Disclaimer: Gundam Wing isn't mine, and I'm making no money off of this.
Warning: Mild swearing, violence, and yaoi.
Chapter 10The press surged toward him, a faceless amoeba, microphones and cameras used as pseudopodia. Quatre kept his face calm, as expressionless as he could get, not willing to give the media anything but a tranquil shot of him. He ignored both the microphones shoved unceremoniously in his face and the questions being shouted at him from all sides.
"Quatre Winner! Is it true that you hid under a false identity at a local boarding school before the kidnapping?"
"Did you see Senator Davis's son when you were held? Is he still alive?"
"You haven't disclosed your whereabouts during the war, does this have something to do with that time?"
Quatre gritted his teeth and moved as quickly as he could through the throng. W.E.'s hired bodyguards pushed through the mass so that he didn't have to. Ira was at his side, holding his arm firmly in her grip, as if afraid he'd disappear again if she let go.
Not nearly soon enough for the blonde, they were pulled out of the mass of blood thirsty reporters and on to a large, square stage. Quatre was hard pressed to keep his neutral face when he saw who was waiting for him beside the podium where he was to make his statement to the press.
Everett Orth.
The man stepped over to them and took Quatre's smaller hand in his larger one, shaking it heartily, and squeezing just a little to tight. The ex-pilot had to fight his reflex to yank away. "I'm so glad you're safe, Quatre, your sister and I were just worried sick. We're all happy to see you safe and sound." His tone was warm, but Quatre could detect the cold calculation in his gray eyes.
The blonde nodded in response and curved his lips into a facsimile of a smile, though it felt a little bit to tight to look exactly right. He ignored the small frown Orth gave him in response and stepped away, moving to stand behind the podium. He settled himself calmly and faced the crowd, waiting for the noise to die down, which it did fairly quickly when they saw that the heir to the Winner fortune was about to speak.
Quatre lifted his head to look into the crowd. The bruises on his face were fading, but still perfectly visible to the cameras. "Several days ago I, Quatre Raberba Winner, was abducted from a crowded restaurant by several armed men. Taken with me was Senator Davis's son, Eric Davis. We were taken to an unknown location and held prisoner for days, presumably for ransom, though whether it was monetary or political I do not know. I was separated from Mr. Davis, and the kidnappers attempted to transport me to another location in a van. I managed to get free and jumped from the moving vehicle onto the highway, where several kind W.E. hired private investigators helped me find my way home."
Heero had planned all this in advance. He knew that the P.I.'s were going to be close to the location where the van had let him out. "I don't know where Eric Davis is being held at this moment, but I plan to work with the Preventer Agency and give them all the information I have that might help find him. I'm not going to disclose any more details to the press, as it might impede the investigation. I am not taking any questions."
With that Quatre stepped off the podium, ignoring the sudden shouting as the press vented its ire at not being allowed to interrogate him. Orth stopped him quickly on his way off the stage. "Quatre, I hope you'll be willing to come to the engagement party of Terra and I at my house tomorrow. I know you're sister would love it if you were there." The man smiled, reminding Quatre of a particularly slimy crocodile showing its teeth.
"Believe me, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Barring anymore unfortunate kidnappings of course."
"Of course," Everett said, voice sly like he was in on some private joke.
He hurried around the other man. The bodyguards once more cleared the way as Ira led him to a large, heavily guarded limousine. As soon as Quatre scrambled inside he found himself pounced on. It seemed at least one third of his 29 sisters were already in the car, and they were all intent on crooning and cooing over his bruises, when they weren't berating him for getting kidnapped in the first place and making them worry.
"Poor baby, look what they did to you!"
"See, I told you school wasn't a good idea, you should have stayed home where you were safe with us!"
"If you ever, ever make me worry like that again I'll . . ."
"I'm going to hunt down each and everyone of those bastards who did this and make them sorry that they ever heard the name Winner!"
Quatre was beginning to wish he had stayed tied to the chair in his cell.
Ira patted his hand sympathetically and then held up her hand for silence. Amazingly, the rest of the sisters actually began to fall quiet. "I'm sure our baby brother has had enough of people shouting into his face." She glanced out the window. "Ah, there's are last two passengers." She smiled mischievously at Quatre as she opened the door. Two very familiar people slid in quickly into the already filled to capacity limo. The last one in slammed the door behind them, right into the faces of some of the more nosy press members. The car began to move away from the media circus immediately.
"Trowa! Duo! What are you two doing here?"
Duo grinned and winked. "Guarding your back buddy. Wouldn't want anymore unfortunate abductions to take place when we just got you back!"
Trowa nodded his head in agreement. "It's good to have you back safe Quatre," he said quietly.
"Humph, no thanks to you Preventers," one of his sisters piped up angrily.
Quatre winced. "Patricia, I'm a Preventer too, believe me, it wasn't there fault."
He got glares from all directions. Sisters weren't reasonable when it came to family, in fact, they were downright scary.
