Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 39 - ( Chapter 39 )

— 39 —

February 12, A.C. 205. Fuzhou, China. 11 am

Xane grinned slightly at Raul as they walked up toward the building Chao based out of. He was noticing Raul’s eyes taking in the cars, the fact that the ones along the main curb were all sports toys, and the fact that most of the rest of the lot was made up of nice and sensible vehicles.

He rubbed at his face instead of commenting, trusting his friend to get what he meant.

It figured.

Xane turned his attention languidly onto the vehicles under the carport, since it was mostly just a pull-through with room for twenty or so cars…or things. Those were the bullet-proofed machines.

Raul shoved his hands in his pockets as they pushed through the entrance of the building, not giving the cars any overt attention.

“Mr. Xu,” a woman breezed up to him breathlessly. “We have everything ready.”

“Thank you, Lita,” he returned, nodding at her. “We’ll go now, then.”

“Of course, Mr. Xu,” she muttered, smiling at Xane before falling a step behind Raul.

Chao led the pair of them to the left instead of straight and to his office area, which he’d always done before. When Xane moved to catch up to him and grab his hand, Chao smirked in return.

The morning had actually entertained Xane highly, because Juan was really not getting his way, and it was bugging the shit out of him. He’d brought Raul with him to the apartment about an hour before with the master plan of them all going out to some big breakfast, only to find that Chao wasn’t dressed and was making breakfast for himself and “Chris”…which had further been an irritant when he’d realized that “Chris” had only just woke up before they knocked. It had turned into Chao making them all the big breakfast Juan so wanted, before he and Xane went to take a quick shower together.

The end result was Raul rolling his eyes very pointedly to his friend when the other two couldn’t see, and Juan sulking about being tired. He’d become even more petulant when Chao suggested that Raul stay with them so he could sleep without worrying about his guest.

Chao really had just meant well. He was being sweet and considerate…it was Xane who was being a dick and loving it…and even Raul seemed highly amused by it.

They started down a quiet back hall that was empty. As soon as Lita had closed the door behind them, the sound from the main area was almost entirely muted.

“What’s this?” Xane asked curiously. He hadn’t ever been allowed to explore the building on his own. Anything he did had been with Chao.

“Just a little distraction,” Chao noted, smiling at him sweetly. “I thought you might be amused.”

The suit.

Xane smiled sweetly at the guy, wrapping their fingers together.

Raul sighed very slightly…and pointedly enough that Xane instantly understood.

Yes, they were very attached to each other and it was going to be hard to just leave on Wednesday, he didn’t need the constant reminder…

Or did he?

He needed to figure out how he was leaving without making waves.

They neared an end door and Lita moved up and around them to a keypad. The woman typed in a four-digit code…three seven two nine…and stepped aside with that same happy smile.

“Thank you,” Chao muttered to her as she started away, though it wasn’t actual appreciation. He led them through the door and down some stairs, turning to smile at Xane again…before they stepped into a…garage.

“This is interesting,” Raul noted, looking up the very tall length of the thing. “How is this underground?”

“It’s not, entirely,” Chao returned, pointing at darkened windows along the top of the building. “We covered them and painted that over, but this used to be a military base for suits.”

“Was it?” Xane asked, still looking around the thing himself.

It extended out and over enough so that it was obviously under the parking lot, and possibly under neighboring buildings.

“Yeah, a suit depot,” Chao agreed, grinning at him. “They based out of here to try to control China.” As he said it, he gestured with both his hands, indicating the land. “The Earth’s Sphere Alliance…White Fang…the Gundam pilots…” he shook his head. “If anything, the A0206 tragedy should show that the heart of China beats true.”

Raul and Xane exchanged dark looks, then looked away without responding to the man.

The A0206 tragedy had probably been the worst thing to happen throughout the Eve Wars. It had probably contained the most pointless deaths…and the soldiers did not appreciate Xu Chaoxiang casually claiming pride over something that had ruined Chang Wufei’s life.

Chao turned back to them with pride in his eyes, then gestured for them to follow as he started to walk.

“How did you get this?” Raul muttered after another moment.

“The military put it up for auction,” Chao shrugged happily. “The strictures were that whatever came here, this hanger needed to remain and that it was not a tourist play-toy. I think it sounds ominous,” the man added happily in Chinese, smiling at Xane. “The military wanting it to remain a hanger…I thought we were remaining with peace.”

