Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Matchmaker ❯ Interrogation Techniques ( Chapter 12 )

Title: The Matchmaker 12/15?
Author: Makoto Sagara
Series: Gundam Wing
Archive: fanfiction.net, afallenangel.net/makotosagara/, mediaminer.org, adultfanfiction.net, makochanupdates.livejournal.com; anywhere else, please ask first.
Category: Supernatural, Angst, Romance, Sap

Pairings: Eventual 2x5x2, 3x4x3, and 1xRx1
Rating: T
Warnings: Shonen ai, language, angst, sap, het, supernatural dealings
Disclaimers: Yeah, like I own Gundam Wing. (Goes off to cry, but not before turning out pockets) I am poor as well. Flames will be used to amuse my muses. They are easily entertained, but highly obnoxious.

A/N: Hm, okay, so it might be a bit longer than fifteen chapters now that I'm finding more and more details for these last few chapters. Scenes just keep popping up and demanding to be written, and I really can't refuse. So, let's say somewhere between fifteen and twenty chapters. That's safe! Many thanks go to IThoughtMyJokesWereBad for agreeing to put up with me. <3 ya~!

Chapter Twelve - Interrogation Techniques

“What's going on?” Duo asked as he limped into the sitting room of the suite, making Trowa and Wufei glance back at him momentarily before turning back to the man they had handcuffed and tied to one of the chairs. “'Fei? Tro? Who's that?”

`What do we say? He has every right to know that we suspect this man of trying to kill him,' Wufei thought, his face blank as his mind traveled a million miles a minute.

“Whoa, you think he's the one who hit me,” Duo said, with a voice that was shaky. “I need to sit down.”

Trowa immediately made his way to help the American pilot but was pushed, none too gently, out of the way by Wufei. Once he had Duo seated on the room's couch, he answered him. “Yes, Duo, we believe that he is responsible, or knows who is.” Wufei's voice was tender and low. “We've called Yuy and Winner up to help us question him.”

“Duo, you might be able to get more information than the rest of us,” Trowa added. `He doesn't know about your new quirk and we can use that to our advantage.'

The braided man nodded, swallowing a few times. “How long before the other two get up here?” A knock on the outside door sounded just then. “Well, I guess that answers my question,” he said with a humorless laugh.

He watched as Trowa looked through the peep-hole and then opened the door. “You brought Relena, Heero? Isn't that reckless?”

“You thought that I was going to leave her alone while there are unknown entities roaming the hotel?” Heero asked, and Duo had to smile at the stern tone his best friend was using. “Besides, she wouldn't stay down in the lobby or go to her own room. She demanded to be here for Duo.”

“Damn right,” the woman cursed, pushing her way passed the two men and sitting down next to Duo on the sofa. “There's no way that you're leaving me out of this. I have just as much right to know as the rest of you.” She crossed her arms and fixed a stubborn look on her face.

“'Lena, it's not really safe for this guy to know you're here,” Duo whispered to her as he watched Heero, Quatre and Trowa move to stand near Wufei.

“Well, if he knew enough to wait until you were alone, he probably saw Quatre and me with you earlier,” she said reasonably. “So, it's pretty useless to worry about him not knowing that I'm associated with you now.”

“She's right, Duo,” Quatre said, frowning. “I suppose the first thing to determine is who he is. I can assume that you've already checked him.” Wufei and Trowa nodded wordlessly. “Nothing, right?” Again, they nodded. “Lovely… So, ideas?” Trowa leaned over to the blond and whispered in his ear for a few seconds. “Oh, yes, that idea should work. We'd be able to tell if he was lying, of course, and Duo can always tell us if he refuses to answer.”

“I never thought that this stupid... thing… would be useful for anything,” Duo muttered. He spared Relena a look of thanks when she patted his hand comfortably. “So, who's going to interrogate him?”

The other men exchanged looks before grabbing Relena and Duo up from the couch and pushing them into the bedroom. Wufei and Trowa were gentle as they helped Duo, but it still didn't stop the dull ache from his leg that only got worse as he sat down on the bed. He grimaced and Quatre eyed him carefully. “You didn't take your pain meds yet, Duo?”

“I didn't really get a chance before `Fei and Tro got here with our guest.” He wasn't surprised when the pill bottle was shoved in his face, quickly followed by a plastic cup of water from the tap. He downed three of the pills and made a face at the aftertaste. “Yeesh, nasty.”

“Stop whining, you baby,” Heero said before turning to the others. “I think that Quatre should lead the questioning.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“We're leading with the big guns then,” Duo said, closing his eyes momentarily. Quatre could feel the pain that his friend was in, but as there was nothing he could do to help, he didn't draw attention to it. Wufei would only hover, and that would anger Duo, making things more strained between them. “Can't say I disapprove, but why not send Trowa in first?”

“He's already shut down on Wufei and me,” Trowa answered, shrugging. “Heero may be right. Quatre, no offense, looks the least threatening of us all, aside from Relena.”

“None taken,” the blond answered. He was still unsure as to what the relationship he and Trowa had outside of their friendship, and titles made everything more definite. `I guess neither of us is ready for that just yet. However, it would be nice to know exactly what we are to one another.'

“You two still haven't talked about that yet?” Duo whispered, managing to not draw the attention of the other men. Sadly, Relena heard their braided friend and she was staring at him in disbelief.

`Now's not the time for this, Duo!' Quatre turned his attention to room's other occupants, blatantly ignoring the violet and blue eyes boring holes into his head. `Besides, isn't finding out who that guy in the other room is more important.'

