at me and I'll get my other two."

"Ricci's not here," she retorted. "His wife just had her baby so he's on...maternal...leave...paternal. Paternal leave."

Trowa focused on her, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" she repeated.

"Good," he muttered, gesturing at her. "Keep going."

For some reason, Une didn't seem to appreciate that—but she did keep going. Trowa started for the room Raymond was supposed to be in.

At least he wouldn't have to go find her now.

- -

Time passed in fits and bursts for Matty; occasionally he'd start coming around and feel a sharp pinch. He knew Jaden had hit him up with more sedatives a few times like that, but the languor of the stuff would take him back down into the haze before he could more than look around.

He stared out the window at the road moving by him, realizing after a time that an audiobook was playing. He could remember an airplane...and then walking through a crowd with Jaden supporting him...but not a whole lot more...well, an attendant asking about him. She'd figured the motion-sickness story that Qingfu had fed her was true, but he really wished she hadn't.

She'd been speaking Chinese.

Matty closed his eyes as his stomach roiled, but that didn't help. He groaned, pushing himself up.

"Oh...shit," Jaden looked back at him as Qingfu hit the pause button and turned. "You okay, kid?"

Matty groaned, covering his mouth. He was going to puke, and he really wanted to do it over the men.

Unfortunately, Jaden pulled off the road into a grassy ditch.

Matty tried to pull himself across the seat, but his body wasn't responding like it should—the sedatives hadn't worn off entirely.

"Come on," Qingfu muttered, pulling him out and helping him stumble a few feet away...and holding him up as he puked.

"I was hoping we hadn't given him enough for this," Jaden noted, moving from the car with a bottle of water in one hand. "You okay, Williams?"

"Fuck you," Matty retorted, then heaved again. Not much had come up to begin with, and he really wanted to just curl up in the grass, not hang off some man who'd kidnapped him.

"You deserve that one," Qingfu noted.

"Yeah, well my head still hurts where he kicked me," the man retorted. "Here, Williams," he added offering the bottle. "Rinse your mouth out. Can you move much yet?"

"If you say 'fuck you again'," Qingfu warned, "I will drop you in that pukey mess."

"There's not much down there anyway," Matty retorted straightening and testing if he had any balance.

"Can you move much?" Jaden persisted, his eyes concerned. "I gave you a little too much—I thought you weighed more."

"He can usually guess that stuff without trying," Qingfu added. "So it's not like he meant to overdose you at all."

"I think I'll...be able to move soon," Matty muttered, eyeing the area around them casually. "Where are we?"

"Not in the United States," Jaden returned. "And that's all I'm willing to tell you."

Matty blinked at him.

"Ranger wants you," Jaden added. "And I'm going to do my bit to keep him from getting you."

"It's nice to be wanted," Matty muttered, taking the water bottle and trying not to gag at the taste in his mouth as he rinsed the water around. "My teeth are all fuzzy...that's nasty..." he took another mouthful, tilting his head back to gargle a bit...but the motion over balanced him and he stumbled.

"Just take it slow, all right?" the man persisted. "You should probably drink some of that...and we have some stuff for you in the car. You haven't eaten in a couple days."

Matty glared at him, understanding why he felt entirely off kilter. He'd thought the sedatives had been the reason, but there was more beyond that...and getting the water in his mouth had made him start to realize dehydration was part of his problem.

"You all right? We're gonna find a hotel tonight and you can clean up and stuff...I have some pants and stuff you can wear while Qing does your stuff."

"You're so kind," Qingfu muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I have money," Matty muttered, trying to keep himself calm. "I can buy more..."

"You're clever," Qingfu noted sarcastically, scooping him up by the waist. "But we're not stupid."

"Let's see, you kidnap me and take me across at least one international border against my will...you have me sedated for days...and you're saying you're not stupid? I don't understand. Do you know Chinese?" he asked. "I can speak Chinese if you can say what you mean better."

"Get in there," Qingfu retorted, tossing him into the back seat and slamming the door.

"He was a lot nicer when we were on 27," Jaden mused, climbing into the driver's seat. "We got along and stuff, I promise."

"Just let Heero come get me," Matty whispered, feeling tears in his eyes as he stared at the man. "If Heero gets me..."

