Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Jokers Wild ❯ Five ( Chapter 5 )

Five

"His suits are moving!" Jaden's voice came across all channels. "A team of ten moving toward the L-2 system!"

Duo, Trowa, and Wufei bolted for the door as Blake cried out. Trowa stopped short at the sound, turning quickly...to kiss Blake. He stared into his eyes for a long second, then turned to disappear.

"We'll be fine," Quatre reassured Blake, patting his shoulder as he started for the door. "I promise."

Blake made a noise after him, but Quatre ignored it.

"Come on," Heero muttered, leading them from the room quickly. "We can get suits and hop on a transport."

"Can't I get a suit?" Jinli demanded irritably as they stormed through the halls.

"If you joined the military," Heero agreed, trying to keep himself from running.

"I'm married to Wufei," Jinli protested.

"And you're an adorable couple," Heero agreed dryly.

Jinli snorted at him.

Heero flashed him a grin, and...vaulted the railing.

"Damn it," Matty called after him, turning to run down the stairs. That released Blake, and he ran for it himself.

Jinli rolled his eyes, looking to the ceiling, then followed the pair.

By the time the three of them made it into the ship, Heero was throwing suits at them. Jinli started pulling his outfit on, watching as Heero paused to help Matty, then Blake. By the time they'd all got suited up, the machine was already moving, and Matty fell backwards against Jinli.

"Sorry," the teen muttered.

"It's fine," Heero reassured him as Jin nodded. "Grab something, we're gonna get jostled."

"Huh?" Jinli asked blankly...as something big hit the ship...or at least, it felt like it. The ship lurched sickeningly toward one side...

"Don't lo..." Heero started.

"Shit!" Matty muttered, pressing his hands to his eyes as a disgustingly bright light moved by the window on the side.

"Deathscythe," Heero explained, moving forward to hug Matty. "Heavyarms and Demigod should be about a second..." the ship lurched again, almost seeming to bounce.

"I think they're trying to attach together," Heero muttered dryly.

"But what about..."

"I think that Lame and the rest of Jaden's stuff will be a little...later, like after the ship is out. I don't think many men would be happy if anything but a gundam did a fly-through like that."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Jinli asked nervously.

"It could be, if the ship got jostled too hard," Heero agreed, pulling back to study Matty's eyes. "But that's what I'm saying—I know the gundams have enough handling to do a slide-through of that small a gap. I assume Demigod is, too, if it was that close to Heavy. What do you see?"

"Um...you...sort of. It's like, a halo of you."

"Your sight will settle down in a little bit. Come on, we should go up front."

"I hate this," Blake muttered, moving to cling to Jinli's arm. "I feel so...useless and scared."

"Heavyarms is a good machine," Jinli reminded him. "It'll be fine."

"But I don't know that for sure until it's over," Blake muttered, pressing his eyes against the man's upper-arm.

Heero flashed a very slight grin back at Jinli.

There was a loud sound, and Heero looked toward the wall as they moved.

"What was that?" Blake asked quickly.

"Lame and the rest," Heero shrugged. "I think that specific was Lame, so we could hear it."

"Quatre wanted to be sure," Matty agreed. "The floor is clear, right?"

"Yes, we're fine," Heero reassured him. "I'm watching so you don't fall. What else did Quatre think?"

"I'm not sure, he just wanted us to know how far behind he was, I think."

"Can you tell anything else?"

Matty closed his eyes—they weren't doing him any good anyway—and concentrated. He could sense a nebulous something off in the distance, and that seemed red. Other than that...there was a white something on the other side...huge...the earth.

"Uh...I can feel the earth," Matty noted, opening his eyes and looking around. "Is that normal?"

"I have no idea," Heero noted quietly. "It's the sort of thing Quatre wouldn't mention."

"Hm," Matty shrugged. "Nothing distinct, really...just..."

"Let me know if you pick up on anything," Heero suggested. "Quatre knows you can feel him, so he may send stuff at you."

Matty nodded.

"You gonna be okay, Blake?" Heero added after a moment.

"I...should be fine," Blake said quietly. "I hope."

