Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Forged Together ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8:

 

The blast caught his gundam from behind, making him snap in his harness, and Wufei bit back a curse as he extended a dragon claw towards the doll. The doll danced away, far too fast, and he had to dodge again as the next flurry of bullets, swerving out of the way using one of his vernier engines, which was better designed for space battles.

 

“Wufei,” Sally's voice was a hard-edged annoyance in his ear. “Are you all right?”

 

“Of course, I am,” he replied, knowing from long experience what would happen should he not answer promptly. “Move back woman.”

 

“I don't think Howard's around to patch up your gundam, so take care,” she said as he switched off the communication.

 

It was only seventeen dolls, Taurus in design, equipped with Mercurius crash shields and programmed with fighting data; he should have been able to take care of the annoying midgets if they hadn't been programmed to use the others as shields. Whoever had supplied the battle data had been an incompetent idiot with a cowardly streak a battleship wide. An air battle he could have handled but the annoying machines refused to rise above the tree tops and he could not leave the trees since he would be leaving the others in danger. Though he didn't think highly of any of the other men, he could never leave Sally in danger; the only other woman he cared about was dead because of him and he didn't need any more ghosts haunting him. (And he really didn't think he could bear calling his gundam Nataku Sally Po Altron.)

 

“Sally,” he growled as a missile launched by one of the guerrillas exploded harmlessly next to him. Even if it had hit the doll, the shields would have taken most of the blow. “I'm going to try and draw these dolls to me. On my word, fire on me.”

 

“But that'll…” someone said over the open communication channel.

 

“Understood,” said Sally without a pause. She had been on the Peacemillion and had seen the gundams take on thousands of mobile dolls of all kinds; she knew their abilities.

 

He deliberately slowed down his reaction, letting more than one of the blasts hit the center of Altron, wincing as the outer armor protested, refusing to bring up his Shenlong shield since that would alert the dolls of his bluff. He wasn't wearing his helmet or the protective suit since the battle was not in outer space and being constantly thrown against the harnesses was starting to tell on his body. He let two of the blasts catch him, staggering a little, letting the program think he was weakened. The dolls started to converge on him, stopping their random movements, to concentrate their firepower on the bigger enemy.

 

He switched on communication and shouted, “Now.”

 

The barrage of missiles, machine gun and normal gun fire did not harm the dolls but the sudden bombardment of shots disrupted their flow of information for a vital split second, and in that instant he deployed both Dragon Claws. They sliced through the shields as if they were tissues, ripping the dolls apart. Even as the dolls faltered, Wufei concentrated the fire of his twin Vulcan cannons on to the shields generators, tearing the small red disks apart and leaving the dolls vulnerable to outside attack. Suddenly the tides of the battle had turned and they were winning.

 

He reached for the throwing disk on the left shoulder, deploying it towards a faltering doll, while in the same move pulled out the twin beam trident off the back pack. Both his and Altron's speciality was close combat; he was in his element, roaring to battle, taking out everything with ease. And as the blasts of the explosions died down, all that was left were few blackened tree stumps and a group of ragged survivors, cheering.

 

Wufei scanned the surroundings visually until he saw Sally standing to the side, an arm of an injured man draped over her shoulder, then leaned back, relaxing a little. He didn't think there were any other surprises; the proximity detectors would inform him if there were so he powered down .

 

“Wufei.” Sally's voice came over the com.

“Treat your injured,” he snapped back. “I'll just do a few adjustments here first.” He had to retrieve his throwing disk and get his gundam battle ready. Just like a good rider took care of his horse after a long ride, a good pilot also looked after his gundam before relaxing.

 

He unsnapped the harness, wincing as a shoulder protested. He leaned forward to run the internal diagnostics, though he could tell exactly how battle-ready Altron was by simply running over the battle specs… He froze…there was something…wrong with the scanner…

 

What had Heero told him as he was about to leave…? Always scan…

 

But his scanners were on…and still searching for mobile dolls. He keyed in the commands and scanned the ground for heat and explosives…then something started to blink. Wufei almost switched on the view screen, then stopped. It was not the proximity alert, it was for explosives. The gundam was not vulnerable to explosives unless Heero was the one doing the blowing up, and the signature was not coming from the vicinity of Altron…but from the medical tent.

 

“Sally!” he gasped even though he knew the communication was switched off as he popped the hatch and jumped out, sword in hand, tripping in his hurry. He landed on one knee, got up and started to run towards the tent a good three hundred yards separating them. He couldn't move Altron and anyway, it was something a person could do. He pushed aside people who were milling around, still drunk on victory, kicking them down heedlessly as he tried to reach his …friend in time.

