Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In the City at Night ❯ Next Step ( Chapter 32 )

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

Next Step

"You stirred up quite the hornet's nest, Mr. Maxwell," a woman purred the words as Jordan moved out of a grocery store with their supplies for the drive home.

Jordan stopped, blinking at her.

"I'm Melissa Ling with the Chemwahl Times," she added, offering her hand. "I heard that you and the other pilots were speaking locally, but couldn't get inside the base to hear what you had to say."

Jordan smiled, stopping closer to her than he should have. Pushy ladies were entertaining enough, but they could be conquered.

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

Jordan shifted slightly more at the very edge of her personal space, looking her over with a slight smile, "Sure, I can spare you a few minutes..." he grinned a bit more as he imagined what Chai might say to that.

She hesitated, then met his eyes again, "The morale of the men lifted almost overnight. Talking to you had to be a great honor...can you tell me the main of the conversation?"

"We thanked the men for loyal service," Jordan explained, shifting a hair closer. He had to get her to move back some so he knew how hard it would be to make her give-over. "I'm sure an informed lady of your class would have heard that Tirone Beedus was taken captive a few months ago. He requested that the pilots and I stay at his home for a time so he could settle back in and feel safe again. Since we were here publicly, the base contacted us with a request for a special session."

She shifted back very slightly, looking down to write the information on her notepad before composing herself and meeting his eyes. "We saw a bus load of men heading out to the Beedus estate," she noted, not quite meeting his eyes. "Is there a reason for that?"

"My comrades and I have to head back to base today," Jordan shrugged slightly, smiling a little more at her, giving himself a moment to imagine what she might look like undressed...not very impressive, but hey. "Mr. Beedus is still somewhat upset after his ordeal."

She looked away again and wrote that down, then nodded before meeting his eyes and glaring at him. "I don't appreciate your attempts to end this discussion."

Jordan laughed at that, "But you can't bring yourself to hold my eyes now, can you? No offense intended, but I try to stay out of the limelight as much as I can. It doesn't work with my complexion."

A genuine smile flashed across her face at that and she looked away again.

"I have to get going," Jordan added, moving in closer as she hesitated, "I'll have to end this interview early."

"Asshole," she muttered as he started away.

"What's worse?" he asked as she tucked the notepad away. "The fact that I did it, or the fact that I didn't mean it?"

She glowered at him, flushing very slightly.

He winked at her again, "Talk to the base representatives and they'll give you a prettier version of what we said..." he laughed a bit, "and I apologize for being an overbearing male."

"You sleep around a lot," she accused, giving chase. "Only guys who sleep around a lot can pull that shit off."

"I have a girlfriend now," he noted, unlocking Quatre's car. "But I had five years of self indulgence...I guess I have to admit to that."

"Where were you?"

"See, that doesn't need to make it into your little paper," he noted, tapping the purse she was about to dig into. "It was my own personal business and the public probably wouldn't approve."

She stopped again, frowning at him.

"Have a wonderful day," he noted, smiling at her. "I have to get going, I need to stop somewhere on my way home."

"Fine," she muttered, catching up to him and offering her hand, "I am happy to have met you...if only to be disillusioned."

He offered her a genuine smile and shook her hand, "I'm sorry to have made it obvious I'm not some knight in shining armor."

"You might be a knight in shining armor," she noted, "But armor comes off."

He snickered, "Hey, that's a good one." He blinked at the little mini mart as a thought occurred to him, "How did you find me here?"

"I live up the street and wanted a caffeine fix," she explained with a smirk. "Just happened on you. I was trying diplomatic channels first, but the base representative wasn't sure how to go about asking you lot for an interview."

He grinned again, winking as he slid into the rig. "The conversation we had with the locals was on a confidential matter, Mrs. Ling."

"Miss, actually," she noted wryly.

He grinned even more, rolling down the window before closing the door. "Miss, then. How about...the talks my comrades and I gave were for the men, Miss Ling. We thanked them for their loyal service and were highly impressed with their level of dedication. The soldiers of Chemwahl do us all proud, and I was glad to have the opportunity to share in this experience." He considered, "That sound properly flattering? You can adlib on it if you want...maybe note that I think you have pretty lips or something."

She giggled at that, looking away.

"No? Ah well...just don't make me sound like some dance instructor and we'll be fine."