"You know, I almost envy Trowa the sex he's getting tonight," Heero muttered.

Blake tsked.

"What?" Jaden asked, turning to look at them from the laptop he had set up in front of him.

"Why are you out here?" Heero asked blankly.

"It's the first fight I'm fully committed to," Jaden retorted. "Why wouldn't I be out here?"

"I don't know," Heero muttered, still obviously confused. "I just..."

"I looked out the window," Matty informed the blond. "Do you know what I can see?"

"Well, nothing the shape of that window," Jaden suggested in amusement. "Why was Winner trying to run us over?"

"He wasn't, he wanted us sure how far behind he was," Matty moved slowly forward.

"There's a chair there," Jaden said quickly. "You're gonna hit it."

Matty stopped, reaching out for Heero.

Heero shook his head, guiding his friend into the seat.

"I've never had to share a take-off," the pilot muttered, turning to look at them over his shoulder. "I don't think I'm sleeping for a week from that adrenaline."

"It was all I could do to keep him from over-correcting," Jaden agreed with a smile. "Though I'm not trying to say I wasn't about to panic. Deathscythe scares the shit out of me."

"It's supposed to," Jinli noted, moving around to sit in one of the two seats in front of Jaden's commander-seat.

Blake dropped into Jinli's lap.

Jinli blinked at him.

"It'll be okay," Jaden reassured the younger male seriously, leaning forward slightly so Blake could meet his eyes. "You'll see. Barton's in his war-machine. He knows when to retreat."

"When he runs out of bullets," Heero agreed dryly, looking between them all. He grinned, though, shaking his head. "And none of you get that."

"Huh?" Matty muttered, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Get what?"

"There was a while in there where Trowa ran out of bullets in every battle he was in. We've flicked him about it ever since."

"What if he runs out now?" Blake asked, muted fear in his voice as he looked around to Heero.

"What sort of reassurance should I give him?" Heero asked blankly, looking around to Jaden.

Jaden blinked at him.

"If he runs out," Jinli suggested, bouncing his legs so Blake bounced too, "he'll just have to move forward to engage. The bullets are long-range, you know? No one will get close to him before he's empty. He has one of those beam-sabers, too. He'll be fine."

Blake nodded, thinking about that.

"I should see if he actually knows how to fight with one of those," Jinli added. "I'm sure me and Wufei can come up with some bokken. I know I wouldn't mind beating his ass down without actually killing him."

Blake snorted at that, looking away and shaking his head.

Jaden cast Heero another uncertain look, then focused back on Matty. "You see yet?"

"Better," Matty muttered, looking around. "The window seems to be far away now."

"I didn't warn in time," Heero made a face. "It's been a long time since the burn's been that close. I thought you'd be okay with Maxwell doing that," he added, raising his voice to the pilot.

"I thought I was until he was coming at me," the man noted in amusement. "Then that new one with Heavyarms..." he shuddered slightly.

"Demigod was leading?" Heero asked blankly. "That's...unexpected."

"I think Heavyarms was going to race him," Jaden noted dryly.

"You mean you think Trowa was trying to race Wufei," Heero corrected. "Not that Heavyarms was racing Demigod."

"What's the difference?" Jaden asked blankly, meeting his eyes.

"The gundams have a certain...AI," Heero shrugged. "That's why we don't have Zero or Sandrock. Those two can think, and that idea is terrifying."

Jaden closed his eyes tightly.

"What?" Heero asked blankly.

"Zero and...and Sandrock...weren't destroyed?" the pilot asked in a small voice. "What about Shenlong?"

Jinli looked away.

"Shenlong was destroyed," Heero reassured him. "We used that footage to engineer the rest. Zero and Sandrock are not destroyed."

"I...may be sick," Jaden informed them.

"What?" Heero asked, mildly alarmed.

"Anxiety," Matty explained quickly, blinking around on Heero. "It's bad enough to find Deathscythe and Heavyarms on the battlefield."

"So you have five suits again," the pilot whispered.

"Zero and Sandrock are utterly bereft of power," Heero offered. "We have no intentions of turning them on again. Ever."

