Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In the City at Night ❯ Weaving ( Chapter 26 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Weaving

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Wufei wondered why he wasn't shocked about Corringer's role in all of the shit. He didn't really know Mat. Trowa did somewhat, because his friends lived in the same apartment building as the guy, but none of them actually knew the guy. Aside from the fact that Heero had never gotten along with him, the man was of no importance.

Of course, with the way Heero'd gone through kicking the ass of every person who annoyed him after giving up on finding Duo...well...it just made the fights he'd had with Corringer more pointless.

But shouldn't he be shocked? Wufei focused again. Corringer was one of the men who'd get the job done without letting personal opinions interfere. He was a good soldier, and firmly believed that his superiors knew what they were doing.

That was the problem. Wufei could easily see the two sides of that coin. It wasn't hard to obey and get things done...and if it gave you a certain access to things you needed, well, Trowa'd managed to infiltrate several bases with that same logic.

The obvious is unremarkable.

"So...Corringer is in charge on at least some level," Jordan noted, tilting his head slightly. "Can I kill him?"

"No," Trowa and Quatre informed him in unison.

"Damn."

"You need to work on Danielle a bit more," Heero noted suddenly, moving closer to Jordan. "Crater was all weirded out by her...and you need to set the five of them up with the empath training."

"They aren't around me that much," Quatre protested, then blinked. "Oh..."

"But they are around you, which is the perfect cover...you and Pair both."

"Pear?" Quatre repeated, giving him a look. "He doesn't like being called a fruit."

"Good, I gave him an alternate of duo."

Quatre blinked.

"My point is that Paris is stronger than you are, right?" Jordan studied the blond a minute, "It took us a full year to figure you out," he indicated the group of them. "And there was no training going on then. Danielle or Riley have other empath friends...I forget which one said it right now."

"Tell her not to call him," Heero spoke up. "Or answer. She gave him her name and number."

"Yeah, her home number," Jordan made a slightly dismissive gesture that implied they'd spoke of the matter already. "I can get any training for them I want and no higher-ups will turn a hair. We either have to keep it all underground, or I have to have reasons. Personally, I prefer both."

"So they get trained," Quatre looked to the floor.

"It's not meant to be derogatory," Wufei reminded the blond quietly. "The training isn't because you're so different...it's actually the opposite. The empath phenomena is just now starting to explode. People are scared to associate with them. You comment about it to me all the time. The training is to explain what effect their emotions have on you."

"Not to deal with us?" Quatre retorted.

Wufei smirked, "Dealing with you, my dear, only has as much to do with your empathy as your attitude shoves it at us."

The blond grinned slightly and gave him a look.

"Besides which, taking the class exposes you to serious quietings. That was one thing I liked about it. I figured out how to emulate them to an extent by virtue of feeling it."

"It's because I've latched onto you," Quatre dismissed that, starting to sit up.

"I don't care why I can figure out what quieting is doing," Wufei noted. "My point is that it helped me control my emotions."

"You don't have emotions!" Quatre snapped, turning to look at him before amusement replaced his irritation.

Wufei grinned more, "Which is why I'm having depression issues?"

"Who's gonna play swap with me first?" Jordan ventured when silence followed the comment. The man looked between his comrades expectantly. "My training thus-far has been directly with espionage and observation in general. I can't teach the gun-care or that for shit, so that'll go to Tro and Heero...but..."

"What about me?" Wufei protested, blinking at him.

"Well, I'd imagine you'd give them the rudiments of swordsmanship and hand-to-hand."

"I know hand-to-hand," Heero protested.

"So do we all," Jor focused on his friend and shook his head. "You realize the slight difference between each of us, right? We all know the same things, but teaching it and making it work isn't entirely in our ranges. Fei had years of martial-arts training...his entire life, I'd imagine...when he wasn't buried in a book...and Trowa is mech from head to toe...and everything in between and inside out. I have the chameleon's charm, Quatre has the emotional bracket, and you're...tech. Not only that but hand-weaponry."

"I was gonna note that, actually," Trowa sounded slightly amused. "I might be able to reassemble a gun in my sleep..."

"Which you'd better never do again," Wufei agreed.

"...but I just do it."

Heero grinned as Jordan blinked. "We've had an interesting five years, divinity. It's too bad you missed out."

"Yeah," Jordan's eyes strayed toward his house. "But I think it'd be worse if I'd experienced it."

"You wouldn't know she exists," Quatre reminded him. "It wouldn't mean anything."

Jordan focused on Quatre a moment, then looked around to the others. "Isn't that worse?"

