Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ For Myself ❯ Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Eleven

By the time they made it to the airport in Western Sahara and figured out what flight Jaden had been on, the flight was landing in Freetown of Sierra Leone.

"You okay?" Trowa muttered to Heero, nervous. Most of the time, Heero was full of a nervous energy, or a nervous tension. Watching him fall utterly still as he saw the video clip of Jade supporting Matty across the gate was unnerving.

"I'm going to kill him," Heero whispered back.

"No, that's not a good idea," Trowa muttered, grabbing his arm and looking into his face.

"You say it all the time!" Heero protested, glowering at him. "You say it like nothing!"

"I don't mean it when I say it," Trowa hissed, looking around to make sure no one had overheard them.

"Why do you think I meant it?" Heero retorted irritably, then tensed up again.

"Right...so what are you feeling?" Trowa muttered. It was usually Duo who did this part, it was usually Duo who kept track of Heero's anger and made sure it didn't boil over, or that Heero was making logic decisions that only made sense because he was pissed. He hadn't thought to do it before, but Duo'd asked him what Heero'd been saying to see if he could help.

Duo'd bitched him out for not tracking it, but there wasn't a lot he could do about the time he missed.

Heero considered his hand—his fingers were shaking, but not much else was moving about him at all. "I feel...pissed," he decided quietly, still studying his hand. "But that doesn't matter, because I have a job to do, and I can't let those emotions take me over...but my hands are still shaking."

"Astonishing," Trowa retorted, grabbing his hand. "Can you focus?"

"We're going to Freetown," Heero retorted, blinking up at him and pulling his hand away. "That should be obvious...why is it astonishing my hands are shaking? Don't yours sometimes?"

Trowa stared at him a long time before realizing he was serious.

There was a reason Duo usually handled this.

"I didn't mean it," Trowa reassured him. "I take it as a given, so..."

"So it's just the emotions," Heero looked back to his hands, turning away from the screens and starting to walk.

"Where are you going?" Trowa protested, jogging after him. "What are you doing?"

"We're going to Freetown," Heero retorted, looking up to him in confusion. "What do you mean, where am I going?"

"That's all you wanted?" Trowa gestured back at the screening room as the various officials gave them interested looks.

"You can get what you need," Heero retorted. "I just needed to see where they were going...to find out what aliases they've been using for sure. Are you coming?"

"Right," Trowa muttered, stopping and looking around to Jinli and Cardle. Raymond was staring out the window. "I guess...we're going, then," he muttered, gesturing to the workers so they could finish up what they were doing.

"Thank you," Jinli told the people, nodding respectfully to them. "We have to go now."

"What were you doing?" the man asked. "What else did you need?"

"Um," Jinli looked after the rest of his group. "We've got what we needed."

"But what..." the guy started.

"If they wanted you to know, they'd have told you," Jinli looked around a moment, then turned to catch up.

It wouldn't do to be left behind. It wouldn't do at all.

- -

Duo snarled, throwing his hardhat across the room as his workers turned to look at him in confusion, storming from the house. He knew they were all watching him as he threw his vest away too.

The murmured question of quitting followed him out, and as he slid onto his machine, he heard Reg reassuring the others that he wasn't quitting. They demanded questions of her, but she didn't respond.

Wing needed destroyed for good.

The call from Quatre had been brief and annoyed.

Wing and a Leo on the west side.

By the time they found the machine—which didn't really take all that long, it was attempting to stomp a parking-garage to rubble.

Demigod was moving in before Duo could, and he turned on the Leo, which was starting to skitter away backwards.

He was so done with this bullshit.

- -

Lucretzia sighed as she switched onto the news station, watching as Duo tore the Leo on field to shreds. She was glad she'd been forewarned that the pilots hadn't really destroyed the gundams, because the wildfire that had spread across the entire world at Deathscythe's appearance was still burning...and the fact that it was another gundam was causing confusion.

Everyone knew that the gundam pilots had served together, and most people knew they'd all gotten court martialed...and most of them were very aware of the fact that the pilots had simply disappeared one day.