The blonde turned back to his friends. Duo was eyeing the hostile horde of women nervously. He looked like he was contemplating making his own jump out of a moving vehicle. Trowa's face was blank as usual, but he seemed to be hiding behind his bangs a little more than was normal. "So I assume we're heading to headquarters? So that I can tell you what happened?"
"Yep, only if these lovely ladies agree, of course."
The violet-eyed boy's comment got several angry sniffs, but Ira frowned and glared commandingly around at the offenders, so no further sounds were heard.
The three boy's decided to wait to discuss the kidnapping until they got to headquarters, so Quatre had to put up with the fussing of his sisters all the way there. It made him really glad that it was a short trip.
Soon the black limousine smoothly pulled to a halt and Trowa, Duo, and Quatre all piled out. Ira stopped the blonde with a hand on his arm before he could make his escape. "We'll be back to pick you up in two hours, so you'd better be done by then. You're not going home alone."
Quatre raised an eyebrow. "All of you?"
"You'd better believe it!" One of his sister's shouted out, he couldn't tell which one with so many of them together.
Ira nodded, perfectly in unity with her sister for the moment. "Two hours. Be ready." She shut the door and the limo pulled smoothly away from the curb. And I thought she was the reasonable one, the blonde thought, with an inward sigh.
"Man Q, I really don't envy you. Suddenly I'm glad I'm an orphan." Duo shuddered theatrically and Trowa nodded his head in agreement.
Quatre grinned. But the smile faded as he looked at his two friends. How could either one of them be a traitor?
Duo frowned in concern. "You really okay Quatre?" His voice was uncharacteristically serious.
"I will be when this whole thing is solved. Let's go up so we can start working on it."
The three ex-pilots headed into the building and took the elevator up to the Preventer offices. The obnoxious secretary was on duty, but this time Quatre passed him with out any incident. In fact, the man actually nodded respectably and greeted him as Mr. Winner. With all the press coverage, the blonde was now deemed important enough to be allowed in without fuss.
The three agents soon entered the office of Lady Une. Quatre had a strong sense of déjà vu as all six of them were once more together in the spacious room.
Sally's face lit up in relief when she saw him. "Well you're looking well all things considered. We've been searching for you none stop, and then you just go ahead and rescue yourself." She shook her head, mock scolding.
"Please sit down Quatre," Une said gesturing to a chair. She studied him carefully, worry written across her features. "I want Sally to take a look at you before you leave."
"I've already been checked out by some doctor's in W.E.'s employ . . ."
"Nevertheless, I'd feel better if one of our medic's gave you a clean bill of health."
Quatre smiled slightly. Not sure if he should be flattered over her concern or annoyed by it. "If you insist."
She hesitated, and then nodded. "I think I do."
"So," Wufei said, "did you see Heero and find out what's going on?"
I still can't see any of them as a traitor, and yet my heart tells me that Heero was telling the truth. He, at least, believes there is a treacherous person among us, and so I better approach this the way he wanted me to. "No," the blonde lied. "I don't think he knew anything about the kidnappings." The best lies were those mixed in with some truth. "From what I could gather, the entire plot was masterminded by Rai Setsuna."
"Red Thorn's old leader? The fanatic?" Trowa said, usually emotionless voice a little startled. "Does that mean that he's back in power? Has Heero been disposed?"
Quatre shook his head. "No. It seems he was busy with something else and Setsuna was left in charge with him gone." The blonde hesitated, and then decided to tell them the rest. Otherwise they might find out anyway and he'd be left with more questions. "By the time I left though, he was no longer leading."
"Who is leading, then? What happened?"" Une asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, I think Heero might be back now. The fanatic is dead."
"Dead? By your hand?" Wufei asked.
"No, though it was because of me he was killed, or rather because of what he was trying to do to me. Mia Shahar was the one to kill him, she shot him in the head."
"What did he try, Q?" Duo asked, tone sharp with dread.
Quatre hesitated and tried to think of how to approach this delicately. If his friends were still his friends this would upset them. "He had a . . .a certain fondness for younger boys."
"He tried to rape you?" Duo hissed, getting it immediately.
"Yes."
If one of them were treacherous they acted very well. All five looked upset, expressions varying from outrage to shock. Duo's usually happily sparkling violet eyes had gone cold. He looked like he was contemplating digging up the man's corpse and kicking it a couple of times for good measure. Trowa looked sick and was watching the blonde boy worriedly. Sally's look of surprise was gradually changing into concern, her doctor's instincts coming to the fore. Wufei looked murderous, and Une looked like she was about to start crying.
"Son of a bitch . . ." the braided boy began angrily.
"It's okay Duo. Mia killed him before he could really do anything. I'm fine."
None of them really looked convinced.
Wufei shook his head. "I never thought I'd have a reason to thank one of Red Thorn's members, especially an onna."
Sally and Une both shot him annoyed looks, but Trowa interrupted before it could come down to a battle of the sexes. "Can you tell us what you remember of the place you were held?"