"I guess," the blond conceded after thinking about it.

"Where's Xane?" Heero asked, looking between them again. He had a strong suspicion that if he noted the threat to the boy, Jordan would go out and make short work of Corringer's worthless life.

"He's with his boy," Jor muttered, looking to his watch, "his girl, or the canteen for breakfast."

The group all focused on him for that one.

Jordan snickered, "Xane may be a bit naïve in a general fashion, but I'm fairly sure he never has to sleep alone."

"I knew there was a reason the two of them got on so well," Tro noted to Wufei.

The dark look Wufei returned reminded the pilots that the guy wasn't having any luck with his own companionship...for whatever reason.

"I'm gonna go get a bagel," Heero decided, hoping Xane would be there. "We should all do the swap, so before today is over y'all need to schedule with me when you'll drop your seconds off."

"All right," Tro, Quatre, and Fei agreed in unison. It sounded awfully like 'Sir'.

Jordan blinked.

"Well?" Heero demanded, raising his eyebrows slightly at his friend.

"All right," Jor agreed. "I'll have to go meet with Mouthy though."

"If he's at the canteen," Heero muttered, starting for the door to the meeting room, "Then I'll send him your way."

X x X x X

"So he is your superior?" Jordan was muttering to Quatre fifteen minutes later as the two left the room. "He seriously has that power over you?"

"He listens when he needs to, and the rest of us just go with it," Quatre explained, going on about the confrontations of power they'd all had with Heero early on.

Wufei and Trowa listened as the pair of voices faded out of earshot, and a moment later, met eyes.

"What's he really doing?" Wufei asked, looking back to Trowa. "He's hiding something from Jor."

"I couldn't figure out what, though," Trowa agreed. "And I don't understand why Jor himself didn't pick up on it."

"Or does he just trust that Heero knows what he's doing?"

"We'll have to run it by him. It's something to do with Xane."

"I bet that's why he wants us to stop by his office today," Wufei noted, thinking the issue over. "For all that we listen to him, he doesn't really give us orders."

"Aside from no longer than two hours depression."

Wufei smirked at that, "I'm gonna take it as 'for my own good'," he made air-quotes, "and leave it at that."

Trowa grinned at him, considering it. "You think Corringer may have threatened Xane? That'd be one reason Heero wouldn't mention it to Jordan."

"At the same time," Wufei noted, "he may just want to get Xane to do some work for him without Jordan knowing about it."

"What kind of work would Jordan refuse him?"

"I dunno, it's just a thought. I have to go find Morgan," a smirk flashed across his face. "It's all well and good for our seconds to be the first swapped out, but I wonder if Heero actively realized what he was saying."

Trowa snickered, "At least he gets along with Doug."

"Doug is so insanely respectful that I swear he says yes sir every time I look at him sidelong."

Trowa laughed more, looking to his watch. "I invited him to the asylum for dinner tonight...I should probably call and ask Chai if that's okay, huh?"

Wufei started laughing.

X x X x X

Xane met Heero's eyes with mild exasperation as the man sat across from him in the booth. He'd just had an argument with his boyfriend, and seeing as the man had been accusing Xane of cheating, having Heero almost immediately take his spot would be used against him.

"What?" Heero asked, blinking.

"My boyfriend decided I'm sneaking around seeing people on him," Xane returned levelly. "Your appearance does not help my cause."

"Are you?"

"Yes, but he's not supposed to know about it."

Heero forced himself not to grin, then shook his head. "You work for Jordan and Jordan told you to obey me. This is a work thing, not a personal thing," he thought about that. "Actually, it's both...and I'll buy your breakfast if you agree to listen to me without freaking out on some pride level."

Xane blinked, studying the man's face in astonishment.

"Hello, Sir," the waitress muttered, moving up to smile at him as she noticed his name and rank-tag on the pocket of his white-pressed shirt. "What can I get you?"

"A bagel, toasted with cream cheese," Heero returned. "Coffee."

"Sounds an awfully lot like breakfast for one in the afternoon."

Heero smiled slightly at that, realizing it hadn't been all that long since they'd met for lunch...not that they'd eaten at that point. They'd sat around with a tray of fries and soft drinks...

"Commenting about a pride level," Xane reminded Heero, "does not bode-well somehow."

"You have been threatened," Heero explained easily, studying his face.

Xane blinked.

"I overheard a conversation of a confidential nature this morning, and the side-note was that if we pilots were getting too feisty they'd just nab you and make us docile."

The man looked away as he absorbed this.

