Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gone Round ❯ Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Eleven

Rabid had been pacing back and forth near the head table for probably an hour. He was ranting for all he was worth about the blasted E.S.A., or the damned gundam pilots...and the fuckers who had Ranger. He was grumbling about the agents of the Brazilian government he'd bribed who were flaring about the gundam they had being sighted, and seemed to think that Jaden understood him perfectly. It didn't matter how many times Jaden had told him that he was pushing the line...and he was half-worried Rab would realize he'd told Matt the base was in Brazil.

He wanted it all to be done, but Qingfu was out working through their friends for a crew to pilot Illicit, because the ship was coming in.

Knowing he was leaving without Rabid...and hearing Rabid rant about all his old woes...well, it was mind numbing.

"Aren't you done yet?" Jaden snapped, shifting back so his chair was on two legs.

Rab's eyes locked onto Jaden's, and anger flared behind them.

Jaden attempted to scramble from his seat—the look meant he was getting hit. Unfortunately, the position he'd been lounging in, coupled with the angle of the chair, meant that he regained his feet just in time to meet the swinging fist.

The blow was stunning, and he staggered back a few steps...then fell against the wall at the next blow. Blood started to flow into his mouth, and he choked, raising his arms to protect himself as best he could. It was a moment he was far too familiar with. It had seemed that every time he turned around the first week, he was getting hit, but usually Qingfu was at hand to back Rabid down. He staggered at a blow to his side, feeling a thread of anger burning through him.

He was not Rabid's bitch.

He turned, his fist flying...and punched Rabid in the face. The man had already been overcome with his own anger, so after the stunned moment of connection, he started his attack again.

The pain of fighting had never been enough to discourage Jaden when he was pissed, and there'd been a point when Rab had respected that...and him. He'd had to edit himself, to filter himself, more and more as Rab and Ranger got closer and closer. Ranger was the only man he hadn't been able to over-come back when he'd cared. He'd stopped himself from more than rear-actions for years, and Rab seemed to have forgotten what he'd once been.

They pummeled each other, swearing and cursing each other—and actually saying what they really felt. Jaden had a feeling that Rab wouldn't remember what he'd said anymore than Jaden himself was hearing what Rab said.

"Jaden!"

"...worthless bastard!"

Rab's words rang in Jaden's ear as he stared down at the other man. Qingfu had finally returned, and before Rab and Jaden could meet eyes for more than a second, Qingfu had pulled Jaden off of Rab.

"Are you all right?" Qingfu demanded, pressing Jaden back toward a chair, studying his face and moving his hair around. He was fingering the abrasions as he did so, testing what might need stitches. "What the fuck are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed with some of the psychos here..."

"Qingfu?" Rabid breathed.

Qingfu stopped, then turned to look at the other man—he'd pressed himself up into a sitting position. He was using his left arm to brace himself there, and staring at Qingfu as if seeing him for the first time.

"You...going...to help me up?" Rab asked quietly, looking wounded.

Qingfu glanced briefly at Jaden, then turned and grabbed the man's offered forearm, yanking him to his feet. Rab stumbled slightly, still off-balance from their fight.

"You haven't been taking your meds, have you?" Jaden muttered, pulling off his shirt. He basically cupped it in both hands, then dropped his face into them. He could tell by Qingfu's reaction that he was bleeding pretty heavily, the extent of the concern meant some of them were probably pretty bad.

"I don't have to take them," Rabid snapped.

Jaden pulled his face away from the shirt, noting that it was rather bloody in passing, and focused on the man.

Rab glared at him.

Qingfu shifted slightly where he stood, glancing back at Jaden. He obviously wanted to look back at Jaden's wounds, but Rab had been bothered by that. The Asian man gave-in though, moving back to look at Jaden's face properly. He took the shirt and started pressing it to the spots that hurt the worst—Jaden was half wondering if it was out of spite.

"Great loyal men I have..." Rabid grumbled.

"When we left your ass back in L.A.," Qingfu snapped back, glancing over his shoulder, "you might have done the math."

Jaden blinked at him.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Rab demanded, stepping closer.

Jaden shoved Qingfu away, rising to his feet again and glaring at Rabid.

"Dear lord, are you two lovers?" the man was looking between them in disbelief.

"He's just the only sane man in this god-forsaken shit-hole," Qingfu retorted.