Seeing two of them fighting had caused confusion until Zechs had irritably explained to several of the nurses that Deathscythe was an ESA registered machine, and the other suits were rebels. Of course, that had sparked rumors all over about the rebels and who they were and what they were doing.

Conspiracy theories set Noin's teeth on edge.

She watched almost dispassionately as Wing tried to change forms...and Deathscythe sliced off the wing.

Well, that disabled it, didn't it?

A helicopter started moving in, and after a brief moment, Deathscythe swung the beam-saber at the machine. She could hear people crying out for that—but what idiot would believe Duo was attacking a civilian craft?

The helicopter avoided that, then another swing...and a ladder dropped out of the thing.

What the hell?

A small black speck appeared and Lu ran a hand through her hair, watching as Deathscythe grabbed for the thing and swatted at the helicopter...and the helicopter rose into the air...with the little black speck on it.

Was this serious? Were they kidding? They were letting the pilot get away? She was going to give Duo a piece of her mind if...he...

. . .

It was on self-destruct.

"Get out of there!" She squealed at the screen, the heart monitor speeding up as Zechs came running into the room. "Duo!"

Zechs looked around to the screen, staring a brief moment.

"Oh god, no..." Lu whispered, turning to throw herself into his arms as best she could with the tubes and wires.

"It's okay..." he choked. "It's...it's..."

She tried not to sob, waiting to hear the sound—that noise that would indicate the explosion...but...nothing happened.

Someone oohed.

She looked back to the screen, blinking. The scythe was sticking out of Wing's back—strange that. How had it reverted to a body?

"He kicked it," Zechs muttered, starting to laugh. "He kicked it and it fell over...and he stabbed it in the back...what the..."

Lu pressed her hand to her mouth, closing her eyes as Deathscythe swung the weapon up and rested it across the shoulders. He surveyed the area, then focused around on Demigod...as military vehicles started pulling in around their feet. After a minute, Deathscythe made a commanding gesture at the soldiers...and they parted fearfully. She could see the fear, and she wasn't even on earth.

Demigod stepped forward, too, and the pair leaned down and picked up Wing, setting it on the flatbed truck that had been brought up. There was a hesitation in the movement as Deathscythe picked up the piece it had sheared off, and Lu wondered what Duo'd said to Wufei.

Zechs snorted.

"What?"

"I dunno, seemed like a moment where he'd ask if Heero'd be pissed about that—or a comment on how pissed Heero'd have been."

"Heero wouldn't have let that happen," Lu noted in amusement.

Zechs snorted again.

Duo dropped a piece of canvas or something over the machine, then stepped back. A garbled command came from his machine, and people looked up at it. The order came again, and people started moving away from underneath.

The word dumbass was prominent in the next line, and a final solider turned to look up at the machine before darting away.

"Wow," Zechs muttered. "He was an after-war recruit."

The engines on the machine flared up, and Demigod flickered out of existence...then Deathscythe. The camera followed empty air for about a third of a second, then focused back on the soldiers that were tying the canvas sheet over Wing.

"Well," Zechs muttered with a sigh, sitting in his chair. "That's a relief."

"Until they have Marsh in hand," she returned, "then nothing's resolved."

He sighed, looking around the room.

"I shouldn't have moved like that," she noted, feeling the pain starting in her middle. "This sucks," she snapped as she forced her body to relax. "This really sucks."

- -

Matty opened his eyes slowly, realizing vaguely that he wasn't locked to the bed for once. After a moment, he realized he wasn't the only one on the bed, either.

He blinked, not understanding why the room was so dark.

"Hey..." Jaden muttered, reaching over and running a hand through his hair. "I was starting to wonder if I hurt you."

"What?" he returned, pulling away from that hand as he realized something.

He could smell beer.

A snore came from a ways behind him, and he raised his head to look around...noticing a dark blob on a trundle bed by the window.

"You feelin' okay?" Jaden muttered, touching his hair again.

