Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In the City at Night ❯ All in a Day's Work ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

All in a Day's Work
"What's the matter?" Heero muttered as he slid next to Jordan in the booth.

"What is Carter doing here?" Jordan muttered, his eyes flicking to the end of the stairs.

"He's going to take me around," Heero explained, connecting that "Monty" wasn't the real name. "You remember that, don't you?"

Jordan gave him an amazed look, "Do you have any idea what's gonna happen if he sees me?"

"No...why?" Heero blinked.

"I fucked his girlfriend, Erin," Jor muttered pointedly.

The soldier choked in disbelief. He'd forgotten the reason they'd gone up to see Breer that first day—and it had only been a week. At least, he hadn't realized that the sister was with someone.

Jordan laughed evilly.

"I have to work with this guy, Jor," Heero snapped.

"I didn't say I would be the one starting the fight now, did I?" Jordan gave him a pouty look. "Don't mistreat me so."

"Oh god," Trowa muttered, rubbing his face. "And she says I'm fay..."

"Huh?" Wufei asked blankly.

Trowa and Heero started sniggering.

X x X x X

Jordan sighed as he rolled over and looked at Jon. Chai and the others had gone to a late night store for groceries—the girl was a bit shocked at the idea of buying more food when there was still food in the house, but Heero had insisted, and somehow it led to a full escort.

"You high yet?" Jon muttered, laying across Jordan on the couch.

"No," Jordan returned easily, shifting how they were laying so the main of the kingpin's weight wasn't on his bad leg. "I hate being looped like that. I don't take the pills on my own."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to make you take then?" Jon made a face. "You know how I feel."

"The worst of the pain has passed," Jordan reassured him. "That was why they needed to knock me out like that. I'll be fine now."

"You sure?"

"I'm fine," Jordan repeated, grinning at the guy. "I'm cold, though."

"Here..." Jon snuggled against him.

"You're going to get me in trouble," Jor noted. "I meant cover us."

"Oh, I thought you were gonna tell me to get off," Jon sat up, moving to pull the blanket around.

"I'm tired," Jordan returned. "We should move into the room, you know. That way I can crash."

"I never realized that you didn't care," Jon muttered, studying the guy with interest. "I always thought you were just being polite by not commenting or anything."

Jordan sighed, rolling slightly to dump the other beside him on the cushions. "Caring is hard, I don't do it unless I have to. Besides, I know I'm hot, so it's not all your bad."

Jon started laughing.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Jordan added. "I used to invite you over and you always refused."

"I have to prove to Heero that I'm not gonna blow on you, or they'll put me in prison or something." The man's face creased in a frown, "I'm sorta upset...I don't know what to expect here at all."

"As long as they can prove what you say, they'll let you go. You'll need to fly straight for a while, but you have plenty of normal business ventures going on."

Jon looked away, obviously thinking about that. "You're still going to leave, aren't you?"

"I don't think Heero'll let me anymore," Jordan admitted. "He's staying in my apartment now, so the old bond will reassert, and he'll go anywhere I do. I don't think he'll turn me in, either."

"I don't imagine, I mean...he's like a brother to you."

"Yeah...yeah..." Jordan sighed, shaking his head. "It's hard...to care."

"You always say that, I don't understand."

"Maybe that's a good thing, maybe you don't need to."

"Take your drugs," Heero said firmly as he moved through the door, then stopped to raise an eyebrow at the pair.

"Ah...make me," Jordan muttered, making a dismissive gesture...they both stopped completely before Heero dove across the chair and Jordan darted off the couch. They both slammed into the far wall. The soldier wasn't laughing, but Jordan couldn't help himself.

"You look a little snuggly," Wufei noted, moving across the apartment toward the kitchen. He'd given Jon a look.

"I like to snuggle," Jon laughed a bit. "It doesn't hurt anything and it helps keep you warm. Doesn't this place have a heater?"

"Sure it does," Jordan muttered from where he was attempting to get Heero off of him. "It just costs too much to run in when it's not December or January...so we don't much."

"That's insane, Jordan!" Jon protested.

"You gonna start paying the electricity bill?" Chai snapped, then stopped as Jordan gave her a look.

"God, I thought you'd never let me!" Jonathan jumped to his feet.

"Hey, we can do it ourselves," Heero muttered, giving the guy a dirty look.

"Okay, you get half and I get half," Jon decided easily.

"No," Jordan snapped.