“Um, guys, you do realize that we left that would-be assassin tied up in the other room alone?” Relena asked.

“She's right,” Wufei snarled. “Winner, you, Peacecraft, and Duo should go in first. We'll wait in here and come out if you need us.”

“Hn. That sounds fine, except we need a lookout on the outside,” Heero added. “I'll wait in the hallway to make sure that no one else gets in.”

“Are you armed?” Trowa asked.

“I may not have Wufei's extensive martial arts training, but I can handle myself in hand-to-hand combat,” the Japanese man said calmly.

“No,” Duo said. “Wufei, you have a gun. You're the only law enforcement type out of all of us. Heero's just a bodyguard.”

“I can carry a gun and I do so, Duo,” Heero shot back.

“Yeah, but if Wufei shoots someone, it doesn't get traced back to `Lena. Just Une and the Preventers.”

“I have a thought about that, but now isn't the time,” Trowa said. “Duo's right. Wufei should stand guard outside. Heero and I will stay in here while Duo, Quatre and Relena go out and talk to our new friend.” Quatre could feel the anxiety wafting off of Trowa, and that, more than anything else going on, unsettled him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Relena couldn't remember a time she felt less like smiling before then, but she was sure there was a time worse than just that moment. Perhaps the time when her father was killed was one of those times, but only a dull pang of guilt kept her from really thinking about that. On the bright side of things, she didn't want to castrate Wufei anymore. In fact, she would have kissed him if that wouldn't upset Duo and Heero.

The Chinese man appeared to be over his original reservations regarding Duo's ability and trusted him again. Of course, it had only taken an unknown killer to get him back to that point. `I'm surrounded by a bunch of stupid men,' she thought, making Duo snicker next to her. She, in turn, began laughing, until Quatre speared them both with a glare that he must have stolen from either Heero or Wufei. The blonde woman schooled her face into a frown and took in their captive. He was… normal looking, if you could overlook those unusual eyes. He appeared to be non-threatening. And from her extremely limited knowledge of the shadier side of things, she understood that he was perfect as a killer. No one would be able to identify him from a million other men they'd met. It was unnerving.

“We know why you're here,” Quatre stated coolly, bringing Relena out of her thoughts. “There's no use trying to say that you're not here to take out Duo, at the least. So, skip the denials.”

The man scoffed and continued to stare at the wall in front of him.

“You're scared,” her friend said. “I know you are.”

“I am not.” His voice was high-pitched, but soft. It seemed slightly… effeminate. Something about that bothered her, but Relena couldn't place her finger on it.

“Duo, there's something not right about this,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I got that impression from your thoughts, `Lena, but I know what you mean too,” he whispered back. His purple eyes closed and his face scrunched up in concentration before he let out a little gasp of shock. “She's a woman.”

“What?” Quatre asked, turning around to look at them.

“Our `friend' here is a woman,” Duo answered calmly. Relena grabbed his hand to hide the trembling she'd felt coming from him. “She was hired to kill me first, but she's only a replacement for the other one.”

“Does she know who hired her?” Duo shook his head at Quatre and Relena fought back a scream of rage. “Who was the first?”

“What do you mean she was hired to kill you first?” Relena bit out between clenched teeth.

Duo's brow wrinkled as he focused on the woman before them. “I'm getting something about how the rest of us are collateral damage to her employer. She doesn't know any names.”

A hiss came from their captive. “So, you can actually do that then? He wasn't lying.”

“Who?” Quatre asked while leaning over the sitting figure with one hand's fingers twitching as they grasped the end of his lovely teal jumper, the one that Relena had told him matched his eyes so well.

“The orderly,” Duo breathed. Relena whipped her head over to look at him. His face was deathly pale and he had a hand in front of his mouth as if he was going to be sick. “Oh, my god…”

“HEERO!”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As soon as Relena called out his name, Heero shot out of the hotel suite's bedroom and into the living room, his gun drawn and Trowa right behind him. He wasn't surprised that the front door slammed open and Wufei was standing in the frame with his own weapon drawn. His… girlfriend (`and how odd is it to use that word' he thought hysterically,) was sitting next to his best friend, who appeared to be trying not to be violently ill. Quatre was looming over their prisoner still. “What happened?”

“Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god,” Duo whispered repeatedly in a dead voice.

Wufei swept into the room, kicking the door shut behind him, and pushed Relena away from the American. “Duo, what's wrong? Tell me.”

“The orderly… He… Oh, my god.”

“What's going on? What did you find out?” Trowa asked Quatre.

“She,” he pointed at their prisoner, shocking the other three men, “told Duo that she wasn't the first hired to kill him.”

“Who was then?” Wufei asked calmly, coldly.

“The orderly is all he'll say,” Relena answered softly.

“Which orderly? There were many if I'm not mistaken,” Heero said.

“The one I couldn't read,” Duo said, sounding a bit stronger. “I thought it was odd, since I could hear just about everyone else, but there was this one orderly. That day that Tro brought me coffee, and a few times before that…” He made a move as if he was going to throw up. “I remember the food tasted funny every time he brought it in.”

“You didn't eat much that morning,” Trowa added. “I remember that.”

“It was poisoned.” All sound in the room ceased, and it was as if they had been magically transported to a vacuum. “I was poisoned,” Duo said after the silence had dragged on for a few minutes.

No one was ready for when Wufei dropped his gun and launched himself bodily at their captive, letting out a wordless scream of pure fury.

TBC

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