"There's nothing wrong with dance instructors," she retorted, moving back as he started the engine.

Jordan grinned, putting the machine in reverse, "My bad."

X x X x X

The formal arrest of Thomas McDussen occurred about ten seconds into the base. Jordan was waiting with the others in the little gatehouse when Heero pulled in with the other car behind him, and he parked his rig before stretching and moving toward McDussen's car. He gestured for the man to park it in the little parking lot next to the gatehouse, and the group who'd been with Beedus moved curiously to see what was going on.

The man started off with a bang, too. He simply started pulling weapons out one by one, at least a dozen of them, passing them to Heero as the guy carefully put them on the hood of the car.

It took about an hour for the desertions to start.

One by one, men looking confused and upset pretended to be calm as they left the base. There were only one or two that the pilots hadn't spotted before, and since the formal questioning was going on, there was no one to give Eastland the order to close the gate.

Matthew Corringer himself pulled to a stop in the little parking lot and darted in to shake the man's hand. He thanked him for all the help and the listening ear he'd offered, and ended it all by giving him a quick hug, apologizing...and running like a scared rabbit.

Eastland wondered if the man noted his sneer.

The sweep of the base for the final irritants went off smoothly. The few who'd been left behind for whatever reason were taken into custody under suspicion of conspiracy.

The list of 'arrest on sight' peoples doubled in size in a manner of minutes...and Corringer's name was on top of the list.

X x X x X

"But where will they go?" Jordan demanded of McDussen tiredly, thinking of all the rats that had slipped through their fingers because Une didn't have the forethought to lock down the base.

Of course, as soon as they realized what Heero'd been doing, they'd known it wasn't going to be as easy as see, snatch, win. Those things never happened.

"Angels," McDussen replied quietly. "Corringer has some friend there whose been helping him plot all along."

"I'm going to laugh if it's Lamb," Jordan noted to Heero, his eyes sparkling. "Corringer'd be in for a big shock then."

"What did you do?" Heero demanded of his friend, noting the look.

"I just stopped by to see Jon," Jordan retorted, giving the man a look. "It seems that Lamb has disappeared."

"I'm sure he's hurt by that," Wufei noted, wondering if Jordan himself had done away with the man or if it was something unrelated.

"Jon? Yeah, heartbroken," Jordan snickered, thinking of how happy the man had been to receive the casing from the bullet that'd done the job. It was going on a string around the man's neck for a certainty. "I hope it's Lamb..."

"He's been mentioning Lamb the entire time," Heero noted. "What's their code of ethics down there?"

"In hell?" Jordan considered it. "I suppose outright tattling would be seen as bad form. Rivalry is one thing, but telling mama is just asking for a black-mark."

"How do you know anything about any of that?" McDussen muttered, blinking at Jordan.

"I lived in Angels for the last five years...I've only been here four or five months now." He studied his nails a moment, then smirked. "Even if his contact was Lamb, Lamb'll have made provisions about helping his friends. He does have a few of those, you know...and there are some holes in Angels."

"And you know every one, don't you?" Wufei accused.

"Intimately," Jordan agreed with a smirk. "I think it's time for my team to go scamper to our own little holes." He turned in a way that sent his hair flying, and would have swung his braid out dramatically, then paused. "Hey, Fei? I could use a hair-cut before I go...if you wouldn't mind."

"Sure, why not," Wufei muttered, rising to his feet.

"Since when do you know how to cut hair?" McDussen demanded, blinking after the pair. "Certainly you wouldn't have gotten your hands dirty."

Wufei turned disbelieving eyes to the man, staring at him incredulously, "What?"

McDussen looked away.

Heero snickered, "Old money, Fei...old money."

"We never had money," Wufei protested, still disbelieving. "We barely made ends meet...for the entire colony."

"But you weren't raised by the people for the people...you were sent to schools and lived..."

"I got a scholarship for boarding school," Wufei protested at him in disbelief. "The funds needed for anything else for us was raised by my clan as a whole...I lived with the rest of the boys my age in the training barracks because it was easier to get us fed and controlled...and you think we had money?" Wufei was obviously offended as he stared at the man in disgust. "You think I was raised in decadence just because I lived in a colony that was respected? We were warriors!" his shout echoed from the walls as Trowa and Heero instantly started for him. Quatre was bent over with his head between his knees. "And short-sighted weaklings like you!" he pointed his finger at the man, "Would have been sent to our fields to do something useful with your life!"

