GW Fic: Freeport 17 (rewrite)
It's the weekend, thus I post!
Link to all chapters
"Will you and your government teach eagles to fly and tigers to hunt? Of course not. No one is so arrogant with nature. But you and your government want to tell me what to buy and how to live, and I am more complex than any eagle or tiger. Give me only the same respect you pay the badger and the blue jay, and leave me alone.
After all, anarchy means nothing more than human ecology."
---Allen Thornton, Laws of the Jungle
Part 17
The kick punted the rusty tin can clear off the sidewalk and across the street to bounce off a nearby pylon. Duo scowled after it as if he wished he'd kicked it harder.
They were walking the distance from Vanzetti to Makhno instead of taking the shuttle. Duo said that he had a couple of people he wanted to talk to in an attempt to track down Herb Spasson, but Wufei gathered the main aim of the exercise was to let Duo blow off steam without too many witnesses.
"Shit, we're just not getting a break on this fucking case," Duo growled, ruffling up his bangs. "Another dead end."
"Spasson might be the one who ends up dead."
Duo shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Depends how friendly he is with Ferret-face. Maybe they're just hiding him."
"Until what?"
"Until Carver and Ferret leave the colony, I'm guessing. Or maybe Herb is just really, really stupid and followed Ferret and his big scary buddy all the way to recyc."
Duo's feet pounded the sidewalk as if he wanted to punish it. He mumbled another litany of curses like a mantra, then he glanced at Wufei.
"You're taking this better than I thought."
Wufei shrugged. He was angry and concerned too, but he'd grown somewhat inured to these kinds of setbacks in his time with the Preventers. An informant disappearing at a critical moment - and reappearing in a river with a brand new pair of concrete boots - was pretty much par for the course.
"At least we have a name and a face now, and a few more leads to follow," Duo muttered, turning a moody look back at the streets around them.
"How is that going to help?" Wufei had not been terribly impressed with their ability to find anybody in this chaotic colony to date.
"It helps a lot. We know who Herb is, and we know he lives in Haymarket. And we know he's such a good buddy of Ferret's that the latter went and got him out before we could ask him any questions. That says just how much Herb knows. We don't know who Ferret and Carver are, but we know Herb. He's traceable. Once we find him, he can tell us Ferret and Carver's names, and then we have them by the jewels."
Duo suddenly grinned, feral and deadly, though when he spoke it was with a theatrical sigh. "I've been neglecting poor Scythe lately. Her pipes are getting a bit clogged, and I won't tell you what's lurking in the Zero-G toilet. I think my lil' beauty should be seen by a good plumber. Don't you? I know how to find one. We'll talk to a couple of people on our way back. And we'll stop by Chris's candy stand. I could do with some comfort."
"We don't have time for you to get stoned, Maxwell."
"Not stoned, buddy, just a bit merry. Give me that, right?"
Wufei didn't answer. At this point he almost felt like a bit of chemical comfort himself, the mild kind that Chris could provide. It was barely a temptation, in answer to the frustration and the gloom that lurked behind his control. He was never going to get out of Freeport at this rate.
They avoided the busier thoroughfares and stuck to deserted side streets and back alleys between repair hatches. They walked past hangars and workshops, a couple of old buildings that had developed faults and hadn't been repaired due to lack of time and resources, junkyards, grimy air filter units, trash everywhere and a good number of feral cats. Wufei's mood matched their surroundings, while Duo's improved steadily as they walked. The smuggler bounced back quickly, as always.
Wufei's thoughts kept wandering down strange avenues, as if getting lost in the dark and twisted streets. He glared reprovingly at a junkyard up ahead whose contents had burst their chicken-wire fence and spilled over into the road, but his rebellious thoughts refused to dwell on the disorder. As much as he tried to concentrate on Ferret's unexpected appearance and the chain of events that might link him to Carver, his mind kept drifting back to the riots on L2, to choices made, to the justice he wanted to apply now, to Freeport's chaos that just failed to blow up like it should, to a hand at his waist and a mouth near his own whispering Bella ciao, o Bella ciao, Bel-
"Wu? You okay?"
"I'm fine," Wufei lied automatically.
"You're awfully quiet."
"I don't feel the need to rant and curse over something we can't change," Wufei retorted, and hated the way he'd sounded completely stuck up.
"Really? I think it'd be good for your digestion," said Duo, unaffected by Wufei's pissy reply.
"What else am I supposed to do. Jump around like I'm being electrocuted and insult a noble art by calling it 'dancing'?"
"Whoa, someone don't like the scene."
"Do you dance?" Wufei challenged.
Blue eyes blinked innocently. "Why, Mr Chang, are you asking me out on a date?"
He laughed when Wufei spluttered a denial.
"They don't call it dancing, if that makes you feel any better," Duo added. "The kids call it 'smashing', or 'crashing' or something. It seems to change its name every ten years. And no. I never got into the whole dance culture. Back on L2, I was either too young, too hungry, too poor, or too much of a terrorist. Now...nah."
"You looked like you were into it," Wufei pointed out, remembering Duo's grin and the unleashed energy in his step as he'd passed the pit.
"No. I spent too long fighting, I think," Duo answered, his gaze turning inward idly. "That pseudo 'I'm going wild now!' shit don't do much for Shinigami."
