Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Friends Will Be Friends ❯ Another Tricky Situation ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Author: Caitilin
Title: "Another Tricky Situaiton
Arc: Friends will be Friends (5/?)

Previous parts: Hiding in Plain Sight, Bitter Tears Raining down on me, One
shaft of Light, Bound to Lose
Rating: series: nc-17
Pairings: 1x4/4x1, 2x5, 2x3, possibly 3x5, 2x3x5 or 1x3x4
Warnings: Not for kiddies. Will be a bit angsty.
Disclaimer: I am one with the Divine, the Divine ownes all. Sue him,
not me, I'm not making a penny
Thanks to Melodie who encouraged this bunny
Thanks to Anastasia for doing a smack dab job at beta reading!

Another Tricky Situation


I woke up slowly, the first thing I felt being a rhythmic clamping
and unclamping around my right bicep. The second thing I noticed was
that I ached, not enough to disable me, but all over and badly enough to
cause some discomfort. Every muscle felt exhausted. The third thing I felt
was something cold being patted on my forehead.

That puzzled me most. Even though every muscle in my body ached, I
felt detached from the neck down, all my body feeling heavy. I felt as
if I could not move a single muscle, even though I could feel each of
them twinge. Still, I wanted to know what was gripping my bicep, and
who was daubing my forehead. It took virtually all my willpower to
open up my eyes; when I say open up, I do not mean completely. I was
glad to get them to open a crack. Unfortunately, I was pointing the
wrong way to see what was on my bicep, but in front of me I could see
a small, tanned hand squeezing out a cloth in a bowl on her lap, and a
white shift.

'Marie,' my mind supplied. My eyes drifted closed, and while I could
string together more than two words in my mind, I could not open my
eyes again. Whatever drugs they had given me were strong. 'If Marie
is here then I am still a captive.' was the only coherent thought I could
form.

Once my brain had strung that conclusion together, I started trying to
gather
information through the layer of drugs I was still fighting. Whatever
was on my arm, the squeezing was rhythmic and accompanied with a
hiss, so that was probably an automated blood meter cuff. Sally had
one in her office and used it for surgeries as well as for monitoring
of patients. It kept track of heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar,
and a few other readings.

I found opening my eyes again a little easier this time, and I managed
to get them completely open. Marie must have noticed, because she
removed the cloth for a moment, assessing me as best she could. My
eyes slid closed lazily, but I managed to open them again long enough
to assess her as well.

"Hi." I slurred. Hmm... seems like my tongue was not yet up to
working. Now I had my eyes open, I rolled my head to the other side. I
say rolled, as it was in no way a controlled lift and turn. Yep, an
automated cuff. And the rest of the room appeared to be empty. Oh, and
there was my hand, cuffed to the post. My head lolled back down, back
to the side Marie was on. She was pressing on some kind of buzzer, and
I guessed I'd have company soon. Hope they wouldn't be too offended if
I fell asleep on them.

Looking around a bit more, I could see that we were in a bedroom, and
that my other hand was cuffed to the bed as well. Well, that didn't
look too promising.

I was starting to regain some of my body sense, and could tell that I
was naked under the covers, and for some reason my legs were spread,
though I could not tell if they too were cuffed to the ends, or if
they were unrestrained. I hoped for the second, as that would afford
me some chance of escape.

As I was busy assessing the situation, I heard the door open and soft
padding as Walden walked into the room. I know it was him, as he sat down in
the chair that
Marie vacated the moment he came in.

"Well, well, Trowa, awake already. That's a bit earlier than I had
expected. Then again you did tell me that would happen. I'm afraid
I'll have to concede that point to you."

The bastard was looking smug and smiling with his legs crossed and his
hands in his lap playing with something small. I couldn't see what it
was and was simply doing my best to keep my eyes open, despite the
drugs. I had no clue whatsoever as to what he was talking about.

My puzzlement must have shown on my face, though I can't see how as I
am sure I could not move a muscle. He must have read my mind or my
face though, as he laughed again.

"You don't remember? Trowa, in the last twenty-four hours you've told
me everything I wanted to know, about the Preventers and about
yourself. Thanks to you, I managed to move the operation before the
raid. They found exactly what they should have found, empty offices.
We moved you and the merchandise with sufficient time to spare. I
understand your dear Lady Une has now declared you MIA, possibly
KIA, and ordered you to be apprehended on sight." He lowered his
voice conspiratorially." I think she isn't too happy with you
right now."