Rab's eyes flared, then narrowed as he studied Jaden. "Kick his ass," he ordered. "If you're loyal to me, kick his ass."

"Beating the children is below you?" Jaden growled back. "You don't have Ranger bouncing around and getting pissed when people say things you don't like?"

Rab started to pull himself up.

"We left you because we knew you wouldn't stop Ranger from going after Matt," Qingfu informed the other man brightly over Jaden's shoulder. "You understand that? We left you."

Rab focused on Jaden.

"We only came here to hide," Qingfu added happily. "I have some friends here yet, and so does J. We were coming here to hide from your ass and those gundam pilots—though I'd take them over you."

Well...Qingfu was definitely burning this bridge, wasn't he? He must have gotten the crew he needed—and enough of one to be cocky.

The...leader's...phone beeped, and he tore his glare away from Jaden's to look at the screen...and stare.

Jaden's phone started to vibrate, and he pulled that out to consider the text sitting on his screen from Armend.

Present and accounted for, loving.

"It's time," Jaden muttered over his shoulder to Qingfu. "Go get our things."

Qingfu smiled brightly at him, then turned and disappeared from the room.

"What do you mean, time?" Rab asked quietly, looking up to him. "Why is the Space Ship Illicit docking? Did you get us a ship?" the tone and expression changed for that question, for the growing hope.

"No," Jaden returned, starting away backwards. "I got me one."

Rab blinked at him uncertainly.

Jaden turned and started from the room, wiping his face down with his shirt as he headed for the offices.

"J, what do you mean you got you a ship? You got Illicit? How did you get Illicit?" Rab was giving chase. "You didn't say you were trying for a ship—and everything's happening on Earth now...we can't use a space-ship...unless you mean to sell it, but then you'd have had to have gotten it cheap."

Incredibly cheap, considering that it was probably a six-billion piece of equipment. Just what information had Armend gotten for the man who'd bought it?

"J?"

"My name is Jaden," Jaden snapped back, looking over his shoulder at the man. "I never liked to be called J."

The man blinked at him in confusion.

"I'm done, Marshal. I'm just done."

Rab hesitated again, then moved forward to frown up at him. "You can't expect me not to discipline you..."

"I'm not your bitch," Jaden snapped back, wiping at his face again. There weren't that many people in the halls, and those who did pass were looking between the men in confusion. "And I won't be."

Rab opened his mouth.

"Gerrange," Jaden said seriously, stopping at the entrance to the office area. "I want you to take a moment and think really hard about what I used to say about Ranger. Then I want you to take a moment to think about why Qingfu and I disappeared...and now. What did I say back there?" he gestured toward the conference room they'd been in. "I got me a space ship."

Rab started to draw himself up.

Jaden turned and slammed the door in the man's face, flipping the lock. "Hey, Dabid," he greeted the dark-haired man who was blinking up at him. "Set up the P.A. for me."

"Are you okay?" the man asked. "You're bleeding pretty bad...."

Jaden pulled out his firearm, cocking it and aiming it directly at the man's head.

Dabid froze.

"Set up the P.A. for me, or I'll blow your fucking head off and get pretty back there to do it," he indicated a woman he didn't know with his head, she was sitting at another desk.

Dabid stared at him a half-second longer, then reached over and picked up the receiver. Rabid started pounding on the door, having tried the knob and realizing it was locked...and he was staring at Jaden in horror.

"Here," Dabid muttered, pushing a few buttons and passing the receiver to Jaden.

"Hello?" Jaden heard his voice magnified and echoing through their entire base set up. He smiled slightly at Dabid and aimed the gun at the female as he met eyes with Rab—the man'd always had a soft-spot for pretty women, and he tended to keep his staff pretty. "Hello," he greeted the base a little more firmly. "This is Jaden Timorre...and I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm leaving."

Rabid stopped, pressing his hands against the glass.

"I've had enough of the bullshit," Jaden went on. "Enough of the over-complicated plots that have only served to make us terrorists in the eyes of every government. If I had my way about it, I'd destroy that gundam and give this up as a bad job, but since I don't have my way," ...Qingfu had insisted they not destroy the machinery. "Well, I'm leaving. Some few of you may have noticed the space-ship that docked like, two minutes ago on the east side. That's mine. I have enough room for fifty-five hundred men...so if any of you are like me and done, I'll probably have to fight my way to it, but I'd love any assistance." He dropped the phone on the cradle, still studying Rab's eyes.