The man nodded.

"Winner in that Taurus is bad enough," Jaden informed them, sliding down in his seat. "Why aren't you in a suit?" he asked, meeting Heero's eyes.

"I would be," Jinli noted dryly, "if there was one for me."

"Mine all have pilots," the man shrugged. "Get Chang to order you one."

"We can't," Heero retorted. "The suits that are available for refitting are tightly controlled, and an ace flyer from any of the ESA bases would get priority over the espoused of one of us. The only way Jin could get a suit without causing total rioting would be for him to take on a prototype suit that would be in worse shape than Demigod."

"Worse shape?" Jaden repeated, staring at him blankly.

"Demigod has some bugs," Jinli noted in amusement. "Little things, like the directional controls freezing up in the middle of battle before sending the machine a mile or two in the wrong direction."

Jaden snorted at that, giving him another look.

"Oh yeah," Jinli agreed. "So Duo hid Deathscythe and wound through the jungle to find it—only took too long and got grabbed."

That made the other man rub at his face as he took a long slow breath.

"Do you have any idea how much of this whole thing has been fluke?" Matty asked brightly, meeting Jaden's eyes. "Their very involvement in this nonsense was utter chance."

"More circumstance," Heero corrected, grinning. "If you would have listened to me, you wouldn't have gotten grabbed."

"What?" Jaden asked, looking between them.

"I was going to 27 to hear some music," Matty explained wryly. "I wanted to hit the shops and catch a live—get away from my father since he was babysitting me."

"But..." Jaden started, thinking quickly.

"I tried to get the damn ship stopped in the port," Heero noted in amusement, looking to the ceiling. "The only problem was that our rank hadn't been put back on and the ESA knew you fuckers were getting all stirred up."

Jaden met his eyes, then looked around to Jinli.

"We were visiting Quatre's family, too," Heero added. "We had to run for it when we got the news—we had the easiest fucking time getting Fei into 25—you wouldn't believe it."

"What did you think of all that?" Jaden asked Jinli.

"I didn't know they were around," Jinli shrugged. "That was before Wufei contacted me again."

"So what, he show up on your doorstep and asks you to marry him?"

Jinli laughed at that, his expression going pensive as he looked out at the blackness beyond. "I hadn't seen Wufei...since before 207 was destroyed."

Jaden sobered instantly.

"We were best friends as kids, you know?" Jinli smiled slightly, looking back to the man. "Then he got all caught up in joining the Long family and marrying their daughter—and then she got killed," he went quiet a long moment. "And then...he was gone. I didn't realize he'd been picked as Shenlong's pilot until I started hearing the stories about the earth...well, that's not even true. I just knew I wasn't picked."

Jaden's mouth fell open.

"I didn't mind, really," Jinli added quietly, looking back to him. "At the time I was a little miffed that they didn't think I was good enough, but I wanted to get my schooling done," he shook his head.

"You...could have...been a pilot?" the pilot asked, looking around to him in amazement.

"There were several of us," Jinli agreed with a shrug, he looked back to the stars. "There aren't many left now."

Blake wrapped his arms around Jinli's neck and shoulders, hugging him hard.

Jinli accepted that hug, taking a moment to gather his emotions. He swallowed. "When...it happened..." he turned his head back toward the group without looking at them. "I was away at boarding school and knew Wufei was fighting. I'd found all the others. It was...hard...and for the longest time I thought Wufei was dead, too."

"How did you find out he wasn't?" Jaden muttered.

"The news," Jinli shrugged. "The way the ranking went, friends in the military...all sorts of sources."

"What did he think about all of it?"

"I have no idea," Jinli met his eyes seriously. "I hadn't heard from, nor seen him, in person since before the colony. When he called me, Matty was there with him."

Jaden stared at him a long moment, then looked around to Heero.

"We couldn't get him to set foot on 25," Heero shrugged. "The survivor list was there—and since he was a survivor himself, he was entitled to some contact information. Matty helped convince him to call."

"I had...no idea," Jaden said quietly, looking back to Jinli. "I...are you two really lovers?"