I had broken? Told him everything? I couldn't believe it, but doing a
self assessment I realised that it was quite possibly true. My
throat was sore enough to have, and my head was pounding, but that
could easily be the drugs as well. Or it could be a combination of
drugs and me talking for an entire day.

"Get some more sleep, you've deserved it." Walden said as he stood
up and walked out the room. My eyes slid closed involuntarily, keeping
them open for that long had wiped me out. I felt someone gently
disconnect the band around my bicep, and then pull the sheets a little
higher. As I drifted off into slumber I felt the bed dip and a
small, light figure curl up next to me.



***

It took us two hours to get the manager of Common Scents out, another
one to get the surly, sour-faced man to unlock his records, and
three more after that to find what we wanted. I was just itching to
call the Earth and Colonies Revenue and suggest they do an inspection
of the books.

To say they were a mess and obviously forged in places would have been
an understatement. I realise my accounting knowledge is far from
professional but it is also not to be sneezed at and it took me a
scant few minutes to decide that there was at least one person
skimming the accounts.

I restrained myself, as while fraud may be part of the Preventers
brief, that was not the main objective right now. Right now, the main
objective was to get Duo's address.

It was Wufei who found it, wrote it down in his neat script, and
herded us out the door. I said our goodbyes
quickly. Courtesy is not required for our profession, but it is an ingrained
habit. It is after all, not like a please or a thankyou will cost me
anything. The look on the manager's face was priceless when we left; I swore
he was going to pass out from relief.

We made our way down the streets, occasionally looking at the map
Heero had brought with him.

Duo was living in what passed for a working class neighbourhood on L2.
Some of the girls and boys were literally working the neighbourhood,
but when we got to the address Duo had listed most of the people on
the street were paying surreptitious attention to us.

As we walked past one group of girls who were all dressed in the bare
minimum not to be arrested, one of them let out a wolf whistle. I saw
Wufei's shoulders tense up, Heero's head snap around and I felt my
face grow hot but we continued.

Knocking on the door, we waited until it cracked open a bit. From what
we could see, the person behind it was female.

"What do you want?" She asked.


"Ma'am? We just want to ask you a few questions." Heero said, loudly.

Well, that just announced our presence to the whole street.

"I don't have any business with cops." She replied.

"We're not cops. We're looking for a friend." Heero replied.

"I suggest you try any one of a number of the ladies in the street
then, I'm sure they will be happy to be your friend if you pay them.
I'm out of that business now." Oh my. I guess I must have a rather
dirty mind, as I got this mental image of Heero in bed with a nameless
and faceless woman, and I didn't like it. Putting away those feelings
- I would examine them later - I pulled out my wallet and opened
it up.

'Ma'am, we're looking for the boy on the front of the photo." I said
as I showed her a group photo of us. Duo was at the front with a
cheesy grin and striking an absurd super-hero pose. That was one of
the reasons I liked the photo. One of the other ones was the fact that
the rest of us were all hugging each other, and Heero had his hands
resting on my shoulder.

"Sorry, never seen him." She replied with barely a glance at the
photo. Heero and I traded glances expressing the same sentiment -
she was hiding something.

Wufei was busy fishing around for his Preventers badge to gain
access into the house when I was grabbed from behind. With a yelp I
tried to turn round, drive an elbow into my adversary's ribs and
stomp on his foot the way I had learned was the most effective, at the
same time. Unfortunately, he appeared to have an excellent grasp of
me, and was very nimble.

My body betrayed me by relaxing as soon as I heard a loud voice next
to me shout out gleefully.

"Wuffers! Heero! What are you guys doing here?". Apparently my body
was faster than my brain, and once again I cursed Duo's
light-footedness as he had obviously snuck up behind me, though at
the same time a feeling of relief flooded through my system as well.
Heero and Wufei had both turned around, Heero looking shocked and the
look on Wufei's face was…forlorn? Envious? Relieved? Astonished? I'm
not sure. Several emotions flittered by in very short succession.

"Do not call me that. You know my name, Duo." He said, his tone free
of real reprimand. It was an ongoing discussion between them. I know
Duo just does it to wind Wufei up, he told me once. Duo let go of me
and gave Heero a quick one-armed hug which was much shorter than mine,
and then walked over to Wufei and gave him one too.

The girl in the door had in the mean time opened it up completely and
was looking at us with some concern and trepidation written on her
face. She looked fifteen or so, and was heavily pregnant.