The man seemed to be in shock, staring at him.

"Come along, pretty," Jaden added, gesturing the woman to him. "Rab will come out of this, and he won't shoot me with you as a shield."

"You're joking, right? As soon as you get me out of this room, I'm fucking dead-weight."

"Oh, I won't kill you," Jaden reassured her happily, moving over and pressing the muzzle to the underside of her chin. "Unless you make me."

She swallowed slightly and let him pull her to her feet.

"You'll take anyone?" Dabid asked quietly, licking his lips.

"I'm not horribly picky," Jaden returned starting for the door as Rab backed off. There were soldiers in the hall already—men who were actually loyal to the psycho, and it would be hard to talk anyone into not shooting him...not after that message.

"I'll...grab your pants," Dabid said quietly. "Say you told me you'd shoot her if I let go."

"Good man," Jaden returned. "Happy to have you with me."

Dabid made a noise.

Jaden flicked the lock on the door, stepping out slowly. "Tell the men with the pretty guns that I'll shoot the bitch."

"They know you," Rab growled back, glancing over Jaden's shoulder. "And the boy?"

"I have two sides that matter, Marshal," Jaden said quietly. "And those two sides are front and back. If he lets me go, I'll shoot the bitch."

Rabid made a gesture at the soldiers, staring at the woman—she had tears in her eyes.

"Backwards," Jaden ordered Dabid quietly moving so Jaden still had to watch the crying woman.

It was time to leave...and the more men who left with him the better.

- -

Qingfu was full-out running toward Illicit with his and Jaden's bags in his hands. People were moving everywhere, but the sweltering heat kept the buzz to a minimum. He didn't bother waiting, he knew full well that Jaden would make it out of that office fine—at least, he hoped. He hadn't known Jaden in the wars. He didn't know if the man was a War-rick or just a soldier.

"You're leaving?" someone demanded of Qingfu.

"What's it look like to you?" Qingfu retorted, barely glancing back...to see something that stopped his heart.

The man was reaching for his gun.

Qingfu started to turn, intending to throw one of the bags at the man—but a bullet is faster.

The shot was deafening...and Qingfu started to fall.

- -

The base had become a war-ground.

Jaden darted from the building he'd been in, looking around. He'd let Dabid run for his own things, and the female had served as a shield until the very end...and now he needed to actually run, because Marshal was realizing that he hadn't meant to come back.

He had to be

He darted down the road, breathing in the liquid that passed for air in the place. He was already sweating, and by the time he reached the ship, he was going to be soaked through—down to his very lungs.

He wasn't sure how people didn't drown.

It didn't take too long before people were joining him, eyes sparkling and weapons in hands. Their eyes were everywhere, and none of them were bothering to ask what he was doing or why.

"Heads!" someone from behind shouted...and they all ducked as bullets binged off the side of a building in front of them...and one of the men with him turned and started to return fire.

"Holy shit!" the girl he'd been using as a shield squeaked, ducking down behind him. "You're insane! Why couldn't you have just done an underground message!"

"You're coming?" Jaden asked blankly.

"No, I'm a lawn ornament."

"Get molested much?"

She glared at him.

The soldiers around him sniggered, and he yanked her to her feet and shoved her in the direction they were running. She had a bag in her arms, and after a few more steps, she stopped long enough to pull off her high-heels.

The shots exchanged were always brief, and Jaden himself began wondering why he hadn't done an underground message. That had been his plan—though, really, Rab had pushed him to it...or rather, pushed him to the end of his own common sense.

They turned another corner...and something caught his eye.

A bag...with a giant Chinese character embroidered into it.

That was Qingfu's bag.

He snorted slightly, bending down to grab the thing up...then saw the blood.

His heart started beating harder.

Where was Qingfu? He should have been to the ship before the message had finished...shouldn't he have?

- -

Qingfu clung to Jaden's bag, aware of hands supporting him. Other than that, the world seemed to be a mass of pastel colors—mostly grey. Every now and again he'd make out something like a boot or a hand...and the curb when he slipped on it, but he wasn't even sure where he hurt.