"Don't," Matty muttered, pushing himself into a sitting position and swaying. He was glad he'd stopped puking, and had a feeling it had something to do with Jaden getting the right amount of medication into him.

Wonderful thing to be grateful for.

He pushed himself up, noticing a few cans in the windowsill. He looked around to Jaden, who was pushing himself up as well.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

"What are you doing?" Jaden retorted.

"You sound remarkably drunk," Matty informed him, watching him warily as he moved across the room.

"I am," Jaden admitted with a grin. "I'll kick your ass twice as fast now as not...so don't get any ideas."

"Can you stumble straight?" Matty retorted...then stepped back as the man stopped directly in front of him, staring into his eyes. "Okay..." he said carefully, moving back again. "I'm going to the bathroom."

Jaden rolled his eyes and turned his back on him, moving to sit on the bed again.

The room was tiny.

Matty closed the door, studying his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit if he said so himself.

"You missed it," Jaden noted when he'd finished and moved back into the room. "Rab failed spectacularly for all the world to see."

"What?" Matty asked, sitting in the chair beside the table.

Jaden shifted so his feet were on the floor, looking Matty over thoughtfully. "Rab was flying Wing, right? Well, the pilot of zero-two...Maxwell, isn't it?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you've been in the cockpit," Jaden retorted, "so don't even get all bitchy on me. Rab tried that transforming trick that used to get Yuy away way back when...but Deathscythe cut something off...maybe it's cojones," he grabbed his crotch and started laughing.

Matty pulled his legs up onto the chair, resting his mouth against his knees. There were empty cans on the counter, and if he wasn't mistaken, Qingfu had passed out.

"The machine couldn't finish the transformation or take off," Jaden draped back across the railing again, looking to the screen. The volume was down very low, so low that he couldn't hear it, especially with Jaden moving around. "Rab tried to destruct it...but Deathscythe stuck his saber up its ass or something and nothing happened. The tv showed the military getting it and everything." He groaned in amusement, taking a long drink from the can he was holding...then tilting his head back and tapping the thing before throwing it randomly across the room. It landed loudly, like there were a lot of cans in that spot.

"Why are you drunk?" Matty asked, considering the man's eyes.

"Because we've been thinking about what we're going to do..." he shifted forward again, studying Matty. "Come here...come sit with me," he patted the bed.

"No, I'm comfortable," Matty returned. He didn't think saying he didn't trust Jaden would go over very well.

The man snorted, tilting his head to look Matty over again—it was a considering and weighing sort of look, and it didn't settle his mind very well.

"I want your opinion on something," Jaden noted. "Your honest-to-god opinion."

"All right."

"Do you really think Yuy could keep you safe?"

"The only reason I was in any danger was because you came into the building and kept me behind when we were getting everyone out," he noted. "If you hadn't done that, we would have taken that family and that girl and gone out to Heero."

"You really think so?" the man muttered, rising to his feet slowly. He moved across the room to the table, sitting in the other chair as he pulled a beer out of the box, then tilted it so Matty could get one. "You don't think Ranger would have come after you anyway?"

"If I'd been with Heero," he returned, pushing the box away, "he'd never have gotten close enough to grab me."

The man popped the can open, shifting down in his chair. "I suppose—but I still got you away, even with all of that."

"There were times when I wished I could talk to you after we got away," Matty noted, flopping the binder open that was on the table. The word "Freetown" was embossed in gold on the cover...and the thing was filled with colorful inserts. "There were times when we were in space that I thought if you showed up, I wouldn't tell anyone you had...just to talk to you."

The man took a long drink from his can, sitting back again and looking Matty over.

"And here we are," Matty noted, flipping another page. "You kidnapped me, you keep drugging me...I have no idea where we are...where Freetown is," he flipped the binder so the cover was visible. "And you're asking me if I thought I'd be safe back home...you're drunk," he slammed the box so it fell off the table. "God only knows where Heero is now...and you keep looking at me."

"You're a fool if you don't think you're attractive," the guy belched, then took another drink. "Sucks that you have a guy...until I remember how old you are."