"He'll kill me," Jaden returned, studying Matty's eyes. "I took you from him when he thought you were safe. I shot you up with sedatives against your will...I took you to another country. Yuy is going to kill me if he finds me—but that's nothing compared to what Ranger will do to you if he gets you."

Matty looked away.

"So bear with me," the man added quietly as Qingfu buckled. "Deal with this jackass...and I'll get you back to Yuy...in time."

"I don't think you fully understand what's happening," Qingfu said quietly. "We totally went against Rabid...we totally went against Ranger. It's just us now...and we did it to keep you safe."

Jaden glanced at the man.

"We went against everyone we've worked with for years...to keep you safe. I can understand you not being happy, Matt, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't make everything a trial."

Matty met his eyes, staring him down. He wasn't particularly impressed with the man's commentary, but he could appreciate the bits of reality in it.

After the way Jaden and Ranger had fought over having him, he believed that Ranger wanted to take him from Jaden. He didn't know why Jaden was against the man, but he knew that to be the truth. He also knew that generally speaking, Jaden was a caring person.

He sighed after a minute, digging into the leg-pocket of his cargo jeans.

"You checked him for weapons, didn't you?" Qingfu snapped.

"He's scared of guns," Jaden retorted, starting the engine. "What are you doing, brat?"

Matty caught the chain he'd been looking for and pulled the man's dog-tags out, tossing them to the man and glaring at him.

Jaden blinked at him, then lifted the chain to read the tags, then looked around to Qingfu.

"Are those dog-tags?" Qingfu demanded blankly.

"Thank you," Jaden muttered, looking back to Matty with a confused expression. "Thank you."

Matty turned away from him to look back at the fast flow of traffic next to them.

"Those are...your dog-tags?" Qingfu asked blankly.

"When Yuy and them came after him," Jaden explained, pulling back into traffic, "I ended up coming face to face with Yuy."

"And he knocked you out," Qingfu agreed.

Matty snorted at that.

It had not been that straightforward.

"I'm telling him," Jaden retorted. "Don't be obnoxious."

"You'll kick me out and let me walk home?" Matty retorted.

"No, but I can make your life hell," Jaden returned, looking around to him. "Don't even pretend I can't."

Matty looked away.

"Anyway," Jaden looked back to Qingfu. "The shit's phone had Pax on it, right? And guess what else? Chronus."

"What?" Qingfu demanded in disbelief. "No way..."

"You're right," Matty retorted. "It's not Chronus...as if they'd put a buggy patch on my phone."

They both looked back to him.

"The program was called Pan," he added, looking between them. "I compared it to Chronus before and it's enough to make me laugh. Chronus is a kid's toy compared to Pan."

They studied him seriously a moment, then looked to each other.

"Yuy made Pan," he pointed out. "And he set all sorts of nifty options—things that I couldn't even make my phone do through the options on it."

"And that explains what Ranger's tweak was," Qingfu noted. "There was something up with his phone."

"Oh yeah," Jaden agreed, shifting around properly to actually mind the traffic around them. "I took him to the clinic and we ended up in the hall room, right? Well, I went back to talk to him again and his phone was on, I could see it through his pocket."

"I didn't turn it on and you shouldn't have hit me like that. Seeing me bleeding could have made Yuy snap."

"Don't try and make us scared about what Yuy will do to us since we have you," Jaden ordered him. "We know we're up shit creek without a paddle, and I already told you. I'm not letting Ranger get you."

Matty sighed, looking away.

"Anyway," Jaden went on. "We were bickering and he was telling me to stay away from the door so I didn't get shot."

Qingfu snorted.

"And Yuy came in...like nothing. Williams jumped between us so Yuy didn't shoot me...and it was sort of a stand off. I couldn't bring myself to shoot his stupid-ass," he cast a meaningful look at the teen, "and for some stupid reason, he wasn't letting Yuy shoot me...but Yuy wasn't about to leave me behind and conscious...so he fuckin' brained me with his pistol." He rubbed the side of his head, grimacing. "Not pleasant, by the way," he added to Matty.

"I should have let him blow your knees," Matty retorted.

"He really was a lot nicer on the colony," Jaden noted to Qingfu conversationally. "I actually liked him and felt bad for him and stuff."

"You're both fucking special...why did the kid have your tags?"

"Well, after he knocked me flat, I'm assuming they had a quicky..."

"Oh please," Matty snapped, turning to glower at him. "We had to get to the fucking ship with Ranger dogging our heels the whole way."

