Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Matchmaker ❯ Cleaning Up the Messes Made by Others ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Title: The Matchmaker 19/20?Author: Makoto SagaraSeries: Gundam WingArchive: the usual suspects (ffnet, affnet, Foreverfandom, my site, mediaminer, my update LJ, and the D&DML on yahoo); anywhere else, please ask first.Category: Supernatural, Angst, Romance, and SapPairings: Eventual 2x5x2, 3x4x3, and 1xRx1Rating: T+ Warnings: Shonen ai, language, angst, sap, het, supernatural dealingsDisclaimers: 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: Wow, so, Shini or telepathy? What’s Duo going to choose? Wouldn’t you like for me to tell you that? Well, I’m not! At least not in the Author’s Notes. But review when you’re done to tell me what you thought of this chapter! Thanks go to Jokes for all her help with beta’ing and putting up with my psycho muses.
Chapter Nineteen – Cleaning Up the Messes Made By Others
“You can’t be serious!” Duo yelled, yanking on the end of his braid in frustration. “You can’t expect me to be able to tell you on the fly which I want to get rid of. Do you even know what the hell it is you’re asking?”
“Certainly,” Maximus answered calmly, seeming unruffled by the building anger in the human. “You can either lose the part of your personality that you cannot control, the part that could kill your friends without blinking, or your more recent gift of telepathy.” He looked over at his darker companion. “Isn’t that the case, Thazerus?”
“Yes,” the black coloured angel said with a yawn. “It is not…how do you humans say it...brain surgery?”
“It’s not so simple,” Duo whispered, allowing himself to crumple to the soft grass of the supernatural garden. “Shini’s been a part of me for a very long time. Without that, I would have died on the streets of L2 before I even found Solo.”
“He is also responsible for injuring your friend Heero numerous times,” Maximus said gently. “Do you really wish to keep such a dangerous side? How would you be able to deal with things if you harmed your lover? Or killed one of the other pilots?”
“I hurt Heero again, didn’t I?” Duo asked, wanting to cry but staying surprisingly dry-eyed.
“Yes,” Thazerus answered. “I will not coddle you, human. You threatened to kill him and hurt the one you call Wufei.”
“I didn’t actually hurt ‘Fei, did I?” Violet eyes turned to stare at the angels, desperation leaking out. “He’s okay, yeah?”
“Wufei is fine, aside from some minor damage that occurred from fighting with one of the captors,” Maximus said. “It is your friend Heero who was hurt the most.”
“What did I do to him?” The human was barely audible, but they understood what he wanted to know.
“You stabbed him in the thigh with a knife, after twisting his arm out of its socket. It was a rather impressive display, if one goes for the whole violent angle.”
“Aw, Relena’s gonna kill me for this,” Duo wailed, tugging on his braid again. “I’m glad it wasn’t something worse, but… It wasn’t really me.”
“You friend understands that, and I do believe that your lover has seen you as Shinigami a time or two, yes?”
“Yeah, I think Tro was the only one who hadn’t been there during a battle where I missed the last half.” Duo desperately tried to use his telepathy to see if he could reach his friends, but all he heard was the harshness of his own breathing.
“While you are here, your powers will not work,” Thazerus said conversationally. “There will be no outside influences while you make up your mind. In fact, Max, let’s take a walk while the human thinks.”
“Excellent idea, Thaz,” Maximus said, getting up from the ground and walking off with the other angel after he had risen as well.
Alone, Duo looked up at the electric blue sky of the garden and let his mind –blessedly his own and without the thoughts of others– wander for a while. The way I see it, I have two very tempting options. If I get rid of Shini, I don’t have to worry about killing anyone indiscriminately anymore. That’s a plus. If I get rid of the telepathy, I won’t have to hear all the thoughts of everyone around me. It’ll avoid all those pesky moments between Q and T-rex. That’s nice. But, the telepathy thing was cool with Q in the car. It made planning our escape way easier.
If I keep Shini, Une’s going to want to make me work for the Preventers full time. I can pretty much see it now. I’m already unpredictable in her mind, which is kinda true, I guess; but in battle situations, I’d be a liability. If I keep the telepathy, I guess I could still become a Preventer, but less of a field agent and more of an interrogator or investigator. That’d be sorta cool. I just… I dunno what I want to do.

Wufei’s face from that morning flashed across Duo’s closed eyes, and he knew what he was going to do. Sighing, he stood up and called for the angels, who appeared on demand. “I’ve made up my mind.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Wufei held onto Duo’s hand in the ambulance as they travelled back to Preventer Headquarters. Trowa and Quatre had opted to ride with the unconscious Heero, while the third ambulance carried Noventa. There was a coroner’s van behind the third emergency vehicle, and two SUVs brought up the rear of the group. It had taken everything Wufei had not to start yelling when the rookies he’d trained had attempted to tell him that he had to ride in the SUVs with the restrained suspects. It felt beyond stupid that he’d had to pull rank before the idiots shut up and let him sit with his lover.