"He stated specifically that they'd perform a few atrocities on you to make Jordan docile. There was a comment about the way you seek out human affection and how beating the fuck out of you would terrify you."

Xane started to open his mouth.

Heero held up a hand to silence him, studying his eyes seriously. "The term atrocity implies anything from maiming to rape...or all of it. Whatever is planned for you is not good, and Jordan's reaction to this news would be explosive."

"What did he say?" Xane asked, blinking several more times.

Heero smiled when the waitress set his bagel in front of him with the dish of cream cheese and a cup of coffee. He waited until she'd wandered off to focus on Xane again and shake his head. "I'm not telling Jordan about this part of the conversation."

"Why not?" Xane demanded, rising slightly to the offense.

"Because he'd go blow Corringer's brains out on the spot," Heero retorted. "Do you not get that there's some coup being attempted? They're waiting out our immediate panic right now, but that doesn't mean anything is done. We don't know who's in charge, and we don't know what their entire aim is. I heard enough this morning to know they want Shifton as president...but their means of getting him there are hardly legal."

"But...Jordan should know, shouldn't he?" Xane demanded, his heart thudding hard in his chest.

"No, he should not," Heero used authority to say the words. He knew that the fact he was in his slacks and a white-pressed shirt made him a symbol of authority, especially to someone with no ambitions of rising in rank. "He is not to hear about this information until I deem the situation appropriate. Understand?"

"Sir," Xane said quickly, sitting up a bit...then thinking about that.

"Here's the pride part," Heero noted, spreading the cream cheese. "You are to run."

"Excuse me?"

"If the situation is compromised, you are to run. You will not be going out on single missions for this case. They don't know your name, but they know your face. You are being associated with Maxwell, and the fact that Maxwell is affectionate at all to you makes you the perfect hostage. Jordan will kill for any of you, but you specifically could create a massacre. You want that on your conscience? A bunch of hope-blind people who have been misled killed for your sake? If you feel like you are being followed you call us immediately. You are to keep a phone on you at all times. I'll work up a tracking device that you can wear as jewelry. The fact that they planned to perform atrocities on you says very clearly that this is beyond your ken. The only reason you are being focused on is because we are fond of you, and you're not going to get raped by some factious dick-head because you're our friend. Do you understand?"

Xane stared at him wordlessly.

"Acknowledge, Featihl."

"Sir," Xane returned, looking away slightly.

"I don't want to offend your pride," Heero added in a softer voice, leaning forward in his seat. "I don't want to put you on some pedestal...but I don't want to lose you to some asshole like Matthew Corringer, all right? I'm not sure how much of what I just said will be considered offensive to you...so I apologize for that." He looked away, "If something happened to you, Jordan would blame himself...and it's his fault, after all. You're his crew-member. He's trained you. I lost him for five years, and if you get taken, if you die...I'll lose him in a worse way than I had. He's...he's unstable," Heero met Xane's eyes again. "It's not hard to tip his scales. Keep what we've said to yourself. I'll let the other three pilots know, but Maxwell is not to find out about this except from me directly."

"I..." Xane trailed off. "All right."

Heero looked down a moment.

"And you're not sleeping around on me?"

Heero and Xane both jumped as the pilot switched his position so his nametag and the little rank-tags became evident on the pocket of his shirt.

"Sir," the guy speaking stood straight, his eyes going wide. "My apologies, Sir."

"So you're the man giving Featihl a hard time?" Heero asked him a bit languidly, sitting back. "Who do you think he's cheating on you with?"

"Maxwell," the word was barely a whisper.

Xane blinked at that one.

Heero burst out laughing in disbelief, "With Maxwell? My god, man, he's straighter'n a homophobe on kaseen!" He laughed more, sliding from the booth and looking to Xane. "Maxwell needs to talk with you before too much longer." He looked to the man who was still standing straight with burning cheeks. "About training," he added quietly.

The guy blinked.

Heero gathered up his bagel and pushed the coffee cup toward the younger male, then grabbed the two bills from the end of the table and started for the checkout.

"I..." the man started to Xane.

"You thought I was sleeping with Maxwell?" Xane demanded in disbelief. "Of all the people..."

"He's always touching you," the guy sounded slightly perturbed.

"But...fucking him? Dude, he's my superior...that's like, illegal in forty-eight states...come on."

Heero grinned slightly, paying the woman and offering her his normal excessive tip.

"You look dashing today," she informed him cheerily. "Just don't get anything on your shirt."