"And you had my vest, right?" Jaden asked. "I've never known what really happened. Did you take the damn tags off me?"

"No!" Matty glowered at him. "Yuy took your Kevlar and had me put it on so I had a little protection...and they were stuck on that."

"Ah," Jaden nodded, fingering the chain. "That makes sense...how did you guys fare then, anyway?"

"Heero and Ranger rolled around in the hallway like school-boys, pummeling each other to a pulp...but I knew we had to hurry so I grabbed the firearm Ranger had and..."

"He's not dead," Jaden pointed out.

"Like I could have really shot him," Matty retorted. "I aimed it at him and he stopped moving, so I ran for it. Heero came after me and we had to duck around halls and stuff until we got to the port."

"That was so fucking insane," Qingfu muttered, rubbing his temples. "How many guys did they actually have with them? Thirty?"

Matty guffawed.

"No, seriously," Qingfu protested, turning to face him.

"It was just them," Matty retorted, staring at him. "Just the five of them."

Qingfu stared at him.

"Yeah...all five of them took your colony," Matty added quietly, studying the man's face. "How many do you think it'll take to find you two?"

"With luck, it won't be a problem," Jaden noted, pulling into another lane. "I don't trust luck, but I'm keeping you away from Ranger...no matter what."

Matty looked away.

"He's been charged with rape before, kid," Jaden pointed out. "And when he gets bored he'll do that shit with his hands to me...your arm?"

Matty rubbed at his left arm, not looking at the man.

"Yeah," Jaden agreed. "He does that to me when he's bored. What do you think he might do to you? He's decided it's your fault everything went to shit on 27...and he's right to a point, but all those other dumbasses were asking to be branded rebels."

"It was a sound plan," Qingfu snapped.

"No, a sound plan would be to approach Minister Darlian. A sound plan would have been presenting a request to the ESA. When diplomacy fails is when you start taking fucking hostages. Taking hostages right off brands you a terrorist."

"Like those fucking pilots," Qingfu noted.

"You were from the colonies, weren't you?" Matty demanded, a coal of anger smoldering in his stomach. "You were from the colonies, and you're calling them terrorists?"

Qingfu turned to meet his eyes.

"They were sent by the colonies to earth," Matty added, staring at him. "They were trained under the approval of the colonies, and sent to earth...and you're calling them terrorists?"

"You're poundin' a brick wall, kid," Jaden noted, glancing at Qingfu. "You're looking at an Oz special. He worked under Treize Kushrenada himself."

Matty stared at the guy in slowly dawning horror.

Qingfu looked away.

"Actually, from what I understand, that prince and his bitch would recognize him, too."

"Don't call Lu a bitch," Matty snarled at him, the coal flaring into flames. "Don't you dare call her a bitch after what you people did to her!"

Jaden turned and gave him a startled look.

"Colonel Noin isn't a bitch," Qingfu agreed. "And what are you talking about?" he added, looking back to Matty.

"Last time I saw her she was barely out of the I.C.U. because she nearly got killed when you assholes left that colony."

He stared at Matty, not blinking.

"Whatever happened, she nearly got her control board embedded in her stomach—and she thought she might have been pregnant, too."

The man looked away quickly, staring out the window.

"Well that's a pleasant turn of events," Jaden muttered dryly. "I think we need to change the subject...you ever hear of Peter Larmen?"

"Who?" Matty asked blankly.

"He's an author—we're listening to one of his books. Sit back and relax...you can even go back to sleep if you need to."

"You're so kind," Matty retorted, curling down into his seat.

"Yeah...you know, I remember you saying that being an ass was a consistent character defect. I thought you were just kidding when you said it...but you weren't were you?"

Matty looked back out the window. It was weird to see Qingfu in what he considered the driver's seat and not driving. It was also weird to be on the inside lane facing the traffic going the other direction—only backwards.

So, they were in Europe. The scenery didn't look much like a jungle...and he was pretty sure that a damn lot of Central and South America were...and it definitely didn't look like Africa.

He'd have to keep his eyes open...and as soon as he could manage, he'd find a way to let Heero know where he was.

He just...he had to keep his eyes open.

- -

Jinli was pacing.