"You don't have a choice," the kingpin informed him. "So just take a deep breath and call it apple pie."

"I said..." Jordan started, then started fighting against Heero again as the pilot got one of the pills into his mouth. "You keep those in your pocket or something?" Jordan demanded, outraged...as Heero finally got the second pill.

"Swallow," Heero ordered, "Don't make me make you."

He got a very dirty look for it, but Jordan did as told, shaking his head.

"And yes," the soldier added, "We all keep a pill or two on us because we know you're special."

"Fuck you," Jordan snapped, rising a bit strenuously to his feet to lean against the wall. "Get me something to drink."

Chai practically ran across the living room with a can of soda, offering it to him with an expression that clearly stated she wanted to placate him.

"You're not an asshole to her, are you?" Heero asked in a dangerous tone.

Jordan turned disgusted eyes on his old friend, "Fuck you."

"Has he hit you?" Heero demanded of Chai instead, studying her seriously.

"He wouldn't hit me," Chai informed him quickly. "He's not like that...he might be an asshole, but..."

"Well?" Heero asked Quatre—the two remaining pilots were moving into the room.

Quatre studied the girl a moment, then looked to Jordan. He studied his friend a moment before nodding slightly and heading into the kitchen.

Jordan clenched his jaw, not looking at any of them.

"Make you feel big?" Heero asked in a low voice. "Make you feel in control?"

Jordan refused to look at him as Chai looked away, about ready to cry.

"Why is it that every other day, everything I know about you goes out the window?" Heero added darkly, shifting back.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Jordan snapped, focusing on him instantly. "It was a long time ago and I was really fucking drunk."

"Good excuse," the soldier noted.

"I'm not making excuses, I'm explaining why it happened. She was bitching at me when I was in a bad mood and drunk. I did it, I shouldn't have, and it was only once."

Heero snorted in mild disgust.

"She's scared of making people mad," Quatre muttered as he moved into the living room again. "Jor's hit her once, but someone else did it a lot."

Chai looked to the floor.

"He was shot," Jon noted. "He was with a rival company of mine and out on business with someone he was killed."

Chai sniffed slightly, and Jordan moved forward to pull her to him. After a moment, he pulled slightly away from his girlfriend to level Heero with a dirty look. "So now that we've pissed each other off, let's go over it all. If any of you turn me into Une, I'll kick your fucking ass and be gone from you all forever. I'm not dealing with her shit. The fucker Chai was with before beat her regularly and talked down to her, plus her father was a complete and total fucker. When she got pregnant by that guy, her family abandoned her because they weren't going to take care of her mistakes, and I happened to meet her about two weeks before the man died. He'd beat her, which was why she lost the baby. That covers all of it, and I'd take it as a courtesy if you never bring it up again."

"How many times have you hit her?" Heero retorted.

"You're just bound and determined to get into a fight with me tonight, aren't you?" Jordan asked levelly.

"Your high and mighty morals are about to piss me off," Chai informed Heero, moving to stand between the two men. "If you start fighting over something that happened years ago, I won't appreciate your helping me," the word was only slightly sarcastic. "Jordan took me from a bad situation before it got worse, and he's stayed here with me through hell and fire when I'm starting to realize he coulda left at any point, and I've forgiven him for his fuck-up."

"At least she sees it as his bad," Trowa noted to Wufei.

"She could just be saying that, though," Wufei suggested, tilting his head at her. "I mean, if she's been treated badly by males her entire life..."

"But you know Jor wouldn't treat her badly, so maybe she's getting that other side of life?" Trowa thought about it a moment. "I mean..."

"She is just saying it," Quatre muttered, moving toward the kitchen again. "Let's finish unloading. It's not our business. She's sincere when she says she's not upset about it."

"I'm not scared of him," Chai informed Quatre. She didn't know why he was able to tell shit that had happened to her before, or shit that was going on in her mind, but if he truly understood her, he'd know the truth.

The blond turned to smile at her, "I know, pussycat."

Jordan's expression registered how upset he felt as he frowned at the girl.

"What?" she asked, not sure what he thought.

"It wasn't your fault," he informed her, starting to shake his head. He focused on Heero and shoved him hard, then limped his way toward the bedroom.

"What was that about?" Jon asked blankly as the door slammed shut.

"That was him being frustrated and pissed and me being on hand," Heero shrugged. "Hazard of this friendship. He has a tendency to surrender to his baser urges."