 

The medical tent was a kaki colored structure, which parted under the katana like water. “You stupid woman,” he said as he burst in. “Get out. This thing is going to blow up.”

 

She did not question him, instantly signaled the men to help the others out. Wufei looked around but he was not the demolition expert of the group and he did not think he had the time. Instead, he shouldered a limping man, too slow to move out in time and hauled him up. Wufei was all wiry muscles and bones; he was stronger than he looked.

 

He was not the heart of outer space or whatever Quatre was, but had been a warrior long enough to know when a bomb was about to go. Sally was the last to leave, bogged down by the extra weight of her patient and her medical supplies. Wufei knew one way or another she was going to be caught in the blast. He thrust his dead weight of a patient aside, ran and jumped on her, shielding her the best he could, as everything went 'boom'.

 

It was not a very powerful bomb and the tent was made of cloth so there was a minimum of shrapnel but the trembling seemed to go on and on. Something hit him in the back o the head, ploughing down his back like a hot porker before dropping off. Wufei must have blacked out for a second or two, for when he came to, he was still lying on Sally who was shouting his name in a panicked voice.

 

“Shut up, you stupid woman,” he grated, getting to his feet. Something warm and wet ran down his back but he was mobile and alive. He could barely hear, his ear drums felt perforated and his left leg refused to take his weight, but he was all right. There would be pain, but at that moment his body was in shock and he could hardly feel a thing other than the flow of blood down his back.

 

“Wufei,” said Sally in a shocked voice as she scrambled to her feet, but he was already moving, having spotted his sword, which he had dropped in the blast not three feet away from him. Bending down to retrieve it made him dizzy but he was up again, dragging his leg, moving purposefully toward the center of the camp.

 

“Where're you going?' Sally asked, walking behind him, her voice echoing in his ears as if he was underwater.

 

“Where is he?” Wufei asked as he looked around. “Your male whore?”

 

“Shaun,” said Sally sounding puzzled. “Why..?”

 

“He's the only outsider here apart from me,” he said. “He didn't know you were going have gundam backup today, did he?” he asked.

 

“But...”

 

“He's just a kid,” Wufei said with a harsh laugh, even as he spotted the boy, now dressed in a pair of kaki trousers, trying to sneak out. Wufei was fast; even with one leg injured, and he caught the other boy as he turned to run, holding Shaun immobile at sword point. He could barely hear himself and his sight was failing. “He knew you are the backbone here and taking you out would weaken everything. He knew you'd be in the medical tent after the battle today and …” The world seemed to tilt a little so he stopped.

 

Slowly, Wufei turned around to face Sally, face streaked with blood, pinched with worry, as his own blood started flowing into his right eye, obscuring his vision and burning his eye. “He's good,” he said with a faint smile, letting the sword slide under Shaun's chin. “How long was he in town Sally, to gain your pity?”

 

“Kill the boy,” someone growled as he tried to shoulder past Wufei but be still had enough strength in him to push away the man.

 

“Someone sent him,” Wufei said. “Killing him won't get you anything and neither will torturing him. After all, you don't waste a good weapon.” He thrust the boy towards Sally and Shaun stumbled to the feet of the woman, eyes full of fear and hate in equal measure. The boy opened his mouth to speak but he silenced him with a wave of his hand. “I don't want to know why,” said Wufei. “Your reasons don't interest me. I'm not going to judge you, you stupid boy. I'm not Nataku.” He was wavering when he turned to face Sally again. “Sally, war is not a place for bleeding hearts, woman. Don't pity every stray dog you come across `cause they all bite.”

 

“You're losing a lot of blood,” Sally said in a small voice. “Wufei…”

 

“I'm done here,” he said, letting his hand drop, the sword too heavy for him to hold up. “You deal with this mess on your own, woman.” And he turned around and crumpled to the ground, gracefully.

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

“…at least another day, Wufei,” said Sally, almost hanging on to his arm as he walked towards the carrier. “You're in no condition to drive.”

 

“I'm not going to lie on some camp bed and count the rivets in the ceiling,” Wufei snarled back as he reached for the door of the driver side. He hesitated for a moment when he realized that that there was no way he was going to pull himself up into the seat with one bad leg, a back that had been perforated by flying debris and a headache, which was threatening to blast his brains out of his ears.