Quatre nodded and launched into a false description. Une's huge mahogany desk was messier then the blonde had ever seen it. She had to relocate a small gray communicator, three pens, a pair of glasses, and a box of computer disks to get to the piles of papers that contained the plans for possible Red Thorn bases. Four of the blueprints matched the generic descriptions that the blonde had given, Une planned to send Sally out with a team of agents to check them out once they were done here.
Quatre spent the next hour feeding them false information laced with truth. Everything that had happened with Heero was left out along with everything he had learned about the rottenness at Winner Enterprises. The blonde was a good liar, his skills at strategy helped him in this, but Duo, probably because he knew him the best, would still give him certain looks every so often.
Finally, his ordeal was over, and they all dispersed to do whatever business they had been assigned. Quatre followed Sally Po to an examination room. She fussed over him for a while, and then finally pronounced that he was in good health and he could leave. When he exited the medical station he found that Trowa was waiting for him.
"I assume you received a clean bill of health?"
"Do you think Sally would have let me out if I hadn't?"
Trowa's lips twitched. "I guess not." They fell into step together and started to head for the elevators so that Quatre could meet up with his sisters.
"I thought you were guarding Relena, Trowa?"
He shrugged. "I was, but when we found out you had been kidnapped, Une replaced me with several other Preventer agents so that I could look for you."
"Several agents?" The blonde raised an eyebrow. "She decided that if she couldn't have quality she'd have quantity, huh?"
Trowa smiled slightly. "I guess so."
They had almost reached the elevator when the blonde heard a shout from behind him. "Quatre Winner!"
The two ex-pilots turned as a distinguished older gentleman approached them. Quatre stiffened slightly when he recognized him.
"Mr. Winner," the man said gravely, extending his hand to shake the blonde's. "I'm Nathan Davis." His handshake was firm but not crushing.
"Senator," Quatre greeted, just as gravely. He could see that the man's anxiety was barely held in check by his polished political manners.
"You saw my son? He's, he's alright isn't he?"
"The last time I saw him he was completely unhurt. And I'm sure he still is. They're not going to harm him as long as they need him."
The senator nodded, relief barely evident in his aristocratic features. Eric had inherited very little of his father's looks, the nose was the same, and the chin, but Quatre suspected that the rest of his appearance came from the genes of his dead mother.
"The Preventers are very good at what the do, especially the agents who have been put on this case," the blonde nodded toward Trowa. "I'm sure he'll be returned to you before you know it," he said soothingly.
"I hope so." Nathan's voice faltered suddenly. "I-I haven't been around for my son as much as I should have been. I mean to change that if . . . I mean when he is returned."
"That's good," Quatre said, eyes full of compassion. He glanced at his wristwatch. "Senator, I hate to leave, but if I'm not downstairs in five minutes my sisters will skin me alive for making them worry. Perhaps Agent Barton can stay with you?" The blonde looked at Trowa questioningly. The green-eyed boy nodded his head almost imperceptibly.
Quatre waved goodbye to them both, pausing to grip the Senator's hand and tell him again that everything would be alright. The blonde had a double motive for leaving the other pilot there. Not only would he be a comforting presence for Eric's father, if he could calm agitated lines he could certainly calm a human, but he also wanted a chance to contact Heero before his sisters pulled up. And he couldn't do that in front of Trowa.
When he got down to ground level, Quatre stood in the shadow of the building and pulled out the communicator that Heero had given him.
"Yuy."
"Heero, I just finished meeting with the others at Preventer headquarters."
"What happened?"
Quatre told him. "But I don't see how any of them could be a traitor. Everyone was acting normal, I didn't pick up any strange signals from anyone, and I was watching for it."
Heero nodded. "Not a surprise. They'd have to be very skilled at hiding themselves to have lasted this long. Did you get invited to the engagement party?"
"Yes, everything's going according to plan."
"Good contact me before you get to the estate. Yuy out."
Quatre grimaced at the small, and now blank screen. Things hadn't changed. When Heero was involved in a mission he focused only on completing it, to the extent that any feelings were practically removed.
The blonde heard the familiar purr of an engine and glanced up as the Winner family limo came to stop beside. Great, now let's just hope I can survive my sisters for the rest of the day, otherwise Heero's going to have to do mission himself. When the door opened Ira practically yanked his arm off when she pulled him in. The door shut behind him and the car pulled away.
Quatre did not notice the form standing just out of his line of sight in the entrance to the building. The figure had been watching him throughout his conversation with Heero, and now violet eyes were narrowed in speculation.
Notes: Yes! Another chapter completed. Only a week until I have to move into my dorm. I have got to finish this before then.
Reviewers, I'm loving you guys more than ever. Glad you all like the 2X4 scene. Caer, you can kidnap me as long as you promise to feed me junk food and take me for walks ever once in a while so I don't get too fat. But I think you're doing a much, much, better job on your stories then I would.