Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 3 Ties That Bind ❯ Twenty-Five ( Chapter 25 )

“Please, buckle,” Jun muttered to Marlea and I as we slid into the car next to him.

I shifted slightly so Marlea could pull the belt over her shoulder, then snapped my own down as the car doors locked and the vehicle started moving.

“You’re such remarkably well behaved young ladies,” he mused, studying the two of us. “I was under the definite impression that we’d have to fight you tooth and nail every step of the way.”

A complacent enemy is easier to topple than a wary one.

Some of the stuff Duo’d say to us had bothered me before…his little quips about enemies had always seemed unnecessary to me. It wasn’t like I’d had any enemies. Why would some stupid kid need to worry about enemies?

“I’ll explain to you now what’s happening,” the Asian man informed us. “I told your fathers that once they gave me back my money, we could arrange a way to get the two of you home. I’m leaving Sanq, so it’s not like I’ll be a problem for them, after all. Anyway, I was going to get upset, because I was going to have to hurt you,” he indicated me, “but it occurred to me that I hadn’t actually told them that they could only do what I told them to. They’ve loaded up their armies and are moving about, it’s rather annoying…but there you have it,” he shrugged. “We’re moving to another safe house.”

“Where even are we?” Marlea asked tiredly, looking out the windows again.

Jun smiled at her, but didn’t answer.

Lea messed with the bandage on her arm with a sigh.

“I don’t mean to be rude, of course,” he noted. “I just know that your first instincts are to worry about yourselves…even Ryu’s boy did that.”

“Som?” I asked, looking up to him in disbelief.

What did Som have to do with anything?

“Oh? You know him?” Jun tilted his head at us. “That’s odd, I didn’t think your uncle would introduce you to his lover.”

“Whatever,” Marlea retorted, giving him a look.

“You didn’t know?” Jun asked with interest. “How very odd…I wonder if his wife knows.”

“She knew the day after it happened,” Lea retorted.

I looked out the window myself, studying the buildings we were passing since we’d come into a town.

Sabgia Audio, Sabgia Insurance…Sabgia Grocery…Sabgia Books.

Something told me we were in Sabgia.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall if Sabgia was a city or a county, but it did mean the Western border of Sanq.

Marlea was busily distracting our host with bickering arguments, and I wondered how I could get the message to my dad…or one of Quatre’s agents.

“Actually, Uncle Duo doesn’t realize we know,” Marlea noted, bringing me back to focus. “My dad was complaining to me about it and I told Alex.”

“You seem awfully calm,” Jun noted pointedly. “Doesn’t this information disturb you?”

I shrugged along with my cousin.

It didn’t matter anyway. My dad was being Som’s father figure now.

“He didn’t press charges like he was supposed to,” Jun mused in annoyance. “And then he couldn’t even kill him right.”

I focused on the man with widening eyes.

“I paid that boy good money,” he added, meeting Lea’s eyes. “His father said he was a fully trained assassin and that he could get in there and kill your…uncle…but he got up there and god only knows what happened then, because Duo’s not dead.”

“Som’s an assassin?” I asked, staring at him with very wide eyes.

“A very attractive one, don’t you think?” he asked with a grin. “He was supposed to charge your uncle with misconduct, but he was far too emotional to pull it off...damn…he even had your fathers’ training.”

“Obviously not Heero’s training,” Lea muttered, looking down.

I sniggered slightly at that.

“Hm, evidently not.”

We both fell quiet, realizing she’d annoyed him again.

Something told me we were in for a very long night.

…at least until we could find our opening and run.

Tad would be disappointed in me if I did anything else.

- -

Duo and Quatre were discussing a Gundam, and how to make something close with normal mobile suits. Design forms, weaponry, thermal technology.

They knew it all. They knew shit I had no idea about.

I stared at Heero’s feet as they argued about the shape of an elbow joint and how necessary the covering of the thing would be.

“But we’d see any rocket launcher before it could get in close enough to do anything,” Trowa noted, rolling his eyes. “And if it were shot from afar…shit, even an Aries could manage that.”

“But how many shots could it take?” Quatre demanded.

“How many shots would you let it take?” Duo retorted.

I was slightly cold.

I had, of course, been drilled in the Aries. The Aries and the Leo were the only Mobile Suit types that were even around, and none were being made new. My instructor had told me that the Leo would be similar enough to an Aries that I could figure it out on the fly, and that I’d be much more likely to come across an Aries in general if I had to have an MS.