 

The painkiller he had been pumped was keeping everything at bay but the moment he strained himself it was going to come rearing back, making him want to curl into a ball and hide in a dark place. He was not going to be able to survive a long drive, even the walk from the cabin to the carrier had had him left him panting in pain. He leaned against the open door to summon his resources for the pain that was going to come the moment he started move and…there was a hand on his elbow. He turned around, opening his mouth to tell Sally exactly what he thought of her and found himself staring in to a single green eye.

 

“Trowa,” he said in surprise.

 

“You look like hell,” the acrobat said in his calm voice as he smiled faintly over Wufei's shoulder. “Sally. Sorry, I'm late.”

 

“You called him,” Wufei found out he was so tired he couldn't find the energy to be angry.

 

“I knew you were going to do something stupid like this,” she said. “So I called on your frequency and Trowa answered.”

 

“I don't need a nurse,” Wufei hissed, more on principle than anything else.

 

“We switched bases, two days back,” Trowa said as he helped Wufei up. “I'll drive you there. Much safer than letting you know on an open frequency.”

 

Even if he had been able to answer, Wufei would not have been able to squeeze a word out, as pain speared him in the back, drawing a flaming sword over his skin and making him gasp. He looked up to see if either of the two had noted his predicament but they were busy in conversation, Sally speaking in her intent manner, which meant she was either telling Trowa an interesting story or giving him an edited version of Wufei's condition.

 

“Move over,” said Trowa, holding on to the open door.

 

Wufei opened his mouth and realized that arguing over who was going to drive was not going to get him anywhere. He could barely hold his head up, let alone see clearly enough to drive down the road. And the carrier, with the gundam in the back was far too heavy for him to control with one bad leg. Grudgingly, he shifted sideways until there was enough space for Trowa to climb in.

 

“Now remember Wufei,” said Sally as she leaned in urgently. “You have a probable hairline fracture your on scull and still some concussion and… don't try to pilot Nataku for at least a month.”

 

“A month,” Wufei spluttered, wishing he hadn't shouted.

 

“Three weeks,” Sally amended. “But really, I'll feel better if you didn't…”

 

“I'll see that he doesn't,” Trowa said and Sally started at the single green eye, and then nodded.

 

“Fine,” she said and closing the door. “I've given your medication to Trowa and he'll make sure you take it. Now remember, nothing intense or….”

 

“I hear you woman,” Wufei said wearily. “Now go back. Don't you have some whore to take care of?”

 

Sally ignored his last jab. “Call me if there are any complications,” she told Trowa. “Anytime, anywhere. I know you can't take him to a hospital.”

 

“I will,” said Trowa firmly, not one for small talk, and then they were leaving, the lurch of the vehicle making Wufei wince and nauseated in a second.

 

He tried to lean back and winced as his back protested. “How far is the safe house?” he asked.

 

“We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon if I keep on driving Trowa said and Wufei nearly burst out in tears. It was going to be a long drive, one he was not sure he had the strength to survive. He considered scooting over to the other side of the carrier, which was a fair distance away, then changed his mind when it became apparent he'd have to move and his body did not think it was a good idea. The pain was so bad, he could almost pretend it wasn't his but someone else's and putting himself into a meditative trance seemed to be the only way out of it.

 

However, each time he closed his eyes, either the vehicle, his stomach or both lurched, and he was distracted before he could center his mind. Finally he tried to talk, something he'd never have done in any other circumstance, to distract himself.

 

“Why did we switch the safe house?” it was a reasonable question. “We have another two weeks left in it. Were we compromised?”

 

“Three days back,” Trowa said to the point. “Quatre just got it into his head and in an hour's time we were packed and moving.”

 

“No one said anything,” Wufei said in surprise.

 

“We have to trust each other sometimes,” Trowa said. “And his intuitions are usually right. Even Heero doesn't question them.”

 

“Well, I hope his sixth sense pays off because everyone would be pissed if they found out they've moved for nothing,” Wufei said, wincing as they went over a pothole.

 

“They won't be,” said Trowa in a voice, which said he'd eviscerate anyone who so much as looked askew at the blond in question

 

Wufei looked at Trowa with his mouth slightly open. “You are obsessed with him.” He said in surprise. “Maxwell is correct, you are an idiot. Why don't you just quit shagging Yuy and move on. I know the little twit likes you too. You couldn't have missed all those doe eyed looks he was throwing your way.”