Matty snorted at him, flipping another page. "Did Qingfu pass out?"

"Yeah," Jaden laughed studying his can as if he wasn't sure how it got in his hand. "He's a light weight."

"Maybe that's an admirable quality."

"You tellin' me that your Heero," he added the roll to the r in the name, "can't hold his liquor? I watched that man move. I watched how you moved to him...he's got the confidence of a man who can get anyone he wants. He's that sort of man."

"So what if he is?" Matty demanded, sitting up slightly to glare at him. "Are you trying to imply he'd cheat on me?"

"I don't know your relationship," the man denied instantly, looking around. "I can't say...I don't know."

"I think you need to go to bed," Matty snapped, glaring at the other. "Put that can down and let yourself pass out."

Jaden laughed at that, setting the can on the table. "Come on."

"What?" Matty demanded, sitting back.

"Come on," Jaden retorted. "If I'm passing out, you're getting tied to the bed."

Matty frowned at him.

"I somehow thought that'd be your response," he muttered, taking another drink. He settled back where he was, looking around the room. "I keep thinking," he said, "but I can't think of a damn place to go."

"You can think one thought from start to finish?" Matty demanded skeptically.

"Don't annoy me," Jaden snapped, turning on Matty. "Don't you dare piss me off right now."

Matty receded. That snap-temper he'd noticed before was back, and the man being drunk probably didn't help a thing.

The man threw his can at Matty...he actually threw it.

"Don't be scared of me!" Jaden snapped, rising to his feet. "I'm not asking you to even like me...but don't be scared of me!" He stormed around the table, and Matty tried to scramble backwards—he'd put himself in the corner though, and had nowhere to go.

"Why are you scared of me?" Jaden hissed, slamming him against the wall.

Matty couldn't meet his eyes, not even looking at his face. The grip on his arms hurt, and he had not been aware of how strong the man really was...but his feet weren't touching the floor.

Jaden stared down at him a long moment, then lowered him back to the floor, letting him go. After a moment, he stepped back and turned away.

Matty dropped back into the chair, watching the man warily. The worst drunk he'd ever seen was Wufei—and Wufei wasn't scary when he was. He was still Fian when he was drunk...but Jaden wasn't acting like his normal self.

"We have no choice left," Jaden said quietly. "We have to go to Brazil."

"What's in Brazil?" Matty asked quietly, drawing his legs up to his chest again.

"The main base," Jaden said quietly. "Rab's main force."

"Why?" Matty demanded, alarm rushing through him. "You said you defected...how does that make any sense at all?"

"Because I can still go there," Jaden turned on him irritably. "Because Qing still has friends there," he gestured at the man. "We can get there and they'll hide us...and enough of them know how Ranger is to keep you safe. Once I know you're safe..."

"I want to be with Heero," Matty shouted, his voice breaking. "I don't care if you think Ranger can still get me...I don't care."

"I'm not giving you that choice," the man snarled, leaning down in front of him and using the table to brace himself. "You don't know Deroy. You don't know the shit he does...and he thinks it's your fault."

"I don't care," Matty hissed, rubbing at his eyes before the tears could fall. "I don't care."

"But I do," Jaden returned, pushing away and nearly falling. He used the doorframe of the bathroom to straighten himself, then leaned against it, looking down at him. "You're not...you're too innocent for Deroy to get ahold of you."

"Innocent?" Matty snapped, glaring up at him. "I'm innocent? You don't know me, Jaden. You don't know me."

"I know enough," he retorted, focusing across the room. "I know...enough."

"You don't know anything," Matty snapped. "You don't know what I've done...what I've gotten away with..."

"But I know that look in your eyes when you think about Heero," the man met his eyes again. "I know the smile that crosses your face when you think things are funny...really funny. You sit here glaring at me like a petulant child, but you're no fucking child...and this fucked up world hasn't ruined you yet." He looked toward the bathroom—at his own reflection, Matty realized.