Duo hadn’t moved since Heero had laid him out, and Wufei wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or not. He could see the American’s eyelids flickering, which meant he was dreaming, and breathed a little easier, but he knew that he wasn’t going to be completely happy until he saw Duo’s violet eyes staring up at him and giving him that stupid, lopsided grin that made his heart flutter.
He was shaken from his staring when the vehicle stopped and the doors opened up. One of the EMTs gave him a weak smile. “Okay, Preventer Chang, we’re here at headquarters. We’ve got to get Mr. Maxwell to Doctor Po, and Lady Une’s requested to see you right away.”
“Thank you,” Wufei said formally, letting go of his lover’s hand hesitantly. “You will find me if he wakes up.”
“I’ll make sure that the doctor knows to find you right away,” the man said.
It took everything in him to not demand that the man find him himself if Duo woke up. He understood that he had a job to do and that he was performing it to the best of his abilities, but even that didn’t comfort Wufei. With a curt nod of his head, he stormed out of the emergency vehicle bay and made his way to Lady Une’s office. He blew passed the woman’s poor secretary, who appeared to be near tears anyway. “Don’t get up, Christina,” he said as he opened the door.
“Well, Chang, how nice of you to finally show back up at headquarters,” Une said snidely as she looked up from the papers on her desk. “I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about your actual position here.”
“Hardly,” he retorted, sitting down in one of the chairs before her desk. He didn’t bother waiting for her to allow him to sit. She was angry, and would forget about the niceties. “I was with Maxwell. He woke up not even a week ago. I am back. I will be returning to my active duties in two days.”
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that you think that’s the case,” Une said, shoving a few pieces of paper into his face. “I’ve been receiving calls from Vice-Minister Peacecraft every fifteen minutes since noon. You can imagine that she was not happy to hear that we had lost contact with your group in Calais.”
“I can imagine a lot of things about Relena Peacecraft, but I didn’t think that she was my priority, considering that Noventa and some hired thugs kidnapped at gunpoint before we could reach the vehicle you provided.” There, that wiped the snarl off of the redheaded woman’s face. She took her spectacles off and Wufei could see how tired and haggard she was from everything going on. “Would you like a verbal report or shall I have to write this whole stupid thing out for you?”
“Verbal will do for now, Chang,” she said calmly. “If needed, you can write the report tomorrow.”
“Noted,” he responded before going into details of the entire time he was away. She asked few questions, and only smirked when he grew uncomfortable talking about Duo in too much detail. “After Shinigami was subdued, I called headquarters and had Po send us backup. I came to your office as soon as I left the ambulance with Maxwell in it.”
“So, Noventa, Maxwell, Yuy, Winner and Barton are all guests in my infirmary?” she asked with an amused smile.
“There is also a dead body in your morgue,” Wufei stated coolly. He’d been in the woman’s office for nearly half an hour, and he was worried about Duo. “Not that you should care about that. I’m sure the local coroner will love hearing about it.”
“Hardly, but that’s not his call, now is it? The man attacked Yuy; he should have known better, and I doubt that Yuy’s main object was to kill.” Wufei shrugged. Sometimes, it was hard to tell with Yuy, and they both knew that. “Moving on. I have some questions about Maxwell.”
“What would you like to know?” Wufei asked, keeping a tight lid on his irrational anger when his lover was mentioned.
“First of all, do you think that his reversal into Shinigami can be controlled?”
“No, I think that once that dam is open, it is far too late to worry about floods.”
“Do you think that he reverted to Shinigami because of the situation or for other reasons?”
“I could hardly tell you, Lady Une, but if I had to rely on supposition, I would say it was because of the situation. There have been no strange mass murders on L2 since Maxwell went there to live on his own. In fact, I spoke with a local police officer on his particular colony while I was in the cafeteria at the hospital. He said that crime –especially gang related crime– was down significantly near the scrap yard Maxwell and Schiedebeker run and the orphanage they help from time to time. That’s a three block radius in one of the worst neighborhoods in the Earth Sphere.”
“Impressive,” she said, tugging at a loose strand of her dark, red hair. “All right, so Maxwell is much more disciplined than I ever gave him credit for.” Her sharp eyes bore directly into Wufei’s face suddenly. “Tell me about this telepathy he’s gained since waking up. Is it the real thing?”