Heero watched the man moving back and forth, arms crossed. He didn't think his muscles would ever relax again, and he envied the man his free movement. If he allowed himself to pace, he'd start to run, and he would simply run until he found something. That wasn't a very useful waste of energy.

Why wouldn't Trowa hurry up?

Heero ground his teeth together, pulling his eyes away from Wufei's childhood friend. There was enough similarities between the two that if he was distracted, he'd forget the man wasn't his long-time friend. There was something in Jinli's manner that was similar to Wufei's...and a lot in how they acted.

Hadn't Wufei said they'd trained together?

Heero looked around again, noticing something strange.

He thought he'd seen someone he knew.

It had to be the stress. Heero shifted forward in his seat, and Jinli turned on him instantly, eyes alert.

"You're all strung out, aren't you?" Trowa muttered, moving past the man casually to stop between them. "What are we doing in Bangkok?"

"This is where Jaden flew them to after Hong Kong," Heero explained as Jinli stared at Trowa in disbelief.

"They took a car," Raymond announced, moving near them from the crowd. "I'm not sure what sort of car it was, or where it was going, but they took a car from here."

"So the question then becomes where are they going now," Trowa noted, looking around to Heero. "Hong Kong, Bangkok...where? What would be the next choice?"

"If I had found the pattern, I wouldn't be sitting here waiting for you," Heero snapped back.

"West," Cardle announced, moving in from the other direction. "They headed west."

"Into the old world," Raymond noted sardonically.

"Sanc?" Cardle offered

"Doubtful," Raymond refuted. "But we don't know what they're trying accomplish, so it might be at that."

"Where's your third?" Heero demanded of Trowa.

"On paternal leave," Trowa returned, gesturing at the pair. "This is what I've got, plus Une's permission to utilize any military resource we need."

"Really?" Jinli asked in amazement, looking between the other two men.

"You're not Chang," Cardle noted, actually blinking at him. He turned to Heero. "Why isn't he Chang?"

"Chang is protecting LA," Jinli snapped back, sounding annoyed. "Why would you think I was Chang?"

"You're a hot Asian guy with Yuy and Barton?" Cardle looked around to Raymond.

"That's so not helpful it's funny," Trowa snapped between the men.

Cardle grinned sheepishly at him and shrugged at Jinli.

"Une has a sweetheart crush on Mattox," Trowa added, rolling his eyes. "I think she sees him as the son she could have had or something—though I don't understand why she's fine with Yuy..."

Heero cleared his throat.

"Anyway," Trowa flashed his friend a grin. "She's very concerned about his general well being."

"So what's west?" Heero demanded. "And what resources would help us now?"

"Quatre would help us now," Trowa pointed out. "But for some reason, he's not here...I mean no offense," he added to Jinli. "I'm glad you're here—but Quatre..."

"Can't Brigadier Quatre do the same over the phone as he can in person?" Cardle appealed to Trowa.

"Brigadier what?" Trowa asked blankly.

Cardle's eyes went wide. "Winner," he said quickly. "I said Winner."

Raymond snickered.

"Brigadier Quatre?" Trowa appealed to Heero, then gave him a look. "Why haven't you called him yet?"

- -

Quatre was sitting in the living room of the second apartment with Duo when his phone started ringing. The building had been declared sound do to structural considerations of wartime alteration. It sounded fancy, but it really just meant that the owner'd seen a few buildings get destroyed by something hitting an upper level, and had paid a large sum of money to block-out his building. Each penthouse had been separated from the others, which meant that the old apartment really was something akin to a veranda now...at least until it was rebuilt. The man had absolutely freaked out when he realized how much money they had in equipment in their loft—so at least that had been seen to already. A temporary but weather-proof wall had been built around the thing in one day.

"Yeah?" Quatre asked tiredly.

"Where are they heading?" Heero returned.

"West," Quatre replied, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "You know I hate it when you just..."

"Where are they heading?" Heero repeated.

Quatre rubbed more at his forehead as a series of impressions crossed his mind. There was a lot of road and daylight in that, but nothing particularly helpful.

"They're heading west in a car," Heero added, sounding tight. "They left here in a car heading west."

The impressions strengthened and changed, shifting from a tense sort of expectation to...

"Myanmar?" Quatre muttered as a headache began throbbing in his temples. "A big coastal city," he added. "The name isn't coming...just..."

"I'm sorry," Heero added quietly. "I know it hurts you to do that...I'm sorry."