"Not unless you blew up the dance floor," Wufei muttered.
"Fuck, you still mad at that?" Duo made a show of massaging his temples to relieve a Wufei-begotten stress headache. "Come on, man, how else were we going to get into that holding bay? The whole lunar base was breathing down our necks, and I didn't hear you suggest running off and leaving your brand-new Altron behind for Tsubarov to find."
"You nearly blew us to hell, Maxwell."
"For guys like us, it would have been a bloody short trip, Chang. Did you want them to stick you back in that cell and switch off the O2 again? Shit, I think a bit of smashing would do you some good. You're wound up tighter than a C90 hauling cable trying to tug a barge. You've always been like that, even during the war: cold fish, cold fish, cold fish and then wham! Chang-shaped explosion. No fucking wonder Une made you take those anger management thingies, not that they did any visible good."
Wufei's boots rang harshly against the metal as he stopped abruptly.
Duo paused in his stride and glanced back. "Oops. Was Heero not supposed to tell me about that?"
"I would rather he hadn't," Wufei answered tightly, his furious gaze trying to ignite an oil slick at his feet.
"You know Heero. Social sensitivities of a buster rifle," Duo said. Wufei had the distant feeling that Duo regretted the jab now; the thought was lost in the embarrassment and anger eating at him. "If it makes you feel any better, Heero was totally on your side. He said he'd have done more to the little shit you attacked than squeeze his windpipe a bit," Duo sounded both hesitant to dig any further and way too curious not to.
"It sounds like he told you a lot," Wufei said, suddenly worried, his eyes darting around the empty streets and the nearby junkyard, following a rat scurrying across a drain- anywhere but at Duo.
"No, not really. What happened exactly? Why did you do it? Didn't they charge you? Doesn't Une mind that you tried to strangle a coworker?"
Wufei glanced up. Duo's curiosity had quintupled visibly. It was now coming off of him in sizzling waves, but he was apparently trying to look sympathetic too. That meant that Heero had only given him half the story, if that. That was fortunate. If Duo knew the details of Wufei's career, he'd have his suspicions about why Wufei had been sent to Freeport so suddenly, and he'd have said something right from the start. He'd have probably said a lot.
"There were extenuating circumstances," Wufei answered shortly, starting to walk again as if he could physically move away from the conversation.
Duo shadowed him step for step. "Such as?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it does. If I ever feel the urge to strangle you a little bit, I'd like to know what kind of circumstances could extenuate that," Duo said in a reasonable tone of voice.
"Mind your own business, Maxwell. And you're free to try me any time."
"I'll remember that." Duo lengthened his stride to pull abreast of the Preventer. "But if you don't tell me, I'll just have to guess."
"Wh-"
"Did he make a pass at you? Spill your coffee? Pinch Sally? Steal your stapler? Step on your toe? Push-"
"He let a murderer get away!" Wufei snapped. He knew Duo was joking. He knew the bastard was only trying to get a rise out of him. But behind the joke, maybe Duo did think Wufei could lose his temper for so little, and that made the words come tumbling out, hot and angry.
"He misfiled-" the word nearly ignited under the heat of his sarcasm "-the testimony of a murder witness, because that witness was an influential man and the murder happened in a bondage-special cat-house. He said - when my hands were on his throat - that he didn't think it would matter because of course he expected us to tell the judge unofficially what had happened and the judge would behave as if he'd heard the testimony in court and override anything the defense had to say and send the murderer to a penal colony without having to sully the reputation of an important man who only happened to be a key witness-" Wufei paused to take a needed breath, and realized his voice had been raised and that Duo had been making shushing motions for a few seconds now. Damn it. Good thing this area was mostly deserted.
"Anyway, Defense would have torn us to shreds in court," Wufei muttered. "We had to drop the case. The murderer walked."
"Let me guess." Duo's voice sounded amused, but there was steel in it. "This was on L2?"
"No, Tokyo."
"Really?" Duo looked surprised.
"We're colonists, that's what we think of first," Wufei pointed out tiredly. "But Romefeller and the Alliance had control of Earth for decades. Things have been working that way for years. It's all very genteel down there. Very well mannered. Rich people aren't bothered by-" Shut up, Chang. Shut up now, before you really let something slip.
Fortunately, Duo was more interested in Wufei's personal experience than politics. "So how come you got the slap on the wrist and the guy's not in the stockade?"
"No proof."
"What about what he told you?"
"For some strange reason, choking a confession out of a suspect is considered bad form in the Preventers."
"Didn't Heero back you up?"
"Heero?"
"Your partner? Christ, don't tell me you talked to this rat alone."
Of course Wufei had 'talked' to the man alone. If Heero had been there, that would have made things way too complicated for Trowa and Une.
"I...was alone. I...lost my temper and attacked him where there were no witnesses."
It felt wrong to lie to a friend. It felt worse somehow when it was Duo, who put such stock in not lying to start with. The words stuck in Wufei's throat, his mouth tried to clench round them.
"Hey, I would have lost my cool too," Duo told him kindly, obviously misinterpreting the reason for Wufei's reluctance.
Wufei grunted and started walking again. Maybe now they could forget about it.