Chai gave him a disgusted look, then turned and stormed toward the kitchen herself.

Heero blinked.

"That's her being in love," Jon noted. "You pissed off Jordan on her, and for all that she's not scared of him, she's scared of any guy who raises his voice."

The soldier frowned.

"Look around you, Heero," Jon muttered, rising to his feet to move in the guy's face. "There's no way to get out of this place unless you work for me or someone like me. That means drugs. When you do get out, you have a hard time making it, and a lot of the time you end up right back where you started...she doesn't expect anything to change and she never will. She won't latch on to anything out of this place and she'll cling to Jordan like second-hand smoke until he forces her away. You've upset him, and that means she has to deal with him upset. That makes you the enemy here. You're in the wrong, no matter how fucked up it was that Jordan hit her. Do you understand that? Do you have any idea where girls like her end up?"

"Dead, I'd imagine," Heero agreed, looking away.

"Or in brothels," Jon agreed. "Strung out and doing anything to make a buck."

The soldier swallowed hard, shaking his head, "I'm getting her out of here..."

"No, actually," Jon said quietly, "Until Jordan goes, she's not going anywhere."

Heero blinked.

"Jordan is how she lives," Jon explained quietly. "From month to month and day to day, she's living because of him. She's off the streets because of him...she'll leave because of him, but you're just a splash in the pan here. As far as she's concerned when this legal bullshit is over you'll be gone and their life will go back to normal."

"But..."

"But what? You gonna change the cycle? Break it? You have to start when they're children to do that."

Heero swallowed.

"Just leave hear alone. Don't offer her more kindness than the basic reality here, because any more means you want to fuck her. Any more means you're intentions are single-minded. That's a sort of offense she won't get over lightly, especially since you're supposed to be a 'better'," he made air quotes, "Kind of friend than the people here. She has you on a pedestal and if you fall off it you'll never get near her again."

Heero ran his hands down his face, "How do they live like this?"

Jon gave him a slight smile, "What choice do they have?"

X x X x X

"I used that money to buy a condo in Remington," Terry muttered, his eyes opening wide. "I didn't...I wouldn't...I like Marquise!"

"The assassin gave us a name," Une informed the politician quietly. "That name led to another name that led to another name that led us to you."

"But I didn't do it!" he jumped from his seat to stare at her near tears. "Yeah, I borrowed money from Jon...but not to kill anyone! I wanted that flat in Remington and I wanted it off the political play-board...and I still got flack for it! Everyone thought I was taking bribes! It was just...I wanted..."

"Jon?" Une asked curiously, turning to look at the man.

"Breer," Terry dropped down in his chair to frown at her, then look away. "We were lovers for a few months."

Une blinked at him.

"I went to Remington to get away...and kept going to see him." He swallowed, "He's an underground leader and has money to burn. He helped me pick the place himself..."

Une blinked again, not sure what she wanted to do now. This information was startling, and if he could prove that he'd used the money on the flat, and not for an assassin...

Terry covered his face with his hands, obviously emotionally upset, "He told you...what did he tell you?"

"That you wanted money for something and he gave it to you. He mentioned a flat, but said he didn't believe that's what you used the money on."

The man swallowed hard, rising to his feet, "May I go back to my rooms?"

"You may," Une agreed. She watched him leave the room with the stride of a man angry, then looked around to the camera mounted on the wall...she had nothing to say.

X x X x X

Jon hadn't shown up all day long.

Heero frowned as he paced the living room, waiting to see the man. They'd verbally agreed to meet every day as a surety that Jon wasn't going to run off...and Heero was starting to question that decision.

"Let's go to the bar," Jordan muttered, pushing himself up. "Watching you pace like that is making my leg hurt."

The pilot cast him an uncertainly amused glance. They hadn't said much to each other after the conversation the previous night, so he hadn't been sure how Jordan was feeling toward him.

"I don't know why he's not here," Jor added, shaking his head. "Une would have called you if she were arresting him, right?"

Heero nodded.

"So let's go."

It took them about ten minutes to get to the bar, and Jordan wasn't hassled by Stephen as he moved into the hall outside the private sector. Heero was given a hard look, but nothing was said to them either way.

"How the hell am I supposed to know what you did with the money?" Jon demanded in an outraged tone.

"I told you what I did with it!"

Heero froze.

"You helped me pick the place out!"

Jordan gave his comrade a confused look and grabbed the handle. Before Heero could say anything, the man had shoved the door open.