Matty cackled as Blake covered his mouth with a hand.

"No," Jinli retorted dryly, shoving the younger male off his lap. "Not at all—not in the slightest..."

"They just sleep together," Heero offered happily.

Matty started giggling.

- -

Attacking the MS wasn't as dramatic as some of the battles he'd been in, but Wufei had a slightly different worry. Demigod had never been properly practiced in the vacuum of space, and considering the unscheduled direction it had taken in the battle in Brazil, he was half-dreading the 'what if's his mind was so dutifully offering.

The one thing that kept him from panicking was the fact that Trowa had checked the oxygen.

Wufei dodged an attack, lashing out with the whip to neutralize the machine. It was sort of satisfying to feel the power as the whip wrapped the thing...but it wasn't like he was getting the chance to dwell.

So far, they'd taken out four of the machines, and Jaden's team were gathering those up. The message had gone out to the ESA, so there'd be a retrieval team to collect those soon enough.

"Fei!"

Wufei's attention flashed to the machine coming up on his right, but Quatre's shout hadn't been about that. He maneuvered the handy-dandy shield around to block the shot that had missed the Taurus.

"You need to go all Heero-like on'em, Fei," Trowa ordered.

Wufei blinked at his friend's screen, then realized that those little discs could be used offensively as well as defensively. He glanced over his controls, then hit the button to shoot them out...or at least, he thought it should.

Nothing happened.

"Fei?" Trowa demanded tightly.

"It's not..." he hit the button again, then swore and snapped the whip around the machine he was facing. He focused completely on the little shield-things...and snorted.

"What?" Quatre asked.

"I'm assuming they aren't meant to go flying anymore," Duo noted pointedly, slashing another machine.

"That would have been good to know before fighting," Trowa hazarded.

"Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious," Wufei shot back.

"Mm, no problem, Major Fuck-up."

Wufei grinned at that, sending the shield out to protect their back-up when a shot went for them.

"Sssnake-eyessss," Duo hissed happily...and...cut the top off the machine was facing.

"Duo," Quatre chided. "We're in space!"

"That shouldn't have touched his oxygen supply," Duo shot back. "And even if it did, his suit should be fine."

"We're talking about Gerrange," Trowa reminded them. "Gerrange."

"Hm, good point," Duo agreed, reaching over and offering Deathscythe's hand.

Even as Quatre disabled the final machine, a man appeared from the ruined MS. He climbed into the gundam's hand, and hugged his arms around the thumb.

"Nice," Duo muttered. "I'll love him and squeeze him, and hug him, and..."

"Duo," Quatre warned.

Duo sniggered, turning back toward the transport shuttle.

The alarms went off shrilly in Wufei's suit, and he turned to see another human form with a red outline flashing the S.O.S..

"Save his shit?" Quatre offered.

Wufei snorted, working his machine around to gather the man up as he realized what happened. He'd been irritated when he'd attacked that last MS. He'd probably done something fatal to the machine, and with it being Gerrange, it was probably just as fatal to the pilot.

'Thank you,' the man mouthed toward the camera, clinging to Demigod's hand. He looked none-too-thrilled to be a lone man in a suit in space, but what could he do?

"Let us truss up this one," Heero's voice came over the speakers. "Then we'll take yours."

"Alright," Wufei agreed, moving toward the transport himself.

"Why did they only send ten?" Quatre asked quietly.

"Either a test or stupidity," Trowa offered, allowing Heavyarms to float a bit.

"I meant which," Quatre retorted. "I want to talk to Matty, I'm riding back in the ship."

"They can only take two," Duo reminded him. "Who else wants to ride in?"

"I probably should," Wufei returned. "I don't trust Demigod in the vacuum."

"Good, I didn't want to go in, anyway," Trowa noted, flicking a thruster so he stopped floating away from them. "You cool with it, Duo?"

"I hadn't planned to ride in at all," the other reassured him, moving away from the transport.

Wufei maneuvered himself to be closer to the ship, moving the machine so the man was outside the airlock.

Truth-be-told, the man was starting to look a little panicked when nothing happened right away, and he shifted how he sat, reaching for the door carefully.