He hadn’t taught me any mechanics, he hadn’t taught me any maneuvering…he hadn’t even taught me how to fly a shuttle.

“That was the biggest flaw of the Heavyarms,” Heero muttered tiredly. He’d been repeating over and over again that they weren’t going to create new forms of MS as we went. It’d taken until Duo had snarled at him that they were just passing time that he’d stopped, and he’d been in something of a doze since.

“I always thought the biggest flaw was making it,” Trowa retorted.

They all grinned at him.

“Sandrock was fine, but…no offense intended, Q, but it should have been me or Duo in it.”

“Eh…I did well enough,” Quatre returned tiredly. “I think I’d have been in hell with Deathscythe,” he shuddered slightly. “Don’t even make me think about Zero.”

Heero smirked evilly at him.

“Now Shen-Long,” Duo noted, “Shen-Long was a piece of work.”

“I hated that thing with a holy passion,” Heero agreed.

Wufei sniggered.

“Not the funnest thing to fight,” Heero noted, sliding down where he sat. “There was something about the pilot and the ego the size of a fucking whale.”

Wufei really laughed at that.

“Kinda hard to get at the thing over that ego…”

“If you had my attributes, you’d have the ego to go with it,” Wufei noted.

They all laughed at that.

I looked up to Wufei, who grinned at me in a way that suggested he was serious…which made me blush and look away.

Trowa leaned over and hit Wufei in the leg.

Wufei laughed delightedly.

“It’s starting to hurt again,” Duo muttered quietly, shifting around in his seat so he could lean his back against Heero with his feet slightly against Wufei. He was studying his bandaged hand.

“Leave it, Omae,” Heero muttered, reaching around his friend to pull Duo’s fingers from the opening he was trying to pick at.

“It hurts,” Duo protested, trying to brush that off. “I want to move it…”

“Leave it,” Heero repeated.

Duo sighed, cradling his hand to his chest…as Heero offered him something above his mouth.

“Can you make it fifteen minutes?” the king asked.

“We’re five from the area,” Quatre noted, looking to his watch.

Duo snatched whatever Heero’d offered and popped it in his mouth.

“You hate me now, don’t you?” I asked before I could stop myself, looking down.

“I’m pissed at you,” Duo returned in a low voice. “There’s a world of difference.”

“What?” Trowa asked quietly.

“Nothing,” Duo replied darkly, resituating how he sat. “They’re going to be gone before we get there.”

“Reiko would have sent people on ahead of us,” Quatre muttered. “At the very least they can give us a direction. Look at it this way, we’re damned if we do, and we’re damned if we don’t.”

…and it was all my fault.

My stomach was upset.

- -

“Dad said they were coming,” I reminded Lex as we sat together in the window-seat of some fancy house. “We might be able to wait, but if we wait, then he might find a reason to hurt you.”

She nodded, biting at her lip.

The door opened and Jun moved in to look at the bed, then frown at us.

“What’s up?” I asked. He’d ended up slapping me again, and I was starting to understand how to keep him from getting riled.

“You should go to bed,” he noted. “It’s getting late.”

“We’re a little shaken up,” I noted, looking away. “It’s been a long day.”

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “I never meant to upset you.”

I nodded, accepting that. In a funny way, he meant it. He wasn’t accepting that this really was all his own fault. He had the thought process Lex or I could get into and get away with. We’d wouldn’t accept the blame when something serious happened, because there were always mitigating factors, but he was older than our uncles. He was probably forty…with the mind of a seventeen year old.

I was amazed he’d even thought to get us pants.

He hadn’t even thought to have the pockets checked, but Lex and I’d had time to go through the pockets of the things. There were a few magazines, and a few loaded clips…those would do us no good. We didn’t shoot. There were a few odd implements I’d seen in Duo’s stuff, gun care or something…and those would be equally as useless. On the flip side, there was a coil of knotted rope in mine. Sleek nylon that was only about seven feet long. It was more like glorified fishing wire, really, but it would hold both of our weight at the same time…at least until we got to a point where we could jump safely to the ground and run.

My uncle, ever practical, had impressed on both my cousin and I the utility of combat boots, and they really did look cute with our skirts. It gave us both a more sporty look than the girls in heels or loafers.

The key thing was the money.

Between us there was a hundred dollars from the various pockets.

“Do you need anything?” he asked solicitously, glancing toward our bathroom.