"Sounds like you were the lucky one, not to land in the stockade," Duo commented, following him step for step once more.
"The man didn't press charges."
"Knowing he'd be even more on your shit-list if he did, I don't blame him," Duo said and snickered.
Wufei remembered the wide eyes that had gone from offended to frightened in less than three seconds. And then bulging a few second later. As always, there was some small satisfaction to be had from this kind of episode, whatever the circumstances and whatever the consequences.
"So Une sent you to the head-doctor instead of the stockade?"
"Can we change the subject?"
"No. I've never been to an anger management course, though I'm sure OZ would have been happy to pay me one. Spill. I'm curious." A sharp elbow nudged Wufei. "Come on, what was it like?
"Boring. Humiliating. Stupid. Useless. Need any other adjectives?"
"Need details, man."
"Why?!"
"Because I'll drive you ape until I get them," Duo answered in a reasonable tone.
Wufei wondered if his ancestors were having fun at his expense in the Celestial Gardens. Or was this their punishment for the stain he'd put on the Chang family name?
"Look, it was just a gesture. Everybody who mattered in the hierarchy knew the truth, Une just had to satisfy the board of directors that I wasn't- that I'd get my stress under control. So they made me go see this young councilor on L5. Not a shrink, just someone to talk to."
"What? The kind who wants you to get in touch with your inner muffin or something?"
"Yes."
"That must have been rough," Duo said sympathetically, though his eyes were twinkling with amusement. "Especially if she was too young to serve in the war. Some of the kids these days, hell, they're my age, but I feel like I could be their Dad."
"I don't think she saw me as a father figure. After two weeks, she threatened to quit if my case wasn't reassigned."
Duo's face twitched, but he kept up a good front of an attentive, considerate listener.
"Unfortunately that didn't look good on my file, so Une ordered me to see a shrink. I suppose she selected him because he was old and male and probably wouldn't burst into tears during the session."
"What did he say?"
"You're being tremendously indiscreet."
"You betcha. Come on, what did he say?"
"He started to ask me about my hobbies, particularly anything that would let me express myself." Since Duo was dragging this embarrassing episode out of him with pliers, let him hear it. Wufei was bleakly curious to see how long Duo would be able to keep that serious face and compassionate mien.
"I'm guessing he wasn't amused by the fact you unwind by practicing sword strokes," Duo prompted.
"I avoided telling him about that," Wufei said shortly. He'd never have involved Dr Deer in something so private. "Anyway, he was thinking along the lines of an artistic endeavor. He asked me if I could sing."
"How's that supposed to help you relax?" Duo looked puzzled. "It's never lowered my blood pressure."
"You sing?"
"In the shower, like everybody else. I sound like a gear that's been left out in space without sealant, but my volume makes up for that."
"I can well imagine. Do you draw?"
"Just design specs." Duo looked puzzled.
"Do you dance? Oh, you already answered that."
"...This guy actually wanted you to sing, draw or get down and boogie?" Duo's eyes were wide again and the corner of his mouth was twitching. "Where did you say this quack got his diploma?"
"I gave him the same answers you did," Wufei growled, ignoring the rhetorical question. "Can't dance, can't sing, can't draw, but I know twenty different ways of killing a man with my bare hands."
Duo hid his short snicker in a cough. "I bet that went down well."
"He said I needed an outlet for my aggression. I told him I had quite a few of them, they're called criminals."
Something like a whimper escaped Duo as he tried to keep the serious look on his face.
"He wasn't amused," Wufei understated. "He suggested that with my level of education, writing or drawing would be a suitable means of expressing my feelings. I refused to write on the grounds that this could inadvertently divulge information on Preventer cases, so he asked me to try painting. "
"And?" Duo managed to gasp out, his voice a little higher and wobblier than usual.
Wufei rolled his eyes, but at this point he had little dignity left in the matter.
"I drew some stuff so he wouldn't go whining to Une and get me suspended. When I showed it to him, he thought I was making fun of him."
"Were you?" Duo gulped.
"No, that was pretty much my best effort," Wufei admitted, feeling his cheeks flush.
Duo twitched.
"So, what did you do to get him off your case?" he asked, after clearing his throat twice.
"Calligraphy," Wufei muttered. "I learned the art when I was younger, before the war." He was so irritated at Dr Deer, Une, Trowa, Duo, everybody, that he did not feel graceful enough to acknowledge that he'd enjoyed rediscovering this small part of his past.
"That's the fancy letters, right? Chinese characters?"
"Yes."
"Did that help relax you?"
"I guess it did. I wrote the characters for Useless and Stupidity in a very nice composition, and that made him happy."
Duo choked.
"Then I composed a small poem in reference to his ancestry and their relationship to canines," Wufei finished sadistically, watching the smuggler's façade crumble. "He liked that one so much he asked me if he could hang it in his office. That helped my anger levels to no end."
Duo squeaked an apology or something and burst out laughing. He was shaking so hard he had to lean against a big piece of piping at the edge of the junkyard.
Wufei glared at the bent neck before him for appearance's sake. Inwardly he wondered why Duo's laughter was somehow less embarrassing than Heero and Trowa's quiet understanding. Maybe it was because Heero and Trowa, despite their support, didn't really understand how much the whole episode had offended and humiliated him. Duo would have packed the shrink's desk with semtex by day two.