"Just wait," Wufei instructed, realizing he should have contacted the guy. "How's your oxygen?"

"I'm gonna say ten minutes and have a panic attack," the male's voice returned as he clung back to the machine.

"Heero?" Wufei hit the contact button.

"Yeah?" Blake asked.

"You're not Asian enough to be Heero," Wufei informed him helpfully. "My guy says he has ten minutes of oxygen left."

"Oh that is just peachy," Blake muttered dryly. "I cannot believe..."

The ESA transport beamed them a warning.

"I suggest you gather them quickly," Quatre noted to the thing—they had an open channel between their MS. "I don't think they have much oxygen."

"Yes, Sir," someone muttered.

The ship's door opened, and Wufei watched as the guy he was holding all but leapt into Heero—the man's build made it obvious who it was.

"You going in first?" he asked Quatre.

"No, go ahead," Quatre returned. "I trust mine more than you seem to trust yours."

Wufei flashed him a grin, hitting the connect button again. "Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"Let them know I want to dock and ride in."

"Alright...who do I tell?" but as he asked, Wufei heard confirmation from an unknown voice.

Wufei moved to the belly of the ship, watching as it slowly opened, then hit the dock button on his machine and started to pray.

He should have burnt some incense. It would have made him feel ten times better.

- -

"We knew there weren't enough of us," a soldier noted from where he was sitting with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Quatre hesitated to look at the two men, then shrugged at Wufei and disappeared through the door.

"We did," the guy persisted, his expression serious as he considered Wufei's face. "Rab wanted us to make the attempt, but we were done with him—he's..." he trailed off, looking away. "I think he would have killed us before letting us surrender."

"We should have left with J," the second guy said, staring at the floor—he hadn't looked up when Wufei and Quatre had moved into the room. "I wanted to."

"You guys okay here?" Wufei asked curiously, moving toward the other door.

"I would like it acknowledged that the ten of us agreed to this ridiculous attempt as the means to surrender without being shot," the first stated firmly.

"Alright," Fei agreed, moving beyond them toward the exit.

"You have oxygen?" the first demanded, looking from his friend to Wufei. "You have enough?"

"Illicit is working in concert with the ESA," Wufei returned. "As such the ship has access to the ESA resources," he stopped in the door. "Beyond that, the ship's hull is in one piece, and would survive the atmosphere drop should the emergency occur."

The second looked up, studying Wufei a long moment. "Do you have water? Or a sports drink?"

Wufei considered the man a long moment, looking back to the first. They both had an eager expression as they waited for the answer. He flashed them a mild grin, moving through the door. It slid closed, and he heard them sigh in disappointment.

"They're sort of...floating," Quatre noted as he tossed the two bottles to Wufei. "Neither of them are sure of anything."

"Thanks," Wufei muttered as the man disappeared, moving back to the other door.

The two men looked up at him...and focused on the cups.

The first smiled uncertainly, meeting his eyes for a moment before looking away.

"Sports drinks, we have," Wufei noted, breaking the first open. "Sorry, but I'm not hanging out to give you drinks and we aren't un-cuffing you. Here," he set the thing in the cup holder between the first man and the empty seat next to him. He opened the second as well, setting that in the outer cup-holder.

"You're some kind of god," the second muttered in amusement looking up to him again.

"I've heard that a few times," Wufei noted, winking at him as he turned to start away.

"Chang," the first muttered.

Wufei turned to look at him curiously.

They stared at him.

"Oh, did I neglect that?" Wufei smirked at them. "I'm Brigadier General Chang Wufei of the Earthsphere Alliance."

They continued staring at him.

Wufei smiled at them, then turned back to the other room.

"Why didn't Trowa come?" Blake muttered, studying Wufei's face seriously.

"He's...Trowa...like that?" Wufei offered, looking around.

Jin sighed, moving up to hug him briefly. "You okay?"

"You're such a good husband," Wufei retorted...and pinched his ass. He was running even as he let go, and Jaden turned to give him the look.

Blake laughed weakly as he dropped back down into a chair, shaking his head.