“No,” I muttered, crawling over the bed and starting to pick at the strings of my boots. “I’m fine, it’s just…”

“I do have some sleep aid,” he offered. “It’d help you sleep tonight.”

“I can’t wake up out of those,” Alex refused, pulling her hair back. “We’re fine…if the house stays quiet we should be able to relax.”

He nodded, rubbing at his brow a moment as he studied her, then considered me. It was the type of look I was used to getting from boys my age, but getting it from him was creepy.

“Sleep well, then,” he suggested, moving back to the door. “I’ll wake you up tomorrow around eight to get you breakfast.”

We nodded at that, crawling under the blankets.

“I’d offer you your own rooms, but I get the feeling you’d refuse.”

“Mr. Martin,” I muttered as Alex settled, “your man could have killed our bodyguard. You’re using us as ransom so our fathers give you money that you made from the drug trade…and you cut me,” I showed him my bandaged arm. “I’m not gonna be able to sleep with you in here.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, then rolled them and flicked out the light. He disappeared.

- -

I grabbed the blue striped skirt that was the uniform of the high school the girls attended and looked it over with a sickened sensation in my stomach. If I didn’t know for a fact that Jun’d had the girls put pants on, I probably would have lost anything resembling sanity.

“Look,” Quatre muttered, picking up the bright pink cell phone that was Alex’s.

“They didn’t seriously let them keep their phones, did they?” Duo demanded.

I took it from the blond, opening it.

There was a message notice flashing on the screen, and I hit the accept button.

“I’m so sorry we moved along,” Jun muttered in a mock sincere tone. “I had urgent business at another location.” The camera panned around to show Alex and Marlea sitting together on a bed. “As you can see, the girls are fine,” he noted, moving closer. “Look up please, ladies.”

My hand clenched around the skirt.

“I must compliment you on such well behaved children. The blond made one slip of tongue and has since been acting like a complete angel.”

“Something about upsetting a megalomaniac doesn’t sit right with me,” Marlea retorted.

Jun offered her the back of his hand and she looked away.

“Are they okay?” Quatre demanded harshly.

“We’re all right, Daddy,” Marlea added, almost as if this were a real-time thing. “We had pizza for supper and he has us a pack of water-bottles that no one else can get into because they’re with us.”

“He’s the only one who comes in,” Alex added, looking up to the camera.

“As much as I’d enjoy the conversation of two obviously educated young ladies,” Jun added, turning the camera back around to himself, then blinking beyond it as the thing steadied and centered on him. “Thank you, Miss Barton,” he muttered. “Now…” he focused on the camera again. “As much as I’d enjoy the conversation of these two very intelligent young ladies, I imagine you’d like them back to you in one piece. I will have to insist that you halt your army here and wait for further communications from me before proceeding.”

Nothing happened for a second and he moved to take the phone from my daughter.

“Why can’t I select the carbon copy mail?” he demanded.

“My dad said it cost too much and I’d use it to cheat in class,” Marlea retorted. “You can send it to them one at a time…”

“I thought you ended the recording?” Jun muttered irritably.

“Oh, sorry,” Alex replied almost insincerely.

Jun tsked…and the recording ended.

Duo sniggered.

“Why are they cooperating with him?” Som demanded.

“A complacent enemy is much easier to topple than a wary one,” Quatre retorted. “A man waiting for a blow will tense up and watch his center of mass, but a man who is winning without issue will let himself relax some.”

I flicked through the recordings listed on the phone, finally noting one with my name on it.

“We have money,” Marlea muttered, raising a handful of bills into sight and glancing nervously toward the door to the room. “He didn’t check the pants before he had us put them on. He just made his guys take them off and had us put them on. We’re in our boots and we have money…shh…” the camera wavered in a way that suggested Alex had turned. “He’s coming back,” Marlea hissed into the camera. “We’ve got to go.”

That went blank.

I lowered the phone to look at Quatre.

“Damn,” Som muttered. “Why did he let them keep the thing?”

“He probably got called out,” Duo returned, thinking about it.

I closed the phone, taking a very long breath.

“It doesn’t matter,” Heero mused. “It means that they’re planning to run.”

“Are you serious?” Som demanded skeptically. “They’re sixteen.”

Duo moved in and grabbed him by the throat so they were eye to eye. “My seven year old beat you at chess,” he half snarled.

I stepped forward and rested my hand on his wrist, meeting his eyes.

Until Som actually made a mistake, I wasn’t planning on letting Duo hurt him.

Duo turned away without further comment, twitching as he did so.