McDussen was staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Look at Quatre," Jordan muttered as Heero and Trowa tried to move in. Wufei was avoiding them. "Look what you're doing to Quatre."

Wufei's eyes landed on the blond, and he stopped completely.

"Come on," Jordan tugged at his arm as Heero gave his friend a disbelieving look. "If you don't cut my hair now I'll re-grow the braid."

Wufei spat in the prisoner's direction, "I can do anything you can do ten times better, faster, and with more pride than anything you'd even dream of. You want to know why I know how to cut hair? I cut my friends' hair by looking at magazines. I looked at magazines to give them the pop hairstyles...fucking idiot...getting my hands dirty..." Wufei's grumbling slid into Mandarin as the group forced him from the room and closed the door behind him.

Quatre had regained himself and was smirking at the man in front of him. "It's me who never got my hands dirty," he noted, displaying his manicured nails to the guy. "It's me," he stood, "who would never dream of cutting someone's hair...why do it when you can pay someone else to, huh?" He snickered, "Shit, I still don't even make my own food...and you're going on about Wufei? Why don't you focus on the rich boy," he noted as he moved toward the door. "Not the humble one. Your aggression would be properly placed with me...I am old money."

McDussen blinked at the blond in amazement.

"Thanks for your time," he spat just as derisively, pulling out his wallet and throwing a fifty dollar bill on the table...and then sauntered from the room.

McDussen's eyes narrowed.

"That...went well," Trowa noted a blandly, crossing his arms as he looked to Heero. "That went really well."

They pretended not to notice the man pocketing the money.

X x X x X

"If the men are having these issues," Zechs roared over the crowd, "then we need to up their pay!"

More shouts of disbelief met this.

"I'll take a pay cut!" Zechs shouted over them all. "I'll take a pay cut so the money is better directed!"

"We get paid for this?" Jordan asked Heero sidelong.

Heero smacked him, rising to his feet, "I'll take a pay cut."

Jordan sighed almost forlornly, rising to stand in agreement...as did the other pilots, and the quieting with Quatre. It didn't take long for those who understood the situation to outnumber the ones with the big mouths. There were more people standing than sitting, but the noise was almost deafening as those attempted to get noticed.

"I should shoot my gun to call for order," Jordan noted to Wufei.

"Heero would kill you," Wufei retorted, "Or backhand you."

Jordan snickered.

"It's loud in here," Quatre noted.

The pair laughed at that, looking around again.

A hallow sounding pounding began echoing louder and louder as the pilots looked around for the source. Zechs was still carrying his walking stick, and was pounding the butt of it against the stone. They'd been hearing the sound for a while, but it'd taken some time to build up in volume...enough to be noticed.

The noise settled.

"If the common soldier is having a hard time making ends meet," Zechs shouted, "Then that's our fault! We're out in our yachts or heading to the lunar resort while they're falling behind on bills! The cost of living doesn't go up pennies a year! Adding ten cents an hour to a soldier's check won't be enough to cover it...and still it's the soldiers who have earned their wages who rise first to give it up! I saw the wave in the room. The career military men were on their feet as soon as they realized the pilots agree with me," he gestured to the five of them. "They agree with me! And you're protesting what?" he looked the men over. "All I heard out there was 'my money, my money,' he made air quotes around it. "We have to do something! I'm not saying that this rebellion that brought us here today means they're right to kill off members of our government..."

"I'd take that fat guy out," Jordan confided to Wufei. "His loss would feed about three families."

Wufei elbowed him, trying to keep a straight face.

"...but rebellions are made by the people most oppressed!"

"Only reason Angels hasn't is because no one listens to anyone else," Jordan noted.

"Would you shut up?" Wufei muttered, meeting his eyes briefly. "We don't need any attention on us...especially with this shit you're saying."

Jordan sniggered.

"You stand here and cry at me that you earned your paycheck, and you deserve it...and forget the part where Zachary Baits was grabbed, beaten, and fatally shot in the stomach! You forget that the Gundam pilots ran into that house, and all the thanks they got was shrapnel from the house embedded in their backs!"

"That's not true," Jordan protested. "We got lots of thanks..."

"Shush," Wufei snapped.