Heero winked at her, starting for the door as he looked back to Xane in amusement. When the guy looked at him, he made the gesture that meant to hurry, and wondered at the confused look...before heading out of the building.

X x X x X

Jordan laughed delightedly as Xane followed him through the building. "I have a boyfriend!" he shouted to the ceiling before laughing evilly again. "Another one, anyway..."

Xane was a bit embarrassed to see how absolutely delighted his superior was about the information, and it didn't help that the man was being very vocal about his amusement.

"Don't be like that," Jordan protested, backing him against the wall, then laughing again and bouncing up the hallway.

Was this another bit of information Jor didn't need to know?

"Come on," Jordan ordered him. "Sheesh...I think I'm expected to stay on a time-limit with him."

"Come again?" Xane asked, catching up with a confused look.

"You'll be training directly under Heero at some point," the man explained happily. "We're setting up that date before we go set up the trainings with Quatre, Tro, and Wufei."

"Oh..."

"And we'll have to set up your empath training, too. You ever fly an M.S.?"

"Uh...no...you have to have specific training for that since the force is small. Just the best of the best, and I was average."

"Oh, well, Tro will train you up. You'll be flying an M.S. before the year is out...and learning how to fix it."

"Why?"

"Because you need to know everything, especially since you're my second. If something happens to me, you'll be in charge. You'd realized that, hadn't you? You have actual rank now...I just have to go about filling out the forms and planning ceremonies and things."

"Can't we keep it quiet?" Xane asked a bit embarrassedly.

"I suppose...maybe just get your folks here?"

"My dad thinks I'm a deviant," Xane noted, looking away.

"All the more reason to show him you're kicking ass. You realize that the trainings we're setting up today will get you on the level of the people you consider your superiors now?" He smirked a bit. "If something goes down, you'll have the authority over them. They'll have to listen to you."

"That's scary."

"You're not just some throw-away decoy," Jordan noted to him seriously, frowning at him. "On top of that, you are my second. Once I get the five of you set up, you'll be getting more people yourselves to train. When you were set up with me, it was initially because of your charisma, but you have an aptitude for this shit...and the five of us pilots will be, in effect, making you exactly like us."

Xane stopped, not sure what to make of that.

"During the wars, we only had ourselves," Jordan added quietly, taking a step nearer to him. "We were completely self-sufficient entities and we didn't realize we'd have any allies...and the five of us pulled off some shit."

"Like Edwards?" Xane asked, having one of those moments where he realized the man in front of him had been the boy who'd terrified the entire military...or one of the boys.

Jordan looked away, remembering the incident and swallowing hard as his throat clenched.

"Jordan?" Xane muttered, stepping nearer to him as he considered his eyes. "What would you do if someone threatened my life?"

"Kill them," Jordan returned promptly.

Xane looked away.

"I'd kill everyone associated with them," Jor noted more to himself than to his friend. He started toward Heero's office again, "I'd do it brutally, and I'd do it publicly."

"Wouldn't that put you in prison?"

There was a hesitation before Jordan turned to look at him and shake his had, "No." He studied the guy a moment and grinned, "Why?"

Xane shook his head, "Just a comment Heero made when he told me to find you." He met Jor's eyes again and repeated the gesture Heero'd made at him, "What does that mean?"

"This?" Jordan repeated it, then smirked and did his own gesture of it.

"Oh!" Xane connected the half gesture to the full gesture Heero had done and sniggered.

"Why?"

"Because he was telling me that you were looking for me right after James had walked off from me. He freaked out and came back to accuse me again, then noticed Heero's rank."

"Ah yes, Yuy's rank," Jordan rolled his eyes as he pulled the man's office door open. "Can't forget that...even if you try."

Xane hesitated, looking through the door.

Heero, who had a phone to his ear, focused on them both in an imperial manner as Jordan physically pulled Xane into the room. He shut the door and moved to drop in one of the chairs across from Heero and sat back, crossing his ankles and resting his feet on the desk.

If Heero wanted to try and throw his rank around, Jordan would throw their relationship around. Jordan was not submissive to Heero. If anything, it was the opposite.

Heero pointed at Jordan, then his feet, with the pen he was holding.

Jordan smirked at him, moving long enough to take the man's coffee cup and drink from it.

"I've got to go," Heero noted into the phone. "I'll look over the file and get back to you tomorrow afternoon. Uh-huh...yeah, bye." He set the phone on the receiver and directed a look at Jordan that was a pointed question.

Jordan grinned at him, "If you try to get above yourself with me, I'll become the most annoying thing you know."

...and Heero realized there was no point arguing with that.