"Don't you ever knock?" Jon demanded of Jordan in a highly irritated tone.

"Of course not," Jordan retorted.

Terry Shifton was staring at Heero with huge eyes...then turned and ran toward the back of the room. Jon and Jordan watched in confusion as Heero caught the man before he could reach the far door and swung him around.

"You're not taking me!" Shifton shouted, fighting Heero hard. "I didn't do it!"

"What the..." Jon started.

"I think I'm screwed," Jordan noted, staring at the man with huge eyes as he turned to look at the kingpin, "Or you are."

"Let me!"

"Shut up and sit still," Heero snapped. "I'm not here for you."

Terry hesitated.

"I haven't talked to any higher ups in a week," Heero added sharply. "I have no idea if they're looking for you or anything."

"Why are you here?"

"To prove that Jon is innocent of hiring the assassin," Heero snapped. "He gave you the money for that."

"He gave me the money for a flat in Remington," Terry snapped, focusing around on the man. "You know that! I wasn't taking bribes!"

"I'm missing something," Jordan noted.

"You're missing several things, seeing as you don't own a television," Jon agreed. "If you bothered to pick up a newspaper, you might be a little more in the know. Not long after I gave him the money, he bought a new flat, and since he didn't document the source of the income, they decided he was being bribed for someone."

"I hate you," Terry whispered at Jon, rising to his feet and shoving Heero off.

"I'm not burning for something you did," Jon noted, quietly to him. "Jordan here told me not to give you the money and I did it anyway. You've made my life incredibly complicated. This was not my fault."

"Jordan, huh?" Shifton looked the braided pilot over in disgust. "You read auras, little toy?"

Jordan raised his eyebrows, "Ain't nothin' little about me."

Heero rolled his eyes expressively toward the ceiling.

"Well, fuck you," Terry half whispered in his ear as he started for the main entrance.

Jordan watched him wordlessly as he walked from the room, then listened as the man started down the stairs.

"You gonna explain that one to me?" Heero asked seriously.

"He showed up this morning," Jon shrugged. "I didn't want him to see Jor because I thought he'd recognize him as Duo. I certainly remembered it when I realized who the rest of you demons were."

"It's the braid," Heero noted. "If he'd cut if off, he'd look completely different."

"So...cut it off for him," Jon suggested.

Heero focused on him in disbelief.

Jordan grabbed the end of his braid uncertainly, realizing the truth in what they were saying. He was realizing that people connected to Une surrounded him. There would be no way he'd escape her notice if someone noted a man about twenty-three with a four-foot braid. There was just no way he'd get away from it.

"I take it there's something more about it than what I've gotten," Jon noted, blinking.

"Let's...head back to the apartment," Jordan suggested, turning to focus on the pair. "Une's men'll storm here first off, and she'll call Heero while it's happening. If you're not here..."

Heero moved to the window, then smiled slightly. "Your predictions make me sick, you know that?"

"What?" Jon demanded, moving to the window himself. "What? It's just a van..."

"A swat van," Heero agreed. He focused on the man, then looked to Jordan, "Can you jump?"

"I can do anything I have to do," Jordan noted.

"Where's the back exit?" Heero added.

Jon was staring out the window as three of the vans pulled up in front of the club.

"That door," Jordan indicated the one Terry had been running to initially. "It leads to a fire escape. If we can jump far enough, we can hit the next building and go up."

"They'll have helicopters as soon as they realize we're gone," Heero muttered, considering the vans.

Jordan glowered at him before shoving Jon through the door.

"All right," Heero muttered, moving to follow quickly as the front door to the place slammed open. "We've got about three seconds to get out of sight."

"Thank god we can jump," Jordan agreed, grabbing Jon around the middle. He cried out loudly as he shoved off the wall they were standing by, and Jon himself shouted in shock as they were suddenly flying through the air. Jordan landed hard on the far escape and his wounded leg buckled under him. Heero was certain the doors were closed behind them, and used the same means himself to jump the distance.

If they weren't seen to be running, he could claim that they'd been at Rico's the entire time...and that would give Jon more credibility...

He was one of the top-most ranking officers, Heero noted to himself as they moved almost silently through the building. He was a top-ranking officer running from his own men. The vans were marked with his numbers...they were the ones he himself had trained...

If it turned out that Jonathon Breer had in fact, hired the assassin...Heero was going to kill him.