“Yes,” Wufei answered through clenched teeth. “He has managed to connect with not only our group of friends, but with his doctor, the nurses, and even our captor and his associates. It was because of Duo that we were able to get Grumman’s name out of the assassin. It was also because of Duo’s ability to read minds and Winner’s strategic thinking that they were able to coordinate the takedown of Noventa with no words.”
“Do you think that Maxwell would welcome an invitation to the Preventers forces?”
“That’s something that you’ll have to ask him yourself,” Wufei said, standing up from his seat. “I’m sure that Po will alert you when he is awake.”
“Chang, since you were off-duty, I will assign Richards and Carmichael to the investigation into the attack,” Une said. “I would like a written statement from all five of you. I would like one from the Vice-Minister as well, but I don’t think I can force her to give me one.”
“Ask her,” he replied. “I’m certain she’d be delighted to assist in this case, since she was under threat as well.” He headed to the door. “I will be with Maxwell.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“You’re lucky, Yuy,” Major Po told him as she finished stitching up his thigh. “Maxwell only managed to get muscle, not an artery, when he stabbed you. A few days of rest and you should be good as new.”
“The others?” he asked curtly.
“Winner’s fine. He was a little shaken up, but nothing that a cup of coffee and some speaking with Barton didn’t fix right up. I’m sure he’ll feel guilty about what he’s done, but that’s just who he is, I’m guessing. Barton, on the other hand, had a few abrasions and a slight laceration on his left arm. He was an easy patch-up. Chang was called to Une’s office as soon as you five arrived, but I’ll be taking a look at his arm, make no doubt of that.” Heero suppressed a shudder at the delighted gleam in the woman’s eyes. “Maxwell is still unconscious, but I’ve set his nose. He’s going to need to new crutches for a while, but he should heal fine.
“Noventa, on the other hand, is alive, but it will take some time for him to be fit to stand trial.”
“You believe that they will actually try him?”
“There’s no choice,” Po said, cleaning up the last of the blood and putting gauze over the repaired wound. “He kidnapped a Preventer, as well as four private citizens. He made threats against Vice-Minister Peacecraft. And, he has connections to Grumman. He’s not likely to buy his way out of this.”
“We’ll see,” Heero stated calmly, watching the woman shift items on her tray around. “Who are you going to see to next?”
“Really, I should go check on Noventa,” the doctor answered frankly. “I’ve got him with the PA and my nurse. However, I’m not going to see him until I’ve checked on both Maxwell and Chang. In the meantime, I’ll send a nurse into wrap your foot.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand before his face. “Don’t try it. I’ve worked with Wufei for the last two years. The two of you deny being injured if you think you can get away with it.” She pulled his legs up onto the examination table with a careless, rushed air. “And if you move, I’ll call Ms. Peacecraft and let her handle you.”
Heero realized that resisting at this point would be a losing battle and wisely stayed silent. He would rather fight with Sally Po than have to deal with Relena when she got here. It was bound to be hard enough without adding to his troubles.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quatre sat in the interrogation room, still in shock at what he’d done with Duo. While they had planned to take down Noventa together, he never meant to almost kill the man. It was the strike across the face. No one has ever hit me like that. No one, he thought, his breathing speeding up to near hysterical levels.
“It’s okay, Quatre,” Trowa said, brushing a hand down the blond’s arm in a comforting gesture. “Just think about how we handled the debriefings after the Mariemaia incident.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Trowa,” Quatre huffed, shooting a dark look at his new boyfriend. “You were undercover the whole time. Duo and I had to handle a lot during our time to free Relena.”
“And you did great,” the brunet man said, staring down hard at Quatre. “He hit you, and like I told you before we were brought here, if it hadn’t been for Wufei and Heero, he wouldn’t have lived long enough for you to react.”
“As bad as this is going to sound, that does help.” Quatre flashed a brief smile before he stared at the room’s wall. “When do you think Duo’s going to wake up?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” Trowa teased. Quatre closed his eyes and reached out with his other sense. He could feel Duo, calm and peaceful, but there was a tinge of anxiousness that laced everything, like a black spot on a white carpet.
“It feels like he’s trying to make a decision, and he’s really close, but I don’t know what it is,” Quatre whispered.
“Whatever it is, he’ll make the right choice,” Trowa replied, wrapping an arm around Quatre’s waist and drawing him closer.
The door opened, bringing blue and one green eye to stare at the intruder. Suddenly, Quatre had flashbacks of the war and the one time he’d met face-to-face with Colonel Une. “Well, Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton, how lovely to meet you once again, and not in disguise,” the woman said with a brilliant smile on her face before she grew serious. “Now, about today’s events…”
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