“I’m sorry,” Raul said quietly in Russian. “I didn’t…”

“He said he thinks it’s ominous,” Xane translated easily to English. “Ominous that the military wants to keep this a hanger when we’re supposed to be maintaining peace.”

“Ah, yeah,” Raul nodded his feigned agreement.

If they were truly about to see a mobile suit, then that suggested that the military was right in keeping its bases. Not all men believed in pacifism, so the government couldn’t entirely disarm.

“Shire got ahold of three suits,” Chao noted happily to the pair of them in Russian. “Two of them are heaps, but there is one in much better condition, and it’s the one Juan really wants to buy. I keep telling him to buy the two broken ones and hire someone to rebuild them…one’s a Leo and one’s an Aries. I heard tell that back in the United States there’s a guy that can make Leos fly. Money turns heads, you know?”

Xane smiled his agreement, though the amusement was more at the idea that Trowa might even consider building one of his altered Leos for anyone else.

“The thing is,” Chao added, “Shire’s only going to sell the whole suit or the two crap ones to Juan. He refuses to do all of them. He says that he thinks Juan is too…showy,” he looked to Raul. “No offense intended, but he really is.”

“Yeah, a lot,” Raul agreed dryly.

“So if he had all three he’d start playing at invincible. Juan might be damn good in bed, but he’s got too much pride and boast in him.”

Raul nodded slightly, still studying their surroundings. He was looking for the lot number that should be painted on one of the walls near the top.

“All right,” Chao added as the neared a turn, “if the two of you say anything to anyone…” he shook his head. “Just don’t, all right? No one else needs to hear about this.”

“All right,” Xane agreed.

They moved around the corner, and Chao stepped aside, studying the machines himself.

A war torn Aries, standing in a brace…an equally war-torn Leo that looked almost ready to fall over…and a sleek Taurus with the huge beam canon at its feet.

Xane’s heart skipped a beat.

“I can see why he wants the new one,” Raul noted, staring up at it.

Chao laughed, walking forward and craning his neck to look up at the thing…and his cell rang, echoing almost shrilly through the large empty space. He opened it instantly. “Hello? Right now? I can’t, I’m…what?” he tsked in disgust. “Fuck,” he added, closing the phone and looking to Xane. “Let’s go,” he muttered, starting to gesture.

“What’s wrong?” Xane asked, not moving.

“Shire’s trying to fuck us over,” Chao returned. “Come on.”

“But…I only got to look at it,” Xane protested, turning back to the monstrosity behind him.

Chao snorted, then gestured at him. “Stay here until I come back to get you. I’m serious, none of the guys know what’s down here, and the others will flip out that I brought him,” he pointed at Raul. “No one should come down, but try to keep out of sight if they do, I don’t want to deal with it.”

“All right,” Xane agreed, watching as he turned and disappeared around the corner.

Raul considered him a moment, then moved toward the beam canon.

“This is cool,” Xane adlibbed, being sure to sound happy as he moved as well. “It’s so shiny…” he continued the brainless praise of the machine until the door had closed, then stopped and closed his eyes.

“Not just one,” Raul half whispered. “Three.”

“I know,” Xane whispered back, moving to lean against the canon a moment.

“We need to go up and find the serial numbers,” Raul added, heading for the ladder to the head-level walkways. “This is fucked up…”

“Then we can find the static numbers,” Xane agreed, following resignedly. “That way we can…”

“If they’re keeping it as a hanger, they’re still managing it,” Raul noted quietly.

“I know,” Xane agreed. “Let’s hope they don’t show up while these are here.”

“Seriously,” Raul returned, looking away.

Those weren’t the words he’d wanted to hear. He’d wanted to hear Xane mouth the same thoughts that were in his head.

If they could get the static numbers, then the military could perform a perfunctory check of the hanger and catch the suits before anyone, including Juan Tsai, could get their hands on them.

He wasn’t sure exactly what Xane’s motive behind the comment was, though. He didn’t want to have to…tell Jordan.

Maybe he would get lucky, and wouldn’t have to.

- -

February 12, A.C. 205. Weis, Austria. 4 am

Alek sank back on the twin-sized bed that was his for the night, studying Judas with sober eyes.

Judas’ laughter trailed off as he frowned at the other man. “What? Come on, that was funny and you know it.”