"Oh man, what a quack! I can't believe Une asked you to see him," Duo finally spluttered between gasps for air.
"To be honest, his advice was more constructive than the councilor's."
"Oh, what did she say?"
"She told me to watch more television," Wufei ground out. That had been on the very first day. Things had gone rapidly downhill after that.
"Come again?" Duo wiped his eyes and focused on him.
"Television. She said I'd find it soothing."
"The lil' crumpet sounds even dumber than the old guy. What's soothing about the tube?"
"She thinks it is. Most people do," Wufei muttered.
"Really? I find it boring. Hilde has it on all day when I go see her. She won't even let me put on the sports channels," Duo added petulantly.
"It tells them they're at peace." Wufei could normally spit those words out with venom; today he could only manage tired and numb. "After decades of war and loss, it tells them everything is okay, that the riots are all just isolated pockets of looting, that the economy is getting better all the time and that Relena's wearing a new dress to the Luxemburg grand ball."
"Yeah, boring." Duo heaved a great sigh, with an extra chuckle leaking through it, and lounged back against the pipe. He cocked his head and scrutinized Wufei. The latter found himself shifting under the direct gaze, as if all the moments he'd stood on the outside, feeling isolated from the universal Peace, were something sinful he should hide.
Then Duo swung around, jumped and stood up on the pipe in one fluid movement, black coat swinging like a curtain opening. Just as Wufei was about to ask his friend if he'd blown a fuse, Duo threw back his head and hollered.
"Maaaarx!"
Wufei distinctly felt his jaw thump his breastbone.
"Marx! You thought religion was the opium of the people?!" Duo shouted at the top of his lungs. "You didn't know what TV was, you poor fuck, you!"
A dog barked in the distance. There was the sound of a window opening abruptly nearby.
"Relena could wear a uniform, jackboots and a rose lapel as long as she made it look good on screen!" Duo shouted. "Fuck 'em all!"
A head poked out of a window in a distant building. Duo waved, and the person went back inside. Somebody behind a tall wall a block away shouted 'hear hear!' The echoes chased Duo's voice around the sector until it faded like the noise of a distant mob cheering.
Wufei was staring around, aghast, waiting for somebody to berate them. When he glanced back at Duo, he was pinned by a challenging stare.
"You ever do that, Wufei?"
"D-do what?"
"This."
Duo threw back his head, his arms-
"AAAAAAAH!"
It wasn't a word. It was just a primal scream, free and splendid in its sheer brutality.
Wufei shuddered but said nothing, reduced to silence by the shout, the way it bounced freely back and forth through Freeport's metal streets.
Other windows opened, but apart from a distant shout of 'shut the fuck up', nobody protested. Another dog barked, a small excited yip-yip-yip. Its cries were buried by the groan of a train passing overhead.
Duo hopped off the pipe and landed in front of him. Wufei faced a stare that was part challenge, part understanding. As if Duo could see every squirming little doubt, every angry word buried in Wufei's soul. As if he could count the names on Wufei's list, and knew how much it cost the Preventer not to act on it.
Wufei was left staring at the pipe as the black-coated figure moved abruptly aside. He could feel Duo's eyes drill into his head, an invitation or a dare, or maybe both. Wufei took a step back instinctively, mortified at the very thought of exhibiting himself in that way. He was in control of himself, he wasn't some- some savage to put on such a display-
"Come on, let's go home."
Wufei's eyes stayed fixed on the pipe, even when Duo's boots began to move. He felt almost...- though there was no reason for him to feel ashamed, he amended harshly before the thought had even formed. He'd not been the one making a spectacle of himself, he-
Duo's hand landed on his shoulder, giving him a shove in the right direction. Wufei growled something indistinct, his head down. The hand stayed on his shoulder a couple more seconds longer than needed, and gave a slight squeeze before falling back to its owner's side.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time they made it back to Makhno, the moment was well over and conversation had resumed. Duo had made enquiries about Herb with a few friends, and also bought a couple of bright pink pills at Chris's stand. He'd offered one to Wufei with a twinkle in his eye that indicated he was doing this just to start a good verbal match, and he wasn't disappointed.
"What's the difference between taking a mild booster and swinging a sword like a maniac for two hours to get an endorphin boost?" Duo asked, lowering his voice as they passed Babka's door. "You're monkeying with your chemistry either way."
"Exercising is good for you, and the endorphins are a natural body response-"
"To stress!" Duo shot back, unlocking his front door absently. "Are you saying-"
Duo stepped into the room and froze. His stiletto instantly shot its sheath and nestled in his palm.
Wufei's sword was drawn as soon as he'd heard the twang of the dagger's spring. He eyed the man sitting at Duo's workbench, casually going over an old tech manual Duo had left lying about.
The silence was absolute apart from the voices of children yelling outside and the gentle leafing noises as the stranger flipped a few pages.
Duo's eyes flickered around the room, resting briefly on the back door which showed no more signs of a forced entry than the front one.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, finally bringing his attention back to the intruder.
The man looked up as if he'd only now noticed their presence. "What?" His voice was raspy and sounded oddly amused. "Not even a 'hello'?"
"Hello, Ravachol. What are you doing here?"