He had to keep Jaden's bag...it had all his stuff in it...

...it hurt...really bad...that...

Things went black.

- -

"Qingfu!" Jaden darted forward to his friend—there was a ring of soldiers around the entrance of Illicit, and men shooting at them...and people were streaming by Jaden left and right. "Qingfu!"

The woman who'd been supporting him looked to Jaden nervously. "He got shot...I shot the man who shot him, but...look," she indicated a bloody hole just under the man's ribs. "He passed out on me."

"Right...thank you...I need some help over here!" he shouted at the people milling by. "Someone help me! Medics? Any medics?"

A man who was still in pressed slacks and a shirt came running over to Jaden with pursed lips. He studied Jaden a moment, then looked down to Qingfu.

...it was the doctor. The one he'd taken Matt to see.

Time sped up.

The doctor shouted orders at passing soldiers, and before Jaden could more than blink, his friend was being hauled into the space-ship...his space-ship.

He stared up at the machine in quiet astonishment a long moment, then looked around to see soldiers gesturing for him to get inside as they fell backwards. No one else seemed to really be coming but...there.

Dabid.

Jaden tore the gun off of one of the men near him and started shooting at the soldiers directly in Dabid's path. Another boy that could be no older than Matt appeared, fear and apprehension on their faces as they realized they were the last...but they didn't stop running...even when some of them fell, the last handful kept on.

Jaden didn't realize he was out of bullets until he was pummeling one of the soldiers—he'd seen the man shoot one of those boys—with the stock of the weapon.

He'd never intended this.

The soldiers converged on him as the men that had been entering illicit moved in as well...and by. Jaden caught one man lifting one of the young men into his arms, saw the kid clinging to the man...saw another limp body...

He would never forgive Marshal for this.

He turned and attacked again, drawing the majority of the attention to himself...finding a weapon from a downed soldier and using that to start shooting.

"Timorre!" someone shouted behind him. "Timorre! We've got all we can wait for! Let's move!"

The voice was familiar...whose voice was that?

Did it matter?

He disengaged from the soldiers, but they more or less fell back to lick their wounds, staring up at Jaden with large and scared eyes.

He staggered onto his ship, falling to his knees above the ramp as it started to close.

"Well?" Armend asked, studying him skeptically from a few steps off. "You look like you went through a meat-grinder, got sewed back together badly, and ripped the stitches open."

Jaden couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Sir?" a video screen in front of them flared to life. "There are soldiers on top of the taller buildings, waving at us. What are your orders?"

"Orders?" Jaden asked blankly.

"Illicit can hover," the man returned. "Do we get those last men or do we go?"

"I'll take anyone," Jaden breathed.

"Right...so Armend, secure yourself and a few good men to the ship so you can catch anyone who falls if we have to run for it...quite the opening ceremony, Captain," he added happily to Jaden. "Glad to be working with you."

"You're only on loan for a week," Armend retorted.

"I'm here as long as I want to be here, and if we're going to be playing adrenaline rush, I'll stay a lot longer."

"Our only adrenaline rush is getting out of here," Jaden noted darkly. "After that...I'm not sure what the hell we'll do."

"Wonderfully thought out plan," Armend purred at him, snapping something around his waist.

"Back away from the ramp, anyone not tied on," the man muttered happily. "The infirmary is down the left hall there...there's a lot of people in it, you can't miss it."

"Qingfu?" Jaden asked, looking up and around.

"Bless you?" the man offered.

Jaden smiled wanly at him.

"I'll go...that's the Asian guy you ran around with, right?" Dabid asked. "I'll go see how he is..." He turned and picked up one of the men who'd been shot on the final approach, helping him down the hall.

Jaden watched as the other men there started carrying the other men...or were they bodies? Some of them looked awfully lifeless...he watched as they carried them down the hall toward the infirmary.

"Hey," Armend added quietly, yanking Qingfu's bag from Jaden's hand. "That won't help us now."

Jaden blinked, realizing that his hand was bloody from where the draw-string had dug into it...what did he look like?

"You okay?" Armend asked quietly. "You look a little shell-shocked."

"Qingfu...I couldn't tell how bad he was hurt," Jaden explained, wrapping his arms around his chest as best he could—his hands felt empty without the bag or his gun in them...and that wasn't meant to have a response like 'that's what empty means' thrown at him.