"Just get Matty back," Quatre returned, rubbing at his temple as Duo ran a hand through his hair. "I can deal with a few migraines to get him back...the...what is that big city with the water below it?"

Heero was quiet a long moment. "Below it?"

"The impression I got wasn't...it wasn't a destination...it was more a picture on a map...and the water is below and to the right of it. How many really big cities does Myanmar have?"

"The only one that comes to mind is Rangoon," Heero returned. "That's not all that far away from here though."

"I didn't get the impression of speed," Quatre noted. "I got the impression of distance."

"Rangoon is really close," Heero protested. "Like...five hundred miles sort of close."

"Which would make you think that wouldn't be the case," Quatre pointed out. "Which gives them a little more time to get really far away."

"You okay?" Duo muttered, studying Quatre's eyes.

Quatre nodded. "It's not fear of you that I sense, though."

"What?" Heero asked blankly. "They can't think they've..."

"No," Quatre noted, amusement slowly filling him. "It's not you. It's him."

As he said the last word, another impression came to him—there was no pain in that, because he had a general sort of awareness of Ranger.

"He's in Hong Kong," Quatre added, grinning wickedly. "If he notices me, I'm sending him somewhere else. Where, do you think?"

Heero started muttering, and a few voices returned...an overall notion started to form as they talked, and Quatre smirked very slightly.

"Russia," Heero said, his words agreeing with what Quatre'd decided himself. "I've seen a few direct flights there...from both Hong Kong and here."

"Where is here?" Quatre demanded.

"Bangkok," Heero sounded slightly surprised. "Hadn't I said that yet?"

Duo started laughing weakly.

"No, you hadn't mentioned," Quatre agreed. "Funny, that."

Heero chuckled. "Okay...so...we're getting a flight to Rangoon, and you're attempting to mislead the fucker I'll kill on sight."

"Heero," Quatre reminded him. "You're in a public place."

"So was President Heero Yuy," Heero returned thoughtfully. "So was Minister Darlian Senior...and any number of other people who were assassinated."

The word from his mouth seemed cold.

Quatre licked his lips.

"I might have to call you like this again," Heero added quietly. "Is there anything I can do to help with the migraines?"

"If I can connect to Matty," he returned, "it won't be such a blind dive. I don't know if I'll be able to do that, it doesn't always work. Who is there with you?"

"Jin, Tro, Cardle, and Raymond."

"Ricci?" Quatre pressed, confused.

"Paternal leave, evidently," the man sounded wry. "Tro got permission for us to utilize any military resource we needed," he chuckled. "He suggested she saw him as a son, but if that was the case, I don't think she'd appreciate knowing..."

"You really don't need to finish that," Quatre noted, leaning against Duo.

Heero started laughing wickedly. "Why not? You do it to Duo."

Duo started laughing.

"I'm hanging up now," Quatre retorted, knowing his cheeks were burning. "Don't call me again."

Heero was laughing as they disconnected, and Quatre gave Duo an embarrassed glare.

"Don't look at me," Duo retorted. "You were the one who got caught leaving the bathroom."

- -

Ranger stared up at the reader-board, torn. There was a flight to Russia that kept catching his attention, but the flight to Bangkok was just as interesting. He couldn't figure out which, and the resources in the area had been confused as to why no one had shown up for them after the initial flight. When the plane had touched down in Hong Kong, they'd been expecting Ranger to hustle the kid into a car waiting at one end of the passenger area, but no one had shown up—at all.

So this had been where he'd cut all ties, but where had he gone?

He narrowed his eyes at the reader-board again, scanning the full list.

There was no way Jaden would have sent the boy off alone...so maybe one of them had wanted to go to one place, and the other...? The Russian flight made a little more sense than the Bangkok one. The Russian one was a lot further away, and it'd be a lot harder to chase someone down in Russia. Also, the Russian airlines had personal planes by the thousands that could be rented. They could go from there to just about anywhere.

Ranger shook his head, moving into the line.

That just left the question of destination—which really made him think of Brazil. But that made absolutely no sense at all. Why go to Hong Kong...to Asia, when you wanted to go to South America? That was probably Qingfu and Rab making plans since his suit had been taken. That's what it had to be.

He'd have to keep that in mind, and when it was all said and done and he had the boy, he'd head to Brazil himself.

He just had to be patient.