End Part 17
Part 18
Link to all chapters
"Will you and your government teach eagles to fly and tigers to hunt? Of course not. No one is so arrogant with nature. But you and your government want to tell me what to buy and how to live, and I am more complex than any eagle or tiger. Give me only the same respect you pay the badger and the blue jay, and leave me alone.
After all, anarchy means nothing more than human ecology."
---Allen Thornton, Laws of the Jungle
Part 17
The kick punted the rusty tin can clear off the sidewalk and across the street to bounce off a nearby pylon. Duo scowled after it as if he wished he'd kicked it harder.
They were walking the distance from Vanzetti to Makhno instead of taking the shuttle. Duo said that he had a couple of people he wanted to talk to in an attempt to track down Herb Spasson, but Wufei gathered the main aim of the exercise was to let Duo blow off steam without too many witnesses.
"Shit, we're just not getting a break on this fucking case," Duo growled, ruffling up his bangs. "Another dead end."
"Spasson might be the one who ends up dead."
Duo shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Depends how friendly he is with Ferret-face. Maybe they're just hiding him."
"Until what?"
"Until Carver and Ferret leave the colony, I'm guessing. Or maybe Herb is just really, really stupid and followed Ferret and his big scary buddy all the way to recyc."
Duo's feet pounded the sidewalk as if he wanted to punish it. He mumbled another litany of curses like a mantra, then he glanced at Wufei.
"You're taking this better than I thought."
Wufei shrugged. He was angry and concerned too, but he'd grown somewhat inured to these kinds of setbacks in his time with the Preventers. An informant disappearing at a critical moment - and reappearing in a river with a brand new pair of concrete boots - was pretty much par for the course.
"At least we have a name and a face now, and a few more leads to follow," Duo muttered, turning a moody look back at the streets around them.
"How is that going to help?" Wufei had not been terribly impressed with their ability to find anybody in this chaotic colony to date.
"It helps a lot. We know who Herb is, and we know he lives in Haymarket. And we know he's such a good buddy of Ferret's that the latter went and got him out before we could ask him any questions. That says just how much Herb knows. We don't know who Ferret and Carver are, but we know Herb. He's traceable. Once we find him, he can tell us Ferret and Carver's names, and then we have them by the jewels."
Duo suddenly grinned, feral and deadly, though when he spoke it was with a theatrical sigh. "I've been neglecting poor Scythe lately. Her pipes are getting a bit clogged, and I won't tell you what's lurking in the Zero-G toilet. I think my lil' beauty should be seen by a good plumber. Don't you? I know how to find one. We'll talk to a couple of people on our way back. And we'll stop by Chris's candy stand. I could do with some comfort."
"We don't have time for you to get stoned, Maxwell."
"Not stoned, buddy, just a bit merry. Give me that, right?"
Wufei didn't answer. At this point he almost felt like a bit of chemical comfort himself, the mild kind that Chris could provide. It was barely a temptation, in answer to the frustration and the gloom that lurked behind his control. He was never going to get out of Freeport at this rate.
They avoided the busier thoroughfares and stuck to deserted side streets and back alleys between repair hatches. They walked past hangars and workshops, a couple of old buildings that had developed faults and hadn't been repaired due to lack of time and resources, junkyards, grimy air filter units, trash everywhere and a good number of feral cats. Wufei's mood matched their surroundings, while Duo's improved steadily as they walked. The smuggler bounced back quickly, as always.
Wufei's thoughts kept wandering down strange avenues, as if getting lost in the dark and twisted streets. He glared reprovingly at a junkyard up ahead whose contents had burst their chicken-wire fence and spilled over into the road, but his rebellious thoughts refused to dwell on the disorder. As much as he tried to concentrate on Ferret's unexpected appearance and the chain of events that might link him to Carver, his mind kept drifting back to the riots on L2, to choices made, to the justice he wanted to apply now, to Freeport's chaos that just failed to blow up like it should, to a hand at his waist and a mouth near his own whispering Bella ciao, o Bella ciao, Bel-
"Wu? You okay?"
"I'm fine," Wufei lied automatically.
"You're awfully quiet."
"I don't feel the need to rant and curse over something we can't change," Wufei retorted, and hated the way he'd sounded completely stuck up.
"Really? I think it'd be good for your digestion," said Duo, unaffected by Wufei's pissy reply.
"What else am I supposed to do. Jump around like I'm being electrocuted and insult a noble art by calling it 'dancing'?"
"Whoa, someone don't like the scene."
"Do you dance?" Wufei challenged.
Blue eyes blinked innocently. "Why, Mr Chang, are you asking me out on a date?"
He laughed when Wufei spluttered a denial.
"They don't call it dancing, if that makes you feel any better," Duo added. "The kids call it 'smashing', or 'crashing' or something. It seems to change its name every ten years. And no. I never got into the whole dance culture. Back on L2, I was either too young, too hungry, too poor, or too much of a terrorist. Now...nah."
"You looked like you were into it," Wufei pointed out, remembering Duo's grin and the unleashed energy in his step as he'd passed the pit.
"No. I spent too long fighting, I think," Duo answered, his gaze turning inward idly. "That pseudo 'I'm going wild now!' shit don't do much for Shinigami."