"He'll be alright," Armend reassured him, smiling briefly as the air started tearing at their hair. The door was lowering. "Just you wait and see—we got some of that medicine on here...Remalene? The healing crap? We got some of that here, and it'll fix him right up."

Jaden nodded, then blinked as he realized they were hovering over the tallest building. There were several people on it, waving desperately and cheering as the machine moved in closer...and some of the men were shooting still.

Jaden grabbed a discarded rifle, checking the clip and the chamber quickly before breaking the safety node out of it.

That had no place in war.

He watched the little thing roll down the lowered walkway...and get torn off into the air.

"Ready for this?" he asked Armend, glancing up to see the man checking another rifle and breaking the safety.

Armend nodded at him.

"Then let's go be heroes, huh? I was always kinda interested in that."

"I knew you were fucked in the head," Armend informed him.

Jaden flashed him a brief grin, then started down the platform, feeling the rope that secured him slithering out behind him.

This was going to be...interesting. At the very least, it would be interesting.

- -

Matty was sitting in one of the windows of the old apartment, staring out at parking-tower below them when Heero found him. He had his arms crossed lightly, one hand cupping his elbow, the other moving up and down his upper-arm. His expression was pensive, and he looked...tired.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," Matty returned quietly.

"Is that why you're up so early?" Heero muttered, stopping behind his boyfriend to look at the early morning light.

Matty nodded. "I got this feeling a little bit ago...disquiet."

Heero started rubbing at his shoulders, then leaned down to kiss his temple. He had no idea what he should be doing or saying...if he should say anything. He'd pissed Trowa off when he'd thought to talk to Blake, though...so maybe this wasn't a time for words?

He wished he could just figure that shit out, it'd make his life ten times easier.

Matty sighed, then smiled, rising to his feet and stepping onto the sill to wrap his arms around Heero's neck.

...well...if nothing else, it worked with Matty. He wasn't even sure what he'd done, but it had worked.

- -

"Your...bag..." Qingfu muttered, blinking up at Jaden and reaching blindly around where his hands had been. "I had...your..."

Jaden started laughing weakly as tears spilled down his face, leaning down to wrap his arms around Qingfu's neck. The laughter turned into tears, though, and he clung to his friend a long moment...before Qingfu returned the embrace.

How many people were hurt because he hadn't taken the time to forewarn anyone? If he'd done so many things...there were dead, but fortunately not many...but the number of wounded was...scary. His demand that people make a split decision had torn many men away from their friends...had caused fight after fight...had people who'd been comrades five minutes before shooting at one another...all because what? He had to shove it in Marshal's face that he was leaving?

It hadn't taken much for Jaden to get Qingfu one of the only personal rooms...there were maybe ten on the ship, but Qingfu was his partner, and Qingfu deserved even that tiny space away from the...horror...in the other room.

"I got shot," Qingfu noted in vague amusement. "I really got shot."

"It can't have been the first time," Jaden retorted, pulling away and wiping at his eyes. "I wasn't even there."

Qingfu started laughing, studying his face a moment. "What's happened? Did we get away?"

Jaden nodded, running his hands through his hair. The nurse who'd been setting Qingfu up had done so, then shut the door and forced Jaden into a chair. She'd used glue on some of the cuts he had, and a needle on one—that would scar obviously and he knew it. She'd cleaned his wounds, then shown up a few minutes later with a shirt for him to wear. Armend had come in after a while with Qingfu's bag, and limping. He'd gotten his ankle grazed after they'd got the last of the...so many...so many...people...

"Hey," Qingfu muttered quietly. "Come on, I have no idea why I even passed out, but you look...like clean hell."

Jaden smiled at that, feeling an odd sensation that probably would have been screaming agony if he didn't have analgesic cream all over. "You got shot, punctured a few things that shouldn't have been, and passed out before the lovely woman who shot the man who tried to kill you could even get you onto the ship."

Qingfu blinked at him.

Jaden laughed weakly, dropping onto the bed, then laying over. With that hell he'd just really put himself through, he needed a little reassurance, and if he even tried to start it with Armend the man would bed him before realizing it wasn't really what was wanted.

Qingfu sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You're so special, do you know that?"

"Men died getting here," Jaden returned quietly. "Men were wounded...badly, like you."