"I would so totally hurt you if he weren't talking to your bosses," Jinli hissed, giving him a look. He turned away, heading for the pilot with a stiff back.

Wufei snickered, tucking his hands into his pockets as he strolled up to the screen curiously.

"Brigadier," the man talking said respectfully with a nod of his head.

Wufei nodded back.

Quatre had already taken Matty to a back corner of the room, and Heero was near them. He figured that meant he was in charge, and wondered what he could subtly do to make them wonder why they'd left him to it...aside from pinching his espoused's ass and running for it. That could easily be shoved off as a preference for intimacy in private, so it didn't carry far enough along for him.

"I can see your wheels turning," Quatre noted, turning to give him a level look. "I tell you no."

Wufei snickered happily, ducking away from the console to laugh properly.

"What were you doing?" the new brunette demanded as Matty raised his eyebrows.

"What do you think I was doing, oh mighty space-heart?" Wufei returned sweetly.

"I couldn't tell," Quatre returned, still evenly. "I knew you were trying, though."

Wufei giggled, then smacked his hands to his mouth.

Blake snickered.

"Shh, don't watch me," Wufei chided, bouncing down to sit across from him and tilt his head. "You look high-strung."

"Trowa was fighting," Blake explained, looking down with a sigh.

"Are you kidding me?" Wufei asked blankly. "With ten suits? That wasn't an issue—it might have been on earth the first few weeks...but we were fifteen then."

Blake smiled slightly at that, not lifting his head as he looked at Wufei. That seemed to fall under the "coy" category.

"I'm not Trowa to suddenly decide you're cute," Wufei informed him with a smirk. "You wouldn't like sex with me, I'm selfish."

Blake started laughing at that, smacking Wufei and giving him a more reprimanding sort of look.

Wufei laughed, grabbing the underside of Blake's forearm near the elbow. The grip startled Blake so he looked up properly. "I can't promise you that nothing will happen," he said quietly, leaning over and pulling slightly. He pressed his forehead to Blake's and studied his eyes a moment. "Nothing will happen."

"Wait, what?" Blake asked, thinking about that as Wufei let him go.

"Nothing will happen," Wufei returned easily.

Blake closed his eyes, laughing silently a moment, then shook his head...and swung across the aisle to sit in Wufei's lap. He leaned into Wufei's chest, too, relaxing a bit.

That was the sort of thing Matty did. He didn't understand what about him made them both willing to try and cuddle with him, but he didn't really get much to say if the others were claiming he had some sort of fetish with Trowa.

He leaned forward, typing the code to connect to Heavyarms.

"What's up?" Trowa asked, his face appearing on the screen before he gave Wufei a very level look.

"Trowa!" Blake turned instantly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Trowa reassured him. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out what Fei meant," the younger male supplied, thinking again. "He said...he told me he couldn't promise me nothing would happen...but that nothing would happen."

Trowa smiled at that, understanding appearing in his expression. "Nothing will happen," he said quietly.

Blake sighed, then lowered his eyes.

"Blake," Trowa cajoled, "come on."

"I'm just worried," Blake muttered, rubbing at his eyes.

Trowa sighed, looking up to study Wufei a moment, then flashed him a very slight grin. "Wufei? Why is my boyfriend on your lap?"

"No reason," Wufei returned happily, shoving the kid over into the seat next to him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"He was totally in your lap, and you called me specifically so I could see it."

"I did not!" Wufei returned happily. "He was upset and I thought seeing you would help!"

"So why was he in your lap?"

Blake started laughing weakly, leaning against Wufei's shoulder and studying the screen as he sobered.

"If you cheat on me with Wufei," Trowa informed him, "I will totally pull him in with us."

Blake snorted at that, shifting back and thinking. "Wait...is that...supposed to be a threat?"

Trowa grinned wickedly.

"You're stupid," Wufei informed his friend happily, and reached for the disconnect...Blake intercepted that, but the attempt had been made. Wufei gave his friend a look, then hopped up from the seat and moved to rejoin Jaden.

He wanted to create mischief, and it'd be twice as fun if he had to work around Quatre to do it.