"You short their soldiers on cash, but they'd still save your asses!"

"Not the fat guy's," Jordan noted.

Quatre pressed his face into his quieting's arm, trying not to laugh.

"I'm gonna kick your ass," Heero growled sidelong at them all.

Wufei choked on his own laughter.

"Dear god, I'm going to die," the woman with Quatre muttered, barely moving her lips.

Jordan coughed hard to stop his laughter, turning away from the crowd. He'd forgotten the woman could hear his commentary, he was making it specifically for his friends...

"They'll still send their men in!" Zechs' voice had risen enough that there was no way anyone was noticing the little disturbance beside him. "If they'd taken two seconds longer in that room, they all would have died. The vans they had moving in would have been caught in the blast, and those men would have been wounded and maybe even killed! The men are good men! They fulfill their duties every day! You walk around the base and everyone is smiling...believe me, I got disgusted by it. Oh yeah, I was shot wasn't I?"

The comment about being disgusted had been met with a sort of whisper.

"I was shot because I'm on a list...I don't know what list it is, I don't know why I was shot, but someone wanted me gone! These rebels...these...whatever we're going to call them...they wanted me dead. It opened my eyes. The monetary difference between the officers and the soldiers is too great...and we need to fix that...and that is why I called us together today. I didn't do it to make you cry over that yacht you wanted so badly...I didn't do it to interfere with that third car you've been eyeing...I called you here today to discuss how we can make it worth our soldiers times to show up to work...because when you're dying in debt, patriotism only goes so far."

X x X x X

"Would you look at them?" Xane muttered to Judas, indicating Jordan and Wufei as the pair obviously tried to control their expressions. "That's horrible...what is Jor saying?"

"I haven't figured it out yet," Judas returned, grinning. "But watch, it'll show Quatre here in a second and he's about to die laughing."

The clip rolled to the point where Quatre had turned his face quickly into the woman's arm he was standing by. Her expression was slightly disbelieving and very obviously amused.

"That's horrible," Xane repeated. "God, I hope no one else notices."

Riley giggled.

"Poor Fei," Danielle muttered, moving closer to the screen. "He keeps trying to hush Jordan."

"Xane," Raul muttered poking his head in the door, "I suggest you get out of sight."

Xane blinked at the man, then looked around the room before moving into the crap kitchen. They were in an apartment in Angels. The green-eyed male dropped to the floor, sighing as he leaned against the cupboards.

"I just wanted to welcome you to the building," a male voice explained as the door opened again. "I figure that it pays to know the neighbors."

"I can see that," Raul noted. "Elizabeth, Nicole, Peter, and Richard. I'm Ray."

"Is this all of you?" the neighbor seemed startled.

"For now," Raul sounded amused. "We have a few drifters amongst us."

"I thought I heard more voices."

"We have a tv," Raul pointed out. They'd muted the thing when the door had opened.

"Some speech, huh?" the guy muttered, moving across the living room. Xane felt the floorboards beneath him shift, then lifted his rear and bit his lip as the person on the other end bounced slightly. "Marquise sure knows how to rile'em up. I bet he does it just for jollies."

"You a soldier?" Riley demanded in a tone that was almost a command.

"No...I'm not nearly patriotic enough. Hard to be in this shit hole."

That got a group mutter of agreement, which seemed to satisfy the visitor.

"My name is Jacob," the guy added. "I live up the hall...go ahead and ask me for any help."

That's not a normal offer, Xane noted. They must be looking for Jordan.

"Yeah, right," Raul sounded amused at the idea. "We'll do that," he laughed a bit.

"Good day," the guy muttered, turning and moving toward the door again, pausing to look the place over one last time...then disappeared.

"Fuckin' weirdo," Danielle noted loud enough to be heard.

The footsteps disappeared.

"Was he testing the floorboards?" Riley asked, moving to look over the counter at Xane.

"Yeah. I felt them move under him," Xane agreed, rising to his feet and shaking his head. "He bounced a bit, but I moved. This floor is shit."

"This building is shit," Raul retorted. "If they keep on us like this we'll need to get Jor to move some chips around the board."

"Yeah," Xane muttered, shaking his head. "Turn the volume back up."

X x X x X

There was something inanely right about walking down the streets of Angels, Jordan noted. The happy banter of his crew belied the hostility of the streets themselves...and they were heading to the bar.