"Oz bastards killed my mother," Matty whispered. "Some Oz fuckers killed her...they had a bomb in her hotel and they were after some...some bureaucrat...and they didn't care that she was a casualty. Even after the council found them guilty of murder of twenty-three civilians, they didn't say they were sorry, they didn't say they regretted it—they said they had a vision for the world. They said that they wanted to keep it safe."

Jaden focused on him blearily.

"They tried to protect their ideals and they fucked it up."

"I should fuck you up," Jaden muttered, pushing away from the doorframe.

"Do it," Matty spat, glaring up at him. "See how fast Heero will kill you."

Jaden sneered at him and took a shaky step...but it didn't seem intimidating. He moved again...but he wasn't paying attention to Matty at all.

He was going to puke.

Matty started to scramble, not wanting any more beer on him than he already had...but Jaden turned and stumbled into the bathroom...and started to retch.

Matty shoved across his seat, moving around the table to the far side and looking to Qingfu.

Could he run now?

He doubted it...Jaden had gotten off the bed and in his face far too easily. The man hadn't stumbled or even moved slow when he did it, and if he was puking, he'd probably pass out.

Matty pulled the binder to him, flipping it to a map he'd seen and studying the details around it.

If they were both passed out, he could get away—and if he had any luck what-so-ever...there'd been an ESA base in town.

There had to be...didn't there?

The water ran, and Matty pulled the piece of paper from the book, shoving it into his pocket. He flipped the binder to another page, massaging his temples as Jaden moved from the bathroom and looked around to him.

"Come on," the man muttered, starting to move.

"With what you said?" Matty retorted. "You expect me to follow you now?"

"Don't be stupid," Jaden retorted, moving around the table and grabbing his left arm.

Matty hissed and went to pull away, but Jaden didn't care, throwing him at the bed. He scrambled, not sure what was happening...before cold metal snapped onto his wrist...then onto the bed-frame.

"There," Jaden added, dropping onto the bed and glaring at him. "That's all...you're so annoying."

"And you just puked because you're drunk," Matty retorted, glaring at the cuff a moment before looking at Jaden. "You aren't seriously leaving me like this, are you?"

Jaden considered his arm a moment and the angle it was at, then sighed and climbed over the bed. Matty watched him warily as he removed the thing, then snapped it around the side of the post. With Matty's left arm hooked to it, he'd be able to lay on his side, and his arm would be level. It was the normal thing Jaden would do when they went to bed.

The man tucked the key into his left pocket.

Matty watched him move around the bed, then lay on it and cover his face with one arm.

"Why couldn't you work with Heero?" he demanded, laying down in the position he'd found to sleep in before. "You have to know both of you would be better than one of you."

"What am I to Heero?"

"You were the guy keeping me safe," Matty retorted. "Now you're the guy who kidnapped me—and you keep drugging me, so he won't be happy now...but you could have worked with him."

"I didn't have the time to approach him," Jaden snapped, moving the arm to glare at him. "Do you honestly think I relished the thought of dragging you through Asia and into Africa? Really?"

"You did it," Matty snapped. "Whether or not you thought it would be fun is something else entirely."

The man's hand clapped over his mouth. Matty tried to protest that, but the grip tightened. One handed, he couldn't make the man remove it, so he did the last thing he had available. He bit.

Jaden cursed...and smacked him.

Matty couldn't help the tears, turning away from the man and curling into a ball.

"Matt..." the guy started, moving slightly. "Mattox..."

Matty ignored him.

"You wouldn't shut up," Jaden snapped. "You wouldn't shut up and you bit me."

Matty kept ignoring him, using his arms to shield his face.

The man made a severely annoyed sound, and after a moment the tv flicked off.

That was nice and inconvenient of him, wasn't it?

Matty pressed his eyes closed, debating. He was a little tired, but every other time Jaden had sedated him, he'd woken up for a while before having to sleep for a few hours.

Hopefully, by that time, Qingfu wouldn't have sobered up enough that he'd wake up when Matty moved.

He couldn't stay here anymore. He could not.