 

Trowa gave Wufei a look, which said clearly he was threading where he shouldn't, but the Chinese boy remained unimpressed by the glare. “I don't think it's any of your business,” Trowa said, pointedly looked away.

 

“I'm under medication,” Wufei said unfalteringly. “Humor me, Barton.”

 

Trowa gave him a look of pure disbelief. “You have the personality of a rat trap you know?” he said.

 

“Really,” Wufei unrepented. “There I was thinking of being the next Prince Charming.”

 

Trowa's lips twitched a little. “Maxwell certainly agrees with you from the way he's been throwing doe eyes at you,” he said.

 

“What!” said Wufei, turning around far too quickly. He lurched sideways and knocked against Trowa who did not even budge. He grunted and tried to straighten himself; he was stopped by a hand on his arm.

 

“Stay that way,” said the other boy. “It'll take the pressure off your backand I don't mind.”

 

Wufei grunted, unwilling to admit that he was grateful for the support. “Not going to squeeze out of my question Barton,” he ground out instead. “Why in the world do you say no to Winner when he's head over heals for you?”

 

“It's none of your concern,” Trowa said firmly.

 

“Because you think he's a flaky blond?” Wufei pressed with all the skills of a charging T-Rex.

 

“Because I'm not good enough for him,” Trowa snapped out.

 

“Because you are a simple circus acrobat and he's the owner of …well just about the largest consortium in space?” Wufei asked, trying to ignore the pain and the bile that was threatening to climb to his mouth.

 

“If it was just that, then I'd have thought I had a chance,” Trowa said, sounding sad. “Wufei, you have no idea how I envy you. Heck, I think most of us envy you because you have a reason to fight for, even Heero. Most people fight because they are told to or because they don't know any different. With you, you fight for a cause, for justice, and in a way it redeems you of everything.”

 

Wufei snorted, concentrating on keeping his mouth shut. However, once started it seemed as if Trowa could not keep his mouth shut

 

“I've always been a mercenary,” he said. “Going to the highest bidder, not caring about those I called my friends. As far as I knew anyone who stood in my way was my enemy and …and…”

 

“You don't think that now,” Wufei said, speaking because he had to. “You are fucking with Yuy.”

 

“But it's better that way,” Trowa suddenly shouted. “Don't you see? Then it doesn't matter if someone you care about gets killed or kills you. They always die or leave you. This way, you don't form attachments, have regrets…simply move on. Heero knows that. He'll shoot me in a heartbeat if it means him surviving, and I can do the same where he is concerned. With Quatre, I'd just distract him and taint him with the things I've done.”

 

“Shouldn't he be the…” Wufei clamped his mouth shut as the last pill he'd swallowed decided to rise up.

 

“If he becomes involved with me, he'll also lose his edge,” Trowa said. “There might be a time when it's either me or him and I don't want him to hesitate if it ever comes to that.”

 

Wufei wanted to know a lot of things about it but managed to strangle out a few words. “With Zero…”

 

“He was influenced by Zero when he shot me,” Trowa said. “That doesn't count. He tore himself to shreds over then, and I don't want it to happen again. When this is all over, we'll go our separate ways and forget about it. It's better this way.”

 

It was a long, long speech by someone who only bothered to speak when necessary, and that alone showed just how much it all weighed on his mind. Wufei was impressed. “Pull over,” he grated. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

 

He could never have managed the ladder down without help and almost collapsed to a heap when he was let go. He fell to his knees as everything in his stomach, which amounted to a half a glass of water and a few half dissolved pills, came hurtling [up. When it was all over he was a sweaty pile of trembling limbs, barely able to hold his head up. Strong hands helped him stand and suddenly he was grateful that Sally had shaved the back of his head to expose his head wound. He always managed to look like a wet rat when his hair was sweaty.

 

Trowa was a lot stronger than his slender form implied. He picked up Wufei and helped his climb back in. Wufei clutched the seat back as his vision swam with little black spots. His back was on fire, that impromptus bending over not having done him any good.

 

“You are bleeding again,” said Trowa suddenly. “We are not too far away, do you want me to turn back and take you to Sally?”

 

“No,” said Wufei marshalling the last of his resources. “Now, why don't …you tell me why you…think Maxwell is mooning over me.” He added leaning against Trowa's shoulder.

 

 

 

 

a/n- this is not 3x4. I just hate Trowa not getting any screen time in fanfics as anything other than Quarter's love toy. In this fic, Trowa gets his own screen time, :)