Wufei took the phone from me before I could say anything, hitting a few buttons as he dropped onto the bed. “Hey, just wanted to let you know we got your message,” the Chinese man noted in tired sounding Mandarin. “Yes. We understand.”

I heard a noise in the living room and moved to the door to see Keith moving into the area with his arms crossed and a very tired look on his face.

I snapped my fingers, indicating he needed to wait.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Wufei muttered tiredly. “Well, the fathers are trying not to cry and Heero’s trying to keep Duo from freaking out…yes. No, he’s still that violent…what? We left that little fucker in the jail-cell.”

Som’s expression turned hurt.

“No, I guess he’s not all that good. Yeah, Duo…”

Som turned very hurt eyes onto Duo.

Duo made a curt gesture at him, not meeting his eyes for more than a moment.

“I’m in the room,” Wufei returned. “Quatre found the skirts and the phone and brought them out. Yeah…yes. No, we’re not moving now. Something for something, Jun. You took our girls, you’ll have to give something up in the end…oh yeah, we’ve got a few people going over the account books…”

Duo actually dropped on top of Wufei before the guy could say more, and Fei oofed, startled from the conversation as Duo snatched the phone from him. They fought over it for a moment before Wufei finally gave up.

“We’re waiting for your instructions,” Duo snarled into the mouthpiece…and hung up. “Don’t talk to him anymore,” Duo added to Wufei pulling him around in a way that nearly had Wufei falling off the end of the bed before being face to face with the Caucasian male around the corner. “You are not to talk to him.”

“He was saying for me…” Wufei started, his eyes wide.

“I’m not losing you to him,” Duo hissed, shoving the man away as he rose to his feet and paced toward the living room…he stopped in the door between the two rooms.

“Damn fine mess you got yourself into, Cat,” Keith noted.

Duo twitched.

“Your sister-in-law gave birth to a five pound little baby this morning,” he added. “A little boy, named him Cicus…damn bad name if you ask me.”

Duo twitched again, raising his arms to massage at his neck before folding his arms over his face.

“He’s at Branton,” Keith added, moving closer to the door. “He had his man Ryu buy him the place about six weeks ago.”

“What?” Som demanded, darting forward.

Before I could speak, or Duo could more than turn to look, Som had darted into the door…and Keith had his gun raised.

Som stopped.

“I thought you looked familiar, little boy toy,” Keith noted, moving closer as Som stared back without moving a muscle. “Took me a bit to realize who you were, you’ve grown, huh?”

Som didn’t say anything.

“Keith,” Duo muttered with a heavy sigh.

“You’d better stop your games now,” the man snarled. “Duo’d never cheat on my sister, and you’d never get in close enough to kill him.”

Duo laughed and flinched at the same time, grabbing the boy and shoving him from the doorway. “I know there’s some sort of baser stupidity involved here…but…I done fucked the boy.”

Keith stared at him in disbelief.

“You don’t tell a man with a drawn weapon that you cheated on his twin,” Heero noted, moving forward to Duo’s side. “You’re very right. That is the most basic stupidity of all.”

Duo flinched again.

“Are you all right?” Keith demanded, the weapon lowering, then thought about it.

“I told Nira the day it happened,” Duo returned, flinching again. “Som’s inability is what has the girls grabbed.”

That made Keith think, but he was also looking at me. He tucked the weapon away finally, moving forward to us…and…punching Duo in the stomach.

“Ouch,” Duo noted.

“I should kick your ass!” Keith shoved Duo at me, storming into the room properly to look around in his own aggravation.

Duo flinched again.

“We really need to get you to someone for that,” Heero muttered, moving forward to rest his hands on Duo’s back, starting to massage.

“How are you all just okay with this?” Keith snapped.

“I’m sorry,” Som muttered, tearful. He sank down the wall much like he had in Duo’s apartment, covering his head with his arms and looking somewhat like he wanted to disappear.

“Because a willing night with Duo means you’re his,” I retorted, moving around the king and knight to pull the boy to me. “Selena said that if it ever happened he needed to just tell her and he did.”

“Oh my god,” Keith added irritably, then stopped and looked at Wufei, who was looking pointedly away from his eyes. He was still against the wall he’d been shoved against, and looked like he’d only just started to avoid eyes.

Som clung to me.

“How do you know it’s Branton?” Quatre demanded evenly, the skirt balled between his hands.

Keith looked from him to me and smiled very slightly. “I have connections.”