"Not unless you blew up the dance floor," Wufei muttered.
"Fuck, you still mad at that?" Duo made a show of massaging his temples to relieve a Wufei-begotten stress headache. "Come on, man, how else were we going to get into that holding bay? The whole lunar base was breathing down our necks, and I didn't hear you suggest running off and leaving your brand-new Altron behind for Tsubarov to find."
"You nearly blew us to hell, Maxwell."
"For guys like us, it would have been a bloody short trip, Chang. Did you want them to stick you back in that cell and switch off the O2 again? Shit, I think a bit of smashing would do you some good. You're wound up tighter than a C90 hauling cable trying to tug a barge. You've always been like that, even during the war: cold fish, cold fish, cold fish and then wham! Chang-shaped explosion. No fucking wonder Une made you take those anger management thingies, not that they did any visible good."
Wufei's boots rang harshly against the metal as he stopped abruptly.
Duo paused in his stride and glanced back. "Oops. Was Heero not supposed to tell me about that?"
"I would rather he hadn't," Wufei answered tightly, his furious gaze trying to ignite an oil slick at his feet.
"You know Heero. Social sensitivities of a buster rifle," Duo said. Wufei had the distant feeling that Duo regretted the jab now; the thought was lost in the embarrassment and anger eating at him. "If it makes you feel any better, Heero was totally on your side. He said he'd have done more to the little shit you attacked than squeeze his windpipe a bit," Duo sounded both hesitant to dig any further and way too curious not to.
"It sounds like he told you a lot," Wufei said, suddenly worried, his eyes darting around the empty streets and the nearby junkyard, following a rat scurrying across a drain- anywhere but at Duo.
"No, not really. What happened exactly? Why did you do it? Didn't they charge you? Doesn't Une mind that you tried to strangle a coworker?"
Wufei glanced up. Duo's curiosity had quintupled visibly. It was now coming off of him in sizzling waves, but he was apparently trying to look sympathetic too. That meant that Heero had only given him half the story, if that. That was fortunate. If Duo knew the details of Wufei's career, he'd have his suspicions about why Wufei had been sent to Freeport so suddenly, and he'd have said something right from the start. He'd have probably said a lot.
"There were extenuating circumstances," Wufei answered shortly, starting to walk again as if he could physically move away from the conversation.
Duo shadowed him step for step. "Such as?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it does. If I ever feel the urge to strangle you a little bit, I'd like to know what kind of circumstances could extenuate that," Duo said in a reasonable tone of voice.
"Mind your own business, Maxwell. And you're free to try me any time."
"I'll remember that." Duo lengthened his stride to pull abreast of the Preventer. "But if you don't tell me, I'll just have to guess."
"Wh-"
"Did he make a pass at you? Spill your coffee? Pinch Sally? Steal your stapler? Step on your toe? Push-"
"He let a murderer get away!" Wufei snapped. He knew Duo was joking. He knew the bastard was only trying to get a rise out of him. But behind the joke, maybe Duo did think Wufei could lose his temper for so little, and that made the words come tumbling out, hot and angry.
"He misfiled-" the word nearly ignited under the heat of his sarcasm "-the testimony of a murder witness, because that witness was an influential man and the murder happened in a bondage-special cat-house. He said - when my hands were on his throat - that he didn't think it would matter because of course he expected us to tell the judge unofficially what had happened and the judge would behave as if he'd heard the testimony in court and override anything the defense had to say and send the murderer to a penal colony without having to sully the reputation of an important man who only happened to be a key witness-" Wufei paused to take a needed breath, and realized his voice had been raised and that Duo had been making shushing motions for a few seconds now. Damn it. Good thing this area was mostly deserted.
"Anyway, Defense would have torn us to shreds in court," Wufei muttered. "We had to drop the case. The murderer walked."
"Let me guess." Duo's voice sounded amused, but there was steel in it. "This was on L2?"
"No, Tokyo."
"Really?" Duo looked surprised.
"We're colonists, that's what we think of first," Wufei pointed out tiredly. "But Romefeller and the Alliance had control of Earth for decades. Things have been working that way for years. It's all very genteel down there. Very well mannered. Rich people aren't bothered by-" Shut up, Chang. Shut up now, before you really let something slip.
Fortunately, Duo was more interested in Wufei's personal experience than politics. "So how come you got the slap on the wrist and the guy's not in the stockade?"
"No proof."
"What about what he told you?"
"For some strange reason, choking a confession out of a suspect is considered bad form in the Preventers."
"Didn't Heero back you up?"
"Heero?"
"Your partner? Christ, don't tell me you talked to this rat alone."
Of course Wufei had 'talked' to the man alone. If Heero had been there, that would have made things way too complicated for Trowa and Une.
"I...was alone. I...lost my temper and attacked him where there were no witnesses."
It felt wrong to lie to a friend. It felt worse somehow when it was Duo, who put such stock in not lying to start with. The words stuck in Wufei's throat, his mouth tried to clench round them.
"Hey, I would have lost my cool too," Duo told him kindly, obviously misinterpreting the reason for Wufei's reluctance.
Wufei grunted and started walking again. Maybe now they could forget about it.
"Sounds like you were the lucky one, not to land in the stockade," Duo commented, following him step for step once more.