"Your tab's still open!" the bartender noted to Jordan happily when he saw him. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I joined the army," Jordan shrugged. "Got me'n my girl out of here mostly."

"Mostly?" the bartender gave him a look. "What do you mean by that?"

"My tab's still open," Jor returned, smirking.

The man laughed and set the bottles on the counter. "I'll let Jonathan know you're here."

"We'll be playing pool," Jordan noted, pointing to the billiards tables. "Keep'em cold and keep'em coming."

"Will do," the guy noted with a half-assed attempt at a salute as he moved off up the bar.

"He didn't card us," Raul noted in some amusement. "I've never not been carded before."

"Angels," Jordan returned, indicating the building. "The only thing worse than the surroundings is the attitude of the inhabitants."

"Yeah, fuck you," someone nearby noted. "I don't see you runnin' for optimist of the year."

"Shit, you're not dead yet?" Jordan retorted. "You wanna fuck with me, Dune? You honestly think I've changed that much?"

The man spat in his general direction and Jordan led his group toward the tables.

"Is that normal?" Danielle asked nervously.

"Fairly. See that guy there?" he pointed at Stephen, who was at the bottom of the stairs. "I've knocked him out about three times now. He tries to start fights with me at any given chance."

"Threat?"

"You tell me," Jordan muttered, arranging the balls.

"He's watching us."

"His boss has a crush on me," Jordan noted, smirking toward the concealed windows that led to Jon's private little hide-away. The man looked the bar over in amusement, noting someone who seemed very uncomfortable, talking to a leering man. "One of these things is not like the other one," he sang quietly, "one of these things just doesn't belong...one of these things is not like the other ones, can you find it before I finish this song..."

"Oh ow," Xane muttered, moving up to his side and looking around. He focused on the guy himself, grinning a bit. "Shall we go intercede?"

"Oh no, that guy there'll take him home and fuck him. I've seen him with Corringer before, so I'm not too worried about his chastity."

Xane snickered, grabbing a pole and testing the line of it for straightness, then moved to the other end of the table and chalked the tip while Jordan set the triangle on a hook and rolled him the cue ball.

"Doesn't that...like...hurt?" Judas muttered, smirking as he turned back to them.

"A bit," Xane and Jordan noted in unison.

Danielle, Riley, Judas, Raul, and Xane turned to stare at Jordan in disbelief.

"Break it," Jordan ordered, picking out his own stick and he smirked. "I'll cream you."

Xane considered that a moment, then decided he didn't want to comment, focusing on the balls. Jordan'd said before that preferences take a back seat...and Xane didn't particularly need to find out why Jordan'd screwed another man...or whatever the fuck had happened.

Jor let the distraction stand as the others moved across the area to start their own games. In an amazingly short amount of time, Jordan was realizing he'd finished his fourth bottle of beer. He was creaming Xane, whose green eyes were focused intently on the roll of the balls.

"Here," Jordan muttered, moving up behind him and using his stick as a guide to show the other what he'd do. "If she hits here, she'll ricochet this way. If you get it just right and hard enough..." Xane offered him a smirk, then focused on the table again. Jordan studied him a moment with interest, obviously changing focus to his second. "You really don't want to fuck with me. I can pull one over on your psyche."

"I've had plenty to drink," Xane muttered, meeting his eyes, "and you have an awfully pretty mouth. Give me a break. Words like hard and just right..." he laughed a bit.

Jordan laughed, "Just do it about this hard," he snapped Xane's wrist slightly to show what he meant, then moved back.

Xane studied him a moment, then focused on the balls again.

"You getting him drunk so I can molest him?" Jon asked sweetly, moving up behind them.

Xane's reaction to the comment was to hit the ball a lot harder than he meant to as Jordan smacked his friend. The ball he was supposed to bounce a certain way slammed into the edge and ricocheted hard...giving Jordan a better shot.

Jordan laughed again, "That was harder than I said."

Xane turned to meet Jordan's eyes, then look to Breer uncertainly.

"Go extract our big bird, huh?" Jordan asked Xane curiously, moving to take his shot. "Don't need to take him home or anything, just get him away from the lecher before he gets raped at the bar."

The green-eyed male blinked at his superior, then moved across the room to help their enemy out...but didn't move out of earshot in time to miss Jordan telling Jon that Xane was utterly off limits.