The man flashed him a smile, then looked away completely.

“What’s wrong?” Judas asked, his own smile slowly fading as he sat on his own bed.

He’d gotten the others laughing their asses off because Victor had noted he’d share the king sized bed in the second room the group had, and Ras had flipped a coin for it. As they’d walked out of the room, Judas had reminded Kiel that Ras was going to be on the other bed, so he’d need to keep his voice down or they’d tell his girl…Victor had noted that there wouldn’t be much chance of that, and Ras had noted that if Victor did any such thing, he’d become much less a man over night.

Actually, Judas had noted those sidelong looks from Aleksander since the man had overheard his call to Jor. He was wondering if the man was actually going to keep his peace…or if he may have already told one of the others about it.

“I can’t figure you out,” Alek noted in response to his question, shifting so his feet were on the bed and folding his elbows over his knees. “I can’t figure out who you’re working for.”

“What are you talking about?” Judas demanded mildly, kicking his shoes off. “We work for Holt.”

Alek raised his head and met his eyes pointedly.

“What did you hear?” Judas asked him calmly. “You heard me talking in English, saying what time I’d killed the man.”

“You said you’d walked away from the assholes,” Alek pointed out. “You reported to someone that you killed him because…”

“Because he tried to take you hostage,” Judas agreed, narrowing his eyes. “You trying to say that you’d rather I’d let him take you?”

“That’s not the point!” Alek’s voice rose as he sat up straight. “I expected nothing less! You called someone to report it!”

“How do you know it wasn’t the cops?” Judas snapped back.

“Because if the cops know about us, then you’ve fucked us over,” Alek returned, his voice lowering as he glared at Judas. “Tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Judas retorted.

“Tell me,” Alek insisted, moving to the edge of the bed. “You saved my life, I owe you my life. I just need to know.”

“You need to calm down and get ready for bed,” Judas denied, rising to his feet and starting for the bathroom…and slammed into the wall beside the door with a groan.

“If you’ve fucked us over…” Alek started to hiss.

Judas turned and slammed the man backwards against the far wall, glowering at him as he slid into a half-crouch on the ground, eyes closed tightly. “Don’t fucking man-handle me,” he half-snarled.

Alek, however, jumped at him. He slammed backwards into the door, throwing the other off as his lower back screamed in pain. He’d hit the doorknob…and then Alek was there again, looking a little wild-eyed as he tried to subdue Judas.

Judas, however, had been trained by Chang Wufei.

The pair wrestled several minutes before Judas finally overcame Alek completely and used a near-by belt to wrap the other’s hands behind his back.

Both of their chests were heaving, though Alek’s was a lot more harried and scared than Judas’. Judas stepped back, dragging in several deeper breaths as he surveyed his companion.

“You’re going to get us all killed!” Alek snapped up at him, his eyes shining like he was near to tears. “You’re going to take everything we just built up and use it to sacrifice our families!”

“I’m not stupid,” Judas retorted, dropping down cross-legged in front of the other as he pressed at his swollen lip. “Don’t just assume that I’m going to uproot your entire life when you’ve done nothing but help me.”

Alek blinked at him, calming slightly as he studied his face.

“I’ll untie you if you promise not to do that again,” Judas added darkly, still pressing at his lip. “If not, I’ll leave you there.”

“I’ll keep you awake al night,” Alek retorted, looking away from him.

“Then I’ll fucking hog-tie you, shove a god-damn sock in your mouth, and throw you in the tub,” Judas spat.

Alek looked away again.

“You seriously don’t trust me?” Judas demanded, glaring at him. “I fucking saved your life.”

Alek looked down.

Judas tsked in disgust and knocked the man over sideways. Alek was about to start kicking at him when he realized the guy was actually undoing the buckle around his wrists, then pushed himself up as he rubbed them, not looking at the man.

“Fucking trust me,” Judas snapped at him, smacking the back of his head with the belt. “And really, Aleksander…what damn choice do you have? If you go tell Holt on me now, then I’ll just say you were in on it with me.”

Alek’s eyes went wide as he looked up at Judas.

“And if you recall, he wanted me and I took you with me…so he has no real reason to love you.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“You fuck me over, and I’ll fuck you over twice,” Judas retorted, tossing the belt down and turning for the bathroom again. “Get ready for bed, Alek; we have to be up by ten.”