"The man didn't press charges."
"Knowing he'd be even more on your shit-list if he did, I don't blame him," Duo said and snickered.
Wufei remembered the wide eyes that had gone from offended to frightened in less than three seconds. And then bulging a few second later. As always, there was some small satisfaction to be had from this kind of episode, whatever the circumstances and whatever the consequences.
"So Une sent you to the head-doctor instead of the stockade?"
"Can we change the subject?"
"No. I've never been to an anger management course, though I'm sure OZ would have been happy to pay me one. Spill. I'm curious." A sharp elbow nudged Wufei. "Come on, what was it like?
"Boring. Humiliating. Stupid. Useless. Need any other adjectives?"
"Need details, man."
"Why?!"
"Because I'll drive you ape until I get them," Duo answered in a reasonable tone.
Wufei wondered if his ancestors were having fun at his expense in the Celestial Gardens. Or was this their punishment for the stain he'd put on the Chang family name?
"Look, it was just a gesture. Everybody who mattered in the hierarchy knew the truth, Une just had to satisfy the board of directors that I wasn't- that I'd get my stress under control. So they made me go see this young councilor on L5. Not a shrink, just someone to talk to."
"What? The kind who wants you to get in touch with your inner muffin or something?"
"Yes."
"That must have been rough," Duo said sympathetically, though his eyes were twinkling with amusement. "Especially if she was too young to serve in the war. Some of the kids these days, hell, they're my age, but I feel like I could be their Dad."
"I don't think she saw me as a father figure. After two weeks, she threatened to quit if my case wasn't reassigned."
Duo's face twitched, but he kept up a good front of an attentive, considerate listener.
"Unfortunately that didn't look good on my file, so Une ordered me to see a shrink. I suppose she selected him because he was old and male and probably wouldn't burst into tears during the session."
"What did he say?"
"You're being tremendously indiscreet."
"You betcha. Come on, what did he say?"
"He started to ask me about my hobbies, particularly anything that would let me express myself." Since Duo was dragging this embarrassing episode out of him with pliers, let him hear it. Wufei was bleakly curious to see how long Duo would be able to keep that serious face and compassionate mien.
"I'm guessing he wasn't amused by the fact you unwind by practicing sword strokes," Duo prompted.
"I avoided telling him about that," Wufei said shortly. He'd never have involved Dr Deer in something so private. "Anyway, he was thinking along the lines of an artistic endeavor. He asked me if I could sing."
"How's that supposed to help you relax?" Duo looked puzzled. "It's never lowered my blood pressure."
"You sing?"
"In the shower, like everybody else. I sound like a gear that's been left out in space without sealant, but my volume makes up for that."
"I can well imagine. Do you draw?"
"Just design specs." Duo looked puzzled.
"Do you dance? Oh, you already answered that."
"...This guy actually wanted you to sing, draw or get down and boogie?" Duo's eyes were wide again and the corner of his mouth was twitching. "Where did you say this quack got his diploma?"
"I gave him the same answers you did," Wufei growled, ignoring the rhetorical question. "Can't dance, can't sing, can't draw, but I know twenty different ways of killing a man with my bare hands."
Duo hid his short snicker in a cough. "I bet that went down well."
"He said I needed an outlet for my aggression. I told him I had quite a few of them, they're called criminals."
Something like a whimper escaped Duo as he tried to keep the serious look on his face.
"He wasn't amused," Wufei understated. "He suggested that with my level of education, writing or drawing would be a suitable means of expressing my feelings. I refused to write on the grounds that this could inadvertently divulge information on Preventer cases, so he asked me to try painting. "
"And?" Duo managed to gasp out, his voice a little higher and wobblier than usual.
Wufei rolled his eyes, but at this point he had little dignity left in the matter.
"I drew some stuff so he wouldn't go whining to Une and get me suspended. When I showed it to him, he thought I was making fun of him."
"Were you?" Duo gulped.
"No, that was pretty much my best effort," Wufei admitted, feeling his cheeks flush.
Duo twitched.
"So, what did you do to get him off your case?" he asked, after clearing his throat twice.
"Calligraphy," Wufei muttered. "I learned the art when I was younger, before the war." He was so irritated at Dr Deer, Une, Trowa, Duo, everybody, that he did not feel graceful enough to acknowledge that he'd enjoyed rediscovering this small part of his past.
"That's the fancy letters, right? Chinese characters?"
"Yes."
"Did that help relax you?"
"I guess it did. I wrote the characters for Useless and Stupidity in a very nice composition, and that made him happy."
Duo choked.
"Then I composed a small poem in reference to his ancestry and their relationship to canines," Wufei finished sadistically, watching the smuggler's façade crumble. "He liked that one so much he asked me if he could hang it in his office. That helped my anger levels to no end."
Duo squeaked an apology or something and burst out laughing. He was shaking so hard he had to lean against a big piece of piping at the edge of the junkyard.
Wufei glared at the bent neck before him for appearance's sake. Inwardly he wondered why Duo's laughter was somehow less embarrassing than Heero and Trowa's quiet understanding. Maybe it was because Heero and Trowa, despite their support, didn't really understand how much the whole episode had offended and humiliated him. Duo would have packed the shrink's desk with semtex by day two.