"I knew it would happen," Qingfu said quietly. "No matter how we did it, getting onto the ship from the base was going to stretch things...how bad was it?"

"I don't know yet," Jaden admitted. "I let them start doing their thing and have been in here since."

"You need to go get the numbers...and a head count," Qingfu pointed out. "We can't have stow-aways. Have you decided where we're going yet?"

"I want to take a poll," Jaden admitted. "So I figured the planet is seventy percent water with a lot of it unclaimed...we could find some unclaimed spot and float a few days."

"That sounds pleasant, I guess," Qingfu agreed quietly. "Did you tell them?"

"Armend has things going right now," Jaden said quietly. "He can..."

"You can," Qingfu said firmly. "Nurse!"

Jaden sat up, blinking at Qingfu.

The door opened after a moment, and Jaden blinked as he noticed people standing around outside the door.

"Oh, you're awake," the woman who'd doctored them both muttered, moving in with reassurance through her body-language. "I'm so glad...see, Sir?" she added to Jaden. "You didn't have to fuss so much."

Jaden blinked at that—a lot of people were calling him sir, more than he'd have thought.

"Timorre needs to get a handle on things," Qingfu noted quietly.

"I'm sure the men out here would be quite willing to come in and pitch him their pleas for rank," she noted dryly, glancing at Jaden sidelong. "They're practicing with each other and trying to decide what sort of man he is."

Jaden looked to her in confusion.

"Sir...s," Armend looked into the room with bright eyes, "hello, officer...Qingfu."

"Rin," Qingfu returned dryly. "Rin Qingfu."

"Timorre," Armend added happily. "Rin-Timorre Qingfu."

Jaden narrowed his eyes at the man.

Armend laughed delightedly. "Or since it's all ass backwards anyway, would it be Timorre-Rin Qingfu?"

"Oh, wouldn't you love to know our relationship?" Qingfu purred. "If I suck his dick will he give me my way...or is it that I have to talk sense? How much sway do I have over him...and how much sway am I willing to give you."

Armend's eyes glittered evilly.

Jaden started rubbing at his temples.

"I'm afraid I don't give it up that easy, Armend," Qingfu's purr sounded almost proud.

Jaden started laughing weakly.

"Now," he added quietly, "if you don't mind, the captain wouldn't mind a status report."

"We're flying through all sorts of restricted airspace," Armend offered promptly. "Getting hailed from all sides with demands of our intent, country of origin, and to get the fuck away before they shoot us—the guys on the bridge are loving it." He looked around to Jaden. "You have some wannabe toadies waiting to lick your boots, huh? Or...whatever else...you might want licked."

Jaden started laughing outright.

"So if you'd follow me to the bridge...I'm sure Amy here will make sure your...espoused...is safe."

The woman's eyes flew to Jaden's briefly.

"Espoused," Jaden retorted dryly, rising to his feet...to see Qingfu showing Armend his ring. It had been a prize from an arcade on the base. He and Qingfu had spent a day or two fucking around in it. Jaden had gotten it for him, but it had been a case of there being nothing he wanted, and Qingfu deciding he needed that ring.Jaden snickered as Armend blinked at him...this was going to be amusing. The two men were going to run circles around each other trying to figure out who was top-dog...the only downside was that they were going to be his beta...

How the hell had he become alpha?

Jaden ran a hand through his hair, looking back to Qingfu, who was smirking at him, then stopped in the door. "Oh...your bag," he added quietly. "Our bags were taken up to the captain's suite."

The smile that crossed Qingfu's face at the words was beyond pleased. There was mischief, delight, and appreciation all at the same time. "Your bag, too, though? I was really trying to keep it."

"Yeah," Jaden agreed, looking down a moment at his hand. "And I got your bag..."

Qingfu gave him an interested look.

"Evidently I have to go be a captain," Jaden added dryly, then smiled and nodded at the nurse. "I'll come back as soon as I can."

Qingfu nodded his agreement and Jaden started following Armend through the infirmary. The people who were lightly wounded greeted him happily and called after him, telling him how glad they were to get away from Rab...they didn't care that they were hurt.

Jaden smiled at them as he moved through, realizing that he had an entourage behind him—the men were going around and giving out encouragements.

What had he gotten himself into?

What in the hell had he gotten himself into?