Chapter Seventeen: Arising Suspicions

It was nine o'clock in the evening. I was sitting at the cafeteria's table, nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee. Something was wrong. Quatre came to my room to tell me that the rest of the pilots had to talk to me. This was interesting, I thought to myself. Shutting down my laptop, I carried the cup of coffee I was drinking to the cafeteria. They were all sitting at the round table where we all sat during mealtimes, or for a game of cards. Tonight, there was just the five pilots circled around me. I felt scrutiny in their eyes. After five minutes of silence, Heero arose and spoke.
"I, myself and the other pilots have noticed something strange. It's about your friend Fortune. She is often late coming in at night, never telling anyone of where she is going." He sighed heavily. "Yesterday, Quatre placed a homing device-"
I stood up swiftly, fire in my eyes, "You bugged Fortune!? What the hell'd you do that for!"
Heero lips tightened, his tone was deadly, "She's compromising the mission-"
"You have nothing! NOTHING on her. Just because she likes to go out and come back late- DAMN!" I slammed my fist on the table. I had never remembered being so angry in all of my life.
"It's not just that, and you KNOW it's not like that!" Heero's voice rose dangerously as we both stood, hands on the table fury and tension rested heavy in the air like a thick fog. "Anyhow, we looked at the data, and it seems she keeps on going into OZ territory repeatedly. We don't know if it's and extra mission or recon or what. But she has a lot of explaining to do. We can not tolerate any compromises at all."
I slumped back in my chair. This was hard, very hard to absorb. "God damn."
Wufei snickered, "I have always told the resistance about having women in this line of work-"
"What the hell do you mean by that, Wufei." My voice was deadly tight.
"It's it obvious, woman? She's now a plaything of Trieze Khushrenada. She's turned from a solider to nothing more than a common street whore-"
Wufei's words were slashed short as I calmly reached across the table and punched him hard in the face. An ugly purple swelling rose on his left cheek and his nose gusted blood. His eyes rolled up in his head. As he slumped forward, I grasped the front of his shirt and shook him.
"You listen to me and you listen good," I hissed. "I will not tolerate or condone you or ANYONE insulting Fortune or myself in that way. I AM the Daughter of Chaos, I bear grudges through lifetimes, and my fury is deadly. Next time, be wise and watch your mouth little man." And with the strength only pure unadulterated rage could bring, I flung him into a corner, chair and all. I looked at the other pilots, their faces were ashen and pale. I ran a hand through my short hair and turned to walk back to my room. Turning halfway, I spoke to them over my shoulder.
"Clean him up. . .and as for the matters of Miss Fortune Kincaid, I will deal with her personally."