"Oh man, what a quack! I can't believe Une asked you to see him," Duo finally spluttered between gasps for air.
"To be honest, his advice was more constructive than the councilor's."
"Oh, what did she say?"
"She told me to watch more television," Wufei ground out. That had been on the very first day. Things had gone rapidly downhill after that.
"Come again?" Duo wiped his eyes and focused on him.
"Television. She said I'd find it soothing."
"The lil' crumpet sounds even dumber than the old guy. What's soothing about the tube?"
"She thinks it is. Most people do," Wufei muttered.
"Really? I find it boring. Hilde has it on all day when I go see her. She won't even let me put on the sports channels," Duo added petulantly.
"It tells them they're at peace." Wufei could normally spit those words out with venom; today he could only manage tired and numb. "After decades of war and loss, it tells them everything is okay, that the riots are all just isolated pockets of looting, that the economy is getting better all the time and that Relena's wearing a new dress to the Luxemburg grand ball."
"Yeah, boring." Duo heaved a great sigh, with an extra chuckle leaking through it, and lounged back against the pipe. He cocked his head and scrutinized Wufei. The latter found himself shifting under the direct gaze, as if all the moments he'd stood on the outside, feeling isolated from the universal Peace, were something sinful he should hide.
Then Duo swung around, jumped and stood up on the pipe in one fluid movement, black coat swinging like a curtain opening. Just as Wufei was about to ask his friend if he'd blown a fuse, Duo threw back his head and hollered.
"Maaaarx!"
Wufei distinctly felt his jaw thump his breastbone.
"Marx! You thought religion was the opium of the people?!" Duo shouted at the top of his lungs. "You didn't know what TV was, you poor fuck, you!"
A dog barked in the distance. There was the sound of a window opening abruptly nearby.
"Relena could wear a uniform, jackboots and a rose lapel as long as she made it look good on screen!" Duo shouted. "Fuck 'em all!"
A head poked out of a window in a distant building. Duo waved, and the person went back inside. Somebody behind a tall wall a block away shouted 'hear hear!' The echoes chased Duo's voice around the sector until it faded like the noise of a distant mob cheering.
Wufei was staring around, aghast, waiting for somebody to berate them. When he glanced back at Duo, he was pinned by a challenging stare.
"You ever do that, Wufei?"
"D-do what?"
"This."
Duo threw back his head, his arms-
"AAAAAAAH!"
It wasn't a word. It was just a primal scream, free and splendid in its sheer brutality.
Wufei shuddered but said nothing, reduced to silence by the shout, the way it bounced freely back and forth through Freeport's metal streets.
Other windows opened, but apart from a distant shout of 'shut the fuck up', nobody protested. Another dog barked, a small excited yip-yip-yip. Its cries were buried by the groan of a train passing overhead.
Duo hopped off the pipe and landed in front of him. Wufei faced a stare that was part challenge, part understanding. As if Duo could see every squirming little doubt, every angry word buried in Wufei's soul. As if he could count the names on Wufei's list, and knew how much it cost the Preventer not to act on it.
Wufei was left staring at the pipe as the black-coated figure moved abruptly aside. He could feel Duo's eyes drill into his head, an invitation or a dare, or maybe both. Wufei took a step back instinctively, mortified at the very thought of exhibiting himself in that way. He was in control of himself, he wasn't some- some savage to put on such a display-
"Come on, let's go home."
Wufei's eyes stayed fixed on the pipe, even when Duo's boots began to move. He felt almost...- though there was no reason for him to feel ashamed, he amended harshly before the thought had even formed. He'd not been the one making a spectacle of himself, he-
Duo's hand landed on his shoulder, giving him a shove in the right direction. Wufei growled something indistinct, his head down. The hand stayed on his shoulder a couple more seconds longer than needed, and gave a slight squeeze before falling back to its owner's side.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time they made it back to Makhno, the moment was well over and conversation had resumed. Duo had made enquiries about Herb with a few friends, and also bought a couple of bright pink pills at Chris's stand. He'd offered one to Wufei with a twinkle in his eye that indicated he was doing this just to start a good verbal match, and he wasn't disappointed.
"What's the difference between taking a mild booster and swinging a sword like a maniac for two hours to get an endorphin boost?" Duo asked, lowering his voice as they passed Babka's door. "You're monkeying with your chemistry either way."
"Exercising is good for you, and the endorphins are a natural body response-"
"To stress!" Duo shot back, unlocking his front door absently. "Are you saying-"
Duo stepped into the room and froze. His stiletto instantly shot its sheath and nestled in his palm.
Wufei's sword was drawn as soon as he'd heard the twang of the dagger's spring. He eyed the man sitting at Duo's workbench, casually going over an old tech manual Duo had left lying about.
The silence was absolute apart from the voices of children yelling outside and the gentle leafing noises as the stranger flipped a few pages.
Duo's eyes flickered around the room, resting briefly on the back door which showed no more signs of a forced entry than the front one.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, finally bringing his attention back to the intruder.
The man looked up as if he'd only now noticed their presence. "What?" His voice was raspy and sounded oddly amused. "Not even a 'hello'?"
"Hello, Ravachol. What are you doing here?"
End Part 17
Part 18